Illustrator?

Anyone use it?

I need helppp. I am used to Corel Draw for work. It is so user friendly (well for stupid people like me). I know AI is a lot more powerful but I am just getting very frustrated. How do I select one point on an object? Is there a way to select like 4-5 points on an object and smooth out that part of the line?

I'm just messing with it but I love the Corel so much at work that I figure I should actually use AI since I have it on my computer at home. But I don't know how...

Illustrator is weird. I'm not very used to it either, so far the main thing I've found it useful for is smoothing and resizing line art. It does a good job at that, because it converts the image to vector points vs. pixels. Beyond that though.

I bet Beanie or Sizzle will have more useful input.

Have you looked on youtube for tutorials? Because youtube has everything.

Yeah I'm wanting to make something like this:

agilitydecal by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr

SO EASY in Corel to smooth everything out. Illustrator everything is hidden where I can't find it.

I've looked at tutorials but it's been a while. I always open it up, mess around for about 30 minutes then get frustrated. Corel won't run on a Mac so unless I want a new computer (which I do but don't want to spend money on...)

You need the white pointer (Direct Selection Tool) not the black pointer (Selection Tool). The white pointer is at the top right.

There's also a Smooth Tool. It's listed in the Pencil Tool. Long click the pencil and the list will drop down. Pencil is on the right, fifth from top.

If you have your panel set up in a single column, then my locations are completely inaccurate.

Ohhhhh.... Thank you! That helps a lot!

The smoothing tool is strange, I'm not sure how it works. I just drew over my line and it smoothed out. The one in Corel is a slider so you highlight the points and then move the slider to smooth it to a certain degree.

I am not very good with change if you can't tell. lol

I am still having a problem that when I click on the white pointer then click on an individual node to move that node it moves the entire shape.

ETA: Oh I think I figured it out. You have to click then move. You can't do that in one step.

I haven't used Illustrator in awhile, but I think that's right. You have to click, release, click again, then move. Click and drag moves the whole thing.

I never liked the Smooth Tool. I would just select and delete individual points to even things out manually, lol.

What RedHotDobe said! And yes, it can be quite annoying sometimes. Also sometimes it's hard to be certain you got the point you wanted and not something else. I'm using an older version so maybe it has improved in more recent versions to where it's clearer precisely which point, or handle on a curve, you've selected... right now it's just click, hope that's the right one, move it - CRAP WRONG ONE UNDO UNDO.
It's very hard in my opinion to get into a rhythm when working in Illustrator. So much is tweaky, fiddly, tiny adjustments. I usually draw, then tweak... tweak tweak tweak tweak... then draw some more.

I have used the smooth tool some, but it's basically to use it... then manually adjust my curves more, LOL. It does a teensy bit of good but honestly adjusting everything manually is the best way to get things looking really nice and how you want.

You can get a windows emulator for mac that will let you run Corel, if Illustrator is too frustrating.

What do you guys use for vector-y drawings?

I've thought about doing a window's emulator but truth be told, my mac is on its later breaths. It doesn't hold any charge anymore at all. Sometimes it just shuts down. I keep putting off buying a PC but I think I'm going to have to soon. And I am pretty sure my next computer will be a PC because of 1) cost 2) makes it easier for me to work from home if need be. The office intranet does not do well with Macs 3) Corel. lol

If I need an actual vector, I do Illustrator. I used Corel Draw YEARS ago but, wow, it's probably been a decade at least. Illustrator is powerful and does the job well. It's just not necessarily intuitive (like just about all of Adobe's programs IMO.) if you want to do more than just basic stuff. It's not terribly rare for me to stare at something and go "crap... I forget how to do this." and have to Google for the answer.

If I don't actually need a vector... I just work in Photoshop, haha.


ETA, on the subject of replacing your computer:
You can pick up a powerful graphics-worthy PC for a fair price these days, a lot cheaper than if you went for a new Mac. And of course with a PC you have all the benefits of being able to easily upgrade pretty much everything. If you really like Mac OS X you can Hackintosh one.
The new 27" iMac is RIDICULOUS. We have one at work and seriously, when we took it out of the box, we all just stood there staring at it, then started laughing. I mean. Is it super sweet? Oh yes. Max RAM upgrade is 32GB, the screen is just massive, it's beautiful for graphics work! But RIDICULOUS! And, of course, it's crazy expensive (like all Macs are.) Avoid the new 21" iMac, you can't even upgrade the RAM in that one, boo boo boo.
You can probably pick up an older refurb for a good deal, but the problem with iMacs is that when, say, you hard drive dies, unless you have extended Apple Care, fork over mega dosh for the Geniuses to fix it, or are willing to open up your machine and start tearing it down yourself... you have to go buy a new computer entirely. And that sucks. They are WAY too expensive to treat them as disposable computers IMO (and Apple seems to be heading more and more in that direction. Boo, Apple, boo.)
The rumor is they're working on a new Mac Pro but it will be astoundingly expensive when it comes out - however, you might be able to pick up an older Mac Pro on the cheap from somebody if that happens, because there will be a lot of suddenly very excited creatives upgrading and ditching their old Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is a nice machine and when upgraded will serve people for a long, long time - I just know plenty of people really want a "new" Mac Pro, mostly I think because they want to know Apple is still interested in their creative professionals audience rather than consumers and prosumers.

I use Illustrator, I just don't really do much artsy stuff anymore. Going to school for graphic design and then getting a job killed it for me.

I realize they're more expensive, but I still love Macs for Adobe programs. They just flow better. I used to have Windows laptops to work on, now I have an iMac and a 13" MacBook Pro. Plus an older iMac, older MacBook, and a 15" MacBook Pro sitting around. I've started a collection. If you want a Windows machine, get one. If you want a Mac, but still want to be able to use Windows, get a Mac. It's much easier to install a Windows partition on a Mac than it is the other way around. I have Bootcamp on here for when I get super pissed at Apple's Xcode and need something that doesn't suck to edit my code. If you're interested in a desktop rather than a laptop, the iMac isn't terribly hard to open. It involves a lot more work than unscrewing a few screws, though.