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Date: Sun 02-Sep-1991 20:42:22 From: jmd@cube.handheld.com (Jim De Arras) Subject: Adobe Illustrator problems?? I just received Adobe Illustrator this past Saturday. Besides being somewhat disappointed in it's basic drawing ability, (too artsy for this engineer, I guess!), I find that it quits (crashes, really) unexpectedly far too often! I'm just trying things out, not pushing it very hard, and suddenly I find myself back at the browser, with no Illustrator up! This is not useable! I have version 3.0 on a NeXTdimension system with a 1.4 gb hard disk, 32 meg main memory, and 8 meg on the ND card. The system has been very stable (except for start-up problems, and those went away when I disabled the Internet router during boot) and I use it heavily. Any other users out there? Comments? Jim De Arras
Date: Sun 03-Sep-1991 01:16:36 From: citdem@UAVAX0.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: Adobe Illustrator problems?? [Jim De Arras notes the "alleged" instability of Adobe Illustrator 3.0] I "broke" AI two minutes into the tutorial. The problem seemed to be when I selected and deleted all paths, drew some more paths and then selected preview [selection or illustration]. (For AI folks: "po-open returned 283394326" or "pen returned 283394326".). I convinced myself that the problem was repeatable. Howver, later, after powering down/up, I could not get the problem to repeat???? I only got to spend about 30 minutes with AI. However, I'm beginning to suspect that AI's definition of precision and mine differ. I feel a precision drawing tool should allow something like: "draw a line from (x,y) of length z at an angle of r relative to the x-axis" or "draw a cirle of radius r located at (x,y)". I know this sounds cad-like, but isn't that what most of us need to do at some point in a "technical" drawing? How do I draw things in relative scale? Any advice from experienced users? (I hope I'm wrong. I hate to think that I've wasted $450 buck-a-roos on something little more than a "free hand" sketch package. Maybe there's a way to do this by drawing, moving, snap-to and deleting "construction" lines and points? That would be quite acceptable.) D. McCollam (citdem@uavax0.ccit.arizona.edu - ASCII e-mail only, please.)
Date: Sun 03-Sep-1991 21:05:34 From: robertw@bunraku (Robert Weinberg) Subject: Re: Adobe Illustrator problems?? In comp.sys.next.misc article <0094E14E.FF917AC0@UAVAX0.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU> you > I know this sounds cad-like, but isn't that > what most of us need to do at some point in a "technical" drawing? IMHO, Illustrator is excellent for illustrating real-life objects in free-form fashion, and for creating very precise geometric forms. It is very definitely not a CAD program, nor a paint-type program. It's strengths are its precise manipulation of bezier curves and application of PostScript fills tied to Pantone printer's colors. Illustrator is not really a technical drawing program, like MacDraw (Macintosh) or the drawing package in FrameMaker, since it lacks basic alignment features. Illustrator is really an artist's package whose results can be included in technical drawings when more flexibility is needed in rendering complex objects. It is also widely used for graphic designing (brochures, posters, etc.) with moderate amounts of text. >I hate to think that I've wasted $450 buck-a-roos on > something little more than a "free hand" sketch package. >> Illustrator is not very well suited for free-hand sketching. A #3 pencil works much better (seriously), and the results can be scanned. Manipulating bezier curves is an entire artform or skill unto itself and is only needed when high-resolution output, or complete compatibility with computer publishing, is required. <<"draw a line from (x,y) of length z at an angle of r relative to the x-axis">> To make a line of specified angle and length, click one pen point, and then a second somewhere to its right, constraining with the shift key. Then select both points and Arrange-Average-horizontal axis. Click on the top point, then option-click on the arrow tool, and specify an angle and length in the dialog box that comes up. That's one way. <<"draw a cirle of radius r located at (x,y)">> In general, you cannot specify x,y coordinates in Illustrator. You could create a grid of squares and snap to their points. Then you could choose the oval tool and option-click at a grid point to bring up a dialog box, and specify the x and y diameters. This would give you a circle or oval at grid point x,y with a chosen diameter 2r. If you are drawing a lot of objects at a certain angle, you can just rotate your snap grid to a specfific angle using the Rotate tool. For straight technical illustrating, I prefer the graphics package in FrameMaker, but whenever I need to include a complex object, I prefer to construct it in Illustrator. Hope this helps.
Date: Sun 04-Sep-1991 02:19:13 From: jmd@handheld.com (Jim De Arras) Subject: Re: Adobe Illustrator problems?? In article <0094E14E.FF917AC0@UAVAX0.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU> citdem@UAVAX0.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU writes: >[Jim De Arras notes the "alleged" instability of Adobe Illustrator 3.0] >I "broke" AI two minutes into the tutorial. The problem seemed to be >when I selected and deleted all paths, drew some more paths and then >selected preview [selection or illustration]. (For AI folks: "po-open >returned 283394326" or "pen returned 283394326".). I convinced myself >that the problem was repeatable. Howver, later, after powering down/up, >I could not get the problem to repeat???? > >I only got to spend about 30 minutes with AI. However, I'm beginning to >suspect that AI's definition of precision and mine differ. I feel a >precision drawing tool should allow something like: "draw a line from (x,y) >of length z at an angle of r relative to the x-axis" or "draw a cirle of >radius r located at (x,y)". I know this sounds cad-like, but isn't that >what most of us need to do at some point in a "technical" drawing? How >do I draw things in relative scale? Any advice from experienced users? >(I hope I'm wrong. I hate to think that I've wasted $450 buck-a-roos on >something little more than a "free hand" sketch package. Maybe there's >a way to do this by drawing, moving, snap-to and deleting "construction" >lines and points? That would be quite acceptable.) > >D. McCollam (citdem@uavax0.ccit.arizona.edu - ASCII e-mail only, please.) > Try this: Set prefs to metric (CM). Open a new window. Turn ruler on. Get the measurement tool. Measure EXACTLY 10cm as shown on the ruler. Note that the measurement tool returns 10.5833 cm! Metric is broke in AL! Jim De Arras
Date: Sun 06-Sep-1991 11:33:18 From: kloppen@zorro.gmd.de (Jelske Kloppenburg) Subject: Re: Adobe Illustrator problems?? In article <1991Sep4.021913.16165@cube.handheld.com> jmd@handheld.com (Jim De Arras) writes: > In article <0094E14E.FF917AC0@UAVAX0.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU> > citdem@UAVAX0.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU writes: > >[Jim De Arras notes the "alleged" instability of Adobe Illustrator 3.0] > >I "broke" AI two minutes into the tutorial. The problem seemed to be > >when I selected and deleted all paths, drew some more paths and then > >selected preview [selection or illustration]. (For AI folks: "po-open > >returned 283394326" or "pen returned 283394326".). I convinced myself > >that the problem was repeatable. Howver, later, after powering down/up, > >I could not get the problem to repeat???? > > > >I only got to spend about 30 minutes with AI. However, I'm beginning to > >suspect that AI's definition of precision and mine differ. I feel a > >precision drawing tool should allow something like: "draw a line from (x,y) > >of length z at an angle of r relative to the x-axis" or "draw a cirle of > >radius r located at (x,y)". I know this sounds cad-like, but isn't that > >what most of us need to do at some point in a "technical" drawing? How > >do I draw things in relative scale? Any advice from experienced users? > >(I hope I'm wrong. I hate to think that I've wasted $450 buck-a-roos on > >something little more than a "free hand" sketch package. Maybe there's > >a way to do this by drawing, moving, snap-to and deleting "construction" > >lines and points? That would be quite acceptable.) > > > >D. McCollam (citdem@uavax0.ccit.arizona.edu - ASCII e-mail only, please.) > > > Try this: > Set prefs to metric (CM). Open a new window. Turn ruler on. Get the > measurement tool. Measure EXACTLY 10cm as shown on the ruler. Note that the > measurement tool returns 10.5833 cm! Metric is broke in AL! > > Jim De Arras Not the Metric in cm is wrong, the scaling of the ruler is wrong! Try this: Set a point with the pen tool. Choose from the menu Edit Move and copy the point 100 pt horizontal. Then try the measurement tool and compare what is shown on the ruler. j.k. Jelske Kloppenburg +49 2241 14-2433 <Kloppenburg@gmd.de> German National Research Center for Computer Science (GMD)
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