Photoshop/ Illustrator

[TWM]

i am thinking about buying adobe photoshop or illustrator for my mac and i have a few questions. i have a 2.0 core 2 duo macbook with 2 gb of ram.

questions.

- I have heard that photoshop does not run very fast on intel macs due to the fact that the software was developed for a PPC mac. Any truth to this?

-In short, what is the major difference between Illustrator and Photoshop? I am into making Logos and such for websites and to print.

I am currently using Gimp, but i would want something with a little more power. Which would Replace Gimp.


Thanks a lot, i know it might sound uneducated, but i figured i could trust your answers! ;D thanks.

 

[MacHeadCase]

Photoshop and Illustrator CS3 are Universal Binary so you shouldn't have any problems with performance or stability issues on an Intel-based Mac.

Illustrator is a vector-based drawing program which means that it is resolution independent. You make a vector-based drawing and you can scale it to any size you want afterwards. For me, the downside is that it is hard to add texture to a vector-based drawing and it looks too perfect. A lot of designers will bring their Illustrator drawing and roughen it up in Photoshop afterwards.

Photoshop is pixel-based which means that it is resolution dependent and you can't blow up the image say to 1000% and expect something to look great afterwards. Yes, there are add-ons like GenuineFractals that say you can make your images bigger with them looking too bad but it comes at a price.

I would say each program has its uses. Like say you want to make a logo, you will do it in Illustrator, that way it can be resized without any hassles.

 

[TWM]

Alright thanks. All the answers in 1 Post!

 

[MacHeadCase]

Oh and after designing your logos, you'll need Photoshop to save them as either .gifs (the norm, 'cuz logos are usually done in solid colours) or .jpgs (if some are photos or with many different colours) for the web.

Hope I didn't confuse you.

 

[TWM]

no i understand completely. now, does any one know if i could open them in Gimp, and save them either as jpeg or gif? instead of using photoshop?

 

[MacHeadCase]

I've never used GIMP but I can imagine you'll see the choices available to you if you do a Save as when you go to save your file. Some members here do use GIMP so I'm sure they'll tell you exactly what you need to know.

I also googled for alternative to Illustrator mac os x and found these: Inkscape (open source), ZeusDraw (shareware) and LineForm (shareware).

 

[TWM]

alright, thanks a lot. i will check those out!

 

[Alexis]

Illustrator = logos / vector illustration / diagrams
Photoshop = photo / graphic manipulation

I'm a bit concerned that you'd be spending all that money if you didn't know the difference! Maybe you should read up on both of them before splashing out?

 

[TWM]

I completely agree with you! I dont plan on buying anything for atleast 6 months... plus, as a student, i can get a pretty good deal on the software. i figure i would ask here first...