Adobe Illustrator 10 is the last version for Mac OS 9.
In terms of head-to-head software competitions, none has been more heated than the one between Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia FreeHand. In the past four versions, a trend has emerged: FreeHand has come out with a feature first, then Illustrator has included the same feature one or two versions later, usually implementing it more thoroughly and with greater sophistication. For example, way back in version 8, FreeHand introduced transparency; in version 9, Illustrator did it one better by adding effects like blending modes, feathering, and glowing edges.
With Illustrator 10, Adobe once again improves on features previously introduced in FreeHand, most notably Symbols and Envelope distortion. And Illustrator breaks new ground with improvements to some standard art tools, creating more-versatile selection tools and object-independent Styles.
When programs such as Macromedia Flash and FreeHand first introduced them. Symbols primarily served to make one object act as the parent or master for other objects: If you changed the parent, the other instances also changed. Although many people agreed that Illustrator needed to add a way to work with Symbols, few envisioned that the feature had much more to offer.
Illustrator 10's robust Symbolism tools go far beyond FreeHand’s Symbols. Naturally you can use a Symbol as a master object to control many other objects scattered around the page. This is very helpful for cartographers or landscape artists who need to use the same object many different times on a page. Rather than stop there, though, Adobe created a whole new way to work with Symbols. The Symbolism tools allow you to select a Symbol and spray it on the canvas with the Symbol Sprayer tool — for example, you can select the Sequoia Symbol and paint a forest in a couple of swaths, and still modify or replace them all (via the master Symbol) at any time. The Symbolism tools alone could have formed the basis of an entire application, so packing them into Illustrator 10 offers a genuine bonus.
It’s taken Adobe a long while to match FreeHand’s object-distorting Envelope commands, but Adobe has again upped the ante. In contrast to FreeHand’s simple Envelopes feature, Illustrator has three different ways of distorting objects.
First, there are Illustrator’s new Warp effects, which you control (with live previews) via dialog boxes and sliders. Applying and modifying these effects is extremely easy, and you can combine them for more variations. Best of all, you can save and store your effects in Illustrator’s Styles palette and reapply them to other objects.
Second, Illustrator’s version of FreeHand’s Envelope tool allows you to use any object. Including the standard preset shapes (such as Fish, Bulge, Squeeze, Arcs, and Shells), as the Envelope shape for a distortion. And you can modify Envelope shapes after you’ve applied them.
Illustrator has broken new ground in Envelope territory. Instead of just modifying the outside path of the Envelope, Illustrator’s Envelope Mesh feature adds vector paths within the Envelope to give objects a 3D appearance — we used it to make flags ripple and to add waves to water.
Illustrator’s selection tools and commands have needed improvement for quite some time. Rather than duplicate FreeHand’s Graphic Search And Replace dialog box, the Illustrator team has created a Magic Wand selection tool. Anyone who has ever used Photoshop knows how this tool works-you select it and click a particular color to select similar colors. A low tolerance selects a limited range of colors; a higher tolerance selects a greater range. Illustrator’s Magic Wand palette lets you set which attributes — Fill Color, Stroke Color, Stroke Weight, Opacity, or Blending Mode — the wand will select. Once you have selected one attribute, you can hold the Shift key to add more. The only thing the Magic Wand can’t do is select by object shape.
The Magic Wand isn’t the only set of commands for selecting objects; Illustrator 10 also adds a new Select menu with the Save Selection command. This means once you have worked hard to select a certain array of objects, you can save your selection in a command that appears in the Select menu.
Illustrator 10 also includes an impressive list of Web tools. For instance, you can slice up images and optimize each slice with individual settings before exporting them as GIFs or JPEGs for the Web. Even better, the Make Slice command creates dynamic slices that change size along with their parent object. You can then import the Illustrator object into Adobe GoLive, where the slices remain intact.
Although Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are still few and far between on the Web, Adobe has enhanced Illustrator’s SVG support, so applying XML-based SVG filters such as Gaussian Blur, Bevel, and Wood grain is easy — you just select a filter from the SVG Rlters list in the Effects menu. Flowever, you still need to know XML to make your own SVG Filters, or JavaScript to create truly interactive SVG files — something most designers have little time or inclination to learn. We’d rather Adobe put its energy into beefing up Illustrator’s Flash Export capabilities, which are still (understandably) a few versions behind FreeHand’s.
Adobe has also added support for variable-data graphics that you can use with products such as AlterCast (Adobe’s dynamic imaging server software). Once again, this is not a feature designers and artists sit up and beg for, but It’s a plus for those who want to automate printing and Web-graphics production.
Illustrator 10 is the very first creation tool Adobe has Carbonized for Mac OS X. Adobe did a nice job of translating Illustrator to the new operating system. But a side-by-side comparison of onscreen elements reveals that Adobe scrimped a bit on the yummy Aqua interface. Illustrator still uses the old modal dialog boxes instead of Aqua’s Sheets, and the main Tools palette looks nearly identical to the one in OS 9 — or in Windows 98. However, since Illustrator 10’s native file format supports PDF, the OS X Preview application can open and display Illustrator files.
Finally, some of Illustrator 10’s new features seem gratuitous, as if Adobe was simply padding the feature-comparison chart. How else to explain the Polar Grid, Grid, and Line tools? Perhaps some technical illustrators may find them useful, but not the average user. These tools hardly match the Lens Flare tool in the contest for most unnecessary tool introduced in Illustrator 10.
As if that weren’t enough baggage, Adobe has added seven new distortion tools based on the distortion brushes found in Virtual Mirror’s Vector Studio. These tools let you mush and push vector paths without regard for Bézier handles or anchor points. While the thought of manipulating paths just by pushing or pulling sounds attractive, the results are ugly and imprecise.
Although FreeHand has a few more layout tools such as multiple pages and master pages, when it comes to graphics and design, Adobe’s advanced Symbolism, Style, and selection tools have allowed Illustrator to leapfrog way ahead of its competition.
Cohen, Sandee. (March 2002). Illustrator 10. MacAddict. (pgs. 44-45).
Adobe Systems, Inc.
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Adobe_Illustrator_10-0-3.toast.zip
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
QEMU
