I need pre-2019 Object > Path > Simplify... functionality

[David K2]

I’ve been using Illustrator to make trail maps for years now, and the ~2019 changes to the Object > Path > Simplify… tool have made my job very difficult and frustrating.

The old version of Object > Path > Simplify… worked incredibly well – I could smooth out linework like trails, topographic contours, streams, etc. in bulk, greatly reducing the number of anchor points while barely changing the shape of the lines (in fact it would improve the appearance of lines).

[Here’s an older writeup I did of the technique I was using before 2019; search for “Technique: Smoothing lines (or polygons)” on that page. The broken image link in that section should point here – it’s a screenshot of the old Simplify tool in action. My current workflow is similar except I’m now exporting .aix files from ArcGIS Pro and using the ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud plugin to bring the linework into Illustrator.]

The new version of Object > Path > Simplify… makes the lines look worse – there’s no way to get it to make all the anchor points smooth (i.e. both handles aligned in a straight line through the anchor point); it inserts non-smooth anchor points that have the two handles pointing in different directions. This forces me to edit each line individually with the anchor point tools, which is a nightmare with the large number of complex lines I’m working with. I have tinkered with the tool's Simplify Curve and Corner Point Angle Threshold settings to no avail.

The Smooth Tool does not get me the results I need, and it has to be applied manually to each line anyway.

Has anyone figured out a way to smooth lines similar to the functionality of the pre-2019 Object > Path > Simplify… tool?

If not, Adobe: please, please, please put the old tool back into Illustrator!

I don't seem to be able to install a pre-2019 version of Illustrator.

Has anyone had success with plugins or scripts (e.g. https://astutegraphics.com/ )?

I posted a comment to this UserVoice forum post last year, but since the post was marked Completed several years ago I imagine no one at Adobe read it:

David · June 21, 2022 12:50

Like some of the other commenters, I'm using Illustrator for cartography, and I constantly need to smooth jagged lines exported from GIS (now using the ArcGIS plugin). The old (pre-2019) Simplify tool worked very well, but the new one doesn't smooth the lines properly (it adds lots of non-smooth corners, i.e. where the anchor point handles are at two unrelated angles instead of being paired). I have tinkered with the Simplify Curve and Corner Point Angle Threshold sliders and there's no setting that gives the results I need. And the new tool changes the line shapes more than the old tool did.

This is a HUGE productivity-killer, as I now have to manually edit hundreds of lines so they look smooth.

PLEASE either add the option to use Simplify Classic™ instead of New Simplify™, or (as another commenter suggested) at the very least add a "force round/smooth corners" checkbox.

Other comments in that thread that describe the issue well include:

Anonymous · December 2, 2019 2:32 PM

I just had this completely mess up a workflow today. Please bring back the old Simply tool and maybe implement a "legacy" option alongside the new tool? I work with NatGeo and use Illustrator to make maps. Oftentimes when vector data is brought in from a GIS program there are way too many anchor points in the lines. This is especially true with elevation contour lines. Previously, I would use the simplify and set it to 99%, which would remove enough points to keep the computer from bogging down but also retain the shape of the contour lines. Now with the new tool even using the "minimum" setting under "simplify curve" the shape of the contour lines changes way too much and this tool is essentially unusable now. For me, and the others who have commented here, this is a major issue and a removal of functionality! I don't see any other workaround other than to install an old version of Illustrator...and that is not a good workaround.

(the screenshot attached to that comment is a good illustration of what complex elevation contour linework looks like!)

Anonymous · January 24, 2020 5:17 PM

Wow, this new path simplify is not usable. I'm a cartographer and all my vector data comes from GIS. GIS does not support bezier curves and the simple fix was to simplify the path in Illustrator at 99% and bezier curves were added and my vectors were not altered too much. I can't work with this new ****, please offer a legacy option or write a script that I can plug in. I updated from CS6 to CC so I didn't have to explain to my clients to send me a legacy AI file b/c I have CS6. Now I'm about to upgrade again from CC to CS6 so I can have my path simplify that I have been using for the past 15 years. This new junk should be its own tool somewhere else in AI that I would never use. Feel free to e-mail me when this has been resolved and I may come back to CC.

Thanks,

David

[Kurt Gold]

Of course I don't know what objects you are trying to simplify, but in my experience the new version of the Simplify mechanisms do work much better than the older ones you mentioned.

Perhaps you could provide a sample Illustrator file with some objects and explain what you tried with Simplify and what you don't like about it and what you want to get instead. So one may see.

[Kurt Gold]

Just a sample file from me.

Simplify Sample

The file contains two artboards. Artboard A1 contains the initial objects with 604 paths and 25000 anchor points.

Artboard A2 contains a moderately simplified version of Artboard A1 with 604 paths and about 5000 anchor points. Done with the latest version of Illustrator.

One could simplify it further, of course.

If you compare artboard A1 with artboard A2, what exactly would you declare as insufficient?

[David K2]

Thanks for the responses Jacob and Kurt!

See attached image Illustrator2023 non-smooth corners.png - it's a closeup of Kurt's sample file. I added orange circles around a few of the non-smooth anchor points that bother me. I also selected some anchor points to show the non-smooth handles. This is zoomed way in - it doesn't look as bad when viewed actual size, but it's still not ideal.

See the Illustrator file Illustrator Simplify Path Examples.ai - it shows a section of a map from several years ago, with trails and elevation contours. (This is not a perfect example - sometimes the raw GIS exports are not as smooth to begin with as they are in this file). For the trails and the contours I included layers containing:

• the raw linework as exported from GIS (ArcMap in this case, would be ArcGIS Pro nowadays)
• the linework that I smoothed back in the day using the pre-2019 version of the Object > Path > Simplify tool (I probably used Curve Precision set to something like 98% and Angle Threshold set to 0°?)
• linework that I smoothed today (from the raw linework) using the new Object > Path > Simplify tool (Simplify Curve: 50%, Corner Point Angle Threshold: 90°)

The main difference between the old and new tools is that the old one gave you lines with almost all smooth anchors, and the new one gives you lines where most of the anchors are not smooth (the handles don't line up). This doesn't look as good, and it also makes the lines more difficult to edit, because when you move one of the non-straight handles the other handle snaps to line up with it, which greatly changes the shape of the line. I also feel that the new tool's settings don't give you as much detailed control, but since I don't have the old tool available any more this is just based on my memory. The Corner Point Angle Threshold setting is certainly not intuitive on the new tool.

I tried installing Illustrator 2018 on my MacBook from the link Jacob posted, but unfortunately the Mac version is a 32-bit app (or too old in some other way?) and I can't install it in Big Sur - I get a "The developer of this app needs to update it to work with this version of macOS" error.

I think I'm going to try the free trial of the Astute Graphics plugin next, to see if it works the way I want.

[Jacob Bugge]

David,

"(or too old in some other way?)"

It must in some other way, maybe no clue can be derived from this,

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/system-requirements/earlier-versions.html

[David K2]

Might be the Apple M1 chip or the operating system version (Big Sur). Thanks.

[Kurt Gold]

David,

thanks for your elaborate description. I did some tests with the Simplify command in Illustrator 2018. Based on the examples you posted, I stand corrected. You are right that the "old" Simplify command is way better when it comes to smoothing paths that only (or mostly) consist of corner points.

There are some workarounds that may do similar results in the latest Illustrator version, but obviously it is more complicated as it should be.

Just for fun I tried to replace the latest Simplify plugin (AI 2023 version) with the Simplify plugin of the AI 2018 version, but that didn't work due to some incompatibility.

I'm going to think about some other workarounds, possibly done with an action. Please don't hold your breath, though.

[David K2]

Thanks.

[Kurt Gold]

David,

I think there are good news. In the latest Beta version of Illustrator there is a dedicated Smooth command in the Object menu. As far as I can see, it is able to do what you are looking for, and probably it creates even better results than the older mechanisms in the Simplify dialog. You may test it and you can provide feedback to the engineers to make it even better.

Personally, I'd like to see that implemented in the Simplify command dialog, but who knows what happens.

[David K2]

Thanks again Kurt!

I did some testing on the beta Smooth command. The results look nice, and are an improvement in some ways over the current Simplify tool, but unfortunately they still result in mostly non-truly-smooth anchors. Also I don't love the user interface.

I wrote a script that reports anchor types for selected paths, and used it to compare paths that I simplified using various tools (pre-2019 Simplify, current Simplify, a couple of Astute Graphics plugin tools, and the beta Smooth command). It's not perfect but does give some insight into the smoothing results. There's more detail in the files linked and attached below.

Here are some files (updated Illustrator file and an Excel spreadsheet) showing the results in case anyone is curious... (I'm partly putting these here so that I can refer to them when I submit a comment to Adobe about the Beta Smooth command).

The script (countAnchorsByType) is attached as a .txt file - rename it from .txt to .js to run it in Illustrator (F12).

--David

[Kurt Gold]

I don't like the current interface as well, David, but I think basically the functionality is turning to the right direction. As already mentioned, I'd like to see that integrated in the regular Simplify command.

Apart from that, I'm very impressed by your detailed analysis in the Excel sheet. That's really great work and I'd recommend to share it with the Illustrator engineers who are making the new Smooth mechanisms. Certainly, they will be glad to get such meticulously inspected reports.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

[David K2]

Thanks Kurt. Do you know of any way to share this info with the Illustrator software engineers? I did submit a comment via the What's new in Beta > Create Features dialog in the beta version of Illustrator, and also on this page. I included a link to this thread in both.

[Kurt Gold]

David, it may be worth getting in touch with @Anshul_Saini or @Anubhav M

I'm pretty sure they will pass through your analysis to the engineers.

[Anshul_Saini · Accepted solution]

Hello @David K2,

Thank you for your detailed analysis and for sharing your findings with the community. I appreciate your effort in testing the new Smooth tool in the Illustrator beta version and providing valuable feedback on its functionality and user interface.

I will make sure to forward your feedback to the Adobe Illustrator product team. In the meantime, you can consider installing Illustrator 2019 (version 23.0) as a potential workaround, as it can be installed on M1 Mac. You can find the download link for Illustrator 2019 here: Adobe Illustrator CC 2019 Direct Download Links.

Thank you for your dedication to enhancing Illustrator's functionality, and please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions or need further assistance.

Best regards,

Anshul Saini

[David K2]

Just in case anyone's interested...I updated the script to count more different types of anchor points and (hopefully) count closed paths correctly. Here are updated Illustrator and Excel files, and see updated script (countAnchorsByType_v2) attached as a .txt file - rename it from .txt to .js to run it in Illustrator (F12). I have not tested this script extensively - I can't promise it works exactly as advertised.

[Lukas Engqvist]

As I understannd Astute plugins are "Try and buy" I have tested them but since I am not allowed to install in my workplace it has been a while. You can write them directly, they are very service minded and great to work with.

[Katie Peek]

I'm breaking a lifetime of lurking to say I, too, have this problem. I use GIS to make maps for magazines, and Illustrator smoothing is critical to my workflow. Please, Illustrator engineers, restore the capacity to simplify GIS curves.

[Monika Gause]

Exactly what is giving you issues? Does the advanced dialog box not work for you?