How tough is Adobe Illustrator to learn?

[Rusty White]

I am considering moving from a CAD program that I design all my detail sets and decals with to Adobe Illustrator. My photo etcher prefers it because they use it there and my decal guy uses it as well, so a switch is logical.

Unfortunately, this means learning a new and complicated program, so I thought I would ask someone here (if any) that uses it; if it's difficult to learn, and can it produce anything CAD can. I assume so since my photo etcher uses it. And yes, I want to stay with AI to be consistent with my vendors.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[uxbridgeuk]

I use Illustrator and Photshop, although I would not call my self an expert it is a good program and well worth learning even just the basics, but with every thing practise makes perfect, the best way is to play around with Illustrator and see how it goes, buy a book for starters on Illustrator 10 that shows simple step by step methods

[Spartan]

Rusty,
I use a peer program (Corel)...if you can learn CAD, you can learn illustrator.... it's just the amount of time you need to invest...

[Cliffy B]

I use Photoshop and Illustrator all the time. Main thing to learn in Illustrator is the "pen tool". Once you get that tool down, the rest of the program is easy. Feel free to post any more questions you may have and I'll try my best to help you.

[Cadman]

I guess I missed the original post. First and most important, Illustrator is NOT a CAD tool. It is a graphic tool. So if you expect to be able to do all that you now do in CAD forget it. AutoCAD will allow you to export an EPS file that can be opened in Illustrator, but AutoCAD is not a good illustrator. The two programs are two completely different worlds.

[Rusty White]

Correct. While the results are the same, they are two entirely different programs as CAD is vector based. This makes working and learning Illustrator especially difficult for CAD guys. I find myself trying to use CAD commands in Illustrator.

[Cadman]

Rusty I would suggest using your CAD program to do everything but the final art that you send your etcher. The MAC guy that does most of our art work prefers pdf files created from the CAD file. That might be an option. I usually have the person send me a sample file so I can try to match my output with theirs.

[Rusty White]

Rusty I would suggest using your CAD program to do everything but the final art that you send your etcher. The MAC guy that does most of our art work prefers pdf files created from the CAD file. That might be an option. I usually have the person send me a sample file so I can try to match my output with theirs.

That's what I am currently doing. The person at the photo etch place in turn produces the artwork in Illustrator for my approval. Unfortunately, I have to pay an hourly fee for their time converting the files. The good news is as they create the files, they can cut and paste many of the parts from one file to the other, so time spent is minimal.