you can do what you want
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- pascii
but i will never love you as much as i did freehand, you lousy illustrator.
- vaxorcist0
yes.... I have to admit I agree.... I loved some of those tools... it was so unthinkingly easy to work with.... and none of those oddball error messages
- pascii0
it was a step into the direction, where everything can be done in one application and not in a "creative suite".
- ukit0
"where everything can be done in one application"
Where's the monies...I mean, fun in that?
- Horp0
I always preferred Illy to Freehand, but I always preferred pre-suite Illustrator (7.0 - 9.0) to the CS abominations.
Its all for Computer Arts subscribers now though isn't it. 15 year olds with Macs in their bedrooms and all their favourite 'graphic artists' bookmarked for future homage.
- generation vecteezypascii
- I'm pretty sure those versions were part of the CS.monospaced
- Illustrator 10 was the last version that didn't seem bloated and slow.Josev
- faxion0
I hate fucking backward ass illustrator with a passion.
I still run 10.5 just purely to keep freehand running as long as possible.I might give it all up and become a binman when I have to finally say goodbye to my beloved freehand.
- doesnotexist0
babies
- ESKEMA0
My main issue is, when Adobe bought freehand, why not incorporate it's excellent features into AI. Wtf are they doing? slowly releasing a feature per update. Cunt Fuckers.
- I WANT TO SEE MY BEZIER CURVE BEFORE I INSERT A POINT,
- I WANT TO CREATE SHAPES WITH SLIDERS AND GET LIVE PREVIEWS, NOT NUMERICAL INPUT AND LETS SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
- ETC, ETC, ETC...- << yes. Even fucking powerpoint does it ffs!!!Projectile
- lukus_W0
One problem that I sometimes find difficult, is that there are literally so many different ways to do the same thing. I think this is a problem that Illustrator has - and this can make it feel pretty counter intuitive.
I reckon a lot of applications are built from the point of view that they provide the user with a workshop environment.
You're given the space to work (the application) and you're provided with a range of tools (functions). With applications like this, the actual metaphor that the UI follows is a mirror of it's implementation. Programmers like this, because it's far more straightforward to code .. but it means that the user has to do a lot of the work, and join-up the dots themselves; rather than be presented with a way of working, each user needs to work out their own specific ways of using the program.
Learning the keyboard short-cuts for Illustrator's vector tools made my life much easier.
- inteliboy0
What do the AI team at adobe do anyway?? I can't think of one major upgrade to the program that has happened since I was at uni 5 years ago...
- Continuity0
Freehand 6 was the first design app I was EVER exposed to. God I miss it.
- detritus0
Isn't this a regular whinge of yours, pascii?
Didn't we end up, last time, agreeing you needed a better computer?
- detritus0
ps. Time to stop living in the past, maybe?
- pascii0
*sigh
- pascii0
*sigh
- typist0
still using freehand 9, so fast and good
- i_monk0
I never used Freehand. What's so great about it?
- miesvan0
6 of them...
1. FreeHand's knife tool has been a crutial tool for how I use FreeHand to create smooth complex curves, or for just being able to get rid of part of an object very easily. For complex curves I generally start with primitive ellipses or circles. I will create a series of ellipses and precisely overlap the strokes where I want the intersections to occur. Then the beauty of FreeHand's knife tool allows me to select multiple objects at once and cut both obects at their intersection point. Then I simply delete the unwanted portions of the ellipses or circles and join the remaining pieces leaving me with my desired curve.To my knowledge, no other drawing or layout program has the capability and ease of FreeHand's knife too.
2. FreeHand's set of tools: Union, Subtract, Punch, etc. work flawlessly. I use the "Union" tool the most, and it has saved me tons of time in creating more complex objects without having to use the bezigon handles too much... For example, if I'm tracing an image to convert to vector art, I can use as many primitive shapes as possible and trace the image in parts. Use a rectangle for parts that have harder angles instead of having to click down 4 points with the pen or bezigon tool. Then use the method above with the knife tool to create some of the curves, close the objects with the click of a button, overlap them slightly and hit the union button... perfect. No left over parts, no point shift (with snapping off... I don't like snapping at all in any program). Ilustrators set of "pathfinder" tools comes close to FreeHand's functionality, but I've noticed that in Illustrator, it leaves the unwanted parts for whatever reason, and doesn't separate them from the new shape. Very frustrating... because then I have to go back and delete the unwanted parts, and selecting "parts" of an object in Illustrator is an absolute NIGHTMARE.
3. Which brings me to the "Pointer" issue. I'm sure everyone that uses FreeHand knows this already, but what the hell is the need for 2 pointers?? I have NO idea why FreeHand put in an additional pointer... I've never used it. It's completely unwanted. Were they trying to make Illustrator users more comfortable? I have always thought that the way in which Illustrator makes you deal with manipulating and selecting objects is the absolute weakest part of the program hands down. And this is where FreeHand shines. Being able to option-click on an object that is grouped and then being able to select and de-select individual points at will is a HUGE jump in efficiency over Illustrator. I could go on about this, but I think FreeHand users are pretty aware of the selection superiority of FreeHand.
4. Being able to cycle through selecting objects that are on top of one another is key as well. The cntrl-click feature FreeHand has is just wonderful. Then you can also hold SHIFT with the CNTRL key and select multiple levels of objects.
5. I use FreeHand for ALL vector art creation. The ability to copy and paste into Photoshop and Flash is great. Creating a vector object for use in Flash is easy. You can have all of your shapes overlap without having to delete the unwanted segments due to the way Flash handles vector graphics. You can just paste in your art from FreeHand and select and delete the unwanted segments simply in Flash after "breaking apart" the objects pasted in.
6. Here is a tip for people using FreeHand that must have their art end up in Illustrator. Create your LINE ART in FreeHand. (limited amount of fills and NO gradients or blends. You can have fills, but the way Illustrator handles gradients is quite different at the coding level, and you will get unwanted shapes from FreeHand gradients or blends when importing into Illustrator) Simply export your FreeHand document as a "Generic" or "Macintosh" EPS and open it in Illustrator. Don't hassle with drawing in Illustrator, just import and color in Illustrator after drawing the art in FreeHand.
- Rand0
I still use it. I f I need to open an eps file or pdf in it I save from preview