Review: Adobe Illustrator 9.0 (and 9.02 update)

"Adobe Illustrator 9 Sets New Standards for Web Designers"

by Paul Gerstenbluth (ArieFound@aol.com) RIAG Member

Every day over one million men and women use Adobe Illustrator. Who are these people? They are worldwide graphics and multimedia professionals, technical illustrators, desktop publishers, and web developers.

Adobe Illustrator continues to provide the touch-and-feel tools you need to create brochures, video artwork and web pages. Plus, it's used for making packaging, ads and editorial spreads.

Why Trade Up to Adobe Illustrator 9.0?

Graphic artists using Illustrator 9 now have the ability to work their web design projects in unison with Photoshop 6. Adobe Illustrator 9 offers them a bundle of new features:

• Pixel Preview command
• Web safe colors when working in RGB mode
• Web Optimization
• Release to Layers command
• Simplify Command, and
• Effects menu.

New Transparency Palette

Adobe illustrator 9 introduces the new Transparency palette. You can now apply varying levels of transparency to any object, bitmap or type character.

You can apply transparency to layers, groups of objects, knockout shapes, stroke and fill. Also, you can create special effects, such as confining blending to a group of objects. Now, graphic artist can create graduated transparencies on blends.

New Features

Several new features in Illustrator 9.0 will be familiar to veteran Adobe Photoshop users:

• The new real-time transparency effects. (There is a new tab on the Stroke and gradient dialog, with a slider.) Select an object, slide the transparency value to 80 percent and the objects beneath it show through. You can move the transparent object at will.
• New Styles Palette. Apply drop shadows, glows, scribbled outline effects or dozens of other visual effects to any object or text. The text remains fully editable.
• New Layers Functionality The Layers functions are useful to web designers using Adobe Illustrator 9 for improving their drawings. The new release Layers to Flash function allows Illustrator 9 to be used to produce morphing object and animation effects.
• Pixel Preview Mode and "Save for Web" Dialog. Pixels are now supported as a measurement method. The new Pixel Preview mode allows you to preview your vector objects as they would appear in a web browser. Objects snap to the nearest pixel edge in the document. Adobe Illustrator 9 "Save for Web" dialog is almost the same as the "Save to Web" dialog in Photoshop.

Reactions: Pro

Noted are Adobe Illustrator 9's new Opacity masks, Layer Clipping masks and Feathering functions, and overprint preview.

Excellent hardcopy manual for learning how-to use Adobe Illustrator 9 comes with the program (No Missing Manual).

Adobe Illustrator 9 has True transparency effects, styles palette and improved Flash support. Pixels can now be specified as a global measurement unit for sizing, editing, and laying out artwork.

Reactions: Con

Noted was the missing companion CD with Adobe Illustrator graphics that comes standard with Adobe Pagemaker Plus application.

Also, I noted that some of the Selection tools can be confusing. I found that Masking tool some times flattens layers.

Final Notes

Adobe Illustrator 9 offers graphic artist and web designers more flexibility, better integration, along with new object effects. One of the most important changes to Illustrator 9 is its ability to work with web design projects. Illustrator 9 combines illustration tools with improved typographic control and image support.

Pricing and Availability

For first time buyers, Adobe Illustrator 9 is available for $399.00. For registered owners of previous versions of Illustrator, the price is $149.00.

For more information, please visit the Adobe web site at: http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/main.html.

Adobe Illustrator 9 works with any PowerPC processor, Mac OS 8.5, 8.6 or 9.0, OS X, 64 MB of RAM, 105 MB of available hard-disk space, CD-ROM drive, 800x600 or greater monitor resolution, Adobe PostScript Level 2 or later required if using Adobe® PostScript® printers.

Paul Gerstenbluth is President of the ARIE Foundation. The ARIE Foundation's mission is to provide VA hospitalized patients with hobby materials such as donated stamps and sports cards that helps in their stay and recovery.

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