Anon,

I completely disagree with your synopsis.

There are many valid reasons for having a bigger canvas, which have nothing to do with 'pixels' since we're dealing with vectors (math) and NOT pixels. If you want to deal with pixels, use Photoshop.

In the print industry we could have very simple layouts, but need to do them 'at scale'. I could have potentially have a 1000" x 1000" AI file that is only a couple hundred kilobytes in size. Have at scale eliminates the messy nature of having to deal with scaling. This is simply an old limitation in Illustrator that has never been modernized.

We don't want scaling, we want larger art boards as the OP stated.

Plug-Ins for Illustrator (like CAD Tools) already make Illustrator work in virtual scale. I have been working on a virtual scale in AI for many years. I would love to see this implemented in Illustrator which would remedy some funny quirks of using a plugin. It would work great for everyone. When working with pixels it will always be 1:1 and those working in metric/imperial need bigger.

No one needs a bigger canvas when working with pixels as this is typically used only for digital media and can support well over 8k (you can fit 8 8k monitors in an AI file.) Those who cram hundreds of assets on one file need to rethink their workflow, you never want to put all your eggs in one basket.

However, the people needing larger (I am one of those as I work on things to be produced in real life, not digital) can work in scale, you would not even notice you are working in scale after you set it. Being able to set different scales per layer will always be great. So even those the file is 1:1 in pixels, having your input boxes working in scale would be an excellent solution.

Abobe, let do another video chat sometime so we can discuss this project like the last projects we discussed a few months back. I've got some valuable insight with this subject as I've implemented in a professional environment for many years.

Yogesh, it might be a solution. But I don't understand if your scaling solution would be feasible, why would a 10x bigger canvas be a problem ?

I've been asking this for 20 years lol. Adobe hates the large and grand format industry. If they only knew how much they've cost me over the years in scaling issues.

Lots of other programs have no limit, there is no need to have a limit in illustrator and it should definitely be removed, when you're working on full size projects it really hinders the process not being able to view it all together.

Yogesh, Virtual scale would be acceptable. Removing the limit altogether would be ideal. 227.54 inches is so arbitrary it is infuriating. I need to layout something that will be 288 inches. They are just numbers. IT SHOULDN'T MATTER

These are the same geniuses who decided to remove the color bars that helped identify names of files, calendar tasks, etc., and replace that handy widget with a SINGLE DOT.

Busy brainstorming more catchy new phrases to put at the top of the home screen?

I got a reply from an Illustrator project manager on Twitter

I asked if this will be implemented soon, and he said:

"Not yet. Busy with core architecture work to support this in the future."

Can we please have this looked at? It would be really nice to be able to do work at full scale as desired. I can't see processor power and RAM being limiting factors for most designers.

227.541 is the limit. Drop the limit, why doe we eve have it there.

Again, trying to scale a van up to full scale and it's like 6 inches too wide.

100000x this.

I work with large map documents for museum displays and clients nearly universally request vector files (AI) for printing.

I think I'm going to post every time I am inconvenienced by this issue. Trying to scale a clipped image up to full size where the mask is smaller than the max artboard size, won't let me move it, but lets me make it bigger. I think the most frustrating thing is the inconsistency with this problem. There have been many times where I scale something to full size and it LETS me scale beyond the 227 limit, (I can see it on the screen) but other times it won't let me paste something that WILL fit under the limit but doesn't paste it centered therefore making it think it's too big, when it is actually just off center.

Remove canvas size limitations. For big artworks I have to use Corel draw.

I have an upcoming project where I need be able to export some flag designs at 1,728" x 1,728" and 2,304" x 2,304".

No matter how you put it, having to send files at 1:10 or any other scale to fit the software's limitations is gonna be bad news for the client.

Here is the list of Illustrator project managers. Yogesh doesn't work at Adobe anymore apparently.
I'm reaching out to these people on Twitter, hopefully we can actually get an update.

Anubhav Rohatgi
Neeraj Nandkeolyar
Sunny Ladkani
Varun Sharma
Vinay Pahlajani

Also, be nice.

I too would love an increase in canvas size. While I do rely on scaling certain artwork when it's too large (Eg: Building wraps and billboards), I do find it frustrating to deal with scaled artwork for something like a 6m wide signboard as Ai runs short of this size just a bit. Our "friends" over on corel have this option, and it grates me that such a simple feature has been neglected all these years.

Westley, a canvas file size doesn't matter on the "physical" size on the canvas. A complex pieace of art in a 1080x1080 artboard can create a bigger/slower file then something simple on a 90000x90000 artboard. It's vector graphics, in it's simplist form is just math calculations. The more calculations the big the file.

Infinite canvas size is needed for people that need to work in 1:1 scale, which is possible in other similar programs. Using a infinite canvas to hold tons of assets in one file is putting your eggs in one basket. If something happens to that file, youre toast... without eggs (sorry for the pun.)

If I have the memory and power why should I have to make multiple files to house all the art boards for a project? Just give me the space for as many art boards at whatever size. Make it adjustable so if I am on a lower power system I know to keep to a certain size but if I have a much more powerful device I can just work basically infinitely