What is adobe illustrator used for?

Question

What is the difference between adobe illustrator and adobe photoshop? I have adobe photoshop and i am somewhat familiar with its capabilities. Should i learn adobe illustrator as well?

Answer 1

Photoshop is essentially about photo editing and performs more operations on a pixel level.

Illustrator is more designed for printed meda. It allows for more integration of text and print formatting. Illustrator handles most operations on a vector level verses pixels. This allows the document to scale to the highest level of resolution possible at time of print. Photoshop type jpgs, etc. don't scale perfectly as vector image.

Of course as with many of these types of products, there is a lot of overlap in capabilities. You could probably do almost everything that Illustrator can in Photoshop but each software is streamlind for its intended purpose.

Unless you are generator a lot of printed documentation with graphic content, you can achieve the similar results with photoshop and word. If you are a graphic designer, then you need Illustrator or similar but since you asked the question, you are probably not.

Answer 2

Photoshop is used primarily for editing or creating bitmap images. Bitmap images are those images composed of bajillions of tiny fixels. If you make the original bitmap image bigger than it was, you lose resoultion (image quality).

Illustrator started out as a vector image creater and editer. Vectors differ from Bitmaps in that Vectors are composed of points and lines. Because the points and lines are created using algebraic formulas (no, you don't have to know algebra to use Illustrator) the artwork created in Illustrator can be scaled up and down as many times as you want, and the art will not lose any resolution. A corporate logo created in Illustrator using vector lines and fills will look just as good blown up to billboard size, as it would scaled down to postage stamp size.

Since it's initial creation, Illustrator's capabilities have expanded to include some bitmap editing capabilities (using Photoshop plug-ins), and you can always import bitmap images into an Illustrator document. For awhile, Illustrator was on the verge of becoming an all-purpose layout tool, although most graphic artists now use Adobe's InDesign for page layout.

Illustrator's greatest strength still lies in it's abilty to create complex and beautiful vector art, art that can be used as is out of Illustrator or imported into an InDesign document or even into a Photoshop doument.

If you intend to create logos or other vector images, or create single page layouts for simple flyers or posters, you may want to learn Illustrator. I use it every day where I work. I also use the rest of the Adobe Creative Suite.

Answer 3

Adobe Illustrator allows you to create text and images. It also alows you to manipulate practically everything.

Adobe photoshop is strictly for images.

Both excellent programs! If you are creative I say sure learn them both. Just don't get discouraged as Illustrator can be intense.

Enjoy :)

Answer 4

Adobe® Illustrator® CS2 software gives you new creative freedom that lets you realize your ideas quickly and powerfully. Instantly convert bitmaps to vector artwork and paint more intuitively. Save time with intelligent palettes and optimized workspaces. Plus, tight integration with other software allows you to produce extraordinary graphics for print, video, the web, and mobile devices.

Answer 5

Adobe Illustrator is a program primarily used to create what is often called "outline art." Examples of outline art are everywhere: some examples are a typical company logo, or a technical drawing, or the customized lettering on virtually any commercial product. It is called outline art because you simply draw the outline of a shape, assign it a fill and the drawing program automatically fills in the shape as a solid. Outline art is also known as a vector graphic. TOOLS: Solid arrow - Object select * Hollow arrow - point select * Bezier tool - create Bezier curves and/or straight line segments * Hand tool - change your view position * Zoom tool - change magnification level * Scissors - cut object outline(s) * Paintbrush - draw wide lines * Freehand tool - draw freehand shapes * Oval - create ovals * Rectangle - create rectangle * Ruler - displays dimensions, coordinates * Rotate - rotate object(s) * Resize - resize object(s) * Reflect - flip object * Skew - skew object(s) * Eyedropper - Choose color * Gradient - Blends color from foreground to background * Blend - "morphs" objects, lines, colors from one to another * Chart - makes a bar, scatter or pie chart. Bar charts can be pictorial. * Page - drag to set printable area. * Text tool - click on page to create headline text; click/drag to create paragraph text. Existing text can also be edited with this tool.

Answer 6

illustrator is to make vector images (images that u can stretch without them getting pixelated) good for logos and web stuff that will later be transposed to other media.