Photoshop vs Illustrator

[mathuwm]

Illustrator is great (big learning curve)
Ideal for postcards flyers brochures and posters although only a page at a time.
and it is absolutely necessary for logo design speaking as someone WHO work in the printing industry I absolutely hate it when someone sends in a bitmap logo they made in photoshop ugh!!!!
it is also an essential tool for editing and repairing problem PDF files
I consider it the Swiss army knife of graphics program and a necessity for serious graphics professionals.

in regards to photoshop cs cs2 cs3 I think the upgrades are little more than an attempt to squeeze more money out of us(OK there are some cool new features but still what ever happened to cs1.2.31)
of course Photoshops value is obvious so i will leave it at that.

the free tools will most often get the job done but if you need to send files to a printer you may just frustrate them


for booklets, manuals, and modules In-design or quark is the way to go

[landorl]

Mathuwm,

Thanks for the comments on Illustrator. One of the things that I am looking at for the church is doing new logos and illustrations for the church's website that we are beginning to develop, and also for banners and mail outs. So Illustrator might be good for that. Right now, I will stick with PS for maps.

When CS2 came out, I looked at that, but it looked almost the same as CS, but CS3 looks a little different, but there is a pretty significant cost in upgrading, so if it is not vastly improved, then I won't do it!

[ravells]

Another cheaper vector drawing program worth looking at is Serif Drawplus (circa $100 US for the latest version, less down to free if you buy earlier versions)- if you look at RobA's sticky on different software that's available you can find more information there. Still...inkscape is free and pretty good too from what I've heard.

The best thing about Drawplus is that the learning curve is really quick which makes it a joy to use. Everything is intuitive.

[RobA]

The latest version of inkscape has implemented svg filters, as well, so a whole host of effects can be acheived (who the UI is a bit awkward, imoo). Here is an example tutorial making a logo:
http://blog.mauveweb.co.uk/2008/04/1...-inkscape-046/

-Rob A>

[Wordman]

I use both, but almost always use Illustrator for maps. The "high quality at every scale" and "ability to move lines long after I drew them" wins for maps, as far as I'm concerned. It is true, however, that using vector art does lend a particular "look" to your maps, and that can either work for or against you.

As for "worth the upgrade", I can only speak for the Mac version. The CS3 version was very much worth the upgrade, because it was Intel native. Feature-wise, it didn't seem much different than CS2.

For those looking for cheaper alternatives for the Mac, you might be interested in my Mac shareware recommendations, particularly Pixelmator and VectorDesigner. (Inkscape on the Mac, btw, is garbage.)