Overview

Adobe Illustrator is a drawing program used to create and edit vector graphics. Unlike Photoshop, Illustrator uses paths, rather than bitmaps, to create images. This allows the drawings to be altered and resized without losing image quality. Illustrator is commonly used in professional environments to create logos, signs, digital art, drawings, and other types of graphics. Some of Illustrator's advanced features include custom color palettes, multiple artboards, blob brushing, and multipage output. With each new release, Illustrator enhances its feature set to improve drawing capabilities and increase workspace productivity.

User Interface

The Adobe Illustrator workspace includes a drawing canvas, known as an artboard, surrounded by various configurable toolbars and palettes. Users can customize their workspace by hiding, revealing, and moving palettes to a preferred arrangement.

Capabilities

Once the workspace is configured, users may add graphics to the artboard by using shapes, lines, text, gradients, colors, and other drawing tools. llustrator keeps a drawing history, so users can navigate through their drawing decisions and undo or redo certain actions. Multiple artboards can be saved within the same file and edited concurrently to apply common properties across drawings and streamline document management. Multiple documents can also be opened at the same time using the tabbed document feature.

Recent versions of Illustrator also include the Live Trace and Live Paint features. Live Trace quickly converts bitmap images, such as digital photos, into scalable vector paths. Live Paint automatically detects and corrects color gaps with paint bucket color fills. Like other Adobe products, Illustrator integrates with other Creative Suite (CS) programs, such as Photoshop, through the use of interchangeable file formats.

User Community

The Illustrator user community primarily consists of drawing professionals. Graphic artists and publishers use Illustrator to create clean, professional-quality prints and digital images. Many graphic art studios have adopted Illustrator as the primary tool for developing logos, drawings, and other publications for clients. Web-based communities, such as Illustrator World, provide support for the program and allow users to share artwork and participate in design contests.

Features:

• Advanced vector graphics editor
• Configurable workspace with layer-based editing
• Support for multiple artboards per document
• Intelligent bitmap image detection and conversion
• Multipage output
• Can export drawings in several different image formats
• Integration with Adobe Creative Suite

System Requirements:

Mac OS

• Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later
• Intel processor
• 1GB RAM
• 2GB free disk space
• 1024x768 display with 16-bit video card
• DVD-ROM drive
• Broadband Internet connection for online services

Windows

• Windows XP w/ SP2, Vista, or 7
• Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 2GB free disk space
• 1024x768 display with 16-bit video card
• DVD-ROM drive
• Broadband Internet connection for online services