The main reason I joined this forum: my company keeps hiring designers who will only use Illustrator. They save their files to both Illustrator and PDF (every time). I am charged with putting them into CDR files for manufacturing routing and vinyl as well as making sure the shop floor can understand the mumbo jumbo they use to talk to architects and clients. (Do I sound like I have an issue...) I am having tantrums trying to get these to work. Bitmaps and copy going one way or another or worse, leaving all together. I have started opening in AI and resaving without compression and flattening the artwork. Any other hints out there from other sign designers? I am on X7 and Illustrator CC, I also have Adobe Pro XI
Freehand was great. It's too bad Macromedia is no more. They gave Adobe a good run for its money, and in the realm of the internet they were way ahead.
MikeWe said:Why do I need a selection and a direct selection tool in Auntie Illy? Why cannot we still not just bend a straight line into a curve like the Astute plug-in?
The direct selection tool has functionality that the selection tool does not have, and there's no equivalent functionality in CorelDraw. So, the extra tool is there because it allows extra functionality. I can't imagine not having it. For example, the direct selection tool can select paths that are a part of a compound path, then cut them to the clipboard. In CorelDraw, you can select a path within a compound path, but if you try to cut it to the clipboard, it cuts the path plus everything else that you don't have selected to the clipboard. The direct selection tool essentially allows you to fluidly edit shapes within compound shapes where this is a pain in CorelDraw.
Illustrator now allows you to grab a path and bend it into a curve. It's actually a new feature added in the update from either January of this year, or the 2nd update from June of this year.
Venetia Hancock said: I know that Illustrator is a better program for printing but I have output going to CNC, vinyl cutters, routers etc.
I would disagree with that, Illustrator is a PITA for printing as text handling, transparency, color management and overall general functionality is second rate. True it's a good drawing program but not a great graphic program.
If you work in many areas as I do, (never knowing what's around the bend) laser engraving, print press work, large and grand format printing, vehicle wraps and cut vinyl, art reproductions/restorations and a multitude of types of signage Illustrator just does not cut it. In fact the CS or now CC suite compared to the CorelDraw GS is like being a mountain climber and having broken thumbs.
Tyson said: Freehand was great. It's too bad Macromedia is no more. They gave Adobe a good run for its money, and in the realm of the internet they were way ahead.
Freehand would have been a great program today if Adobe hadn't killed it. I think it was the only strong competitor to Illustrator and it would have given me an option for the work I do. Nobody is really looking to take on Adobe. Corel is the only other major but Corel's forever struggling with quality issues.
KuttyJoe said:Freehand would have been a great program today
I doubt that, I remember getting Freehand files in before the went belly up and it was rarely a pleasure. They totally screwed transparency and never got to the point of ICC color management.
I think that the love affair with Freehand is just a bit of missing the old girlfriend, once you get back in touch with her then you remember it more clearly.
Does anyone remember AI 9, it was so bad the only fix was to buy AI 10.
Like going back to CD X4, a good program for the day but I could never run at the tempo I do now with X4.