WHAT’S NEW IN ILLUSTRATOR?
7KH1RYHPEHU ,OOXVWUDWRUXSGDWHVDUHQRWTXLWHDV
plentiful as what we saw last year but will be welcome
WRGHVLJQHUVQHYHUWKHOHVV+HUH¶VDTXLFNUXQGRZQ
- 3DWKVLPSOL¿FDWLRQPDNHVZRUNLQJZLWKSDWKVHDVLHU
by reducing unnecessarily large numbers of anchor
points - $XWRVSHOOFKHFNKLJKOLJKWVHUURUVDV\RXW\SHV
- %DFNJURXQGVDYHOHWV\RXPRYHRQWRRWKHUWDVNVDQG
H[SRUWPRUHTXLFNO\WKDQEHIRUH - Faster rendering of drop shadow, blur, and glow
H̆HFWV - More accessible troubleshooting when opening or
VDYLQJ¿OHV - New guidance in the form of tutorials and help
UHVRXUFHVLQWKH+RPHDQG/HDUQWDE
As a refresher, here are the most compelling highlights
IURPWKHUHOHDVHVRPHRIZKLFKPHULWIXUWKHU
discussion later in this review:
- 7KH3URSHUWLHV3DQHOJLYHVFRQWH[WVHQVLWLYHLQIRDQG
options about the currently selected object - You can increase the size of onscreen controls,
including anchor points, handles, and bounding
ER[HVZKLFKPDNHVWKHPDORWHDVLHUWRDGMXVW - )RUXVHUVZKRKDYHHYHUZDQWHGWRWZHDNRUURWDWHD
portion of an illustration without distorting the whole
thing, the Puppet Warp tool gives you the power to do
VRLQDQLQWXLWLYHDQGQDWXUDOORRNLQJZD\ - Move over PostScript (PS): Multiple Master (MM),
7UXH7\SH 77 2SHQ7\SH 27 DQG9DULDEOH YDU
fonts are here - 7KHDSSQRZVXSSRUWV0LFURVRIW¶V6XUIDFH'LDO
- ,WDOVRDGGVVXSSRUWIRU&69DQG;0/LQWKH
9DULDEOHV3DQHO
Adobe Illustrator
PROS Killer vector
design abilities.
Excellent Touch Type
feature. Simplified
Free Transform tool.
Powerful Puppet
Warp feature allows
transformation of
select portions of
illustrations. Many
improvements to
existing features.
CONS Can’t buy a
single, perpetual
license. No uniformity
of key commands
with Photoshop and
InDesign.
BOTTOM LINE:
Despite some
harrumphing from the
digital arts
community about
Adobe’s subscription-
only model, Illustrator
is the best vector-
graphics editing
program around, and
it just keeps getting
better.