Transcript:
Hi, and welcome to this tutorial where I’m going to show you nine ways to minimize file size in Adobe Illustrator. So large files are often the reason why we might have crashes. We lose artwork. It’s very frustrating! For that, we’d recommend protecting yourself with a free Plug-in called Autosaviour, which you can find on our website. But actually, a large file also means that editing zooming and saving is going to take several minutes, sending it to colleague is going to take longer. So we’re going to show you nine ways to make that file smaller without any detriment to your artwork. Save options, so these come up when you save a file for the first time, otherwise, just press Save As and save over that file And you, then you get these options so two things that we’re looking at:? Create PDF compatible file. Use compression. For this first one, this is Adobe’s way of making back-ups, but it massively increases the file size so untick that To replace that we need to use Autosaviour. Free a plug-in, which I’ll explain in a second And then this one – Use compression -. We want this on. This really helps with file size. So press, OK? So just to show you. I’m not cheating. The first being with PDF on and Compression off is 185.2 megabytes. When we change our settings to turn the PDF off and compression on 15.1 megabytes. That’s a huge a difference. Now we need to make sure we are autosaving. So once you’ve download Autosaviour free, go to file Autosaviour settings and tick Autosave. You can change the settings there. I’ve actually got Autosaviour Pro. This is an even better version where I can make back-ups as well. All the information I will put in a link for you, though. Using linked images, Images are anything that’s pixel based. So that’s things like this photograph also. Photoshop effects drop shadows. These are all pixel based and they are all embedded in your file. For the larger ones of these such as this photo, we would recommend you save it as a linked file. To do this, make sure the object is selected. Go up to the control panel and press Unembed. And you can pick where to save the file Save. So now we know it’s linked. There’s this big cross. And also it tells us up here on the control panel. Anyone using CS6? You don’t have that option, so you need to use the update image button on the Rasterino panel and it works in the same way. So if I save that file and let’s have a look at the file size. So embedded 70.5 megabytes Linked 35.2. So that a really big difference again. Cropping unneeded embedded image data? Sometimes we have to embed our image, and if your not using all of it, if your only using sections, then why don’t you trim or crop it? So to trim with the image selected go to the Rasterino panel Trim Image button, I’m picking the Top left pixel color, which will be white and applying it to all the side’s press. OK, and you can see that. It’s trimmed in where it can. Another option would be to crop. Go up to the control panel. Crop image, Then make your changes and press enter. That’s only available to CC 17 and above, so if our not using those versions, use Rasterino’s crop tool, which can be found under the Eraser stack. It works in the same way. There we go Reducing the resolution of raster effects, so that’s anything in the Photoshop Effects gallery. Anything from here, drop shadows, inner glows. They are all pixel based. So what we have to do is to go to Document Raster Effects Settings at the moment it’s set to 400dpi so it’s ready for print. But actually, if I’m working on it, why not change it to 72 while I’m working? And then when I want to print, put back up to 400dpi Another benefit of this is that your graphics will display much quicker when zooming in and out. Removing excess points. The number of points definitely affects the size of your file, especially for things like this image, trace CAD files or even the Pencil. Tool all create unnecessary points. Natively, we would select all our points go to Object > Path > Simplify With the curve positions set to high. You can see that it’s reduced it from 87 thousand to 31 thousand, which is really impressive. However, our artwork has completely changed. Instead, try our VectorFirstAid plug-in. Once downloaded, you can find the panel in the window menu and then just press the Smart Remove Points on Paths button. Now I’ve actually set the tolerance a little higher than the default to 30 so that it matches the Simplify. But basically, it’s very intelligent and it’s kind of a one stop shop. There we go, And if we deselect it, you can see that it’s hardly changed from our original yet. It’s removed the same amount of points. Let’s just double check that 36 thousand. So it’s actually a much better way of tidying up your artwork. Another option, which might be better for smaller areas or where you need. More control is our VectorScribe plug-in. Specifically, it’s Smart. Remove Brush Tool. Once selected, you can just brush over those points and decide on which ones you want to delete and actually, I’ve got pressure sensitivity set on mine. So the harder I press the more it gets rid of. So we don’t want to do that, so let’s go in nice and gently. There we go Reducing Width Markers Using uniform and variable-width paths in the Width Brush and Width Gradient Tools, Both part of the WidthScribe plug-in can lead to the formation of a large number of Width Markers. This is going to increase the file size and slow down Illustrator. So using the Width Selector Tool which you’ll find under Window > Widthscribe > Width Selector With it selected, It will show you all of the Width Markers. And how many you’ve got on the panel. So 3,324. To reduce this. We use another part of WidthScribe, which you’ll find under the Object menu first selecting our artwork Object > Path > Optimize Width Markers. So I’ve put this up to 7.3 And it’s reduced it from 3000 to 1800. So that’s a really big reduction, and actually it hasn’t changed the look of our artwork. Another option would be to use the Width Eraser Tool. So if I zoom in, select my artwork, Go to Width Eraser. And then Eraser Tool. It will highlight the unnecessary ones in red. And if I just brush over, you’ll see it deletes them. So this is another way, which has maybe more control for you. Using symbols, Vector artwork can contain multiple objects or groups of objects resulting from duplication. Such as with our blossom here. In this case, save the item you want to duplicate as a symbol in the symbol’s panel? Here you’ll see. We’ve got quite a complicated flower. All I do is select it. Drag it to the symbols panel. Give it a name. And then I can either Place it, or if your prefer, maybe use the Symbol Sprayer Tool and brush in. Using Symbols greatly reduces the size of the original file and is particularly justified if you want to duplicate complex objects, Minimizing the number of steps of blend objects Using a large number of specified steps with a blend will look good, but it can result in a giant file size. To reduce these steps, select the blend, go to Object > Blend > Blend options. Now let’s try 30 and preview it. And actually, it doesn’t look any different, so that’s a much better option. While working with a few complex blend objects, you could set the specified steps low, say 1-3. Then restore the desired value when artwork is completely ready. This trick will speed up your workflow. Deleting unused swatches, graphics, styles and symbols. Every time you create a new document, it’s more than likely you’ll have these default styles, swatches and symbols. So not only do they make your file bigger, but they kind of clutter up your Illustrator. Why not use VectorFirstAid to clean them up? All we need to do is go to Window > Vectorfirstaid > VectorFirstAid panel. Check the document. It tells us everything in the file. That’s unnecessary and just press. Fix All And it cleans it up in no time at all. And if you find yourself doing this a lot, you can assign that to an action and keypress to make it even quicker. And that’s the end of this tutorial. Thank you so much for watching. There’s no doubt that. If you use any of these 9 ways, you will reduce your file size, and this will make your life in Illustrator a lot easier. Any questions do comment? Below, don’t forget to subscribe. We’ve got lots of new tutorials coming up, and also if you are interested in our plug-ins, do look at our free trial. I’ll put a link at the end of thisvideo.