Optimize Illustrator performance on Mac OS X

The performance of Adobe Illustrator depends on several factors. They include the options that you select, your workflow, and the operating system and hardware configuration. The performance improvements listed below are most noticeable when you work with larger files. Optimizing the Mac OS and hardware configurations improves performance in other applications as well.

Before you perform the steps below, make sure to install the latest version of Illustrator or any Illustrator updates to the version you are using. Illustrator updates often include performance-related fixes or enhancements. Current version information and updates are available on the Adobe website at www.adobe.com.

If you configure your system to run efficiently, then you increase the amount of memory available to applications and ensure that they run smoothly. Quit applications that you aren't using or disable nonessential fonts to improve the performance of Illustrator.

If you install only the fonts you need, then you improve system performance and the performance of applications that access fonts. Each installed font increases the amount of RAM that the system uses. Therefore, decreasing the amount of RAM available to open applications and increasing the amount of time applications take to display font menus. Use a font management utility, such as Extensis Suitcase, to help you manage many fonts.

Non-PostScript printer drivers can conflict with Illustrator. Therefore, Adobe recommends that you set a PostScript printer driver as the default printer in Mac OS.

Note: To complete this procedure, make sure that a PostScript printer is connected to the computer either directly or via a network.

To set a PostScript printer as the default printer, do the following:

Configure Illustrator to print to a non-default printer

The hardware you use affects the performance of Illustrator: The faster the processor or hard drive, the faster Illustrator can process information. Other hardware enhancements, such as installing additional RAM, using a multiprocessor system, or optimizing and defragmenting drives, can also improve performance.

Illustrator manipulates large quantities of data and performs many calculations. Therefore, the speed of the computer processor limits its speed. The faster the processor, the faster Illustrator performs.

If Illustrator has insufficient RAM, then it uses hard disk space (that is, a scratch disk) to process information. Illustrator is fastest when it can process file information in memory, without having to use the hard disk.

As you add, delete, and move files on a hard disk, available space is no longer a single, contiguous block. If the system does not have enough contiguous space, then it saves fragments of a file to different locations on the hard disk. An application requires more time to read a fragmented file than one saved to a contiguous location. You can defragment files and optimize available hard disk space by using a third-party disk utility (for example, Norton Utilities).

Illustrator reads and writes information while working on a file. Therefore, the faster the access speed of the disk containing the file or the Illustrator scratch disk, the faster Illustrator can process file information. To improve the performance of Illustrator, work on files saved on drives with fast access speeds, such as an internal hard drive, rather than on drives with slow access speeds, such as a network server (a network drive) or removable media (Zip drive, CD). Removable media often have slower access times and are more easily damaged than internal hard drives.

When you want to save an Illustrator file to a network or removable drive, Adobe recommends that you first save the file to an internal hard disk. Then, close the file, and then use the Finder to copy the closed file to the external drive or network drive. Or, you can save the file to the network using Adobe Version Cue (CS4 only).

For best results when printing from Illustrator, use a PostScript printer. Most non-PostScript printers rely on display information, host computer resources, and proprietary printer drivers to relay print information to the printer. Therefore, they can take much longer to print than a PostScript printer.

The way you work in Illustrator, and especially the way you view artwork, can affect the performance of Illustrator. Modifying view options, linking images rather than embedding them, and optimizing scratch disk and startup options can all affect the speed of Illustrator and its memory usage.

Outline view hides paint attributes, displaying the artwork as unfilled paths. Working in Outline view can speed the display of complex artwork, such as objects containing gradients or patterns. Outline view can also make it easier to edit objects hidden behind other filled objects. Choose View > Outline to display a document in outline mode.

For more information about viewing artwork in Illustrator, see Illustrator Help.

You can create custom views of your document. They allow you to quickly change the view mode, magnification, scroll position, and layer options by choosing a custom view from the View menu. To create a custom view, set the view attributes you want to save, choose View > New View. Enter a name in the New View dialog box. The custom view appears in the View menu.

You can specify the quality and speed of the display when you move the artboard using the Hand tool. To specify the display quality, choose Illustrator > Preferences > Units & Display Performance. Drag the Hand Tool slider to the left to improve the display quality when you use the Hand tool. Or, move it to the right to improve speed.

Document Info panel

Document Info panel provides general file information and object characteristics. It also shows the number and names of graphic styles, custom colors, gradients, fonts, and placed art.

To view information on only the selected object, choose Selection Only from the panel menu. Leaving this option deselected lists information about the entire document. 

Note: The "Document Info Panel" is different from the "Info Panel."

You can change the resolution of raster effects to optimize the performance of Illustrator. To change the resolution of raster effects, choose Effect > Document Raster Effects Settings, do one of the following, and then click OK:

• If you are editing files, then click Screen. Illustrator uses a resolution of 72 ppi for raster effects, increasing display speed.
• If you are printing files, then click High. Illustrator uses a resolution of 300 ppi for raster effects, decreasing printing speed but increasing print quality.

The Layers panel lets you easily organize and modify artwork. When you hide layers that contain complex artwork or high-resolution bitmap images, Illustrator redraws the screen faster. To hide a layer, click the eye icon to the left of the layer's name. To hide all but the selected layer, Option-click the eye icon.

The Layers panel can display thumbnails for top-level layers, nested layers, groups, and objects. You can reduce the number of thumbnails so Illustrator redraws the screen faster:

• To remove all thumbnails from the Layers panel, select Small in the Row Size section, and then click OK.
• To remove thumbnails for specific elements in the Layers panel, deselect Layers, Groups, or Objects in the Thumbnails section, and then click OK.

Overprint Preview provides an “ink preview” that approximates how blending, transparency, and overprinting appear in color-separated output. 

To enhance performance, avoid using Overprint Preview. To enable and disable Overprint Preview, go to View > Overprint Preview.

Artboards represent the regions that can contain printable artwork. To optimize performance, consider deleting unused or unnecessary Artboards.

To manage your Artboards, use the Artboard panel (Window > Artboards).

When you work with an embedded bitmap image, and the system doesn't have enough RAM to perform an operation, Illustrator uses hard disk space as a scratch disk. It takes longer to access information on a hard disk than it does to access information in memory. Therefore, using a portion of the hard disk as virtual memory can decrease performance. If you need more memory to work in Illustrator, Adobe Systems recommends installing more RAM.

By default, Illustrator uses the system drive as its primary scratch disk. Change the Illustrator primary scratch disk setting to your fastest hard drive.

To change the scratch disk preference, do the following:

Note: Adobe recommends that you use a disk utility, such as Norton Utilities or TechTool Pro, to optimize and defragment the hard disk regularly.

Adobe Illustrator Document Profiles contain the default patterns, gradients, graph designs, colors, and color libraries that appear in new Illustrator documents. These files also determine the zoom level, window size, and viewing preferences for new documents. You can minimize the file size of new documents by removing unnecessary swatches, gradients, graphic styles, and brushes from Adobe Illustrator new document profiles.

For instructions on creating custom document profiles, see "Startup Profiles: A great tool to customize your new documents."

Templates let you create new documents that share common settings and design elements. For example, to design a series of business cards with a similar appearance, create a template with the desired artboard size, view settings (such as guides), and print options. You can minimize the file size of new documents by removing unnecessary swatches, symbols, graphic styles, and brushes from templates.

Templates offer a powerful alternative to document profiles. While you can only have a limited number of document profiles for Illustrator CS4, you can create an unlimited number of templates.

For instructions on creating template files, see Illustrator Help.

Embedded bitmap images (such as TIFF, BMP, or Photoshop EPS) can dramatically increase the size of an Illustrator document, causing slower performance. To improve performance, select Link in the Place dialog box when you place a bitmap image. The Link option references the placed image on the hard disk. (If a service bureau requires embedded images, save a copy of the file and select Include Linked Files in the Illustrator Native Format Options or EPS Format Options dialog box.)

If a document contains linked EPS images with high-resolution previews, Illustrator can redraw the screen slowly as you edit artwork. To allow Illustrator to redraw the screen more quickly, use low-resolution EPS previews: Choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard, select Use Low Resolution Proxy for Linked EPS, and then click OK.

The Links Panel Options dialog box includes a Show DCS Transparency Interactions option. If this option is selected, the Links panel displays a yellow icon to identify linked DCS EPS graphics that are transparent or overlap transparent objects. Because this option forces Illustrator to regularly determine if linked EPS files interact with transparency, it can reduce performance.

To disable the Show Transparency Interactions option:

The Navigator panel displays a thumbnail view of the current artwork for easy navigation. Depending on the complexity of the artwork, a substantial amount of processing time can be required to update the thumbnail each time you make a change. To improve screen redraw speed and performance in a complex Illustrator document, hide the Navigator panel by choosing Window > Hide Navigator.

You can set up custom views to more efficiently zoom to particular areas of your document. See the Custom Views section of this document for more information.

The Anti-alias Artwork option smoothens text and graphics by blending the color of an object's edge pixels with that of adjacent pixels. However, this process can cause slow screen redraw. To disable this option, choose Edit > Preferences > General, deselect Anti-aliased Artwork, and then click OK.

The Simplify command reduces the number of anchor points in paths and path shapes, thus reducing file size and increasing performance. To apply the Simplify command, select the desired path or object, and then choose Object > Path > Simplify.

For more information on the Simplify command, see Illustrator Help.

Smart Guides allow you to create, align, edit, and transform Illustrator objects relative to other objects. If artwork contains a large number of objects, Illustrator requires more time to display Smart Guides. To disable Smart Guides, choose View > Smart Guides. A check mark appears next to the command when Smart Guides are enabled.

For more information on Smart Guides, see Illustrator Help.

Bristle Brush strokes are made up of several overlapping, filled transparent paths. These paths, like any other filled path in Illustrator, interact with the paint of other objects, including other bristle brush paths.

Adobe encourages users to test and experiment with Bristle Brushes and paint rendition before embarking on large-scale artwork. Changing and reapplying brush attributes renders all used brushes again. 

When using Bristle Brushes, you can reduce the complexity and file size of your document by doing the following: 

• Rasterizing some Bristle Brush paths
  • If the artwork contains a large number (>30) of Bristle Brushes you are advised to reduce the complexity and number of the Bristle Brush paths, by selecting  the Bristle Brush paths and choose Object > Rasterize.

Note: You are advised to save a copy of your original artwork before rasterizing the content.

• Disabling the PDF capabilities
  • By default Illustrator saves the PDF data that allows Illustrator (*ai) files to be compatible with other Adobe applications. Deselect the option Create PDF Compatible File in the  File > Save or File > Save As dialog box to reduce the file size and file data of your document.