What's new in Adobe Illustrator 26.3.1?

Adobe is continually improving its software and releasing updates, so the following information relates to the May 2022 release of Illustrator on the desktop (version 26.0). We will be going over many of these items later in the book, but for now, I'll just offer a quick highlight of what each is and what it can help you do. In addition, you may want to select the What's new button, which is located at the bottom left of the Home screen, for the very latest additions.

Adobe Sensei

With Adobe's ongoing quest for improvement, they continually advance their software to the cutting edge of technology. Nothing can better illustrate that than their latest efforts in artificial intelligence (AI). Adobe Sensei uses a neural network to make informed decisions. Adobe Sensei will help you create and deliver content with less effort or fewer steps. This is an ongoing process of software engineering, and updates are continually bringing us more opportunities for success. To view their latest offerings, be sure to visit https://www.adobe.com/sensei.html.

Illustrator on desktop

The following list of features are all examples of what Sensei adds to Adobe Illustrator:

• Puppet warp: Creates a warp mesh over your art, which can then have adjustment pins added for controlling the warping effect.
• Global editing: Similar items can now be intuitively selected and batch edited.
• Curvature tool: This uses past usage and experience to make an educated guess about the angle and distance of the curves created by the tool.
• Freeform gradients: This is an advancement from the mesh gradients that you may be used to. I think you will find this much easier and more logical.
• Content-Aware Crop: Illustrator can make crop suggestions based on the image and your intended output.
• Recolor Artwork: The Recolor Artwork panel has just gone through a major update and now allows for more color variations. It is now more compact and scaled down to just show the more popular tasks, but still offers an Advanced Options button to get to the panel as it used to be.

Aside from Sensei, Adobe has also introduced several additional features to Illustrator in this latest update:

• Collaborative editing: Edit with a friend or colleague by utilizing Adobe Cloud sharing.
• Patterns in a click: Repeat is Illustrator's new way to produce complex patterns quickly. Under the Repeat command, you can now develop patterns using either Radial, Grid, or Mirror methods.
• Enhanced Glyph Snapping: Aligning your graphic elements to your text in several ways.
• Cloud documents: Adobe has made major strides in developing a true cloud-based option for file storage and integration. Although they have used the Creative Cloud moniker for many years, it is only recently allowing full-scale storage, offline editing, and collaboration.

In addition to all these latest features that have been brought to the desktop version of Illustrator, Adobe has also been working hard to improve Illustrator on the iPad.

Illustrator on the iPad

Adobe has already had success with adapting several of its desktop applications to mobile devices, and now it is Illustrator's turn. At this time, they have developed the Illustrator iPad version, but have not developed a version for other platforms. If history repeats itself, they may develop something for additional platforms later.

Here are some new features for Illustrator on the iPad:

• Work offline: This is welcome news to anyone that travels and does not always have the good fortune to be connected to the internet.
• Advanced export controls: More options for file types and control for each have been added. You can export your iPad illustration as a JPEG, PNG, SVG, PDF, or PSD. Depending on which file format you choose, several options will be made available to you, such as color model, quality, and the resolution intended for the document. In addition, you will now be able to export the entire document, an artboard or range of artboards, or a selection.
• Enhanced Blob Brush: This tool is now working much like it would in the desktop version.
• Transparency grid viewer: Bringing over this display option from the desktop version, you can now set the view of your artboard to transparent instead of the default white.
• Support for template format: Adobe has taken a major step toward making the app a professional-level tool by adding support for template format. This allows the use of prefabricated templates to accelerate your workflow.

  Important Note

  Adobe Illustrator on the iPad is getting updates at a feverish pace, but this book will cover the options that are available at the time of publishing.

  At the time of this writing, Adobe has updated Illustrator to include native support for the new Apple Silicon M1 chip. This is a perfect example of how the improvements come at a faster and less regulated pace than in the past. Since changing from a single purchase (with upgrades) model to the subscription model, we have been given access to updates as soon as they have been beta-tested and deemed ready for consumers.