Adobe Systems Inc. today announced the forthcoming release of Illustrator 10, the latest major upgrade to the company’s popular vector graphics software. Adobe is emphasizing Illustrator’s 10’s new tools for network publishing and enhanced integration with other Adobe graphics programs like Photoshop, GoLive, Premiere, InDesign and others. Look for the software to hit store shelves later this year — and yes, it’s compatible with Mac OS X.
Illustrator 10 supports new dynamic data-driven graphics, according to Adobe, which automates the preparation of repetitive artwork. Examples include printed matter that uses variations on similarly formatted graphics, or Web pages that utilize the same product name or company logo in a Web banner or other objects.
Illustrator 10 also supports symbols in place of repeating graphics. Users can insert symbols into their artwork, updating those instances by redefining the original symbol rather than having to hunt for and replace every instance of a commonly used graphic.
Other new features include object-based slicing, HTML tables with Cascading Style Sheet layers, enhanced SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) import and export and Macromedia Flash (SWF) format export.
Illustrator 10 also adds some new creative features, including Live Distortion. Live Distortion enables users to bend, stretch and twist text, graphics and images using enveloping, warping and liquify tools that retain the objects’ ability to be edited regardless of what effects are applied. Symbolism tools have also been incorporated, which users can apply to create “naturalistic masses of repeating elements,” according to Adobe. Spray instances of symbols to the artboard, and then use other specialized tools to adjust colors, spin, resize and scrunch. Adobe cites foliage, crowds and other large groups of similar objects as examples of what the symbolism tools can create.
System requirements call for a G3 processor or better; Mac OS 9.1, 9.2 or Mac OS X 10.1; 128MB RAM; 180MB hard drive space; PostScript Level 2 or PostScript 3-compatible printer.
Look for Illustrator 10 to hit store shelves in the fourth calendar quarter of 2001. The street price will be around US$399, with an upgrade cost of $149. Adobe is now taking pre-orders for the software.