By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator
Golden Triangle PC Club
August 2007

Overview

Adobe Illustrator CS3 software allows you to create sophisticated artwork for virtually any medium. Industry-standard drawing tools, flexible color controls, and professional type controls help you capture your ideas and experiment freely, while timesaving features such as easier-to-access options let you work quickly and intuitively. Improved performance and tight integration with other Adobe applications also help you produce extraordinary graphics for print, web and interactive, and mobile and motion designs.

Live Color
Explore, apply, and control color variations using Live Color, which lets you select any artwork and interactively edit the colors to see results immediately. Use the Color Guide panel to quickly choose tints, shades, or harmonious color combinations.

Live Trace
Quickly and accurately convert photos, scans, or other bitmap images to editable and scalable vector paths using Live Trace.

Drawing tools and controls
Drawing tools and controls Draw in Adobe Illustrator more quickly and fluidly than ever. Easier and more flexible anchor point selection, improved operating performance, and a new Eraser tool help you create artwork efficiently and intuitively.

Integration with Adobe design applications
Speed your way through graphic designs and print production thanks to tight integration with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Acrobat software.

Live Paint
Easily paint any closed or partially closed area of your artwork with the Live Paint Bucket, which automatically detects and corrects gaps and lets you interactively select colors from a Swatch palette for faster work.

Advanced typography
Easily create and control type with over 100 OpenType fonts, paragraph and character styles, paragraph composition, underline and strikethrough, transparent effects, and more.

Control panel
Discover more options faster and free up screen space by accessing anchor point controls, clipping masks, envelope distortions, and more from the context-sensitive Control panel.

Custom workspaces
Work more efficiently using custom workspaces that display only the panels you need for a specific task. Save, share, or access any workspace at any time, or use workspace presets.

Adobe PDF file creation tools
Create native Adobe PDF files, including multipage PDF files, so clients and others can easily review your artwork using Acrobat or free Adobe Reader software.

Web and interactive tools
Web and interactive tools Easily create for the web and mobile devices using vector-based slicing tools, robust integration with Adobe Flash software, New Document Profiles for web and mobile designs, the capability to preview mobile content in Adobe Device Central, and more.

Know no limits - Creative power - Live Trace
Quickly and accurately convert photos, scans, or other bitmap images to editable and scalable vector paths with the Live Trace feature.

Live Paint
Apply color to any area of your artwork and use overlapping paths to create new shapes with the Live Paint tool, which intuitively colors artwork and automatically detects and corrects gaps.

Colorized grayscale
Assign a spot color to a linked, embedded, or opened grayscale image, or even apply a spot color to a drop shadow and be confident that artwork will separate properly when printing.

Gradient Mesh
Simulate airbrush and watercolor effects by adding multiple colors and precisely controlling the transitions between colors.

Symbolism tools
Enhance your artwork with additional design elements by spraying, scaling, colorizing, and adjusting the transparency of repeated symbols while keeping file sizes small.

Flexible brushes
Add flair to paths with customized brushes. Choose from calligraphic, scatter, art, and pattern brushes.

Unique effects - Live effects
Apply live effects, including the hand-drawn Scribble Effect, without affecting the underlying artwork, so you can edit at any time without starting over.

Unlimited transparency
Expand your design options with blending modes and transparency effects similar to those in Adobe Photoshop soft ware. Envelopes and live distortion

Easily warp, liquify, and distort artwork any way imaginable with envelopes and live distortion tools.

3D effects
Turn 2D shapes into fully editable 3D objects by extruding and revolving paths. Add lighting and wrap images around 3D shapes to easily create objects such as packaging mock-ups.

Vector graphics reinvented - New or enhanced feature -  Adobe Photoshop filters
Achieve a wide variety of effects by applying Adobe Photoshop filters as nondestructive live effects, included with the Photoshop Filter Gallery.

Industry-standard drawing tools - Pen tool
Draw with precision using the Pen tool for complete control over anchor points and Bézier curves.

Pencil tool
Draw onscreen as you would on paper with the Pencil tool. Edit paths by simply drawing a new line near the path you want to alter. Expanded stroke options
Control the position of a stroke on a path by choosing centered, inside, or outside.

Smooth and Erase tools
Quickly smooth unwanted bumps in a path or erase part of a path with the Smooth and Erase tools.

Advanced typography - Character and Paragraph Styles
Apply formatting to individual characters, lines of type, or entire paragraphs with a single click using Character and Paragraph Styles.

Paragraph composition
Optimize line breaks throughout an entire paragraph with minimal hyphenation and better word and letter spacing using the Every-line Composer.

Text underline and strikethrough
Easily apply underlining and strikethroughs to any line of text, section of text, or text element.

Transparent text effects
Expand your typographic options using ghosted text, transparent drop shadows with soft edges, and other effects for transparent text.

OpenType fonts
Simplify cross-platform font management and take advantage of alternate glyphs and extended character sets with more than 100 OpenType fonts, included free.

Automatic kerning and optical alignment
Adjust the space between letters using automatic kerning, and hang punctuation outside the edges of a text box using optical alignment.

Smart quotes and ligatures
Add polish to your designs with automatic smart quotes and proper ligatures.

Alternate Glyphs palette
Access a font’s extended character set from the Alternate Glyphs palette.

Expert precision - Photoshop layer comp support
Control the visibility of layer comps in linked, embedded, or opened Photoshop files from within Illustrator CS2.

Powerful graphing tools
Communicate data clearly using powerful graphing tools that make it easy to produce visually compelling charts and graphs.

Layers palette
Organize complex artwork with support for an unlimited number of layers, nested layers, and layer masks.

Clipping paths and opacity masks
Crop portions of a design using clipping paths or opacity masks.

Precise layout tools
Position design elements with expert precision using Smart Guides, the Align and Transform palettes, and more.

Blend
Morph one shape into another to create animations, smooth shading, and complex contours. Enjoy a smoother ride Improved workspace

Control palette
Discover new features and find existing features faster in the context-sensitive Control palette. Accessing selection-based tools from a single location eliminates the need for multiple palettes.

Custom workspaces
Work more efficiently and optimize your screen area using custom workspaces that display only the palettes you need for a specific task. Save, share, or access any workspace at any time or use workspace templates.

Adobe Bridge
Use Adobe Bridge to efficiently browse and preview your creative assets, run automation scripts, access Adobe Stock Photos, and more.

Adobe-standard user interface
The familiar Adobe interface is now more intuitive and consistent, making it even easier to move between Illustrator CS2 and other Adobe products.

Wacom tablet support
Take advantage of pressure-sensitive drawing and erasing with a Wacom tablet, as well as new Intuous3 features like tilt sensitivity.

Production automation Automated processing
Make tools like Live Trace even more efficient by automatically batch processing images in Adobe Bridge while continuing to work in Illustrator CS2.

Industry-leading scripting support
Automate routine production tasks by writing JavaScript, AppleScript, or Windows Visual Basic scripts to control virtually every feature.

Graphic styles
Quickly and consistently apply the same attributes to multiple objects using graphic styles.

Dynamic, data-driven graphics
Quickly create custom artwork variations using scripts to connect graphic variables to unique data.

Ability to save selections
Streamline a range of production tasks by saving complex selections so you can quickly reload them later.

Timesaving shortcuts - Professionally designed content
Jump-start your projects with more than 270 professionally designed templates and over 100 OpenType fonts, all included with Illustrator CS2. Consistent results with presets

Get consistent results and save time with included presets for Adobe PDF file creation, transparency flattening, color, and printing.

Save As Template command
Reuse designs by saving files as templates that include artboard dimensions, placeholder elements, styles, symbols, layers, and more.

Magic Wand
Instantly select objects that share similar attributes, such as color, stroke width, or opacity, using the Magic Wand.

Eyedropper
Copy color, text formatting, and other attributes from one object to another using the Eyedropper tool, which works just like the Eyedropper in Photoshop.

Multiple undos and redos
Easily retrace your steps as you work by using the undo and redo commands.

WYSIWYG font menu
Quickly select typefaces from the font menu, which identifies font technology and displays a sample of each font.

Work well with others - Enhanced Adobe PDF file creation
Multipage PDF export
Easily present multiple designs by creating multipage PDF files. Tile your Illustrator artboard into as many pages as you want, and simply export to create a multipage PDF file.

Transparency Flattener
Help ensure the best results when printing or creating Adobe PDF files with artwork that contains transparent elements using Transparency Flattener presets.

Adobe PDF layer support
Retain Illustrator layers in Adobe PDF files. Display or hide your Illustrator layers from within Adobe Acrobat 6.0 or 7.0 or free Adobe Reader software.

Adobe PDF-based print workflow
Include printer’s marks and bleeds in your Adobe PDF files and share files confidently with service providers, thanks to consistent Adobe PDF file generation.

File security
Save Illustrator files in current or previous versions of Adobe PDF in combination with a range of security options, including 128-bit encryption.

Shared PDF presets
Save time and help ensure consistency by sharing PDF presets across Adobe Creative Suite 2 and Adobe graphics applications, including Adobe Acrobat Distiller 7.0 software.

Superior print capabilities Intuitive printing interface
Enjoy consistent results with an intuitive, comprehensive printing interface that provides optimized presets for a wide variety of devices.

Separations
Print color separations using either host-based or in-RIP options and optimize output directly in the application, controlling screen angle, ruling, and dot size for each plate.

Page tile overlap control
Easily and reliably print oversized documents to standard desktop printers by controlling the overlap between tiled pages.

Fit To Page command
Easily print large designs on standard paper sizes using the Fit To Page command or custom scale options. Scale either dimension with precision out to three decimal places.

Superior Web graphics
Improved Macromedia Flash (SWF) export
Expanded export options and a simplified process make it easier than ever to export your Illustrator artwork to SWF file format.

Symbols
Easily create rich, repeating Web graphics while keeping file sizes small by designing with symbols, which automatically update every instance when you change the original.

Save For Web
Easily export using the comprehensive Save For Web dialog box that lets you choose HTML, SWF, GIF, JPEG, and SVG, along with color count, compression, file size, and more.

Mobile content creation
Optimize rich graphical content for mobile wireless devices by saving artwork in any SVG format, including SVG-t, with improved export options, previewing, and more.

Release To Layers
Quickly create animated graphics by blending two objects, using the Release To Layers command, and then exporting the graphic as a SWF file.

Versatile slicing tools
Create vector-based slices from objects, groups of objects, or layers that are preserved when exporting your artwork as a SWF or PSD file.

Pixel Preview
Visualize just how your vector artwork will look when rasterized using the Pixel Preview mode. Edit your artwork and watch the pixel view change live—as you work. Integration with your favorite applications Adobe Photoshop integration

Preserve layers, transparency, editable text, slices, and more when moving files between Photoshop and Illustrator.

Adobe InDesign integration
Bring Illustrator artwork into InDesign layouts and edit using InDesign tools. Transparent Illustrator artwork is preserved and interacts with elements in your InDesign layout.

Adobe Acrobat integration
Save Illustrator artwork as PDF files, complete with layers, that are fully compatible with the latest features of Acrobat 7.0 and free Adobe Reader.

Adobe GoLive integration
Drop native Illustrator files into your Web layouts using the Smart Object technology in Adobe GoLive software, which includes support for Illustrator variables and optimized slicing.

Adobe digital video product integration
Use your Illustrator artwork in Adobe After Effects projects, Adobe Premiere video productions, and Adobe Encore DVD projects to create titles, animations, menus, and more.

Tight Microsoft Office integration
Easily export Illustrator artwork with the Save For Microsoft Office command to display and print graphics in applications such as Word and PowerPoint.

Broad-based input and output PDF/X support
Create reliable, press-ready layouts using ISO-standard and ANSI-standard PDF/X.

Nearly universal graphic file format support
Work with almost any type of graphic file—including PDF, EPS, SVG, Photoshop (PSD), TIFF, GIF, JPEG, SWF, and more.

XMP support
Make your graphics easier to track in asset-management applications and other network publishing–savvy tools by embedding customized metadata, including IPTC properties.

Adobe Bridge

Manage media visually
Adobe Bridge CS3 is a powerful, easy-to-use media manager for visual people, letting you easily organize, browse, locate, and view creative assets. Available in all six editions of Adobe Creative Suite 3 software and all professional Adobe creative applications, Bridge provides centralized access to project files, applications, and settings, as well as XMP metadata tagging and searching capabilities.

Bridge also serves as a hub for these timesaving Adobe features and services:

Bridge Home for developing expertise with Adobe tools
Adobe Version Cue CS3 for workgroup file management
Adobe Device Central CS3 for previewing and testing mobile content
Adobe Stock Photos for purchasing royalty-free stock photography
Adobe Acrobat Connect™ for web conferencing

Bottom Line Recommendation

Adobe Illustrator CS3 is the best vector drawing program on the market. This statement would be more impressive if Adobe hadn't purchased and read the last rites to Illustrator's only serious competition, Macromedia FreeHand. Luckily, however, Adobe's virtual monopoly hasn't led the company to grow complacent. In the CS3 version of Illustrator, it has focused on improving integration with another acquisition, Flash (70 percent of Flash users also use Illustrator, according to Adobe), and on providing a number of small improvements that add up to a big difference in the program's usability. Nothing here quite approaches the status of "killer feature" the way CS2's Live Trace capabilities did, but CS3 is still a worthy upgrade to Illustrator. A linchpin of the Creative Suite, Illustrator is found in all but the Web Standard version of the suite.

The much-touted Live Color is the splashiest new feature in the package. One component of Live Color is the new Color Guide palette, where you specify a base color and the palette suggests a range of complementary colors to use in your design (or sock selection). A menu of Harmony Rules determines the type and number of variations that the Color Guide spins. This is a well-implemented and useful feature: Even if you feel you have a solid sense of color, it's interesting to see which colors Illustrator thinks are complementary.

There's also a Live Color window you can summon from the Color Guide palette or the Control panel at the top of the screen. Here you can adjust colors and apply them to selected objects. The interface revolves around a large color wheel where each color you're working with is represented by a circle. You can rotate the circles around the wheel and preserve the distances and relationships between them, or break the link and adjust individual colors. You then have control over the way the new colors are mapped onto selected objects. In all, Live Color is an excellent feature for establishing and controlling color relationships in Illustrator.

Illustrator CS2 had an Erase tool, but the new Eraser tool is something completely different. You use the Eraser just as you would the Eraser tool in Photoshop: Just drag it through your art, and the tool wipes things away. Of course, in a vector program like Illustrator, you're actually doing a lot more than just wiping away or painting over pixels. But the tool "does all the math" of creating new paths along the edges where you wipe. And the Eraser responds to the pressure sensitivity of a digitizing tablet, further adding to the tool's "pixel-y" feel. This is an extremely useful addition to Illustrator's toolkit, and a great way to add nicks and "hand-crafted" edges to the often coldly precise look of vector art.

Perhaps the greatest improvements in Illustrator CS3, however, are a number of smaller enhancements that will make you wonder why they hadn't been there all along. The elemental task of working with anchor points has gotten much easier: Points now enlarge as you pass the Direct Selection tool over them, ensuring that you're about to select the correct one. You can select a single anchor point while an entire path is selected without deselecting the path first. The handles on all points in a path can be displayed simultaneously. The Align palette now works on individual points, not just on entire objects.

The Swatches palette now lets you create swatch groups. There are new document presets for print, Web, mobile, and video output. Finally–and Adobe has stated that this was the most-requested new feature—when using Live Trace, you can specify to ignore the white bounding box that typically ends up surrounding traced art; that way, Illustrator won't convert the "dead space" surrounding the desired art into a vector object—a handy improvement.

Adobe has made excellent progress in helping Illustrator and Flash get along. For starters, the programs share the same docked palette interface also found in Photoshop and InDesign, making it easy to jump between the programs. Former Macromedia users will like that Illustrator can now open native files from the last version of FreeHand. But the best integration here concerns turning your Illustrator art into Flash. Whether you copy and paste the art or actually import it, everything stays the same, from editable paths to symbols to layers. At last you can design and organize using Illustrator's powerful toolkit and count on your vector art surviving the trip to Flash intact. This integration is an excellent argument for Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia, since most designers were using Illustrator and Flash together anyway.

This version of Illustrator is much more about improved integration and smaller refinements to core features than about dazzling new capabilities. This indicates that Adobe's priorities are perfectly placed for this time of transition. Adobe Illustrator CS3 is a worthwhile upgrade for Illustrator, Flash, and even FreeHand users.

Price

$599 retail price
$199 upgrade price
(must have a serial number, and a previous version on same platform)

System Configuration Requirements

Windows

P-4, Centrino, Xeon, or Core Duo (or compatible) processor
Womdows XP (SP2), or Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (certified for 32-bit editions)
512MB RAM (1GB RAM recommended)
2GB free hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
1,024 x 768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
DVD-ROM drive
QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
Internet or phone connection required for product activation

Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos and other services

Macintosh

PowerPC G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor
Mac OS X v.10.4.8
2.5GB free hard disk space (additional free space required during installation)
512MB RAM (1GB RAM recommended)
1,024 x 768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
DVD-ROM drive
QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
Internet or phone connection required for product activation

Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos and other services

Online services, including, but not limited to, Adobe Stock Photos and Acrobat Connect, may not be available in all countries, languages, and currencies. Availability of services is subject to change. Use of online services is governed by terms and conditions of a separate agreement and may be subject to additional fees.

Contact

Adobe Systems, Incorporated
Corporate Headquarters
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, California 95110-2704
408-536-6000
800-833-6687
FAX 408-537-6000

Order Online at Adobe Corporation
http://www.adobe.com/store/main.jhtml

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.