I've been working with Photoshop 7 for many years, and I love it. I want to do some work with Vector images, though, and I have a big CP check coming this month, so.... I want to get Illustrator and possibly upgrade Photoshop.

I keep hearing nightmare stories from people who upgraded to Photoshop CS4, so I'm worried about that. In particular the inability to work with the layers, history and character palettes all open would drive me crazy. The loss of ImageReady would be a big blow to me also. And I've been told that even something as basic as "undo" is difficult to figure out in CS4. Any recommendations?
As for Illustrator, I know nothing at all about it and have never worked with vector graphics. I'd appreciate recommendations on which version to purchase there, also.

I use Photoshop Elements. I don't think you need Illustrator unless you are doing drawings or some kind of line art that you would be cleaning up. Elements handles my vector fonts fine.

I think it depends on the kind of images you'll be working on.

I have the whole CS1 suite package on the computer. Haven't had issues. I just got Photoshop CS3 last week. Still need to put it on the computer though.

Well, image ready went away with either CS or CS2. Don't remember which. But that doesn't mean you can't "make" animated gifs if that's what you're looking for. You can do that within PS. Just can't open them again without destroying the animation. If you saved first as a .psd file then you're ok. Just edit that instead. But still... it's a pain. Unless you buy fireworks, which will still open them. (Nice of Adobe to sell you another program to do what you were already doing)

As far as CS3... buggy. But the upgrade is amazing even with the bugs. It's a major mind blowing upgrade. Especially PS extended if you want to play with video. You can edit a video file just like you do a plain photo.

CS4... not one bug fixed and essentially a navigation update. Layout is quite a bit different and no real decent features at all. You'll essentially have to learn how to use PS all over again with the changes. Ok, so that's a bit of an exageration but I find it quite annoying. And some features have been stripped from it, albeit you can still download them.

As far as illustrator... be prepared for an incredibly high learning curve. Great program, but quite a bit different from PS. Works "kind of" the same way but still a lot to learn. With that said... it's still a program that anyone into graphics should have and learn. There are things you can do with a few mouse clicks that would take hours in photoshop. Then again, you can do things in a few clicks with photoshop that would take hours in illustrator. And, of course, illustrator is all vector.

But as far as which to upgrade to from 7? CS3 without missing a beat. CS4, in my opinion, is a waste of money. But remember, you can download a trial and use it for 30 days. Just be prepared for doing just about everything differently than any other PS version.

Thanks, Gary, that helps a bit! I use ImageReady mostly for crunching images for the web or for emailing thumbs to clients. I do a lot of Logo work (which is why I need to do vector images)so I send a lot of thumbs via email. And I maintain a bunch of websites, so I need to make quick loading images for those. I only use it for animation once in a blue moon. I'm wondering if there is any way to keep my current PS7 installed so I can still use ImageReady after I install CS3 - if that is what I end up buying. Or maybe I should just get the latest version of Illustrator (CS4?) and stick with my Photoshop 7, since it does everything I need?

As far as crunching for the web... you can do that without image ready. In fact you can do anything imageready did right in photoshop, including creating animations. But you just can't open or re-open an animated gif without destroying it. Well, you can open it but there won't be any layers. And if you save it before closing, it's gone forever.

Hard to say if you should stay with 7, Sherry. Kind of like... you don't know what you're missing til you try it. But there are a plethora of new and very useful features in CS3.

It's light years ahead of 7. Suffice to say... CS was a big upgrade, CS2 minor, CS3 (Especially PS extended) *very mind blowing* major upgrade. CS4... meh. Downgrade, or... sidegrade(?) IMHO. But... your mileage may vary.

As far as illustrator CS3 vs CS4... no clue. But I'm kind of gun shy since the PS CS4 fiasco (tried the 30 day PS trial) but CS3 Ill is a powerful prog. I've no idea if they revamped the interface and made a mess out if as they did in PS. Personally I'd save the few bucks and go with CS3. But again, that's me.

You can try to go to amazon and read the features in cs and cs2 and cs3 to get an idea of what's been happening since v7. Just remember if you look at cs4... most are already in cs3. There are a few new what I consider minor features, but most of the hype is just an interface/navigation change.

If you think the new features will help you, upgrade. If not, stay with 7. For me... I ain't never going back!

As far as running both versions... you "should" have no problem. But the upgrade is liable to take over any pointers you have. Like opening jpg's in cs4 instead of 7, etc. You should be able to undo them but another PITA. I ran the CS4 trial along side CS3 with no trouble but it did take over a lot of things like that.

And BTW, I ran CS4 for about a week and couldn't stand it anymore. Gone and forgotten.

I upgraded from CS3 to CS4 primarily because of the upgrades made in Illustrator and the improved interaction between adobe applications like PS and InDesign.

I have to respectfully disagree with Garyoa1 about the quality of the PS CS4 upgrade. I have yet to encounter any problems with it and I enjoy quite a few of the time saving UI changes. But like I said, I upgraded mostly for Illustrator.

In Illustrator almost every single change they made was something that I had wished for in CS3 and those wishes were granted in CS4.

While I will not stake my reputation on PS CS4, I will give Illustrator CS4 the thumbs up on value worth the upgrade.

I really don't like the new UI, KG. But that's me.

As far as illustrator, I don't dig into it that much to give it a +or -, but I have had no problems whatsoever with ill CS2 or CS3. Outside of the on line update to CS3 just wouldn't update. Just decided it wasn't going to update no matter what. Installing on another machine fixed that but not so photoshop.

But the CS3 version of PS worked well for about a month. Then it gradually started to deteriorate. Bridge is incredibly crash prone and nothing Adobe calls a 'fix' works. And all were addressed as known bugs with CS3 but they're kind of mute on the problems anymore. And using the trial CS4... not one bug was addressed. In fact, viewing files even got worse.

Bridge is the major disaster. Very limited in viewing wmf and svg files. Some it reads, some it doesn't. (Yet ill opens all of them) If it gets to something it doesn't like... it shuts down. If you've used other viewers before bridge, I'm sure you'll realize that bridge is about the worst viewer ever put on the market. Yes it does a great job of tying the progs together... as long as it stays open!

But anyway, that's me (and a ton of other folks on the adobe forums).

I'm not sure if you can still find CS2, but it does come with ImageReady, & I've never had problems with it. I did go from Elements to CS2, though, so I'm not sure what it's like to switch over from PS7. Good luck finding what you want, anyways. (:

You can keep using Image Ready. I do. I just didn't uninstall it. Only thing is you can't move easily between the two programs since the open in image ready button isn't in PS anymore.

And if you want to learn Illustrator, Lynda.com has hours and hours of tutorials on that and countless other programs (subscription based but well worth it, IMO).

CS3 had so many cool updates in both PS and Illustrator. It didn't look like CS4 was near as cool. If only they'd give me layer comps in Illustrator, I'd be a happy girl.

The best version of Illustrator to me is still the version 8. Only problem is no backward compatibility with newer files..

I guess the latest version from Adobe would work just fine, seeing you have no experience and have to figure it all out anyway. Big investments!!!

I use and recommend Illustrator CS3. There are a ton of free tutorials and free vector graphics that are available for commercial use. I never learned PS, but I experience the same confusion / learning curve when trying to use it vs. Illustrator. For some reason I just don't "get" PS, love Illustrator though.

There are a gazillion pluses and minuses for getting an Adobe CS software program. I've downloaded trials and trials and more trials all of them getting me, well, nowhere. The 30 days are such a tease for each of the massive components. I learned digital drawing on CorelDRAW and it's always been my comfort tool when, after attempting to create something in Adobe, frustration (plus the end of the trials) made me return to DRAW. But still, all along, I dreamed of someday owning an Adobe Suite.

For me, the most important issue was cost! Yowsa! I'd kept my eye out for sales and specials from the time when the first CS1 came out up to CS4. Finally, three months ago I struck what I thought was gold! Even though CS4 is out and has been out for a year or maybe 2(?) now, I thought a search for "last years model" might find me a copy CS3 selling somewhere on the net at somewhat of a discount. And it was!

I don't know the issue differences and bugs between CS3 and 4, but I do know the difference of their current prices. I got mine (CS3) at "Discount Mountain" (nice company!) for $379 and couldn't be happier! It's the CS Web Premium version, which costs less than the CS3 Design Premium. The only program missing was In Design, which I've heard is also being fazed out. I did try In Design for a bit, but not enough to determine if I'd ever use it. Still, just to be able to get Illustrator, Photoshop along with Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks, for $387 to me is a deal!

Anyways, here's the link, and I wish you the best in coming to a decision on this.

Discount Mountain


Donna

PS. That's not an Education price, that's for the full suite that came in factory sealed wrap. In Illustrator 3 I LOVE the color wheel which will provide palettes that compliment the base color you choose. Very helpful!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: D&L,

quote:

Originally posted by D&L:
The only program missing was In Design, which I've heard is also being fazed out.

InDesign is not being phased out. It is the standard for professional page design.

Yes, I do believe In Design is still the pro page design program. All my heavy-duty graphic design friends had to switch to that after Quark was being phased out....maybe it's still in use, but not a much as In Design. I learn one thing and then go nuts when the programs get 'updated'

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