This is the second of a series of reviews that will cover what is contained in the Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) Master Collection. When Adobe released CS4 this fall, they not only released single version products, but also six separate suites of products. They are Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, and Master Collection. You can go online to compare what is contained in each version. The goal of this series it to define what each product does and provide information of what the new version brings to the table.

What do you need to run Adobe Illustrator CS4? On Windows you need an 2GHz or faster processor, Windows XP SP2 or Vista; on Mac, PowerPC® G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor, Mac OS X v10.4.11 – 10.5.4 (Leopard), 512 MB RAM, 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) with a 16-bit video card, 2GB of hard drive space and DVD-ROM drive.

Illustrator CS4 is the vector-based graphics editor that is developed and published by Adobe Systems. It was first developed for the Apple Macintosh in 1986 and it is the companion product of Adobe Photoshop. It wasn't until Illustrator 7 released in 1997 with ports for both Windows and Mac that Illustrator became a standard for designers. Illustrator CS4 is technically version 14.

Illustrator CS4 is a vector graphics editor. That is, it is an editor that allows users to create sharp-edged artistic illustrations such as cartoons, clip-art, and complex geometric patterns. The other popular image editing format is a bitmap format. Adobe Photoshop is a raster image editor.

So what is new with Illustrator CS4?

• Multiple Artboards — allows you to create up to 100 artboards of varying sizes and then lets you display them any way you want. This means that if you have a project where you need to create a letterhead, business card, poster, Web graphics, etc., you can store them all in one file. This also makes it easier to copy and use elements between designs. You can also use common styles and attributes so that when you update one, you update them all.

• Blob Brush Tool — will let you experience that feel of finger painting that you did when you were a child. It will allow you to sketch naturally with strokes that flow together. Used along with the Eraser and Smooth tools, you can experiment and perfect new shapes without having to open a panel.