Price: $599 ($199 upgrade)
Requirements: Mac OS X 10. 5. 7 or
10. 6, Intel CPU, 1GB RAM
Shape Builder and Width tools
are snazzy additions. Draw Inside,
revised Artboards, and new Arrow
and Dash controls are pedestrian but
much appreciated.
Feels like CS4.5—not enough
new features, and many of the ones
included lack the wow factor.
ILLUSTRATOR CS5
Mac|Life
RATED
GOOD
ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS5
New tools, new magic—but enough to warrant an upgrade?
Let’s face reality: Adobe could have slapped a CS5
label on an untouched version of Illustrator CS4, and
all the digital artists of the world would still be using
Illustrator as their go-to app for vector art. It’s not like
there’s any serious competition in the arcane world of
control points and bezier curves. As such, when a new
Creative Suite version is released, the question isn’t
“Should I buy Illustrator or the package from those
other guys?” but rather “Does this latest CS version
include enough new magic to warrant an upgrade?”
Our answer is a qualified yes. Illustrator CS5 isn’t a
bold overhaul, but it still provides enough new features
to make an upgrade a no-brainer—if your illustration
needs dovetail with what Adobe hath wrought.
The most useful addition is the Shape Builder
tool, which lets you weld together multiple shapes,
accomplishing what can be executed with Illustrator’s
Pathfinder tools, but in a vastly more intuitive manner.
Simply select an array of overlapping paths, and
drag the Shape Builder across them to combine
everything into a single object. You can also use the
Option key to subtract one shape from another, as
well as toggle on a palette preview to assign colors to
your newly created objects. The Shape Builder tool’s
content-awareness engine is very similar to that of the
existing Live Paint Bucket tool, with which it shares a
Toolbar home.
CS5 also introduces the Width tool, which lets you
dynamically adjust the width of any stroke. Let’s say
you’ve used the Pen tool to draw a squiggly path with
a 2-point stroke. Select that path, then use the Width
tool to manipulate control points, creating varying
stroke widths along the path. For example, your stroke
can be 2 points wide at one end, a hairline in the
middle, and 50 points wide at the other end. On paper
it might sound like a shape-building tool, but the path
you originally created remains a simple path whose
geometry can be edited at will.
Other additions are less showy than the Shape
Builder and Width tools, but refine existing features,
or address more arcane needs. On the pedestrian-but-
useful list you’ll find the Draw Inside mode, which lets
you create a mask out of any object, avoiding all the
hullabaloo intrinsic to traditional masking. The Arrow
and Dash tools have also been overhauled, offering
a mix of greater
control (it’s now
easier to get the
precise arrowhead
you desire) and
greater nuance
(dash segments can
now intelligently
wrap around corner
joints). There’s
also new Artboard
functionality that
gives you Layers-like
control over your
various Artboards,
and the ability to
paste a single object
on all your ‘boards
at the exact same
location.
On the more esoteric side, the new Perspective
Grid tool lets you draw 2D objects directly onto
perspective-correct planes. It’s the perfect feature
for folks who want to, say, draw isometric views of
buildings or place a label on a 2D assembly of a 3D
product box. And then there’s the new Bristle Brush,
which simulates richly textured real-world painting
brushes, all with pure vector paths. Both new features
are fascinating, but also a bit mission-specific, so you
really have to consider if you’ll use them in the work
you do.
The bottom line. That need to stop and consider
pretty much encapsulates Illustrator CS5. It has some
wonderful new additions, but it’s light on mind-blowing
enhancements. For example, we’d love an overhaul of
Live Trace, which needs intuitive controls and some of
the content-aware mojo that Photoshop CS5 uses. But
of course we couldn’t discuss every new feature here,
so anyone considering the $199 upgrade should delve
into Adobe’s demo videos to see exactly what they’d
be paying for.—Jon Phillips
Using the Shape Builder tool, you can quickly weld together the two selected triangles into
a single object, even using a palette preview (not shown) to decide whether the new object
should have the yellow or dot fill.
