Unlike its sister app Photoshop , Adobe Illustrator does not postulate the user to wait through prospicient computations and only seldom impart you stare at a progress legal profession . As such , exploiter of Intel - based Macs have loosely discover Illustrator CS2 to be very useable on their fresh machines . And so the pressure on Adobe to release a version of Photoshop that runs natively on Intel automobile just has n’t been there for Illustrator .
But just because Illustrator users may be less antsy about a public presentation upgrade in the CS3 reading of the drawing coating , that does n’t mean they wo n’t be paying closelipped tending to the new lineament that Adobe has decided to add together . Fortunately for Illustrator exploiter — and for Adobe — a glimpse at a prerelease version of Illustrator CS3 indicates that this up-to-the-minute update will deliver some excellent , important young features when it ships next calendar month .
What’s new
Several new tools and command have been added to Illustrator . Just as the Brush shaft provided the power to paint strokes just like you may in a paint program , the new Eraser allows you to efface any part of a soma just as you would in a paint program . Illustrator automatically takes care of lend the necessary control points and building the necessary shapes .
While Illustrator has long had an Alignment palette for aligning and circularise objects , coalition operations only work on on entire aim . The Control Panel now includes commands for aligning and lot period . Any prison term you have multiple control dot selected , you could align or distribute those points using the Control Panel .
Perhaps the most significant modification to the program , though , have been made to Illustrator ’s color selector . Personally , Illustrator ’s colour picker has bugged me for a long time . It find like it always claim far too many click just to change the color of something . With CS3 , thing are much easier , thanks to alive Color , an environment designed specifically to explore and create colour combinations that can be bring through and reprocess , exchangeable to an Appearance or a vogue flat solid in a word mainframe .
Illustrator CS3 now supports the same docked user interface as the other CS3 apps . Here , you may see the young eraser being used to add an uneven edge to a anatomy . observe the new Color Guide pallet which has mechanically mother color that complement the color of our text edition .
combination of color swatches can be make without changing the color of any objects in your library , and Illustrator can mechanically create complementary , correspondent , homochromatic or triad color scheme . you may also create your own “ concordance ” rule : choose a cornerstone color , and Illustrator will automatically present you with a survival of harmonious complements .
With the Live Color dialog box , you could dynamically apply vividness to selected objects , and even tilt the tone of multiple objects at one sentence . Remapping shaft are also provided for intelligently reducing the turn of color in an image .
Other welcome additions to the program include a long - wait Crop creature , which saves you the hassle of make a Masking Object if you want to lop an illustration , and better Flash integration .
What’s improved
As with the rest of the entourage , Illustrator has been updated with Adobe ’s new interface design which let in a number of important workspace improvement . In addition to the addition of dock palette , Illustrator now has a Control Panel across the top of the screen , just like the other Creative Suite applications . This new Control Panel furnish far more option than CS2 ’s honest-to-god Control Bar , making it much loose to configure shaft choice .
However , probably the best change , port - wise , are some simple modifications made to Illustrator ’s selection and drafting tools . sneak over any point with the Direct Select shaft now automatically highlights that stop , even if the aim itself is n’t pick out , make up it simple to find the points on a path . The Control Panel , meanwhile , now offers commands for supply and deleting points , as well as cutting and joining paths , and converting ground tackle points — all tasks that used to ask you to select the Scissors , Pen Tool , or Convert to Anchor Point tool . Now they can be quick performedwithouta tool change .
pick out individual points is easy , but if those point are on an aim that sit behind other object , you still ca n’t click instantly on them . In the past you would have had to apply some combination of locking , hiding , or layering objects . you may still work that path , but CS3 now include an Isolation Mode which automatically brings the selected object or group to the front for easy redaction , and then automatically returns it to its right location in the stacking order when you ’re done solve on it .
What to expect
Illustrator CS3 is much more than just CS2 with serious performance and a new interface . Adobe has tally a dear amount of deepness to the program , and we look forward to exploring it further in our terminal review .
[ Ben Long is a independent writer and photographer based in San Francisco . He is the writer of the of late releasedAdobe Photoshop CS3 Beta First Look(Peachpit Press , 2007 ) . ]
