Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator

File:Illustrator CS3 screenshot.png Adobe Illustrator CS3 running on Mac OS X
Developer(s)	Adobe Systems
Stable release	CS3 (13.0) / April 16 2007
Operating system	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows
Type	Vector graphics editor
License	Proprietary
Website	www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/

Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based drawing program developed and marketed by Adobe Systems.

History

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's primary function is editing photographs and images, while Illustrator's primary function is drawing and working with type.

Initial release

In many ways Illustrator's release was a gamble: the Macintosh did not have high market share, the only printer that could output Illustrator documents was Apple's own LaserWriter (also very new and expensive), and the drawing paradigm of Bézier curves was novel to the mainstream user. Not only did the Macintosh show only monochrome graphics, but display options were basically limited to its built-in 9" monitor. Illustrator helped drive the development of larger monitors for the Macintosh.

Illustrator was a reliable, capable product, however, and its relatively shallow learning curve let users quickly appreciate that the new paradigm was not only better, but finally solved the problem of imprecision from existing programs like MacDraw. It also provided a tool for people who could neither afford nor learn high-end software such as AutoCAD. Illustrator successfully filled a niche between painting and CAD programs.

Illustrator's power and simplicity derive from the choice of Bézier curves as the primary document element. A degenerate curve provides a line, and circles and arcs (trigonometric shapes) can be emulated closely enough. In a novel twist, Adobe also made Illustrator documents true PostScript files — if one wanted to print them, one could send them directly to a PostScript printer instead of printing them from Illustrator. Since PostScript is a readable text format, third-party developers also found it easy to write programs that generated Illustrator documents.

Adobe was willing to take risks with Illustrator's user interface. Instead of following Apple's UI guidelines to the letter or imitating other popular Macintosh programs, they made it possible to switch between the various navigation tools (i.e, Zoom and Pan) using various keyboard key combinations.

Versions 2 – 5

Although Adobe developed Illustrator primarily for the Macintosh during its first decade, 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 Microsoft Windows, version 2.0, was released in early 1989, but it was a flop. 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.) 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

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. To this day, many users find the changes questionable. 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. Adobe bought Aldus in 1994 for PageMaker, and as part of the transaction it sold FreeHand to Macromedia (which was later acquired by Adobe).

With the rise of the Internet, Illustrator was enhanced to support Web publishing, rasterization previewing, PDF, and SVG.

Versions CS (11) & CS2 (12)

Illustrator 12, better known as Illustrator CS2 to reflect its integration with the Adobe Creative Suite, 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. Illustrator CS was the first version to include 3-dimensional capabilities allowing you extrude or revolve shapes to create simple 3D objects.

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. Live Paint allows users more flexibility in applying color to objects, specifically those that overlap.

Version CS3 (13)

This version of Adobe Illustrator was announced on March 27, 2007, and shipped on April 16. The Mac version is a universal binary. New features include Live Color, which provides tools for creating color harmonies based on color theory, and the ability to dynamically apply colors to selected objects and shift the tone of an entire illustration at one time. Remapping controls are also provided for reducing the numbers of colors in an artwork. Also new are better integration with Flash, with named symbol instances and dynamic/static text; improved drawing tools and controls; faster runtime performance; an Eraser tool that works on vector objects; a Crop Area tool; and an improved Isolation Mode for groups and symbol definitions.

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 against an orange background.

Release history

Version	Platforms	Release date	Code name
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 Unices	October 1990	Desert Moose
3.5	Silicon Graphics	1991
4	Windows	May 1992	Kangaroose
3.5	Solaris	1993
5	Mac OS	June 1993	Saturn
5.5	Mac OS, Solaris	June 1994	Janus
4.1	Windows	1995
6	Mac OS	February 1996	Popeye
7	Mac/Windows	May 1997	Simba
8	Mac/Windows	September 1998	Elvis
9	Mac/Windows	June 2000	Matisse
10	Mac/Windows	November 2001	Paloma
CS (11)	Mac/Windows	October 2003	Pangaea/Sprinkles
CS2 (12, 12.0.1)	Mac/Windows	April 27, 2005	Zodiac
CS3 (13)	Mac/Windows	April 2007	Jason

See also

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

External links

• Official page