Illustrator CS3: What’s New? Lots!

One of the most anticipated Adobe Illustrator upgrades ever is right around the corner. Gone are Venus and the Illustrator flower icons, and in their place is a simple “Ai” icon denoting Illustrator’s default file format. The rest of the changes in Illustrator, however, are not simple, and features like better Flash integration and new Live Color, as well as lots of improvements in interface and efficiency, make this a must-have upgrade. Things that make you go “hmmm” they aren’t…these are things that make you go “Wow!”

The change in the icons from artistic to simplistic of the entire Adobe CS3 line of products is a portent of changes to the programs themselves. They are sporting new lean, mean, and clean interfaces, and Illustrator is no exception. With less area cluttered by palettes you have more room for what you use Illustrator for in the first place: drawing! What is surprising is with this new uncluttered workspace comes even more efficiency.

Illustrator has long been the industry standard in vector drawing software, and this new version keeps up the high standard Illustrator users are used to. Because it is so tightly integrated with other product’s in Adobe’s CS3 line, it’s easy to take advantage of new output options and create content destined for publishing across media. Get ready for seamless workflow, precision drawing tools, great typographic controls, Live effects and brushes that take you from print to video.

Flash Integration

This is the biggest upgrade for Illustrator Adobe has ever made. Integration with Flash is better than ever. Copy and Paste and import to Flash are more reliable, with paths, correct anchor point positions, gradients, clipping masks, and even symbols. Not only that, your Illustrator grouping and layer structure is also preserved when you move to Flash!