Eyedropper Sampling Ring

[Kuttyjoe]

This new feature in Illustrator has sluggish performance.  I'm glad that Adobe allows us to disable a lot of the new features because they often either interfere with existing workflows or have performance issues.  In the case of the eyedropper Sampling ring, it has both problems.

When working in Illustrator I often select the eyedropper for picking up or applying colors, but I'm also still manipulating objects in other ways by using key modifiers.  With this new feature, I press shift to do some other task and the giant, sluggish sampling ring appears.  As I move the cursor around, the sampling ring doesn't move with it because it's too sluggish.  Also, it's more of a distraction for me in Illustrator but that's beside the point.  It can be disabled under preferences/general.  It's the last checkbox on the bottom right.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Kuttyjoe,

Thanks for sharing your experience and sorry about the trouble. Since you mentioned the Sampling Ring, I'm assuming you're using Illustrator 30.1. Could you please confirm your OS details along with your RAM and CPU specs?

Also, does this happen in a completely new document as well, or only in specific files? Please try toggling GPU Performance from Preferences > Performance, restart Illustrator, and check if the behavior changes. If it still persists, I'd recommend resetting Illustrator preferences and testing again. You can refer to this guide for resetting preferences: https://adobe.ly/4qhjbVC and https://adobe.ly/4oW4Tsh

If possible, a short screen recording showing the sluggish sampling ring behavior in action would really help me check this further.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[Kuttyjoe]

Resetting the preferences in Illustrator solved the problem.  Thanks for the tip.

[Kuttyjoe]

The Sampling ring problem has returned this morning.  Resetting the preferences temporarily fixed the problem but the problem returned so I guess the preferences offers a clue to the problem.

System:

Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045
Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12-Core Processor, 3094 Mhz, 12 Core(s), 24 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti - 11Gb

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Kuttyjoe,

Thanks for confirming. Would you mind trying to manually reset Illustrator's preferences and checking if it helps:

- Close all Adobe applications.

- Go to Location C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe

- Rename Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 30 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator - 30 Settings.old

- Relaunch Illustrator from Creative Cloud

Disclaimer: Please note that renaming preferences folders will remove all the custom settings, and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also save a backup of the folders in case you want to. The location is mentioned above.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Kuttyjoe]

I reset the preferences last night and that fixed the problem, but this morning the problem was there again.  Resetting the preferences is not a permanent fix.

[Kuttyjoe]

I reset the preferences again.  If everything is still good tomorrow I'll let you know.  Thanks.

[Kuttyjoe]

As before, the eyedropper sampling ring works for some hours after I've reset the preferences but after a day it stops working again.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Kuttyjoe,

Thanks for the update and for sticking with the testing. To help us investigate this further, could you please share a short screen recording that shows the sampling ring sluggishness and cursor lag in action when it occurs? It would also be helpful to know if you have noticed any pattern so far, for example, whether it starts after a certain amount of time, specific tools, or a particular workflow during the day. Once appears, does it remain or is it intermittent? 

Additionally, could you try testing this once in Safe Mode without resetting Illustrator preferences, just to isolate whether any third-party plugin or background software might be contributing to the behavior? Ref: https://adobe.ly/4asFoLM

Please also confirm whether you see this issue in a completely new Illustrator file created from scratch, or if it has only been happening in existing or older files.

Looking forward to your observations.

Abhishek