Illustrator 29.6 | Performance enhancements, Generative Expand and Live Pencil tool

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hey everyone!

Illustrator v29.6 is here with exciting performance upgrades, Generative Expand, Preview styles and effects drawn using the Pencil tool in real time. Please check what's new to learn more about this release. 

Update now to experience these improvements and elevate your creativity! 

Update the App Try out the latest Features and Enhancements in Illustrator.

Update Illustrator v29.6

Enjoy a smoother experience!

Calligraphic and art brushes now render faster, and editing actions like scaling, moving, rotating, and duplicating are smoother, making the creative process more efficient.

Generative Expand

Generative Expand, powered by Adobe Firefly, allows you to extend your vector artwork beyond its original boundaries. You can use an optional text prompt to guide the expansion, either for creative exploration or to resize the artboard for various layouts like print or social media. The expanded content can be merged with the original design into grouped objects for easier editing. It also helps fill the print bleed area around an artboard.

Live Pencil tool

The Live Preview feature in the Pencil tool instantly displays styles and effects as you draw, making the process more intuitive and accurate. Additionally, the Live Curve Fitting option adjusts the path's curve in real time, eliminating the need to release the mouse for smoother drawing

Enhancements Inspired by your feedback

1. You can now repeat your last artboard action, like move, duplicate, or scale — using Ctrl + D or Cmd + D.
   
   
2. It's now possible to paste objects directly onto selected artboards using Paste in Front, Paste in Back, or Paste in Place.
   
   
3. Go ahead and rearrange selected artboards in your document with more precision, helping you streamline your workflow.

Fixed Issues

Illustrator v29.6 also includes several bug fixes. Take a look here.

We’d love to hear from you!

Try out Illustrator v29.6 and let us know your thoughts. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need more tips!

If this was helpful, please click the Upvote icon in the top left corner of this post. Your feedback helps us improve the experience. Thank you!

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[KI2987904179ff]

Great work! Could Illustrator consider adding a feature? When there are many paths in the document, it becomes very laggy. Could a function be added to improve computational rendering speed by reducing the preview quality of the view? This is very necessary in complex documents, otherwise, I have to click and wait for a long time before it responds.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @KI2987904179ff,

Thanks so much for the kind words and for taking the time to share your feedback. I really appreciate it!

I completely understand how frustrating it can be when working with complex documents and the performance starts to lag. Your suggestion to include an option for lowering preview quality to improve responsiveness is a thoughtful and valid one.

While this feature isn't available at the moment, would you mind posting your request on our UserVoice forum here: https://adobe.ly/4nnR8mS? This helps our product team prioritize popular ideas, and you'll also get notified of any progress or updates.

In the meantime, if you're not already doing so, try switching to GPU Preview and hiding heavy or complex layers temporarily while working. It's not a complete fix, but it might help ease the lag a bit.

If this tends to happen more with certain files or actions, and you'd be open to sharing one of those files with us, we'd be happy to take a closer look.

Looking forward to hearing more from you!

Abhishek 

[TVJQZ]

How do you turn Generative Expand off? Visual clutter for users who know what bleeds are.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

You can turn off the Contextual Task Bar under Windows. Technically, it's not off, but the option won't appear.

[TVJQZ]

this is a hit and miss fix so far worked the first time but when i attempt it after a program restart or new board it wont go away.

[joelm17138948]

I second this! Awful update. 

[Jimmy Flame]

Loving the live pencil!! Didn't think it'd make that much of a difference until I tried it. Wow!

[joelm17138948]

Hi, I'm finding the new feature with generative ai prompt to not only be very distracting/an eyesore, but it seems to be slowing down the processing speed as well. Not to mention I'm morally opposed to having generative features included in the creative suite. Please let there be a way to turn this off, as it appears in the top corner of every single art board I'm working on. 

[TVJQZ]

Agreed. Im not sure who at adobe was like ... you know what lets make an ai feature that creates bleeds. What creative user doesnt know about bleeds.

Brain dead idea.