Guide Note

Adobe Illustrator is an image editing program developed, published, and distributed by Adobe Systems. Unlike its popular counterpart Photoshop, Illustrator focuses solely on vector graphics, and has very few capabilities relating to raster graphics which are the primary domain of Photoshop. Along with Photoshop, Illustrator is a popular program in the professional graphic design industry, used mainly to develop designs that will be incorporated into pixel-based images that can be used in print or online media. Illustrator is available for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X families of operating systems.

Fast Facts

1. Originally Released: 1991
2. Latest Version: Illustrator CS3
3. Platform: Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X
4. Price: $599 for the full version, $199 for the upgrade
5. Uses: Vector Graphics, Illustration, Professional Design

Photoshop is indeed a powerful program, but Illustrator provides many functions that Photoshop does not. Since is it a vector-based imaging program, it is far more useful in designing logos, site designs, and other non-photorealistic images that are Photoshop's greatest strength. Since Illustrator was initially developed as a font-generating piece of software, it excels at the creation and manipulation of fonts and typefaces.