What can you do with Adobe Illustrator?

[MTsoul]

I've used Photoshop so far for everything related to graphics/webdesign. I know Illustrator is a "vector" image editor. What can you do with vectors that you can't with raster?

[B L U E]

scale

[MTsoul]

I could always draw whatever I have in Photoshop at 50% (or 25%, etc) and then export it to a bigger size if I wanted to.

Okay. If you had both PS and Illustrator, which would you use for what specific design?

[Pasquale]

:_o Oliver I thought you knew the difference? :P
Uh well Illustrator would be used for logos and vector art.

Basically anything you need to scale infinately :)

[iLikePie]

if you draw at a small size and save larger, you'll get pixelated curves and stuff.

I was doing an illustration recently and i tried it in both illustrator and photoshop at the start to decide what method i wanted to use, and i chose illustrator so i could manipulate the paths way better (PS's pen tool is yuckz0r), easy color changes (without having to have diff layers for each thing) as well as the accuracy and smoothness i wouldn't get with painting with a hard edged brush. It also has a way smaller file size and runs quicker i find... (especially on old computers that can't really handle 2000x4000px documents very well).

so those are a few thoughts i went through when deciding...

[fasterthanlight™]

Well for real world examples, you'd rather design in Illlustrator for things like Tshirts and logos and other things that you won't have control of what size the project is to be printed.

But other than that the end result is more or less a jpg, and so if you can do what you gotta do in photoshop, then very well, right?

[Pasquale]

Amen

[=guinness=]

since illustrator runs on vectors which are math algorithms (no actual shape, just an equation more or less that describes it and then translates it on the screen for our eyes) it means you can work with many layers on large artboard sizes, scale it up and down without pixelation and also has so much more control with pen than PS. illustrator is for drawing digitally photoshop is for photo manipulation, in AI almost everything can be undone at any time while PS is one shot or you have to remove it through the history palette.

ONE MAJOR POINT TO KNOW. Illustrator is most benefitial to people creating shapes and working with print for a couple reasons... there are little if no photo-editing capabilities in AI other than some filters that are applied to the WHOLE image. also *in PS every layer even if it is blank increases your filesize because it considers that a layer filled with invisible pixels. a single layer file that is 60k will become 120k if you add another layer. this doesn't seem like a problem when working with web but when your files are 13mb and you start adding layers you can get close to Gbs which is a waste if most of those layers are for text (AI also prints text better because you don't have convert it to raster as often to reduce filesize). the point is that for compositing or layout work where you will have multiple layers with high quality images or just many layers it is better to use AI since it doesnt have to raster it.

the way it works is that you use PS for your image touchup and altering... then that goes into AI for your layout and design (or InDesign/Quarks for multipage layouts like magazines and books etc).


i know that was long winded but its a good feel for why these programs are sold separately and used separately.

[mlk]

couldn't have said it better than guinness did

you also have a heck of a lot more control over your shapes/curves than you do with photoshop

oh, and you can have a stroked path =)

[MTsoul]

Ah iLikePie and guinness said exactly what I needed. Better manipulation of vectors (I always thought Illustrator was just a stripped down version of PS with the Pen/path tool).

Thanks all!

[fasterthanlight™]

photoshop is for photo manipulation,




:lol: Photoshop is only for photo manipulation?? :lol:
Sure, maybe back in 1995 when thats all it could do, but damn... what an inaccurate depiction nowadays



in AI almost everything can be undone at any time while PS is one shot or you have to remove it through the history palette.wrong, use Command-Option-Z to step your changes backwards,
or Command-Option-Y to step your changes forwards,

CTRL-Alt-Z & CTRL-ALT-Y for the windoze users out there

[iLikePie]

in fact, i just change my PS hotkey for step backward to Ctrl-Z (what undo usually is) so i have a multi-undo right there!

but i think guiness might have been meaning that the nature of illustrator paths is that they can easily be tweaked at any time? Not really undo's, but more versatile editability... maybe.

another thing i just thought of...
I love in illustrator when i'm trying something out, to just drag a copy of the object i'm working on and do my test, and i can always swap in alternates - i often end up with lots of random objects and variations around the edge of my workspace, so its' really easy if i do want to swap things around. Obviously you can do the same thing with layers in PS but i really like the workflow in illustrator for it.

[thesparky007]

imagine da vinci in the 21st century.. he was drawing/painting the mona lisa on ps and realizes that one of her eye brows is crooked.. he cant do anythign is ps.. w/o requiring a lot of work but in illustrator/ other vector progs. he coulda just edited the path and it wouldnt be a problem at all.....

damn that was a stupid example... but thats the idea!

[.soulty]

^ :lol: hahahahah "CTL-z", "CTL-z!", "oh no i ran out of history, ma masterpiece isa ruiennned"

[Hastalasiesta]

I used to be a all-photoshop guy but nowadays I do mostly all of my stuff in illustrator.

#1: Logos
A logo should be able to scale to any format and should therefore be done in vectors. Photoshop really only have pseudo vectorabilities compared to Illustrator.

#2: Illustrations. I use illustrator to make most of my illustrations. Sometimes I'll import it to Photoshop for finishing touches but mostly I start and end it in illustrator.

Examples of typical "Illustrator"-stuff which would be silly to do in PS instead of AI.
http://static.flickr.com/114/273989583_4f92dad80f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hastalasiesta/273989583/)

http://static.flickr.com/112/273932299_88a72f6b70.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hastalasiesta/273932299/)

#3: Flash stuff.
Since Flash also uses vectors Illustrator is great for creating artwork for animations. An example can be seen here (http://www.nrk.no/sommermorgen). The zooming animations in this site wouldn't look as good with pixel graphics as it does with vectors.

That's what I can think off right now. Once you get a taste for vectors you'll never look back. :)

-m

[Sinister Rouge]

:lol: Photoshop is only for photo manipulation?? :lol:
Sure, maybe back in 1995 when thats all it could do, but damn... what an inaccurate depiction nowadays


wrong, use Command-Option-Z to step your changes backwards,
or Command-Option-Y to step your changes forwards,

CTRL-Alt-Z & CTRL-ALT-Y for the windoze users out there

You're saying the same thing. Ctrl Z is the same thing as stepping through the history pallete. What guiness was getting at is the fact that Illustrator is much more forgiving because you are not commiting changes to pixels but rather to vectors so you have more control over editing. For instance, if I make equal changes to a PS file and an AI file. Then save and close both files and then re-open them, history for both files is now gone. If I want to undo the changes made before saving, 9 times out of 10 it is going to be easier to do in AI because I have not commited those changes to pixels.

[hybrid101]

^ :lol: hahahahah "CTL-z", "CTL-z!", "oh no i ran out of history, ma masterpiece isa ruiennned"
:lol:lmao:lol:

anyway, i use illustrator for templates too. although photoshop could also do that, illustrator is much easier to use.

[ø]

illustrator is much easier to use.
That depends on what you are used to:)

[fasterthanlight™]

You're saying the same thing. Ctrl Z is the same thing as stepping through the history pallete. What guiness was getting at is the fact that Illustrator is much more forgiving because you are not commiting changes to pixels but rather to vectors so you have more control over editing. For instance, if I make equal changes to a PS file and an AI file. Then save and close both files and then re-open them, history for both files is now gone. If I want to undo the changes made before saving, 9 times out of 10 it is going to be easier to do in AI because I have not commited those changes to pixels.


Well, if you are any good at photoshop you probably don't flatten your images before you save :lol: in which case changing something is easy as finding the correct layer and doing what you need to do :lol: :thumb:

[Sinister Rouge]

Well, if you are any good at photoshop you probably don't flatten your images before you save :lol: in which case changing something is easy as finding the correct layer and doing what you need to do :lol: :thumb:

what if you applied a filter or changed the pixels in a way that degraded them? It's not about layers, its about easy manipulation. in general illusrator is far more forgiving than PS. that's not always the case, but usually the case.

[DDD]

It depends on work flow. I use layer comps as well as history so sometimes it becomes a mess in PS to undo. But in general Illustrator is far more easier on the undo tip IMO.

Really 2 different workflows between the products. but its all in your work flow. I agree for the most part with everyone.

[.michael]

It depends on work flow.

nuf said :pope:

[MTsoul]

When it comes to web design, Illustrator is better, no? If it doesn't involve too many photographs (raster images), then Illustrator would be better since it's easier to change things, right?

[mlk]

When it comes to web design, Illustrator is better, no? If it doesn't involve too many photographs (raster images), then Illustrator would be better since it's easier to change things, right?

not necessarily, since a lot of web work is based on pixel-scales and pixel images, more easily handled with PS. I do some layouts on illustrator though, it also has a slice tool & save for web option

[DDD]

In all my years I have never designed anything for web in illustrator. Well until recently with the advent of smart objects. I may design icons and such. But have never did a layout in Illustrator. i would say Ill is not very web friendly. Fireworks pwns for web.

[simplistik]

YAY FOR MULTIQUOTE!


I could always draw whatever I have in Photoshop at 50% (or 25%, etc) and then export it to a bigger size if I wanted to.
Really... how do you do that? This isn't a rhetorical question cause the fact of the matter is if you want to create something in PS and you do it 25/50% of the actual size you want it in it will distort and interporlate.


imagine da vinci in the 21st century.. he was drawing/painting the mona lisa on ps and realizes that one of her eye brows is crooked.. he cant do anythign is ps.. w/o requiring a lot of work but in illustrator/ other vector progs. he coulda just edited the path and it wouldnt be a problem at all.....
PS is just as easy to edit an area... much easier when you're doing an illustration than Illustrator, hands down. In illustrator you have to find the point, click the point and move the point/bezier to an specific degree or conformity. In PS all you'd have to do is sample a color and airbrush. You put an AI vs. PS master up against each other, have them do an "illustration" of same person I garauntee you that the PS guy would win out.

:lol:lmao:lol:

anyway, i use illustrator for templates too. although photoshop could also do that, illustrator is much easier to use.is it? how?


I've used Photoshop so far for everything related to graphics/webdesign. I know Illustrator is a "vector" image editor. What can you do with vectors that you can't with raster?you can create a half inch graphic and scale it to 10 feet w/o loss of quality. select a group of similarly colored objects on different "layers" and change the color at the same time.

[MTsoul]

Hmm that's interesting. I know how vectors work, but I've really never had the real need to scale something to a huge size. Maybe I'm used to the way PS works. (I don't do print work at all, so that might be why too)

DDD you mentioned Fireworks. I used Fireworks before, but always found PS to be superior in every way. How is Fireworks compared to Illustrator? It's optimized for the web, but what exactly is it optimizing?