New Features Adobe Illustrator CS4
Enriched workspace tools
Multiple artboards in your documents
Create multi-page files containing up to 100 artboards of varying sizes. You can create artboards that overlap, appear side-by-side, or are stacking on top of one another. You can also save, export and print artboards independently or together. Multiple artboards have replaced the Crop Area tool.
Tabbed document windows and Document Arrangement panel
Display multiple documents in a tabbed view or open them side by side so you can easily compare or drag items from one document to another. Simply click a document’s tab to open it, or click Close (x) on a tab to close it. Use the intuitive Arrange Documents window to quickly arrange your open documents in a variety of configurations.
Application bar and workspace switcher
From the application bar at the top of each Creative Suite application, provides menus and options in one easy to access place. Use the workspace switcher to quickly jump to different workspace configurations to meet your specific needs. Also along this bar, you can access Adobe Bridge and the document arrangement panel.
Practical smart guides
Smart guides are now even more practical with unobtrusive appearance and behaviors. Instant pop-ups appear with alignment and measurement information, such as deltas between objects and angles of rotation (that you can specify) and when moving or transforming objects. Of course, objects still snap to any alignment you choose to make it easy to arrange and transform objects exactly how you want.
Quick, easy, and obvious key object alignment
The Align panel and Control panel now provide quick access to the key alignment option. A key object is the one object that you want other objects to align to. You specify a key object by selecting all the objects you want to align, including the key object, and then clicking again on the key object. When selected, the key objects appears with a thick blue outline, and the Align To Key Object icon appears in the Control panel and Align panel. Simply choose an alignment option, such as Horizontal Align Left or Vertical Align Center, and all the other selected objects align to the key object.
New drawing and color tools
Blob Brush tool for merging paths
Use the Blob Brush to draw paths that merge with existing artwork. The Blob Brush draws paths that are fill only - no stroke - and can merge with existing artwork that has the same fill, and no stroke. The Blob Brush can merge with existing artwork that has complicated appearances (as long as there is no stroke on the artwork and the Blob Brush is set up to paint with the exact same fill and appearance settings. For example, if you’ve created a yellow filled rectangle with a drop shadow applied, you can set up the Blob Brush with those attributes and then draw a path across the rectangle, and the two paths will be merged. You can easily select and edit the resulting shape. Use the Blob Brush together with the Eraser tool for truly intuitive vector painting.
Expanded Gradients panel and tool
Using the enhanced Gradient tool, you can interact with gradients on the object itself by adding or changing color stops, applying transparency to color stops, and changing the direction or angle of a linear or elliptical gradient (also new in CS4). The Gradient panel now provides a menu of all your saved gradients, directly access color panels, and apply transparency to individual color spots, among other things
Transparency in gradients
Create gradients with two to many colors and define the opacity of any or all individual colors. By specifying different opacity values for the different color stops in your gradient, you can create gradients that fade in or out and reveal or hide underlying images.
Separations Preview panel
Preview your color separations on your monitor before printing to avoid color output surprises such as unexpected spot colors and unwanted overprinting. The Separations Preview panel lets you easily turn colors on and off so you can see how blending, transparency, and overprinting will appear in color-separated output.
Improved access to core functionality
Clipping masks with clear simplified appearance and access
Adobe Illustrator now displays only the masked area while you are moving or transforming a masked object. Double-click the masked object to open it in Isolation mode, where you can view and edit the mask independently of all other objects.
In-panel Appearance editing
Select an item in the Appearance panel to view and use the enhanced full-featured controls. Click hyper-links to open option dialog boxes for effects, strokes, and fills. Click a visibility icon for any attribute to easily turn it on or off.
