Vector Design / The Free Hand

When you look at the tools available to digital designers, it is notable that the realm of 3D and video enjoys a remarkable and thriving level of competition between the various packages. The result is a feature-rich and innovative selection, each edition offering greater workflow efficiency whilst leveraging advantages in native GPU processing.

Digital vector-based design over the past 20 years

Price comparison: Freehand MX, the final release, cost $388 to own [2003] Illustrator and InDesign costs $5,760 for a 10-year rental [2016]

FreeHand Splash

Design for print, on the other hand, offers no detectable evolution over the past decade. Advances brought about by Flash have halted, while vector and raster tools have regressed to the point where workflow inefficiency is best addressed by downgrading.

Way back in 1994 I was hired by a large point-of-sale concern as a graphic designer. The first aspect I noted was that the department produced inferior work when compared to independent studios, prompting the company to heavily augment design work with outsourced material. Both setups used the Mac platform, both used Photoshop and both had talented artists, so the difference lay then in art direction and/or software.

The in-house studio used Illustrator 7, whereas the independents used such packages as Specular’s Infini-D. So the first change I made to the studio was to acquire the Macromedia MX suite and make available some decent vector applications. Within the year, our artwork quality has ascended to such a degree that the company had landed all the major accounts in the country, including Associated Biscuits, Adcock Ingram, Elida Ponds, Cadburys, The National Lottery, Kellogg’s and many others.

The only tweak I made was simply to offer an alternative to Illustrator, an application that I refused to work with. Twenty years down the line and the alternatives are dead, the spread of vector applications now so remarkably inefficient as to be impossible, the level of creativity utterly obliterated under the weight of code. Indeed, working in html5 offers a greater degree of creativity and flexibility than InDesign or Illustrator. 

 FreeHand CC SE

Illustrator in particular suffers from crucial omissions. It has no page handling tools because you’re limited to a single page. Select an object and you are unable to identify it – It could be an open path, closed path, clipping path, raster image, composite path, filled composite path, grouped path or figment of your imagination. And if the software can’t distinguish between a guide and a line, it can’t tell you the attributes of that object. Someone should tell Adobe that objects and their attributes are the anchor upon which all design hinges, a fact not missed by the spread of html5 vector tools now starting to feature in the industry.

Well, you didn’t have to tell that to Aldus or Macromedia, and since Aldus was a division of Adobe, you’d think that knowledge would have remained in development. Instead, it has apparently evaporated, an aspect unsurprising in the absence of competition.

So today I remain a steadfast FreeHand supporter, able to work up to ten times faster than an experienced designer using Illustrator and InDesign, it being impossible to produce the same level of work in just one package. It’s my best-kept secret, now that FreeHand has passed into obscurity. I’ve also ported Infini-D to PC, which enables the same in 3D and motion, and favour 3DS Max over After Effects [technically, I use both]. Just to repeat: ten times faster. My old –core i5 with 2GB RAM slices thru the work in a fraction of the time a 16GB i7 can manage, but that’s just the side effect. The principal difference lies with the logic of the workflow.

FreeHand-O-Shop

Besides FreeHand MX, an application similarly useful yet overlooked is Flash MX, which has a workflow a great deal more malleable than the usual rigidity one expects with vector tools. The new incarnation of Flash is Flash CC 2016, which is in essence a function-delimited version of the 2004 MX edition that made Flash the most powerful and efficient interactive tool on the web, as evidenced by its proliferation today. In terms of illustration, however, it remains unchanged, and SVG is only now approaching the functionality of the first release of Flash in 1997.

Finally, FontLab’s amazing Fontographer and Font Studio applications remain the de facto standard in font development. This software also originated from the Macromedia suite, and as such offers native interaction with both FreeHand and Illustrator. However, unlike Adobe, FontLab have no need to strategically suppress rival software, and therefore native FreeHand format handling has remained intact. Adobe halted this capability with the CS6 release, giving rise to the popularity of edition CS 5.5.

From Wikipedia: FreeHand was created by Altsys Corporation in 1988 and licensed to Aldus Corporation which released versions 1 through 4. In 1994, Aldus merged with Adobe Systems and because of the overlapping market with Adobe Illustrator, FreeHand was returned to Altsys by order of the Federal Trade Commission.^[3] Altsys was later bought by Macromedia, which released FreeHand versions 5 through 11 (FreeHand MX). In 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its product line which included FreeHand MX. While Illustrator could open and convert native FreeHand formats, this functionality was terminated in 2014 with the release of Illustrator CS6.

 

FreeHand 2097

This is the regression I referenced earlier – the removal of functionality with successive releases, leading to the notion that the latest is not necessarily the greatest – this adage, by appearances, is gaining prevalence as software houses like Microsoft, Apple and Adobe face a dropoff in the volume of users remaining with the upgrades. Indeed, these developers now require registration and mandatory upgrades as part of the EULA in an effort to stabilize the dwindling proportion of their user base remaining with the latest version – Microsoft needed nothing less than a highly publicized free upgrade and the similarly high-profile announcement of the cessation of support… all in an attempt to crowbar 30% of all PC users away from Windows XP. 

an icon

a simplified icon

goldfish bowl

Adobe has to do the same if it is to continue to exist, but Apple’s innovation in hardware provides a buffer against ruin through subsequent software releases of increasing complexity and decreasing efficiency. Similarly, Dell ships machines with drivers specific to the OEM OS and have no need, like Microsoft, to announce the lack of support for any other OS, highlighting the hardware buffer between revenue and software.

When Adobe renamed 'Creative Suite' to 'Creative Cloud', the change heralded the feeling we'd moved from the solid and tangible to water vapour. Vague, lacking substance and in truth, a long way from Creative. DeviantArt trends attest to this, with more content arising from mobile than ever before.

Like many other designers, I run several separate systems, notably Windows XP and Windows 10. I was born and bred on Mac but the move to 3D required a price to performance ratio Mac could not offer, and the rise of web apps drew developers to PC. So Apple was shelved when the company's focus moved to gadgets. There are advantages and disadvantages with each of them, but all things being equal, XP has defined the meaning of efficiency. 

What does FreeHand have that Illustrator does not?

Well, 200,000 FreeHand users will be able to tell you, and The FreeHand Forum will be able to tell you how hard they’ve tried to level the playing field. The Forum produced a special presentation addressed directly to Adobe’s illustrator development team which provides an outline of the most significant differences. As part of the anti-trust settlement, Adobe promised Illustrator development on these guidelines, so there is no simpler answer than to summarize here the contents of that presentation.

 

FreeHand CS3 [Unreleased]

The principal difference that I have noted is the use in FreeHand of a command panel, similar to that in 3DS Max. This context-sensitive panel provides the identification and attributes of the selected object, offering manipulation of those attributes within one space-efficient and customizable panel, which may be undocked to float as a palette and/or minimized in place.

One panel to rule them all.

Looks like we need more palettes.

AI, FH and UI features

November 2012 [updated February 2013].

-or-

Why FreeHand is better than Illustrator + InDesign

To date, only FreeHand and Illustrator have served as true professional-­grade, “industry-­standard” software solutions.  Illustrator must be combined with InDesign in order to replace FreeHand entirely.

THE INTUITIVE USER EXPERIENCE OF FREEHAND IS A RESULT OF LOGICAL ENGINEERING

When performing work as a Creative, of critical importance is the ability to explore and experiment without resistance—it is at the very core of Creative Work. The less the designer has to consciously think about the use of tools and functions, the better the creative process can flow. Having to stop and use left-brain technical knowledge in order to manipulate the digital environment, especially when those functionalities are often illogical yet entrenched as legacy remnants of early development— dedicated Illustrator users expect these artifacts to remain set—will necessarily cause full interruption of the Creative Process. Even the most intimate familiarity with Illustrator-InDesign does not yield the equivalent FreeHand creative experience, and the impediments to an Intuitive Experience stand only to diminish speed, quantity of exploratory output, and creative joy.

From Wikipedia:

The term intuition is used to describe “thoughts and preferences that come to mind quickly and without much reflection”. Intuition provides us with that we cannot necessarily justify. For this reason, it has been the subject of (extensive) study.

The “right brain” is popularly associated with intuitive processes such as aesthetic abilities. Some scientists have contended that intuition is associated with innovation in scientific discovery. Intuition is also a common subject of writings.

Intuitive abilities were quantitatively tested at Yale University in the 1970s.While studying, researchers noted that some subjects were able to read nonverbal facial cues before reinforcement occurred. In employing a similar design, they noted that highly intuitive subjects made decisions quickly but could not identify their rationale. Their level of accuracy, however, did not differ from that of non-intuitive subjects.

“Intuition is a combination of historical (empirical) data, deep and heightened observation and an ability to cut through the thickness of surface reality. Intuition is like a slow motion machine that captures data instantaneously and hits you like a ton of bricks. Intuition is a knowing, a sensing that is beyond the conscious understanding—a gut feeling. Intuition is not pseudo-science.” — Abella Arthur

THE SPEED OF FREEHAND IS A RESULT OF LOGICAL ENGINEERING

FreeHand is a feat of software design that to this day runs circles around the Illustrator- InDesign tools and functions. The sum total of all tasks performed for a given project falls into the definition of Workflow. The following bullet list comprises all aspects of FreeHand Workflow that set it apart as the program of choice for the Designer who requires the fastest methods in the practice of their vocation and wish their business to benefit from efficient and reliable production techniques. Some of these features are seemingly small things, but when multiplied out on the scale of hundreds or thousands of clicks or repetitive tasks can add up to a topic of considerable significance.

I will say this:

1. To me AI has always seemed hard to use compared to FH.

2. Now it seems to me that AI is more bloated than ever, hogging both disk and memory, and running slower than FH even though FH is running on Rosetta."

– FreeHand and Illustrator Developer

• One software space for all non-bitmap related tasks

• One Pointer tool for every task

• Context-sensitive Properties Dialogue Box

• Find and Replace (text and graphics)

• Compact files and fast saving time, comparative Illustrator processing & file “bloat”

• Near-instantaneous Redraw and tool response time

• Document controls including unique Multipaging and Master Pages functions

• Collect for output

• Paste-Inside

• Superior Text Box UI and functionality

• A litany of functions whose Illustrator - InDesign equivalents are slow or difficult to achieve

WORKFLOW

When designing in FreeHand, the combination of speed, intuitiveness, logic, and lack of need to constantly switch out of and back into the program lends a “creative user experience” that cannot be matched by any combination of Illustrator-InDesign Workflows. In theory and in practice, there is “too much junk in the way” for the FreeHand user’s creative design process to find parity in an Illustrator-InDesign Workflow environment.

The initial shock and confusion resulting from the migration from the FreeHand Workflow to the Adobe-prescribed methods is hard to quantify. It can indeed be overcome and, through the learning of many arbitrary technical practices, the designer is able eventually to surmount the unpleasant process of complete transition. But this is at a high cost. Even having relearned the new ways to achieve the same FreeHand results, there is a distinct and permanent diminishment of both speed and enjoyment, hence the creative process is stilted and curtailed.

In sum, we have forced the designer to be less happy, productive, and profitable.

 

COMPARATIVE DIFFERENCES

Outside of bitmap manipulation (e.g. digital photo work done in Photoshop and like software), FreeHand does it all. With regards to its most similar counterparts, Illustrator and InDesign, it is worth paying special attention to this fact: where FreeHand can do everything required to perform all needed tasks, Adobe requires a designer to use 2 programs. This is obviously less desirable for the designer: 2 software products must be purchased, and 2 software products must be used. For the FreeHand user, accustomed to so much power, logic, simplicity and ease-of-use, the versatility of software is something taken for granted. Migration to the prescribed Adobe Workflow presents a conundrum: in what program does one perform a task at any given time

For example, designing a brochure requires Desktop Publishing features found not in Illustrator but only in InDesign (Robust text boxes with expanding and multi-column capabilities, Collect for Output, Master Pages, etc.). But work in InDesign is largely restricted to layout of elements, not the content creation of those elements. So much work must be done in Illustrator as well, where text handling is an option but only if one is willing to wrestle with a host of shortcomings. 

There does not exist the possibility with a combined Illustrator - InDesign workflow of achieving anywhere near the flexibility and speed offered by FreeHand. Note to self: interoperability in suites.

CATEGORY: TOOLS

FreeHand to Illustrator File Conversion

With Illustrator CS6, FreeHand conversion to .ai format was dropped with the 64-­bit update. To continue the conversion for FreeHand backlogs, either reinstate the function in AI CC or create a standalone droplet app (based upon CS5.5 code) that would let users drag and drop the droplet to convert it to .ai format.

CATEGORY: UI/UX

True Context-­Sensitive Object Properties Control Panel

Object Panel in FreeHandMX is a context sensitive approach that simplifies the UI by reducing panels and having a single location for a attribute adjustments. It expands on Illustrator’s Appearance Panel.

• Set fills, stroke, and effects
• Set position and size attributes
• Set text and font attributes
• Set attributes to shape primitives

Identifiable Points in FreeHand

Can you tell where the corner and curve points are in the boxes created by Illustrator?

FreeHand's interface displays its types of points differently:

• Curve points display as tiny circles

• Corner points display as tiny squares;

• Connector points display as triangles.

Illustrator displays the same point appearance for both Curve and Corner points making it difficult to determine their type.

Connector points are not available in AI.

Like-­FreeHand Swatch Palette

In FreeHand, a straight path selection to swatches is in 1 step.

In Illustrator, three panels are navigated to reach needed swatches. Simplify panels.

Another example of simple vs. backwards interface design.

True Live-­Editable Polygons

CATEGORY: FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS

Graphics Find and Replace

The Find & Replace panel lets you search for and automatically change attributes including color, stroke width, transformations, path shapes, and blend steps. The feature lets you modify every occurrence of a specific attribute.

Anchor Point Simple Delete with Selection Tool

Illustrator - cuts path & leaves stray points

In Illustrator, deleting anchor points with the Direct Selection Pointer kills the path and leaves stray points. In FreeHand, both the Selection Pointer and Subselect Pointer will remove only the anchor point; no paths are cut.

Xtreme-­Path/FreeHand Line Bending

In FreeHand, a straight path can   be bent or pulled by using the Sub Selection Pointer on any part of the path. This cannot be done in Illustrator without third party software.

In FreeHand, bend a straight path with Subselect Pointer.

Like-­FreeHand Tint Palette

Like-­FreeHand Radial Corner Controls with Live Editing, Node Adjustment, and Individual Corner Settings

Use the Subselect Pointer and drag    at any corner to visually change radius.

Use Object Properties to change the individual radius of any corner.

Maximum Zoom Magnification for fine detail work

FreeHand zoom 25,600% magnification

Illustrator zoom 6400% magnification

Improved Masking for Shapes with Rounded Corners Effect

With Illustrator there is more than one way to apply radial corners to a primitive shape. Applying a Rounded Corners effect (Effect / Stylize / Rounded Corners…) is arguably the better of them because of the Live Editing aspect, i.e. one can vary the effect with the Preview checkbox until satisfied, and even go back later to make an adjustment without the need to start over.

But try using a radial-­cornered rectangle to Mask something. The radial corners disappear, and the user is required to command + Z to remove the mask, Expand the radial-­cornered shape (thereby losing the Live Editing feature), then mask with the expanded shape.

FreeHand’s ability to achieve this very common need is easier, and shapes retain their Live Editing settings as well.

Duplicated Pages Will Duplicates Guides + Guides Behave As True Guides

When a user duplicates a page in FreeHand, any guides that were set up on that page are duplicated as well. This does not work as expected in Illustrator. In fact, guides as a whole seem like a “patched” feature, essentially locked blue strokes that recede to the edges of the Pasteboard, too easily deleted when unlocked for adjustment. As in FreeHand, guides should lock & unlock but otherwise function as a separate, unique feature:

• Guides are phantom elements associated with each page, and should duplicate along with any duplicated pages. They have their own layer.
• Even unlocked guides aren’t selectable by marquee, only by hovering over with the selection tool.

Masked Shape Selectable by Fill Color

In Illustrator, this image-­in-­a-­mask cannot be selected by clicking on the blue area with the Selection Pointer Tool. This works as expected within FreeHand.

Paste Inside with Multiple Unified Objects

FreeHand can paste a single image inside several unified shapes easily. This effect is overly complex to achieve in Illustrator.

Click Anywhere on a Stroke to Manipulate

Moving or selecting a line or outlined object in Illustrator requires the selection tool be placed exactly on the centerline path. This can lead to multiple a ttempts to grab a basic stroke.

In FreeHand, moving a line or outlined object can be done with the selection tool anywhere on the thickness of the line’s appearance.

Lock & Unlock Functions

Illustrator doesn’t allow for individual unlocking of objects, “unlock all” required. This seems arbitrary from the user’s perspective, and can be inconvenient in practice.

FreeHand allows for the selection of a locked object—perhaps the more intuitive approach as it mimics the real world where an object that is affixed (by being glued down, for instance) can still be grabbed, just not moved.

This has the further benefit of providing an inherent ability to be used as the equivalent of Illustrator’s “key object” without the extra steps and cognitive overhead.

Simpler Global Color Update

The FreeHand swatch palette has “Replace…” for performing document-­wide color updates. Any object or text with that color set updates to the new color by using the Replace… function.

Illustrator requires the user to a.) know about and b.) remember to build out a document using Global Colors for anything that might need a color update later.

Option + Drag of new color onto the old swatch seems to be the method to Replace colors in Illustrator. It would be more obvious and intuitive to include a FreeHand-­like Replace… function in the Swatch panel’s contextual menu.

Turn Off Fills In Open Paths As Optional

In FreeHand, closed paths are a requirement in order for an object to fill.

In Illustrator, the default setting for filling new paths could be changed to fill only when a shape is closed; as defined by having all anchor points of the object joined.

This makes some printers very unhappy.

Copy-­Paste Attributes

FreeHand’s Copy Attributes / Paste Attributes function—tucked away under Edit ti Special ti but more readily available by key commands—is simple yet far more flexible and powerful than the eyedropper tool. Somewhat the reverse of the eyedropper, the user is able to copy object text or attributes to the clipboard then apply them repeatedly (“paste attribute”) where needed throughout a document. 

A big time saver and sidesteps the annoyances of using an eyedropper—especially with text, where the selected text (that the user wishes to update with given properties) will change if key commands are used, therefore requiring a “manual switch” to the eyedropper tool in order to then “retrieve” the desired attributes and apply them to selected text. Phew!

Note also that the Illustrator eyedropper tool ignores key properties and effects, such as transparency and drop shadow, which is often half the reason one uses an attributes-­copying-­like function.

Master Pages

Master Pages are in FreeHand and InDesign. With Illustrator having up to 100 artboards, brochures, informational screens, and booklets would benefit from Master Artboards to preset recurring text fields and elements.

Cloning and Power Duplicating

Object (top) is cloned. Cloned object is scaled, rotated, and moved.

It is then duplicated with each duplicate repeating the original object’s scale, rotation, and move parameters.

FreeHand’s Cloning command places a copy of the object on top of the original in one keystroke.

Power-­duplicating will repeat a transformation (move, scale,  skew, reflect, rotate) on successive duplicates of that Clone. This can also be applied to parts of paths, resulting in a series of whole paths that incrementally change shape.

In Illustrator, this is time consuming and complex using Blends & Symbols.

CATEGORY: TOOLS

Bezigon Tool

Freehand’s Bezigon Tool relies on mouse clicks instead of the Pen Tool’s click-­and-­drag approach. FreeHand determines curves based upon the placed anchor points. It is effective for precision and tracing.

Click the mouse to place a straight path point. Alt-­click for a point to create a curved path.

Like-­FreeHand Live 3D Rotation Tool

FreeHand’s 3D rotation tool provides an easier-­to-­use and more “hands on” method to create the illusion of tilting shapes in space, with varying degrees of perspective. Open used as part of the design exploration for logos, information graphics, layout elements, and simple illustration, the FreeHand 3D tool has a more immediate and intuitive feel to it than attempting like operation through Illustrator’s much fussier 3D effects dialog boxes.

Rotate in FreeHand         

Rotate in Illustrator

Live Edit Spiral Tool with Archimedian Spirals

FreeHand has the choice of creating spirals that are non-­expanding “Archimedian” spirals or expanding “Logarithmic” spirals. Illustrator offers only one version.

You can draw spirals by rotation, increments, change the rotations, change the direction, and draw from the center, corner, edge.

Constrain Pencil Tool to Straight Lines

Like Illustrator, FreeHand’s Pencil tool draws a line that follows your hand movement. In FreeHand, the tool can also be constrained to create accurate straight lines along with the natural curved lines. Press Alt key while drawing and move tool in any direction or distance for the desired straight path then release to continue drawing.

Cut Anywhere Knife Tool

FreeHand’s Knife tool slices all paths either in a straight path or a freeform path based upon its settings panel or by key command. Options are to close the cut path and to adjust the width of the path.

Illustrator’s Knife tool cannot slice any open, unfilled paths.

Hide Control Points After Grouping

ILLUSTRATOR

FREEHAND

When selecting a grouped object in Illustrator, every object’s anchor points are revealed.

In FreeHand, a grouped object only shows parameter points making it easier to view and adjust.

Option to Turn Off Contact-­Sensitive Selection Pointer

Above:  FreeHand

Above: Illustrator

FreeHand provides an option for its “contact-­sensitive”  Selection  Pointer marquee. This approach lends itself to easily selecting just the objects desired rather than everything the marquee happens to touch.

Illustrator’s Isolation mode will not select several independent objects.

In the example, select the snake and not the grass or background using the marquee or isolation mode.

Extending a Handle from a Point

Option key + drag at anchor point will create a new handle.

FreeHand can create a single handle on a point by holding the option key (or the Subselect Pointer tool) on the anchor point and dragging from it.

This will change the shape of the path.

Pen Tool “Rubberband” Preview

FreeHand’s Pen Tool shows a preview of the path a9er each placed anchor point. This path will follow the Pen Tool until the next anchor point is placed making it very effective to judge alignment and distance in relation to other points and paths.

With a curve point, the preview will follow the direction of the drag to show the path in real-­time.

Connector Points

Option key + drag at anchor point will create a new handle.

Connector Points

FreeHand has special “connector” points that ensure the handles that define a curve path always stay aligned with the direction of its straight paths. Unlike smooth points, the handle can only be moved in a single direction thus not disturbing the curvature of the adjacent segment.

FreeHand Gradient Types

FreeHand has six gradient fills in comparison to Illustrators two.

Adjustable using the Object panel.

“Live” Connector Lines and Diagram Tools

Connector Lines link objects “live”

FreeHand has a Connector tool to draw connecting lines that will dynamically link objects and adjust automatically as the connected objects are moved around.

It will edit the start symbol, end symbol, and other stroke attributes of connector lines.

Ideal for creating labels, building organizational charts, or basic flowcharts.

CATEGORY: TEXT

Convert Area Text to Point Text (and vice versa) or Unify into Single Form

FreeHand has no AreaType or PointType constrictions as in Illustrator.

•  DoubleClick a side handle to toggle horizontal auto-­ expansion (line wrap). This effectively makes it act like Illustrator's PointType.
•  DoubleClick a top or bottom handle to cause it to auto-­expand vertically.
•  DoubleClick the lower right link box to make the text frame fit snuggly against its text content.
•  Add more text to a text block set to auto expand and the text block automatically fits to the content.

Drag Text Box for Leading and Kerning

 To add visual Kerning, click and drag the right or leo side text-­block point in the center.

 To add visual Leading, click and drag the top or bottom text-­block point in the center.

Word Spacing Settings

Word Spacing controls the space between words to be adjusted while it keeps the letter kerning intact.

Text Find And Replace

FreeHand’s Graphic Find & Replace searches for text by size, font, and style. FreeHand can search for a range of sizes.

• It can find and replace, or it can find and select (Selects the containing text object).
• It can search either the Document, the Page, or the Selection.

Customizable Cursor Distances

Incredibly simple yet powerful FreeHand feature that yields faster production by means of “exploding” art quickly with “super cursor” distances, separate and distinct from the regular, typically more granular, secng.

Illustrator has a “baked in” 10x factor for Arrow distance.

Click Art Board Anywhere Outside Textbox Switches Text Tool to Pointer Tool

Very simple in practice, this allows one typing text (either as area type or display type) to simply click anywhere outside the active type area to return to the Selection tool. This sorts out the conflict of not being able to hit the V key (which in this scenario simply types the letter “v”) and is much faster and simpler than reaching for the Escape key in Illustrator.

Attempting to “click away” from text in Illustrator achieves nothing. How this works in FreeHand readily explains what’s meant by the above description. PowerPoint and possibly other programs also work this way.

Paste Shapes or Imported Elements Into Text Fields

Inline Graphics allows elements, like logos, to be placed within live Text. The graphic element refiows with the text as the text field is resized. Both FreeHand and InDesign have this feature.

•  Use Selection Pointer tool to select graphic and Copy. Use Text tool to place insertion point within text and then Paste graphic.
•  The inline graphic scales along with the text as the font point size is changed.

Text On A Circle Using FreeHand-­Equivalent Functions

Placing upright text on the top and bottom of a circle requires multiple steps and paths in Illustrator. In FreeHand, it is very simple:

•  Type the text with Text Tool. Place the cursor before the text that will appear at the bottom of the circle and press Return..
•  Draw a circle with the Ellipse tool. Select both the circle and the text and choose Text Attach to Path from the Menu.

Multi-­Column Type Settings and End-­of-­Column Command

FreeHand can divide text blocks into columns and rows. There is an end-­of-­column command for forcing the text to the next column. This is an advantage for creating tables as well as exact-­columned text for brochures.

Copy-­Paste Attributes for Character/Paragraph settings

In FreeHand you can copy type a ttributes from one text selection to another by copying and pasting. These include the Character, Paragraph, and Spacing options in the Object panel. Also tabs, indents, margins, and text fill and stroke colors.

Select text block or range of text, then choose

Edit - Special - Copy Attributes and apply to selected text by choosing Edit – Special - Paste Attributes

CATEGORY: FILE HANDLING

Import/Place Multi-­Select files with Key Command

In Illustrator, only one file can be imported at a time and placed in a document. In FreeHand, multiple files can be imported at once and each will be sequentially placed where needed in the artboard.

In Illustrator, the Place command does not have a key command. In FreeHand, Cmd-­R imports other files.

Export “Selected Objects Only” option

Unlike Illustrator, FreeHand can export selected elements from the Artboard or Pasteboard areas. These elements do not need to be grouped nor adjacent to each other.

From the Export dialog box, clicking “Selected objects only” will export all selected elements and be saved in the format specified.

CATEGORY: TOOLS

Additional Features Like FreeHand

• Workspace “Like FreeHand” functions across the UI not just the pale tte order. (See next feature)
• Customize tools and toolbars with the option of removing the items not needed and arranging items to fit the user’s workfiow.
• Fill and Stroke colors can be set simultaneously from the same swatches panel.
• FreeHand and InDesign have the ability to multiply and divide field entries mathematically using character additions to the field (e..g. a 2-­Inch box could be made twice as big by inserting “*2” in a dimension field and hikng Enter).
• Deleting a page also removes it's contents, instead of having to delete the contents separately.
• FreeHand’s Ellipse tool has adjustable geometric parameters (Start and End angles) to create properly defined Arcs.
• Ability to create user-­defined stroke presets. Also add a persistent “hairline” stroke which depicts a tiny size at any zoom level.
• Double-clicking on the last point placed ends a path.
• Add or delete symbols from a user-­defined symbol library, rather than trashing the existing one and having to build an new one.
• Improve the Join points command by not adding an extra tiny path segment. Join two points as one, within a defined distance.
• FreeHand uses the point inspector to contract single point handles and to auto-­curve (expand handles.)
• Allow the default font (Myriad) be replaced by the user.
• Simplify Layers, rather than showing a new layer for each and every element and all its paths.

Additional Features Like FreeHand

• Readily accessible and modifiable scale percentages for imported objects
• Illustrator gradient pale tte suffers from “usability breakdown”
• FreeHand users almost never see an error dialog box stating, “you can’t do that”. If a function is not possible the result simply does not occur. Enhance Illustrator by not being interrupted by a clickable dialog box where it isn’t needed.

Developers compete for the most pointless clicks. Tip: press Escape.

Example: Why not revert to a default or the last-used setting?

The new, tweaked version is pure magic.

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Free FreeHand Icons. Handy! Free!