Adobe Illustrator

 

This is the most wonderful, amazing, versatile application ever created! At UNLV people pay $350+ for a 6 week course with me to learn this program and you get to learn it FOR FREE here at Rancho! (It is much more on the main UNLV campus for a day class.)

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PUT THIS INFORMATION IN YOUR NOTEBOOK:

 

Illustrator generates what is called vector art.

 

Photoshop generates what is called raster art.

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So what is the difference? Vector art is based on a mathematical equation. That equation never ever changes so what that means is if you write 2+2 really small or if you write 2+2 in numbers the size of a planet, the answer is still 4 -- so it is the same with Illustrator. That equation never changes so despite how small or how large you make an object or objects, they retain their clean, smooth edges and look.

 

Photoshop on the other hand, is based on the number of pixels inside of 1 square inch. You maybe have heard of DPI or PPI? They are referring to the same thing: Dots Per Inch or Pixels Per Inch -- meaning how many dots occupy a 1" square. The internet is configured at 72, 100 and 150 DPI. Printed materials have to be a minimum of 300 DPI. So if you take an image that has a fixed pixel ratio and you make it bigger, you really only make the 1" square a larger area, you aren't increasing the number of pixels that occupy that space. So when you print things out from the internet sometimes, you get boxes of color, or they looked jagged, this is why.