Adobe Illustrator CS3

Publisher's description of Adobe Illustrator

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Create sophisticated vector artwork for virtually any medium. Capture your ideas easily with industry-standard drawing tools, and experiment freely with flexible new color controls. Experience tight integration with other Adobe applications, and let improved performance help speed you through creating extraordinary graphics.

Version CS3 adds new Web, drawing, and interactive tools.

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Editor's review of Adobe Illustrator

True to its name, Adobe Illustrator began life as a standard-bearer for vector-based illustration and design, but fell behind the times because it lacked the Web output of competitors. Eager to shed Illustrator's stodgy image as a print-only application, Adobe has since taught this old dog many new tricks.

One instantly noticeable change is the panel-based interface, a change from the familiar palettes of old. The panels can be minimized to simple icon docks. Clicking on an icon opens up the palette it refers to, while hitting the arrow at the top opens all the palettes. No more worries about palettes blocking your workspace.

Colors get a lot of attention in CS3. They can now be grouped as you want them, and you can have CS3 suggest similar or related colors to you. The new Live Color function lets you easily change existing colors in your image. The app also includes integration with Adobe Flash, minimizing the hoop-jumping required for creating symbols in Illustrator and seamlessly importing them into Flash. Both programs now share the same hot key for defining symbols, and Illustrator now has Flash's graphics engine, further simplifying the crossover and importing process.

Other new features include a vector erasing tool, an improved cropping mechanism, tweaks in Live Trace, overhauled New Document Profiles, and more, but Illustrator is not for everyone. As is typical for Adobe products, the price, system requirements, and learning curve can be daunting. That said, this program offers features and functionality that can't be matched, and is a must-have for anyone who is serious about professional-quality digital illustration.

User reviews of Adobe Illustrator

• Average user rating: out of 58 votes
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  Adobe Illustrator

  Good for vector art

  by: JoyceNgo on 21-Jan-2008 12:39:18 PM

  Pros: I learned to use this in school, and although they don't teach it properly, I still found use for this product since it's very good at illustrating (thus the name Adobe Illustrator), very easy to use and has the idea of Photoshop except more artistic tools for creating vector images and turning photos into vector images.

  Cons: I haven't found much use of this since most use of this product is to create vector images and to color in photos. The price is pretty high for something that doesn't do that much.

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  Adobe Illustrator

  The Best The Best

  by: mikasartarian on 13-Jun-2008 10:18:24 AM

  Pros: Obviously difficult to master but a tremendously powerful program once you learn.

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  Adobe Illustrator

  Excellent

  by: friskyq on 23-Jan-2008 10:17:42 AM

  Pros: Great vector program. I haven't used any others so I can't compare, but once you get familiar with it, you shouldn't run into programs.

  Cons: There are no real significant cons.

  Some users who have placed comments here have complained that drawing is hard, not useful in fine arts and crafts area, and not much use for the program. People, this program was created for professionals. Graphic designers like myself use this program for virtually every ad they do. I can't count how many .ai files I have now...

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  Adobe Illustrator

  Good stuff....

  by: ScienceJock on 12-Jul-2007 03:58:16 PM

  Pros: It was a god's send for my thesis.

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  Adobe Illustrator

  Middle of the road geometric designer for fun, rigid illustrative work.

  by: nielling on 17-Jul-2007 08:30:58 AM

  Pros: Cute and fun fabric swatches. Generally similar to windows drawing program.

  Would be a quick artwork program for demonstration and visualization of ideas. I managed to learn most of the program withing an hour, it might take a few days to get down the details enough to do a finished work for displays. Remember, I work more in fine arts and was looking for that type of program, so my review is slanted.

  Cons: Merging or blurring devise gave commands that had no meaning to me. Thus I could not get it to work. Drawing is mechanically intrusive. Not useful in the fine arts and crafts areas, but might compliment another finer art program.

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