Rating: 
Summary: The industry standard finally comes up to industry standards
Review: Illustrator is a solid vector graphics program but in my opinion slightly over-rated. It isn't as good as Freehand or CorelDraw (but this version certainly closed the gap). Many of the "new features" aren't so new. For example, transparancy and soft drop shadows (a couple of features that weren't in the previous version) have both been around for several years/versions of both Freehand or CorelDraw.If you are aspiring to be a graphic designer dealing with print graphics, you definitely should learn this program. It is the industry standard (required for most print graphic jobs), and, as history shows, no matter how far the technology falls behind it will stay the industry standard. If you don't want to become a professional designer but need a good drawing program, take a look at CorelDraw--you get way more bang for your buck, besides it's more intuitive/easier to learn. For web graphics Freehand may be the better choice (it works better with Dreamweaver & Flash). Don't get me wrong, Illustrator is a very good product and this is a good upgrade (I frequently use it in my work), but unlike Photoshop, it isn't the hands down best product of its type as other reviewers may lead you to believe.
Rating:
Summary: The industry standard finally comes up to industry standards
Review: Illustrator is a solid vector graphics program but in my opinion slightly over-rated. It isn't as good as Freehand or CorelDraw (but this version certainly closed the gap). Many of the "new features" aren't so new. For example, transparancy and soft drop shadows (a couple of features that weren't in the previous version) have both been around for several years/versions of both Freehand or CorelDraw. If you are aspiring to be a graphic designer dealing with print graphics, you definitely should learn this program. It is the industry standard (required for most print graphic jobs), and, as history shows, no matter how far the technology falls behind it will stay the industry standard. If you don't want to become a professional designer but need a good drawing program, take a look at CorelDraw--you get way more bang for your buck, besides it's more intuitive/easier to learn. For web graphics Freehand may be the better choice (it works better with Dreamweaver & Flash). Don't get me wrong, Illustrator is a very good product and this is a good upgrade (I frequently use it in my work), but unlike Photoshop, it isn't the hands down best product of its type as other reviewers may lead you to believe.
Rating:
Summary: The industry standard finally comes up to industry standards
Review: Illustrator is a solid vector graphics program but in my opinion slightly over-rated. It isn't as good as Freehand or CorelDraw (but this version certainly closed the gap). Many of the "new features" aren't so new. For example, transparancy and soft drop shadows (a couple of features that weren't in the previous version) have both been around for several years/versions of both Freehand or CorelDraw. If you are aspiring to be a graphic designer dealing with print graphics, you definitely should learn this program. It is the industry standard (required for most print graphic jobs), and, as history shows, no matter how far the technology falls behind it will stay the industry standard. If you don't want to become a professional designer but need a good drawing program, take a look at CorelDraw--you get way more bang for your buck, besides it's more intuitive/easier to learn. For web graphics Freehand may be the better choice (it works better with Dreamweaver & Flash). Don't get me wrong, Illustrator is a very good product and this is a good upgrade (I frequently use it in my work), but unlike Photoshop, it isn't the hands down best product of its type as other reviewers may lead you to believe.
Rating: 
Summary: Illustrator 9.0 -- clunky and slow for heavy graphics
Review: The most important change to Illustrator 9 is its ability to work with web design projects.
Illustrator 9 combines illustration tools with improved typographic control and image support.
Why Trade Up to Adobe Illustrator 9.0?
Graphic artists using Illustrator 9 now have the ability to work their web design projects in unison with Photoshop 6. Adobe Illustrator 9 offers them a bundle of new features:
Pixel Preview command
Web safe colors when working in RGB mode
Web Optimization
Release to Layers command
Simplify Command; and
Effects menu.
Who Uses Adobe Illustrator?
New Transparency Palette. Adobe illustrator 9 introduces the new Transparency palette. You can now apply varying levels of transparency to any object, bitmap or type character.
You can apply transparency to layers, groups of objects, knockout shapes, stroke and fill. Also, you can create special effects, such as confining blending to a group of objects. Now, graphic artist can create graduated transparencies on blends.
New Features
Several new features in Illustrator 9.0 will be familiar to veteran Adobe Photoshop users:
The new real-time transparency effects. (There is a new tab on the Stroke and gradient dialog, with a slider.) Select an object, slide the transparency value to 80 percent and the objects beneath it show through. You can move the transparent object at will.
New Styles Palette
Apply drop shadows, glows, scribbled outline effects or dozens of other visual effects to any object or text. The text remains fully editable.
The Layers functions are useful to web designers using Adobe Illustrator 9 for improving their drawings.
The new release Layers to Flash function allows Illustrator 9 to be used to produce morphing object and animation effects.
Pixel Preview Mode and Save for Web Dialog
Pixels are now supported as a measurement method. The new Pixel Preview mode allows you to preview your vector objects as they would appear in a web browser. Objects snap to the nearest pixel edge in the document.
This allows you to preview up to four different optimization settings for output to either JPEG, GIF, PNG-8 or PNG-24 format files. Now, you can adjust the resulting image quality, file size, blur, number of colors in the image.
Use the release to Layers feature in Illustrator 9. You can take all the objects in a given layer and assign each object its own layer which is useful for web animation.
Pro Comments
Noted are Adobe Illustrator 9 new Opacity masks, Layer Clipping masks and Feathering functions, and overprint preview.
Excellent hardcopy manual for learning how to use Adobe Illustrator 9 comes with the program. (No Missing Manual)
Adobe Illustrator 9 has True transparency effects, styles palette and improved Flash support. Pixels can now be specified as a global measurement unit for sizing, editing, and laying out artwork.
Con Comments Noted was the missing companion CD with Adobe Illustrator graphics that comes standard with Adobe Pagemaker Plus application.
Also, I noted that some of the Selection tools can be confusing. I found that Masking tool some times flattens layers.
Final Notes
Every day over one million men and women use Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator continues to provide the touch-and-feel tools you need to create brochures, video artwork and web pages. Plus, it's used for making packaging, ads and editorial spreads.
Adobe Illustrator 9 offers graphic artist and web designers more flexibility, better integration, along with new object effects.
Rating:
Summary: 'They Work Well Together: Web Designers and Adobe Illustrato
Review: The most important change to Illustrator 9 is its ability to work with web design projects. Illustrator 9 combines illustration tools with improved typographic control and image support. Why Trade Up to Adobe Illustrator 9.0? Graphic artists using Illustrator 9 now have the ability to work their web design projects in unison with Photoshop 6. Adobe Illustrator 9 offers them a bundle of new features: ' Pixel Preview command ' Web safe colors when working in RGB mode ' Web Optimization ' Release to Layers command ' Simplify Command; and ' Effects menu. Who Uses Adobe Illustrator? New Transparency Palette Adobe illustrator 9 introduces the new Transparency palette. You can now apply varying levels of transparency to any object, bitmap or type character. You can apply transparency to layers, groups of objects, knockout shapes, stroke and fill. Also, you can create special effects, such as confining blending to a group of objects. Now, graphic artist can create graduated transparencies on blends. New Features Several new features in Illustrator 9.0 will be familiar to veteran Adobe Photoshop users: The new real-time transparency effects. (There is a new tab on the Stroke and gradient dialog, with a slider.) Select an object, slide the transparency value to 80 percent and the objects beneath it show through. You can move the transparent object at will. New Styles Palette Apply drop shadows, glows, scribbled outline effects or dozens of other visual effects to any object or text. The text remains fully editable. The Layers functions are useful to web designers using Adobe Illustrator 9 for improving their drawings. The new release Layers to Flash function allows Illustrator 9 to be used to produce morphing object and animation effects. Pixel Preview Mode and 'Save for Web' Dialog ' Pixels are now supported as a measurement method. The new Pixel Preview mode allows you to preview your vector objects as they would appear in a web browser. Objects snap to the nearest pixel edge in the document. ' Adobe Illustrator 9 'Save for Web' dialog is almost the same as the 'Save to Web' dialog in Photoshop. ' This allows you to preview up to four different optimization settings for output to either JPEG, GIF, PNG-8 or PNG-24 format files. Now, you can adjust the resulting image quality, file size, blur, number of colors in the image. ' Use the release to Layers feature in Illustrator 9. You can take all the objects in a given layer and assign each object its own layer which is useful for web animation. Pro Comments Noted are Adobe Illustrator 9's new Opacity masks, Layer Clipping masks and Feathering functions, and overprint preview. Excellent hardcopy manual for learning how to use Adobe Illustrator 9 comes with the program. (No Missing Manual) Adobe Illustrator 9 has True transparency effects, styles palette and improved Flash support. Pixels can now be specified as a global measurement unit for sizing, editing, and laying out artwork. Con Comments Noted was the missing companion CD with Adobe Illustrator graphics that comes standard with Adobe Pagemaker Plus application. Also, I noted that some of the Selection tools can be confusing. I found that Masking tool some times flattens layers. Final Notes Every day over one million men and women use Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator continues to provide the touch-and-feel tools you need to create brochures, video artwork and web pages. Plus, it's used for making packaging, ads and editorial spreads. Adobe Illustrator 9 offers graphic artist and web designers more flexibility, better integration, along with new object effects. Pricing and Availability ... For registered owners of previous versions of Illustrator, the price is [lower]. For more information, please visit the Adobe web site ... Adobe Illustrator 9 System Requirements: Windows ' Pentium® II or faster Intel® processor ' Microsoft® Windows® 98, Windows NT® 4.0, or Windows 2000 operating system '64 MB of RAM ' 105 MB of available hard-disk space ' CD-ROM drive ' Video card that supports 800x600 or greater monitor resolution ' If using Adobe® PostScript® printers: Adobe PostScript Level 2 or later required === Paul Gerstenbluth is President of ARIE Foundation and PC and MAC consultant. Paul writes computer reviews for PC and Mac software applications.
Rating: 
Summary: A great package!
Review: This is by far the best graphics software available. New improvements to the basic drawing tools, as well as special effects that allow you to change everything to exactly what you imagine combine to produce a fantastic application. Not just the industry standard, but in a class by itself.
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