The upgraded Illustrator certainly looks rejuvenated, with a modernized user interface that offers an adjustable "brightness" slider (it's more like choosing along a scale from very dark gray with light gray text to light gray background with dark gray or black text). Speed and performance also get a boost, thanks to the new Adobe Mercury Performance System powering the engine. Another change that's less visible but still quite noticeable in terms of performance in the new Illustrator is native 64-bit support for both Mac and Windows.
Adobe also threw into this point release a few new requisite tools and features, although none of them will be as influential in your decision about whether to upgrade as the improvements in speed and performance, as well as the upgrade pricing structure. Licensees of Adobe Creative Suite products in versions CS3 and CS4 qualify for the upgrade price ($249 in Illustrator's case) until December 31, 2012. The implication—which is not wholly explicit—is that after the deadline, only Adobe CS users of the latest version qualify for the less expensive upgrade. All other users will have to buy the product in full. Depending on which version you're using, now may be the best time to upgrade despite whether CS6 really tickles your fancy.
Speed, Performance, Design
As mentioned, the changes you can't see, like speed and performance, changes in version CS6 of Adobe Illustrator are more important than any new tools and features. Adobe upped the ante by getting Illustrator to take advantage of 64-bit machines, as well as building a revamped engine that powers the whole shebang. The Adobe Mercury Performance System isn't something you'll see, but it will open those enormous and complex files faster and make quicker work of exporting and saving, too.
While not as important as the changes to the underlying power, the new interface is definitely spiffier. Adobe mentions that the UI now has an adjustable "brightness," but it's more about color preferences than screen illumination. You can make the background quite dark, with light text, or vice versa (see the slideshow). Some tweaks in how Illustrator displays menu options that result in a slightly more streamlined interface. That's the kind of change that only power users will see, but if you've been using this behemoth app for some time, it does at least help to shake up the interface a little.
Another notable improvement is a new image-tracing engine that makes tracing work like magic. You can turn practically any image into vector art in just a few seconds—and then convert it to a pattern to reuse in other projects—with plenty of options for the final output. I converted a complex picture of tree leaves into a multi-colored and rich graphic, and then processed it a second time into a six-color configuration. Both processes took seconds. I didn't even have time to leave my chair and make a cup of tea.
Creative Features
With any full point version release, software companies always include a few new tools and features, whether they're truly essential or not. I have a hard time imagining that any user of previous version is going to do a Serena Williams fist pump when introduced to Adobe Illustrator CS6, but the software does introduce a few you may want to use.
I played with the new "gradients on stroke" feature, turning a fat line-drawing of a spiral into… a spiral with a gradient fill. This is a perfect example of the kinds of features that seem thrown in for the sake of having new creative features. I suppose it's great that Illustrator can accomplish this task, but I wonder how often designers will actually use it. My guess is not very often. As I mentioned before, the pattern-creation tool saw some improvements with the new tracing engine, but you can now also create and edit seamlessly tiled vector patterns from the images you trace. For example, you can import an image that would be difficult to reproduce by hand, like an irregularly shaped tree, and tile it out onto a pattern, like for a background image or textile.
Illustrators' Illustrator
There's no equivalent to Adobe Illustrator, and graphics professionals the world over should and will continue to use it, which is in part why it's our Editors' Choice. Whether you should upgrade to version CS6 is the real question. The refreshed interface and improved speed did make a pleasant impression on me, but the creative features did not. It seems, however, that an organization's strategy for upgrading has more to do with the pricing structure than the availability of new tools. Take on CS6 if you're worried about an expensive upgrade price from your current version to 7, and certainly upgrade if you're still on CS4 or earlier.
Click Here to download Adobe Illustrator CS6
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