illustrator: use less memory

[whyrichard]

hey,

I have an illustrator document with some vector work, and a bunch of linked image files. some of the images are as large as 15 megs, but most are not. Most of the linked files are saved as photoshop files...

i have been having trouble with this file and memory. i can't preview the file any longer full screen, and when i add a few more photos then the file becomes unopenable.

how do i reduce the memory footprint of this illustrator file?

i am using cs2, and unfortunately i am at work on a pc...

something about an illustrator eps file?


thanks,

r.

 

[bigus7674]

smaller illustrator files...

r.

the only thing that I can think of is that the graphics you are placing into the illustrator file are being embedded, instead of linked. when the graphics are embedded, they become part of the file whereas when they are linked, they are separate files and any changes to the file will be reflected with illustrator asking you if you'd like to update "x" file b/c it has been modified.

when you are importing / placing the graphics in illustrator, at the bottom-left hand corner of the import/place dialogue window should be a checkbox labeled "link". check this off for all the graphics and it should bring your file size down, potentially quite a bit depending on the number and size of the placed graphics in the illustrator file.

hope this helps.

 

[design-is]

Also, even when linked, the files need to be rendered by Illustrator to show you what they look like and if they are huge files even a modern mac could struggle. If you have a PC which may not be up-to-spec (?), then this will only make matters worse.

 

[semicharmed]

I've never linked files in Illustrator, but I know in InDesign there is an option to change the quality settings for how linked images are rendered.
So if Illustrator has the option, somewhere, change the settings to low & that should help with file lag.