New 2023 Illustrator Versions Getting Worse & Worse Completely Unstable

[Blazethe1st]

Seriosuly what on earth is going on Adobe?

Illustrator is meant to be the professional standard for the industry.

Millions rely on it daily for mission critical work.

It is completely unacceptable that with each update the product gets worse and worse and more unstable.

I have had our work flow widly interupted basically all year, I even had to get someone from Adobe take over my computer to create fixes which lasted nearly two hours and nothing has been the same since. Hugely inconvenient. The latest version has now stopped launching, just like every other version this year.

Need to go back at least 5 versions or more to make anything happen.

It's simply not good enough.

[Doug A Roberts]

I feel like I've jumped in to the middle of a conversation here. Do you want to go into detail about any of your issues for the benefit of the forum?

[Blazethe1st]

Essentially, each version from 27.0 onwards we have encountered nuermous problems, especially around loading. Upon upgrade of each new release it will work from anywhere from a day to a few weeks and then progressively get buggier and buggier and then at next open will not open at all. It just gets stuck and will not open at all. Have had to revert back to 27.0

[DaddyDoom]

Performance is slower.

Rendering is terrible. I even get blurred vectors, and have to go in and out of wireframe mode to restore it.
And this happens even with simple stuff. I'm not talking about crazy heavy documents with millions of points and gradients. Its stuff that one year ago ran smoothly and now is just an absolute mess.
Photos inside clipping masks often appear completely weird and out of bounds.
The overall performance is just decreasing terribly, and was NEVER an issue before.

[Doug A Roberts]

Can you go into detail about a single issue, with screenshots? It's difficult to help with nonspecific lists.

[DaddyDoom]

I would, If I wasnt already behind schedule because anything takes 3 times longer now.

Surely I'm not the only user having this issue.

[DaddyDoom]

here's one, just now: blurred vectors (text and illustration).

Never, in two decades of using this app, I got blurred vectors inside AI.
I have to go in and out of wireframe or zoom out to view it correctly. 

[Doug A Roberts]

Can you share your whole workspace (not cropped)?

What exact version of AI are you using?

What steps did you take to get that result?

[DaddyDoom]

Whole space is a big vertical area.
Here's a portion of it. How it looks when zoomed in.

 AI version 28.2
Any step can lead to this result.
I can be panning around the canvas to move stuff around, and large chunks of the artwork appear like this.
Like I said before, I have to go in and out of wireframe mode (for example) to put the preview as it should.
This happens in the simplest of things. What I have here are simple text boxes and simple vector elements.
This started to happen since last update.

[Doug A Roberts]

By 'workspace' I mean your Illustrator window so I can see things like preview mode, zoom level etc.

[DaddyDoom]

GPU performance is off now, for the sake of being able to finish what I have to do in time.

[Ton Frederiks]

Is this happening on a normal or large canvas document?

Does it change when you change your preview to CPU Preview (Ctrl or Cmd E)? If so, can you update the drivers for your graphics card (don't use game optimized drivers)?

[DaddyDoom]

I'm on a Mac. I never needed drivers in my godman life.

[DaddyDoom]

I have GPU Performance on, because I rather work with Animated Zoom.
Always had GPU preview on, and only since the last update this became an issue.

[Ton Frederiks]

You can have multiple versions installed. Install the previous version too if that is working better for you.

What Mac OS are you using, there seem to be some problems with Sonoma.

You can also contact Adobe Support, they can have a look into your Mac:

https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?rghtup=autoOpen

[DaddyDoom]

Still on Monterey.

Like I said. These problems have been verified since last AI update.
Aside from the occasional hickup on InDesign or Photoshop, all is more or less working. Only AI is working weird, specially when it comes to preview and rendering issues, which did not happen before.

[Doug A Roberts]

This may be an issue with an update to the rendering system in 28.2. I'm trying to find out more. Only Mac users seem to have reported it and I can't trigger it myself.

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/47758649

[DaddyDoom]

Ok man. Thanks for the trouble and help.
GPU performance off is working ok atm, but I hate not having animated zoom.
I'm constantly jumping around the canvas, zooming in and out, and with standard zoom is just very unpractical.

[DaddyDoom]

Plus:
Adobe just announced a raise in the monthly fee, and yet software performance seems to be the least of their concerns.
Seems like AI is the focus now, and all the rest went to hell.
I depend on Adobe to work. They are my daily tools, and I happily pay for the service, but this is getting increasing frustrating.

[DaddyDoom]

Still on this topic, because since the OP, there was no update or patching to solve anything whatsoever, AI continues to deal us with increasingly crappy performance.
Latest is that zooming in a file with only a low res PNG that I'm using to rebuild a chart. So... nothing else but a low resolution image and half a dozen text boxes with very few characters, some lines and rectangles.
I zoom in, and it takes about 10 DAMN SECONDS for the zoom actually happen. 10 SECONDS.
I already have GPU Performance and Animated Zoom off.
So, in a nutsheel, 10 seconds for AI to process a zoom in a document with very little information.
I don't know what the hell you guys are doing... seriously.
Far gone is the time where I opened the app early in the morning. Worked in it for a whole day, without crashes, freezes and other idiotic shenanigans.
Now I have to shutdown and reopen the app at least 4 times a day.
Just embaracing.

[Nicky G.]

I agree about your user experience. 20 years ago I used Freehand to do everything (graphics, logos, various layouts), now I mostly use Indesign, also because due to the very uncomfortable user experience, Illustrator does not allow fluid, precise, stable and fast use. Crashes every 2x3, inaccurate snapping, GPU display bugs, slow to switch between sides etc. etc. and I'm talking about simple shapes and elements nothing 3D, or heavy effects applied. The problem is that I can't use Indesign to do everything!!! or the solution would be to suffer a little in using Affinity Designer for a year (I believe that after 1 year you are expert enough to use it with agility on all fronts) and abandon Illustrator definitively. But then once one step has been taken, others will be taken by moving on to the entire Affinity suite (they work and think in the same way anyway)...

[DaddyDoom]

All these UE trouble is a fairly recent issue, probably for the last two years (at least for me).
InDesign is also my weapon of choice for most things, but I still need AI for more vector based stuff.
I can't even think about moving to another app, because I work in a pipeline of several graphic designers who at some point need to work on each others files, so Adobe has to be used.
Every new release has lots of new features, but the stuff that needs to be fixed keeps on migrating to new instances, and this is frustrating.

[Nicky G.]

You are right! Although it is very wasteful of resources and time, I believe that the best idea is to rewrite the entire software from scratch! only in this way will it be able to make the most of its unexpressed potential.
They continue to put new features, some useful, some useful, and others that burden the system (see the whole 3D part), but they should first fix the bugs that the software has had for decades. But I understand that sales logic dictates new features. But those who have the subscription will continue to pay with new features or not, so I wonder, isn't it better for them to think about solving the structural problems? it's frustrating having to work with precision and not being able to achieve it, always working under stress and pressure and tight deadlines and struggling with software that slows down day by day...

[DaddyDoom]

I really dont care about features that are mostly shortcuts for stuff I've been doing already using other methods.
Just fix the core and the rest  will follow. Make it stable. Make the rendering and previewing good AGAIN.
Animated Zoom should be a standard thing and not an option. Who the hell still uses the non-animated zoom? Its not even remotely practical to have to choose the area you want to zoom in and then to zoom out you either have to click-click-click or back at full page view to zoom in again. ITS JUST IDIOTIC!!!!!
Also... the handling of images of AI versus InDesign? AI files become HUGE. Same with PDFs. Indd PDFs generated using the same images as in a AI file are way smaller. PDF's from AI are leviathans. WHY?????
I could be here all day...
I could be here all day, but I have work to do.

[Monika Gause]

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@DaddyDoom  schrieb:

Also... the handling of images of AI versus InDesign? AI files become HUGE. Same with PDFs. Indd PDFs generated using the same images as in a AI file are way smaller. 

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When saving an AI file, do not check "PDF compatible file". This option makes the file huge.