Louistrations

Firstly, for anybody that's unsure of what vector-based images are; they’re images consisting of sequences of points and paths that are used to create lines and shapes. Artwork created using this technique is often easily identified by its clean lines and precision. The main advantage of vector artwork is that it's infinitely scalable without degradation, making it perfect for logos and print material.

Programs that specialise in vector-based images include Corel Draw, Freehand and Illustrator. However it's also possible to achieve a similar result from within Photoshop, albeit it's a long shot from being ideal. This is obtained by using the often over-looked pen tool. The pen tool was absent in my old copy of Photoshop Elements, so I spent a short while seeing what it's capable of.

I've touched on vectors in the past with my short time with the Illustrator trial, as well as for a project that I'm currently working on. (I'll talk about that at a later date!)


This is the drawing that I will be making into a vector image. It's a quick drawing of Harriet that's nice and simple. The original pencil sketch is on the left and a cleaner copy drawn on tracing paper is on the right.

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Adobe Photoshop CS3 has been a long time coming, and a long time pre-ordered. So I was dismayed at coming home yesterday to a missed delivery notice. It had been delivered but I had missed it. The Pholy Grail was at my doorstep, and I missed it.

Not to be downhearted at Amazon's apparent efficiency, I retrieved the packet from the post office in the early hours of this morning.


Thus, it's now in my possession! A boxed and licensed copy of Photoshop - Joy! I can't wait to put it through it's paces. I would liked to have bought Adobe Illustrator as well, but that would have been a little too detrimental on my bank balance. Maybe at a later date.

For the past few years I've been using a stripped down in features version of Photoshop known as Photoshop Elements. It's served me well over the years, especially considering it's price. Yet it had a few areas where it was showing it's age, particularly in it's text editing tools and image scaling. It also ran sluggish on my computer due to running in emulation mode with Rosetta.

With Photoshop Elements I had the comfort of having both PC and Mac versions of the software on the same disc. However, now it's required that the user swears allegiance to their operating system. Having both versions would require buying the software twice.

The time for sitting on the fence is over. Blood has been drawn, the pact has been sealed; I am now forever bound to MacOS X.

May Steve have mercy on my soul.