Larger Canvas in Illustrator 24.2 – 100x more space!

[Om Nath Jha]

The latest release of Illustrator (24.2) comes with one of the most requested features, a larger canvas with 100x more space to keep all your assets organized in one project.

Now whether you need room to design or create wall art, billboards, advertisements, and more, you can expand your canvas area without worrying about the artwork dimensions, precision, and scale.

Illustrator 24.2 offers a canvas size of 2270 x 2270 inches which lets you create multiple artboards with larger dimensions. You can also use these updated units in the Units drop-down: Feet, Meters, Yards, and Feet & Inches.

To ensure that the new document is created with a larger canvas use the following settings in the New Document dialog:

• Specify the artboard size of more than 227 inches (default canvas size). You can also choose the specified units in Feet, Meters, Yards, or Feet & Inches.
• Large canvas allows you to accommodate more artboards than the default canvas size.

An alert sign is displayed at the bottom of the New document dialog indicating that the specified dimensions are bigger than the default canvas size and the new document will be created on a large canvas. 

Check this link for more details about this feature.

Large canvas FAQs:

Can I copy artwork from a large canvas to the default canvas?

• Yes, you can copy-and-paste artwork from large-sized canvas to the default canvas. However, if the large-scale artwork does not fit in the canvas or hits canvas bounds, the artwork is automatically scaled down to fit into the canvas size. 

Can I save large-scaled artwork as a PDF?

• Yes, you can save your artwork as a PDF.  To view your artwork in actual size, use Acrobat 1.6 or later.
• When you save the large-scaled artwork with the PDF version 1.5 or below, the artwork is scaled-down and appears ten times smaller on opening the PDF.

What happens when I Open the large-scaled artwork in a previous version of Illustrator?

• When you save or export the artwork created on a large-sized canvas in Illustrator version below 24.0, the artwork will appear ten times smaller so that it gets accommodated in the default canvas size. Note that it may also disable some editing features and change the text layout.

What are the Supported formats for export and limitations?

• Currently, the following formats are supported if you export a large-sized document: PDF, PNG, JPEG, PSD, TIFF, and SVG.
• The Slices and Save for web features do not currently work with large-size canvas. If you are using Actions that involve these features, steps related to them will be skipped.

Check this link for more FAQs and known issues.

[Disposition_Dev]

My comment didn't mention any software that has an unlimited canvas size.

[defaultszj41mrg4ehe]

I use FlexiSign and have not yet found a limit.

[Bobby Henderson]

I've used Flexi for many years, and CASmate prior to that. Neither had specific art board size limits. However, both applications grew increasingly unstable and inaccurate with object drawing with page sizes going 100' or larger. Giant page sizes could induce very odd floating point errors with welding/cutting operations on objects (this was a much bigger problem with CASmate).

[ceyhun_akgun]

Being able to work in the large space is great, but Illustrator working performance needs to be improved.

As the variety of graphic objects increases, Illustrator becomes very heavy when the effect is applied.

Illustrator file size is increasing. It wants more RAM. Opening and saving times are getting longer.

Render performance should increase, graphics processing and re-rendering speeds should increase.

The screen resolution should be low, medium, high like InDesign. So you get fast when working with large graphics.

[Bobby Henderson]

What PPI resolution are you using for the Document Raster Effects Settings when creating a large canvas document? That setting will make a big impact on performance and RAM demands. The setting should be adjusted based on the viewing distance of the finished work. 300 ppi is best for normal size print documents that will be viewed closely. 150 ppi is acceptable for something like a one-sheet poster. 72 ppi is acceptable for vehicle graphics and wraps on normal sized vehicles. The setting can go lower for something like an image spanning a semi truck trailer. Large format printed sign faces can drop down to 36 ppi. Most billboards have raster effects set at 25 ppi.

Illustrator has a handful of resolution presets in the new document dialog box. But any custom number for PPI can be entered in the Document Raster Effects Settings dialog box. Go to the Effect menu and select Document Raster Effects Settings to make desired changes.

[OldBob1957]

Though aimed at the fine art world, this is still one of the best quick references on viewing distance that I have found:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/what-print-resolution-works-for-what-viewing-distance/

[peterl88413553]

It would be nice if you start with a large canvas and then drop below the 227" that illustrator would release the hold on the large canvas.  This come sup when a client prepares a file all together and we break apart. Say file supplied has 4 80"x80" artboards. I want to save out at 100% to print. So, we break the artoards out to name individually, removing the unwanted artboards adn well under the 227" limit. Since it was created with a large canvas, my files are saving out as 10% size. *Feature Request Fix*

[whistlerpro21]

Hi I was excited to use this feature as we quite often create large artworks for use inside and on the sides of buses and trains. However our Print PDFs usually use bleed and crop marks, and when we export a Print PDF using the large canvas size, these marks appear oversized, just like they would if I exported a 10% scaled document. Can this be resolved? I don't see the point of the feature otherwise.

[Bobby Henderson]

If you are exporting artwork to an external, non-Adobe application (such as a large format RIP that drives a large format or grand format printer) that external application may not honor all the features in the latest builds of Adobe Illustrator. The large canvas feature along with other recent additions such as freeform gradient fills need to be used with care and perhaps some testing and experimentation regarding one's own production work flow and other applications involved in that work flow. 

[Creamer Training]

This thread is getting long, but I posted this a while back:

All this feature is really doing is the 10x math in the background. You will notice that the size "increased" 10x (squared), but the zoom is reduced 10x. 

[whistlerpro21]

Thanks for the pointers. Yes it seems we will have to resort to using scaled artwork for a while longer until these kinds of kinks are sorted out. 

[jan oveu90287957]

I first noticed this on the Illustrator on iPad app.  Had a 8000 mm wide banner that I by normal had to do in 50% scale, but somehow I endet up with 500% scale 😉

Superb improvement, but why use inches when the world is metric?

[Monika Gause]

You know that you can select the units in a document, right?

[jan oveu90287957]

Off course 😄. I was referring to the article above.  Also the fact that inches and feet are default, so we have to alter this to normal metric measures when opening a new document.

Illustrator did original support my language also, but skipped this several years ago.  Still I can select my language in document setup for spell check etc. and choose the menues that fits my purposes the best (like keybord increment for duplicating specific distances).

[Monika Gause]

What is the default depends on how you set up your New document profiles.

[Met1]

something the Americans haven't come to grips with yet...

[Bobby Henderson]

You bumped this thread just to say that garbage?

[Met1]

Awesome, Bobby spoke to me...

[Omar.Fathy]

One of the most important things we have been waiting for from Adobe. No need to divide the sizes that prevent misunderstanding from the printing houses. Only the only negative thing is that the raster resolution is low 🙂

[Marcelo21784912nzqf]

I have problems exporting to PDF it says something about my artwork will appear ten times smaller as it is created on a large-size canvas.

[whistlerpro21]

Yes there is still an issue with PDF export, it needs to scale all the elements like bleed & printers marks. Also I would be nervous sending this to print without scale information, in case the printing house did not understand the feature.

[defaultszj41mrg4ehe]

Once you are sending a job for Grand Format output, FORGET printermarks and bleed.

You build the bleed into the file directly, for example a wrap for the the side of a box truck measuring 88" x 240" your file is 89" x 241" and the extra inch is on the bottom and the right, for a huge banner no bleed at all.

You are thinking in a level of precision that does NOT exist once the artwork is that large

[Bobby Henderson]

There is much that is not well understood with designing graphics for different kinds of large format purposes (signs, vehicle wraps, billboards, etc). Many people out there don't even understand the very basic difference between raster/pixel-based artwork and vector-based artwork. Hence all the JPEG files I routinely receive from clients of company "logos." Another common problem: if pixel-based graphics are involved, be it photos or raster-based effects applied to vector elements, the resolution level is not appropriate for the intended viewing distance from which the final product will be seen. 300ppi might be fine for imagery printed on a letter-sized piece of paper, but it is way over-kill for large format, outdoor purposes. There are different optimal resolution levels depending on the item printed, be it a one-sheet poster, POP display, trade show booth, vehicle wrap or a billboard. LED-based signs are a whole other rabbit hole to consider. If the graphics are all vector-based then there are no worries.

When preparing files that will be sent to a third party service bureau, such as a company that prints billboard faces for example, it is always best to get their artwork submission guidelines. That way the designer will know what kinds of files (and version number of those files) is preferred. And they can get that company's own suggested bleed requirements to build into artwork. On the other hand, when doing something like replacing the faces in an existing sign cabinet the nature of that cabinet may dictate the amount of bleed needed, like if the cabinet holds flexible faces using a certain kind of clip and retention system. A certain amount of extra material is needed to accommodate that hardware.

[whistlerpro21]

I take the point you wouldn't use bleed and marks on the whole side of a truck or a bus advert for example. But there are plenty of projects I'm involved in where the end product is say a very large graphic that is divided into several artboards of for example 1000x400mm. It would be nice to have the option to export this as a PDF with bleed and marks at 100%. Which is currently not possible.

[Met1]

This is just another item to build into your work flow:- modify your bleed, make your own crops and registration marks etc - see Sergey Anosov's script page https://sites.google.com/site/dtpscripting/illustrator-scripts