Darren (Daz) Winder -www.dawdesign.com

Adobe has done a tremendous job enhancing old favorites and introducing long awaited new features in the latest upgrade. I personally am excited to be working with the new amazing features, both new and enhanced, in Illustrator CS4. What are those features? Let’s take a look!
Features now available in Illustrator CS4

• Gradients - Enhanced
• Appearance of Graphic Style - Enhanced
• Multiple Artboards - New
• Blob Brush - New
• Smart Guide - Enhanced
• Live Color - Enhanced
• Clipping Mask - Enhanced
• Isolation Mode - Enhanced
• Type on Path - Enhanced
• Owl 2.0 - New
• Bleed Support - New
• Separations Preview - New
• Color Blindness Preview - New
• Create and Update Unique ID’s for assets - New
• Key Alignment - Enhanced
• File I/O - Enhancements in Tiff
• Graphic Panel - Enhanced
• Metrics – Roman Only Kerning - New
• Text Shuffling Performance - New
• UI Cleanup - New
• Creative Suite Services - New
• Contact Now - New
• Kuler 2.0 - New
• Connections - New
• New Sample Art, Tutorials and Libraries - New
  

As you can see from this extensive list, this release of Adobe Illustrator CS4 really does have something for everyone. Long time users, I am sure, will be pleased with the accomplished results.
Let’s get started and take a look at what the buzz is all about!

The New Interface

If the welcome screen is not showing, just go to Help > Welcome Screen.

Multiple Artboards - New

This feature has been long awaited by many Illustrator users. Multiple Artboards offers the ability to create documents that are multiple pages or double sided in a single file. It also offers a way to create single documents containing multiple assets of any size. You will be able to keep all the art you are creating for one job or client in the same file, this will make it so much easier to use common symbols, fonts, colors and track changes.
Notice the Tabbed document interface. If you don’t like the tab go to Preferences > User Interface and deselect Open Documents as Tabs. I think this is a good idea, but you can’t drag and drop from one document to another. You have to copy from one document and paste in another document.
Let’s take a look what has gone into this feature.

New Concept of ‘Artboard’

This includes multiple Artboards in a single document that can be different shapes, sizes and exist anywhere on the document canvas, also including overlapping each other.

A better User Interface for artboards

This includes a Gray background, soft highlight and a darker border on the active Artboard. Check out the Artboard Editing Mode and Artboard Tool (this was based on the Crop Area Tool taken from CS3).

Artboard Editing Mode

A revamp of the print dialog for full control of printing documents with multiple Artboards is now available in AICS4. The New Document dialog now specifies the number of Artboards, their layout, bleed around and spacing between them.
The Control panel now offers size and orientation as well as the ability to create new Artboards. You can also choose whether objects will move with the Artboard or not when in Artboard Edit mode.
The navigator panel will now show all Artboards in a document. Now there is an option to view only Artboards or to view the entire canvas.

Navigator Panel.

Ai legacy (CS3 and earlier) and EPS files can now be saved as single documents with multiple Artboards or can be saved as single Artboards.

Artboard navigation controls on the status bar of the document window are available in all Tool modes.
To access Artboard Edit mode it is available through Document Setup dialog with a new Edit Artboard button.
To reset the document rulers to any artboard, click on the artboard with any tool, then double click in the ruler corner. This will reset the rulers to the current board.
You can now create multiple artboards from Device Central; File > Device Central. Device Central takes multiple Artboard related parameters from the new document dialog.

A new item in the select menu allows you to select all objects lying in or touching an active Artboard.
Object > Convert to Artboard - This menu option converts the bounding box of selected rectangles to Artboards.
Guides created in Artboard tool mode only extend across the active Artboard boundry.
Artboard specific rulers can be shown for active Artboards through view menu or shortcuts; Artboards snap to guides, grids work with smart guides.
And Also:
Saving and Exporting of other formats (PSD, JPG, TIFF) etc., has been improved. You can specify all or specify Artboards to export as these formats. Also the ability to create a multi-page PDF file from multiple Artboards or specify a page range is now available. Multi-page FreeHand files open as multiple Artboards. Opening a Legacy Ai file that contains crop areas or page tiling. There is now an option to convert the crop areas and page tiles to Artboards. Fit all Artboards into window (Ctrl+Alt +O) (Cmd+Opt+O) and place Gun concept when creating new Artboard.

Gradients - Enhanced

I am excited about these new features. With the enhancements made to Gradients, the new features will enable you to work faster, with fewer distractions. With a more efficient way to create and edit gradients, you can also do things you have never been able to do before with gradients.

A quick rundown:

When selecting the gradient tool, a gradient annotator will appear on all selected objects with gradients applied. The gradient annotator can be rotated, resized and moved. The focal point of the gradient can also be adjusted with the annotator.
You can also turn this off by going to View > Hide Gradient annotator (Alt+Ctrl+G) (Opt+Cmd+G)

The last used gradient can now fill objects by clicking on them with the last used gradient tool. Gradient stops can be duplicated, moved and deleted directly on the annotator. Curser feedback is available for each task.
Clicking on the end point with the Alt/Opt key will allow you to change the angle and length at the same time. Create Elliptical gradients by adjusting the radial feedback of the gradient annotator.
Double clicking a gradient stop brings up a popup panel where you can edit the stop color. You can also edit the opacity of the gradient stop in the popup panel.Opacity on a Gradient Color Stop

The Gradient Panel

• An addition of a reverse button.
• A popup color and swatch panel on gradient stops.
• A new field to edit the opacity of a gradient stop.
• A new field to edit the aspect ratio of a radial gradient making it elliptical.
• Sliders have also been added to most of the controls.
• A new proxy in the panel that allows you to switch between saved gradients, as well as save the gradient you are working on.

Blob Brush – New

The Blob Brush? Yes it is spelled correctly. The Blob Brush is a new tool in Illustrator CS4. It’s fun and easy to use, try it out. Used along side the Eraser and Smooth tools, this makes a good addition to the set of vector painting tools.
Here are some of the Blob Brush features:
Settings can be made in the tool option dialog by double clicking on the Brush Tool in the Tools panel or use a predefined calligraphic stroke in the Brushes panel.

Blob Brush Tool Options

The tool creates simple objects or compound paths using brush like settings (pressure sensitivity, variable widths, angled tips etc.). Creating new objects with the Blob Brush automatically merges with other objects they overlap if they have the same paint attributes without using any external paths or anchor points.
Radial feedback shows the brush size. The brush size can be changed using the bracket key. Using the Option/Alt key will change to the Smooth tool.

Live Color – Enhancements

Live Color was introduced in CS3. CS4 finishes off what CS3 started by making some changes and improving usability. The Color Guide looks less like the Swatch panel and changed are the default number of steps in the variation grid. The User Interface points out the current active colors in the variation grid and also shows the current settings for the variation grid. Current color harmony rule is now highlighted in the drop-down list.

Color Guide Panel

Type On Path – Enhancements

There have been a lot of comments and problems with Type on Path. The New Type on path composer in Illustrator CS4 should solve the problems.

Double click on the Type on a Path Tool in the Tools panel for the Type on a Path Options. Here you can make changes to the effect of your text. You can now align to the center of the path as well as align to the baseline, ascender and descender alignments and change the spacing of your text.

Bleed Support – New

Personally I am pleased to see Bleed Support added to Illustrator CS4. Let’s take a look what’s in this new feature.
Bleed setting will apply to all Artboards in a document. Print and PDF dialogs have also been enhanced with Bleed Support, to take document or custom bleed values.
Bleeds can be specified in the New Document and Document Setup dialogs.
New Document Bleed is Set to 9 pt.
Also a Red Bleed rectangle will show offset from the Artboard rectangle, according to the bleed values. Print Dialog has a Use Document Bleed Settings checkbox in the Marks and Bleeds panel.

Key Alignment - Enhancements

Some significant changes have been made to Key Alignment. It was always available in Illustrator, but now the functionality is more useful.
All Alignment choices are now available in a new drop down menu in both the control panel and Alignment panel.
Key objects are easily identified by the thicker edge selection. Key objects can be placed by clicking on the object a second time after selection, or by choosing Align to Key Object found in the new drop down menu.

Color Blindness Preview

This is a new feature that will be appreciated by many designers and individuals with color blindness.
The two new preview modes View > Proof Set, Protanopia (no red cones) and Deuteranopia (no green cones) show the artwork/design as a color blind person would see it.

Create and update unique IDs for assets.

Each asset created in Illustrator now has an asset ID that will help in doing asset management.
These asset IDs are generated when you save a file and are stored as part of the XMP data. You can view them in File > File info (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+I) (Opt+Shift+Cmd+I) dialog in Raw Data panel or Advanced panel. The unique ID generation policy is now the same throughout the CS4 suite.

Text Shuffling Performance

Text performance has been improved by reducing the amount of composition that takes place when text is edited. Only the paragraph the text is in will now be recomposed when edited. All other paragraphs will be moved or ‘shuffled’ to make the change, which will result in better performance.

Metrics. Roman Only Kerning

This allows users to get auto kerning from the font metrics for the Roman text while leaving Japanese text unkerned. An option has also been added in the Kerning drop down list in the Character panel to turn Roman Only Kerning on.

Glyph Panel Enhanced

Gives better support and preservation of Glyphs on copy paste of text across applications, text export/import, and font change.

Separations Preview

This feature includes a User Interface similar to InDesign and includes separate Color plates and Preview results on Artwork. Turn on Overprint Preview directly from the panel and also CMYK Meta object that allows all CMYK colors to be toggled.

File I/O Enhancements in Tiff

Tiff import is now live. This means when a Tiff file is imported into Ai contents such as pixel layers, vector and pixel masks, transparency blends, spot channels, shapes and embedded text will be mapped as closely as possible to Ai objects without loss of appearance. When importing a Tiff file, there is the option to either preserve appearance or preserve editability. Transparency within Tiff files is now preserved. Import of Tiff files with different combinations of color modes, channel order (Planar and interleaved) and compressions has been improved. Clipping Path in Tiff files will be imported live. This is not yet functional, you will see this in a future build.

Appearance and Graphic Style Enhancements

The enhancements to these features are a big part to improving your workflow in CS4 putting more power where you need it, when you need it. Included is added functionality to the Appearance pane so you can edit strokes, fills, and live effects of your selection in one convenient place. The addition of eyeballs also improves your productivity by giving the ability to turn off complex effects while editing objects. Graphic Styles are far more powerful by adding the ability to apply them to objects on top of an object’s existing attributes. Let’s take a look at more of the features:

Appearance Panel:

Edit Attributes like color, effects and strokes directly through the panel thanks to new pop up panels and dialogs. If multiple selected objects have the same attributes these attributes are now editable in the panel. ‘Show All Hidden Attributes’ in the Appearance panel fly-out menu will turn on the visibility of all hidden appearance attributes for the selection. Eyeballs to toggle visibility of an effect or appearance attribute have been included. New buttons have been added to make it easier to add additional strokes and fills to your objects.

Graphic Styles:

To apply a style to a selection without blowing away current attributes:
Select an object, then alt/opt click a style in the Graphic Styles panel. Alt/opt drag a graphic style from the panel and drop it onto an object. Alt/opt drag the appearance thumbnail from the Appearance panel and drop it onto an object.
(L)Plain Black Type with the Shirofuchi 3 Type Effect Applied.(R)Shirofuchi 3 Type Effect with Rainbow Glow Effect

Thumbnail Enhancements

Thumbnails that render on Type instead of rectangles. Visible thumbnails for styles with no paint. Preview the style applied to your selected object in a large thumbnail by right clicking (Win) or Cmd clicking (Mac) on a Graphic style.

In Other Areas:

Select > Same > Appearance allows you to select all objects with an appearance equivalent to the current selection. A warning icon appears in the control panel when the fill/stroke that has focus is not the same as the topmost visible fill/stroke in the Appearance panel. Clicking on this icon will give focus to the topmost fill.

Smart Guide Enhancements

Enhancements made to Smart Guides will speed up your workflow by helping you move and create objects in precisely the place you want them therefore eliminating the need to select and align later. They are far more useful and less distracting so they are on by default. Here’s what’s in this feature:
Smart Guides appear based on the objects edges and anchor points, not the mouse down point.

Alignment Guides now only draw between relevant locations, not across the entire canvas. The Alignment Guides now appear for all non-hidden objects, including stray anchor points. Also, Alignment Guides work with the new Artboards, so objects can be aligned with respect to Artboard boundaries and center points.
Readouts now appear over anchor and center points, disclosing their position. Readouts also appear when resizing, rotating and moving objects and updating live. Readouts also show location information with ‘SHIFT’ on mouse up. Text now highlights only from its baseline unless there is a live effect applied to it.
The Preference panel for Smart Guides (Edit > Preferences > Smart Guides) has been enhanced. You can now set Smart Guides color independently from the ruler guide color. Also, the default color is now green to be consistent with other Adobe applications.

Clipping mask Enhancements

Clipping Masks are now improved and easier to work with as well as being less of an obstacle when working on other objects in the same file.
Here’s what’s changed: When selected only the clipping path itself appears selected and objects inside the clipping path no longer appear selected.
(L) Blue Line is the Clipping Mask.

(M) Clipping Mask Selected, Objects Inside are Not.

(R) Clipping Mask Not Selected, Objects Inside Are

Clipping groups can now be edited in Isolation Mode.

Bounding Box of the Clip Group is now the bounding box of the clipping path and not the clipped content. Transformations (Scaling, Rotation etc.) are done with respect to the bounding box of the clipping path, but will affect the entire clipping group. The direct selection tool will select individual objects (Clipping Path or Clipped Object) when you click on any area lying on or within the clipping path. Clicks outside the clipping path will have no effect on the Clip Group or its content. The Selection tool will select the whole Clip Group when you click on any area lying on or within the clipping path; clicks outside the clipping path will have no effect on the Clip Group or its contents. Smart Guides will highlight objects on mouse over only when the mouse is within the clipping path’s bounding box. Snapping against a Clip Group is now restricted only to Clipping Paths inside the Clip Group.

Isolation Mode – Enhancements

Isolation Mode had not reached its full potential. Let’s take a look at what isolation mode can do for us now:
Work in Isolation Mode using more object types, gradient mesh, clipping paths, opacity masks, images and compound paths. You can also work with a single object, isolate top level layers, stay in Isolation Mode after deleting an object, now works in outline mode.
Menus and shortcuts now work in Isolation Mode
Lock Selection, Hide Selection, Show All, Unlock All. Use the Escape key to exit Isolation Mode.

Owl 2.0

As you know, this is a suite feature and not an Illustrator specific feature. Here are the key features that have gone into ‘OWL’:

• Application Bar

• Application Frame (this will now be off by default on Mac).
• Spring Loaded Panels

• Other Features
• Flotillas
• N-up View
• Document Groups and tabbed documents

• Tabbed Documents
• Arrange Submenu under Windows menu
• Workspace Switcher in the Application Bar
• Search for Help

Search for help does not only make it easier to get help by providing a search field in the Application bar but it also gives more choices as to what type of help you want. It gives access to information and tutorials from your peers and the Illustrator community at large. Test it out by typing in a term, and see how much information you have instant access to. Try more, this is not static information as all of these links are from a live ranked web search. You might find yourself getting carried away with the wealth of information.

Connections

Connections is a one-stop panel for authentication and management of all the great new Suite Features. It contains an option off the fly-out menu to set these services to offline; find it under Window > Extension > Connections.

Kuler 2.0

Many of you are familiar with Kuler from CS3 although it was hidden under the Adobe Labs menu. If you haven’t tried Kuler 2.0 now’s your chance! You can find it under Window > Extensions > Kuler.

New Sample Art, Tutorials and Libraries.

Check it out in the Cool Extra’s Folder (for sample art), and from the library button on the relevant panel libraries. You’ll find updated template files, how to take advantage of the powerful new Multiple Artboard feature, 9 new sample art files, 6 new Tutorial/Walkthroughs, several new Brush, Gradient, Symbol, and Graphic Style libraries as well as new Document Startup Profiles.

ConnectNow

Are there time that you wish you could be sitting in the same room staring at the same computer as you discuss details and ideas with someone? Adobe ConnectNow won’t put you in the same room, but it will give you the next best thing! ConnectNow allows you to share your screen with up to 2 other users, for FREE! It is also available as a paid service, which will allow you to connect with more people. Try it out. You will find it under File > Share My Screen.



Darren A. Winder (Daz), graphic designer, web designer, teacher, technical editor of books on Photoshop, Illustrator and PainterX. He can be found at PhotoshopCafe.com answering questions on Illustrator and Photoshop. www.dawdesign.com