| | |  | Best Sellers | Home » » Adobe Illustrator CS4 [OLD VERSION] | | | | | | | Description: | | Explore new paths with the essential vector tool
Adobe Illustrator CS4 software is a comprehensive vector graphics environment with new transparency in gradients and multiple artboards that invite you to explore more efficient ways to design.
A single file can encompass multiple outputs
New multiple artboards allow you to manage an entire project within a single file. With up to 100 artboards varying in size, common elements such as colors, type, and symbols can be quickly updated all at once across all project components. The timesaving benefits are supported by independent research.
Drawing tools are intuitive
The new Blob Brush tool for natural sketching results in a single, filled object. Advanced path controls and graphic styles make drawing with vectors intuitive | | | Features: | |
• Sketch naturally using the Blob Brush tool that turns strokes into a single filled object; Advanced path controls, graphic styles, and appearance editing enable intuitive vector drawing
• Share files smoothly with other Adobe professional design applications, collaborate with colleagues, and work easily among multiple tools for different media
• Enjoy easy type creation and professional control with more than 80 OpenType fonts, paragraph and character styles, paragraph composition, underlining and strikethroughs, transparent effects, and more
• Create files containing up to 100 artboards of varying sizes and displayed any way you want--overlapping, side by side, or stacked; save, export, and print artboards independently or together; save a selected range or all artboards as a multipage PDF file
• Explore, apply, and control color variations using Live Color to interactively edit or replace colors; use the Color Guide panel to quickly choose tints, shades, or harmonious combinations
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 8.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 2.0 inches | | Product Weight:
| 3.0 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.8 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.7 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.65 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 6 reviews |
| | | System Requirements: | | | Platform:
| Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows XP / Windows | | Media:
| DVD-ROM | | Item Quantity:
| 1 |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Adobe Illustrator CS4Mar 09, 2010
Product exactly as described. Delivery super fast. However, we made a mistake and ordered the wrong item, and they made the return of this item super easy. Highly recommend.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Required for my college classesOct 26, 2009
I went out and bought the Adobe CS4 Design Standard software package, luckily with a educational discount, for my university studies of graphic design. While it is not required per say, in order to get our projects done (out of class time) it is a must. Overall the Illustrator program works great for work on class projects, but seems to have some bugs on the PC.
For instance in the months of use, with over 72 hours in class, on a Mac I have never had a problem with the settings file becoming corrupt; however, on almost every program start on my PC it claims my settings have become corrupt and then resets them. This is a pain as I have to reset my settings every-time to work, and even if I leave the default settings alone and reload the software it will be corrupt again.. I have discovered many others with this same problem on the Adobe forum and no help, patch, or update is available or planned. It looks to be a problem that is many years old as well, which truly is saddening. Of the suggestions from users nothing works to stop the issue, and a clean install of the program with or without the updates does not help.
Then there are other more minor issues as well that stand out. One of which is when using the tools such as the brush or the pencil. Once I begin working with either of them the icon pointer will become locked/frozen in a cursor state. The only way to resolve the problem is to change to precision cursor (Caps Lock), often pressing it numerous times until it responds, and then press once again to return to the normal cursor. Only then will the tool cursor change as needed while using it, until it does it again. The other issues are less frequent so I will save the typing space.
The Adobe Illustrator seems to have no equal, but it still needs work to iron out the numerous problems on the PC. I can happy report I have not experienced any problems using my other Adobe CS4 programs on my PC (fingers crossed) such as Acrobat, Indesign, or Photoshop; however, with the numerous frustrations with Illustrator and the costs of the software I will be looking for alternatives when I complete my classes and can use whatever I prefer.
3 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 downgradeAug 14, 2009
CS4 is terrible, Adobe seems to think upgrades are when you remove features, and of course its not forward compatible from previous versions. " object selection by path only" no longer applies to pasted images - why?! (not to mention you can't set up hot keys to toggle it on/off, and since CS3 its on the second page of preferences). Program is buggy, takes much longer to print or save now. Either Illustrator or Photoshop managed to lock up my system at least 3 times - first time i've had to hard boot a mac since osX was released. i would consider freehand.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
The queen of vector productsMay 19, 2009
Absolutely superb product. I switched over from Corel Draw, which I never liked because of its horrible performance and UI. Draw worked well and did what it was supposed to, but what a royal pain just to navigate through the confusing interface. Illustrator is superior in everyway. From its screen refresh when panning and zooming to its tool set and FX capibilities. If you are thinking about either Corel Draw or Illustrator, do a google search and look for product reviews and especially a comparison of both programs. Illustrator will blow it away and I can say this with conviction because I used Draw for 10 years.
14 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Gigantic Brooding Hulk Morphed Into Sophisticated, Confident CreatureMar 03, 2009
I was working on a poster the other night. I had created a background in Photoshop and I was laying in the text using InDesign. I knew what I wanted to do, but I just couldn't make it work. I grumbled and groused. "I've done this a hundred times. Why can't I do it now?" Then, it dawned on me. Yes, I'd done it a hundred times, but not with InDesign. Illustrator was what I needed. The Adobe platform is a place where it is easy to forget where you are. The formats have been nicely dovetailed so you can build on what you learned in one application in an entirely new ap. I moved my project over to Illustrator my work proceeded quickly and I ended up with just what I wanted.
Adobe Illustrator CS4 is a massively powerful and robust program. It boggles the mind to think of all the things you can do and create in Illustrator. You could spend a lifetime working with Illustrator and there would always be something new to learn.
So, what does CS4 bring to the table that we haven't seen before? The interface is much more flexible and offers useful options that allow you to display a number of documents simultaneously so you can easily grab something from one window and drag it to another document.
Your choices of Workspaces has been improved and you can switch to a Workspace, for instance, that looks like Photoshop or InDesign.
One of the frustrating things about Illustrator is that in the past, you could only have one page. You got around that with layers, but now you have the option of Multiple Artboards. What's sweet about this is that you can have various sized documents within a single project: for instance, stationary, an envelope, business cards and a brochure--they all use a common theme and colors--but they vary in size. Now, you specify all this in the Document Setup under the new "Number of Artboards" button. Also, in addition to your Trim Size, you can add a Bleed Size. Anyone who does print work knows how important this is.
Here's a fun, new feature with a great name: The Expressive Blob Brush. Basically it allows you to change what you draw into a single, editable object without going through all the processes that were necessary before with brush drawing. And, hallelujah, the eraser works like the Blob Brush to make it much easier and more intuitive to draw and erase.
The new Graphics Styles offers the ability (using the Alt key) to add one style on top of another style (previously, choosing a new style overwrote the style before it.) By now, everyone knows how handy it is to be able to save a particular style and add it to other objects and with this new feature, it's even more sensational. And don't get me started on the Additive flyout menu. I could spend hours playing with it. There are so many potential ways to enhance your creative use of text and objects with Graphics Styles.
The Appearance Panel has been beefed up. You can change the stroke, fill and numerous other features within the Appearance Panel in an environment that looks like layers. This is a real timesaver and a boon to your workflow. This was always an important and powerful feature, but in CS4 Appearance Panel has gone to a marvelous, new level.
Bless you, Adobe for the Separations Preview Panel. I hate to even contemplate all the times I've struggled to get separations ready for a print job and the number of ways things can go awry. I haven't had a chance to send a job to press from CS4, but I certainly feel more confident about it.
The Filter Menu is gone and all the commands have been moved throughout the other menus. The Crop Marks menu is under the Effect menu, which means it's a live effect and the crop marks change with your artwork. Very handy.
Clipping Masks were an Illustrator bugaboo. No more. Clipping Masks are much easier to use in CS4 through the Objects menu.
Gradients have been greatly enhanced within the Gradients Panel. Best of all, you can adjust the gradient within the gradient itself, so you can adjust it for the exact look you want for your artwork. And, at last, you can easily create a gradient that has an opacity setting.
In CS4, Smart Guides are turned on by default. Click Control K and use the Smart Guides Preferences Menu, to set things up in a way that will be the most useful to you. This is a great feature for quickly and easily sizing and moving objects.
Illustrator documents quickly become complex. In CS3, the Isolation Mode made it easier to isolate and work with one object. In CS4 the Isolation Mode enhancements mean you can work on individual paths, whereas before, you were limited to groups. It is so wonderful to be able to quickly and easily isolate one object, work on it and easily move back to the overall composition. Before, if you weren't extremely careful, you could easily scramble your whole project when you tried to fix a small detail.
Alignment is something I use constantly in Illustrator and I'm so pleased with the improvements. You can easily designate a "key object" and align the other objects to that key objects. I used to get so frustrated when things would jump around in ways I didn't intend. I finally figured out a "trick" that helped, but alignment it is so much better and easier to used in CS4. In addition to aligning to a key object, you can align to an artboard or a selection.
Here's something I would never have thought of: a Colorblindness Proofing feature. You can preview your work as a colorblind person would see it. Actually, there are two types of color blindness, Deuteranopia and Protanopia, and it checks for both. By having multiple windows/artboards, you can easily use the "Recolor Artwork" feature and preview your design to make sure it is easily visible.
In Pathfinder, the objects can be combined, separated and shaped. Not much has changed except that the Live Behavior of compound shapes has been switched as the default with Expanded Object/Shape.
There are lots of new templates in CS4 and FlexSkins come with the program. With the multiple artboards, there are so many new possibilities. And there are so many Symbols with intriguing names like: Grime Vector Pack, Illuminate Ribbons, Logo Elements, Mad Science and many more.
The upgrades/improvements in CS4 are practical and useful like the Blob Brush tool intuitive vector drawing and multiple artboards (up to 100). All the previous features are still there. Illustrator CS4 makes me want to do an Infomercial: "But wait, there's more!"
I feel as though Illustrator has gone from being a gigantic brooding hulk of a program and it has gradually morphed into a more sophisticated, confident creature. It's still huge, but much less hostile. The familiar interface makes you feel that it has finally been fully embraced by the Adobe family. Kudos to Adobe for Illustrator CS4.
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