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Very frustrating for how much I paid for design premium, which the rest works great. Then when I export as eps i get "The operation cannont complete because of unknown error [Imer]." When I research all of these problems it seems many many people are all over the adobe forums as long ago as November 2007 and and as recent as May with the same issues and Adobe techs haven't addressed these issues. (I'm still learning) But now my software doesn't want to export eps files, or save ai files. Other than those MAJOR flaws, i give it 3 stars for the premise it will get an update eventually and work perfect.
It 'acts like' it exports eps files but none are ever where I save them. After using illustrator for a few weeks i finally started learning some really cool features with the pathfinder tool to make those perfect vector shapes. I would probably wait until all of the "Unknown error has occurred" problems are fixed. Loads of symbols like networking and web which would be so easy to color in for instant icons, and just fun symbols like maps if you ever felt like making a map in illustrator. Several comment they have phoned in and adobe can't fix it.
Right now I am copying and pasting my work into tons of new files and basically going to lose my work if I get a power outage.Some say this is attributed to the Zune software, but i have no such software. Overall, I wish I had waited. It just constantly says unknown error. The color guide is really neat because it helps you select harmonious color schemes, which is easy to plop into designs and try. So I am left deleting preferences, reinstalling, and holding keys while i boot illustrator to no avail, pretty much going off of people's advice off of forums.
Not good. Also you can choose historic color schemes like renaissance, baroque, pop art, etc. That's a lot of money for my small, one person graphic design business and I will have to think of an alternative for logo creation.
Not to worry. All you need is Mordy's book, the Adobe Help resource, which is great, and plenty of quiet time. I began using Photoshop at Version 4 so I know from quirks. Works perfectly for this. Scale it. Less than ten minutes.
As we all know, vector images can be scaled from real small to real huge with no loss of resolution. Color it. If you're a professional doing a lot of vector graphics, Illustrator is the only way to go. I used it a couple of hours ago on a few characters of type that were overly distorted by applying the Warp Effect. Just whip out the trusty digital camera, take a picture of a red rose, into Illustrator, and presto. About the Bezier Curves Tool. I use a wide 24" Samsung (which I highly reccomend) and it's kind of cramped. Make a big bouquet.
One of the best features of Illustrator is Live Trace. For sure, not me. For a training manual the only one you need is Real World Illustrator 3 by Mordy Golding. It's like riding a bicycle. Or drawing a curved path with a stroke to separate a text field from a photograph.
Lots of hobbyists use either Photoshop Elements or the full Photoshop application. I have a Wacom 9X12 that I use a lot in Photoshop but it kind of surprised me that I don't much in Illustrator. (See my review there.I wrote it when I was slightly toasted. Right now I'm using Illustrator to design political campaign buttons. Illustrator has more than a few quirks and "work-arounds" but every application has those. I use curves only a few minutes a day and then on simple things.
It's pretty much intuitive. This is one of the best features of Illustrator and is something you certainly can't do in Photoshop. Scan a photograph into Illustrator, hit a few keys, and the pixels are rendered into vector paths. Like the task of reshaping type I mentioned.
But Illustrator is another matter altogether. A couple more quick tips. Lots of people find this intimidating. Also use a trackball. Seems way smaller than when I use it for Photoshop. Not all that difficult to learn. Get the biggest monitor you can afford.
And a really good graphics card. A big misconception. Took only a few minutes. From talking to other people in the business, it seems people are put off from Illustrator because they think Illustrator is all about bezier curves. Try to draw a red rose with the pen tool and bezier curves.
Moving around with the ball is way more precise and much faster. Wobble around for awhile then all of the sudden you have it. Zoomed it up to 3600% and very carefully restored the outlines. I use an inexpensive Logitech that works fine. oh, well) Video tutorials are pretty much a waste of time IMHO.
The eraser works on vector shapes the way the eraser in Photoshop works on bitmapped shapes. In Illustrator you create vector shapes using the various tools, each vector shape is like a shape cut out of paper, you then build up your images using these vector shapes and blending modes. Several new tools, such as the eraser tool (new in CS3) make this a worthy upgrade. I am a professional Graphic Designer with a degree in Fine Arts & Graphic Design. Also the new copy protection Adobe has installed makes it very difficult to install and register. I find the closest analogy to who Illustrator works, it building a collage.
Basically you can draw on the screen in a similar manner that you would on paper.
It cleanly erases whatever you move it over, and it accurately completes your shapes.
I use Illustrator for 90% of my image creation.The only reasons I give this program 4 starts instead of 5 are the new palette menu system is not terribly useful.
I have been using Adobe Illustrator in one version or another for about 7 years.So far Adobe Illustrator is the only program I would recommend for people to upgrade to if they have previously been using Adobe Illustrator CS2.
Once you have your vector drawing you can scale it to any size big or small with no loss of image quality.Once you learn how to use it (and as previously stated in another review, it is harder to find online tutorials) it is a much more robust program for creating imagery for use in print, products or on the web.
It is a real wonder that has significantly improved my productivity in Illustrator.The improves Smart Trace is very nice as well for turning bitmapped images into vector drawings, although depending on the source image you might get less than perfect results.
I find it very useful.Adobe Illustrator is not as easy to use as Photoshop, since with Photoshop you draw with tools that work like a pencil or paintbrush.
Had Adobe adopted a "drawer" style palette setup like InDesign CS2 used, it would have been much more useful, I ended up just using the "Legacy" setting that makes the palettes work like they did in CS2.
It took me 3 or 4 days to get this program installed and working on my laptop (2Ghz Dualcore processor, 3GB Ram, ATI Radeon Mobile, fresh install of Window Vista Home Premium 32bit).
this product is great. it is worth the money and i have been using this on a pc with no problems so far. if you are into designing it is worth it.
X3 includes CorelDraw (competes with Illustrator)Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium Upgrade [Mac]Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium Upgrade and PhotoPaint (competes with Adobe PhotoShop). I was forced to buy Adobe Illustrator CS3. The only reason I had to buy Illustrator CS3 is because CorelDraw could not open some of the Illustrator CS2 and CS3 files I received and I needed them for my business. Adobe gets way too much money for their software. Yes, it is the best, and it is the industry leader, but CorelDraw X3 Graphics Suite is an excellent performer for a fraction of the cost. So if you don't need to open the latest version of Illustrator files, look into Corel and save yourself a bundle. You can download Corel trial software for free to try before you buy.
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