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Adobe Illustrator CS6 running on Windows 8
Developer(s)	Adobe Systems
Initial release	1987
Stable release	CS6 (16.0.2) / 23 January 2013; 3 months ago (2013-01-23)
Written in	C++
Operating system	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows
Type	Vector graphics editor
License	Proprietary
Website	Adobe Illustrator Homepage

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. The latest version, Illustrator CS6, is the sixteenth generation in the product line.

History [edit]

Versions 1–1.6 (Illustrator 88) [edit]

Adobe Illustrator was first developed for the Apple Macintosh in December 1986 (shipping in January 1987) as a commercialization of Adobe's in-house font development software and PostScript file format. Adobe Illustrator is the companion product of Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is primarily geared toward digital photo manipulation and photorealistic styles of computer illustration, while Illustrator provides results in the typesetting and logo graphic areas of design. Early magazine advertisements (featured in graphic design trade magazines such as Communication Arts) referred to the product as "the Adobe Illustrator". Illustrator 88, the product name for version 1.7,^[1] was released in 1988 and introduced many new tools and features.^[2] As of 2011, the Adobe Illustrator '88 file format is used in the MATLAB programming language as an option to save figures.

Versions 2–5 [edit]

Although during its first decade Adobe developed Illustrator primarily for Macintosh, it sporadically supported other platforms. In the early 1990s, Adobe released versions of Illustrator for NeXT, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Solaris platforms, but they were discontinued due to poor market acceptance. The first version of Illustrator for Windows, version 2.0, was released in early 1989 and flopped. The next Windows version, version 4.0, was widely criticized as being too similar to Illustrator 1.1 instead of the Macintosh 3.0 version, and certainly not the equal of Windows' most popular illustration package CorelDRAW. (Note that there were no versions 2.0 or 4.0 for the Macintosh - although the second release for the Mac was titled Illustrator 88 - the year of its release.) Version 4 was, however, the first version of Illustrator to support editing in preview mode, which did not appear in a Macintosh version until 5.0 in 1993.

Versions 6–10 [edit]

Adobe Illustrator 10, The last version before the Creative Suite Rebrand

With the introduction of Illustrator 6 in 1996, Adobe made critical changes in the user interface with regard to path editing (and also to converge on the same user interface as Adobe Photoshop), and many users opted not to upgrade. Illustrator also began to support TrueType, effectively ending the "font wars" between PostScript Type 1 and TrueType. Like Photoshop, Illustrator also began supporting plug-ins, greatly and quickly extending its abilities.

With true ports of the Macintosh versions to Windows starting with version 7 in 1997, designers could finally standardize on Illustrator. Corel did port CorelDRAW 6.0 to the Macintosh in late 1996, but it was received as too little, too late. Designers tended to prefer Illustrator, CorelDraw, or FreeHand based on which software they learned first. As an example, there are capabilities in Freehand still not available in Illustrator (higher scaling percentages, advanced find-and-replace feature, selective round-corner editing, export/print selected objects only, etc.).^[3] Corel was never considered a professional level tool by major agencies or design shops. Famously, Aldus did a comparison matrix between its own Freehand, Illustrator and Draw, and Draw's one "win" was that it came with three different clip art views of the human pancreas.

Adobe bought Aldus in 1994 for PageMaker.^[4] As part of the transaction, the Federal Trade Commission issued a complaint of Adobe Systems on October 18, 1994 ordering a divestiture of FreeHand to “remedy the lessening of competition resulting from the acquisition” ^[5] because of Adobe's Illustrator software. As a result, Macromedia acquired FreeHand in 1995 from its original developer, Altsys, and continued its development through 2004.^[6]

The difference in strengths between Photoshop and Illustrator became clear with the rise of the Internet; Illustrator was enhanced to support Web publishing, rasterization previewing, PDF, and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics.) Adobe was an early developer of SVG for the web and Illustrator exported SVG files via the SVG File Format plugin.^[7] Using the Adobe SVG Viewer (ASV), introduced in 2000, allowed users to view SVG images in most major browsers until it was discontinued in 2009.^[8] Native support for SVG was not complete in all major browsers until Internet Explorer 9 in 2011.^[9]

Version 9 included a tracing feature, similar to that within Adobe's discontinued product Streamline.

Versions CS–CS6 [edit]

Illustrator CS was the first version to include 3-dimensional capabilities allowing users to extrude or revolve shapes to create simple 3D objects.

Illustrator CS2 (version 12) was available for both the Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the last version for the Mac which did not run natively on Intel processors. Among the new features included in Illustrator CS2 were Live Trace, Live Paint, a control palette and custom workspaces. Live Trace allows for the conversion of bitmap imagery into vector art and improved upon the previous tracing abilities. Live Paint allows users more flexibility in applying color to objects, specifically those that overlap. In the same year as the CS2 release, Adobe Systems announced an agreement to acquire Macromedia in a stock swap valued at about $3.4 billion and it integrated the companies' operations, networks, and customer-care organizations shortly thereafter.^[10] Adobe now owned FreeHand along with the entire Macromedia product line and in 2007, Adobe announced that it would discontinue development and updates to the FreeHand program. Instead, Adobe would provide tools and support to ease the transition to Illustrator.^[11]

CS3 included interface updates to the Control Bar, the ability to align individual points, multiple Crop Areas, the Color Guide panel and the Live Color feature among others.

CS4 was released in October 2008. It features a variety of improvements to old tools along with the introduction of a few brand new tools acquired from FreeHand. The ability to create multiple artboards is one of CS4’s main additions from FreeHand. The artboards allow you to create multiple versions of a piece of work within a single document. Other tools include the Blob Brush, which allows multiple overlapping vector brush strokes to easily merge or join, and a revamped gradient tool allowing for more in-depth color manipulation as well as transparency in gradients.

CS5 was released in April 2010. Along with a number of enhancements to existing functionality, Illustrator CS5's new features include a Perspective Grid tool taken from FreeHand, a Bristle Brush (for more natural and painterly looking strokes) and a comprehensive update to strokes, referred to by Adobe as "Beautiful Strokes".

Version CS6 is the sixteenth generation of Adobe Illustrator. Adobe added many more features and several bug fixes.

Branding [edit]

Starting with version 1.0, Adobe chose to license an image of Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" from the Bettmann Archive and use the portion containing Venus' face as Illustrator's branding image. Warnock desired a Renaissance image to evoke his vision of Postscript as a new Renaissance in publishing, and Adobe employee Luanne Seymour Cohen, who was responsible for the early marketing material, found Venus' flowing tresses a perfect vehicle for demonstrating Illustrator's strength in tracing smooth curves over bitmap source images. Over the years the rendition of this image on Illustrator's splash screen and packaging became more stylized to reflect features added in each version.

The image of Venus was replaced (albeit still accessible via easter egg) in Illustrator CS (11.0) and CS2 (12.0) by a stylized flower to conform to the Creative Suite's nature imagery.^[12] In CS3, Adobe changed the suite branding once again, to simple colored blocks with two-letter abbreviations, resembling a periodic table of elements.^[13] Illustrator was represented by the letters Ai in white against an orange background (oranges and yellows were prominent color schemes in Illustrator branding going back as far as version 4.0). The CS4 icon is almost identical, except for a slight alteration to the font and the color which is dark gray. The CS5 icon is also virtually the same, except that this time the logo is like a box, along with all the other CS5 product logos, with the "Ai" bright yellow. CS6 changed it a bit to a brown square with a yellow border and yellow lettering.

Compatibility [edit]

Compatibility with Inkscape:^[14] Inkscape's native format is SVG, which is supported by AI, but the two implementations are not 100% compatible. Inkscape also exports to PS, EPS and PDF, formats which Illustrator can recognize.^{[clarification needed]}

Release history [edit]

See also [edit]

• Comparison of vector graphics editors
• .AI file format

References [edit]

1. ^ Marcin Wichary. "Illustrator splash screens". Guidebookgallery.org. Retrieved 2010-12-04. 
2. ^ “” (2007-09-20). "Illustrator 88 demonstration video". Youtube.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-04. 
3. ^ "FreeHand Firsts". The Nelson Group, Inc. 
4. ^ "Merger creates stronger DTP competition". Folio. 1994-04-15. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
5. ^ "Federal Trade Commission Decisions, Complaint 118 F.,". “In the matter of Adobe Systems Incorporated, Et Al.”. 1994-10-18. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
6. ^ Macromedia’s purchase of Altsys raises questions. InfoWorld. 1994-11-07. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
7. ^ "Scalable Vector Graphics". Adobe. 
8. ^ "Adobe to Discontinue Adobe SVG Viewer". Adobe. 
9. ^ "Scalable Vector Graphics: Support for SVG in web browsers: Compatibility". 
10. ^ "Adobe Completes Acquisition of Macromedia". Adobe Systems. 2005-12-05. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
11. ^ "FreeHand no longer updated; moving to Illustrator". John Nack on Adobe. Adobe Blogs. 2007-05-16. Retrieved 2009-07-19. 
12. ^ "Inside CS2: MetaDesign Shares Its Secrets". CreativePro.com. 2005-04-27. Retrieved 2010-12-04. 
13. ^ "The new Adobe icons and branding | Veerle's blog". Veerle-v2.duoh.com. Retrieved 2010-12-04. 
14. ^ Inkscape for Adobe Illustrator users, Inkscape.org
15. ^ Michael J. Connolly (mjconnly@newton41.ckcorp.com). "1999: SUMMARY: Solaris-Adobe Products (a little long)". Sunmanagers.org. Retrieved 2010-12-04. 

External links [edit]

Wikiversity has learning materials about Adobe Illustrator

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adobe Illustrator

• Official page
• Adobe.com Illustrator Official Site: What's New
• http://y-pak.com/?p=705

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