Video shows off new pattern-creation mode

Adobe has been focusing their attention on Photoshop CS6 in most of the advance publicity so far, resulting in a reported half a million downloads since the public beta become available. The company has, however, posted a single video to Adobe TV and YouTube featuring one element of the new Adobe Illustrator vector-drawing tool, which like Photoshop will be gaining an optional "dark" interface. The video shows off a new, simplified pattern-creation mode.

The video (seen below) features Illustrator Product Manager Brenda Sutherland demonstrating the new mode on a MacBook Pro. In the video, she shows not only an easy ability to edit and create patterns based on objects, but the ability of creations using the saved pattern swatch to be instantly updated when the saved swatch is re-edited.

Copies can be dimmed to differentiate them from the original while working, and the full suite of editing and transformation tools is available to the original while in pattern-creation mode. As changes are made, the pattern preview is updated on-the-fly. Copies and objects that extend outside of the tile boundaries are wrapped automatically. Double-clicking on the pattern takes the user back to an editing mode where further changes to the pattern can be made.

Illustrator is celebrating its 25th anniversary on the Mac this year, having originally shipped in January of 1987. The program was primarily supported for the Mac until 1997 (with a few mostly-unsuccessful attempts to bring the program to Windows) and the release of version 7, which allowed both Mac and Windows designers to standardize on file formats, features and commands. Adobe has recently promised that upgrade pricing will be available for owners of previous CS suites going back to CS3.

by MacNN Staff