I saw on another thread (Tofus link one) that illustator is adobes vector drawing prog.
If i need to do a significant amount of vector work i use macromedia flash 8. This is because i like the create square tool then shaping it with the free transform.
Can you do this in illustrator? can illustrator handle animation as well?

firstly, Illustrator cant handle animation, it's just for drawing.

The best thing to tell you to sum up both packages is that flash is best used for cartoon graphics and animation, but if you really want to start looking into realistic vectors and complex illustrations etc. then your best bet is to look into illustrator.

Tool differences:
The method you describe in flash, you can actually do in illustrator aswell, but I prefer to use flash for it as illustrator is... more precise (sound like a good thing but sometimes it's not)... and isn't as easy to use (that said, there is some variety in how you can distort the shape in illustrator, which is a plus).

However, illustrator has the pencil tool, which is the quickest way to make accurate vectors, period. Much more accurate and faster than flash.

Of course to make accurate vectors you could use the pen tool in flash, or in illustrator, or in photoshop. But generally speaking it's actually much better in photoshop so i would stick with that

Although Flash's autotrace is pretty poor, illustrator has a feature called live trace which is surprisingly good. This feature is only availible on creative suite though.

Features:
In illustrator you have countless features which you can apply to your vectors (like blends, which save you a lot of work), which really saves your ass if you need a quick texture or the like. I used to do vectors in flash but I hated the size restrictions and the clumsy tools.

Of course in flash you don't really have any features acossiated with your vectors (not particularly time saving or usefull ones anyways)

Downside:
The downside is of illustrator is that it takes a lot of learning and using to get used to the interface, and with the way opacity masks work, I wouldn't bother doing masks in illustrator, do them in photoshop or equivalent. It's worth learning it though if you want to make your illustrations better....

Ok that's about all I can think of, but I use illustrator daily so if you have any questions just post em here and ill do the best I can to answer

If your on a tight budget try www.inkscape.org for a free vector program. That's more general advice, but try it anyway if you don't try illustrator, just to see how it compares with flash

I hope this helps someone...

For me drawing and modifying vectors in CorelDraw is much easier. Paths are easier to control. Boolean shapes (cut, join, intersect) work like a charm. And the interface is so much better that Illustrator. That said it sadly lacks many of the rich features found in Illustrator and the Color Management is in a world of its own.

True wisdom" as it is written, so shall it be!

im gonna try illustrator but it think ill stick with flash the vectors i mae are usually cartooon like in style and when i do need to create a more professional vector i use photoshop.

i am gonna try it though sounds alot tougher than flash...

I wrote all that for you so you better be gratefull

i am very grateful very sorry i forgot to say thanks.

many thanks:

just kidding but thanks

Does it create true vector images, or is it a raster based "vector"?

The CorelDraw application is a true vector program. The software bundle (currently dubbed Corel Graphics Suite X3) includes a number of apps, some good, some not so, the main ones are:

CorelDraw - vector graphics (with a nice set of import/export features including Illustrator, PDF and dozens of other popular and not so popular formats)
CorelPhotoPaint - raster images (I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole)
CorelTrace - raster to vector conversion (very decent)
Plus a bunch of fonts and clipart

All for a reasonable price of $399

ive downloaded the trial for illustator can you get a layers menu like in flash to hide, lock and outline layers? i like the pencil tool alot and see what you mean about the more accurate and clean look

yeah should all be availible in the layers window. if it's not open then go to window>Layers or something equivilant

Press ctrl+y to see outlines (I think, otherwise theres an option in the layers window)

Learn how to use brushes, and create your own brushes, they look great and they speed up your workflow a lot