Getting a Mac and switching to Illustrator

[langecustomgraphics]

Not sure if this belongs in this thread. I havent been around in a while, but thats due to all the awesome help I have received here in the past. I am aquiring a new imac with the new adobe suite. I currently work with my pc and corel and I have it pretty dialed, but figured the more systems and programs I know, the more versitile i will be.
I was wondering how and if its possible to transfer my vast font collection over to my new mac. I will still be using my pc/corel setup as I learn illy, but I have spent the last 4 years collecting fonts and dont want to have to re purchase them if I dont have to. I am aware that I will have to pay extra for some of the collections to upgrade the licenses to multiple computers. I have already have the driver and plugin for illustrator for my plotter, just havent fired it up yet. any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[d fleming]

Not a big mac guy, most of my experience is pc based, but I do have some ability on a mac and it has served me well. Good choice! No such thing as useless knowledge.

 

[Rick]

Out of curiosity, why are you going Mac/Adobe when they have a PC version?

If you work in scale, you might want to pick up the CADTools plug-in.

I would think most fonts will work.

The IMac is a sweet machine, but I can't stand the shiny screen. I work on MacBookPro's with the non-glare screen and an older Cinema display.

 

[langecustomgraphics]

getting a really sweet deal on the imac and its coming loaded with the software. I have to get one eventually for the degree program I am starting in the fall, so I figured I would get a head start on learning the programs.

 

[James Burke]

You could download the free 30 day trial of Suitcase Fusion http://www.extensis.com font manager and migrate your fonts that way. The font vault is way too cool. It's also a good way to back up your fonts.

When I upgraded computers, it only took about 5 minutes to move about 4k fonts.

Congrats on your migration to the "Illy Side".


JB

 

[Rick]

getting a really sweet deal on the imac and its coming loaded with the software. I have to get one eventually for the degree program I am starting in the fall, so I figured I would get a head start on learning the programs.

That makes sense... Somewhere on the Adobe website there is a .pdf for helping Corel users to migrate to Illustrator...

 

[Rick]

You could download the free 30 day trial of Suitcase Fusion http://www.extensis.com font manager and migrate your fonts that way. The font vault is way too cool. It's also a good way to back up your fonts.

When I upgraded computers, it only took about 5 minutes to move about 4k fonts.

Congrats on your migration to the "Illy Side".


JB

Just in case, I did this and found Suitcase to be buggy. Maybe it was me, but a few other designers I know had issues. I don't know if they fixed the problems, I had been a long time Suitcase user till then but I wrote off Suitcase after that, I just use Fontbook

 

[cgsigns_jamie]

I switched about 4 years ago... best decision ever!

I now use Illustrator CS5 w/ CadTools exclusively for my sign design work.

All my "PC" fonts installed without issue. Most all TrueType, OpenType, and PostScript fonts work just fine on the Mac.

I also use Suitcase Fusion to manage my font library... works way better than my old method of having 6,000+ fonts activated all the time!

I agree with Rick on the Screen though... I work with the older Cinema Displays on my MacPro and my MBP has the non-glossy screen. My Mom works on a new iMac and I can't stand the glare from the lights, she doesn't seem to mind though.

 

[langecustomgraphics]

cool thanks guys! I am looking forward to getting a new desk chair as I will be spending lots of time in

 

[royster13]

Do folks think that Adobe will keep making programs for Mac when sales of products for PC exceeds sales of products for Mac by a wide margin?....

 

[Haakon]

Well they have been since the 80s with the same situation that you describe all the way since then so...

By products for pc vs mac, do you mean adobe products, or products in general?

Or to put it another way, of all the people who owns a PC that I know, maybe 1 in 30 has a Adobe program installed, and of all the people with macs I know, maybe 8 in 10 has a Adobe program, mostly a full CS pack.

 

[langecustomgraphics]

All of the profession based training educational courses I have looked into all require mac based adobe programs. I am still working on my own with my pc equipment, but in today's economy it doesnt hurt to be versed in all aspects and platforms i would think.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

All of the profession based training educational courses I have looked into all require mac based adobe programs.

That is strange. The couple here that offer courses don't "force" you to do one or the other.

I am still working on my own with my pc equipment, but in today's economy it doesnt hurt to be versed in all aspects and platforms i would think.

I agree, I do find it ironic that the learning institutions that you looked at require one over the other. It shouldn't be a file compatibility issue. I never had an issue with an Ai file created on a Windows machine not be read by a Mac (or vice versa).

 

[The Vector Doctor]

FYI, postscript fonts are NOT cross platform. Opentype (otf) and truetype (ttf) can be used on both pc and mac with no issues. A mac will not recognize a pc postscript font. In order to use postscript fonts you will need some conversion program

Also I use the free version of Font Explorer X from Linotype for managing fonts. It has been flawless for 4-5 years I have used it. I activate/deactivate fonts 15-20x per day

 

[rjssigns]

My degree program was all Mac based. I was a Mac hater until I got into the swing of things. Now there is no rational argument you can make that will cause me to switch back.

My 3 yr old iMac is still a rocket with ZERO issues. I never turn it off, just walk away and it sleeps.

We still use PC's for our RIP and Flexi, and my wife is the opposite of me. Loves the PC platform so I am looking at a new HP Z1 workstation for her.

We have been able to swap fonts from my Mac to PC. No need to go the other way as I have the newest packages on my Mac. I generally design in Ai then convert to outlines anyway.

Funny how things turn out.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

We still use PC's for our RIP and Flexi, and my wife is the opposite of me. Loves the PC platform so I am looking at a new HP Z1 workstation for her.

Digital Arts magazine had a little blurb about that in their latest issue. I thought it was pretty cool looking. I didn't get into too much research on it, but it did look neat in the article anyway.

Alicia is the Mac lover here. She just loves that MacBook Air and Painter 11. She also uses the iMac. I'm more the Windows PC junkie (and the occasional Linux one as well).

 

[Justin]

I think Adobe will continue making their products available for macs. Many high end places use macs for editing, and design. Also, one additional thing with a Mac is that if you have the know how you can run pretty much any, and all linux programs, and code on a Mac.

Mac is actually more stable then pc with windows.

 

[kylebrk]

There's close to a zero chance that Adobe will ever stop making Mac compatible software. Most high end shops are dedicated Mac shops. Im getting ready to switch two PC's out for PowerMacs.

I would be less surprised if Adobe dropped PC. However, it will never happen. Mac is here to stay and so is PC, obviously.

Wasn't this debate ended years ago?

 

[dypinc]

There's close to a zero chance that Adobe will ever stop making Mac compatible software. Most high end shops are dedicated Mac shops. Im getting ready to switch two PC's out for PowerMacs.

I would be less surprised if Adobe dropped PC. However, it will never happen. Mac is here to stay and so is PC, obviously.

Wasn't this debate ended years ago?

One thing you need to know is that Adobe is defiantly not making or selling software for for PowerMacs anymore. All their new software is for the Intel processor MacPros.

Powermacs are old and outdated with their PowerPC processors. There are probably a lot of used ones out there, and they are still quite powerful, but why would you want to go that route when no one is writing software for them anymore.

 

[BPI Color]

I'm going a bit off-topic here but since we're skirting the Mac vs PC issue, here's my 2 cents worth. Most of the incompatibilities have been resolved. The only thing still lurking is the old Postscript Type 1 fonts. Windows 7 can't use the legacy fonts. They were designed specifically for the MAC. A lot of commercial design firms stick with the older fonts rather than purchase the new Open Type version. The last time I checked the complete Helvetica Open Type package was around 1200.00 US. For a full blown graphic service department, you really should have both systems. And, encourage your clients to supply their fonts with their orders. It's used to be considered legal provided you only used client supplied fonts with their jobs - nobody else's. Exstensis works pretty well for managing the fonts. They're a few others out there.

The big difference with the newer Macs is the preview. They've moved to a cinema type display with the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 (I think) color space. It's just a little awkward for Photoshop retouch in CMYK. I actually prefer to do this work on my 5 year old iMac for this very reason. I'm sure there's a workaround for this. I just haven't had to deal with it yet.

Getting back to type. You really, really, really want to work with client supplied files with only their fonts active. Different editions of type have different kerning values and glyphs. And let's not talk about Thai or Arabic text. Proofing for kerning errors is a real pain. Thankfully, I get a lot of files in the PDF format or with outlined fonts (kind of hard to mess those up).