Illustrator CS3

The first impression of Illustrator CS3 is that not a lot has changed, aside from the sleek interface, which is now unified across most of the Creative Suite. If you really want floating palettes, you still can, but the main thrust of the interface is to keep everything locked to the edges of the screen.

But keep using the application and new features spring out of the woodwork. When creating a new document, for example, a dialog appears asking if you want to create a print or web document, or even a video and film document. In video and film mode, there is built-in support for title and action, safe guides and transparent backgrounds.

A particular bugbear in previous versions was that Illustrator could be fussy when you attempted to select an anchor point. To cries of jubilation everywhere, CS3 removes all doubt and enlarges anchor points when the cursor is above them, as well as providing feedback on the cursor.

Isolation Mode is another plus. It allows you to select a group or sublayer and work on it without disturbing the surrounding artwork. Non-isolated artwork is dimmed and locked, and the mode can be activated with a simple right-click on a group or sublayer. For users creating intricate artwork, this feature alone is a godsend.

If Illustrator CS had 3D features for extruding and revolving artwork, and Illustrator CS2 introduced Live Trace – which gave flexible control over converting bitmaps into vectors – then Illustrator CS3’s killer feature is colour. Adobe has revamped how it handles colour, introducing some great new tools. The Colour Guide panel is designed to create harmonious and complementary colours based on a starting colour. Just create a base colour and choose a rule from Tints/Shades, Warm/ Cool or Vivid/Muted to make a new palette of colours. It’s a shockingly simple idea, perfectly executed. It will probably be one of the new features that will get the most use.

Other useful tools include the revamped Crop Area tool, which changes depending on whether you’re working on film, web or print documents, and the Eraser Tool, which creates new paths when old ones are cut, and should be familiar to Flash users.

Speaking of Flash, integration with Adobe’s popular animation and interactive application has been greatly improved. It’s now possible to simply Copy and Paste between the applications and keep information, such as groups, anchor points and layers, intact. Symbols can be exported as MovieClips and text created in Illustrator can be tagged as static, dynamic or input text, which should streamline the process of creating web interfaces.

There are disappointments though. The Gradient Panel is due an overhaul and it still lacks the features found in Flash and Freehand. But perhaps the biggest joy is the speed and stability on the Mac Intel platform. No longer will selecting the Pathfinder tool in Illustrator CS2 cause it to crash, forcing users to downgrade to the more reliable Illustrator CS.