July, 2007
With exciting new features such as Live Color, revamped anchor point interaction and intuitive new Flash compatibility, Illustrator has cemented it's status as the vector illustration software of choice.
I believe the greatest improvement in this release is the way Adobe has finally addressed the issue of the anchor points being too small. Many a night I have suffered eye strain trying to pick out one tiny microscopic anchor point in a complex object. Now they enlarge as you hold the Direct Selection tool over them. You can select a single point on a selected path without deselecting the path and you can show all the bezier handles on a path simultaneously. You can also align single points using the align palette. On behalf of visually challenged designers everywhere I thank you Adobe.
The Erase tool introduced in CS2 underwent a major upgrade. It now works just like the eraser tool in PhotoShop. You drag it across an object and parts of it disappear. But since this is vector it automatically creates new paths to close the edges of your object. Overall an extremely handy new feature.
Live Trace now gives you the option to ignore the white bounding box so your traced art comes out clean and free of the useless path representing the former background. You can now create swatch groups in the Swatches palette and there are new document presets for print, Web, mobile, and video output. All these new features will help boost your productivity immensely.
Perhaps some of the biggest, yet least glitzy updates to this version of Illustrator are in the way it now interacts with Flash. With Flash now sharing the same interface as the rest of the CS3 releases it makes interactivity and moving between programs flawless. Former Freehand users will also be happy to know that Illustrator will now open Freehand files natively. But the most important integration is how you can import your Illustrator files into Flash and all your paths, layers and symbols remain completely unchanged.
To me the new Live Color feature is the cornerstone of the whole upgrade. The new Color Guide palette makes setting complimentary colors a snap. You specify a base color and the guide suggests a wide range of complimentary hues. You can input the type and number of variations with the Harmony Rules menu. I formerly had to rely on a series of plug ins and web guides for help in this area, having them right in the application is a huge time saver. The Live Color window, accessible through either the Color Guide palette or the Control panel allows you to adjust colors and apply them to any selected object completely on the fly. A color wheel is your interface to adjusting individual colors and controlling the way the new colors are mapped onto selected objects.
Overall while not the most exciting, feature rich upgrade, the features that were upgraded were the ones that needed it. Believe me when I say that the new anchor point features alone make this upgrade well worth the purchase price.
Visit www.adobe.com for more information and ordering details.
Upgrade from $199.00
Full from $599.00
Requirements:
Windows
- Intel® Pentium® 4, Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon®, or Intel Core™ Duo (or compatible) processor
- Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista™ Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (certified for 32-bit editions)
- 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 2GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
- 1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
- DVD-ROM drive
- QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
- Internet or phone connection required for product activation
- Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe® Stock Photos* and other services
Macintosh
- PowerPC® G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor
- Mac OS X v.10.4.8
- 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 2.5GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
- 1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
- DVD-ROM drive
- QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
- Internet or phone connection required for product activation
- Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos* and other services
Copyright (c) 2007, Bob Nicholl, All Rights Reserved
