[DavideMac]

So what is it that Photoshop can't do that illustrator can? I mean, I'm coming from the perspective of wanting to learn how to draw graphics for web-design and maybe some icons one day. And another thing, do you need inDesign if you just wanted to do some business cards, pamphlets and brochures once and awhile?

[NYCFarmboy]

Photoshop is pixel based and Illustrator is vector (mathmatical lines) based...or something like that.

So you could not do clean lines on Photoshop without the file size going insane.

However that is all changing and I see Photoshop and Illustrator eventually blending into one program which is what Adobe has started with the Creative Suite thing.

Today I still vastly prefer Illustrator (I do package design with it). My file size is rarely over 2 megs per file. Photoshop could not touch that. So you can email illustrator files very easily. My photoshop files keep getting bigger and bigger as scanners improve. At one time a good slide scan was around 25 megs..now they are around 65 megs and who knows what they will be with Nikon's new slide scannner which is even higher resolution.

[Thor]

If you're interested primarily in web graphics, you might want to consider Fireworks. It has both pixel and vector capabilities. .png files can store both types of info in fairly small file sizes.

if you just wanted to do some business cards, pamphlets and brochures once and awhile

Illustrator can handle things like this --up to a point. When you start getting into multi page/complex layout documents, InDesign is probly a better choice.

[art_director]

Originally posted by DavideMac:
So what is it that Photoshop can't do that illustrator can? I mean, I'm coming from the perspective of wanting to learn how to draw graphics for web-design and maybe some icons one day. And another thing, do you need inDesign if you just wanted to do some business cards, pamphlets and brochures once and awhile?

when you say 'icons' do you mean logos? if so, you should be using illustrator. as stated earlier, ill is vector-based. that means the shapes you create are defiend by algorythms (sp). that allows them to be scaled up and down infinitely without loss of image quality. a pixel-based application can be use for this task but when your client wants to put your spiffy new logo design on a sign, truck, etc. it will fall apart unless you created it at twenty feet wide.

for web design you can use any of the listed apps. the differences come down to preference and work flow, really.

create a brochure in photoshop is like covering your body with honey and using a bee's nest for a pi�ata. your pre-press gurus being the bees. pshop is an image editor, not a layout application. the files would be huge, the type could look like dung and editing would be a nightmare. i once watched a guy get fired for being stupid enough to design a big book in pshop.

[designbc]

Originally posted by art_director:
create a brochure in photoshop is like covering your body with honey and using a bee's nest for a pi�ata.

HA HA. Very true

NYCFarmboy: Your files don't need to be bigger any time you get a new scanner. Usually a 300 dpi image is good enough for printing. You can scan them at higher res but then you do all the manipulations you want and reduce them to the proper size at 300 dpi.
You prefer Illustrator probably because you don't deal with photos a lot, but Photoshop is a need. I can't choose one over the other. They do different things, so does InDesign.
I don't create logos in Photoshop, but I don't retouch photos in Illustrator, and to make a magazine, there is nothing like InDesign