Composer Vs. Illustrator

[Tattoosleeve]

This is a little ongoing debate we have at the shop. Us old salty dogs who grew up on Composer are trying to educate the youth on sign specific tools that are just missing in Illustrator

 

[ams]

I started on composer myself. I still have a copy. It is superior on certain things and makes things easier. I've always disliked AI and only use Corel. But composer still to this day has it's place.

 

[Gino]

Judging by your kerning and use of negative space, neither program is working well for ya.

Personally, started out with hand to eye layouts and execution, but went to the Sprint, which was before composer and then to ANAgraph and got Composer back in the late 80's or early 90's. Not quite sure exactly when. Then, I guess it turned into omega.

To me, it always seemed the old CAS type programs were designed around making signs for fonts available, kerning and other features needed more in sign making, while back then... Illustrator and Corel were more for desktop kinda work, like an agency would use. As time went on, they all seemed to fuse together, but I do think the older programs did a lot more and had better cutting technology in it. Less nodes for sure.

 

[ChrisN]

For a start, try to make your meme in Composer. If you can do that, it might help your point a little...

 

[Rick]

I worked in Composer as well... was also a Corel user back then...
Now I work in Illustrator...

There are two sayings that apply here...

"The right tool for the right job"

"You can't teach an old (salty) dog, new tricks"

 

[Tattoosleeve]

Judging by your kerning and use of negative space, neither program is working well for ya

This was created on a meme generator website, you just type in the text and it auto-generates the picture, definitely not an indicator of my layout skills.

Illustrator is of course better than Composer in a multitude of ways (layers for instance) and vice-versa. Just thought this was a fun little joke.

 

[AKwrapguy]

I think that we've had this conversation before.... I use Composer, Corel, Illustrator, Photoshop, Flexi, 3DS Max, and more. These are all just tools. Some tools are more specialized than others, it doesn't mean that one is better. This idea that one program or company is better than another is short sited and make wonder about ones mental capacity. I'm by no means saying that everyone needs to learn everything or be an expert in any or all programs, but this notion that X software is better than X software needs to go.

Do you limit yourself anywhere else in life? Sorry I won't wrap your new Ford truck cause it's not magnetic, and I only use magnets to hold my material up? Sorry I can't do this job because I don't have the software, I only work in .plt files or .psd files or whatever bullshit crap you want limit your self to.

Tell the old men and the younger employees to pull their head of asses and just get it done.

 

[Gino]

This was created on a meme generator website, you just type in the text and it auto-generates the picture, definitely not an indicator of my layout skills.

Illustrator is of course better than Composer in a multitude of ways (layers for instance) and vice-versa. Just thought this was a fun little joke.

Yeah, pretty much what I thought. Glad you understand my dry humor.................

 

[Tattoosleeve]

I think that we've had this conversation before.... I use Composer, Corel, Illustrator, Photoshop, Flexi, 3DS Max, and more. These are all just tools. Some tools are more specialized than others, it doesn't mean that one is better. This idea that one program or company is better than another is short sited and make wonder about ones mental capacity. I'm by no means saying that everyone needs to learn everything or be an expert in any or all programs, but this notion that X software is better than X software needs to go.

Do you limit yourself anywhere else in life? Sorry I won't wrap your new Ford truck cause it's not magnetic, and I only use magnets to hold my material up? Sorry I can't do this job because I don't have the software, I only work in .plt files or .psd files or whatever bullshit crap you want limit your self to.

Tell the old men and the younger employees to pull their head of asses and just get it done.

This is posted in the humour section.....it's a joke.

 

[TimToad]

This is posted in the humour section.....it's a joke.

I knew it had to be humor because there is so little comparative value between the two programs.

 

[James Burke]

I use both Composer and Illy...along with SignLab, Corel and AutoCAD. Each offers their own unique set of strengths.

Dealing with native files is golden.

JB

 

[Rick]

There is nothing funny about Composer... Now CorelDraw users... that's funny!

 

[Billct2]

"started out with hand to eye layouts and execution, but went to the Sprint, which was before composer and then to ANAgraph and got Composer back in the late 80s"
this was just about my path too. I now use Composer and Corel. Composer was deigned to make signs, so a lot of the tools imitate how a sign painter executed an effect. The outline/shadow tool is better than Corel. And I like the distortion effects too. Lots of time I design the type in Composer and add the other stuff in Corel.

 

[Joe House]

I grew up on Composer as well. I think one of the best things and most underutilized features is the Natural Layout tool based on Mike Stevens' Mastering Layout. Probably the ones that would value it most are the ones who do it naturally by now - the old salty dogs in this crowd.