Very very annoying Animated Zoom Bug

[Bobby Henderson]

I've been trying to get to the bottom of a performance issue with Adobe Illustrator 26.1. Prior to this update I had GPU-enabled animated zoom working in both preview and wireframe mode. It was nice. Now I only have animated zoom on my computer system working in preview mode on a very limited basis. And that's after recovering from a severe Illustrator crash. Animated zoom works when I open the document and work on it, but if I view the document at all in wireframe view the animated zoom capability in preview mode gets disabled. It's back to using a lot of clicks and mouse/pen drags the old fashioned way. I'm used to being able to use animated "scrubby" zoom and do not feel like going backward in standards, especially when I have computing hardware more than "legit" enough to get all the performance bells and whistles.

First I tried resetting the AI Prefs file when I was getting zero animated zoom at all in either preview or wireframe view. That resulted in the severe crash I mentioned. Illustrator was totally unable to open or start a new document without the view going into infinite zoom and strobing between blue and white on the screen like the application was having a seizure. I ended up completely uninstalling Illustrator and then reinstalling it. Now the application is operational again, but only with animated zoom working on a very limited basis.

Hardware details: Alienware X17 notebook, 4K 120Hz display, 64GB RAM, Nvidia RTX-3070 graphics board, OS: Windows 10 Pro. I don't understand why the application's performance could have been degraded; the system is well above the minimum hardware requirements.

[Guest]

the same! No helping strategy. So frustrating, as it sows down our whole work flow of the design team here!

Let´s hope, someone of the developers will read it and take action, as this is the reason why he will be paid. 

Re: AI 26.1 - GPU preview unavailable when switchi... - Adobe Support Community - 12803643

There are several uservoice requests of the same issue since years. 

Re: AI 26.1 - GPU preview unavailable when switchi... - Adobe Support Community - 12803643

gpu animated zoom ramdomly disables after 25.0.1 update (25.2.1) – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

Smooth animated zoom not working in Overprint Preview. – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

Animated zoom and smart guide STUCK!! – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

animated zoom malfunctions after placing images in illustrator – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

Animated Zoom Broken – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

Animated zoom stops working after preview – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

View Using GPU Gets Greyed Out Permanently with Outline Mode – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

Ilustrator needs to have the option to use Animated Zoom in Outline Mode – Adobe Illustrator (uservo...

Animated/Scrubby Zoom in Outline Mode – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

gpu animated zoom ramdomly disables after 25.0.1 update (25.2.1) – Adobe Illustrator (uservoice.com)

Surely there are more open requests recording the same bug. It´s only a quick search result, manually. Computers and algorithms should be able to cluster this automatically to provide this to the developers. But obviously, adobe is too  busy to act. 

[Bobby Henderson]

I have a fairly new desktop computer at work with similar hardware (11th gen 8-core Core i7 CPU, RTX-3070 8GB GPU, 64GB of RAM, 1 TB NVMe Boot SSD, 2 TB SATA HDD, Win 10 Pro). I have 2 1080p 27" 60Hz monitors hooked up to it. Adobe Illustrator's animated zoom works in GPU preview mode, but has never worked in Outline view on this system.

I'm planning on upgrading the OS to Win 11 Pro just to see if some of the issues get corrected. (Update: upgrading from Win 10 Pro to Win 11 Pro doesn't make a difference with the problem).

[Guest]

Outline view: On both of my systems the animated zoom is disabled in the outline view. (From my experience, it never worked in wire frame mode since introduction in 2015. Been working with Mac as well as MS Windows. 

[Bobby Henderson]

I had animated zoom in Outline view within Illustrator for a pretty good period of time on my Alienware X17 R1 notebook. That was from the time I first purchased it late last summer up until just recently. I think the Illustrator update just prior to 26.1 broke the capability. Now I'm having issues with animated zoom in both GPU Preview and Outline view.

Animated zoom is pretty nice to have, especially if you're using a high refresh display like what I have in this notebook (3840 X 2160 resolution, 120Hz). The high refresh rate makes the zoom action very smooth. The difference is pretty noticeable between a high refresh display and a standard 60Hz display. Having the capability in Outline view is an added plus. I can fine tune how tight a view I zoom in on an object I'm editing without having to do extra mouse clicks. And that's kind of important if you're toggling between keyboard short cuts for drawing and editing paths with the pen tool and activating zoom and hand-pan functions while editing those paths. Some of the work can get a little delicate. Animated zoom allows more careful control by minimizing the extra mouse clicks and drags necessary with the standard zoom methods. The extra mouse clicks and lead to errors when you're trying to get work done fast.

[Bobby Henderson]

An additional note: when I open an Adobe Illustrator .AI document (or AIC file from the cloud) the GPU accelerated Preview mode is enabled. But if I switch the view to Outline and then switch back to Preview the GPU-enabled Preview mode is disabled. In the View menu the option "View using GPU" is grayed out. So there is definitely a problem going on.

Also, the RTX 3070 GPU in my Alienware X17 notebook is running the NVIDIA Studio Driver, version 511.65. The issue with animated zoom occurs regardless if the GPU is running the Gaming Driver or Studio Driver.

[Wicked Sushi]

I have had this issue for probably over a year now and the only decent solution I found was keep using AI 2021. I was going to rant on here about how the bug is still not fixed, but then I just found an okay workaround:

1. Click "View using CPU".
2. Select "Outline".
3. Do the work.
4. Select "Preview" to get out of outline mode.
5. Click "View using GPU".
6. Repeat.

Animated zoom still won't work in outline mode, but at least this way don't have to close down the app and restart it to get GPU features back. We should be able to use keyboard macros for Step 1+2 and 4+5 to cut down on the clicks, but haven't tested it.

NVIDIA GTX 1070, 32 GB RAM, Windows 10.

[Guest]

@Wicked SushiWell, unfortunately this doesn´t work. Animated zoom won´t work neither with these settings and this work around. 

An idea is: open the work file in 2 windows in AI.

1st window: You are doing the work with animated zoom (don´t ever change with ctrl + y! 😄 )

2nd window: You are just checking and viewing the work using the shortcuts alt + click, mouse or pen clicks. Here you can compare your work with the precision of the outline view. If you want to switch the view you have to handle with the gnarled full view.

[Wicked Sushi]

Darn. It works on my machine™. That's also a great workaround though @Deleted User, especially if you have dual monitors. I just gave it a try.

[Bobby Henderson]

That recipe doesn't work. If the document is viewed in Outline mode then the Preview in GPU command is disabled (grayed out in the menu). The document has to be closed and then re-opened for GPU-based Preview to be available once again.

[Wicked Sushi]

Hmm, with those steps shouldn't have to hit "Preview In GPU" in outline mode. If I go into CPU mode first, then outline, then get out of outline, and switch back to GPU, the command remains. If I do it in the wrong order, it greys out and have to close the window and reopen it to get it back.

I've actually managed to bind the steps as macros on my mouse (one button to get into outline, one button to get out) and it's seamless. If anyone knows how to use complex macro commands, probably could set it as a toggle and just use one key (first time play the commands forwards, then on the second press plays them backwards).

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you though. Hopefully Adobe fixes this in the next release...

[Bobby Henderson]

On my Alienware laptop it doesn't matter what order a preview mode is selected. If the document is viewed in outline view at all after viewing it in CPU or GPU-based Preview then any attempts to view it in GPU-enabled Preview are disabled until the document is closed and then re-opened.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Bobby Henderson @Wicked Sushi @Deleted User,

Sorry to hear about this trouble. We've tried to fix this issue in our latest pre-release build, 26.2. Please install the build from the Beta section of the Creative Cloud Desktop app and share your observations with us. 

We will be looking forward to your response!

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Bobby Henderson]

I installed the 26.2 beta on my Alienware X17 R1 notebook this evening. I still see the animated zoom issue present. If I view the artwork in outline view the "View Using GPU" command in the View menu is grayed out when going back to full color Preview. The application only previews using the CPU. The animated zoom function isn't restored til the document is closed and then re-opened. I tried experimenting with new documents containing hardly any objects to see if a certain kind of object or effect might trigger the problem. If there are no objects in the new document the animated zoom function will remain after toggling outline view with Ctrl+Y. But if there are any objects in the new document at all, be it a rectangle or a single line of text the animated zoom function gets disabled after viewing the artwork in outline view.

[Guest]

@Anshul_Saini  Beta versions inlcude an automatic report of the bugs, errors aso, right? So, would you be able to validate the reasons and therefore to repair it?

[Wicked Sushi]

Hi, I've downloaded the beta version and still experiencing the same issue as before. GPU Preview gets greyed out after going into outline mode.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Bobby Henderson @Wicked Sushi @Deleted User,

Thanks for trying the beta release and confirming this. I have forwarded your query to the product team, and they have tried to address it again. I will update you when the prerelease version with the fix gets out so you can test it again. We appreciate your time & patience. 

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[maddog4u · Accepted solution]

Installed BETA version and it resolved Zoom issue I experinced as well as fixing an issue with fine stokes and guidlines not showing.  (MAC OS)

[maddog4u]

TO fix the zoom bug, I installed the BETA version of AI and it is stable