Illustrator or Freehand?

[plum1974]

I have been using corel 11 for logos and some illustrations but I have the macromedia freehand 9 that came with flash 5 i bought earlier (can't afford MX yet) and haven't used it yet. It seems like I rarely see artists using freehand and more using Illustrator. What advantages does illustrator have over freehand? should i start saving up for illustrator?

[rinaldidesigns]

I think its a matter of personal like, whatever you feel more comfortable in, freehand or illustrator, use that, both offer basically the same thing....I was schooled in both but feel more at ease(w/interface,layout)of illustrator.

[character]

I use illustartor buT

Freehand's text-handling capabilities are vastly superior to Illustrator's. Freehand supports multi-page documents with linked columns, obviating the need for a program such as Pagemaker or Quark Xpress. Illustrator won't even allow you to underline text

[pentool]

It really depends on your needs. If you just need a quick and dirty simple logo or anything similar, then it doesn't matter. Both will do.

If you need a program capable of creating highly photorealistic illustrations, it's definately illustrator. If you look around the internet, most of the realistic vector illsutrations are created with illustrator. But, as I was saying, for small cheap things, freehand will do.

[ssdesign]

I agree, there is no best choice.

The choice can depend on what youwant to achieve and then doing a comparison for which software can handle your the most critical features effeciently.

BTW, I prefer Illustrator most of the time.

[pentool]

What advantages does illustrator have over freehand? should i start saving up for illustrator?

I was very fond of freehand a few years ago, until I found illustrator. The differences and capabilities were immediately distinguished AI from FH.

Adobe's user interfaces were almost more intuitive and easier to use. I think AI's tools are more refined therefore allowing for better control and more robust creation. It's like trying out a $250 keyboard from RadioShack vs. a $2500 studio synthesizer.

There are tools that are missing from AI, but FH has it and it would be nice if Adobe would finally implement it. On the other hand, the opposite is true as well.

The controls to modify an object and/or adjust its properties are more intutive in IA - I think. Also, achieving the same illustration is I think easier and faster in AI. Of course I'm thinking in terms of technical illustrations, cars, cutaways, that utilize more complex realistic shading and hiliting. You almost NEVER see such vector illustrations done in FH because it's capabilities in this area are far more limited then AI. Yes, of course I've seen 1 or 2 cars or relatively complex objects illustrated in FH (that was trying to convey photorealism) but the outcome was quite poor compared to AI.

Someone mentioned the lack of multiple page output in AI. That is true. It's a long requested feature that Adobe just "didn't get around" in the past 10 years or so... if you know what I mean. However, this "limitation" can be easily overcome.

And you can always download the trial of AI and play with it. Since you have FH9, that's a little old proggy by now. Should I say, way, way old proggy. Since then, more tools, effects, tweaks and filters were added. Not to mention the bug fixes.

[pentool]

...Illustrator won't even allow you to underline text

AI CS2 has much improved text abilities. Even CS supported multi column linking. CS2 has very precise text flow controls.

If you look at typography, underlining text is just a left-over from the era of typewriters because they were not capable of doing italics for the purpose of emphasizing text. All typography books and and design schools teach that you should refrain using underlined text, which is one of the rules of good typography.

If you MUST use underlined text as a means of emphasis, a preferred method is to use rules.

[Neupix]

AI CS2 has much improved text abilities. Even CS supported multi column linking. CS2 has very precise text flow controls.

If you look at typography, underlining text is just a left-over from the era of typewriters because they were not capable of doing italics for the purpose of emphasizing text. All typography books and and design schools teach that you should refrain using underlined text, which is one of the rules of good typography.

If you MUST use underlined text as a means of emphasis, a preferred method is to use rules.

Thanks for pointing this out -- it is a rule that many people should know, but very few do. The only purpose for underlined text is for hyperlinks on a website.

[rinaldidesigns]

underlined text...whats that Both have there UPS n downs......but you really need either or......to do logos. I use quark for multiple pages(I don't have the newest freehand, I think mine is, probably an antique by now, lol, ) and I'm addicted to those style sheets! (allowing me, w/ a click to format my text, once you try,whew) I obviously love Ai, BUT why not try both, tryouts are free, and you can see for yourself

[pentool]

yes, yes, trying out both is good. I think, however, that FH is abandoned by macromedia since they came out with studio8, but there's no new version for freehand.

[Neupix]

Macromedia is now owned by Adobe - so you can guarantee that FH will stop existing within a couple years. All the more reason to learn AI now

[Robb]

Neupix is right on the money. With Adobe acquiring Macromedia, it wouldn't make sense for Adobe to have basically two similiar products on the market. Granted, Adobe may very well adopt some ideas from Freehand, but that's purely speculation. I haven't used Freehand enough to know if it's capable of managing some tasks easier or more efficiently than Illustrator. The days of Freehand are most certainly numbered. It probably would be to your advantage to learn Illustrator now, unless you really want to learn two programs.