Illustrator CS6 / Features

Work with precision, speed, and rock-solid stability on large, complex files due to native 64-bit support on Mac OS and Windows®, with RAM and overall performance optimization.

More about the Mercury Performance System ›

Confidently convert raster images to editable vectors with a powerful tracing engine. Get clean lines, accurate fitting, and reliable results using simple, intuitive controls.

Apply gradients to your strokes — along the length, across the width, or within the stroke itself — all with complete control over gradient placement and opacity.

Take fewer steps to accomplish daily tasks with a streamlined interface. Enjoy inline editing of layer names, precise color sampling, and UI brightness that's smoothly adjustable to match other Adobe tools.

Organize and view up to 100 artboards of varying sizes overlapping or on a grid. Quickly add, delete, reorder, and name. Save, export, and print independently or together.

Draw strokes with variable widths, quickly and smoothly adjusting at any point. Create and save width profiles and apply them to any stroke, or use variable-width presets.

Interact with gradients directly on your object — defining the dimension of elliptical gradients, editing colors, and adjusting opacity. Even create gradients on strokes and meshes.

Use perspective grids to draw shapes and scenes in accurate 1-, 2-, or 3-point linear perspective, creating the look of realistic depth and distance.

Edit object characteristics directly in the Appearance panel, eliminating the need to open fill, stroke, or effects panels.

Create more secure, multipage, graphic-rich PDF files with Illustrator layers retained. Share files confidently with service providers knowing that Illustrator supports PDF/X standards.

Intuitively combine, edit, and fill shapes directly on your artboard without accessing multiple tools and panels.

Paint with vectors that resemble real-world brush strokes. Achieve the expressiveness of natural media with the scalability of vector graphics.

Sketch with a brush that generates a single clean vector shape, even when strokes overlap. Draw naturally, using the Blob Brush tool together with the Eraser and Smooth tools.

Explore, apply, and control color variations. Interactively edit colors on any selection using the Color Guide to assist with themes and Recolor Artwork to quickly apply them.

Work intuitively with arrowheads. Control placement and scaling from within the Stroke panel, even choosing whether to lock the tip or base to the path endpoint.

Control alignment of dashes on a stroke. Define symmetrical dashes around corners and at the ends of open paths, with lengths adjusted automatically to fit.

See effects such as drop shadows, blurs, and textures maintain their appearance across media. Raster effects look the same no matter how your resolution settings change.

Quickly set up artboards for bleeds. Work with bleeds when you open a new document, or add them later in the Document Setup dialog box.

Avoid color output surprises such as unexpected spot colors, unwanted or white overprinting, overprints that don't overprint, and CMYK blacks in text and placed files.