ThePixelDoc wrote:At this point, I seriously don't think they have had... or ever will have... the ability to even code/program these changes. Their engineers are just not top quality, or their platform frameworks are not that flexible... or more than likely both.
What I learned is that the code for Illustrator CS5 was legacy and very constricted with old crap, thus adding new features was kludgy at best. With the 64-bit overhaul of CS6, this new code has opened doors to more functions and features being possible. (I recall Mordy Golding spoke of this in one of his articles last year.)
This is why the timing was good to present our long list because without the AI code rewrite, we would have been pissing in the wind.
Was there "any" product manager from AI or ID present in these talks? What was your take-away, gut reaction to these "teams"? Were they experienced engineers, or only "Product/Marketing" people?
From the Illustrator side of these meetings, a Senior Product Manager of AI was present. Also we had an upper Adobe Product Manager who oversees both InDesign and Illustrator at all the meetings. The reason for having high-level managerial presence was ironed out in last years litigation: simply, we wanted Adobe execs who could make software decisions.
The presentation itself originated way back before these meetings with Adobe. In 2010, we had to to give our non-techie lawyers an understanding of what FreeHand vs. Illustrator was all about and to get them up-to-speed on the comparisons. So these side-by-side illustrations and descriptions were begun.
A Survey done around that same time, FFH received a huge amount of input from users and it made sense to keep track of feature comparisons that members had listed. Later, we had experts and FH authors/trainers chime in with more granular comparisons. Even though it is pretty thorough on its own, the presentation was meant to accompany live demonstrations and explanations as each powerpoint slide was shown.
Well, by reading this presentation I've found even features that I was not aware back in time while I was using FH fulltime.
Over time, I getting used to work with AI, but my still BIG complains are: paste inside feature and the really poor-poor-poor text management, specially with soft breaks.
A great presentation indeed...people keeps on forgeting one of the most professional features in Freehand...THE HALFTONE PANEL...a tool you only see now in programs like Esko Artpro...
This tool gives you the power of multiple screens, dot shapes and angles in a single page.
the presentation is great and i found some points i just did'nt know, although i'm using freehand since 20 years also it's a surprise how bad illustrator is in 2013. adobe should distribute it as shareware.
I think it could be enhanced with a short snappy summary up-front to get the initial attention from managers who respond to 'elevator pitch' messaging.
I don't think 'Illustrator must be combined with InDesign in order to replace FreeHand entirely' sends the right message, since Adobe clearly wants to sell CS (ID, AI, PS) rather than individual programmes.
Well. And what about select all the points of a square to convert them in curves at the same time? You must select 3, and then the last one (the fourth)...
Congrats for the document
Working in prepress since 1992 in Macs in Spain. Diseñador Gráfico trabajando con Macs desde 1992 en España
I can't warm up to the MS-Paint-like paint-bucket dumper multi-cliking in Illustrator, I like to drag&drop the color from the mixer panel or drag&drop (one click, not two) with the FH eyedropper tool from bitmaps and vectors.
frederick wrote:Well...ok, what was said? "Thanks guys, nice presentation we'll get right on it." or "Thanks guys, nice presentation we'll think about it."
Well, those FH features that Adobe chooses will be what works for their base at large, not only FreeHand users. But here's the thing, they are very aware of the need for simplifying Illustrator so it is easy to learn for new users (as well as us coming from FreeHand) and this was said so in this interview: http://www.astutegraphics.com/blog/an-i ... t-manager/
From our position, what better way to do this than by seeing what FreeHand MX has been doing for years? The presentation shows how simplicity and intuitiveness is the hallmark of FreeHand and this was stressed. Like I said, it was an impressive demonstration on this very point but only Adobe can say what it will incorporate into AI.
I want to thank everyone for the comments and suggestions to the presentation. These are being added and have updated those parts that were incorrect. It really helps. The final version will be sent next week so if there is anything else to add to it, post your comments.
After being lucky enough to attend a meeting with the Adobe team in which this presentation was shared (thanks Mark!), I have to say that I am more interested in see additional vector tools added to InDesign, than I am having them fix Illustrator.
I currently keep two iMacs on my desk, one with Freehand and an old operating system, and one with CS5 and the newer OS. I have been getting rather good at doing the bulk of my work in ID, using Illustrator to just open up EPS' for cut and paste into ID. I explained all of this to the Adobe team and expressed my desire for ID to be a more complete designer piece of software as I have no intention of spending any more time or money trying to fit Illustrator into my life. They seemed interested in that concept. So many of the "issues" I have with Illustrator have already been "fixed" in InDesign. Maybe it's the transition from PageMaker, but ID is just easier to use.
also it's a surprise how bad illustrator is in 2013. adobe should distribute it as shareware.
