Expert: Amy - 7/18/2004

Question
Dear Amy:

I use an iMac 450, OS 9.2.1, Illustrator 9.0.2, 128 mb ram.

I am having problems with illustrator when I go to print a logo file that I am working on.  I am a logo designer up until yesterday the files that I have been working on (652K and 760K) were printing okay and  I never ran out of memory when I went to print.  

My  settings are:
Virtual memory 252mb (I have also tried 129mb)
Illustrator- 90mb

I can't figure out why illustrator now runs out of memory when I go to print.

Thanks for your help.

Ron

Answer
Hi Ron,

Frustrating.

The fast workaround for a broken document like this is to save it as a PDF document and print it from Acrobat.

But if it keeps happening, you'll need to figure out why.

It would help to know a little more about how your printing environment is configured and what you're printing to (inkjet or postscript device). Can you print to another printer?

Sometimes simply selecting your artwork and pasting it into a new blank document works.

Sometimes, going into Print Setup and reselecting the printer, the paper size and orientation works.

Another simple culprit - fonts.  Try converting all fonts to outlines - that does it sometimes. I've read that Suitcase causes a conflict like you're getting, too.

Also, you can try deleting complex elements that you think might be causing the problem. Too many custom colors in the document has been shown to cause printing problems. Gradient meshes, objects that you were working on when Illustrator crashed, etc. Embedded artwork is a major troublemaker. Delete them and re-embed or link them can be a fix.

You might also try updating your printer driver. Even if there isn't an upgrade available, you might want to reinstall the printer driver.

I remember there was one instance where my hard drive was not large enough to hold the spool file because of the nature of the document, and I had to turn off background printing and print directly to the printer.  Could this be the case? I think in this case, you want to turn OFF virtual memory... since it's not the application that's running out of memory, it's the hard disk running out of physical space as the spool file is cached. I think you can also allocate more memory to the Desktop Print Spooler and Desktop Print Monitor, if you are using them.  You'll have to forgive me, I haven't been on a Mac in a while (but trust me, I used them long enough...).

I'd also go and delete my aiprefs file and restart Illustrator and see if that helps...just because that's something I always try.

Well, I hope something in this list helps or points at the culprit.  Please write me back if nothing comes of it.

Good luck
-Amy