Skip to main content
Participating Frequently
November 4, 2014
Answered

Illustrator CC 2014 extremely choppy. Please help.

  • November 4, 2014
  • 82 replies
  • 68760 views

I just bought an iMac 5k Retina Base model with Yosemite installed. All other CC applications work like a breeze except illustrator. Illustrator is extremely choppy and almost unworkable. Can someone help me out?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer jackson-LYD

SeanJM,

I just updated to CC 2015 and Illustrator is back to being snappy, responsive, and smooth on a 5k Retina iMac!

After installation, a pop-up of "Compatible GPU detected" auto-enabled the new Mac GPU settings.


If this didn't automatically happen for you, go to:

Illustrator CC > Preferences > GPU Performance - and check the box labeled "GPU Performance".


Thank you to the Adobe team for getting the engine updated!

I can safely recommend Creative Cloud to 5K Retina iMac users now.


Edit: This was using the AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB graphics card.

82 replies

Participant
June 5, 2016

HI Guys,

I have noticed a lot of you are complaining about iMacs.

I am having the same crappy performance of Illustrator on a Windows machine.

Dell T5500, Dual Intel Xeon Hexa Core X5670 (12M Cache, 2.93 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI), 48GB DDR3 ECC Triple Channel, nVidia Quadro 4000 2GB GDDR5 / 256 Bit and DELL 4K monitor (can't remember the model), Windows 10 Pro.

By any standard, this is a good machine. Everything on it works fine, except Illustrator (Latest CC version).

Trying to zoom or pan, is a nightmare. However, if I set the monitor to a lower resolution or if I resize the illustrator window, it started to behave closer to normal.

I have tried playing with the GPU switch on and off, changed the video card with another one but I've got the same result.

Anybody has any ideea why?

Thanks,

Adrian

Participant
June 14, 2016

Just wanted to support brandfusion's point that this problem occurs on medium-high end pc builds running windows 10/8/8.1. It really isn't isolated to the Mac ecosystem. I've tried all sorts of configurations and different supported nVidia cards and nothing helps.

Known Participant
March 4, 2016

i actually did chat with josh from mac, the problem is with el captain and adobe not working together and his answer was to go back to Yosemite

Participating Frequently
February 26, 2016

! Yep. Terribly slow on the 2011-2013 27" iMac's 2.7Ghz. AMD Radeon HD 6770M.


The Radeon card has 512mb which is a little low so Turn off the GPU and it should speed back up to acceptable Illustrator gait!

Preferences - GPU Performance - Gpu Performance button

timoa91271836
Participant
January 14, 2016

My illustrator was extremely choppy, my solution was to go to:

System Preferences > Displays > Resolution and make sure this is set to 'Default for display', not 'Scaled'.

Runs super smoothly now. Hope Adobe can fix this soon so I don't have to run my mac in Noddy size.

Known Participant
December 31, 2015

really the problem is this : mac & adobe have a long running history of not wanting to talk about things before they make changes, even tho they are best suited for one another, i hope one day SOON, we can see mac drop their ideas of editing software, and adobe stop shoving us all into new computer purchases with every 5th update. also, updates for majority users would be awesome like i don't need adobe to advance their 3d printing tech, i need better menus. the tool menu why even have different options as to how you view it??? all of the options are WORDS, even tho we are usually visual people, i have to keep my brush window open the entire time. or how about 1 step size adjustable layer styles? a pantone partnership would be cool too. sorry i just had the gpu error msg while using my brand new iMac via illustrator - which i have a list of things id love to see update in illustrator! ) and its ridiculous bc this is why i just got this iMac for 3 letters... GPU

Participant
December 18, 2015

Just got a Imac retina 5k, the maxed out version with 4.0 Ghz i7, the 4096mb amd and 32gb memory. Having the same problem withe illustrator (latest cc version). What seem to work is turning of the gpu performance option, runs much smoother now...

Participant
November 19, 2015

I am having some issues with Illustrator CC that I am hoping you could help me solve.

The problem

When scrolling around illustrator there is a delay or lag when the screen has to 'catch up' with what I have requested. This happens on a variety of documents. I believe the memory usage is also higher than typical

Spec

OS X El Capitan (problem also occurred on Yosemite) Version 10.11.1

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)

Processor: 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory: 24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1024 MB

Adobe Illustrator CC, regularly updated.

Apple Magic Mouse

Attempted solutions

Many discussions with Adobe as I believed it was linked to memory usage, but appears not the case, they believe it is Illustrator

Clean re-installed software - no difference

Tried in safe mode - no difference

tried different users - no difference

Apple Diagnostics - no faults

Turned GPU Performance Off & On - perhaps slightly better when off

Reinstalled all CC apps

Generally cleaned up Mac - turned off unused fonts etc

No links in files.

Hopefully you can assist, this seemed to be a common issue on forums before .ai was updated.

Larry G. Schneider
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 19, 2015

Did you try another mouse?

Participant
November 15, 2015

Chiming in here - the Illustrator CC 2015 GPU preview is a helpful fix for some users... but the ability to zoom in and work in overprint preview mode without choppiness is a necessity for those of us in the high end packaging prepress realm. ADOBE - please fix this issue for all view options on the 5K iMac.

Participant
July 3, 2015

Hi everyone,  I am still having massive performance issues with illustrator and my iMac (27" 5k i5, 16GB ram 4GB graphics) panning, zooming and general control is horrible on all illustrator files even with the new update for illustrator CC 2015. When i turn the resolution down it improves the performance a bit and also if I turn off GPU preview, but that defeats the point of having a large 5k screen to work on graphics with. I've tried optimising graphics performance, resetting my preferences, turning them off, re-installing everything and working with simpler files but it doesn't help. I have also contacted Adobe today and they are gonna look into this for me but I was hoping someone could offer any advice on this in the meantime?

Thanks.

Participating Frequently
July 6, 2015

Robert,

GPU Preview is what improves performance in the new 2015 version.

Make sure Preferences > GPU Performance > GPU performance is checked on.

It should also say "Compatible GPU detected". (Mine is an AMD Radeon R9 M295X OpenGL Engine)

Your file should say something like: filename.ai @ 100% (CMYK/GPU Preview)

Make sure it says "GPU Preview".

If you're opening an old file try:

View > Preview on CPU

then,

View > Preview on GPU

Toggling between these settings can make the file nice and zippy afterwards.

The keyboard command on mac is "Cmd+E", so you can double tap that command.

You may have tried all this, but maybe it at least provides some troubleshooting help.

If all else fails, make sure your Apple OS X software is up to date, and that you've restarted your computer recently.

Participant
July 7, 2015

Hi Jackson,

Thanks for your reply and advice.

I can confirm that within preferences I have checked on and off the GPU performance and whilst on, it causes a rapid decline in the processing ability/use of illustrator on my mac.

My Apple OS X software has been updated recently and is currently up to date.

I will keep trying to get a solution from Adobe, but if you have any further ideas please don’t hesitate to let me know, all suggestions are appreciated.

Cheers

bozogubuAuthor
Participating Frequently
June 17, 2015

Oh Sweet Adobe. Thank you for fixing Illustrator. Now this is what I call 5K sweetness :-)