freehand v illustrator
Lord knows I've tried, but after 15 years I'm more than ready to admit defeat. You can take illustrator and shove it where the sun don't shine!
I say that for a few reasons, firstly I have to come out. I'm an old Freehand user. Actually I'm still a Freehand user. I use it almost every day. I know it's been officially dead for about 5 years, but it still works. It's an old friend, it's not going to make fun of me or embarrass me. I start it up and the two of us just get on with the job together.
I don't use Illustrator because it usually has to go make a cup of tea and have smoke before it decides to turn up to work. Looking at the stats it's no wonder. It sits on my desktop hogging almost 800MB of office/desktop space. If my Mac were an office block, Illustrator would take up an entire floor and have a dedicated elevator to Photoshop and InDesign on the floors above. They'd have extended lunch breaks together, leave the lights on when they went home and never empty the bins. Pesky little Freehand sits at the hot desk on the ground floor along side CSS Edit, Text Edit, Text Wrangler and Preview.
A few examples. When masking elements in Freehand you have a piece of artwork and the shape of the mask. Select the artwork and cut, then paste inside the mask, and off I go to the next task. Illustrator books an ad in the local paper and puts the work out tender. Ultimately the sub contractor has misinterpreted the spec and you get a piece of abstract art.
So I'm drawing a map and want rivers roads, text and etc on their own layer. Freehand does just that, I've all roads on 1 layer, all rivers on another and so on. Illustrator contacts the Layers department at the end of the corridor where a crack team place every item on it's own layer and because they're trying to impress the boss, create a series of sub layers for everything in that layer. So instead of 3 or 4 layers I've now got 300 of the things.
It does some jobs better, like the Trace function but not the "meat and potato" jobs. The Trace function is the equivalent to that little parsley garnish on top of the meat and potatoes, it looks nice but I'm gonna lift it and leave it on the side.
So I'm championing Freehand, it's classic app man. Like vinyl is classic music, gibson is classic guitar and Leica is classic photography. It gives you that look, sound and feel. Like film cameras, it's outdated, defunct and unsupported by that doesn't mean it's unloved.
Written on: July 06 2009
Filed under:
tech :
On: 9.24.09
Alex said:
I agree with you. If I have something in my head to develop, my first impulse drives me to FH, not illustrator. If I need to make a small magazine, even small book… FH. What I like from AI are its effects AND the color management. For me, and many people I know, calibrating FH is pain and more pain. But after besides that, FH is the ultimate winner.
On: 10.03.09
Bez Palmer said:
This is hilarious. Somehow I missed it the last time I read that FH Anonymous article. Good on ye’, mate. Stick to your guns, man. Don’t ever budge. You know in your bones you’re right (and that’s because you are).
On: 10.03.09
bez Palmer said:
oh, and here (in case you didn’t know about this):
http://www.freefreehand.org
On: 10.06.09
Stephen said:
@Bez - thanks for the link. I really can’t see Adobe releasing the code and letting it go open source. It sounds wonderful, but somehow I just don’t think so.
On: 11.25.09
Avon Xzavia said:
Flat earth…
In Freehand ‘world’ I take my freshly laundered shirts to my Bedroom Where the door opens ‘Star trek style’ Swish ! I walk in, the main room light Pings to life via a sensor. As I approach the cupboard it to slides effortlessly open automatically. I deposit my crisp clean shirts therein and they automatically align themselves in the center of the draw, which snaps shut with a smooth soft action. I turn and walk back across the room, door swishes lights deactivate door closes job done…
In a parallel universe somewhere far far away called Illustrator land this happens:
Some poor soul approaches a door, the door remains closed. What to do the shirts are clean, the floor is not.. Nowhere to place them, none thought of that… hmm OK I will try to hold the shits in one arm and open the door with the other. Whoops ! there go the shits on to the grubby floor, meanwhile the door creaks open slowly. The shirts are once again safe ? in hand but Ah, wheres the light switch ? fumble fumble, whoops there go the shirts again damn ! adding a little more dust and dirt… Suddenly a strange figure appears. Would you like those shirts embroidered or perhaps a monogram Sir ? or perhaps tie-dyed ? No No NO, I just need to get on with things I have a lot of other house work to do, frankly you are in my way ! Just as suddenly the odd figure vanishes… OK now where is the cupboard ? It is in the corner still flat-packed you have to make it first… O. M. G. I give up !
Avon Xzavia
my comment from:
http://www.creativepro.com/article/65224/comments