Working with Large Canvas in Illustrator 2020 (24.2)

[Captain_Crunch]

Just updated to the new version of Illustrator ( 24.2 ..64bit for PC ).

Update said 100X Canvas size.. anyone know where to do that..I'm not seeing it anywhere.

{Renamed by MOD}

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/large-sized-artwork.html

[Doug A Roberts · Accepted solution]

Create a document larger than 227 inches in any dimension. Illustrator will inform you it's using Large Canvas. It's the same as the old canvas, except the units are 10x greater and you can zoom in 10x less. Pay attention to these caveats:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/large-sized-canvas-troubleshooting.html

[Captain_Crunch]

..so the artboard really isn't any larger..Adobe just changes the default scale from 1:1  to  1:10. Saying you made the artboard larger isn't really accurate. All of us that design larger then 227" were already working in scale as a work around. This is actually going to cause more problems then if fixes. For instance..a designer will think they've created something that's 20' x 20'..and tell the print house the graphic is full size...but what they have actually done is created a graphic that's 2' x 2'. Not the end of the world in vector..but if there are raster elements in the file and they haven't calculated for the 10x scale increase with resolution there will be problems.

I'm a bit disappointed in the way this feature was marketed.

[Monika Gause]

... and where do you read that in the document?

[Doug A Roberts]

I agree, it seems like a missed opportunity. I don't know if your concerns will hold up though -- you can export a ten metre wide PDF, for instance, and raster effects seem to be scaled 10x too. I suppose it depends on the individual printers.

[toms48539956]

I agree i was really excited when I read the "Large Canvases" in the update text, but this implimentation is pretty disapointing. I already work in 1:4 scale most of the time and use the CadTools dimensioning plug in, so this is not much help, and in fact it does cause problems when using the Copy/Paste commands.

[adamdehaven]

Speaking of the default scale - I noticed this as well. Using ExtendScript, how do I access the scale of the document?

I have an Adobe Extension that utilizes the size of the artboard in the logic; however, on a "large canvas" artboard, the dimensions returned are 1/10 their original value. For example, an artboard that is 400 inches wide returns 40 when I use ExtendScript `app.activeDocument.width`

How can I get the scale of the document via ExtendScript, or any other way to detect a "large canvas"?

[Doug A Roberts]

My guess is that since Illustrator is just working at scale on your behalf, you can't.

[Frewity]

I'm very annoyed with this. The whole point of wanting a larger artboard is to create same size drawings.

In my instance it is for CAD type drawings which will be exported to .dwg or .dxf or similar. Illustrator is very limited when it comes to CAD but as a longtime user of .ai, I don't want or have the time to learn a new discipline (DraftSight, AutoCad etc). Scaling is not a good way to do technical drawings as absolute vfalues are what we working with.

For arty type applications it may not be such an issue, however, stokes and the like can be an issue if you don't remember........Also, don't assume printing on a desktop printer is going to be the end result and the reason for uysing Illustrator.

CAD type working (houses, machinery design etc) are also all the more difficult when it is affected by stroke weights as these can have nasty results when exporting or saving as .dwg etc.

Look forward to comments and suggestions

Ron

[Doug A Roberts]

Can you be more specific about the problem(s) you're experiencing with large canvas and exporting CAD files?

What is happening step-by-step?

[Frewity]

Large canvas - zoom options only go to 4227%, normal canvas is 10x that.

Stroke weights are 10x larger and therefore larger than what is standard for AutoCAD, DraftSight etc.

Large Canvas is a zoom canvas ie 10x larger and as such is not representative of same size drawings

CAD files can have unexpected results due to stroke weights, stroke alignment etc.

Altogether, not a great experience for something that could and should be simple

[darthlobster]

It already caused me wasted time.
My team mate did a large canvas without realising, and as usual, exported a PDF with intent to print. There where raster elements there that got totally crunched by 10 times. Gladly, we caught it, because we check each others final artworks, but that layout had to be copied and pasted in standard sized document and ajusted for scale. wasted time.

If it only works with vector art, doesn't seem a good idea to implement it.

Best regards,

Fernando

[defaultiocsq8qrtj1q]

The problem I have with Large canvas is how can you tell illustrator to switch back to normal artboard settings?
For example my colleague sent me a file at 2400x400mm. 

When I used my vinyl cutter plugin to add a registration mark,
the reg marks it applied were 10 times the size they should be.

The document has the large canvas size applied.  How do I switch it off in this case?

The only fix seems to be to create a new document and copy/paste.

[brockw20521716]

Yes I am having similar issues. This setting is a nightmare for print production. We are a wide format printer and this large canvas setting isn't read correctly by the printer software so sizes are coming out 10 times the size they should be.

I find it ridiculus we have to copy and paste it into a new document, what were they thinking? It should be a feature that can be turned off for production purposes.

[Monika Gause]

Please post bugs & feature requests to http://illustrator.uservoice.com

[Graphicartgarth]

I work in the sign industry and have had no issues with large canvas designs in final output. We work in final output as PDF and maintain scale. When it is opened in the rip software for the printers they are to size with no rendering issues...

[eddiedel14]

I'm in the sign industry also, we run some files though photoshop to confim sizes before production and that typically catches issues beforehand. I have come across this large canvas issue from a file produced by a client and we couldn't figure out why is was exporting so small. We had to dig around and just decided to copy it to a new document, which solved that issue but it shouldn't be a permanent fix. In this state we should see a slightly different interface or a larger warning to trigger a response so we can catch it much sooner in the process.

[Met1]

I guess it depends on your RIP soft, I was fully expecting issues when this was first introduced but I've never had an issue with RasterLink or Caldera.

[SimonBarton]

I'm in the large format, signage and exhibiton insdustry and have found the Large Canvas feature an absolute godsend since it was introduced. Any issues we initially had with scaling we're a result of the limitations of pdf setting rather than Illustrator. As long as files are saved with PDF 1.6 or 1.7 compatibility there is no scaling and any up-to-date RIP software should be more than capabel of handling the files.