Article Abstract:
Adobe's Illustrator 8.0 upgrade of its venerable draw package will please some users and disappoint others because it has many welcome new features but still lacks some capabilities found in competing products. The powerful Brush tool resembles that in MetaCreations' Expression vector drawing program, but is less sophisticated, lacking vector transparency and distortion checking. It nevertheless offers good simulations of natural media. A new Gradient Mesh feature creates an editable grid of points and segments that can apply a smooth gradient fill to an object when selected. Live Blends lets Illustrator blend more than two objects, including compound objects and those with gradients. Illustrator now offers blending along paths, although it does not generate the blends separately from the path. Several new tools and palettes are borrowed from Illustrator's Photoshop sibling, including Actions and Free Distort. There are still no style sheets for text and graphics.
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Article Abstract:
The text tools are most improved in Adobe Systems Inc's new Illustrator 3.0, priced at $595. There is now no limitation to the size, number and style of characters in a text block. New typographic features include horizontal scaling, manual and automatic kerning and super- and sub-script support. The text dialog box has been deleted, allowing users to edit text anywhere on the screen. Illustrator now has the capability of converting Type 1 fonts to outlines that can be edited, a procedure that previously could only be done with a separate utility. On the down side, layout features are incomplete. The program has no spelling checker or style sheet and provides only manual hyphenation. Users cannot design continuous pages within one file. Although the program cannot do everything, its valuable tools make Illustrator 3.0 well worth recommending.
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Article Abstract:
TypeStyler 1.01, $199.95 from Broderbund Software, lets users create custom logos or flashy display types, manipulate or distort letters and geometric shapes, and bind text to a path. The program's font converter works with Type 1 as well as Type 3 fonts, giving users access to thousands of typefaces. It can also export in Illustrator format, and can import EPS images. TypeStyler is simple to use, and provides menu commands that facilitate customization of shapes. Although it fails to offer a complete color solution, contains only a limited number of drawing tools, does not allow some of its features to be undone, and does not let users make visual adjustments to the text, TypeStyler is considered the best bargain in the Macintosh typographic world.
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