Intuitive Tools for Digital Artists

Adobe Illustrator CS6 Astute Graphics plugin developments

Illustrator CS6 example artwork by Sabine Reinhart

Last Monday, Adobe published full details of Illustrator CS6 via their Inside Adobe Illustrator blog, thereby removing the veil of secrecy surrounding their hard work over the past two y
ears. Previous previews demonstrated CS6′s new pattern tool and gradients on a stroke. But in our opinion, it is the less glamorous underlying work which should capture user’s attention.

Hello 64-bit!

For some years, the ability to load computers with 8Gb of RAM or more was within reach for many — both technically and financially. But Illustrator stubbornly remained capable of only accessing 2 or 3Gb of that. Why? Because 25+ years ago (when Illustrator first saw light), a 64 bit machine was not exactly on the horizon. Time has moved on and it was getting more important that Adobe did likewise with its most established design package.

Now Illustrator will finally be 64-bit capable on both Mac OS and Windows. We’re not going to go into details of this, as ex-Illustrator product manager Mordy Golding has already done an excellent job of that in his Real World Illustrator blog post. Suffice it to say, this huge undertaking has ensured Illustrator has a long future ahead of it.

It’s gone all dark

Ah… the new user interface. When Brenda Sutherland (the current Illustrator product manager) previewed CS6, the most immediate and noticeable change was the user interface. It looked very dark compared to the existing light grey color. Icons has also changed and panels had subtly altered too.

This is all down to the new “pro-look” UI style that the likes of Adobe and Apple started using in Lightroom and video-based software products. Photoshop has it too now, so that is obviously the future direction to be adhered too. But fear not the dark side — you can easily push a slider and get the sun shining on your display again…

Controlling Illustrator CS6's dark side
(Click on the image for a larger version)

However, to the world of plugin development, the new UI is much more than light and dark and any shade of grey in the middle. It represents a sea-change in how plugins operate within Illustrator. Without going into the technicalities — you shouldn’t have to care, it has resulted in the need to completely recreate all the user-interfaces within our plugins. Not only to follow the new light/dark options (that’s minor!) but everything else as well. For both Windows and Mac OS individually.

This isn’t a rant on our part. We know the challenges and we’re naturally busy at work on the updates. But it does translate to the single largest update ever required since our first plugin release in 2006.

One of the key aspects that we are at pains of ensuring is our consistent approach to our UI’s. All our products have always looked and felt to be an integral part of the Illustrator workflow, which has in part ensured the gushing, kind feedback we regularly receive (thank you!). But ensuring this level of polish to the UI isn’t an overnight task when you start from scratch again. Rest assured, we’ll do our best to get it right!

OK – when will CS6 plugins be out?

Yes, the previous paragraph was written to prepare you for the fact that DrawScribe, VectorScribe and Phantasm CS will not be available the first day Adobe makes Illustrator CS6 available. To cut to the chase, we are only stating “summer 2012″ at the moment. After all, collectively our plugins have 100′s of dialog boxes (some very sophisticated) that require converting.

But there’s definitely light on the horizon. You may have noticed that SubScribe was not included in the previous list. That is because the Mac OS version is already fully functioning in CS6…

SubScribe Designer operating in Illustrator CS6

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the header image for this article also shows SubScribe operating in Illustrator CS6 (drawing a curvature circle in one of the great new Illustrator example pieces by Sabine Reinhart).

Bar some new icons to better blend into CS6, the Mac version of SubScribe may well be available sooner than the other plugins. This may seem crazy as SubScribe is our free thank-you-to-our-customers plugin. But internally, SubScribe also has the very important role of being the development mule for CS6 conversion work.

When will I be able to buy a CS6 plugin upgrade?

Firstly, anybody why buys our plugins today, will get a license key which may be used with CS6 versions of the plugins when made available. More details of recent customer orders also gaining access to CS6 license keys may be found here…

We currently plan to only sell upgrades when the final upgraded versions are available. But we are still deciding on certain details, including whether we should make (quite stable) public betas available beforehand so that early adopters of CS6 can transition as quickly as possible. Keep an eye on our blog posts for updates!

Comments (30)

  1. Glad to see the CS6 plugins are on the way. I can only imagine the convoluted delights involved in porting them!

    Got CS6 Master Collection last night, and everything seems to be working perfectly. (Skipped Ashutosh’s GM download.)

    I’m really looking forward to plugging all my indispensible Astute tools back in….

  2. Thanks Allen – progress is good, but there’s an extensive upgrade needed to make it compatible with CS6. Thanks for bearing with us!

  3. I´m looking forward for my CS6 version of the plug in, as an artist who came from flash, this feature is a rare-ignored by adobe, i miss the power of drag paths, the easy way.

    I´ll be waiting,

    Thanks.

    Ray

  5. It would be a nice gesture in keeping with other developers to release a compatibility update for free or inexpensive if there are no new features in the CS6 compatible version. I dearly hope we won’t have to pay a standard upgrade cost we would normally expect to pay for a feature upgrade…I love these tools but blew my budget on the CS6 upgrade. may have to hop between Illustrator CS5 and CS6 to access the tools I need otherwise. Any clarity here?
    Thanks, Rod.

  6. Hi Rod – to clarify, the upgrade is free for all customers who purchased on or after 28 March 2012. This includes all DrawScribe purchases (which is our most recent product). For further information, please refer to http://www.astutegraphics.com/blog/update-extended-period-for-complimentary-plugin-illustrator-cs6-upgrades/

    The upgrade cost will be set as low as possible and we do expect to make a financial loss from this. This upgrade process is greater than any work required for any previous paid product upgrades – it’s that major.

    We obviously like to ensure we’re inline with the general market; please can you provide details of other major commercial Illustrator plugins which are being upgraded to CS6 freely?

  7. well, Xtream Path from CValley says it’s plugin will be a free compatibility update available in the fall. many of their features overlap with Vectorscribe and then they both also have distinct features. I was also referring not just to Illustrator but to plugin developers in general. I do understand and appreciate that you have to make a living and am sorry to hear what a beast it is to update for CS6. that part is invisible to us end users and our assumption would be that most of the code is already there. All the best in getting this one complete.

    just a suggestion here, but perhaps you would consider a promotional offer for a short period of time…along with purchasing an update that essentially gives you the same tools you already own (just updated compatibility) one could purchase an additional plugin at a special discounted price. Incentive to upgrade and a chance to expand toolset to make it feel more worthwhile. I’m sure you have your business plans already in place, but just a suggestion.

    thanks, Rod

  8. Thanks for the response, Rod and the info. We will still be charging for purchases made prior to 28 March 2012, but we have previously provided a discounted upgrade period (see http://bit.ly/KwQ0Xq) so we may not be averse to this. But it’s still too early to announce details.

    Thanks for your good wishes – appreciated!

  9. Hi Astute Graphics!

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE my AG plugins (Vector- Draw- and Sub-Scribe) like the genius children that they are, and I am LOVING muchly my shiny new CS6 Master Collection (remember kids, Illustrator for the win!).

    I hope that they’ll all be able to play together soon!

    Keep up the great work guys!

  11. It seems so unfair that I only got to spend a few short months with your plugins before they were taken away from me by Adobe in the blink of an eye.

    *wipes away a tear*

    I’ll leave a candle burning in a window of AICS6

  12. Since I needed to upgraded to CS6 I’m patiently waiting for CS6 compatibility. Since I joined the betatest team a little while earlier, I was wondering where to obtain the beta versions of VectorScribe, DrawScribe and Subsribe for Illustrator CS6, so I’d still be able to continue the my daytime without too much hassle. Thanks.

  14. Hi Gurt – we’ll announce our beta testing plans in due course. It is likely to be a more open beta testing cycle than previously.

    And thanks to Chris and Miguel for your comment ;)

  15. An open beta would be very very welcome, since using the tools sooner rather than later would be much appreciated for those of us that are stepping right into CS6. For example I just purchased your products, but I am also in the process of migrating to a new workstation and don’t plan on loading anything but CS6, so straddling isn’t even an option in my case. I’ll have to live without until something that works on CS6 is made available. I bet I’m not the only one moving forward and not looking back.

  17. Although not ideal .. I’ve began working with illustrator cs5 and 6 open at the same time …

    Astuting when I can in cs5 .. and pasting into cs6 …

    Why I just don’t work in CS5 til the update I don’t know … I think it’s the dark interface !!!

    Best of luck with the development, can’t wait for the CS6 version too … sorely missed !!!!

  18. Thanks for the comments, Jim, Matt and Arron. Good progress is being made, even though it remains one of the largest development tasks we have undertaken. However, other benefits may become apparent over the coming year including internationalisation (not a priority for the initial CS6 release).

  19. I did’t realize how much I depended on the plugins until I installed and started bringing files into CS6. Do you guys have an approximated release date? This would be helpful as we plan the months ahead in our creative department.

  20. Hi Chris – we understand the desire to move over as soon as possible. We are now closer to being in a position where we can give a more accurate prediction of dates. However, until we’re able to do so, we have to stay with the “summer 2012″ suggestion – we don’t wish to mislead users.

  21. Right now it’s winter in Australia, does that mean us Aussies will have to wait another 6 months?

  23. Down here we would refer to the summer we just had as Summer 2012, so, Nick, you’re late ;-)

    Really hanging out… Will you be emailing users as soon as it is released or do we need to check back here?

  25. Hello Nick,

    Since my CS6 upgrade a couple of weeks ago, I now start to realize how much Vectorscribe & Subscribe were an integral part of my design process. I’m not trying to get answers that you probably can’t accurately give, but I wonder if there’s some estimate you can provide when these plug-ins will become CS6 compatible?

    I know these questions has been asked before and if I knew I had to wait a few months to be able to use these time-saving plug-ins in CS6, I honestly think I wouldn’t have upgraded in the first place. Unfortunately, downgrading to CS5.5 is not a realistic option for me…

    If there’s a beta version available, or if could be of any assistance to help progress development of these plug-ins, I’d be happy to know how to proceed from here.

  26. I am struggling here without you in CS6. Have to make edits to older files that I used your plugins on and can’t!!! AAAHAHAHAHAHH!

  27. I’m not upgrading to CS7 until after Astute Graphics update the plugins. Lesson learned the hard way.

    In fact, considering what an integral part of my workflow the AG plugins are, and how much better they are than Illustrator’s native tools, I’m surprised you guys don’t just develop a competitor to Illustrator.

  28. As much I as LOVE Astute Graphics, I have no problem working in CS6 without their great plug-ins. I work at companies that did not have these plug-ins so I am used to working in Illustrator with just their native tools. Will be glad when AG updates, though. Cheers!

  29. “The next positive update is due in the next few weeks.’

    C’mon guys, you wrote this over 3 weeks ago! Any news?

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