Strangely, there is a report that it’s not fixed with the 29.0.1 patch, here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/49040555
Can anyone confirm it IS still a problem in 29.0.1?

UPDATE!!!
ADOBE HAS FIXED THIS BUG

Hi folks
Adobe has been quick and responsive and fixed this bug in the version 29.0.1 update
Go to you CC app and you should see the version there under the update section.

Thanks everyone for the team effort voting and posting to solve this bug.

Thank you, @Rama and team, for taking this issue seriously and resolving it so quickly and effectively!

ブラシツールオプションで精細を選ぶが、一度描いたあと編集しようとすると、パスがなくなってしまい(精細ではなく滑らかで描いたような表現)細かな表現ができなくなってしまうようになりました。
描いた線の端と端をを繋げる場合も、繋がらないことが増えました。

ブラシツールオプションについては、精度が5段階で選べるものの、一番左側の精細はパスが増えるものの、2段目から滑らかまでの表現があまり変わらないものとなってしまいました。

今は2024バージョンを使うようにしていますが、毎日使うツールなので修正をお願いしたいです。

Thank you @rama
Can't wait to try it out, unfortunately I don't see that particuluar release in the pre release section

I only see an older 2023 version build.
Also running this pre-release that is available gives me a "Your illustrator build has expired"

These things happen identically on both my machines, my employers and the clients machine that have slighty different CC plans from each other.

Thank you

Arrived here from the link in the Adobe Community Forums. This pencil issue in Illustrator 29.0 is making our work impossible. We design stencils for cutting on a CNC controlled machine - which follows the imported curves that we hand-draw in Illustrator. This needs fixing as a matter of urgency.

Which begs the question... Why did Adobe mess around with a pencil tool that has worked brilliantly for years? What was the point?

​​Thank you @Aishwarya G Gadodia
for your response and for taking the time to address this issue.
I also appreciate your patience as it took some time between work and the weekend for me to put this reply together with recordings and screenshots.

I’m on
MacBook Pro Apple M1 Max PRO 64GB RAM.
macOS Sonoma 14.7 (23H124)
Illustrator 2025 version 29.0.0
Illustrator 2024 version 28.7.1
Wacom Intuos Pro Medium

I managed to properly reset my preferences this time, and while I did notice some changes in anchor point generation on the accuracy setting, the core issue still persists.
Initially, I was glad to see some improvement, but after closer analysis, it became clear that the problem remains—it’s just more subtle now and requires a more granular explanation.

I’m including a recording from both before the preferences reset because other users seem to have the same problem and you can see what that issue looks like.
That recording im calling “pencilTool-PRE-PreferencesReset.mp4”

The recording after the preference reset is called “pencilTool-POST-PreferencesReset.mp4” which is the more relevant clip from now on and here follows an explanation.

As someone who has used the Pencil tool heavily on a daily basis at its most accurate setting for almost two decades, I can immediately tell when something is off.
After resetting the preferences, it may seem like the anchor point generation is back to normal, but it’s not. While it's closer to how it used to be, it’s still not close enough.
See my recording in the “pencilTool-POST-PreferencesReset.mp4” clip and you will see what I mean when i say there is a difference in the point generation.

I've also conducted extensive testing several times under the same settings and same conditions, and you can see in my charts how much anchor point generation has changed when comparing Illustrator 2014 (v28.7.1) to the 2025 (v29.0) version. Even after the preferences reset on the first accuracy tick.
There’s a 35-40% difference in the number of anchor points generated for the same object, under the same settings and conditions.
Please study my six charts in the image called “pencilTool-pointDifference-POST-PreferenceReset.png” of the point generation difference.

(1) My hope is that we can fix this to get back to where it was and even better, as it’s still not the same as it used to be.
Let's have a call and talk about it. I've mailed Rama the Engineering Manager and suggested a time for a call.

(2) Additional notes. Im also hoping for further improvement on this accuracy aspect beyond what we are fixing now. Thid similar issue occurred in 2014 when the Pencil tool was rewritten, and Adobe was great about addressing it back then. While there was a fix made it wasn’t perfect, it was close enough than for me to further push it here in the forums. Unfortunately, this time it is even further from what it used to be and is wonky to draw with for someone who is used to the accurate pencil tool.

The "0.5px fidelity, 0% smoothing" setting was originally my suggestion for the new first accuracy tick on the slider in the pencil tool options back in 2014 as this was the lowest value you could set it too when it had the numeric pencil tool options, however, this setting is just about adequate for accuracy but there is need for improvement for us who need more accuracy and more point generation. That’s why I’m also requesting an additional sixth tick on the slider, closer to "0.2px fidelity, 0% smoothing." See my feature suggested screenshot in my previous posts and my examples that show closer to inkscapes amount of point generation.
I hope you’ll consider this and give the Pencil tool the attention and features it deserves for more accurately tracking the hand movement. I’m happy to assist further in any possible way.

mac os 15.0 Sequoia
adobe illustrator 2025

I was drawing a stroke with the pencil tool in illustrator 2025 with the exact same pencil settings as I had used in 2024, but the strokes look smoothed (as if the setting were all the way on the right smoothed end)

in the screenshot the 2 blue strokes were drawn in illustrator 2025 and the red stroke was drawn in illustrator 2024 and is the stroke I was going for.

in both versions the fidelity is set to the middle

what happened to the pencil tool in illustrator 2025?

@Egor Chistyakov

Thank you for getting back to me

I don't have such a "Live Feedback" option in my Pencil Tool settings for Illustrator 2025

Please seee my attached screenshot

I use a Surface Pro 9 tablet with Windows 11, and yesterday I updated to Illustrator version 29. Immediately, I have found that the Pencil Tool, a core component to both my design and artistic endeavors, was behaving erratically and inconsistently. On many occasions, I would draw a vector using the tool and it would instead do a poor guess at what I drew--for instance, a wavy line may translate into a line with only a single curve. When I would adjust the sensitivity by just one point, a new attempt would do a crooked line not even close to the original attempt. Zooming in and out to try to increase accuracy would only exacerbate the problem.

I had to uninstall 29.0 and revert back to the previous version. The Pencil Tool worked like a dream for the previous five versions once I found the perfect sensitivity, but nothing I could do would fix the errors of the Pencil Toll in v29. I cannot hope to use the newest version of Illustrator until this is fixed.

@ncic, I suppose you have the new Live Feedback option enabled in the Pencil Tool Options?
This algorithm differs form the now-legacy one and always smoothes points out, just like you noticed.
But if you disable this option, the result should be identical to how it used to work before — at least it is for me when I check it.

Can you please verify if disabling Live Feedback makes it behave properly?