Comments on: Freehand Has Left My Computer

By: GulDam

GulDam — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:05:21 +0000

I've been using Freehand for 15 or so years. I've also been using Illustrator, but I've always found Freehand to be the best illustration software for me. It's much more intuitive and I get things done fast with it. Illustrator on the other hand has always been annoying for multiple reasons. And so I have a modern Mac sitting here just barely running the last version of Freehand and I'm thinking how much longer can I continue to use Freehand? I reckon the 2000 era Mac will still run it, and I do have hundreds of files created with Freehand, and so I'll keep my old Mac and use it when need be, or I just can't stand firing up Illustrator on my modern Mac. Adobe should update Freehand, sell it or give it to the open source community.

By: michel

michel — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 15:10:05 +0000

I found that this plug-in brings some of freehand's ease of path selection and manipulation to Illustrator. I don't work for the company, just wanted to pass the info along to other Freehand fans now using Illustrator. Called Xtreampath http://www.cvalley.com/products/xtreampath/index.html

By: Richard Holt

Richard Holt — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:57:17 +0000

Well seeing as Adobe now own both programs won’t some of Freehand’s features start creeping into new versions of Illustrator as Adobe develops it and woos die-hard Freehand users into the CS fold?

We could end up with an Illustrator version with all the best features of both, that would make the whole process pretty worthwhile…

¬Æ

By: Mike Harrington

Mike Harrington — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 15:47:44 +0000

Here are some great plug-ins that make Illustrator a little more palatable:
http://www.hotdoor.com

There is a multi-page plug-in that simulates the ability to have multiple pages (layers) in a doc but they are still all the same size. You could set up crop marks on each page (layer). I have done this manually but the plug-in give you the interface to navigate between pages similar to InDesign. Also there is a great printing feature to print each page (layer) to a PDF in one step.

Keep plugging away at it. Illustrator has a bunch of key commands that are not easily found unless you read the documentation.

Hope this helps.

By: Donovan Beery

Donovan Beery — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 21:37:26 +0000

I find the Visual Quickstart Guide is a good book to use when learning Illustrator. Since they seem to break each feature down to a 2 or 3 page section, you can easily skip over the parts of the software you already know, and easily look up the one feature you forgot how to use.

By: cathy

cathy — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 21:27:48 +0000

I thought I was the last Freehand user on earth. Started with verson 1 and at this point I am still trying to work in that space. I think the vector paths are much easier to deal with in Freehand. I can draw and bring it into illustrator.
I will need help with vector paths, page sizes, multiple pages, the color palette, the fireworks integration and probably more..
and the size of illustrator files! whats up with that bloat? Reluctantly I move on.
Good book suggestions and tricks are welcome.

By: marilyn's shampoo

marilyn's shampoo — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 13:38:49 +0000

“You might as well face it-you’re Adobe’s bitch now. Bend over and get ready for your next upgrade”

my quote of the week!

By: marilyn's shampoo

marilyn's shampoo — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 13:38:49 +0000

“You might as well face it-you’re Adobe’s bitch now. Bend over and get ready for your next upgrade”

my quote of the week!

By: Andy C.

Andy C. — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 06:38:06 +0000

Sorry, I know that comment came across a bit blunt. I just find that most problems I had with Illustrator or Photoshop and running multiple apps were easily fixed by increasing my computers RAM.

But you’re right, Illustrator is a huge demand resource wise on anyones computer.

By: tkd

tkd — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 14:31:45 +0000

@ Andy C.
If it was my computer, I would gladly upgrade the hardware.
I use Illustrator on two machines. My home PC starts Illustrator quickly. The one in the office is much slower. It’s no dream machine, but it’s not at the low end of the bell curve either. My opinion is I still feel Illustrator is very demanding on resources in the slow startup on that machine (plus often a lag in switching back and forth to it from other programs) is partially based on the fact that of all the software I use on it (including the rest of the CS suite, PageMaker on occasion, Macromedia suite, and even Visual Studio) it is the slowest to respond. Yes, the machine could be faster, but if Photoshop fires up in a reasonable time, why not Illustrator?
I do prefer Illustrator and agree it’s the best vector based software available. I will still use Freehand on occasion though simply because (a) it’s not a bad program, regardless of how much better illustrator may be and (b) it clicks better with FireWorks and Flash (easier/less problems transferring clipboard, files, etc.). YMMV.