Plug-ins factor into crossgrade to AI CS3

Question

Yes, you can crossgrade to AI CS3 from FH9, 10 or MX for $199
US.
However, when planning a switch, make sure you also include
the price of the
ton of third party plug-ins you'll need to buy to get close
the same
functionality as many FH features you may rely on. You'll
need to fork out
wads of cash for features such as multiple pages, scale
drawings, bending
line segments, joining multiple path segments, knife tool,
perspective
drawing. I could go on.
If there are plug-ins and/or scripts that can fully duplicate
the
functionality of FH's Find & Replace Graphics, I haven't
found them.
Do your research before assuming you can easily jump to
Illustrator.
Here are a few reasons I use FH instead of Illustrator:
-- Name all colors in document
-- Find & Replace color in document, page or selection
-- Find & Replace path shape
-- Multiple pages
-- Paste Inside
-- Interactive rounded corners on rectangles
-- Live shape primitives - polygons, stars, etc.
-- Live ellipse segments
-- Join selected path segments (requires concatonate plug-in)
-- Convert multiple points to curve, corner, retract handles,
automatic
handles
-- Split paths at multiple subselected path segments
-- "Bend-o-matic" -- bend straight path segment by dragging
with pointer
-- Custom ruler scales
-- Scale raster images numerically from original size
-- Easy handling of linked images, including extract image
-- Adjustable snap and pick distances set in preferences
-- New object default preference
-- Type on a closed path, upright top and bottom
-- Zoom view to 512,000 X
-- Tiled printing with specified overlap
Additions or corrections welcome.
Judy Arndt

Answer 1

> However, when planning a switch, make sure you also
include the price of the
> ton of third party plug-ins you'll need to buy to get
close the same
> functionality as many FH features you may rely on.
I rave as much as anyone about the ill-advised need to build
dependency upon third party add-ons in AI. However, it can also be
argued that Illustrator offsets some of that with other features
which FreeHand has never had. Yes, GF&R saves time in FH. On
the other hand, AI's built-in macro facility (Actions) saves huge
amounts of time, too. FH has never had a macro utility.
Illustrator's (and the rest of the CS apps') support for
Javascript is another huge productivity advantage. And I'm not just
talking about building Javascript substitutes for FH features like
joining multiple paths, reversing paths, retracting handles, etc.
I'm talking about the ability to create your own features for your
own specific needs. Just a few examples which I use:
A simple Javascript instantly creates a set of numerically
serialized text objects for such things as callouts in maps and
tech illustrations, or for serialized items like tickets.
Another script randomly fills a user-defined rectangular area
with any number of copies of any object.
Another randomly assigns defined swatches to any number of
selected paths.
Another creates a halftone from a raster image in which each
halftone dot is an instance of a user-defined Symbol.
Another corrects the z-stacking order of selected objects,
based upon their vertical position on the page. (I use this for
processing tabular text in CAD imports.)
Okay, you don't want to build Javascripts. Point is, the more
AI users do it, the less likely you have to. AI Javascript is
completely cross-platform. People share them all the time, for
free. So for me, this is a huge productivity advantage which FH
cannot match. I miss having GF&R when using AI, too. But I've
already become just as dependent upon AI's Javascript support and
Actions. Moreover, the JS advantage is compounded because the same
thing is supported in both InDesign and Acrobat.
> You'll need to fork out wads of cash for features such
as multiple pages, scale drawings,
And you'll find after doing so that even the most often-cited
plug-ins for those fall far short of the elegance of built-in
features. CAD Tools' treatment of custom scales looks to me like a
bitmap overlay over the AI rulers. I don't have the latest version,
but in the version I have its performance is quite poor.
On the other hand, FH's custom rulers compare rather weakly
against those in other programs, too. Just the other day, Judy, you
answered someone needing to set up a scale using microns as the UOM
with a rationalization that FH "is not a CAD program." Well, Canvas
isn't either, but the kind of scale the correspondent needed can be
set up in seconds in Canvas.
Third party plug-ins for "multiple pages" are really nothing
more than schemes to use layers or page tiling as pretentions of
multiple pages. Those who offer them just don't get it. FH's
innovative approach to multiple pages offers illustration-centric
advantages none of the AI plug-ins I've seen offer.
On the other hand, Adobe did in CS2 add a reasonable
interface for managing an array of same-size page tiles on AI's
artboard. No, it does not even come close to measuring up to FH's
versatile page handling (and I tell Adobe that at every
opportunity). But again, when it comes to the bottom line of total
productivity, an advantage in one program can compensate for an
advantage in the other. For example, it's pretty dang handy to be
able to be flipping through a multi-page PDF in Acrobat, rightClick
the page with the TouchUpObject tool, select EditPage, and have
that page open in Illustrator for editing. Make the edits, select
Save, and you are returned to the PDF in Acrobat.
> Do your research before assuming you can easily jump to
Illustrator.
Always good advice.
> Name all colors in document
> Find & Replace color in document, page or selection
I haven't laid hands on it yet, but reading between the lines
of the new color handling in CS3, I suspect it may provide those
and more. If not exactly those, then other color handling features
which FH does not have. I, for one, will welcome the color schemes
functionality.
Find & Replace path shape
> Paste Inside
I'm not sure if this has changed in CS3, but I suspect it may
have. The problem with AI's Clipping Masks is not functional, but
interface. The interface displays the edges of masked portions of
whole clipping path group when selected, and displays the whole
contents' dimensions, and performs alignments upon the whole
contents' bounds, rather than those of the clipping path. But I've
see mention of ability to align points having been added to CS3,
and it seems logical to me that some of the Clipping Mask problems
may have been addressed as part of that. Again, we'll see.
Live shape primitives - polygons, stars, etc. [including
rounded rectangles and ellipse arcs]
Agreed. On the other hand, the ability to apply Convert To
Shape as a live effect to individual stroke or fill attributes in
the Appearance Palette is a somewhat offsetting advantage of AI.
> Join selected path segments (requires concatonate
plug-in)
I built a pair of Javascripts for this, which work much like
FH's Join command, but which gives me the option of whether
pre-existing outboard handles are respected. I use it every day.
Understand, this is NOT to make any excuse for the inexcusably poor
Join command in AI.
> Convert multiple points to curve, corner, retract
handles, automatic handles
Judging by the screenshots of CS3, most, if not all, of that
is now provided. Yes, 20 years late, but today is what matters
today.
> Split paths at multiple subselected path segments
Actually, you can do that in AI, but by different means.
DirectSelect the segments instead of the points. Cut, tap Delete,
PasteInFront. For my own purposes, I wanted it to work more like
FH, so again, I wrote myself a pretty simple Javascript to just
break selected points.
> "Bend-o-matic" -- bend straight path segment by dragging
with pointer
As you may recall, you're singing one of my favorite tunes
there. On the consolation side, though, selection behavior has been
altered in CS3 (something I really figured would be "holy ground",
never to be improved). According to what I read between the lines
in Teri Petit's description, the tedium of having to continually
deselect when using AI's white pointer should be aleviated in CS3.
> Easy handling of linked images, including extract image
Like multiple pages and Collect For Output, it should be
built into AI. But for those who may not know, it's not that big a
deal to save the AI file as PDF, have it automatically launch
Acrobat, and then use Acrobat's Extract All Images command.
> Adjustable snap and pick distances set in preferences
Has been added in CS3. Also settings for the display of
points and handles.
> Tiled printing with specified overlap
You can do that in CS2. It's in the Print Dialog's Setup
pane. Select Tile Whole Pages, set the desired overlap, click Done.
Turn on View>Show Page Tiling.
continues...
JET