Macromedia
FreeHand 10
Vector
illustration suite (Mac/OS X/Win)
by
J.V. Bolkan
Special
to Digital Media Designer
jvbolkan@home.com
Macromedia
is nearly as dominant in certain areas of graphic creation as
Adobe is in others. Although the two graphics giants do clash
in many areas, nowhere is the battle as fierce, or relatively
unsettled, as in the vector drawing arena. Macromedia's
FreeHand 10 is the latest version going against Adobe's
Illustrator 9.
Not surprisingly,
both behemoths leverage their claims for ultimate vector victory
on how "familiar" their product will be to the throngs
already using their flagship products. In Adobe's case,
many of the new tweaks and features in Illustrator 9 were designed
to make Photoshop users feel comfortable. Likewise, Macromedia
is linking to its strengths—Flash, Fireworks and Dreamweaver.
Does this
really make a difference? Probably. Is the advantage (one way
or the other) enough to be the sole determining factor when
choosing between the two? Probably not.
The truth
is that illustration/drawing applications are not casual, "I
think I'll load the program and have it mastered after
lunch" type programs. Rather, they are powerful, and therefore
complex, professional tools that are inherently different from
photo-editing, paint and layout programs. After a late night
working (or playing), it might make a difference in how easily
you remember the shortcuts, but most of the time, it's
a tossup.
Innovations
in 10
Fortunately, Macromedia hasn't sold the entire farm to
fulfill the singular goal of making FreeHand 10 work just like
every other Macromedia product. There are a few truly innovative
and cool features in this release. Yet, it wouldn't do
the product justice to simply gloss over the fact that Macromedia
Web tools are dominant (especially Flash) and FreeHand 10 not
only works more "like" Flash 5, but works better with
it. Adobe's Illustrator does allow you to export Flash
animations (and Adobe's own vector Web format), but FreeHand
10 works much more closely with Flash content.
FreeHand 10 running under
Mac OS X
Flash animations
can be previewed inside a Flash panel within FreeHand. As with
Illustrator, FreeHand pages can also be exported directly into
Web pages. Overall, the combination of common interface design
and Flash preview does give FreeHand an edge over Illustrator
for Web-centric designers.
Much
is made of multi-purposing of content—the ability to create
once and easily publish to print, the Web and other delivery
mediums. Illustrator does this well; FreeHand does it well.
In fact, it's increasingly difficult to find any application
that doesn't do this well. Despite what marketing people
want us to believe, it isn't that hard to ramp content
down for bandwidth-constricted use. The challenge is in enabling
quality-sensitive, high-bandwidth content to be created as easily
and intuitively as possible and then not totally mucking it
up when it is repurposed.
Macromedia
hasn't forgotten the core market for vector graphics creation.
Although this is a mature market (version 10!), there are still
a few new wrinkles and goodies for print designers, and some
even work real well for Web folk too.
True contour gradients
help ensure proper printing of complex fills.
The biggest
and best new feature is the Master Page feature than enables
you to modify elements automatically across large multi-page
projects. You can also now specify print areas, including elements
in the work area, but not necessarily in the document. This
can be handy for zooming in on a particular area for a highly
detailed printout, or for showing alternative designs. For example,
you might have two versions of a small logo within a complex
graphic page; rather than redesign the page with the alternate,
you could simply include it in the printout.
Editable
symbol libraries, symbol-based brush and spray strokes, true
contour gradients (which print more reliably than gradient fills),
embedded font support for EPS graphics and the expected bevy
of improved and polished features from prior releases round
out the package.
The bottom
line
As you'd expect from the 10th major release
of a successful program, FreeHand 10 is an evolutionary product.
There are no "Must Buy" innovations and no corresponding
rough edges and killer bugs. If you're a FreeHand or Macromedia
fan, this should be an entirely satisfying upgrade. If you're
a dyed in the wool Illustrator or Adobe disciple, there probably
isn't quite enough advantage in FreeHand's latest
release to change your mind.
This isn't
a decisive victory. The battle promises to continue, with vector
graphics simply one of the tools used as Macromedia and Adobe
strive to lock you into working with their respective uber-interface
no matter what you're creating.
Our
final recommendations are as follows: If you use a previous
version of FreeHand, this is an upgrade worthy of a strong buy
recommendation. If you use no vector illustration program but
need to purchase one, FreeHand 10 ties with Illustrator 9 overall,
with an edge going to FreeHand 10 for Web design work. Frankly,
an illustration program belongs on every designer's computer,
and, in this respect, for compatibility and features, both Illustrator
and FreeHand are "must buy" products. If you already
use Illustrator 9, FreeHand 10 doesn't offer too many compelling
reasons to switch, unless you need more (and easier) Web functionality.
Finally,
if you're on Mac OS X, there's no competition. FreeHand 10 works
natively, while Illustrator doesn't, and there's no word on
when Illustrator will.
FreeHand
10 is available for $399 for the full version and $129 for the
upgrade. A Studio version is also available that includes Flash
5 for $499, with an upgrade for $199. Student, volume and site
license programs are also available. For more information, visit
http://www.macromedia.com.
