GPU Preview on Mac version defective?

[kazuot44637179]

There seems to be innate strengths and weaknesses between CPU and GPU Preview:

GPU Preview: Image files look smooth; vectors and text look jagged

CPU Preview: Vectors and text look good; images look jagged

This is an inconvenience—something that I would like to see fixed so that constant switching between modes is not required, but it's not necessarily preventing me from getting work done.

However, it's becoming obvious that the GPU Preview mode isn't performing as intended on my system. It will stop rendering graphics when trying to zoom out beyond 20%, and eventually panning/zooming causes the document to stop displaying properly—until the setting is switched to CPU Preview. Going back to GPU Preview will return it to the glitched display image.

I'm running a late 2013 Mac Pro: 2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5, 12GB DDR3, 2x AMD FirePro D700 6144MB.

Are any other Mac users experiencing these same problems?

[John Artist]

Yyyyyep!  Me too.  Adobe released a product that touts its new GPU performance, and you can see the threads coming in about how TERRIBLE it is!  What a failed release.   Every "answer" to problems is answered by Adobe Staff by "turn off GPU preview". Wait?  Turn off the VERY feature you just trumpeted as the great new improvement to this release! 

I am sooooo disappointed that I purchased CC in the last week, after holding out with CS6 since it's inception. I doubt I will renew if this kind of stuff keeps up (I've got other MAJOR bugs with Illustrator that has made it Unusable so much that I still use CS6).

[BriGuyAG]

Yeah, just noticed this myself once I upgraded to CC 2015. I was like, why are my vector Illustrator files looking like crud on-screen all of a sudden? Then I noticed the GPU/CPU preview options. So I selected CPU instead of GPU and now they look fine.

I have a supported GPU, BTW, that meets the minimum specs, but not quite the recommended specs, as my VRAM is a bit lower than that (late 2011 MacBook Pro, AMD Radeon HD 6770M -- 1024 MB VRAM, OpenGL 4.1).

Illustrator system requirements, from System requirements | Illustrator:

"To use the GPU performance features: Your Mac should have a minimum of 512 MB VRAM (2 GB recommended), and your computer must support OpenGL version 4.0 or greater."

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

kazuot,

It seems that there is still some work on getting the GPU performance to work properly. As well as enabling in preferences you have to enable in the view menu (preview on CPU or cmd+E)

You may also have a look here, including the Troubleshooting at the bottom; it is crucial thaet the video driver is fully updated:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/gpu-performance-preview-improvements.html

If you cannot get it to work, it may better to wait until the issue is solved.

You may try disabling the GPU Performance by clicking above the Rocket Icon in the App bar and deselecting the GPU Performance check box.

[Dominic Witherow]

My issue is that GPU Preview stops Illustrator working at all. Raster images become invisible and then the entire app stops working.  Turning off GPU support in Illustrator makes everything work again.

I'm on a 2010 MacPro (5,1), 48GB RAM, 3.33GHz 6 core, GTX680 Mac edition and running off fast SSDs, so well up to the task, hardware-wise.

Premiere Pro is still a mess with Nvidia CUDA too - seems like Adobe has its work cut out dealing with GPUs at the moment.

[Monika Gause]

Dominic Witherow schrieb:

I'm on a 2010 MacPro (5,1),

That's a rather old machine so maybe it doesn't fit the specifications for GPU support.

[Dominic Witherow]

Er, no. As shown in the specs (and as detailed in Adobe's spec requirements), it's more than up to the job.

The problem is with the software.  Whether that is an Adobe or Nvidia software problem is undefined, but it's not a hardware issue.

[subraumpixel]

Same thing on an iMac 5k. Deactivating GPU acceleration (and restarting Illustrator) is the only reliable workaround for me. If it’s activated, some (but not all) documents will not display anything and are totally unresponsive. In some documents it’s just the object border frames that are not displayed (switching to "Preview on CPU" helps with that).

[metmac]

I am experiencing this same issue... Only in certain documents that were original composed with the CPU rendering.

Very frustrating.

[uiarchitects]

Yeah, wow. I thought this was going to be useless for me for UI work because whether I have images or not in my file, I need the vector work to render properly, which it really doesn't by default:

GPU:

...that's pretty distracting, to the point of being unusable for anything that requires, you know, vector lines. This snippet combines pieces that are optimized for pixel grid (the box below) as well as pieces that are a bit artifacty because they are more for print (the device key above). But both look a lot better in the default

CPU:

HOWEVER, I did find that I can get the same look as CPU above while running on the GPU if I choose "pixel preview."

So it may not be too bad, except that right now, the pixel preview state gets set back to OFF whenever you toggle between GPU and CPU. I kind of wish the two settings were stored independently.

That shouldn't be too hard to do, and might make the GPU thing a good add for UI work, IF pixel preview doesn't just negate the performance increase.

[AFCathaCA]

I'll keep this short. My Mid 2011, 27" iMac meets the hardware and software requirements for this new feature to work but it does not. Example: Imported (linked) PSD files were not displaying at all until I, ta-ta-taan! ... turned the new and "amazing" feature off. Now, Illustrator is behaving as advertised (minus the "acceleration" ... what acceleration?). So, I'll let others do the free testing and trouble-shooting of this beta –so sorry, "Technology Preview"– for Adobe and check back after a couple of patches.

Thanks.

A.C.

San Jose, CA

[HelloHaggis]

I too have noticed issues with the GPU performance. I've turned it off for now, but when it was on, what I've noticed was the document text and art previewed okay when I have the document on my MacBook Pro Retina screen but when I pull it over to my second monitor, an Apple Thunderbolt monitor, the preview is glitchy. I turn off GPU performance and I get the same preview on both screens.

[two_botts]

Hi, I am too experiencing the same problem with my MacPro late 2013. Installed all of the updates yesterdayI have dual AMD FirePro D700'swith 6144MB on each. 64GB RAM etc. The worst experience was when opening AutoCad/DraftSight files, froze each time. Also files that I had converted with the previous Illustrator CC 2014 would not open in the new version.

There are  or were no rocket icons in the app bar that I can see. When I changed the preferences to deflect GPU, the application has tho be restarted.

Had to turn GPU off in preferences, now all of my files open. Like the 64000% zoom,(it is still working although viewing is CPU) very helpful when drawing CAD type designs.

Lastly, my Esko Plug-ins no longer work and an error message comes up when launching Illustrator.

Look forward to your reply

Ron

[Edo75]

GPU is completely unusable for me, it's slow and unresponsive and when I force quit it freeze all my Mac. (iMac Mid 2011 20GB Ram, Yosemite)

[two_botts]

Adobe have had Illustrator updated again and still NO GPU working correctly.

MacPro late 2013, dual AMD FirePro D700'swith 6144MB on each. 64GB RAM

Illustrator is not crashing (that's a plus), the vector rendering of the GPU is so substandard that Adobe needs to question why they would release such rubbish. The other thing that happens when GPU is used, the magnifiers marquee selection is disabled.

Is it possible that the scripting for GPU is suitable only for Windows? Don't hear any grumbles from that corner or am I missing something.

Maybe Adobe should pull it until they sort the issues out. There have been suggestions that drivers in the cards need to be updated, if Adobe can find where this can be done I would be interested. Of course, when we get an update from Apple the driver updates will happen then,. a quick visit to AMD will show you there is no such thing as a driver update for a Mac Graphics card (Mac Bootcamp only and of course, Windows Systems).

Need a fix

Regards

Ron

[two_botts]

Adobe have had Illustrator updated again and still NO GPU working correctly.

MacPro late 2013, dual AMD FirePro D700'swith 6144MB on each. 64GB RAM

Illustrator is not crashing (that's a plus), the vector rendering of the GPU is so substandard that Adobe needs to question why they would release such rubbish. The other thing that happens when GPU is used, the magnifiers marquee selection is disabled.

Is it possible that the scripting for GPU is suitable only for Windows? Don't hear any grumbles from that corner or am I missing something.

Maybe Adobe should pull it until they sort the issues out. There have been suggestions that drivers in the cards need to be updated, if Adobe can find where this can be done I would be interested. Of course, when we get an update from Apple the driver updates will happen then,. a quick visit to AMD will show you there is no such thing as a driver update for a Mac Graphics card (Mac Bootcamp only and of course, Windows Systems).

Need a fix

Regards

Ron