Illustrator CC 2014 extremely choppy. Please help.

[bozogubu]

I just bought an iMac 5k Retina Base model with Yosemite installed. All other CC applications work like a breeze except illustrator. Illustrator is extremely choppy and almost unworkable. Can someone help me out?

[Crowe About It]

Exactly. I bought the new iMac Retina display to take full advantage of what it can do. Adobe is not allowing me to do that. I shouldn't have to find work arounds.

[tomjohn36]

Add me to the list. I'm having SERIOUS issues with lag in Illustrator. The problem seems to be accentuated when I use an external mouse. Not sure if anyone else has had a similar experience with that.

I love Illustrator, been using it for years and years, but I am just about ready to advise a switch to Sketch for 5+ licenses at my workplace. There needs to be more of an active reply from forum moderators to this issue.

[LeBay]

My problem sounds a little different than those mentioned above, so maybe I will post this on another thread.

------------------------------------------------------------------

SYSTEM:

Adobe Illustrator CC and CC2014 running on Windows 8.1 (x64) (system:  Intel Core i5-4570 @ 3.20GHz w 8GB RAM )

PROBLEM:

Every 5-10 seconds Illustrator pauses for 3 seconds  - "not responding" and sometimes the screen even goes black.

BACKGROUND:

A couple years ago I had a similar symptoms that were caused by Illustrator auto-updating linked files that were located on our server. I turned off the auto-updating and the problem went away.

MORE INFO:

I open and use the same files on my MacBook Pro ( 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 - 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3  - running Yosemite 10.10.1) and the performance is fine. Also, oddly and perhaps related, I can not open Illustrator files located on the server using my MacBook Pro. I get an error message stating that the file is an unknown format. I need to download the file to my local drive before I can open it.

[sltplz]

Yes it's a little bit different. Our problem concern Retina (HiDPI) version of Illustrator.

About your problem, I think it's simply a corrupted file in Illustrator file system. Have you the same problem when you create a new document? I advise you to delete properly all illustrator files (even preferences files) and try to make a fresh install. Illustrator usually works fine (besides HiDPI version...), so if the problem occur only in illustrator, then illustrator is the problem. If not, it's certainly a hard drive issue.

Hope I helped you.

(Sorry for my english!)

[Luca Farina]

Even to me the same serious problem.

Illustrator and Indesign with unnerving performance ...

On new iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), 4 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz, AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096 MB ...

It seems clear that a management problem of vector (Photoshop ve fine).

Unfortunately we work with Illustrator, and I'm really worried.

My old CS4 runs better on my old Mac Pro of 2008!

I think I just threw 4.000 Euros between new iMac and Adobe CC.

I feel like crying ...

[bozogubu]

Luca,

Trust me, we all feel and understand your pain. buying this system was a big leap for me and Adobe just plain failed me. I depend on illustrator to earn a living. Now because of how choppy it is, I have to outsource my work to people and lose almost 80% of the project cost on them. It's ridicolous. I'm a freelancer who hires freelancers to do exactly what I do.

I Repeat, I can't but feel cheated. I pay Adobe money and theyv given me a crappy product. I'm sorry but I'm at my wits end on this.

[sltplz]

No moderator can take a look at this problem and report this to the super great adobe dev team?? I'm sure they are too busy counting their $$ thanks to cc subscriptions. (I have already send a feedback to adobe 3 weeks ago, no answer of course...)

Please guys, continue to post here and give some importance to this topic! Maybe someone'll look at it.

[alexharris]

Hi there - just came across this after have another session on google trying to fix this stuttering, choppy, lagging illustrator issue. I have a beefed up iMac 5k, no external monitor, or anything else too out of the norm. I am fairly certain this is a hardware acceleration issue, or lack there of. There is a sharp threshold for how many pixels the document window can display before losing responsiveness. Adobe has developed hardware acceleration for Illustrator on Windows, but not Mac. I understand it's a hefty bit of code to implement something like this, however, it does surprise me that this has been an issue for a few years now on the Mac side.

The work around for me - which I have learned from this thread - is to scale down the app window to about 33% of the display. Kind of a silly thing to do on such a large and gorgeous monitor, but it's making Illustrator usable again.

Adobe - count me in on this issue, please address a fix.

[sltplz]

When you reduce the art board window to almost the minimum, it's smooth. The more you enlarge the art board, the more it chop! It's REALLY annoying and for a company this big, it's REALLY an issue!

When I open the same document in Affinity Designer, it's just ridiculously smooth. Just try it. I believe so hard in AD, just give it some time to grow up a little more (especially bleeds)...

[LienekeKoenen]

At our studio we have a iMac Retina, and a Macbook Pro Retina, both high-end models. Both have the same problems with illustrator, only fix is to add a second screen that is NOT retina. Problem is clearly related to the retina screen. We work in a design studio, and we are heavily dependent on Adobe products.

We would be very happy to see a fix for this issue asap! - Studio Naam (The Netherlands)

[dpines1003]

Glad to see I'm not alone on this issue, same problem here. New Retina iMac, 16gig Ram, updated graphics card, running illustrator CC and it's just terrible. Choppy and slow to response with only a single element on the page.

I think I saw a thread here saying Adobe is addressing the issue?

[pacifique1234]

Can you link to the thread?

Also, has anyone tried calling Adobe technical support?

[sltplz]

I just describe the problem via the adobe support contact form. Still no answer after 3 weeks...

[sltplz]

Please could you post the link?

[OwenSlik]

Just switched to an iMac Retina i5 16Gb with Illustrator CC. I'm experiencing the same problems. Very slow and lots of lag when zooming and using the hand tool to pan around. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement and it makes it pretty much unusable for someone who works quickly.

Please can someone from Adobe confirm that they are aware of this issue and are working to fix it?

Otherwise I'll have no option but to return this iMac and cancel my Adobe subscription. I just can't believe that my 4 year old Windows 7 laptop running CS5 performs better.

[sltplz]

Do not make the mistake of returning your iMac because Adobe sucks! Your iMac is not the problem, Adobe just collect $ every months and drop useless updates. Think more about switching to newer graphic soft like Sketch/Affinity.

[OwenSlik]

When you have been using a certain program for your entire working career (and supporting the company that makes it) it becomes very hard to make the change. Affinity may be newer but I don't think it is a true rival for Illustrator yet.

The iMac is a great piece of kit, no doubt, but if the program I use every day doesn't work on it, then it is of no use to me. There must be thousands of people who have upgraded to an iMac Retina, expecting Adobe Illustrator to work perfectly. I was looking forward to the experience of using that stunning Retina display and boosting my productivity.

Apple should recognise that this is their problem too, because people will hold off buying iMac Retinas if Illustrator doesn't function properly. Apple should be working with Adobe or putting pressure on them to fix it. Maybe they already are...can anyone from Adobe comment on this?

[bozogubu]

i I don't think Apple and Adobe are in best of terms for any company to advice or put pressure on another. The sad reality is that there is t a real alternative to illustrator out there.

[petersch73]

Hi, I´m in contact with Adobe (Austria). I think i have to give back the imac retina and choose the non retina or to geht a mac mini...

Some day affinity designer will be a good alternative but not now because i miss "drafting spaces" (do not know the english word;-)

I´ve tried this (german / try to translate): (but did´t work)

--------------------------------------------

Sehr geehrter Herr Schneider,

vielen Dank für das freundliche Telefonat. (thanks for calling)

　Wie telefonisch besprochen, übersende ich Ihnen einige Lösungsansätze die Sie einmal versuchen können.

1. Setzen Sie einmal die Voreinstellungen zurück. Benennen Sie dazu folgenden Ordner um:

- go to prefernces / rename foders

[Benutzername]/Library/Preferences/Adobe InCopy/Version 10.0

[Benutzername]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator 18 Settings

Um den versteckten Ordner Library anzuwählen klicken Sie bitte im Finder "Gehe zu" --> "Gehe zu Ordner" und geben den Befehl "~/Library" ein.

- how to choose a hide folder

2. Bitte legen Sie einmal einen neuen Administrator an und prüfen auf diesem die Funktion.

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4600?viewlocale=de_DE&locale=de_DE

- create new admin and check if it´s working now

3. Starten Sie den Mac einmal im Saveboot.

So wird das System im sicheren Modus gestartet (sicherer Systemstart):

- start your mac in saveboot:

1. Stellen Sie sicher, dass der Computer heruntergefahren ist. - make sure your computer is off.

2. Die Ein-/Aus-Taste drücken. - press on/off

3. Drücken Sie sofort nach dem Startton die Umschalttaste, und halten Sie diese gedrückt. Die Umschalttaste ist so schnell wie möglich nach dem Startton zu drücken, jedoch nicht vorher. - after Startsound press immediately shift (but not before the sound)

4. Lassen Sie die Umschalttaste los, wenn das graue Apple-Symbol und die Fortschrittsanzeige (ein sich drehendes Zahnrad) angezeigt werden. -

Tritt der Fehler dann noch immer auf, übersenden Sie mir bitte einen Systembereicht:

- if that error comes again send us a systeminformations

Um uns die Systeminformationen Ihres Macs zur Verfügung zu stellen, gehen Sie bitte wie folgt vor:

- how to geht the infos

1. Klicken Sie bitte oben links auf das Apfel Symbol.

2. Nun klicken Sie auf "Über diesen Mac".

3. Klicken Sie auf die Schaltfläche "weitere Informationen".

4. Diese dann bitte speichern.

Datei dann in ein .zip Archiv und verpacken und an dieses die Endung .txt anfügen (Beispiel: [Name].zip.txt

Bitte senden Sie mir innerhalb von 5 Werktagen eine Rückmeldung über Ihr Kundenprofil auf www.adobe.com/go/de_supportportal zu. Erhalten wir innerhalb dieses Zeitraumes keine Information von Ihnen, wird der Vorgang automatisch durch unser System geschlossen. Sie haben jedoch innerhalb von 14 Tagen, jederzeit die Möglichkeit Ihren Vorgang neu zu eröffnen. 

Bei weiteren Fragen stehe ich Ihnen gern zur Verfügung.

[sltplz]

This is a sh*tty automatic answer, well done Adobe.

Even with a brand new computer, fresh yosemite install, fresh illustrator cc install, same issue. They wants to make believe that your $3K computer and software configuration is the problem, but their beloved illustrator and dev team are certainly not the issue, of course they're not!

[sltplz]

I have been using illustrator my entire carrer too, so what's the matter? At some point, let's just face it, Adobe is really bad, their economic system is bad, they just profit to be alone in the vector software market. That'll change, just give some more time.

Do you see any support here from Adobe? they just laughing behind their big shiny desk.

[OwenSlik]

This morning I installed Illustrator CC on my old Windows 7 Laptop (i7 2.0GHz, 64bit, Nvidia GT540, 6Gb Ram) and it runs like a dream. It's noticeably faster than CS5.1 and I'm already finding the new features useful.

From all the information presented here, it is obvious that Illustrator CC has compatibility issues with the Apple Retina displays. This issue has to be addressed at some point in the future because I assume Apple will eventually phase out the non-Retina displays. The question is, how long do we have to wait?

My Retina iMac is boxed up and will be returned to the store this evening. So whether Apple are on terms with Adobe or not, it is in their interest to help fix this problem. Right now, they have one less iMac customer, and I can't be the only one.

My opinion of Adobe is somewhat divided. I depend on their products to make a living and always have done, and right now there are no alternatives. Illustrator CC seems like a definite improvement over previous versions and works well on my Windows system. Just because one program that Adobe produce isn't compatible with a specific piece of hardware, it doesn't make them a bad company, but their lack of response on this thread isn't very encouraging to me.

[Jake Givens]

Just wanted to add to the number of frustrated users waiting for a fix. I've been following this forum for close to 3 weeks now (since getting my retina iMac) and am baffled that there hasn't been more than just the few responses from Adobe that provide no insight into a fix. This is incredibly frustrating! Please provide all of us that are waiting with some kind of update...

[rezengine]

Has anybody actually submitted a bug for this in the Adobe BugBase? If so can I please have the reference?

EDIT: I have submitted a bug at: Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[Crowe About It]

   If anyone contacts Adobe or Apple relating to this issue, please can you post they response. I think we could do with putting together what feedback, if any, we get. Do Adobe even have a technical department we can contact?