Adobe
Illustrator CS3 is a vector art and illustration
creator and editor, it surpasses all other programs
in this league, in fact it is what Adobe Photoshop
CS3 is to pixel based images or photographs. One
thing that is noticeable is its compatibility with
all the other applications in CS3, it is faster
more colourful and has plenty to offer, however it
is highly priced and is designed exclusively for
the professional.
Therefore let us consider what makes this application stand out from the crowd, and whether or not this is a worthy upgrade.
Features And Benefits :
Better Compatibility And Improved Performance
Illustrator CS3 is the first version where speed and performance transcends any previous version. One of the most noticeable points is that it ships as a universal binary application and therefore runs native on Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macs running the Tiger Operating System. Furthermore it also runs on both XP and Vista. I noticed the speed of this application on my “Apple Mac Book Pro 2.33 GHZ Dual Core 2 Duo with 2GB of ram” and was very impressed.
Improved Graphic User Interface
On purchasing this product as part of Creative Suite 3 you will notice that the user interface is consistent with most, not all of the Adobe applications included in the package, thus speeding up the learning process. Some nice features included in the workspace is the fact that panels or palettes can be reduced to icons giving the user more space to work on his or her project, a real boon if you are used to knowing where all the tools are positioned and placed. The Control panel situated directly above the work area provides more functionality to the objects selected, for example if you placed a bitmap image with it selected it would provide options for marking, tracing, etc. Whereas if it is text selected paragraph, file and stroke options are displayed. I find this is a welcome feature to this version because this application automatically detects how much space it has and automatically adjusts the content to fit the screen, it displays hyper-links that expand out to reveal pop-up panels to give you better control over the feature you are trying to use.
Getting Started
When you first open the program up, you will see that it greets you with a welcome screen, this is the case with most CS3 applications, a much appreciated feature, because it provides guidance to locate projects already worked on as well as pre-set templates for various projects, for instance you may want to create a vector graphic for a print publication or for Web use, or even a mobile device, if so then this will provide you with right settings to get you started, they call these “New Document Profiles”. Illustrator also ships with ready made projects to which you can browse to your hearts content. This is a great way for newcomers to understand what can be achieved with this application.
More Outstanding Features
Integration into Adobe Flash CS3
One of the problems in the past is that if you wanted to export your projects into “Flash” you had to save it as a swf file, this produced unsatisfactory results. Adobe Illustrator CS3 now is far more compatible for copy and paste as well as file import, which means it retains the elements found in Illustrator, such as gradients, text, clipping masks, etc, thereby preserving nearly 100 percent quality of the “AI” file.
Equally if you are using Adobe Flash CS3 you can import AI files with ease, it allows you to choose which layers to include as well as many other customisations for your inclusion to your FLA project.
Using Anchor Points With Ease
One of the main functions that Illustrator has is to define or draw paths, whether they are open or closed, however the chances for tracing or drawing paths exactly or perfectly is almost impossible, so the user really is going to have to select anchor points or handles along the path to adjust a certain area of the path.
There are some nice finishing touches which makes Illustrator CS3 a pleasure to work with. For example if you select the Direct Selection Tool you will find that as soon as you mouse over a particular point it enlarges so you know that the point you are selecting is the right one. Also you can select a single anchor point without deselecting the path first, this means that you have control over the selected point without losing the selection of the whole path.
Swatch Palettes
A massive contribution to good vector art creation is the ability to choose exactly the right colours, different shades or gradients. Illustrator has the provision to allow you to create your own groups where individual colour swatches could be named, before it was a case of placing them in the swatches panel which meant a lack of organisation. This is a great improvement.
However Adobe has included a feature called “Live Colour” this is where you are presented with a dialogue box that allows you to automatically view various colours. There are two tabs, the Assign tab and the Edit tab. In the Edit tab there is a colour wheel, and in that wheel are all the colours of the selected image in your project these are highlighted by circles, each circle pinpoints the colours found in the object or group of objects selected, and by dragging the handles inside the wheel you can instantly change the colour hues or the finer details of the colour.
In Conclusion
It was just over 20 years ago that Adobe brought out Illustrator, today it has proved to be the most powerful and effective tool for professionals today. This latest release seems to have provided some neat finishing touches as well as graphic user interface improvements to assist the mature user. If you are wondering whether it is worth upgrading from CS2 or a previous release ? The simple answer is a resounding “YES”. For two reasons particularly, Flash integration is one of them and Path functionality is the other. Adobe has always listened to its users, and that is why Adobe Illustrator CS3 today leads the field in vector illustration creation.
Therefore let us consider what makes this application stand out from the crowd, and whether or not this is a worthy upgrade.
Features And Benefits :
Better Compatibility And Improved Performance
Illustrator CS3 is the first version where speed and performance transcends any previous version. One of the most noticeable points is that it ships as a universal binary application and therefore runs native on Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macs running the Tiger Operating System. Furthermore it also runs on both XP and Vista. I noticed the speed of this application on my “Apple Mac Book Pro 2.33 GHZ Dual Core 2 Duo with 2GB of ram” and was very impressed.
Improved Graphic User Interface
On purchasing this product as part of Creative Suite 3 you will notice that the user interface is consistent with most, not all of the Adobe applications included in the package, thus speeding up the learning process. Some nice features included in the workspace is the fact that panels or palettes can be reduced to icons giving the user more space to work on his or her project, a real boon if you are used to knowing where all the tools are positioned and placed. The Control panel situated directly above the work area provides more functionality to the objects selected, for example if you placed a bitmap image with it selected it would provide options for marking, tracing, etc. Whereas if it is text selected paragraph, file and stroke options are displayed. I find this is a welcome feature to this version because this application automatically detects how much space it has and automatically adjusts the content to fit the screen, it displays hyper-links that expand out to reveal pop-up panels to give you better control over the feature you are trying to use.
Getting Started
When you first open the program up, you will see that it greets you with a welcome screen, this is the case with most CS3 applications, a much appreciated feature, because it provides guidance to locate projects already worked on as well as pre-set templates for various projects, for instance you may want to create a vector graphic for a print publication or for Web use, or even a mobile device, if so then this will provide you with right settings to get you started, they call these “New Document Profiles”. Illustrator also ships with ready made projects to which you can browse to your hearts content. This is a great way for newcomers to understand what can be achieved with this application.
More Outstanding Features
Integration into Adobe Flash CS3
One of the problems in the past is that if you wanted to export your projects into “Flash” you had to save it as a swf file, this produced unsatisfactory results. Adobe Illustrator CS3 now is far more compatible for copy and paste as well as file import, which means it retains the elements found in Illustrator, such as gradients, text, clipping masks, etc, thereby preserving nearly 100 percent quality of the “AI” file.
Equally if you are using Adobe Flash CS3 you can import AI files with ease, it allows you to choose which layers to include as well as many other customisations for your inclusion to your FLA project.
Using Anchor Points With Ease
One of the main functions that Illustrator has is to define or draw paths, whether they are open or closed, however the chances for tracing or drawing paths exactly or perfectly is almost impossible, so the user really is going to have to select anchor points or handles along the path to adjust a certain area of the path.
There are some nice finishing touches which makes Illustrator CS3 a pleasure to work with. For example if you select the Direct Selection Tool you will find that as soon as you mouse over a particular point it enlarges so you know that the point you are selecting is the right one. Also you can select a single anchor point without deselecting the path first, this means that you have control over the selected point without losing the selection of the whole path.
Swatch Palettes
A massive contribution to good vector art creation is the ability to choose exactly the right colours, different shades or gradients. Illustrator has the provision to allow you to create your own groups where individual colour swatches could be named, before it was a case of placing them in the swatches panel which meant a lack of organisation. This is a great improvement.
However Adobe has included a feature called “Live Colour” this is where you are presented with a dialogue box that allows you to automatically view various colours. There are two tabs, the Assign tab and the Edit tab. In the Edit tab there is a colour wheel, and in that wheel are all the colours of the selected image in your project these are highlighted by circles, each circle pinpoints the colours found in the object or group of objects selected, and by dragging the handles inside the wheel you can instantly change the colour hues or the finer details of the colour.
In Conclusion
It was just over 20 years ago that Adobe brought out Illustrator, today it has proved to be the most powerful and effective tool for professionals today. This latest release seems to have provided some neat finishing touches as well as graphic user interface improvements to assist the mature user. If you are wondering whether it is worth upgrading from CS2 or a previous release ? The simple answer is a resounding “YES”. For two reasons particularly, Flash integration is one of them and Path functionality is the other. Adobe has always listened to its users, and that is why Adobe Illustrator CS3 today leads the field in vector illustration creation.
Adobe Illustrator CS3 Software Review