a realistic opinion of Illustrator

[mezzi5]

Hi, I am not trying to start a flaming match or program war.

But would like some honest opinions.

I have been using dtp and design applications for the past 10 years. I have the same amount of experience in the design and print fields.

I have used and become well versed in Photoshop, Indesign, Quark, Freehand, Acrobat, Coreldraw as well as
a plethora of RIPs, imposition programs and to a much lesser
degree and more out of personal interest; 3D applications
and although not linked to graphics I use music programs deemed to have 'difficult learning curves' (eg) Logic Pro, Cubase, Audition - The list goes on.
-all of the above on both *Mac* and *PC* platforms.

Why....

does Illustrator remain the most user unfriendly program that spawns 'what the heck were they thinking' when trying to do *anything* in the said program - over 10 years of loading it fiddling around with it for hours and then realising i've accomplished at worst nothing and at best a very complicated way of doing something relatively simple!!!
I have spent countless hours watching Lynda videos, online tutorials etc about Illustrator.

Does anyone ever feel this way about Illustrator or are there really people out there that sit back relax, smile and truely produce artwork 100% IN ILLUSTRATOR that is 1) easily accomplished, 2) easily reversed if necessary by a prepress operator without destroying the entire document or requiring an advanced degree in astro-bio-physics 3) faster, more efficiently and more effectively than say the same thing in (eg) Freehand (fill in your vector program of choice here.)

Any thoughts? And again I really really would love to *use* Illustrator so this is not a flaming match.

Have I always had the wrong end of the stick about Illustrator? Is it purely geared towards people with graphics tablets who want to 'draw' in a program that is
more for fine artists than technical graphics personel?
For crying out loud you can make 3D objets similar to
dedicated 3D programs in Illustrator.
This is an example of the frustration I get with Illustrator.

 

[ERIXWORX]

...ok, try it now.

(DISCLAIMER: Self-taught AI user; unorthodox methods w/good results)
'There is no LEASH LAW for the IMAGINATION!'
myspace.com/erixworx

 

[mezzi5]

Erixworx: ok I understand what you mean now.

jmgalvin: this may be true and I could be putting myself under excess pressure to learn too many of Illustrators functions that I may not use in real world projects and the beauty is I can do something small in Illustrator and painlessly use it in Indesign or Photoshop.

This still does nothing to quell the fact its time consuming and structurally does things in a 'ugly' way unless you carefully set up any medium to large scale project beforehand although this is nigh impossible because without doubt as the project progresses you will inevitably end up with a 2mm x 2mm box which when clicked on displays an A3 'clipping mask' or monstrous 3D effect which is just waiting to give you grief.
I have received many files like this.

Albeit in prepress/design I have come across 'designers' and then I've come across 'designers!'

 

[apepp]

...yes, it is true to say that it is easier to understand a piece of artwork if you created it yourself, looking and trying to fathom out how someone else has built their masterpiece can be quite another...

...i personally prefer illustrator over corel, i find it more intuitive, in fact i find that corel tries to do too much for me to get my head around. So i'm the opposite to you really. If their was a role that demanded inside out knowledge of corel i wouldn't get the job. In my experience there isn't a lot of call for it, a factor is probably because it is a PC application, a large part of the reprographic game being Mac...

...as we don't get many people supplying corel files, the few we have had have had output issues, particularly the PDF output...

...we've resorted on occasions to just rebuilding the artwork in illustrator to get the job out, we experienced terrible headaches with gradients and the lens tool thingy-me-bob combined in use. Really bad banding was the typical result. But then, gradients can be a pain to print anyway...

Andrew

 

[mezzi5]

ERIXWORX: found a solution to your problem of not seeing fonts. Not sure if this works in pre-CS3 versions.

-Click type tool and type a few letters

-Click on selection tool!

-Then cycle through the font list on the control bar up top
and the letters will change appropriately.

 

[ERIXWORX]

Thanks for the text tip, but am stuck using AI v10.
-E

(DISCLAIMER: Self-taught AI user; unorthodox methods w/good results)
'There is no LEASH LAW for the IMAGINATION!'
myspace.com/erixworx

 

[apepp]

...in illustrator you can achieve this amazing work, i've seen it so many times it staggers me even now:

http://www.khulsey.com/masters_yukio_miyamoto.html

Andrew

 

[mezzi5]

Really, those images are breathtaking.
The motorcycle is incredible.
But I still don't see the foresight in spending
hours and hours to achieve a semi3D/2D drawing.

What about the re-use value of the design?
If Miyamoto had rather spent the time making
real 3D objects of the engines, french horn, camera, recording unit etc
he could re-use them at different angles or scenarios
obtaining the same finished result in a 3D render.

If a client wants a different cross section of the
outboard motor (rather than redraw the entire section)
he can just cut through a different area of the 3D object.
Or erase parts of the shell to expose the inner parts.

 

[apepp]

...even in a 3D program you can spend a great deal of time to construct a target object, modelling is one thing, texturing and lighting are a whole different set of books...

...i imagine he can create many realism illustrations in illustrator nearer and quicker than many could get anything like in a 3D package. It's not simply a case of just hitting the render button to create realism or organic looking technical illustration unfortunately...

...a good example might be medical illustrations of the human anatomy...

...illustration techniques are still popular, particularly in the field of book illustration...

...the point of re-use is a valid one, however the guy is from the 80's of early technical illustrator and predominantly a 2D illustrator adapting his pencil work and keen eye for light and detail to a 2D computer program. This is how it used to always be before 3D ever became what it is now, and not even on a computer but on paper...

...much like estate agents use illustrators for providing watercolor artwork of proposed new builds from a certain angle, but of course, not every new build is technically drawn in a 3D package...

...i suppose one way of looking at it might be, if the likes of Van Gogh or Gauguin had the option to create his own scenes (or one off scenes needed by others) as a 3D render or paint on canvas, he would choose the later for one of preference...

...i think there will always be a call for these talented people, even with 3D and the like available to people who can't even draw and still try to use them, like me for example...

Andrew