Illustrator can not handle this vector file

[NielsB59]

Hi all.

I am trying to create a wallpaper for an old vintage bus under restoration.

I thought I could use Adobe Illustrator to do it. 

My illustrator crashes .

I have a 8 core AMD processor , 32 Gb ram, GPU Radeon 5500 xt 8 Gb. Windows 10 (latest)

Can your illustrator handle it ?

hier it is.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mt3XMCZ_q3-mmVGV2gPcNvvy1fuF0v9B/view?usp=sharing

Thanks in advance.

Niels.

[Monika Gause]

Yes, I can open that file.

That is a high level of detail. Do you want me to do anything with it or was this just a test?

This is a Macbook Pro M1 32 GB of RAM

[NielsB59]

Hi Monica.

It is just a test. I seems that it is a PC problem.

My Illustrator has big trouble handling this file.

It is surpricing that illustrator can`t handle big pure vectorfiles. What else is illustrator for?

But thanks for your interest Monica.

Niels.

[Monika Gause]

A lot of people use Illustrator fohuge files and not all of these people have Macs. You might want to investigate that.

While opening the file, MacOS showed that Illustrator was not responding anymore, but then finally the file opened anyway.

Also: when creating files you always have to take into account what is possible (on your machine, in Illustrator and as Brad mentioned on the RIP). That is part of the job. You have to think ahead.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

It is indeed a very compex file. It's what we call in the pre-press business as a RIP-buster. You've got a lot going on there!. Even with my 24GB of memory, it used it all up and just barely opened, so I'm not surprised it crashed yours.

My advice is to simplify the file: the first best way is to save a small portion of the background as a Pattern, and use that to fill the entire document. There are lots of videos out there that teach how to make and work with Pattern Fills in Illustrator. But based on what i saw, even a small portion is still very complex, but it will definitely help.

The second way is to commit the pattern to an image file instead of vector by rasterizing a small portion to a high-resolution and use that to create a Pattern. You would need to know what resolution the printer needs to print your wallaper at final size.

[NielsB59]

Hi Brad.

I guess that you have a PC.

As I mentioned to Monica it seems to be a PC problem

The file is 67,4 mb. It is amazing that illustrator ends up using 24 Gb og memory.  The same on my pc.

It seems that there is something fundametaly wrong with illustrator.

Maybe illustrator is only designed for small simple vectorgraphics.

Thanks for your interest Brad.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

I would use Brad's advice, make a pattern. Not only will it reduce the file size, but also load faster.

It maybe even reduced more, I just took a part of the file that contains 4 parts.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

My test file was identical to yours, @Ton Frederiks .  It dropped the file size to a 10th, and can now, probably, print.

[Ton Frederiks]

Yes, Brad, it is much faster to display and I guess that it will print.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"It seems that there is something fundametaly wrong with illustrator.

Maybe illustrator is only designed for small simple vectorgraphics."

That's a nonsenical statement.

Your file is the farthest from simple and has approx 120,000 objects, most of which have gaussian blur drop shadows and other transparency effects, all of which are NOT vector but have to be rendered in real time just to display it on a screen.

Even on a high resolution output device, this is essentailly unprintable.

@Ton Frederiks has done the work for you already.