Re: Pen Tool
I tried teaching Scottish pupils to use the Pen Tool a few years ago when I was still teaching Graphic Communication with poor results. I had 2 rooms for graphic com. one with PC's using C/Draw while the other was Acorns using Art Works (Xara in a previous life) and all wanted to use the Acorns using the Shape Editor as they quickly got results. That is the nub of it as they only had 1/3 of a year to write an illustrate a design brief as well as produce promotional material. My experience with the pupils using the Shape Editor rather than faster computers amplifies Jet's point that it is designed for hobbiest's who don't have the time or patience to learn how to use the Pen Tool. In all honesty it took me 3 months working with the Pen Tool to get fully comfortable using it and to teach pupils how much faster it was. But that was the time when Corel was clunky and slow at re-drawing so when xara came out for the PC we went with that over the whole school as it was so cheap.
When I start work in the real world I had to very quickly get up to speed using Illy which was OK as I was working for myself at that time and I could practice without someone looking over my shoulder. I find now that I am quicker working in AI using the Pen Tool than doing the same workflow in Xara but I don't use the pen tool in Xara as it is hopeless as a tool, always, always the Shape Editor. Again I have to agree with Jet if they don't include the standard bezier tool with all keyboard shortcuts they will not attract anyone away from Adobe or Corel.
Design is thinking made visual.
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