FreeHand has been expanded. No, we don’t mean a new version has been released (although one is very near). What we’re referring to here is FreeHand’s little-known ability to have its feature set extended through software add-ons, called XTRAS. These function much like QuarkXPress’ Xtensions or the additional tools available in Canvas or SuperPaint. Add them to your system and your program magically grows new features.
Several new XTRAS have come out recently. Let’s take a look…
EPS Exchange
The world of serious PostScript illustration in the Mac world is split between the users of Adobe Illustrator and Aldus FreeHand. If you’ve ever read a review of either of these programs, you’ve heard that you should probably learn to use both. Each program is “complete,” but each offers a few features not found in the other. FreeHand is easier to use, allows you to work in preview mode, has layers, and is far superior when it comes to gradient fills. On the other hand, the current version of Illustrator has the edge when it comes to wraparound text blocks and creating charts.
This wouldn’t really be too big a problem if the two programs could share information freely, allowing the user to jump back and forth between them, taking advantage of the best features of each program. Up until now, however, this has been a one-sided situation; FreeHand has always had the ability to open documents created in Illustrator 1.1 or Illustrator 88, but Illustrator has never been smart enough to gain access to a FreeHand document.
With the introduction of EPS Exchange, all of that has changed. This enhancement to FreeHand allows the program to save documents in Illustrator format. EPS Exchange comes from Altsys, the company that wrote FreeHand. (Aldus merely “publishes” it.) Altsys is also responsible for Fontographer and Metamorphosis Professional.
EPS Exchange is simple to install and use; just slip it into the Aldus folder in your System Folder. That’s all there is to it! The manual is only sixteen pages long, an indication of the program’s simplicity of use. In fact, the actual instructions take up only four pages. The rest of the manual consists of helpful tips on coping with the minor limitations of the conversion.
All of the changes to FreeHand are embodied in the Save and Export dialog boxes. Two new choices are available in each: Illustrator 3.0 and Illustrator 88. Simply choose the desired format, and the conversion will be made.
EPS Exchange is very resourceful at this, especially considering the different ways that FreeHand and Illustrator work. Consider the gradient fill: FreeHand offers this feature as a quick and easy-to-use command, but Illustrator has no corresponding feature. Instead, in Illustrator you must create a “blend” of two shapes and then “Mask” it into a shape—a complex procedure taking several steps. (Many Illustrator users don’t know how to do this—or don’t bother.) FreeHand can store a graduated fill effect in about 50 bytes, whereas Illustrator might take 1 Kbyte or more to store a comparable effect.
There are several FreeHand effects which Illustrator finds difficult to handle (even/odd fills, patterned fills, vertically aligned text, etc.), but the manual gives tips on dealing with these problems.
In our tests, the converted Illustrator files were always larger than their FeeeHand originals—two to five times as large—but this might be due in part to the fact that all of our tests used graduated fills. On LaserWriter printouts, we couldn’t see any difference between the FreeHand originals or their Illustrator counterparts. We also made a few tests with a color printer and an imagesetter, and the differences were very subtle. With the few exceptions noted in the manual, we couldn’t find any FreeHand effects that EPS Exchange couldn’t convert to Illustrator format: text along a path or on an ellipse, fills and blends, process and spot colors, masking, and compound paths.
At a retail price of $149 (street: $90), EPS Exchange might seem a little high, but there’s really no competition.
Real World FreeHand 3, The Disk
Real World FreeHand 3, by Olav Kvern (Peachpit Press) has become almost required reading in these parts for anyone serious about PostScript drawing. The author’s practical, down-to-earth explanations and tips have proven themselves on numerous occasions. What many readers might have missed is the tear-out card in the back of the book advertising the disk supplement to the book. Priced at $20, it contains a wealth of data, including 14 new custom PostScript lines and 27 new fills. There are also a number of FHX3 files (of the same type as Altsys’ XTRAS, above) which extend FreeHand’s abilities. One of these adds 9 new halftone screen patterns to FreeHand’s menu.
There’s lots more, too: ColorMaker is a small application which helps in the creation of color libraries. Other FHX3 files allow for transparent textured fills or transparent TIFF files. There are several sample files, including some tiling and latticework fills. There’s even a new FreeHand startup screen for aficionados.
If you benefitted from the book (and who didn’t?), you’ll find more of the same on the disk.
The article above is reprinted from Mac Monitor, the newsletter of The Savannah Macintosh Users Group. It may be reprinted in a single issue of newsletters published by non-profit user groups. Payment shall consist of a single issue of the newsletter in which the article appears, sent to the following address:
