I am a Freehand user that also uses Illustrator. Now it is official that Adobe
will not develop Freehand. We will all have to start using Illustrator
exclusively. There are some tools that are much better with Freehand such as
paste inside and punch. Also it is much easier to work with text, for example
you can resize a text box and it will change the "Leading". It is also better
to work with pantone colors because you can make tint of pantone colors in
Freehand.
I think Illustrator would improve alot if these features were implemented.
My question is, could you add some of these features to Illustrator?

- Guðrún Anna Magnúsdóttir, graphics designer

I did put this letter in Illustrator forum. Maybe we Freehand users should
tell our opinions there

Gudrun Anna

Heres my quick list

1) interactive gradient handles to adjust gradients on a per object basis,
instead of having to use the panel/pallete
2) multiple pages
3) paste inside instead of clipping masks or in addition to
4) tint pallete
5) non-destructive objects ie be able to modify/edit objects after the fact
(ie. rounded corners)
6) give the appearance palete more interactive features. ie why in the blue
blazes can you not set stroke width there?
7) give the eyedropper tool the ability to drag colour swatches into the color
list
Thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

Cheers,
Jeremy

On May 20, 6:03 pm, "bigback" <webforumsu...@macromedia.com> wrote:
> Heres my quick list
>
> 1) interactive gradient handles to adjust gradients on a per object basis,
> instead of having to use the panel/pallete
> 2) multiple pages
> 3) paste inside instead of clipping masks or in addition to
> 4) tint pallete
> 5) non-destructive objects ie be able to modify/edit objects after the fact
> (ie. rounded corners)
> 6) give the appearance palete more interactive features. ie why in the blue
> blazes can you not set stroke width there?
> 7) give the eyedropper tool the ability to drag colour swatches into the color
> list
> Thats all I can think of off the top of my head.
>
> Cheers,
> Jeremy

Some more?

1) How about as simple a one, as Wrapping Tabs?!?! That's a HUGE one
that often gets overlooked!! This is a sadly lacking feature in AI...
2) How about a freaking Clone command?!?! What takes me one step in
Freehand, takes me two steps in Illustrator, and sometimes doesn't
work at all in AI...
3) I also LOVE how your standard arrow cursor automatically defaults
back when you click outside of a text box! Simple, but streamlined and
effective... The only way I can see to do this in AI, is to hit the
escape key afterwards, which is really counterintuitive... especially
considering in PS, that causes you to lose your changes in your text
box...
4) I think getting text to wrap into other text boxes is MUCH better
in Freehand as well...

I'm sure there are a LOT more, but it's early, and those are only the
ones that slap me in the face right off the bat...

Sadly, I have to work in Illustrator almost 100% of the time with my
current freelance gig, and with my last full time job... but, still
prefer Freehand with complex drawing jobs, so switch to my personal
laptop to get those things done... I have NEVER liked how Illustrator
draws... Which seems odd, because that's what most people say
Illustrator does best...

FWIW, I've been working in CS, and not CS2... let alone CS3... I hope
to upgrade to CS3 in a couple of months... Maybe some of this will be
addressed with that upgrade...

I agree!!! Illustrator is better for drawing - and THAT'S IT!!

WHY on earth won't Adobe incorporate Freehand items into Illustrator??? I
don't get it! Personally, I love Freehand before MX - though MX is still
superior to Illustrator CS3... I'm actually angry over having to switch.

HERE'S MY LIST of Freehand funtions that are LIGHT YEARS beyond Illustrator's
version:
1) MULTIPLE PAGES!!
2) the option to view placed objects in low resolution
3) the align tool doesn't shift EVERY object to center like Illustrator - thus
having to re--align objects on your page again.
4) snap to guides SUCKS in illustrator - incredibly non-precise.
5) paste inside is way better than illustrator's "masks" - those are a
frustrating joke!
6) bounding box should ALWAYS be reset automatically after you rotate an image
- but in Illustrator, you have to manually (no command key for it either!) go
to the menu & select it.
7) scaling objects is so much better in freehand!
8) color pallet much more user friendly
9) blends - so much easier to create & modify
10) # 5 from Jeremy - being able to modify a shape - ie: putting a radius on
corners of a box

I could think of probably 10 more items too, but I don't have time right
now...

Very frustrated,
Ferro

Make sure you all submit your request to the feature request part of the site. It wont get done if you just post to the forums.

> 1) MULTIPLE PAGES!!

Yes

> 2) the option to view placed objects in low resolution

???

> 3) the align tool doesn't shift EVERY object to center like Illustrator - thus
> having to re--align objects on your page again.

Click any selected object and Illustrator will align objets to that object. Way better than FreeHand. Also distributing is far better.

> 4) snap to guides SUCKS in illustrator - incredibly non-precise.

True but 'smart snap' is very good.

> 5) paste inside is way better than illustrator's "masks" - those are a
> frustrating joke!

Try layer masks, they are great as well as opacity masks.

> 6) bounding box should ALWAYS be reset automatically after you rotate an image
> - but in Illustrator, you have to manually (no command key for it either!) go
> to the menu & select it.

No, every object should keep rotation data until reset, especially images.

> 7) scaling objects is so much better in freehand!

Different, not better. For example scaling with transform palette is great, just type for example 50% (or a new value) into with field and hit Enter.

> 8) color pallet much more user friendly

Exactly but color sets in CS3 is good improvement.

> 9) blends - so much easier to create & modify

True

> 10) # 5 from Jeremy - being able to modify a shape - ie: putting a radius on
> corners of a box

I use cvalley's plug-in, beats FreeHand.

****

My list

11. Outline (node) editing

12. Search & replace

13. Changing type to are type like in freehand.

14. guide layer

15. Resizing text box should not resize type.

16. Overprint black text by default

17. No overprint for white (cmyk)

18. Speed, more speed

****

There are a lot of good features in Illustrator. In fact I have not used FH for months but just recently edited old documents and it felt clumsy and dated. Fast, though.

Jukka

[Q]There are a lot of good features in Illustrator. In fact I have not used FH
for months but just recently edited old documents and it felt clumsy and
dated.[/Q]

Hey Jukka,
I haven't used Freehand seriously for a few years now... I had been using it
since 3.x and I enjoyed it while I was using it, but near the end the
production/PDF workflow side of it got very frustrating!... I liked some of the
tools particularly unique to Freehand.. but with Illustrators superior PDF
based workflow/output.. it is so much better. That was what turned me.. and I
am sad to say I'm not looking back, just looking forward to seeing some of the
old tools reworked into illustrator...

Warmest Regards
Piers Le Sueur

>> 1) MULTIPLE PAGES!!
>
> Yes

But then how would Adobe get you to buy InDesign?

-Darrel

>>> 1) MULTIPLE PAGES!!
>>
>> Yes
>
> But then how would Adobe get you to buy InDesign?

If you can't see the difference between InDesign and multipge Illustrator you are in deep trouble.

Jukka