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andrewdraws
andrewdraws
Inspiring
March 23, 2020
Answered

Using brushes slows Illustrator way down!

  • March 23, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 4594 views

Hello!

If I add 3 or 4 brush strokes to a project, it becomes completely unworkable. I'm using some stock brushes and some from True Grit.  Illustrator is now super slow with the spinning beach ball after every zoom or selection or anything. Impossible to work this way!  I've never used brushes befroe... is this what everyone is experiencing?

 

I'm using an 2019 iMac with 3.7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5, 48 GB RAM, and  Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB

 

Help!  I really want to work with brushes.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Monika Gause

    Ha! ... maybe you're right.    How do you think Charlene Chua's works?  Vector?  It's amazing!


    The grass on the bottom left is almost certainly raster, some nice Photoshop brushes. So I assume that maybe the base shapes are vector (if at all - a lot of people also create their base shapes in Photoshop or whatever they use).

    A lot of artists use Clip Studio Paint, which has vector tools, although the output will always be raster.

    1 reply

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 23, 2020

    WHat kind of brushes are they?

    In which way are the brush strokes set up and interacting with each other?

     

    Please show screenshots.

    andrewdraws
    andrewdrawsAuthor
    Inspiring
    March 23, 2020

    Hi Monika,

    Thanks for the reply! Here's a screen shot. So... it's pretty simple:  a masked shape, and then three or four strokes of textured brushes.  Also, not sure if it matters, but I have an app called CleanMyMac. And sometimes, when Illustrator is really slow, or the beach ball is spinning, a warning will pop up saying "non-responsive applications:  AI Robin  "

    Whatever that means?

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 24, 2020

    That's what I was suspecting.

    These brushes may look simple but internally they create a gazillion of objects that needs to be moved around. Was there no warning associated with them? There should be, because this behaviour needs to be expected.

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