What is Adobe Illustrator 88?

According to the introductory videotape that comes with Adobe Illustrator 88, “Now anyone can create high-quality graphics and illustrations quickly and easily.” One has to take promotional videos with a grain of salt, of course; the tape also presents a world in which all graphic designers are 28 years old, very good-looking, and sitting at clean desks. While Illustrator 88 won’t make just anyone into a professional graphic artist, it will automate many of the steps involved in creating illustrations, saving professionals time and effort. And Illustrator 88 adds several new tools that make the program easier to use than its predecessor, aiding aspiring artists as well.

Like Adobes original Illustrator, Illustrator 88 uses PostScript to create illustrations. Illustrator 88 employs the same technique as the original program: drawings are made up of bezier curves, which can be precisely adjusted by dragging the curve itself or by manipulating handles attached to points on the curve’s path. PostScript lets you assign attributes such as weight and color to a line or shape, and enables you to resize, rotate, skew, and otherwise alter text or graphics. You can convert scanned images into PostScript by tracing a template, or draw an illustration from scratch. DrawOver, a new utility, converts MacDraw illustrations into Illustrator 88 format, allowing you to enhance them with Illustrator 88’s PostScript talents.

Fenton, Erfert (October 1988). Illustrator: This Year's Model. Macworld. (pg. 154).

Download Adobe Illustrator 88 for Mac

Architecture

Motorola 68K

Compatibility notes

• Macintosh Plus or later
• External 800K floppy disk drive or hard disk drive
• PostScript printer recommended

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Mini vMac