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Can you recommend a good alternative to Adobe Illustrator for Mac. I learning vector based graphic design, but I am not ready to make such a large investment to purchase a copy of Adobe Illustrator. Also, Illustrator might be a little more power than I need at the moment.

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I still use an old copy of Macromedia Freehand for a lot of vector work. It's very lightweight and I still find I can do some things faster with it than in Illustrator. – JYelton Aug 31 '11 at 15:55
Just FYI for future generations reading this question, Adobe is selling Studet & Teacher versions of their software at HUGE discounts (like, 70-90% off the normal price). You can't resell that software, and are allowed to use it only on your own machine, but it can be a great deal if you're in the right situation. – Pekka 웃 Sep 7 '11 at 12:28

9 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Inkscape is a good alternative, and if you want more complicated vector graphic, you could try Torapp guilloche designer, it is free and runs in Chrome 20 and above. No installation and plugin is needed.

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up vote 0 down vote

I found that none of the above have recommended Pixelmator, which in my opinion is one of the best parallels to Ai.

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Pixelmator is primarily a raster image editor. AI is vector based. Pixelmator is more of an alternative to PhotoShop. – DA01 Aug 31 '11 at 15:02
@DA01 accepted. I missed to notice that point. Cheers! :) – ikartik90 Aug 31 '11 at 18:07
up vote 2 down vote

If you're comfortable with Ubuntu (either in VM or dual booting), I suggest Xara Xtreme for Linux: http://www.xaraxtreme.org/

It's really powerful, commercially tested, and is by far the best open source illustration software.

Here are some examples:

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Why is Dick Cheney conducting an orchestra? – DA01 Aug 31 '11 at 15:01
I would love to see Inkscape look this nice. – expiredninja Apr 24 '12 at 4:45
up vote 0 down vote

You should try 'artbaord' http://www.mapdiva.com/artboard/ It can do what adobe illustrator can do but for cheaper, plus it has loads of free to use clipart.

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anyone else used artboard? Would be interested in hearing more about i. – DA01 Jul 9 '12 at 21:07
up vote 1 down vote

From 5 best free vector graphics editor :

  1. Inkscape : the reference from open-source. Should works on every platform
  2. Karbon : Works on every platform but got less options than inkscape.
  3. Aviary : Works online, you only need a browser. It's quite powerful but require flash player. So say good buy to iPad ;)
  4. Draw Plus Starter Edition : As powerful as inkscape but quite... more beautiful interface (subjective, I know). Works only on windows.
  5. Creative Docs : Microsoft product, so only on windows (requires .net 3). I don't know it...

If you need more ideas, try the list of vector graphics editor's wikipedia page ! Pretty complete with free and... less free software ;)

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up vote 18 down vote

Check out Inkscape:

http://inkscape.org/

Inkscape is a free (and open-source) SVG vector graphics editing program. I've never used Illustrator, so I can't directly compare, but I've done all of my work in Inkscape and it is quite capable.

You might also want to check out Inkscape's tutorial for Illustrator users: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Inkscape_for_Adobe_Illustrator_users

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+1 @Computerish : Thanks for that 2nd link! – bguiz Mar 20 '11 at 8:29
up vote 4 down vote

Adobe Fireworks is a cheaper alternative to Illustrator, but it can still handle vector graphics. The downside is that you'll miss out on features like Live Trace, Live Paint, and a lot of the filters.

Also, you can try Inkscape for free. Both, however, are a different workflow than Illustrator. Also, if you're looking for a free Photoshop alternative, try GIMP.

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GIMP is a raster editor and not really suitable for vector graphics editing. – Computerish Jan 5 '11 at 2:13
Thank, Computerish. I updated my answer. – Virtuosi Media Jan 5 '11 at 2:19
up vote 1 down vote

Inkscape is the free alternative. I've never used Illustrator so I don't know how well its features compares to Illustrator (however others have done comparisons). It is quite feature rich and powerful nonetheless: check out some of the screenshots here. Also it might be just perfect for you since you say you are only learning and not looking for something that will overwhelm you with its plethora of features.

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up vote 6 down vote

You might try something like Corel Draw. It is significantly less money and very full-featured.

Still might be a bit more pricey than you're looking for, though.

If you were very recently a student be sure to check to see if you can get education-version prices. Or see if you can find an older version of software at a lower price since most of the core functionality will still be there.

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+1 I have done print design work for a long time on the cheap with used or special-deal licenses of older versions of this program, and it's always fared well. In my experience, it also is fairly popular with printing companies, which means a lot – Pekka 웃 Jan 5 '11 at 21:52
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@Pekka - this. Older versions of Corel Draw can be picked up off ebay quite cheaply. Often cheap enough to be worth buying just for the Bitstream fonts. – ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells Sep 7 '11 at 12:13
Oh yeah! it does come with a pretty extensive font collection as well :p – Damon Sep 7 '11 at 12:51

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