Type looks jagged/pixelated inside Illustrator

[Illusiumd11]

I'm having a tuff time searching around for solutions on this. Just bought a new Dell U2412M. Maybe I'm nit-picking too much, but my type in Illus looks slightly pixelated on the curves. I have anti-aliasing turned on in the pref and I'm zoomed at 100. Is there a way inside Illus I can fix this? Or is it just the limitations of my monitor?

[Mike_Gondek]

Does ti look that way in all apps?

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/step1.aspx

View >> Pixel Preview (OFF)

[Illusiumd11]

Thanks for the reply. Neither of these options fixes the problem. Then again, maybe it's my monitor? It looks as though the same text/font is much cleaner in photoshop. Much cleaner in InDesign as well.

This would suck if it were my monitor as I just have a new Dell UltraSharp U2412M. Should have held out for retina I am now thinking to myself.

[EricaLynneLarson]

Hi there, could you possibly post a screen shot of this pixellation?

[EricaLynneLarson]

You may also try going to Illustrator > Preferences > General and making sure the Anti-aliased artwork box is checked.

Without the box checked:

With the box checked:

I hope this helps!

[Illusiumd11]

So back at it. Somtimes I can get by... but I've got to figure this out. Either I need a new monitor or video card... or my eyes are going topot. I do have anti-aliasing turned on.

[Mike_Gondek]

What scale is that screenshot 100%? What happens when you zoom in further.

View >> Pixel Preview (Uncheck)

[sarahs32308547]

Hi, I'm having the same problem (I'm using a iMac), but this does not change anything or changing the pixel preview view. My college has the same problems with different artworks and a pc. InDesign isn't clear at 100% either. 

[phxs]

Hi there, i've been suffering with the same issue and there's nothing about my laptop that justifies what's happening. This thing is killing me.

[Monika Gause]

phxs  schrieb

Hi there, i've been suffering with the same issue and there's nothing about my laptop that justifies what's happening. This thing is killing me.

Please show.

It's couple of years later, so likely it's not the same issue.

[phxs]

Hi Monika,

Thanks for the quick response. I apologize if i commented in the wrong topic, but i am having this problem with some triangle shapes in a logo i'm designing with Illustrator CC 2018, but after trying multiple things, i realized that the color is making the shapes look jagged. The 100% black in the CMYK palette and the dark colors on Pantone + Solid Coated seems to be causing this.

[Monika Gause]

Without seeing it, nobody will be able to comment.

[charlieb99528702]

For me, I turned off the GPU Performance on the performance tab and it

works fine now. I too thought my laptop would be plenty but alas this was

the fix I found.

On Sun, Nov 5, 2017 at 10:51 AM, Monika Gause <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

[charlieb99528702 · Accepted solution]

For me, I turned off the GPU Performance on the performance tab and it

works fine now. I too thought my laptop would be plenty but alas this was

the fix I found.

[Merpire Designs]

Thanks that worked like a charm for me 🙂

[marshalletm]

Hey, I was having the same issue.

For me it was specifically the text that was "blurry" at certain zoom percentages. Not quite pixelating but "blurry" or just going wonky.

I too turned off my GPU settings but this only minorly helped, however, I did notice a difference elsewhere than the fonts issues.

MY SOLUTION:

In the character panel with 'show options' selected. Change the character anti-aliasing.

Mine was set to 'Crisp"

Changing to 'Sharp' or 'Strong' fixed issue.

Cheers!

[karlad67517650 · Accepted solution]

I couldn't figure out why my text was pixelated for the longest time. Finally in the View tab make sure "Overprint Preview" and "Pixel Preview" are not selected.

[Mike25981532vbm7]

*THIS* was it for me. All the other suggestions I had tried. But unchecking pixel preview is what worked for me.

[wekarea]

Anyone have an answer to this? I've also tried all the suggestions here and nothing works. My graphics look terrible! 😞 

[Eric26207446928p]

Same issue here, nothing suggested worked. I though vectors don't give us this pixelated garbage which is why I used that method. But all I've got now is hot garbage, please help.

[Monika Gause]

Same issue here, nothing suggested worked. I though vectors don't give us this pixelated garbage which is why I used that method. But all I've got now is hot garbage, please help.

By @Eric26207446928p

You are answering a thread from 2013.

Please create a new one.

Post information on your system and Illustrator version.

Also under which circumstances you see what you cann garbage.

And also: a screenshot.

[Big3303755197rb]

Yeah it worked for me too I just hope when I print out the picture in my dtf printer the letters will look the same. Has anyone printed out letters pixelated and then changed this option and they come out fine now. Just asking ?

[Monika Gause]

Try and print a PDF from Acrobat.

[HuzzaCreative]

This happened to me when I created a custom complex shape that had a few overlapping shapes. I imagine some of the paths and anchors that I changed and/or deleted must have contributed to the pixellation issues.  I tried almost all of the answers below but none of them worked.

I think there are two alternatives. Completely recreate the shape/object from scratch, and don't do anything to "mess up the pathing." I didn't try this one because the shape was perfectly fine except for the pixellated stroke.

The second option, I think this one is easiest.

1) "Copy" the shape (assuming it is a complex, compound shape you had to make from scratch) into a new project. Note: The copied shape still had pixelation issues when I added a stroke. 2) Export that image to a PNG. Note: You need an image in order to use the Image Trace tool.

3) Reopen that PNG of the shape in Illustrator. 4) Use the image trace function to isolate and recreate the object. Note: This might require a few steps because you need to isolate the shape from the background, and you might need to readd color.

5) Copy + paste the new object you made with Image Trace back into your original project. The stroke should be as smooth as you'd expect.

So I wasn't able to get to the "root cause" of the problem which I believe has to do with creating complicated compound shapes that overlap, and not using the "ideal" way to create a single solid shape from it. But this is a great work around.

[HuzzaCreative]

Edit: I wrote "I tried almost all of the answers below but none of them worked."

I was referring to "other solutions," not the two I suggested. I assumed other peoples solutions would have appeared below this one.