[iluvmymactoo]

I'm not a college trained illustrator. I'm a guy who use to use real people as my canvas to create art, as in body art (not the paint on clothes stuff either eeek).

12 months ago I purchased a wacom tablet and Corel Painter and I fell in love with it. In combination to Painter I also use Photoshop where needed. Both of these I taught myself to use (a friend who is a professional photographer offers advice here and there with PS). Now I am creating art digitally.

Well to get to the point I want to begin experimenting with vector graphics. I have Macromedia Freehand and Adobe Illustrator and was wondering which of the two are more versatile or would you say they are both much of a muchness? Does one have more of an advantage over the other?

Thanks

[Macola]

Try this thread:
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=177119

Personally, I prefer Illustrator (having used both) but I haven't tried the latest version of Freehand. I have Freehand 10, and that's not a pleasant experience.

[iluvmymactoo]

Thanks for the link, but I find it a little confusing. Most of the votes were for Illustrator yet the majority of posts were for Freehand LOL.

Perhaps what I will do is install both and just get to know them.

I was interested from a user to user point of view.

[gautch]

Im not much of a Freehand user. I can atest to Illustrator 7-CS.
I use Illustrator 7-8 hours a day 6 days a week. Now that Illustrator is an industry standard its hard to even recomend Freehand. But iv used Adobe GoLive and Macromedia's Dreamweaver. And id go for Dreamweaver any day.

Now days different software companies use the same termanology (except Quark, witch i hate) so its just a matter of finding the buttons. Tracking, Kerning, Nodes, Gradient, Paths... are all the same across each app. you just need to know where the button is to adjust each one.

I think your right though, You need to install demo's of each and run them to get a feel for what you like.

You can see an example of my Illustrator usage here -> http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=236452

(I only posted a link so i didnt hijack your thread)

Good luck, and let us know what way you decide to go.
-gautch

[iluvmymactoo]

Originally posted by gautch:
Im not much of a Freehand user. I can atest to Illustrator 7-CS.
I use Illustrator 7-8 hours a day 6 days a week. Now that Illustrator is an industry standard its hard to even recomend Freehand. But iv used Adobe GoLive and Macromedia's Dreamweaver. And id go for Dreamweaver any day.

Now days different software companies use the same termanology (except Quark, witch i hate) so its just a matter of finding the buttons. Tracking, Kerning, Nodes, Gradient, Paths... are all the same across each app. you just need to know where the button is to adjust each one.

I think your right though, You need to install demo's of each and run them to get a feel for what you like.

You can see an example of my Illustrator usage here -> http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=236452

(I only posted a link so i didnt hijack your thread)

Good luck, and let us know what way you decide to go.
-gautch

Thanks Gautch

Actually I have already checked that out...it's fantastic.

I heard that Illustrator is easier or maybe more user friendly than Freehand.
Can you answer me this please.... say I do illustrations using Illustrator, Photoshop, Painter. Do they all communicate well with each other and say Macomedia Dreamweaver/Flash/Freehand?

I actually have both packages.

I know my Painter stuff is no problem with Photoshop.

[gautch]

Originally posted by iluvmymactoo:
...I heard that Illustrator is easier or maybe more user friendly than Freehand.
Can you answer me this please.... say I do illustrations using Illustrator, Photoshop, Painter. Do they all communicate well with each other and say Macomedia Dreamweaver/Flash/Freehand?...

Photoshop is Raster based and Illustrator is vector based. It all comes down to file formate. EG: A .jpg is a .jpg no matter what app you are using. When it comes to images made up with pixels (you can tell by zooming in, the image will get blockey) most apps will suffice (like Photoshop, and the famously free Gimp).

The difference is when you get into Vector files, .aii, .eps, .ps, and even .pdf. Because Vector files are all mathmatical maped, the software has to figure out how to display that image. Most apps (like Illustrator, and Freehand) will handel this very well (due to industry standard algarithms..). Some apps will not.

So to answer your question. To go between apps (Illustrator/Freehand) and venders (Adobe/Macromedia) should not be a problem as long as you stick to the correct type of app. (Vector/Raster). Though with Adobe CS and the Macromedia Studio's, these apps are increasingly stronger and stronger as we go. From a personal stand point i know creating an image in Illustrator then taking it into Photoshop (For final touches), then bringing it into Macromedia's Flash MX, and finaly posting it on the web with Macromedia's Dreamweaver, its been a breeze, and a blast!

As long as you know your file formats (.jpg/.gif/.eps/.swa/.dir./ps./psd./tiff/.pdf....ect) and what to expect each app will do with it, you should be fine.

I hope this helped you at least a little.

-Gautch

[iluvmymactoo]

Thanks Gautch

I know about the formats, but yes you answered my question.