Prepressforums.com

#1 (**permalink**) 03-17-2003, 11:02 AM

What's up with this Freehand MX thing. (and what do they call the NEXT version now?) I can understand FH 8,9,10.... but MX? Why would they do that?

More importantly...anyone using it yet (if its' out)...what are your impressions?

Michael Caufman

Cory · #2 (**permalink**) 03-17-2003, 01:11 PM

I was thinking MY would be the next version :roll:

not really sure what they were thinking with the new version names, but they did it across the board with all the apps..

I have installed freehand MX but haven't had a chance to use it since most of our clients are still using FH7 or 8..some tried to switch over to 10, but that was a major disaster which they never released a single update too..

Guess they don't fix problems anymore, the just release paid upgrades

iT4c0 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-18-2003, 01:06 AM

i have never use freehand before. Is it better than Illustrator? I love illustrator but I can not say it is better than freehand. What do you guys think?

bluedog · #4 (**permalink**) 03-18-2003, 07:34 AM

You know how Microsoft named their new products with an XP? Well, Macromedia is following the 'leader' of the industry and naming theirs MX! Seriously its just a branding thing. It sounds cooler than version 12.0 (although if it really were 'ex-oh' like knockout XO that would be pretty cool).

Microsoft found out when they started with Win95 they would have to change the name more often and get people to buy new versions because the years were off. Then they came up with the great naming scheme that ended with Win95, Win98, Win98SE, WinME, Win2k, WinXP... ad nauseum.

------

Freehand is a great product that features 'multipage document' features with better type handling than Illustrator. I've found much of the differences are really personal preference. BUT, the industry as a whole supports Illustrator much better. Some of that has to do with market share, but it also has to do with the emphasis of Adobe on print media.

Macromedia has taken the multimedia and internet markets to a greater level like Adobe has taken print.

Feature for feature, I'd say they are comparable. Some of the new features Adobe has in Illustrator 10 are great.

Its kind of like Adobe having the reigns on PDF and postscript, and Macromedia has control of the direction for Flash and and multimedia/web work. While not entirely true, its at least a dominant force for each.

CitrusZ28 · #5 (**permalink**) 04-16-2003, 11:09 AM

Freehand is OK if you grew up with it, but I prefer Illustrator. Easier interface, handles spot colors better, and selection of objects is more simplified. More control of placed images too, in MHO. Many designers who started out with Freehand find Illustrator difficult to use on the other hand.

Lammy · #6 (**permalink**) 04-17-2003, 03:31 PM

Not to mention illustrator makes crop marks!!! Ugh my biggest complaint is not being able to make crops in freehand without printing to a PS file. It may not make sense to some of you . . . but if your a RAMpage guy you'll know what I mean.

But just like the Win-tel vs. Mac thing, they seems about the same to me once you use them enough and figure out where things are.

JDub · #7 (**permalink**) 10-28-2003, 11:14 PM

Use em both (MX & AI10). Hate em both. Each are riddled with retarded problems that both manufacturers s/b ashamed of, 'specially when it comes to output issues.

I hear you about the crop marks w/MX (fyi MX-Macromedia Ten). They're an issue for a Printready freak like myself, also.

-J

:evil:

Mark · #8 (**permalink**) 11-25-2003, 07:08 AM

They should rename it to FreehandSUX. I love drop shadows that are black but rip to CMY! ARGHHHH! :x

perkywren · #9 (**permalink**) 11-25-2004, 05:33 PM

Actually Freehand MX = Freehand 11.

Freehand 10 is Freehand 10, and is much faster and less buggy.

MX does offer some options that aren't available in 10 though - mostly design options.

However, they are the ones to set prepress folks to go mad if the designer doesn't know how to use them.

The drop shadows are one problem... Another problem is where you can apply multiple different strokes to a shape/line. You can get some really nice hand-drawn effects there (I think illustrator has had a feature like this for ages, but from what I can see MX is the first freehand one to offer something close to what illustrator has in terms of how nice the end result looks.)

These stroke effects show up fine on screen, they show up fine on a deskjet printer. The big problem comes when the brushes for these effects aren't released... Because then they don't show up in the .ps files.

Nor do they show up in .eps or .ps files if you import them to Photoshop or distill them to .pdf to have a look.

It's an easy problem to spot.

Easy problems to spot almost never get spotted.

:wink: