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Delivery super fast. Highly recommend. Product exactly as described. However, we made a mistake and ordered the wrong item, and they made the return of this item super easy.
I can happy report I have not experienced any problems using my other Adobe CS4 programs on my PC (fingers crossed) such as Acrobat, Indesign, or Photoshop; however, with the numerous frustrations with Illustrator and the costs of the software I will be looking for alternatives when I complete my classes and can use whatever I prefer. Of the suggestions from users nothing works to stop the issue, and a clean install of the program with or without the updates does not help.Then there are other more minor issues as well that stand out. While it is not required per say, in order to get our projects done (out of class time) it is a must. It looks to be a problem that is many years old as well, which truly is saddening. The only way to resolve the problem is to change to precision cursor (Caps Lock), often pressing it numerous times until it responds, and then press once again to return to the normal cursor. Only then will the tool cursor change as needed while using it, until it does it again. Overall the Illustrator program works great for work on class projects, but seems to have some bugs on the PC.For instance in the months of use, with over 72 hours in class, on a Mac I have never had a problem with the settings file becoming corrupt; however, on almost every program start on my PC it claims my settings have become corrupt and then resets them. I have discovered many others with this same problem on the Adobe forum and no help, patch, or update is available or planned.
One of which is when using the tools such as the brush or the pencil. The other issues are less frequent so I will save the typing space.The Adobe Illustrator seems to have no equal, but it still needs work to iron out the numerous problems on the PC. I went out and bought the Adobe CS4 Design Standard software package, luckily with a educational discount, for my university studies of graphic design. This is a pain as I have to reset my settings every-time to work, and even if I leave the default settings alone and reload the software it will be corrupt again. Once I begin working with either of them the icon pointer will become locked/frozen in a cursor state.
Program is buggy, takes much longer to print or save now. (not to mention you can't set up hot keys to toggle it on/off, and since CS3 its on the second page of preferences). i would consider freehand. CS4 is terrible, Adobe seems to think upgrades are when you remove features, and of course its not forward compatible from previous versions. " object selection by path only" no longer applies to pasted images - why. Either Illustrator or Photoshop managed to lock up my system at least 3 times - first time i've had to hard boot a mac since osX was released.
Illustrator will blow it away and I can say this with conviction because I used Draw for 10 years. Illustrator is superior in everyway. Draw worked well and did what it was supposed to, but what a royal pain just to navigate through the confusing interface. If you are thinking about either Corel Draw or Illustrator, do a google search and look for product reviews and especially a comparison of both programs. Absolutely superb product. I switched over from Corel Draw, which I never liked because of its horrible performance and UI. From its screen refresh when panning and zooming to its tool set and FX capibilities.
"I've done this a hundred times. Here's something I would never have thought of: a Colorblindness Proofing feature. It's still huge, but much less hostile. There are so many potential ways to enhance your creative use of text and objects with Graphics Styles.The Appearance Panel has been beefed up. Before, if you weren't extremely careful, you could easily scramble your whole project when you tried to fix a small detail.Alignment is something I use constantly in Illustrator and I'm so pleased with the improvements. I used to get so frustrated when things would jump around in ways I didn't intend. By now, everyone knows how handy it is to be able to save a particular style and add it to other objects and with this new feature, it's even more sensational. Yes, I'd done it a hundred times, but not with InDesign.
I could spend hours playing with it. Gradients have been greatly enhanced within the Gradients Panel. I grumbled and groused. No more. By having multiple windows/artboards, you can easily use the "Recolor Artwork" feature and preview your design to make sure it is easily visible.In Pathfinder, the objects can be combined, separated and shaped.
The interface is much more flexible and offers useful options that allow you to display a number of documents simultaneously so you can easily grab something from one window and drag it to another document. And there are so many Symbols with intriguing names like: Grime Vector Pack, Illuminate Ribbons, Logo Elements, Mad Science and many more. This is a real timesaver and a boon to your workflow. This is a great feature for quickly and easily sizing and moving objects.Illustrator documents quickly become complex.
With the multiple artboards, there are so many new possibilities. Basically it allows you to change what you draw into a single, editable object without going through all the processes that were necessary before with brush drawing. It boggles the mind to think of all the things you can do and create in Illustrator. Also, in addition to your Trim Size, you can add a Bleed Size. It is so wonderful to be able to quickly and easily isolate one object, work on it and easily move back to the overall composition. Click Control K and use the Smart Guides Preferences Menu, to set things up in a way that will be the most useful to you. And don't get me started on the Additive flyout menu.
In CS4, Smart Guides are turned on by default. Why can't I do it now." Then, it dawned on me. Best of all, you can adjust the gradient within the gradient itself, so you can adjust it for the exact look you want for your artwork. The Crop Marks menu is under the Effect menu, which means it's a live effect and the crop marks change with your artwork.
In addition to aligning to a key object, you can align to an artboard or a selection. You can preview your work as a colorblind person would see it. Your choices of Workspaces has been improved and you can switch to a Workspace, for instance, that looks like Photoshop or InDesign. The formats have been nicely dovetailed so you can build on what you learned in one application in an entirely new ap. In CS3, the Isolation Mode made it easier to isolate and work with one object.
One of the frustrating things about Illustrator is that in the past, you could only have one page. All the previous features are still there. You could spend a lifetime working with Illustrator and there would always be something new to learn.So, what does CS4 bring to the table that we haven't seen before. You can easily designate a "key object" and align the other objects to that key objects. Kudos to Adobe for Illustrator CS4. The upgrades/improvements in CS4 are practical and useful like the Blob Brush tool intuitive vector drawing and multiple artboards (up to 100). Actually, there are two types of color blindness, Deuteranopia and Protanopia, and it checks for both.
I hate to even contemplate all the times I've struggled to get separations ready for a print job and the number of ways things can go awry. You can change the stroke, fill and numerous other features within the Appearance Panel in an environment that looks like layers. Not much has changed except that the Live Behavior of compound shapes has been switched as the default with Expanded Object/Shape.There are lots of new templates in CS4 and FlexSkins come with the program. What's sweet about this is that you can have various sized documents within a single project: for instance, stationary, an envelope, business cards and a brochure--they all use a common theme and colors--but they vary in size. I haven't had a chance to send a job to press from CS4, but I certainly feel more confident about it.The Filter Menu is gone and all the commands have been moved throughout the other menus. I moved my project over to Illustrator my work proceeded quickly and I ended up with just what I wanted. This was always an important and powerful feature, but in CS4 Appearance Panel has gone to a marvelous, new level.Bless you, Adobe for the Separations Preview Panel.
The Adobe platform is a place where it is easy to forget where you are. The familiar interface makes you feel that it has finally been fully embraced by the Adobe family. I knew what I wanted to do, but I just couldn't make it work. Illustrator CS4 makes me want to do an Infomercial: "But wait, there's more."I feel as though Illustrator has gone from being a gigantic brooding hulk of a program and it has gradually morphed into a more sophisticated, confident creature. Adobe Illustrator CS4 is a massively powerful and robust program. And, at last, you can easily create a gradient that has an opacity setting. And, hallelujah, the eraser works like the Blob Brush to make it much easier and more intuitive to draw and erase.The new Graphics Styles offers the ability (using the Alt key) to add one style on top of another style (previously, choosing a new style overwrote the style before it). I had created a background in Photoshop and I was laying in the text using InDesign.
Clipping Masks are much easier to use in CS4 through the Objects menu. Illustrator was what I needed. You got around that with layers, but now you have the option of Multiple Artboards. Very handy.Clipping Masks were an Illustrator bugaboo. I finally figured out a "trick" that helped, but alignment it is so much better and easier to used in CS4.
Anyone who does print work knows how important this is.Here's a fun, new feature with a great name: The Expressive Blob Brush. I was working on a poster the other night. Now, you specify all this in the Document Setup under the new "Number of Artboards" button. In CS4 the Isolation Mode enhancements mean you can work on individual paths, whereas before, you were limited to groups.
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