Just wait for AI 2020... enough said..

@Jamie: As has been noted by others, what you want to do in illustrator is completely doable, if you place the watercolor artwork as a linked file (full res), work in scale 1:10, apply vector stuff, and export in high dpi. That will retain the resolution of the linked file. Production just need to know its 1:10. That said, I agree there are many caveats to this workflow, and other annoyances about the whole issue.

Jamie, As noted, do the whole thing in Photoshop and Save As… The production company shouldn't complain since a PDF is…a PDF no matter how created.

NOTE: this comment is not about scaling down for proofing purposes. I've got that covered just fine.

I'm working with a very large watercolor art file (not vector) that was created by another designer in photoshop. The production company needs a banner that is 420" x 36" in Ai file format in actual size (not scaled down.) Illustrator tops out it's width at 227.541". Photoshop does not appear to be topping out and I'm able to make the 420". I was planning on working with the watercolor artwork in PS and saving it as an image, then importing it into Ai to add the text and logos, etc as vectors. Now I have to do the whole thing in Photoshop and I'm sure the production company will complain that I didn't follow their rediculous instructions. So yes, in rare cases of unreasonable production company specs, having Ai without the restricted canvas size would have been helpful. Hopefully, the crappy PC laptop my employer gave me will even be able to handle this file size in PS. Good luck to me!

PS - not attaching a file for reference because it would take years to upload.

Yes, Mansur. Why disparage something you'll never use, but will be a benefit to others?

One thing I can't understand is why people keep commenting we don't need this feature. How it may affect your workflow if the drawing field is bigger than it is now? It'll be there and you most likely won't notice it just as you don't notice most of the features Illustrator has. We need this feature and we've been asking for it for years. Tools are invited and modified to make our life easier. We want our work in Illustrator to be easier and I bet you can find enough reasons why we need this feature within 400 comments in this thread.

For proofing I use a separate approval file with the intended output size and link the original 1:1 artwork. I'm free to scale multiple ai files appropriately within the proof file and by linking they'll auto-update any changes.

I can do the same method within a PSD file if I need to render a layout into a photo by linking the 1:1 layout into the PSD and the PSD into the proof ai.

Another issue with scaled artwork is it is much more difficult to maintain or create exact alignment of elements - object, paths and points that need to be exactly aligned. You can only zoom in so far in illustrator. the snap to point guide does not work in some instances. When you manually scale vector artwork it also tends to move out of alignment too. For proofing to clients Mr Anonymous, I create an Indesign file at A3 then import the already scaled Illustrator file and then scale it again to fit the A3 and create a PDF. Usually I include the elevations from CAD to PDF, which also is scaled, and place the artwork on it. Then check all the calculations. It's really an unsuitable mistake-laden work-around. I often send the scaled artwork from illustrator as a pdf so client can check details in acrobat at 100% and sizes, place in cad etc. I personally have not had any mistakes but the amount of fussing around is infuriating. Some cad PDF's I have been sent have been incorrectly scaled though. It's a problem for everyone.

It's been years and while I prefer to to use Illustrator, I'm forced to use Flexi because I need to create files that are machinable at 1:1 scale.

I and among many others have been dealing with this for years.

I would love to see how other designers are dealing with proofing.

Say you have 10 signs, along with site plan (for the city/installers) spread across multiple pages. How do you go about sending a proof off to the customer, city approval, printed out for PMs and workers....

If you had designed it at 1:1, what do you do to compile all it for proofing? Do you take all the random sized files or artboards and put it in a single PDF and send it off? That would make a pretty bizarre PDF where customers would have to zoom in or out some in all the different page sizes. Say you have a 80 ft sign on one page, then the next page you have a 8ft sign. You would have to play around with the zoom just to proof it and if someone were to print it, it would be a hot mess of tiny images and inconsistency. A scale ruler could never be used as well...

If everything was scaled to fit the same size page size, it would make for a pleasant and functional document for proofing and production reference.

I would like to hear others workflow to manage your designs related aforementioned cases.

I've been doing this for nearly 20 years. I might know a thing or two. I've professionally used AI, along with dozen of other applications over the year. Flexi, Onyx, Corel, EnRoute, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Omega, Ps, Li, Id, etc...

When creating a proof (in AI mind you,) to have professionalism and consistency, people use title blocks and design at scale to fit within the proof document. The documents are then given to the customer, people to produce, etc. I've done designs at full size but it gives an unpleasant experience for the customer or takes more time to put it in a proof. And if we got infinite canvas sizes, many professionals will still design at scale, or use some sort of plugin to downsize for a tangible document/PDF/Paper size.

Since it is vector art its really doesn't matter what size it is in the file, its all virtual measurements anyways. However, in practice, it's best to design in a tangible proofing size at scale. Any pre-press/production worker with few clicks can bring it to full scale if AI implemented infinite canvas sizes. Have rater graphics with the vector? No problem, just have the OG linked in the AI file.

The problem which 90% of the people are talking about is the fact they have to scale something down to send to an output device, like a printer and had forgotten to scale the art to 1:1 in the rip software...

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see this feature, but I dont see it effecting how people design and proof in my industry, along with others... It would be a game changer for those that work in the post-design phase, reproducing it's at full scale, rather it is a billboard, pylon, wall mural, ADA, etc....

I don't understand most of the Anonymous comment of August 06 12:10. Mainly, it bespeaks of a limited understanding of vector art which, for example, has nothing to do with title bars—or any other graphic elements since they are all, you know…vectors. I don't know who is doing your production, but I've have never had a large file "fail". Etc…

When designing for real-life applications, you are essentially an architect. AI is a powerful program and has uses in nearly all design industries. You should be designing in scale for your proofs. This is a whole conversation I rather not get into, but here is the gist of it. To keep it simple, when you hand a client a 20-page sign package they like to see the professionalism of a consistent title bar and the scaled artwork they can see. Also, others handling your design need it in a tangible size. It's much easier and sensible to scale it up after the designing phase versus designing at 1:1 to take the artwork down to a tangible proofing scale. If you have 10 revisions, this would take a very long time if you're designing a 1:1.

Infinite canvas would be nice for pre-press, or other output work. So this request gets a +1 from me.

Those that want infinite canvas size to put an infinite amount of artboards cause you're too lazy to use multiple files. You will likely exploit this and make giant files, you're file will **** everyone off because of the load time, and you will get all pissy when your file gets corrupt (large files have a greater failure rate than smaller on both W10 and Mac.) and realized you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket.

Just fix it already.

Excellent comment Phillip Osbourne. Right on the money.

Why do architects keep commenting on this and comparing their work to our work? Of course you, as architects, work to scale, because the thing you are producing on Illustrator isn't the final product, it's a plan of the final product, by it's very nature it is designed to be at scale. It might be printed out or displayed on a screen at A2 or A1 size and so that's the largest size you need to be able to work at in Illustrator.

But how would you feel, when you came to actually building your final product (a house or whatever) and found that none of your construction equipment could move or reach further than 5 metres? Or that the units on your tape measures and laser guides were all limited to 5 metres? How would you feel if the manufacturers of your construction equipment said "Well, just pretend it's 50 metres instead of 5 metres and you should be able to work around it then!"

That's a closer analogy to what we're experiencing. For those of us who are producing graphics as the final product (and not just a plan of a final product) and that need to be output at full size, that need to communicate directly from Illustrator to a printer or plotter at full-size, that need to see how raster elements included into a vector design will appear at full-size, we are being restricted and hamstrung by the limitations artifically imposed in Illustrator, they need removing or fixing!

Oh yes please. I work with event buildups and often these involve really large graphics - 24ft and up. I end up working at 50% or even 25% scale, which is not ideal especially when construction details require pretty specific dimensions (lots of math involved, and that's a pain). Each face of a wall has to be on a separate file just because of the artboard size needed. It'd be nice to have everything in the same file and not have to switch tabs all the time.

I fully agree with you.
I can't understand why this is taking so long to fix. Even a canvas limit
that's more or less the same like Corel Draw will make me the happiest. I
want to add that I don't get the scaling at all. Why? That's unnecessary.
Takes time. It's also risky. Which can cost alot of money and time. Just
fix this please!

I’m still transitioning over from CorelDraw because of this issue. I’m now paying for both because it’s so much easier/faster in Draw - I can easily proof in lettersize and then output 1:1. Why is this so complicated to provide??

I’m working on a set of illustrations for 1080p screen size. So I open a 1080p template, and duplicate the artboard, once, twice, three times, four t… ah, it’s hit the canvas limit.

Yes of course I can rearrange the artboards within the canvas limits, but it’s a nuisance, and even if I start the first artboard at the left edge of the canvas it will only allow eight artboards horizontally.

I'm working in pixels.