Adobe(R) Illustrator(R) 8.0 Beta ReadMe

MAY 4, 1998

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT BEFORE BEGINNING TO TEST!

Thanks for participating in the Adobe Illustrator 8.0 beta program.  You are 
providing us with an important service that ensures the highest quality final 
product and we will be asking a lot of you.  In return, if you report bugs on a 
regular basis, you will receive not only a free copy of the shipping product but also 
play a role in bringing a great new release to the market.  Thanks in advance!

We will update the software every week or two.  If you remain active by submitting 
bugs on a weekly basis, then you will continue to receive these automatically.  
From prior experience, we believe that effective beta testing requires a minimum 
of 3 hours per week.  If you are unable to spend this time, please let us know.

Please use the software as you normally would and report to us bugs, conflicts, or 
issues that affect your ability to effectively use the product.  Whenever possible, 
please use Illustrator as you normally would, such as using spot colors, checking 
interoperability with other applications, printing to different printers, and even 
creating film if you have equipment onsite.  The only thing that you cannot do is 
pass Illustrator 8.0 files around to colleagues or service bureaus (unless we have 
specifically paired you up with a beta site).

As you know, beta software often contains bugs that may cause system crashes, so 
we advise you to save your work often and avoid leaving open documents unsaved, 
even on other applications.  We appreciate your patience while we work to fix 
these bugs.

During the beta program, we expect to receive more than 10,000 bug reports, so it 
is impossible for us to respond to each of your reports.  All of your bugs will be 
ready by a Quality Assurance engineer, checked against our known bug database, 
and reproduced in our labs.  We will contact you if we need additional information, 
but otherwise, your bug will be logged and fixed according to priorities determined 
by our development team.  Some of your bugs reported early in the beta won’t be 
fixed immediately because the team has higher priory bugs that impair testing of 
large sections of the product.  Please don’t re-send a bug, because this just slows 
down the process of finding and logging unduplicated bugs.

We must emphasize that the purpose of beta is finding erroneous behavior with the 
features that are already implemented.  Please understand that there is no time 
during the beta program for adding additional functionality.  We are interested in 
hearing your feature requests, but they must be reserved for future versions of the 
product.

The remainder of the ReadMe file contains:
- Procedures for reporting bugs and feature requests
- Summary of new features
- Installation instructions
- Use of Macsbugs on the Macintosh

Please let me know If you have questions.  My email is dburkett@adobe.com.

Thanks again!

Dave Burkett
Product Manager
Adobe Illustrator


SUMMARY OF NEW FEATURES:

This beta release, we are providing you with a wealth of information in various 
different formats that will help you better learn about the new features of the 
release.  Unfortunately, the software interface and features are still in development, 
so you will find that there are discrepancies between what is implemented and what 
is on paper.  Before reporting something as a bug, please try to determine if a 
feature has just been moved, changed a little or renamed.  We realize it’s tough to 
test with incomplete and inaccurate documentation but we think that having more 
information is better than nothing and we won’t have time to completely update the 
specs during the final stages.

We suggest you learn about the feature as follows:
1) Review the quick descriptions below to get oriented
2) Get a marketing-style pitch with the New Features Highlight Sheet (Draft 1) 
3) Review the New Feature Specs for the most detailed information (Drafts)
4) Study how the features might be used with the User Guide (Draft 1-still very 
preliminary). 
5) Late in the beta cycle, you will see Online Help in the beta.

We’ve divided new features in this release into four categories:

A. FEATURE THAT MAKE ILLUSTRATOR MORE INTUITIVE TO USE:

1) New Pencil Tool:
Now drawing in Illustrator is even more like using pencil and paper. The improved 
Pencil tool is more intuitive, letting you easily reshape paths. Simply draw a new 
line near the section of a selected path you want to change and Illustrator 
automatically adjusts the path to the desired shape. Illustrator also creates less 
points than prior versions of the pencil too.

2) Improved Selection Tool:
Now you can select and scale shapes, text, and paths quickly using the same, easy-
to-grab bounding box handles that you know from Adobe PageMaker and 
Microsoft Office programs.  If this is becomes distracting, you may disable it in the 
preferences.

3) Smoother Tool
Smooth paths quickly and easily with the Smoother tool. Just drag the Smoother 
over any selected path to remove wrinkles and unwanted bumps.

B. FEATURES THAT MAKE YOU MORE PRODUCTIVE:

1) Actions Palette
Automate common tasks with the Actions palette. You can save time by recording 
a sequence of commands, and then replaying them in any file. Share Actions with 
co-workers for higher productivity and consistent results. 

2) Links Palette
Easily keep track of all linked images in your files using the Link Manager. Catch 
missing images before sending files to the printer, and quickly update or replace 
images all in one place.

3) Enhanced Eyedropper Tool
Quickly transfer text formatting—including font, size, color, and more—using the 
improved Eyedropper tool. Simply pick up styles from one block of text and apply 
them to any other with a single click.

4) Blends Menu Item and Improvements in the Blends Tool
Enjoy greater control of blends between shapes with improvements in the Blends 
feature. Instantly see the results as you edit the shapes and even the blending path.

5) Navigator Palette
Use the Navigator to instantly zoom to any area of your workspace without 
scrolling.

6) Smart Guides Menu Item
Organize and align shapes, text, and paths precisely as you work, using Smart 
Guides. Helpful vertical, horizontal, and angled guidelines appear as you draw or 
move objects to give you accurate alignment. Especially useful for technical 
drawing.

7) Free Transform Tool
Save time by scaling, rotating, skewing, reflecting, and moving an object using 
only the Free Transform tool. There’s no need to choose each transformation tool 
individually.


C. FEATURES THAT PROMOTE INTEGRATION WITH OTHER ADOBE 
PRODUCTS:

1) Common Adobe User Interface
New features, such as the Navigator, Actions palette, bounding boxes, Free 
Transform tool, and Link Manager work the same way as in Adobe Photoshop® 
and Adobe PageMaker®. So once you learn a feature in one Adobe application, 
you’ll know how to use it in the others.

2) Export Photoshop Layers:
Lets you export to a PSD file while maintaining layers. Note that this feature may 
not be available for the first beta release.

3) Placed PDF 
Create PDF files that can be shared across platforms, exported with image 
compression and subsetted fonts, and linked into Illustrator files.  This feature is 
still under development at the start of the beta.

4) Broader compatibility with other applications
Work with artwork from all major applications, including Microsoft(R) Office(R)CAD, 
CorelDRAW(R), and Macromedia(R) FreeHand(R). Use your artwork in virtually any 
medium by saving it in any of the popular file formats, including EPS, PDF, PSD, 
TIF, GIF, DXF, EMF/WMF, CGM, and more.


D.  FEATURES THAT LET YOU EXPRESS YOUR CREATIVITY:

1) Brushes Palette and Tool
Design with greater creativity using four new and improved Live Brush options. 
Art Brush lets you paint with artwork that conforms to the length and shape of the 
path you draw. Calligraphic Brushes create classic-looking effects that can now be 
easily edited as paths. The Pattern Brush improves Path Patterns by letting you 
intuitively paint a pattern along an editable path. The Scatter Brush lets you control 
the random sizing and spacing of artwork as it scatters along the path you paint. 
Easily assign all Live Brush options from one convenient palette.

2) Smooth Shading Tool and Create Smooth Shading Mesh Menu Item
Blend multiple colors in any direction with the Smooth Shading tool, a powerful 
new way to create custom gradients. Even blend between different colors in 
different directions. Simply click to create origin points and the colors will spread 
like watercolor paints on a wet surface. Easily add and remove colors, and move 
their origin points. Illustrator updates the gradient as you work. Gradients print as 
vector artwork on PostScript Level 3 printers.

3) Photo Crosshatch Filter
Easily transform photos into textured sketches using the Crosshatch filter that 
applies layers of hatch marks to create shading based on the gradations within a 
photo.  (this may be called Ink Pen Photo until we get around to changing the name 
in the application).


INSTALLATION INSTUCTIONS:

Macintosh:

1) If this is not your first installation of Illustrator 8.0 beta, you must:
- Remove the prior beta version
- Delete the Adobe Illustrator 8.0 Preferences
- Delete AdobeFnt.lst from your Preferences folder
2) Insert CD-ROM
3) Double-click on Adobe Illustrator 8.0 Installer
4) Follow instructions using the serial number provided by our Beta Coordinator
5) Reboot your system

Windows:
1) If this is not your first installation of Illustrator beta, you must uninstall the 
prior version
2) Insert CD-ROM
3) Use Explorer to locate CD-ROM
4) Double-click on Setup.exe
5) Follow instructions using the serial number provided by our beta coordinator
6) Reboot your system afterward


USING MACBUGS (Macintosh Testers Only)

For Macintosh beta testers, it is important that the debugger application, MacBug, 
is installed in your system folder before you launch Adobe Illustrator-beta.  After 
performing certain operations, it is possible that Illustrator-Beta will drop into 
MacsBug instead of an outright crash.  MacsBug will help you return your system 
to operation “gracefully” (ie often without having to reboot.

If MacsBug is activated, you will know it by the change on your monitor – your 
screen will be black and white and the only open window will contain information 
about your computer’s current status.  At the bottom of this window is a one line 
field where you can enter a limited number of commands.  While there are many 
uses for Macsbugs, we use it mainly to ease the pain of an application crash.

MacsBug Installation:
1) To install MacsBug, Open the MacsBug folder on your CD-ROM and drag the 
MacsBug file from the “Put in System Folder”
2) Restart your computer

Instructions for Using MacsBug:

A. Normal use of MacsBug:

When Illustrator drops into MacsBug, follow these instructions:
1) If MacsBug reports a “USER BREAK” then you can type “g” and hit “return” 
to return to normal operation.  You may have to continue typing “g” and 
“return” several times.  Report this problem to Adobe, but please report it as a 
User Break and not a crash.

2) Otherwise, type “es” and return.  This will close the application and take you 
back to the finder.  You will have to re-launch the application.

3) If “es” doesn’t work, then you may have to type “rs” and “return” or “rb” and 
“return” which will restart or reboot your system.


B. Special Cases:
If our QA department is unable to replicate a bug that you report, we may ask you 
to perform a few additional commands.  

When Illustrator drops into MacsBug, type these commands to start, generate and 
save a report. Each command must be followed by the return key.
	log xxx  (xxx is the name you are giving your report)
	how (this explains the reason you dropped into MacsBug)
	hc all (this gives information about the severity of the crash)
	sc6 (this records the steps directly before dropping into MacsBug)
	stat (this records the state your computer was in)
	log (this will close and save the log)
	es (this will close the application and take you back to the finder or 
desktop)

Then, please send the file that you created, called xxx, to our Adobe QA 
representative.

_________________________________________________________________________

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