Macromedia FreeHand 8 Review Part 2

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Articles

Battle of the consumer printing programs

Beginner's look at animated GIF software

Simple DTP

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	Macromedia FreeHand 8 - continued

If you are familiar with the earlier version of FreeHand, the new features include:

Lens fills for transparency effects as well as being able to magnify areas, make them lighter and darker and change their colors.

The Emboss, Shadow and Mirror tools commonly found in bitmap programs like Xres^. and PhotoShop^. .

Graphic Hose. This cool tool will let you build a library of objects and then you can spray them all over your project with the ability to change their size and rotation!

You can also use the Freeform and Reshaping tool even on bitmaps and use masks and clipping paths normally found in more extensive bitmap programs


	Another great addition is the ability to rasterize your image without having to go to another program. Beyond that you can import and export bitmaps, but not edit them. And once you are ready to send your project for printing, there is a feature to gather up all the necessary artwork, text and fonts.


	Then when the next person opens the file you sent them on disk, you won't get a message saying it can't find that particular piece of clip art. And that brings me to my biggest complaint. For the suggested retail price of $399.00, I would have expected better clip art. Here we have a professional grade program and the same brand of clip art (and some of the very same art) that comes with Printshop^.. Maybe COREL^. has spoiled me, but I cannot believe that with all of the work that went into making this a top-notch program that Macromedia skimped on the clip art. Maybe it was an afterthought to attract people who are not professional designers so instead of drawing their own artwork they will use clipart, maybe their art department was late or on vacation. And don't get me wrong, the art isn't bad, it's fine for Printshop and other consumer type programs, but I equate it to a Lincoln Towncar ^. with the sound system coming from Walmart. It's just not up to the same professional level as the program.


	OK, down from the soapbox. One of the nicest items with the package, however, is the documentation. The writers for the Using FreeHand book get a definite Siskel and Ebert type 2 Thumbs Up! From a nice tutorial to a chapter on how to easily move to FreeHand if you are used to using CorelDraw!^. or Adobe Illustrator^. this book is easy to follow and understand.

Many times a trip to the bookstore for an actual Mastering or How to book is necessary. I personally don't think that will be necessary for FreeHand 8.

You get both the Windows 95 version and the Macintosh version in the box.

For the PC the system requirements are: Pentium Processor and Windows 95 or NT4 (with service Pack 3)
For the Mac: Power PC and System 7.1 or later

Minimum Requirements for both:
16 Meg of RAM (24+ recommended for PC: 32+ recommenced for Mac)
30 Meg of Hard Drive space (60+ recommended)
CD-ROM Drive

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