How to resize my Canvas in Illustrator

[GertvandeCappelle]

Hello,

can anyone help me out. I would like to rezise my canvas in Illustrator and I dont know how to do that!

Why: I'de like to fit my AI design on to an other AI, real size object and the Illustrator canvas is to small to handle the design in a proper way. So my design is to large to fit the real obeject. the question is therefor how can I make my Canvas larger?

Hope for your support and help.

Thanks

Gert van de Cappelle

[kendallc22735982]

Thanks for keeping it simple!

[figmo]

In Illustrator, what a Photoshop user would call the "Canvas" is called the "Artboard."  Basically, "Canvas" is to Photoshop as "Artboard" is to Illustrator.

I don't know why they use different terminologies to refer to what is essentially the same concept, but they do.

[aTomician]

can't we petition Adobe to allow the canvas size to be changed?  it is incredibly annoying, i'm trying to design wallpaper that is several metres across and the only way to do it is either make it a quarter of the size and scale it up, or else find another program...   and after purchasing creative cloud for a "professional" set of programs, i'm not really looking to get every design program in the world just becuase Illustrator isn't that professional after all.  i have a desktop PC with 16GB ram and it could probably cope with a canvas size the size of a football pitch - however for some reason, no one can change this and Adobe would prefer that we go their competitors who offer better options?  or else they make Illustrator open source and we just go and change it ourselves! 

[OldBob1957]

Tomy-rex wrote:

can't we petition Adobe to allow the canvas size to be changed?

Yes, you can. You can add your name to the thousands of others over the years who have, again and again, version after version, asked for that very same thing.

The Illustrator feature request forum is HERE.

Good luck. Don't hold your breath waiting for it. It is truly amazing (to me) how archaic "features" like that never get changed in Adobe software.

BTW: Coreldraw has no such limitations and, like Adobe, they have a free trial period available.

--OB

Edit to add: They also still give you the option to BUY the software, instead of just rent it.

[aTomician]

yep i added it a reply, but as usualy i expect Adobe will ignore it and instead they'll develop a really easy way to draw upside down hot air balloons or something that nobody is bothered about.

  thinking of getting our software guys to decompile the software and maybe change this manually, i'm sure it's only a little setting that needs to be changed.

[OldBob1957]

A tool to generate actual bells and whistles!

XP

--OB

[aTomician]

and a kitchen sink!

[jussol]

Actually, in Illustrator both "canvas" and "artboard" apprear. The white outlined space, where you place your design, and which you can duplicate is an "artboard". Everything around "artboard" is a non-printable workspace called "canvas" (this bigger square area also white, or like in my case - dark gray). Unfortunatelly its dimensions canno't be extended more than to 577,9 cm x 577,9 cm.

[OldBob1957]

Yes. The canvas. That is exactly what we are talking about. We DO know the difference.

Only in Illustrator is there some arbitrary limitation on maximum size (577,9 cm) for artwork. No other major vector program has this, and in this day and age, there is no rational reason for it.

--OB

[barrellhead8]

DITTO MAN

[aTomician]

p'raps we need to do a protest march and barricade ourselves in the Adobe offices or something!!   they don't seem very responsive!

[Corsarius]

Yes, and in illustrator the canvas is the workspace, that is the area where every object must be inside of. Illustrator has artboards as a printing workspace and canvas as a working workspace. That canvas is of a limited size and OP is asking if it's resizeable since it's wayyy too often too small for large scale projects.

Unfortunately, adobe has not added the option to resize the canvas, or to change the scale of units to make it seem bigger if it's a programming constraint.

[aTomician]

Hmm..   This is a feature request that has been chased for years now!  If you're still looking for help, try supporting the feature request on the link below:

Re: Add the ability to scale the canvas beyond it's archaic 227 inch limits.

[La.lo]

Because they are different things. Illustrator has a "canvas" AND an "artboard". Please people, stop saying they're both the same. Not in Illustrator, they're not.

[PenCreation]

Try clicking the "Document Set up" button on the top right hand side of the top tool bar.
Then click "Edit Artboard."
You can either manually change it by clicking and dragging the edges or type in the measurements in the width & height options in the top tool box.

[aTomician]

if you look carefully at the title, this is about changing canvas size, not artboard!   - artboards are held within the canvas

[Jeff Aicher]

I get that none of Adobe's programs work exactly the same way and for some reason we have to work with artboards in Illustrator instead of canvases that we're all used to. But. Why can't I see the artboard size when I'm working with the artwork?

Example: I set up a black square 3.25x3.25" for a mug graphic. They change the artwork requirements to 3" square. I go into Illustrator and change the artboard. Fine. But now my artwork is too big for the *INVISIBLE* artboard. I have no guides to show me visually how small to scale down.

What am I missing?

[Jeff Aicher]

Also, yes - I know I can have the artboard show up by hitting the tool. Helpful. However, if I change tools to resize my artwork (using the selection tool, for example), the boundaries of the artboard disappear when the artboard tool is deselected. Frustrating.

[aTomician]

Hello Jeff,

can you send over a screenshot of what you are seeing (or not seeing! )?  when I'm designing in Illy, the artboards and canvas are both visible for me, I have to be able to see them to maintain situational awareness of the scale of my project.  From what you are saying, it sounds like they aren't showing up for you at all though, which sounds weird.  Just want to be able to see what you are seeing so i can get my head around this.

[Jeff Aicher]

Please excuse the cheesy artwork.

Not much to see, here. If I select the artboard tool, I get this:

But as soon as I move to the selection tool to edit my artwork to fill the artboard, I get this:

I am admittedly not as proficient at ILL as I am with PSHOP, but I'm not catching what I'm doing wrong.

Be gentle, please.

[metcat29]

Hey guys I found a real easy solution that I hope is what you were looking for:

Go to Object - Artboards then choose to fit to artwork bounds or fit to selected art

Cheers

[aTomician]

Hello Metcat29 - take a look at Jussol's post above, it shows the difference between the artboard & canvas...   it's the canvas we are struggling with (I think Adobe may be struggling with it too ) - the artboards appear within the canvas...

[sz007]

My friend created an page layout in AI. Lots of afartboards. Now when i edit this, i can't rearage ardboards, because they can't fit in canvas bounds.

[aTomician]

Did you manage to rearrange artboards? - if you are still struggling you can press Shift+O and move and resize the artboards individually.  Let me know if this isn't any good

[aTomician]

Hello Jeff,

Don't worry about the artwork, not here to comment on that

On the second screenshot, you can only just see the outline of the artboard, which is in black.  If you hide the black square that you have as a background, you should see the artboard as a white square over the grey canvas background.  When you cover the artboard with a black object it is very difficult to see the artboard, but believe me, it's still there.   try copying the background layer and changing the colour to a light grey and you should see the artboard a lot more clearly.

As far as I know, it's not possible to change the artboard outline colour, so I think it's a case of getting used to it as it is.

One thing you can try, is to select the artboard tool, and then on the toolbar, select the following 2 options:

These are "Show crosshairs", and "Show Centre Mark"  these may help give you an idea of where the artboard is in relation to your artwork.

Not sure if that's any help or not, let us know if you come acrosss any other problems.