Adobe Illustrator CS2 Review
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Publisher: Adobe Demo Downloads: Click Here Review Date: May 15, 2006 Reprinted with permission from MicroFilmmaker Magazine Final Score: 9.0 |
Ah yes, the day has come for this humble illustrator to review that-than-which-none-greater-may-be-conceived (in terms of vector artwork): Adobe Illustrator CS2. This beast, born anew from it's Mother Company, is nothing less than the epitome of vector based artworks. In true form, Adobe has introduced yet another generation of top-of-the line software.
Ease of Use
Illustrator has always had a fairly steep learning curve, which is due to the simple facts that:
- Illustrator is not a toy.
- Illustrator is not some handy little addition.
- Illustrator is not an entity to be tangled with by the faint of heart.
This is a serious tool for people concerned with putting the utmost quality into their work. Though CS2 has some significant improvements over v.10, the learning curve is still steeper than your run-of-the-mill graphics program… then again, the payoff is much greater as well. From it's seamless integration with Macromedia's web authoring products to its smooth melding into Photoshop CS2's Smart Objects function, this is THE program to purchase if you are in any way serious about your art.
Depth of Options
Control Palette
First off, lets take a look at the new Control Palette.
BEHOLD IT'S GLORY!
In previous versions of Illustrator the artist had to go through nested layers of menus to procure the desired menu options for any particular tool. This caused those of us with smaller monitors to suffer from a real lack of screen real-estate for drawing. With this new function, there is a handy tool bar within easy reach that changes depending on what tool is selected. Stroke weight, character alignment and kerning, precision transform- all are within easy reach with this handy function. Believe me, as a heavy Illustrator user, this will make for significant time-savings in the long run, to say nothing of eliminating the headache of the old "Too Many Menu Palettes, Not Enough Visible Artboard" scenario. Each time the competition comes up with an idea, Adobe improves on it to the point of leaving all others in the dust.
Customize your Workspace.
Ever work with a client who has a specific palette of colors they require? With Illustrator CS2's ability to store multiple customized workspaces, switching between custom setups is a breeze. Sure this may not be a big deal for the run-of-the-mill home user, but for anyone dealing with multiple clients, it will prove to be a great addition.