Next time the drinks are on me. Thanks for sharing.

But then there’s Illustrator. The interface is improving, and I am thrilled to see multi-page layouts finally available in AI. The improved gradient tools and controls are a fantastic addition, and live paint is one of the best things they’ve ever done for AI.

But I’d say AI is about where Photoshop was two years ago: it’s got tons of great functionality that is buried deep within the program in frustratingly obscure ways, and it is completely lacking in some fundamental ways. It’s drawing tools are some of the worst in the industry. I’ve been begging for years, and they really seem to have no interest at all in improving in this area. It’s a shame!

AI is a powerful package, and I use it in my work very, very often. But not for drawing, unfortunately. But the plugins in this post are a big help!

Adam

Nack seems to be the antithesis of indifference. That he’d link directly here after your comment was posted only cements my belief that people like him can move Adobe in a better direction. He’s one of those guys who gets it, and cares.

We finally got Illustrator in our high school media arts lab and the kids have really taken to it. Examples are scattered throughout our blog and galleries. The additional functionality in these Illustrator scripts will really help my kids. Thanks so much for pointing the way!

Now, to explore your site…

The funny thing is their justification. I won’t quote them directly for lack of permission, but to paraphrase it, they basically say “Our user base is enormously bigger than any of our competition, we must be doing something right.” Yes, there are tens of thousands of designers out there using Illustrator, myself included. But that doesn’t mean we’re all using it happily! I use it for lack of an acceptable alternative. I know I am not alone in this!

So I need help from people like you, Glenn. If enough users tell Adobe that they need to add some of the “duh” tools to AI, maybe they’ll start to take it seriously!