Very Large Artboard / Document Size Problems and large content size

[superfuzz_superfuzz@adobeforums.com]

Hi,

Im currently trying to create a design for a box that is 18" X 18" X 18".

I have never worked on anything this large before. THe image is going to wrap around the box, therefore i have set my artboard total size to be 72" x 18". I started laying everyhing out with PSDs and Images Linked to the document by placing the images. Some of these images and PSDs are anywhere from 1 - 300 megs in file size and all are 300 DPI.

Now for the problem.

I was working fine, able to save everything without a probelm. Then all the sudden, I was unable to save. It takes a good 5-10 minutes for the save to almost complete, then i get AN UNEXPECTED ERROR messge.

Looking thru the forums i see other people had similar problem reguardless of the file size. I saw to delete the preference file and a bad font. This cannot be the case.

I have thus far tried doing the afore mentioned, as well as
1-Copy the contents to a new documnet and saving the new document (same error_

2-Opening the document on 2 seperate computers - same error

Now i should also mention that i was able to save once, but since have not been able to save.

My next step is to try to do the whole thing from scratch to see if that works.

ANyone know what causes this problem?

Also, does anyone have any experience working on projects like box design? I am creating a design the size of a TV box, full color, no bleed.

I havent worked in INdesign, however i dont know if it really matters for this project.

I should also state that the computer i am using, all of them at our company are beefed up. Intel 2.8 , Asus MB with 800 bus and a gig of ram with nothing else on the system running.

In looking at the resources with illustrator is running, there is well over 700gigs of memory being used. Is this normal? Should it be less? Is it so large because of all the large files associated with it?

Thanks for any assistance anyone can offer in troubleshooting and tips.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

How much of this design is raster imaging? Remember that raster particularly is going to create a pretty large filesize especially if ppi value is printably high. You may not have the resources available to work this as you created it.

Bob

[superfuzz_superfuzz@adobeforums.com]

A lot of this is Raster. Have you worked with large document sizes?

I realize the file size would be huge, but im not embedding the images. SO the illustrator file size is only about 13 megs. All the raster images in total are about 400 megs. There is one file that is 150 megs and i have duplicated it about 8 times within illustrator. But i wouldnt think that is causing a problem. But who knows.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

Yes, but when you open this file, it's opening both the .ai file as well as the linked raster images, so that's where your system clog takes place. Just like a huge raster might be in JPEG format when storing, so it's filesize is small, but when you open it (in any program), that image size on a working system explodes like water on a sponge. The image is going to take a considerable amount of system resoruces. If you don't have enough, it's going to crunch on you.

Bob

[superfuzz_superfuzz@adobeforums.com]

I figured as much. What would be a solution for performance. Is this more ram or processor intensive, or just the limits of the software in general.

I would think the people that do those large billboards in the city either have an insane computer or put it together in pieces? Not sure.

Someone suggested a lower DPI

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

Actually today, with the cost of both RAM and hard drive space being so low (I remember when I paid $1000 for 1mb of storage space on a card and not RAM either). You should have a miniumum of more than ten times the size of your final size of clean (Defragged) freespace alone on your system as working cache. It wouldn't be uncommon to see 100mb file with the size rasters at high res you should be using. Large work in graphics do take power systems, no doubt about that.

Bob

[superfuzz_superfuzz@adobeforums.com]

Damn, i rememeber those prices. Crazy. I still have my old amiga in my closet with a massive 16 megs of ram. Unheard of back in 87 - heheh

Anyway, thanks for your advice. As of now i have 1 gig of ram and dual 200 gig hard drives working off of a graphics server at this point.

May i ask what you use or do you know of any online resources for working with large print media.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

I'll bet that was more like 64k, not 16mb RAM wasn't it <g>. In 1987 a mb of RAM was HUGE and not available for even an Amiga, was it? They had some pretty advanced features for graphics, but didn't think RAM was that good.

Bob

[superfuzz_superfuzz@adobeforums.com]

I was speaking with a friend of mine who just completed some pretty large artboard sizes of over 100 inches across. He said he has had no problems, THe only difference is that he has about 2 gigs of ram in it.

Im pretty convinced at this time its a ram issue. I changed the Virtual Memory settings in windows, and it helped a bit.But i had that saving problem once again.

I started everything from scratch, slowly building the artwork again. Everything the same. All the fonts, all the pictures, some psd some just images, and even the vector images with effects done to them. Nothing major.

I then did some minor placement and saved. Took about 10 minutes, but it saved just fine. I came back the next day, and then, without adding anything, i took some images and applied a mask to them. ABout 6 images. Well guess what? I went to save, and after about 10 minutes, it gave me the "An unknown error has occured" and i was once again unable to save.

I tried to delete files i placed and still had the same error upon saving. I feel that this voids the possibility of it being a bad font or the preference file needs to be deleted as some other people have suggested. What i find really weird is that with the same files being used i can save, but i add some masks and minor effects to some vector elements, then i am unable to save.

So ram is cheap. Ill get another gig of ram and see if that helps. Unless someone has a better idea.

[mike_baxter@adobeforums.com]

Superfuzz

I really admire your patience! I've had slow saving and screen-drawing problems almost every time I do a complicated sign and here's what I've found:

1 - Find someone who knows, then ask what the ppi should be for the art. I doubt they want any more than 150ppi for your artwork. Make them prove to you they really know first, then ask. Saying 'dpi' is a clue they aren't that knowledgable because that's different to ppi.

2 - Do a small size version of the box until the very final stages, including small size photoshop files. Surely they were not 100mb before you expandeded them? Expand them as a last step -- then you already know exactly what size you want to expand them to, and you can 'plug' that size into the Photoshop image size dialog box. There's also the further advantage that you can 'test' your design on a desktop printer.

3 - Illustrator effects are awfully processor intensive for some reason that I don't understand. It's beyond time for AI to upgrade them, but I'm talking AI v10 here... anyway, that's another reason to do a small version of the project first.

4 - You're probably going to want draft versions to show the client right? They want something small to look at. Another reason.

4 - When you do the final expansion to full size, check for screwed up tabs if you've used them! They don't always expand like they should.

5 - Did you say graphics server? I'm not familiar with that. I transfer every image to local HD and work there. To me, "server" means same as "slow" but I could be mistaken.

GOOD LUCK!