Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator Screenshot Adobe Illustrator CS5 running on Windows 7 x64
Developer(s)	Adobe Systems
Stable release	CS5 (15.0.0) / April 12, 2010 (2010-04-12)
Written in	C++
Operating system	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows
Type	Vector graphics editor
License	Proprietary
Website	Adobe Illustrator Homepage

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems.

The latest version, Illustrator CS5, is the fifteenth generation in the product line.

History

Versions 1–1.6 (Illustrator 88)

Adobe Illustrator was first developed for the Apple Macintosh in 1986 (shipping in January 1987) as a commercialization of Adobe's in-house font development software and PostScript file format. Adobe Illustrator is the companion product of Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is primarily geared toward digital photo manipulation and photorealistic styles of computer illustration, while Illustrator provides results in the typesetting and logo graphic areas of design. Early magazine advertisements (featured in graphic design trade magazines such as Communication Arts) referred to the product as "the Adobe Illustrator". Illustrator 88, the product name for version 1.6, was released in 1988 and introduced many new tools and features.

Versions 2–5

Although, during its first decade, Adobe developed Illustrator primarily for Macintosh, it sporadically supported other platforms. In the early 1990s, Adobe released versions of Illustrator for NeXT, Silicon Graphics IRIX, and Sun Solaris platforms, but they were discontinued due to poor market acceptance. The first version of Illustrator for Windows, version 2.0, was released in early 1989 and flopped. The next Windows version, version 4.0, was widely criticized as being too similar to Illustrator 1.1 instead of the Macintosh 3.0 version, and certainly not the equal of Windows' most popular illustration package CorelDraw. (Note that there were no versions 2.0 or 4.0 for the Macintosh - although the second release for the Mac was titled Illustrator 88 - the year of its release.) Version 4 was, however the first version of Illustrator to support editing in preview mode, which did not appear in a Macintosh version until 5.0 in 1993.

Versions 6–10

Adobe Illustrator 10, The last version before the Creative Suite Rebrand

With the introduction of Illustrator 6 in 1996, Adobe made critical changes in the user interface with regards to path editing (and also to converge on the same user interface as Adobe Photoshop), and many users opted not to upgrade. Illustrator also began to support TrueType, making the "font wars" between PostScript Type 1 and TrueType largely moot. Like Photoshop, Illustrator also began supporting plug-ins, greatly and quickly extending its abilities.

With true ports of the Macintosh versions to Windows starting with version 7 in 1997, designers could finally standardize on Illustrator. Corel did port CorelDRAW 6.0 to the Macintosh in late 1996, but it was received as too little, too late. Aldus ported FreeHand to Windows but it was not the equal of Illustrator because version upgrades did not keep up with Adobe's releases. Designers tended to like one or the other program, based on what they learned first. There are several capabilities in Freehand still not available in Illustrator (certain scaling abilities, etc.). Corel was never considered a professional level tool by major agencies or design shops. Famously, Aldus did a comparison matrix between its own Freehand, Illustrator and Draw, and Draw's one "win" was that it came with three different clip art views of the human pancreas. Adobe bought Aldus in 1994 for PageMaker, and as part of the transaction it sold FreeHand to Macromedia (which was later acquired by Adobe). Clarifying difference in strengths between Photoshop and Illustrator with the rise of the Internet, Illustrator was enhanced to support Web publishing, rasterization previewing, PDF, and SVG. Version 9 included a tracing feature, similar to that within Adobe's discontinued product Streamline.

Versions CS–CS5

Illustrator CS was the first version to include 3-dimensional capabilities allowing users to extrude or revolve shapes to create simple 3D objects. To reflect its integration with the Adobe Creative Suite, Illustrator CS2 (version 12) was available for both the Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the last version for the Mac which did not run natively on both Intel and PowerPC processors.

Among the new features included in Illustrator CS2 were Live Trace, Live Paint, a control palette and custom workspaces. Live Trace allows for the conversion of bitmap imagery into vector art and improved upon the previous tracing abilities. Live Paint allows users more flexibility in applying color to objects, specifically those that overlap.

CS3 included interface updates to the Control Bar, the ability to align individual points, multiple Crop Areas, the Color Guide panel and the Live Color feature among others.

CS4 was released in October 2008. It features a variety of improvements to old tools along with the introduction of a few brand new tools. The ability to create Multiple Artboards is one of CS4’s main additions, although still not equal to the true multiple page capability of Freehand. The Artboards allow you to create multiple versions of a piece of work within a single document. Other tools include the Blob Brush, which allows multiple overlapping vector brush strokes to easily merge or join, and a new gradient tool that allows for more in depth manipulation of colors.

CS5 was launched as of 12 April, 2010 and Adobe is now taking in Pre-orders. Adobe says it will be available for trialling and normal buying by mid-May. Numerous new features include multiple artboards in a single document, a "blob brush" that is similar to the brush in Adobe Flash, and support for transparency in gradients among other features.

Branding

Starting with version 1.0, Adobe chose to license an image of Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" from the Bettmann Archive and use the portion containing Venus' face as Illustrator's branding image. Warnock desired a Renaissance image to evoke his vision of Postscript as a new Renaissance in publishing, and Adobe employee Luanne Seymour Cohen, who was responsible for the early marketing material, found Venus' flowing tresses a perfect vehicle for demonstrating Illustrator's strength in tracing smooth curves over bitmap source images. Over the years the rendition of this image on Illustrator's splash screen and packaging became more stylized to reflect features added in each version.

The image of Venus was replaced (albeit still accessible via easter egg) in Illustrator CS (11.0) and CS2 (12.0) by a stylized flower to conform to the Creative Suite's nature imagery. In CS3, Adobe changed the suite branding once again, to simple colored blocks with two-letter abbreviations, resembling a periodic table of elements. Illustrator was represented by the letters Ai in white against an orange background (oranges and yellows were prominent color schemes in Illustrator branding going back as far as version 4.0). The CS4 icon is almost identical, except for a slight alteration to the font and the color which is dark gray. The CS5 icon is also virtually the same, except that this time the logo is like a box, along with all the other CS5 product logos. The "Ai" is now bright yellow.

Internationalization and localization

Language availability

Adobe Illustrator contains the following languages: Arabic (Middle Eastern version), Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, French (Canadian), German, Greek, Hebrew (Middle Eastern version), Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Turkish, Indonesia, Ukrainian.

Adobe Illustrator Middle Eastern language versions are available from WinSoft International.

Specific features for Arabic and Hebrew languages

The Middle Eastern/Hebrew and the Middle Eastern/Arabic versions are specifically developed for Arabic and Hebrew languages.

Text settings

Illustrator Middle Eastern versions come with special settings for typing and laying out Arabic or Hebrew text, such as:

• Possibility to use Arabic, Persian or Hindi digits
• Use kashidas for letter spacing and full justification
• Set vowels /diacritics positioning
• Ligature option
• Justify text in three possible ways: Standard, Arabic, Naskh

Tools

V= Selection

A= Direct Selection

Y= Magic Wand

Q= Lasso

P= Pen

+= Add Anchor point

-= Delete Anchor point

Shift-C= Convert Anchor point

T= Type

\= Line Segment

M= Rectangle

L= Ellipse

B= Paintbrush

N= Pencil

R= Rotate

O= Reflect

S= Scale

Shift-R= Warp

E= Free Transform

Shift-S= Symbol Sprayer

J= Column Graph

U= Mesh

G= Gradient

I= Eyedropper

W= Blend

K= Live Paint Bucket

Shift-L= Live Paint Selection

Shift–O= Crop Area

Shift-K= Slice

Shift–E= Eraser

C= Scissors

H= Hand

Z= Zoom

X= Toggle between Fill & Stroke

Shift-X= Swap Fill & Stroke

D= Default Fill & Stroke (white fill/black stroke)

<= Fill or Stroke w/Color

>= Fill or Stroke w/Gradient

/= Fill or Stroke w/None

F= Cycle through Screen Modes

Selecting and Moving

To access Selection or Direction Selection tool (whichever was used last) at any time= (Command)

To switch between Selection and Direct Selection tools= Option-Tab

To cycle through tools behind column tool= Option-click tool

To make copy while dragging= Option

To add to a selection= Shift

Move Selection= Any arrow key

Move Selection 10 pts= Shift-any arrow key

Lock selected artwork= 2

Lock all deselected artwork= Option-Shift- 2

Unlock all artwork= Option- 2

Hide selected artwork= 3

Hide all deselected artwork= Option-Shift-3

Show all artwork= Option-3

Path Editing

Join and Average at same time= Option-Shift-J

Convert Anchor Point tool from Pen tool= Option

Switch between Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point tools= Option

Add Anchor Point tool from Scissors tool= Option

Move anchor point while drawing with Pen tool= Spacebar

Create closed path with Pencil or Paintbrush tool= when finished drawing, hold Option and release mouse

Connect to an open (& selected) path with Pencil= drag

Painting and Transforming

Eyedropper tool from Live Paint Bucket tool= Option

Samples intermediate color from gradient, picture, etc. with eyedropper= Shift

Sets center point and shows dialog= Option-click with Tool

Duplicates and transforms selection= Option-drag

Transform pattern without transforming object=(Command)-drag

Scale proportionally with Selection tool= Shift-drag bounding box

Scale from center with Selection tool= Option-drag bounding box

Move mesh point along path with Mesh tool= Shift-drag

Add mesh point with Mesh tool without changing color= Shift-click

Remove mesh point with Mesh tool= Option-click

Additional fonts

Illustrator Middle Eastern versions support most fonts shipped with the OS as well as a large number of third party fonts widely used by graphic designers in the Middle Eastern regions.
Illustrator Middle Eastern versions install one additional font that facilitates your work in Middle Eastern languages: WinSoft Pro, which is available in four styles: Medium, Medium Italic, Bold and Bold Italic.

Bi-directional text flow

In Illustrator Middle Eastern versions, the notion of right-to-left behaviour applies to several objects: Story, Paragraph and Character. You can easily mix Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right Words, Paragraphs and Stories in a document.

Dictionary and Hyphenation Module

Illustrator Middle Eastern versions come with a comprehensive dictionary for Arabic allowing you to spell check Arabic text with a choice of rules, like Strict Aleef Hamza, Strict Final Yaa, both or none.
Illustrator Middle Eastern versions come with a Dictionary and Hyphenation Module for Hebrew.

Find / Replace

You can search for and change specific occurrences of Middle Eastern text. Illustrator Middle Eastern versions include a "Ignore Accent" option. When checked, the user can search for a string of text whether it contains some accents or not.

Import/Export Options for ME characters

Illustrator Middle Eastern versions include improved import and export options for RTF, Unicode, Word, Freehand, CorelDraw, PDF, SVG, PSD, EPS, EMF and DXF/DWG files including Middle Eastern text.
Encodings has been added for Middle Eastern characters to facilitate text import and export, Save for Web and DXF/DWG file import.

Release history

Version	Platforms	Release date	Code name	Notable Features
1.0	Mac OS	January 1987	Picasso
1.1	Mac OS	March 19, 1987	Inca
88	Mac OS	March 1988
2.0	Windows	January 1989	Pinnacle
3	Mac OS, NeXT, other Unixes	October 1990	Desert Moose
3.5	IRIX	1991
4	Windows	May 1992	Kangaroose
3.5	Solaris	1993
5	Mac OS	June 1993	Saturn	layers, live editing in preview mode
5.5	Mac OS, Solaris	June 1994	Janus	spell checker, find/replace text
4.1	Windows	1995	Pavel
6	Mac OS	February 1996	Popeye	gradients, eye dropper, paint bucket
7	Mac/Windows	May 1997	Simba	tabbed dockable palettes, transform palette, align palette, Photoshop pixel filters, rasterize, punk, bloat, free distort, layout grid, vertical text tool
8	Mac/Windows	September 1998	Elvis	pencil tool, bounding box handles, smart guides, actions palette, bitmap eyedropper, gradient mesh, live brushes, links palette
9	Mac/Windows	June 2000	Matisse	Flash & SVG output, pixel preview, release to layers, drop shadows, transparency, feathering, opacity & layer mask, native PDF support
10	Mac/Windows	November 2001	Paloma	live pathfinder shapes, symbols, slicing, css layer support, ODBC data link, variables palette, save for web, live distortion, warping, envelopes (warp/mesh/top object), liquify tools, grid/line/arc/polar grid tools, flare tool, magic wand
CS (11)	Mac/Windows	October 2003	Pangaea/Sprinkles	3D effect, OpenType support, character & paragraph styles, template file format, scribble effect, columns & rows, optical kerning, optical margins, every-line composer, custom tab leaders, WYSIWYG font menu, Japanese type support, path type option, save for Microsoft Office
CS2 (12, 12.0.1)	Mac/Windows	April 27, 2005	Zodiac	live trace, live paint, colorized grayscale, Photoshop layer support, expanded stroke options, control palette, Adobe Bridge support, Wacom tablet support, SVG-t export, PDF/X export
CS3 (13)	Mac/Windows	April 2007	Jason	live color, Flash integration, eraser tool, document profiles, crop area, isolation mode
CS4 (14)	Mac/Windows	October 2008	Sonnet	multiple artboards, transparency in gradients, blob brush, live gradient editing, separations previews, in-palette appearance editing
CS5 (15)	Mac/Windows	April 2010	Will be released mid-May.	perspective drawing tools, variable-width strokes, control over opacity in points on gradient meshes, shape builder tool (similar to pathfinder tools) and a bristle brush, which enables users to imitate real life brush strokes while maintaining vector format.

See also

• List of vector graphics editors
• Comparison of vector graphics editors
• .AI file format

References

• Adobe.com Illustrator Official Site: What's New [

External links

• Official page
• Adobe Illustrator keyboard shortcuts
• The Vintage Mac Museum - Adobe Illustrator for Macintosh