Analysis: Illustrator CS4

Illustrator CS4 is no different, with a redesigned interface, new color gradient tools, and the Blob brush among other enhancements. Considering all the changes introduced, the new version that has been announced this week promises to be a major update for users of all levels.

New interface

Like the rest of the CS4 suite, Illustrator 14 (for those who keep the count) includes the new Adobe Application Framework, a large window responsible for containing all palettes and documents, also offering a neutral colored background. A new application bar located above the Options bar that was already available in previous versions of the product provides the management tools for the windows, as well as a simple mechanism to switch between workspaces (different window layouts).

In Illustrator, windows can be kept as different document tabs as part of the Application Framework, bearing in mind that the application includes several new commands to automatically reorder and organize the different tabs.

Drag-and-drop manipulation of objects is also more sophisticated in the new version. To get started, you can copy an object from one illustration to another simply by dragging it from the source document to the destination document tab. The target document will get the focus and you can place and drop the object in the position you want.

You can also manipulate an object simply by dragging and dropping it onto a tool palette. For example, if you drag and drop an object onto the Transparency palette, it will be selected and you can modify its transparency attribute.

The Isolation mode introduced in Illustrator CS3 has also been improved, allowing you to easily isolate a path for manipulation without the need to lock or hide the rest of the paths that surround it. Now, when an object is put into such mode, Illustrator displays the object’s hierarchy at the top of the screen as a series of clickable controls. This simple mechanism allows you to navigate through the hierarchy of an object, isolating the parts you want at all times.

Other improvements to the interface include clipping masks that not only show the cropped area when you are editing it, as well as smart guides that show size data on the cursor as you create the figures, guides that indicate when objects are aligned with each other, and additional display options that show rotation angle and relative rotation relative to other objects.

Finally, working with graphic styles and appearances is much easier thanks, among other changes, to interface improvements that make it easier to hide the visibility of complex components whose rendering is intensive.

Drawing boards

Illustrator documents still support only one page, but now you can create multiple drawing boards in a single document. Each of these dashboards is self-contained, has its own Layers stack and properties, but they can also be contained in a single document. So if you have multiple related illustrations, such as a large poster and a smaller card, you can now keep them in the same document.

The new Artboard tool allows you to define one of these boards of any type. You can then start drawing on the drawing board as if it were actually a separate Illustrator file. Several of the new interface elements allow you to activate a specific board, so you don’t have to scroll through the entire document.

You can also link text boxes for different boards together, making this feature a reasonable substitute for the lack of multi-page support in Illustrator. For small-sized posts, this will be a very welcome feature.

Connect the dots

blob tool in illustrator cs4

The Blob brush is responsible for automatically joining the brushstrokes together with other figures in a single path, thus allowing you to create painting effects that do not require the creation of a large number of paths.

The new Blob tool allows you to create shapes that appear to have been painted and that do not flood the document with excess vector data. Using the new Blob brush, Illustrator will automatically combine the brush strokes as a single shape, just as if you had used the Pathfinder command to join them.

The Blob brush settings let you specify the size, shape, and random variation of each setting to create brush strokes that have a more “analog” look. Some specific keyboard shortcuts allow you to quickly switch between the Blob brush and the Eraser. With the eraser you can easily remove any part of a brush stroke of Blob. The combination of both tools allows you to create painting effects without having to overload the image with a huge number of paths.

Create color gradients

Illustrator’s color gradients tool receives a major update in the form of a new interface that displays gradient controls directly on the path you want to apply to. The new control makes it easy to fine-tune both the direction and the spacing between shades of the color gradient.

gradient tool in illustrator cs4

The new Color Gradient Tool in Illustrator CS4 provides an interactive interface that sits directly over the shape you’re working on. You can change the angle and the color segments that make up the gradient, while you can see the results in real time.

The color gradients have received another important improvement, and that is that you can now assign transparency to any of the color segments.

Other enhancements to the CS4 include a new color separation preview feature that makes it easy to review separation settings to ensure each plate will be exported correctly, as well as the ability to find and use the corresponding color palettes. the Adobe Kuler community.

First impressions

This year Illustrator will turn 22 years old, and once the new CS4 version is available next month it could be seen as a great celebration by the May.