Unwanted Displacements of Objects and Strokes in Large Canvas

[Someone75]

When creating a document that needs a canvas that's larger than 227" it results in pathes, objects and even gridlines being offset from their original path without any additional effects?

When creating a document that has a 227" canvas averything is correctly aligned to their place.

Did not find a way to fix this with any trick ... big canvas just seems bascially broken.

(Look at the images, what a mess, isn't it? And you cannot change anything to make it work. It looks like an effect in apperance, but there is none... )

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Someone75,

Thanks so much for sharing those screenshots. The distortion and misalignment you're seeing on canvases larger than 227" definitely looks unexpected and I can understand how frustrating that must be.

Could you let me know which version of Illustrator and operating system you're currently using? Also, does this happen with all files once you switch to a large canvas, or only in specific cases? If you haven't already, please try creating a new file with a simple shape on a large canvas and see if the issue appears there as well.

Additionally, it would be really helpful if you could share a sample file so we can test this further. You’re welcome to upload it via a cloud sharing service like Google Drive or Dropbox and share the download link here. If the file contains confidential information, feel free to send it over via DM on the community.

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

Abhishek

[Someone75]

@Abhishek Rao 

• Each of these files is a brand new document
• It will be caused by all large canvas files
• OS X Sequoia 15.5
• If I use a brush form a smaler codument, it will get the same offset like copy & paste
• If I create a new brush stroke in a new document the offset is much smaller, but there is an offset, still - example image with standard brush attached (currently the upload in the forum seems broken: https://imgur.com/a/D2Rd5hM)

I cannot upload the files here. Find the downlod available for 3 days from now: https://we.tl/t-5ad4Ou4VJX

[Ton Frederiks]

There are several problems with large canvas documents and this is one of them from 5 years ago:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/41713246-brush-...

[Someone75]

I know, such a shame. I fond it today, too. But I thought it would be better to keep pressure high (:D) and post it in the forum, too.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

In addition to the bug that @Ton Frederiks referenced, remember that the large canvas is just a behind-the-scenes mathmatical manipulation. Illustrator just multiplies everything by 10. (Note that the maximum view goes down by a factor of 10.)

In the "old days", we would just adjust the output scale when printing. Of course, the large canvas is more convienient, but it's really not that special. Perhaps you can try the output scale with your original drawing.

[Ton Frederiks]

I agree with @Dave Creamer of IDEAS just using a scale percentage will prevent many problems. I have a whole list of large canvas problems and I would suggest to avoid it when possible.

[Someone75]

Yes I know, I do it this way, too. But why should anyone offer a canvas, which is just not working? For years ...

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Yes I know, I do it this way, too. But why should anyone offer a canvas, which is just not working? For years ...

By @Someone75

IMHO, user complaints/feature requests. Other vector illustration programs have no or larger canvas size limits. 

[Bobby Henderson]

The rivals to Illustrator do have maximum art board sizes.

CorelDRAW has a maximum page size of 1800" X 1800"; however, the maximum zoom-out view won't accommodate it on rectangular computer monitors. Once a page size reaches the 1000" size range it starts to become a hassle navigating the view. A huge object, such as a side elevation view of a building, may have to be reduced to a scale such as 50% or 10% of actual size. Precision to object sizing and positioning can affected to a certain degree when working at giant sizes.

Affinity Designer has a maximum art board size of 256,000 X 256,000 pixels. If the document has a 300ppi resolution that would be 853.333" in either direction. 72" would be 3555.556". Just because a document can go that big doesn't mean it should.

Sign industry design apps like Flexi can have page sizes go beyond 2000" but, again, precision starts taking hits and the application can even become unstable. An old rival to Flexi, called CASmate, could crash when editing giant-sized objects. A welding operation might bring up an error box saying: "integer, square root of negative number" and then the application window would often vanish along with any un-saved work.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

@Bobby Henderson my first post was going to name  names like yours, but I didn't wanna cause any grief with Adobe. 😊

[Bobby Henderson]

I don't think it's a bad thing mentioning rivals to Illustrator by name, especially when doing so to point out a capability they might not really have, such as an unlimited maximum art board size.

Over the years I've seen a lot of forum participants beat up on Adobe for the art board size limits in Illustrator, often claiming the other guys' apps don't have any limits at all. Every vector graphics app has its sizing limits.

[Someone75]

The whole discussion does not get the point: If a program offers a functionallity, it should just work. That's so simple.

If Illustrator cannot handle big canvas - don't offer it. If it is completely buggy - don't offer it.

That's all.

But don't promote features which do not work.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I think it works IF you create the large canvas first and then create the art on the large canvas. But generally, an 18+ foot square canvas has always been enough for my work, so I'm not speaking from much experience. 

[Someone75]

@Dave Creamer of IDEASOh one migth think like you did, but: Drawing on a big canvas with a brush will always result in an offset! It is much smaller sometimes only slighhtly, but there is always an offset, even with the standard brush. So it does not work at all. Have a look at the image I provided in my first reply.

[Bobby Henderson]

The whole discussion does not get the point: If a program offers a functionallity, it should just work. That's so simple.

By @Someone75

The problem is the math defining the objects is not so simple. The trick Illustrator does to allow a large canvas mode makes the underlying math more difficult. It's not surprising to me various technical problems could appear.

The large canvas mode in Adobe Illustrator exists for special use cases, not for general purpose work. The normal 227" X 227" art board limit is usually enough for most people. I can even fit a lot of full size sign design projects in that space.

[Someone75]

@Bobby Hendersonit does not work even for "special" use cases. I tried to use it for a 15 to 2 meters print. So for which other "special" case should I use the big canvas other than exactly this case? And if it does not work - it does not work for a "special" case, too.

(I'm not interested in the math of a feature, I'm interested if it works or not)

[Bobby Henderson]

Math doesn't care how anyone feels about a feature. Math is in the foundation of Illustrator and the math being computed to do various things is often not simple at all. I doubt the people who developed PDF and re-built Illustrator upon PDF merely decided on a 227" X 227" art board size limit. Obviously it's some kind of barrier and one that is not easy to change. The large canvas mode is an attempted work-around and even it opens a can of worms.

The "special use cases" I'm talking about is doing large scale designs solely within Illustrator. I can design huge signs, vehicle wraps, duplicate elevations of modest buildings and more using the large canvas mode just fine. The problem is exporting the artwork to other industry specific applications and having them honor that large canvas scale. None of them do so. I have to stick with using Illustrator in its normal mode and make certain big things maybe 50% or 10% of their normal size and then scale them up to full size in the target application where the art is being exported.