I've been working for 3 yrs with CorelDraw, Illustrator and Freehand. I can't say I'm extremely familiar with Illustrator, but in my opinion, it seems that it was made just to provide a simple vector drawing tool for Photoshop users. Corel Draw and Freehand are much easier to work with, and provide much more features, but, especially Corel Draw, they are not very good in exporting to Photoshop. Anyway, version 9 looks better than previous ones, and for simple drawings which need to be brought into Photoshop, I think it's the best choice. The native PDF format is a great improvement. What is REALLY missing is the capability to export only the selected drawing from the artboard... this is really a big lack. Also, a multipage artboard would be very useful.
Submitted by tmvedeanu on Thu, 07/27/2000 - 23:24.
After anxiously anticipating the release of Illustrator 9.0, I have to say that because of a few small but important(at least to me) details, I am less that elated about this new version of my favorite graphics software. Granted, some of the new features are just what the doctor ordered, but there are two key issues that make using AI 9 a pain.
Let me just say that I have only dabbled with the new version on and off for two weeks, and it is EXTREMELY possible that I have overlooked the settings that would take my blues away, but for someone who has used Illustrator consistently for 8 years, I doubt it. First, the new Freehand-like ruler makes AI 9 unacceptable for production work. My measurements need to be exact, but when I zoom in on an object, I can no longer see any ruler increments. For most of you devil-may-care designers out there, exact measurements are something you've probably never even considered. For designers that are also pre-press technicians such as myself, they're essential.
Secondly, the toolbox hot keys no longer allow you to toggle through all of the tools, only the ones that are showing. There's nothing that annoys me more than having to stop what I'm doing, tab all of my palettes back into view, and fumble around with the toolbox to get what I need.
Because of these two issues, I have yet to use AI 9 for production work. As I have said earlier, I may have simply overlooked how to revert these settings. If that is the case, will someone please educate me?
In general the article reflects the usual problems Adobe has on the launch of a new version of their products.
They put their focus on getting new creative features, but they sometimes ignore some annoying bugs. Soon there will be a minor upgrade free of charge.
I guess the editor has a lot of experience on Adobe products ;)
Once again, just an accessory for Photoshop?
I've been working for 3 yrs with CorelDraw, Illustrator and Freehand. I can't say I'm extremely familiar with Illustrator, but in my opinion, it seems that it was made just to provide a simple vector drawing tool for Photoshop users. Corel Draw and Freehand are much easier to work with, and provide much more features, but, especially Corel Draw, they are not very good in exporting to Photoshop. Anyway, version 9 looks better than previous ones, and for simple drawings which need to be brought into Photoshop, I think it's the best choice. The native PDF format is a great improvement. What is REALLY missing is the capability to export only the selected drawing from the artboard... this is really a big lack. Also, a multipage artboard would be very useful.
Illustrator 9.0 forgets some small but important details
After anxiously anticipating the release of Illustrator 9.0, I have to say that because of a few small but important(at least to me) details, I am less that elated about this new version of my favorite graphics software. Granted, some of the new features are just what the doctor ordered, but there are two key issues that make using AI 9 a pain.
Let me just say that I have only dabbled with the new version on and off for two weeks, and it is EXTREMELY possible that I have overlooked the settings that would take my blues away, but for someone who has used Illustrator consistently for 8 years, I doubt it. First, the new Freehand-like ruler makes AI 9 unacceptable for production work. My measurements need to be exact, but when I zoom in on an object, I can no longer see any ruler increments. For most of you devil-may-care designers out there, exact measurements are something you've probably never even considered. For designers that are also pre-press technicians such as myself, they're essential.
Secondly, the toolbox hot keys no longer allow you to toggle through all of the tools, only the ones that are showing. There's nothing that annoys me more than having to stop what I'm doing, tab all of my palettes back into view, and fumble around with the toolbox to get what I need.
Because of these two issues, I have yet to use AI 9 for production work. As I have said earlier, I may have simply overlooked how to revert these settings. If that is the case, will someone please educate me?
Barton Thomas
minor bugs are usual to adobe
In general the article reflects the usual problems Adobe has on the launch of a new version of their products.
They put their focus on getting new creative features, but they sometimes ignore some annoying bugs. Soon there will be a minor upgrade free of charge.
I guess the editor has a lot of experience on Adobe products ;)