I draw for a living. Here are a few reasons why I prefer to draw in FreeHand
rather than in Illustrator CS3.

OBJECT HANDLING

1. Selection of objects behind others very simple with control-click through
stack

2. One pointer tool, function controlled by key modifiers

3. Paste Inside - masking that hides objects outside mask for purposes of
selection, dimension display and snaps

4. Raster images display current scale percentage from original size.

5. Easy handling of linked images, including 'extract image' function

6. Import multiple images by shift-clicking in Finder window. Place in
succession by clicking in FH document.

7. Find & Replace Graphics path shape

8. Find & Replace Graphics within selected objects only, 'add to selection'
function

9. Find & Replace stroke width within range of stroke widths

10. Delete point selected with pointer tool deletes only point, not adjacent
path segments (no need to switch to a special pen tool to delete point)

DRAWING TOOLS

11. One pen tool, function controlled by keyboard modifiers

12. Live shape primitives - polygons, stars, rectangles with interactive
rounded corners

13. Interactive rounded corners on rectangles which can be set independently

14. Interactive ellipses create segments, wedges, arcs, sectioned circles.

15. Join selected path segments with Join command or toolbar icon (AICS3
requires script or concatonate plug-in)

16. Split paths into segments at multiple subselected points

17. Convert point to 'automatic' with balanced handles

18. Connector points

19. Retract point handles function with icons in contextual object inspector

20. Convert multiple subselected points to curve point, or corner point, or
retract bezier handles, or set 'automatic' handles which smooth curves

21. "Bend-o-matic" -- bend straight path segment by dragging with pointer

22. All path and point controls are available on Envelopes

23. Knife tool cleanly cuts multiple open paths with one operation

24. Crop tool deletes whole objects outside crop area

25. Eraser tool cuts open paths cleanly, and at same location as filled
paths. It cuts accurately at all zoom levels.

26. Mirror tool creates quick and accurate rotational transformations from
clicked center

27. Spiral tool can be set to evenly spaced expansions

28. Perspective Grid creates accurate perspective distortions from user
defined vanishing points.

29. 3-D Rotate tool - creates quick and accurate perspective distortion

30. Transform Effect has movable, visible, center of transformation

31. Evenly spaced waves along length of path in Zig-Zag Effect

32. Contour Gradients, gradient handle controls

33. Expand Path Effect can be set to inside or outside of path (according to
path direction.

34. Path direction control easily reverses direction of attached brushes,
attached text, even-odd fill, arrowheads on open and closed paths

35. Keyboard shortcuts for increase/decrease stroke width.

VIEW

36. Custom ruler scales for scale drawings. Object inspector returns
dimension of objects in selected scale.

37. Consolidated contextual Object Inspector panel displays editing controls
available for selected item. No need to hunt through multiple panels.

38. Subselect and Superselect keyboard shortcuts make selection within
complex nested groups easy.

39. Zoom view to 512,000 X aids accurate editing of fine details

40. Multiple pages of various sizes

41. Page tool makes resizing, rearranging and duplicating multiple pages
quick and simple.

42. Fully customizable toolbars hold icons and input fields of a user's
most-used tools and operations

PREFERENCES

43. Adjustable snap and pick distances

44. Short and long nudge with arrow key can be set numerically, (long nudge
not limited to 10 times short nudge)

45. New object defaults are separated by text or vector objects (one does
not apply to the other)

46. Preference to move selected objects to layer by clicking on layer name

TEXT

47. Type on a single closed path such as a circle, reading upright top and
bottom

48. Auto-expanding text blocks that can be toggled to non-expanding blocks
and vice versa. Text blocks can auto-expand either horizontally, vertically
or both.

49. Text Editor window allows easy editing of text that is hard to read,
such rotated text, small text or text on a path.

50. Inline graphics

51. Keyboard shortcuts for horizontal scaling of text.

PRINT CONTROL

52. Object level halftones

STYLES

53. Graphic styles can be set to apply to stroke only or fill only (very
useful for my work)

I'm sure I'll find more reasons to love FreeHand as I spend more time trying
to draw in AICS3.

Judy Arndt

Hi Judy,

What would we do without you? I am very happy that you have decided to stick
around on this forum to help us and defend our favourite Application. You have
helped me and others countless times over the years with your expert advice for
which I am truly appreciative. Thank you very much.

davecc

Hi Judy

Couldn't agree more! I too continue to do all my drawing in FreeHand whilst
trying to come to terms with Illustrator's tools and interface. I've recently
upgraded to a new MacPro & Leopard and FreeHand still rocks! Unfortunately
printing from FH under Leopard is crippled, but not insurmountably. You can no
longer print directly from FH without losing all fonts (you can of course
convert to paths but this is not an acceptable solution for me) and you can no
longer print to the Adobe Pdf printer driver (again, this seems to be a font/s
issue) BUT you CAN still print to postscript and distill for Pdf or Eps output.
Or if the art is not overly complex, just open in AICS3 and print from there.

I too would like to thank you for all your advice and extraordinary generosity
of spirit here over the years.

Cheers
Les

Right On.... I just tried to upgrade to Leopard and discovered that I can't
print my Freehand files because Adobe did not support the testing for Leopard.
I ended up reloading the older operating system because I can't live without my
Freehand. I am a graphic designer and use Freehand for nearly all my projects
- from posters to newsletters to postcards and ads. I'm soooo disappointed
that I will have to stick with an older version of Mac operating software in
order to continue doing my job. I wish Adobe would catch a clue!

I found this review for a plug in for AIcs3 that adds path editing functions to
the program. The review mentioned that freehand has been able to do these same
functions for years..ha. Sad you have to pay $129 extra to get the same path
editing functions as FH. THe plug in is called Xtremepath if I remember
correct. Maybe thats why adobe doesn't add certin functions to AI because thats
where 3rd parties come in to make some cash.

> Hi Judy
>
> I too would like to thank you for all your advice and extraordinary generosity
> of spirit here over the years.

Thanks, guys, for the kind words. I'm happy to be able to help out.

Judy

> the program. The review mentioned that freehand has been able to do
> these same
> functions for years..ha. Sad you have to pay $129 extra to get the same
> path
> editing functions as FH. THe plug in is called Xtremepath if I remember

Xtreampath can do a lot more. It is a very good plug-in and it would be
useful even in FreeHand. But it is a plug-in which adds another toolbar
and Xtreanpath is not exactly the most intuitive tool. Outline eding in
FreeHand is better in general but Illustrator can do better in a few
places. As ice hockey score FreeHand wins 7-3.

FilterIT is in fact even better plug-in - for example if you thought
rounding corners feature is good in FreeHand - think again. ;-)

Jukka

Amen.

Dear Judy

Over the past years you've been a source of tips and tricks that no one can
match. Also an inspiration to keep the FH spirit alive for as long as possible.
Everyone around me has switched to Ai but I keep resisting, even though they
sometimes mock me. Relentlessly, I keep on holding on to the software I know,
trust and love the most. I have been using it for more than 20 years and I am
not about to let go. Thanks for the comfort of knowing that I am not alone.

This past weekend I took the plunge (for the second time) and installed
Leopard 10.5.2 I was expecting all kinds of trouble with printing from FH but
turns out all is working perfectly. I can print to my Brother laser printer,
to my Epson R1800 printer (with the "special 10.5 driver from Epson, not the
pre-loaded one from Apple) I can also print to PDF with the 8.1.2 Acrobat
upgrade. No problems with any fonts. And I've tried with lots of them. So the
question is: Some people can and some can't print fonts? Am I doing something
others aren't? Or what's going on?

I just knew that my trusted FH wouldn't let me down.

MacPro 10.5.2 Linotype FontExplorer X

Dear Judy

Over the past years you've been a source of tips and tricks that no one can
match. Also an inspiration to keep the FH spirit alive for as long as possible.
Everyone around me has switched to Ai but I keep resisting, even though they
sometimes mock me. Relentlessly, I keep on holding on to the software I know,
trust and love the most. I have been using it for more than 20 years and I am
not about to let go. Thanks for the comfort of knowing that I am not alone.

This past weekend I took the plunge (for the second time) and installed
Leopard 10.5.2 I was expecting all kinds of trouble with printing from FH but
turns out all is working perfectly. I can print to my Brother laser printer,
to my Epson R1800 printer (with the "special 10.5 driver from Epson, not the
pre-loaded one from Apple) I can also print to PDF with the 8.1.2 Acrobat
upgrade. No problems with any fonts. And I've tried with lots of them. So the
question is: Some people can and some can't print fonts? Am I doing something
others aren't? Or what's going on?

I just knew that my trusted FH wouldn't let me down.

MacPro 10.5.2 Linotype FontExplorer X