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l008com · Dec 8, 2011, 03:34 PM

Are there any other options for a vector art program?
Don't say Inkscape

Most people hate Illustrator because they don't know how to make vector art, or even WHAT vector art is. I do. I hate illustrator because it is such a hassle to work with. The app hasn't changed since I learned how to use it in 1999. I've been trying to make some minor modifications to my logo for the past few hours. I spend more time fighting with smart guides than drawing. They often show up when you don't want them, but they also regularly won't show up. For no logical reason. They show up to let you align items A & B no problem, but C & D, just doesn't happen. Back in the day, smart guides used to kind of remember. So if smart guides were being drawn off the wrong items, you would just drag your object right to the item you wanted, and the smart guides would start drawing off that item instead. This behavior seems to be gone. Now you're just stuck with what you get.

Another thing that drives me crazy is joining points on lines. You'll be joining 10 segments into one line. All of the points are perfectly overlapped. Most of them join without any problems, and them BOOM you get an error message whenever you try to join two specific points. The message lists a whole bunch of generic reasons you might be getting that error, none of which apply to these two points, which should join without any problems.

I used to love illustrator. I've drawn some really cool, elaborate things with it. But I can't even use it any more. It's such a battle. Every little thing you do, you have to fight for.

andi*pandi · Dec 8, 2011, 03:45 PM

I shut off smart guides entirely. I hate them.

Sometimes I hate all the new features, but then there's something useful like gradient mesh. I love me some gradient mesh.

Other vector tools? There used to be Canvas. Freehand. Not sure what else is out there now, honestly!

l008com · Dec 8, 2011, 04:00 PM

If smart guides worked properly, or even worked like they used to, working in Illustrator would be much less painless.
Also, I have an 8-core Mac Pro with 14 GB of RAM and an ATi 5770 with 1 GB of DDR5 VRAM.
I'm pretty sure my machine can handle real-time dragging of simple 2-D artwork. Do we STILL have to use WIRE FRAMEWORKS!!!! Are you kidding me????

A few years back, I drew a trailmap of a local park in illustrator. Some day I need to redraw an updated map, and I am totally dreading it.

Thorzdad · Dec 8, 2011, 04:58 PM

Oh yeah. Smart guides are FIRST thing I disable in any Illustrator install. Frakking annoying. I never found them useful. Tool tips get shut off, too.

I agree with you about Illustrator's lack of precision on joining lines. I think it's a result of its even worse precision with snap-to-point. For whatever reason, CS5 feels a whole lot worse at this than CS1 ever did. I can't tell you how many times I've moved a point to another one to do a join...waiting for that satisfying "snap" of the point to another...and it never comes. It's right on top of it!!!

yugyug · Dec 12, 2011, 06:33 PM

The problem with Illustrator is that they keep adding to it without refining the existing functions. I'm still using CS2 and find it bloated. See no reason to upgrade, not for illustrator anyway.

I agree about the lack of precision with lines and nodes. I used to think it was ok, but then I moved into 3D and started using software like Rhino - a whole other world of control and precision. Probably Adobe should go back to square one and rewrite the software from scratch, but it will never happen.

l008com · Dec 12, 2011, 06:35 PM

CS2 is PPC, so you specifically will probably see a big speed boost by upgrading to a universal version of the app. But otherwise, yeah it sucks.

olePigeon · 08:14 PM

I'm using CS3, and they still hadn't fixed the Outline Path bug introduced in CS1. I wonder if CS5 still has the problem.

l008com · Dec 12, 2011, 07:46 PM

I can check if you tell me how.

yugyug · Dec 12, 2011, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by l008com

CS2 is PPC, so you specifically will probably see a big speed boost by upgrading to a universal version of the app. But otherwise, yeah it sucks.

oh actually it is cs3 i use... been a while since i upgraded so forgot. Takes so long to open I always go and work in other apps to wait so I never see the loading screen!

l008com · Dec 12, 2011, 08:16 PM

Get an SSD boot & applications drive. Speeds things up a lot. It won't make illustrator stop sucking though.

olePigeon · Dec 12, 2011, 08:18 PM

Often when you use the Outline Path (maybe it's Outline Stroke?) option, it'll add unnecessary points everywhere (like 3 or 4 points on top of each other), and cause it to do other totally weird things like not join the two points together, but instead make another point directly on top of some other point along the path, and connect those two, making a thin wedge jet across it. Not sure how to describe it.

Thorzdad · Dec 13, 2011, 07:37 AM

olePigeon...I've not seen the Outline Stroke issue you describe (in CS5), but, I've not been looking for it, either. That would drive me mad,

Amulet · Dec 27, 2011, 02:35 PM

l008com,

There is an open source program called "Inkscape" which is a vector graphics editor. I am a long time Windows user and can't tell you how well it performs on a Mac . . . I am a spanking new Mac owner (24 hours...lol). Since it is open source, we use it in school since Adobe is a bit pricey for small school districts! There are also quite a few free video tutorials out there for using Inkscape . . . I am not sure if I can post a link here but a search will return the download page.

Happy holidays!

andi*pandi · Dec 27, 2011, 03:49 PM

Bickering deleted. Take any more of that to PM. I don't want to lock an art thread that could be helpful to other members.

Amulet is either a) a clueless helpful newbie or b) a spammer... but if a) you are not helping new member growth by being rude, or if b) there is no need to respond to a spammer at all. Play nice.

On topic: Did you ever find another app to try? Let us know what you didn't like about Inkscape, was it buggy or did it lack a feature?

l008com · Dec 27, 2011, 03:51 PM

This thread was pointless ranting anyway you might as well delete it.

design219 · Jan 13, 2012, 11:41 AM

Some people are still hoping that FreeHand might be revived. FreeHand was pretty neat in a lot of ways.

Free FreeHand organization

andi*pandi · Jan 13, 2012, 11:48 AM

Illustrator still has yet to implement some of the best features of Freehand. I was one of the holdouts... but gave in.

BlueSky · Jan 18, 2012, 12:52 PM

I wish they'd hand Illustrator over to the Photoshop team. Among a few dozen other oddities, Illustrator must be the only app where you hit the Escape key to finalize an action in some cases.

Thorzdad · Jan 18, 2012, 12:57 PM

Which actions are those?

BlueSky · 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Thorzdad

Which actions are those?

When you're done typing in some text, hit Esc to exit/finalize editing text. Change the size of the artboard with the artboard tool, hit Esc to exit and set the size. Hit Esc to exit isolation mode after editing, really editing or modifying just about anything, come to think of it. Anywhere else, Esc means I changed my mind, never mind. In Illustrator it means OK.

Then I carry that behavior over to Photoshop sometimes. Doh!

Edit: pop-up dialogues don't count.

Thorzdad · Jan 18, 2012, 01:43 PM

Interesting. I've always just clicked-off to finalize all of those functions.

yugyug · Jan 26, 2012, 08:16 AM

Originally Posted by l008com

Get an SSD boot & applications drive. Speeds things up a lot. It won't make illustrator stop sucking though.

Just did this. You are right, it does speed things up a lot

and Illustrator does still suck

eyevaan · Jan 27, 2012, 11:40 AM

Two plug in sets that I added which helped me a whole lot are Better Handles (now a part of VectorScribe Designer and XtremePath.
They allow Flash-style path manipulation. That being said, it you haven't tried using Flash for your vector design work, it is completely worth playing with it.

Salty · Feb 4, 2012, 06:00 PM

I really wish somebody would come and pull a Pixelmator on the vector side of things. Specifically what I really want is pressure sensitivity for a brush tool for a Wacom tablet. You give me that and some basic editing tools and I can throw Illustrator out. I'm working on a project that I'd love to do in Pixelmator instead of Photoshop just so I could really see what the program is capable of. But given that I need to draw everything in Illustrator anyway I'm not going to bother.

eyevaan · Feb 9, 2012, 09:40 AM

I know your suggesting to get away from the Adobezilla but Flash is pressure sensitive - but it cannot be tuned like PS. Have you taken a look at the Autodesk products? They are expensive definitely geared to the artist. There is also the variety of painter products but I think they are all bitmap-based like PS.

Thorzdad · Feb 9, 2012, 09:53 AM

Illustrator has had adjustable, pressure-sensitive brushes for ages. I use my Wacom tablet with it whenever I need that "hand-drawn" look.
I've played with Flash for vector work. It's not even remotely comparable to what you can achieve with Illustrator.

iomatic · Feb 12, 2012, 11:44 PM

Huh. Illustrator seems the most natural to me, for a vector application. Don't understand at all; I abhorred the Freehand path/blend tools and the Macromedia interface was awful.