Review for Adobe Illustrator CS6

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Adobe Illustrator is that the business customary tool for vector drawing and illustration, utilized by a large style of artistic professionals together with editorial illustrators, identity designers, textile and pattern designers, UI designers, motion artists and plenty of others. it is often been an incredibly versatile tool, due to a broad feature set, and in fact the actual fact that vector graphics are infinitely scaleable and in most cases comparatively light-weight.

Over the years the applying has been given some quite outstanding options - from the Gradient Mesh within the 1998 unharness of version eight to multiple art boards in CS4 and therefore the Perspective Grid in CS5 (which Adobe ported across from FreeHand, the tool it bought from Macromedia and then phased out), it's a behemoth of an application, whether or not you wish to form photorealistic illustrations or slick logos. So, what has Adobe worn out Adobe Illustrator CS6? A facelift, some speed enhancements, a couple of tweaks and one major addition that illustrators and designers especially can love are all on the agenda.

A. The interface in Adobe Illustrator CS6

The first factor you notice concerning Adobe Illustrator CS6 is that it's completely different. If you've got seen Photoshop CS6 you will not be that shocked - by default it's charcoal gray. Like Photoshop, it offers Illustrator an undeniably a lot of skilled feel. The factor is, it does not extremely feel like Illustrator to a user of the many years. It feels a lot of sort of a post production tool - matching that of once Effects. however this is often a minor, minor gripe.

In fact, it is not even a gripe, it's purely an observation. And, designers and illustrators being the creatures of habit that they're, the foremost probably factor they're going to do is move to Illustrator & Preferences & User Interface and alter the brightness setting back to Medium light-weight or light-weight. one thing during this preference pane that may not within the Photoshop equivalent could be a slider and share field, that permits you to line the brightness of the interface specifically how you would like it.
 
Interface brightness.

As you slide, the interface changes brightness. OK, it is not getting to set the globe on hearth and obtain users queuing up to upgrade or check in for artistic Cloud Membership, however it is a nice detail. As is that the choice to modification the Canvas color to match the user interface or keep it as white as in previous releases. the most Tools panel conjointly appearance a lot of refined, with redesigned tool icons. In fact, everything appearance a trifle a lot of detailed, a trifle a lot of refined (and the Tools panel, in our opinion still appearance higher mutually column). It's onerous to not just like the new interface - it sounds like a contemporary breakthrough for the applying.

B. Tweaks for the hardcore

There are a number of alternative tweaks to the interface that may positively please hardcore users. the primary is having the ability to edit layer names, swatch names, brushes, artboards and therefore on in their respective panels. In CS5.1 and earlier, you had to double-click the item you needed to rename and then an intermittent dialog appeared where you'd rename it.

You can still do it this manner if you wish by double-clicking the item's icon (it provides you access to a lot of choices, as well) however it's quicker and easier to double-click on the things name (rather than its icon) and alter it inline. Why wasn't this in IIlustrator before? No plan, however we're glad it's.

C. Adobe's considering workflow

The other tweaks are regarding as minor as they are available - however once more samples of Adobe considering its user's workflows with this unleash. For one, there is a new build Mask/Release button within the Transparency panel. This actually makes it quicker to figure with opacity masks, saving you an albeit transient visit to the Transparency panel's flyout menu. Another example of this can be the new expandable sampling space within the Color panel. Expand the panel by dragging its bottom-right corner and also the expanded color spectrum becomes visible. Compared to Illustrator CS5.1's little sampling space it's ace. Oh, and you'll be able to currently copy and paste hex values directly from the colour panel.

D. The Character panel

And there's more! The Character panel has had a minor tweak to enable you to cycle through fonts - seeing a preview on the artboard if the text is chosen - using the arrow keys (it was accessible in Windows up till this unharness, however now's across each platforms). there is conjointly new buttons for All Caps, Small Caps, Superscript and Subscript towards very cheap of the panel. We'll never complain concerning higher text controls. The rework panel conjointly gets a Scale Strokes & Effects checkbox instead of it being tucked away within the Scale dialog.

In addition, the management panel has been created a trifle a lot of consistent when displaying content-sensitive data about tools and objects. and eventually, after you tear off hidden tools you'll currently organize them vertically to avoid wasting alittle of desktop realty - and dock them either like this or horizontally. All this can be concerning creating things a trifle quicker for the user - and also the interface enhancements are terribly welcome. Nice job.

E. Speed and specs

The other issue you notice after you open up Adobe Illustrator CS6 - or a minimum of after you open up a posh file with several layers, sophisticated gradient mesh, several effects, feathering, transparency and thousands of points - is its speed. Adobe preached to us how briskly Adobe Illustrator CS6 is, and it truly is blazing quick. you almost certainly will not notice unless you are engaged on an advanced file - if you are coming up with a emblem or similar you are unlikely to examine any real improvement in redraw or usability.

The speed, we're told, is right down to the rather nicely coined 'Mercury Performance System' and Adobe Illustrator CS6 being fully rewritten as a native 64-bit application on each Mac and laptop. no matter you place it right down to, on a contemporary MacBook Air with 4GB RAM (Adobe recommends 8GB) it's terribly fast. On a Mac professional it's aiming to fly. Seriously.

On the topic of specs, the clean minimum is Mac OS X ten.6.8 or 10.7 Lion; 2GB RAM; 2GB onerous disk space; and 1024x768 resolution. If you are on Windows, you will need XP with Service Pack three or Windows seven with Service Pack 1; 1GB of RAM for 32-bit or 2GB RAM for 64-bit; and therefore the rest an equivalent as Mac. in fact though, these are the clean minimum system requirements: Adobe Illustrator CS6 can work, however it will not be that happy if you begin experimenting with effects, gradients and transparencies.

F. The larger options

So far, we've extremely centered on the workflow and speed enhancements in Adobe Illustrator CS6, however fortunately there are some inventive additions - not as several as you may hope, but some. the primary price noting is having the ability to use gradients to a stroke. you'll be able to currently apply gradients along the length, across the width, or inside the stroke itself. huge deal? Well, reasonably - it disclose some nice inventive potentialities. It's troublesome to examine why this hasn't been here before - it's going to be owing to the quantity of processing power Adobe Illustrator CS6 has to calculate gradients applied to strokes.

What would you utilize this for? Adding highlights to photorealistic design or making fake 3D effects are simply 2 examples. This feature needs somewhat little bit of a reshuffling of the Gradient panel. Below the sort dropdown - where you specify a Linear or Radial gradient - and on top of the gradient angle, there is 3 new Stroke choices. These, from left-to-right enable you to use a gradient inside the stroke, along the stroke or across the stroke.

Applying the gradient inside the stroke permits you to alter the angle of the gradient inside the stroke; along the stroke places the gradient along your path (use the Reverse Gradient button to alter the direction); and across the stroke places the gradient across the width of the stroke that you've got specified. employed in conjunction with a number of Illustrator's art brushes, it is a powerful tool - particularly if you are increase complicated (and perhaps photorealistic) illustrations.

G. Image Trace in Illustrator CS6

Illustrator may be a very little misunderstood typically. And it's in all probability due to its ability to trace raster pictures to form vector graphics. what percentage unhealthy portraits have you ever seen that are traced using Illustrator's Live Trace tool? Anyhow, we digress, however there's some extent to our slight rant: Adobe Illustrator CS6 sees the tip of Live Trace, bringing in an exceedingly new tracing tool and engine housed within the Image Trace panel. And what a panel it's.

When you place a raster image in Adobe Illustrator CS6 (JPEG, TIFF and therefore on) you access Image Trace one in every of 2 ways in which. By the presets within the management Panel (you will produce your own presets - additional on this in an exceedingly bit) or by using the excellent Image Trace panel underneath Window>Image Trace. There are 5 choices that run across the highest of the panel, that are separate to the presets - consider them as beginning points. These are: Auto-Color, High Color, Low Color, Greyscale, Black and White and description. Once you have applied a start line, the most slider at intervals the panel changes contextually, providing you with more management.

Add additional colors

It provides you choices for adding additional colors within the 'Color' beginning points, Greys in Greyscale mode and Threshold in Black and White and description modes. you'll be able to select totally different views as you are tracing: Tracing Result, that shows the ultimate trace; Tracing Result with Outlines, showing paths; Outlines; Outlines with supply Image; and supply Image. At any time press and hold the little eye next to the current dropdown to look at the supply image.

Using Presets

Above the read dropdown is that the Presets dropdown. this offers you access to some common uses for tracing - High Fidelity Photo, Black and White brand and Line Art being the foremost clearly helpful (the rest are Low Fidelity Photo, 3 Colors, 6 Colors, 16 Colors, Shades of grey, Sketched Art, Silhouettes and Technical Drawing). however after all, you'll be able to save your own presets using the menu next to the Preset dropdown.

This all offers a definite quantity of management over tracing, however there is a bit additional to the panel. Expand the Advanced settings and you've got management over ways, Corners, Noise and totally different strategies of tracing - where Adobe Illustrator CS6 either creates cutout or overlapping ways. you'll be able to additionally specify to interchange slightly curved lines with straight ones by checking the Snap Curves to Lines box and set white fills to none using the Ignore White checkbox. you furthermore may get a neat readout of what percentage ways, anchors and colors are being generated by the trace.

H. Image Trace : the results

So how will it do? Well, far better than Live Trace, particularly on full-colour photos. And like everything else in Illustrator, it's extraordinarily quick. while you are not attending to use it to trace photos on a everyday (even though it will a reasonably smart job) for quickly tracing sketches of logos and line drawings, it works exceptionally well once you've got mastered the array of advanced sliders. Sketches can still would like cleaning up, and there is nothing higher than a hand-trace to form positive you manage ways and anchors properly, however it's an improvement on Live Trace and a welcome addition. there is even a brand new Tracing workspace that sets up the foremost helpful panels for tracing as well as Color, Navigator and after all Image Trace.

Another feature of note is that the improved Guassian Blur result. The Guassian Blur in CS5.1 gave you a small preview of the result. In Adobe Illustrator CS6 you preview your blur on the artboard - if the Preview box is checked as you ramp up the slider your selected object blurs in real time. And all over again, it's fast.

I. The big feature in Illustrator CS6 is ...

Usually, an upgrade incorporates a killer feature. one thing that users simply cannot imagine not having. If there is one feature that matches this mould it's Adobe Illustrator CS6's new Pattern Creation tools. it's going to not sound as horny as Photoshop's Content-Aware Move or 3D functionality, however it's truly, if you may pardon us for one moment, bloody sensible.

Patterns are one thing designers and illustrators produce in Illustrator on an virtually everyday. And this changes things during a huge approach. making patterns pre-CS6 was somewhat clunky. produce your objects, head to Edit & Define Pattern and then apply that swatch to your object. If you would like to edit the pattern it absolutely was troublesome, and lining up a tiled repeat employing a pattern swatch was usually frustrating. CS6 changes this.

Pattern choices panel

Here's a typical workflow to point out you the way straightforward it's to form repeat patterns. First, open or draw your objects, choose them and then head to Object & Pattern & Make. Your object is instantly repeated in keeping with the settings within the new Pattern choices panel. Your pattern swatch is added to the Swatches panel however you'll edit in Pattern Creation Mode till you are happy, finalising the swatch by hitting Done. We'll return to the Swatches panel during a moment.

The Pattern choices panel provides you a large quantity of management over your patterns. you'll amendment the tile sort (even interactively tweaking the tiling using the Pattern Tile tool - accessed from the panel), spacing, copies and a lot of looking on the preset you've got chosen. a really handy choice is having the ability to dim copies of repeats among your pattern as you are functioning on it - therefore you recognize you are functioning on the first object. A slider and proportion field permits you to edit the number your repeats dim.

The killer feature

The killer feature though is having the ability to double-click on the pattern swatch within the Swatches panel at any time and re-edit the pattern. When you are finished editing and press Done, the pattern updates across all objects it's applied to. If you would like to form a brand new pattern, hit Save a replica. it is a sensible toolset, brilliantly executed and actually helpful for designers, illustrators and with reference to anyone who uses this piece of software on an everyday basis. It's laborious to mention something unhealthy concerning it.

J. PRICE 

Full £476 (ex VAT), Upgrade £190 (ex VAT), £38.11/month as a part of annual artistic Cloud subscription and £57.17/month as a part of month-by-month artistic Cloud subscription. For details on where to shop for, please visit the Adobe Store.

K. SYSTEM SPECS 

For system specifications for Adobe Illustrator CS6, and different apps in Adobe CS6.(resource this article from creativebloq.com.)4.5