Photoshop / Ilustrator question

[gtjet]

We work in Flex Pro and Photoshop and like both quite a bit. We don't know anything about adobe ilustrator but a lot of people here reference it. What will it do that photoshop will not, or why should we get it and use it? Or is what we are doing good enough.

Also a lot of people have corel and it is not real expensive, would we benefit by gettintg and learning it? Some of our customers even have it and offer to send files that are corel.

Thank for help.

 

[cdsgraphic]

Illustrator is a lot like flexi, in that, it's base purpose is to work with vector format images and layout. But it's much more refined than flexi. If your looking, corel is very capable, and IMO is easier to get a grasp on than illustrator.

 

[iSign]

Trevor is correct in his comparison to flexi. As an Illustrator user for 15 years, I would disagree about Corel being easier to learn. Because you have Photoshop, I think the similarities between both adobe products would give you an edge on learning illustrator. Corel is easier to afford, but Illustrator is an industry standard that is worth the extra money IMO. As far as your day to day needs either one will do just fine.

Flexi will do fine also, but Illustrator will come in handy for opening client files from designers & other Illustrator users (& opening corel files as well) plus you can legally load it on 2 personal computers you are using at seperate times... like a home computer for example. Some people take home a flexi dongle... but having Illustrator loaded at home is easier & does almost everything Flexi will do & more in many ways.

Also at the office I think you would find it handy to have it loaded on a design station seperate from the production computer Flexi is on. So if you have files being output from flexi... someone else could be preparing upcoming jobs elsewhere in illustrator, to later import into flexi for any final flexi-specific set-up work.

Also the seamless integration with photoshop is very convenient. My recent YP ad for example had 6 layers of information done in Illustrator. Then I could open it in Photoshop & still maintain my 6 layers which makes it real easy to add bevels to one layer, different layer styles to another layer, tweak the brightness & contrast on a third layers or whatever embellishments or improvements may be worth doing can be isolated to, or customized for the elements that need it.

 

[Rick]

I agree with Doug 100% I design in Illustrator and only output in Flexi. Flexi is very capable, but I do more than just signs so the Flexi extension and exporting are a pain to me.

 

[gtjet]

Thanks a ton, I think yoiu've sold us on illustrator guys.

 

[Bobby H]

I really like Adobe Illustrator CS2. There are a few items it still lacks that I'm used to using in applications like CorelDRAW and Flexi. But there is a good number of areas where Illustrator has key advantages over CorelDRAW. Here's a few key examples:

Illustrator integrates with Adobe Photoshop far better than Corel. You can place Illustrator vector paths within Photoshop documents and use those paths to generate more efficient and accurate selections, as well as use the paths for other purposes like masks and shape layers. CorelDRAW has never been able to place paths into Photoshop.

Illustrator generates popular vector effects, such as outlining effects with a much higher degree of accuracy and efficiency. CorelDRAW's contour effect has been disappointing for the past several years, and has only grown worse in recent releases. You get shapes riddled with many hundreds of control points and straight line segments instead of a clean, fluid shape with only the minimum number of points needed. Both Illustrator and Freehand excel in that regard. Corel's Convert Outline to Object function generates fewer control points than the contour effect. But the end result often is infected with errors. Again, both Illustrator and Freehand beat Corel handily. You'll see the end result in the quality of cut vinyl graphics and computer routed parts.

Color control. IllustratorCS2 is just simply better right out of the box. Corel has always been hit or miss. The only way to reign in Corel's color control madness is by using a third party RIP software application in conjunction with it. You don't have to do that with Illustrator. The new Adobe Bridge setup keeps the color profile matched between all CS2 suite applications and minimizes any attempts Windows or the MacOS makes against the color control system.

You can generate encrypted & password protected PDF files from within IllustratorCS2. Corel doesn't do that on its own (Canvas X is the only non-Adobe app I can think of that does create password protected PDFs). There are ways to get around PDF encryption, but those hacks would be a pain for most people to use.

Illustrator gives one an easier path to a variety of other types of output. It's easier to do professional printing from Illustrator because you have a better idea of what you're going to get on the output. You have a more direct path to other professional page layout tools. Integration with Photoshop and After Effects provides a more direct route to video and motion graphics.

Overall, Corel needs to do some hard work to keep CorelDRAW from slipping into oblivion. There seems to be a lot more momentum on the side of Illustrator now.

 

[gtjet]

We like Flexi and photoshop alot and it sounds like Illustrator will compliment those well, get us the help we need in using customer files and we are excited about getting this program and using it, sounds like what we were looking for & needed, just didn't know it.

Thanks Again

 

[Rick]

Before jumping into Illustrator, you may also consider Cadtools by Hotdoor. www.hotdoor.com

Corel does have scale tools built in to the program and it is way cheaper than Illy with CadTools. I prefer Illustrator myself so the cost for me is not an big issue.

 

[WVB]

I have always used Adobe products as I got my degree (commerical art) on Macs. Then we moved over to PC's and learned Corel. Mostly Mac's were dominate. So I stuck with Adobe products. I don't have a lot of files coming in from Corel. Its generally always Illustrator. And since we use Photoshop a lot the commands are identical so no new commands to learn such as with Flexi or Corel. Flexi exports and imports Illustator well so I generally use Flexi for output and vectorizing after I tweak the image from within Photoshop. Export out of Flexi to Illustrator 9. Tweak the vector file from there. I will be looking into CS2 shortly here.....

 

[iSign]

I have always used Adobe products as I got my degree (commerical art) on Macs. Then we moved over to PC's and learned Corel.

nothing "Mac" about Adobe products... excellent pc versions have also been around forever, so no excuse to start using Corel on a PC

 

[Derf]

I use Illustrator/Photoshop CS2 and have been using Adobe products for over 10 years. I started on a PC (386) using Flexi Sign 4.x & Corel Draw however I have found that Illustrator is just smother to use. I can just go to work in a fluid motion and dance between Photoshop and Illustrator. I have Flexi Sign Pro 7.x (on the PC) but only use it to cut and RIP, that's it. I just flat out enjoy using the new CS2 on my MAC!