Ok, so I’m a Macromedia (now Adobe) Fireworks junkie. But…slowly I’ve been leaning towards Illustrator. I’ve seen some of the stuff done with Illustrator and I think its pretty durn sweet. So, I have ventured into the land of Illustrator and I am not happy. I know I need to pickup a book, but first I wanted to ask the general populous. Is it worth it? Is Illustrator a better tool than Fireworks? Do I need to switch?
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and I hate the whole product line of Adobe. Macromedia was the best! ;)
Anybody heard what the latest was with Adobe’s plans now that it owns Macromedia? I figured back at the announcement that Fireworks would be merged into Illustrator at the new product releases.
So yeah, if that’s the case, I’d definitely learn Illustrator.
I’ve never even seen Fireworks, and I have no experience with a Macromedia product since Freehand 3, but after a recent and brief flirtation with Flash I can tell you that I’m not a fan.
Adobe’s creative products are deeply flawed in a lot of ways, but at least I understand their flaws.
Maybe that’s what it boils down to. Just picking the tools whose insanities best match your own.
@Jeff: Well put man.
@Daniel: Good argument. I think I’m going to stay on the Illustrator train for now, mostly because of the acquisition of Macromedia :(
I was always a Freehand fan (after transitioning from CorelDraw (ugh) in the mid-90’s). I’ve got Fireworks as part of the original Macromedia Studio but I’ve never really liked it. Not sure why. Recently I switched to Illustrator and it’s been an adjustment but I can definitely see the potential. Half the fun is figuring out how to do things in Illustrator that I used to do in Freehand (To compound matters, I finally convinced the Powers That Be to upgrade from Pagemaker 6.5 to InDesign).
The thing is, as with Photoshop, I’ve got years invested in learning/using Freehand. I don’t expect to be an expert in Illustrator overnight. But unlike Photoshop, there doesn’t seem to be as many sites dedicated to tips and tricks for Illustrator.
According to the Senior Project Manager of Adobe, Fireworks will continue to be developed. I am not sure exactly where these naysayers get their ideas from, but as far as I can tell, Fireworks will live on. So, I would say that if you want to learn Illustrator, do it because you want to learn Illustrator, not because of some Photoshop / Illustrator fanboy scare tactics about Fireworks being discontinued. Personally, I can’t stand Illustrator. Heck, the Firefox logo was made in Fireworks, and that’s technically an “illustration.”
Relevant links…
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2006/02/photoshop_fireworks.html
http://www.airbagindustries.com/archives/airbag/illushater.php
@Nathan: Thanks brother for the advice, supported by research. I plan to still move forward with the Illustrator learning, but at my own pace. No rapid plans to move over for me.
I think Illustrator has a lot of potential but there isn’t really much info as to unlock that potential. I used illustrator for little things where I need it to be a vector image.
Ah, the ole illy blues… I hear you on this one! I have to use it every once and a while, mainly for printwork or somthing I am going to extude in 3ds max.
I have to say, if its raster I am going with Photoshop (like Jeff, I have learned the insanities, and now am one with them) and if it is vector I am on better speaking terms with Illy than freehand (although I know many a artist that live or die by it.)
Illustrator and Fireworks really can’t be compared. Illustrator is a true resolution-independant vector building tool, and Fireworks is a rastor-based pixel/vector high-brid – but the fact remains, that it’s still rastor-based. So Fireworks is more comparable to Photoshop then Illustrator on a technical level, even though it’s tool set is more Illustrator-like then photoshop.
The advantage of Illustrator is in it’s resolution independence. When a file is created in Illustrator, no pixel information needs to be stored whatsoever. This allows file sizes to be very small (in theory, respectively – you’d have to be designing at 300 pixels per inch res to even compare files in Fireworks), and allows you to deliver a file (like an eps, pdf, etc..) that can be enlarged to any size and not experience any pixelization.
With that said, I love Fireworks… And I love Illustrator. I was trained in Illustrator in art school, and am self-taught in Fireworks, carrying over a lot of the methodologies I learned, and making adjustments regarding the interface where applicable. They both have strong points, and things I wish they would do.
Hey Blue Rodgah! I’m a little late on this little discourse, but given the subject matter, I couldn’t resist submitting a post, even if it is just to say that I totally agree with A. Fruit.
To expand perhaps just a bit, consider the following statement: The two tools are really built for very different uses.
While Illustrator is a killer tool that posses far more options when it comes to creating artwork, than Fireworks, it isn’t geared to web design in the same way that Fireworks is.
Fireworks is ideal for web design because it is a raster/vector hybrid. It also does great image compression, and even allows you to slice designs up into hand chunks for coding (even it table-based layouts are dead.)
Conversely, Fireworks may be sufficient to create artwork for a children
You definitely should switch now… check out what Illustrator can do: http://www.ndesign-studio.com/portfolio/illustration
I LOVE COREL DRAW!
NOTHING ELSE TO SAY…
I don’t think you can compare Illustrator with Fireworks. You need Fireworks for web-graphics. For example it’s a cool way to design vector-graphics for flash-movies that you want to use as bitmaps in an alternative html-version. I would never use Fireworks for print jobs. As well as I would never use Illustrator for web-graphics.
I am not an expert in the graphics field; however, I have always been puzzled why FutureWave’s Smart Sketch, now Flash never went into direct competition with illustration. It’s vector format is so much easier to use than illustrator. Does it have limitations? I am also puzzled by Firewire works and why it is not just a form of Flash which it doesn’t seem to be. Why not just present Flash as a graphic’s editor? Any insights, opinions welcomed.
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