Anyone beta testing Illustrator 11?

pscates · May 14, 2003 12:17AM

Just curious to know if the rumored 3D/Dimensions-like tools/features did indeed make it in? I REALLY miss Dimensions and they (Adobe) haven't updated it in YEARS, much less for OS X.

I think I read somewhere that a basic set of 3D transform, extrude, revolve, mapping, etc. features (a la Dimensions) would be rolled into this new version (kinda like how ImageReady and Photoshop work together and toggle to one another).

Can anyone confirm this?

PLEASE feel free to e-mail me directly if you want to keep any info you have on the down-low (I understand).

And I solemnly promise - from one Mac geek to another - anything you tell me doesn't go beyond me.

I just want to know what I can look forward to.

foad · May 14, 2003 11:37PM

Im not saying I am a beta tester and I am not saying that I am not, but that is true to some level. Dimensions like features will be intergrated in Illustrator 11. It won't function like PS and Imageready do, it will be more intergrated. It will be along the lines of a filter, just like how you would deal with blurs and the like.

leonis · May 15, 2003 6:42PM

AFAIK the tracing tool in Illustrator 11 still sucks and you really need to have Streamline to do the job (Or just use Freehand all the way)

Sidenote: A while ago I read an article on the net which said Streamline 5 is supposed to be coming roughly the same time as Illustrator 11

By the way....Freehand MX really rocks

pscates · May 15, 2003 7:01PM

Thanks, foad. That's what I was hoping! Yeah, the Photoshop/ImageReady thing probably wasn't a good analogy because it is indeed two separate apps/environments. I'd like a Dimensions-like feature of Illustrator to simply be including in the program, under the Filter or Effects menus.

And I certainly don't need photorealistic ray-tracing or anything like that. Just simple extrusions, revolving, mapping logos onto spheres or flat planes, the ability to rotate stuff on its X, Y and Z axis, etc.

What I always used Dimensions for was to import the basic shape, extrude or revolve it as needed, pose the object(s) how I wanted, capture a particular view (isometric, telephoto lens, straight-on, etc.) then bring a simple wireframe reference object back into Illustrator, where I re-drew it with the fewest number of points, added gradients, masks, etc.

I just always used Dimensions as a "gimme the angles..." kind of tool. It's final renderings were pretty cheesy.

rok · May 15, 2003 7:15PM

pscates, check macgeneration.com. if you can get past the french, they had one of the more comprehensive collections of illustrator 11 screenshots around.

ghost_user_name · May 15, 2003 9:42PM

http://www.macgeneration.com/mgnews/categories/en_passant/en_passant_97963_1.shtml

pscates · May 15, 2003 10:52PM

I FINALLY found it, but thanks for the above direct link!

Watching me try to read/decipher a French website (about tech, no less) is quite the sight. About like a monkey working on a jet engine with a cheese grater...pretty damn useless.

I think I've seen those screen shots before, but it was cool to see them again. That integrated 3D should prove VERY useful to me...looks like it'll do just what I need it to. Future mockups and conceptual illustrations are going to absolutely ROCK because I'll start doing them in more interesting, informative views/poses (as opposed to the standard "straight on" shots most of my crap is based on).

cinder · May 16, 2003 3:29AM

I'm pretty disappointed that they did not use the contextual bar from Photoshop 7

Illy needs to cut down on palette clutter, BIG TIME.

It better be a lot faster

AI11 was supposed to have major, major speed overhauls.

can anyone confirm or deny?

jll · May 16, 2003 4:40AM

When does Adobe learn to use the system default for input boxes:

cowerd · May 16, 2003 9:38AM

Quote:

AI11 was supposed to have major, major speed overhauls.

Even by accident they couldn't make it slower than Illustrator 10. If they don't fix speed they will get very few people to upgrade.

buonrotto · May 16, 2003 9:46AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JLL

When does Adobe learn to use the system default for input boxes:

They won't. Their way is the right way according to them.

cowerd · May 16, 2003 11:54AM

Quote:

When does Adobe learn to use the system default for input boxes:

They won't. Their way is the right way according to them.

Its the right way according to people who have used the program for a number of years. Adobe changes key-combo shortcuts and people freak out. If you spend all day in Illustrator or Photoshop there is lots of muscle memory involved. Adobe does need to clean-up the UI after years of messy add-ons, but the Preferences box and palette appearance are the least of concerns for people earning $$$ off the apps.

Its no worse than the UI disjunctions of browsers vs. the underlying OS, or Apple's wildly inconsistent metal interface guidelines.

amorph · May 16, 2003 12:32PM

That's Adobe's explicit goal, too: To get people accustomed to an Adobe UI, so that they can completely ignore what underlying platform they're on (while Intel throws $millions at them to get PS running better on x86) and, more importantly, so that apps from other vendors feel alien and uncomfortable, even on the same platform.

This is directly counter to the goal of the Mac UI, and against UI principles in general, but Adobe is clearly indifferent to such concerns. If it locks users into Adobe apps, Adobe's all for it.

cowerd · May 16, 2003 2:09PM

Quote:

That's Adobe's explicit goal, too: To get people accustomed to an Adobe UI, so that they can completely ignore what underlying platform they're on (while Intel throws $millions at them to get PS running better on x86) and, more importantly, so that apps from other vendors feel alien and uncomfortable, even on the same platform.

And, of course, props to Macromedia for their inability to code a decent UI to counter Adobe.

Whatever the present case, Adobe did drive many of the app level UI enhancements we have now, and they first appeared on the Mac. Some iterations of PS and Illustrator are among the most elegant apps to use and master.

While I can do without bastard kludges like PS7's browser bar, it does help to overcome some massive shortcomings in Apple's Finder/Open/Save dialog box UI.--a UI that doesn't scale up to graphics market users.

And as far as the app becoming the OS, Apple is pushing this harder than anyone else--iApps, Final Cut anyone?

amorph · May 16, 2003 2:44PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cowerd

And as far as the app becoming the OS, Apple is pushing this harder than anyone else--iApps, Final Cut anyone?

Don't even get me started.

jll · May 16, 2003 4:08PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cowerd

Its the right way according to people who have used the program for a number of years. Adobe changes key-combo shortcuts and people freak out.

I was only referring to the font.

spart · May 16, 2003 4:28PM

I like FreeHand MX. I'm not a vectorhead by any means, but I can actually use FreeHand to some degree through just messing around with it...Illustrator is too hard for me.

buonrotto · May 16, 2003 4:56PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JLL

I was only referring to the font.

I was actually looking at the (now messy looking) bounding boxes for the preference fields and the tabs that just look odd with the pinstripes in them - the tabs are too small for pinstripes.

For the record, Adobe apps now follow more of a Windows UI than a Mac one. The latest incarnations of PS and Acrobat use button bars, wizards, the image browser, etc. Now that PS, Illustrator and other Adobe apps are being glued into one another, the (bulky and dedundant) attempt to keep the user inside the "black box"/Adobe user experience makes it feel like the MS Office apps. In my experience, Photoshop and PS Elements feel like part of the system on my Windows box, and they feel foreign on my Mac.

I'm curious about Freehand, but I can't even seem to download the demo from their site. Nice that Macromedia at least offers demo versions of their software. That pretty much leaves Apple, MS, Corel and Adobe as the only companies that don't. OK, that's overgeneralizing, but dammit it's a great to take test drives of apps before sinking money into them.

PS: Sorry to further derail your thread, pscates.

jll · May 17, 2003 3:16AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BuonRotto

I was actually looking at the (now messy looking) bounding boxes for the preference fields and the tabs that just look odd with the pinstripes in them - the tabs are too small for pinstripes.

Yep - the bounding boxes are too Mac OS 9-ish.

I remember when Adobe was King of UI.

Quote:

Originally posted by BuonRotto

I'm curious about Freehand, but I can't even seem to download the demo from their site. Nice that Macromedia at least offers demo versions of their software. That pretty much leaves Apple, MS, Corel and Adobe as the only companies that don't.

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

othello · September 15, 2003 11:52AM

illustrator 11 will be demoed next week:

http://www.atypi.org/40_conferences/...l?presentid=58

kim kap sol · September 15, 2003 12:05PM

I predict the fall of Adobe in about 3-4 years. They've made the mistake of simply bolting on code to Photoshop 1 and Illustrator 1. One day, the code will be so hard to manage and optimize properly that any company with enough resources will be able to create something that will blow PS and Illustrator out of the water, performance-wise and GUI-wise, by simply writing from the ground up for today's computers.

Sure...there's no real competition now...and Adobe looks like they're the only ones that can pull off such an app...but I wouldn't doubt we'll see something competing and besting Adobe's efforts in 4 years.

Anyone beta testing Illustrator 11?

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