Chapter 1. What's New in Illustrator CS4?

IN THIS CHAPTER

  • Multiple Artboards

  • Appearance and graphic style updates

  • Align enhancements

  • Really smart Smart Guides

  • The Blob Brush tool

  • Gradients — now with transparency!

  • Color Separation Preview panel

  • Color blindness preview

  • Goodbye, Filter menu!

It's always exciting to see what's new in new versions of your favorite software. Longtime Adobe Illustrator fans certainly have a great interest in learning about the new features in Illustrator CS4, but those changes aren't of interest only to people who've used Illustrator extensively in the past. New users and people who currently use other products instead of Illustrator also want to know if this new version adds must-have features.

In this chapter, I introduce several features that have been added to Illustrator CS4 as well as some changes that make existing features easier to use or simply more powerful. Fortunately, Illustrator CS4 maintains a strong connection with the past so that you don't have to relearn much at all. Still, many of the changes that have been made are important ones that you'll find useful and fun. Let's dig in!

Multiple Artboards

For 13 versions (give or take a few depending on what you consider a version), Illustrator has supported a grand total of one page. Yes, there are clever workarounds (page tiling, resetting ruler origins, etc.) and even a plug-in from a third party that cleverly automates layers to simulate multiple pages, but the reality is that Illustrator was always ...

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