Adobe Illustrator CS5 New Features and Tutorials

By Pablo Lara Henriquez

Many things have been written on the web about the new features of Adobe Illustrator CS5. So I would like to share some of my favorite resources I found on the web, as well as tutorials from different sources, to spice up your learning of this well-known software from Adobe.

Feature 1: Perspective Drawing

What is it?
Use perspective grids to draw shapes and scenes.

Why is it so useful?
You don’t have to worry about perspective conflicts between the objects, forms and the text. The grid is displayed and you can easily set the snap to the grid in order to achieve perfect graphic designs.

Check out this tutorial on perspective grids.

Feature 2: Beautiful Strokes

What is it?
Adjust stroke width interactively using new width handles.

Why is it so useful?
In previous versions of Adobe Illustrator you did not have total control of the shapes of the strokes. With Illustrator CS5 you can enlarge or reduce the stroke width at will, even in certain segments, which means you can create artwork with different stroke sizes giving your work a unique and original appearance.

Check out this tutorial on the pen tool.

Feature 3: Bristle Brush

What is it?
Control bristle characteristics and paint opacity to achieve the expressiveness of natural media with the scalability of vectors.

Why is it so useful?
You can get better vector artworks, artistically speaking, putting Illustrator CS5 in an equal place in relation to all the other media. You now have several options of the bristle size and form, similar to the characteristics that have been in Photoshop for quite some time.

Check out this tutorial on the bristle brush.

Feature 4: Crisp graphics for web and mobile devices

What is it?
Create vector objects precisely on the file’s pixel grid for delivering pixel-aligned artwork.

Why is it so useful?
If you select the Pixel View from the toolbar you can get an accurate graphic object, perfectly adjusted to the grid, pixel by pixel, which is especially useful for designs for mobile devices or radiant perfect web designs. No more blurry strokes.

Check out this tutorial on creating pixel aligned web graphics

Feature 5: Multiple Artboard Enhancements

What is it?
Work on up to 100 artboards.

Why is it so useful?
This is the situation – I need to create several icons of drawings for a website and I do not want to create one Illustrator file for every one of them. You can now create artwork for every icon, graphic object, text, or whatever you want, all in one single file.

Other great things about multiple artboards:

• It is easier to manage color groups with an artboard palette where you can identify them with a unique name.
• You can arrange artboards. By default Illustrator assigns a new number for each artboard created so you can select a specific sequence to show them in a presentation or export to PDF.
• Copying and pasting the same element in different artworks is easier now.
• You can export individual artboard as separate files.

Check out this tutorial on Adobe Illustrator CS5 new features – artboard enhancements.

Feature 6: Shape Builder Tool

What is it?
Combine, edit, and fill shapes directly on your artboard.

Why is it so useful?
Now you can combine all kinds of shapes with the Shape Builder tool, making it easier to create complex objects. It’s similar to the Pathfinder, but now you can do it directly on the artboard. That is the feature I love the most.

Check out this tutorial on creating complex art with the shape builder tool.

Feature 7: Drawing Enhancements

What is it?
Draw behind or place an image inside, instantly creating a clipping mask. Join paths with one keystroke.

Why is it so useful?
You do not have to manually set the state of the drawing in the front or back. Now you can select the mode of the drawing similar to the way Photoshop layers work. If you select the Draw Inside mode, it automatically creates a mask, so your new drawing will appear inside the borders of the selected object. This makes for a fast and easy drawing.

Check out this tutorial on Illustrator CS5 drawing enhancements.

Feature 8: Roundtrip editing with Adobe Flash(R) Catalyst™ CS5

What is it?
Roundtrip editing allows you to perfect your vector art in Illustrator while preserving the structure and interactivity you added in Flash Catalyst.

Why is it so useful?
If you are the “Flash-guy,” this enhancement is for you. You can take your components from Flash Catalyst to edit them in Adobe Illustrator and then go back to Flash without losing any functionality, substantially speeding up your workflow.

Check out this tutorial on building a datacentric app using Flash Catalyst CS5.

Feature 9: Resolution-Independent Effects

What is it?
See raster effects such as drop shadows, blurs, and textures maintain the ideal appearance across various media.

Why is it so useful?
You do not have to take your work from Illustrator to Photoshop to create a shadow, blur, or texture. Now you can do it in Adobe Illustrator. One particularly useful tool is the Opacity Mesh tool to create awesome gradients in the vector making your work richer than ever.

Check out this tutorial on leather styling in Adobe Illustrator.

Feature 10: Integration with Adobe CS Review

What is it?
Create and share online reviews from within Adobe Illustrator.

Why is it so useful?
Through CS Review, you can now show your work to your clients and colleagues – anything from revisions to feedback. You can upload just certain artworks to show. This is another reason why the multiple artworks feature is so useful.

Note: There is an offer on the Adobe website: Register your product or sign up online before April 30, 2011, and get 12 months of complimentary access to Adobe® CS Live online services.

Check out this tutorial on CS Review.

Feature 11: HTML5 Capabilities with the Adobe Illustrator CS5 HTML5 Pack

What is it?
The pack provides initial support for HTML5 and CSS3, extending SVG capabilities in Illustrator CS5, and helps you easily design web and device content.

Why is it so useful? (Excerpt from Adobe Labs website)

• Efficiently design for web and devices by exporting Illustrator artboards for unique screen sizes using SVG and CSS3 media queries
• Create web widgets with Illustrator by generating dynamic vector art for data driven web work-flows.
• Take advantage of the latest enhancements to SVG and Canvas to generate interactive web content.
• Map artwork appearance attributes from designer to developer tools—export from the Illustrator Appearance Panel to CSS3 for streamlined styling of web pages.

OMG I want it now!

There is also plugin to export from AI to Canvas. Check out this tutorial on Adobe Illustrator to HTML5 Canvas plug-in.

About the Author

Pablo Lara Henriquez is an illustrator, photographer and web designer from Chile. He is profusely blogging about illustration and photography. Check all the information on his website or follow him on Twitter @pablolarah.