Adobe Illustrator is an industry standard tool in vector drawing applications. It provides you with all the tools you need in professional design and artwork.
Now part of Adobe Creative Cloud
The new Adobe Illustrator CC uses the same interface style as the rest of the applications in the Adobe CC suite: a clean, almost minimalist window with reduced toolbars, nested windows and support for tabbed documents – which makes it easier for you to work on several projects simultaneously.
Industry standard design tools
Adobe Illustrator is the perfect tool for all kinds of design. Whether you’re a professional web designer or you just want to create a poster and some invites for a friend’s party, your creativity will be boosted with Adobe Illustrator's impressive set of drawing tools, brushes, color processing tools and gradient effects – not to mention the wide array of filters and special effects with which you can add the final touch to your drawing.
The most notable improvements in recent releases is that it produces ever crisper graphics, especially for web and mobile devices, more fluid vector painting and the possibility to work on 100 artboards at once. One particularly useful new addition is the ability to convert layers to PDF pages using multiple artboards. With the transition to Creative Cloud, Adobe have also now added a Touch Type Tool, Image Brushes and a new more powerful Font Search function.
Steep learning curve
As with any other vector drawing tool, Adobe Illustrator feels really complex for first-time users: toolbars full of strange icons, many new functions and features to learn. However, the program includes a bunch of templates to get you started, as well as a thorough help section where you'll find the answer to all your doubts and problems.
Adobe Illustrator is seamlessly integrated with the rest of Creative Cloud. You can easily import and export projects and content from the latest versions of Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is particularly well supported this time as Illustrator now allows dynamic authoring and testing support for content management systems like WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal.
The reference point for design
Adobe Illustrator is the reference when it comes to vector designing and drawing. It features an impressive set of tools, filters and effects and is perfectly integrated with other Adobe apps.
Recent changes
Pattern creation - Easily create seamlessly tiled vector patterns. Experiment freely with different types of repeating patterns that can be edited at any time for maximum design flexibility.
New Image Trace - Convert raster images to editable vectors with a completely new tracing engine. Get clean lines, accurate fitting, and reliable results without using complex controls.
New efficient, flexible interface - Take fewer steps to accomplish daily tasks in a new, streamlined interface. Enjoy inline editing of layer names, precise color sampling, and UI brightness that's smoothly adjustable to match other Adobe tools.
Gradients on strokes - Apply gradients to your strokes.
Notes
For technical reasons, the Softonic Free Download links to the developer's download page. You must create a free Adobe account there in order to download the file. The trial version link will launch a Java-based Adobe app which will download the file to your computer.
Pros
Fully documented
Includes templates
Excellent set of tools for vectorial design
Integrated into Creative Cloud
Cons
May feel a bit complex for beginners
