Illustrator with Freehand features

Question

Here's a note on the Graphics Forum on About.com
"Hi - I've been doing a little looking at what the new
software is offering...
If you've used Freehand and have or are making the switch to
AICS3 then I'd strongly recommend you do cos they've managed to
listen to people and have included quite a few of freehands
features including colour management ie finding and replacing
colours, they've fixed the masking (paste inside to fh users)
alignment etc now goes by the mask outline not the content
Yaaayyyy!!! plus a really awesome colour selection tool.... it
would really be worth at least an upgrade.
The other apps play really nice too - drag and drop - place
PSD images into Flash and dreamweaver Flash now uses the same
vector engine as AI so you can open native AI files in Flash and
all attributes stay true... there's a lot that will make life so
much easier and no I haven't been paid to say these things just
what I have observed from articles and the adobe website feature
tours!
Just to rub a little salt in to the wounds.. we just got the
CS2.3 suite and can upgrade VERY cheaply to CS3 as soon as it's
available... I'll let you know what it's like if you like!"
Soooo - some of the features will be on IllCS3

Answer 1

> LOL...
Laugh away, Max. I assure you I know when clipping paths are
needed. I use them when appropriate. And I also know when they are
over-used. I keep my files tidy and properly trim things to
minimize the need. And I certainly avoid nested clipping paths.
I addressed both of your points in my previous post, but will
do so again here:
> llustrator, the path I want to have as a mask has to be
moved to the front. Not so with FH.
So? In FH, you have to cut the content to be masked to the
clipboard. In Illustrator, you don't. Again, where's the "extra
steps" you complained about?
> In Illustrator, once a clipping mask is made, the path
loses its stroke and fill.
In FH, I draw a clipping path. I have a stroke applied
because I want to see the path while I create or position it. But I
want to use it to clip the outline of a statue in a raster image,
and don't want the stroke. FH retains the existing attributes of
the path used as a clipping path. So I have to remove the stroke.
In Illustrator, I draw a circular path that I want to serve
as the border for a map detail. In this case, I want the clipping
circle to be a visible holding line. AI removes the stroke, so I
have to add it back.
So, in effect, FH assumes you want the clipping path to be
visible; AI assumes you want it to be invisible. Both are common.
As I said in the previous post, both programs should provide the
option. But it's not a big deal.
> By the way, I don't make "a big deal" out of this...
I didn't say you do. I said some users do. And that's an
understatement. It's one of the most often-cited complaints from FH
users. I consider it almost silly, given that there are much larger
issues. The fact is as I said: the greatest problem with AI's
clipping mask behavior has to do with its display of the contents
borders when selected. It was ostensibly designed that way to
facilitate selection and modification of clipped content without
releasing the clip. But again, that is supposed to have been
changed in CS3. This should now be pretty much a non-issue. There
are bigger fish to fry.
JET