Adobe Illustrator 7 vs CS2 question

[MajereXYU]

Hello!

(I'm what can be called a Power-User, so I'm not a computer newbie but I'm very unfamiliar with Adobe (design) applications, so please bear with me if some of my questions are somewhat obvious to some of you (I know many here work on Adobe creative apps on a daily basis)

Here goes:
My girlfriend studies design and graphics in college.

Her college uses Adobe Illustrator 7 (PC version).

At home, we are looking into buying Illustrator CS2.

--I was wondering if there was any way she could use CS2 (Mac) at home to do her homework and still be able to hand in her .ai file to the teacher and the teacher being able to open the file in Adobe Illustrator 7 (PC).

The school won't provide an Illustrator 7 install disc (obviously) so my GF has to go to school even on weekends to do her homework.

So, is there any "compatibility mode" like there is in, say, MS Word that allows you to save a document in a way that makes it compatible with previous versions?

Thanks

 

[aboutthat]

Yeah, when you save it, it gives you the option of a bunch of legacy formats that you can use. Obviously, there'll be some differences in what can be included with each file, but as long as its not too complicated, things should work just fine. Your only problem is that, when saving in legacy, there's no Illustrator 7; 3, 8, 9, 10, CS yes, but that's about it.

Short answer: yes, with some limitations.

 

[MajereXYU]

thanks for a quick reply!

gonna try that.

Do you know if the mac version of Illustrator is multilanguage or if I have to buy a separate version to get french support? (GF doesn't speak english).

 

[chaosbunny]

No offense, but teaching 8 year old stuff doesn't really speak for the reputation of that college.

I'd maybe get a (refurb) powerbook for her. If something doesn't work she can still show her work to the teacher with that and hand over a pdf for him to look at it. There are many very useful features in Illustrator CS 1-2 that won't be displayed in a version that old. To ignore these things won't give her a good start in the business.

Just my 2$.

 

[freeny]

No offense, but teaching 8 year old stuff doesn't really speak for the reputation of that college.

Ditto on that!

 

[MajereXYU]

I'm aware of that.

What they are seeing now is just the basics.

I guess later on, when she learns more advanced stuff, they will have more powerful computers and an up to date licence of Illustrator (I hope).

And about that PowerBook part, she cannnot afford it (has an iMac CoreDuo already) and the teacher resquests the students hand over the .ai file so she can see all the info and layers and such.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Illustrator 7?

If there was any defacto Illustrator version from that period, it would be version 8.

I'd be tempted to see if you can find an ultra-cheapo version of Illustrator 7 or 8 on eBay and run it in Classic for best compatibility, downsaving from 8 to 7 if necessary. I think Illustrator 10 may also run on OSX but I'm not entirely sure about that...

Going from CS or CS2 to Illustrator 7 would mean exporting as an Illustrator 3 file which would be a guaranteed cause of headaches.

If you get hold of Illustrator 8, save your pennies for Creative Suite 3 which is about a year away which will be a Universal binary and promises great things for all apps within the suite.

Also, got to watch out for fonts when you're going cross-platform. Unless fonts are rendered as outlines (and therefore become uneditable as text) they'll not render or will reflow depending on the font used.

 

[chaosbunny]

thanks for a quick reply!

gonna try that.

Do you know if the mac version of Illustrator is multilanguage or if I have to buy a separate version to get french support? (GF doesn't speak english).

Yes you have to buy a separate version to get everything displayed in french.

 

[zarathustra]

Illustrator 7?

If there was any defacto Illustrator version from that period, it would be version 8.

Totally disagree. Illustrator 7 was perhaps the most stable Illustrator besides 5. It was a meat and potatoes Illustrator that just was solid. Illustrator 8 introduced new things that eventually led to CS2 with 3D, tracing, non-destructive effects, transparency, and thus a less stable version. I beta tested from 8 to CS2.

Anyways.

You can "export" a CS2 document to version 7. You can no longer "Save As" an older version. You should be able to do it all, with the exception of type, effects and transparency.

 

[dops7107]

I think Illustrator 10 may also run on OSX but I'm not entirely sure about that...

Illy 10 works just fine on OSX 10.3 - 10.4.5 You can also use Illustrator 10 to save as Illustrator 7.0, so this version would suit the OP as well. Should be able to pick up a cheap copy. Plus I seem to remember there are problems with CS1/2 and backwards compatibility with type.

 

[Blue Velvet]

I beta tested from 8 to CS2.

Well, then you can take up that opinion with Vicki Loader then.