Then came in 2003. Illustrator CS (11.0) was no longer a lone wolf; it was part of a pack with Photoshop and InDesign. The big feature? 3D Effects . You could now map 2D artwork onto a spinning cylinder or cube—slow and clunky by today’s standards, but mind-blowing in 2003.
Adobe bounced back with . This was a landmark release. It introduced Layers (previously, everything lived on one chaotic plane), Spot Colors , and the CMYK color model for professional printing. Illustrator finally became a serious prepress tool. illustrator history
gave us the Live Trace (convert pixel art to vectors) and Live Paint (color like a coloring book, no pen tool required). CS4 (2008) introduced Multiple Artboards , finally allowing designers to manage a business card, letterhead, and envelope in a single file. The 2010s: The Polishing Era (CS5 - CC) By the 2010s, the basics were solved. Now it was about refinement and speed. Then came in 2003