Macromedia FreeHand
Encyclopedia
Macromedia FreeHand is a computer application for creating two-dimensional vector graphics
that are oriented primarily to professional illustration, desktop publishing
and content creation for the Web. FreeHand is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to Adobe Illustrator
, CorelDraw
and Xara
Designer Pro . Because of FreeHand’s dedicated page layout and text control features, it also compares to Adobe InDesign
and QuarkXPress
. Professions using FreeHand include Graphic Design
, Illustration
, Cartography
, Fashion
and Textile Design
, Product Design
, Architects, Science Research, and Multimedia
Production.
FreeHand was created by Altsys Corporation in 1988 and licensed to Aldus Corporation which released versions 1 through 4. In 1994, Aldus
merged with Adobe Systems
and because of the overlapping market with Adobe Illustrator
, FreeHand was returned to Altsys
by order of the Federal Trade Commission
. Altsys
was later bought by Macromedia
, which released FreeHand versions 5 through 11(FreeHand MX). In 2005, Adobe Systems
acquired Macromedia
and its product line which included FreeHand MX, under whose ownership it presently resides.
Development has been discontinued but it is still sold in versions for Microsoft Windows
and Mac OS X
. FreeHand MX is available in English, German, Chinese (traditional and simplified), French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish languages.
FreeHand MX continues to run under Windows 7 using compatibility mode and under Mac OS X
10.6 (Snow Leopard) within Rosetta (software)
, a Carbon Application emulator, and requires a registration patch supplied by Adobe
.
, the company initially produced font editing and conversion software; Fontastic Plus, Metamorphosis, and the Art Importer. Their premier PostScript font-design package, Fontographer
, was released in 1986 and was the first such program on the market. With the PostScript
background established with Fontographer
, Altsys
also developed FreeHand (originally called Masterpiece) as a Macintosh Postscript-based illustration program that used Bezier curves for drawing and was similar to Adobe Illustrator
. FreeHand was announced as “...a Macintosh graphics program described as having all the features of Adobe’s Illustrator plus drawing tools such as those in Mac Paint and Mac Draft and special effects similar to those in Cricket Draw.” Seattle’s Aldus Corporation acquired a licensing agreement with Altsys
to release FreeHand along with their flagship product, Pagemaker, and Aldus FreeHand 1.0 was released in 1988. FreeHand’s product name used intercaps; the F and H were capitalized.
The partnership between the two companies continued with Altsys
developing FreeHand and with Aldus
controlling marketing and sales. After 1988, a competitive exchange between Aldus FreeHand and Adobe Illustrator
ensued on the Macintosh
platform with each software advancing new tools, achieving better speed, and matching significant features. Windows PC development also allowed Illustrator 2 (aka, Illustrator 88 on the Mac) and FreeHand 3 to release Windows versions to the graphics market.
FreeHand 1.0 sold for $495 in 1988. It included the standard drawing tools and features as other draw programs including special effects in fills and screens, text manipulation tools, and full support for CMYK color printing. It was also possible to create and insert PostScript
routines anywhere within the program. FreeHand performed in preview mode instead of keyline mode but performance was slower.
FreeHand 2.0 sold for $495 in 1989. Besides improving on the features of FreeHand 1.0, FreeHand 2 added faster operation, Pantone
colors, stroked text, flexible fill patterns and automatically import graphic assets from other programs. It added accurate control over a color monitor screen display, limited only by its resolution.
FreeHand 3.0 sold for $595 in 1991. New features included resizable color, style, and layer panels including an Attributes menu. Also tighter precision of both the existing tools and aligning of objects. FH3 created compound Paths. Text could be converted to paths, applied to an ellipse, or made vertical. Carried over from version 1.0, FreeHand 3 suffered by having text entered into a dialog box instead of directly to the page. In October 1991, a 3.1 upgrade made FreeHand work with Mac OS 7 but additionally, it supported pressure sensitive drawing which offered varying line widths with a users stroke. It improved element manipulation and added more import/export options.
FreeHand 4.0 sold for $595 in 1994. Altsys ported FreeHand 3.0 to the NeXT
system creating a new program named Virtuoso. Virtuoso continued its development at Altsys
and version 2.0 of Virtuoso was feature-equivalent to FreeHand 4 (with the addition of NeXT
-specific features such as Services and Display PostScript) and file compatible, with Virtuoso 2 able to open FreeHand 4 files and vice-versa. A prominent feature of this version was the ability to type directly into the page and wrap inside or outside any shape. It also included drag-and-drop color imaging, a larger pasteboard, and a user interface that featured floating, rollup panels. The colors palette included a color mixer for adding new colors to the swatch list. Speed increases were made.
In the same year of FreeHand 4 release, Adobe Systems
announced merger plans with Aldus Corporation for $525 million. Fear about the end of competition between these two leading applications was reported in the media and expressed by customers (Illustrator versus FreeHand and Photoshop versus PhotoStyler
.) Because of this overlapping of the market, Altsys
stepped in by suing Aldus
, saying that the merger deal was “a prima facie violation of a non-compete clause within the FreeHand licensing agreement.” Altsys CEO Jim Von Ehr explained, "No one loves FreeHand more than we do. We will do whatever it takes to see it survive." The Federal Trade Commission
issued a complaint of Adobe Systems
on October 18, 1994 ordering a divestiture of FreeHand to “remedy the lessening of competition resulting from the acquisition as alleged in the Commission’s complaint,” and further, the FTC ordering, "That for a period of ten (10) years from the date on which this order becomes final, respondents shall not, without the prior approval of the Commission, directly or indirectly, through subsidiaries, partnerships, or otherwise ... Acquire any Professional Illustration Software or acquire or enter into any exclusive license to Professional Illustration Software;" (referring to FreeHand.)
FreeHand was returned to Altsys
with all licensing and marketing rights as well as Aldus
FreeHand’s customer list.
still retained all rights to FreeHand. Despite brief plans to keep it in-house to sell it along with Fontographer
and Virtuoso, Altsys
reached an agreement with the multimedia software company, Macromedia
, to be acquired. This mutual agreement provided FreeHand and Fontographer
a new home with ample resources for marketing, sales, and competition against the newly merged Adobe
-Aldus
company. Altsys
would remain in Richardson, Texas
but would be renamed as the Digital Arts Group of Macromedia
and was responsible for the continued development of FreeHand. Macromedia
received FreeHand’s 200,000 customers and expanded its traditional product line of multimedia graphics software to illustration and design graphics software. CEO James Von Ehr became a Macromedia
vice-president until 1997 when he left to start another venture.
FreeHand 5.0 sold for $595 in 1995. This version featured a more customizable and expanded workspace, multiple views, stronger design and editing tools, a report generator, spell check, paragraph styles, multicolor gradient fills up to 64 colors, speed improvements, and it accepted Illustrator plugins. In September 1995, a 5.5 upgrade added Photoshop plug-in support, PDF Import capabilities, the Extract feature, inline graphics to text, improved auto-expanding text containers, the Crop feature, and the Create PICT Image feature.
A FreeHand 5.5 upgrade was part of the FreeHand Graphics Studio (a suite that included Fontographer
, xRes (image editing application), and Extreme 3D (3D animation and modeling application).
FreeHand 6.0 in 1996. This version only existed in beta. Some Freehand 7 prerelease versions were released under the Freehand 6 tag.
FreeHand 7.0 sold for $399 in 1996, or $449 as part of the FreeHand Graphics Studio (see above.) Features included a redesigned user interface that allowed recombining Inspectors, Panel Tabs, Dockable Panels, Smart Cursors, Drag and Drop with Adobe
applications and QuarkXPress
, Graphic Search and Replace, Java (programming language)
and AppleScript
Automation, Chart creation, and new Effects tools and functions. Shockwave was introduced to leverage graphics for the Web.
FreeHand 8.0 sold for $399 in 1998. This version began integrating to the Web with the ability to export graphics directly to Macromedia Flash. Customizable toolbars and keyboard shortcuts were prominent features. Also Lens Fill and Transparency, Freeform tool, Graphic Hose, Emboss Effects, and a “Collect for Output” function for print.
FreeHand 9.0 sold for $399 in 2000 or $449 as part of the Flash 4 FreeHand Studio bundle. This was a major repositioning for FreeHand emphasizing the Web and especially Flash output. Creating simple Flash animation from layers was featured. The Perspective Grid, Magic Wand Tracing tool, Lasso tool, and a Page tool that treated pages like objects (resize, clone, rotate, etc.)
FreeHand 10.0 sold for $399 in 2000 or $799 as part of the Studio MX bundle. Macromedia
released this as Carbonized for both Mac OS 9
and Mac OS X
. It shared a common Macromedia
GUI Interface and several tools were added or renamed to match Flash tools. New features include Brushes, Master Pages, Print Area, and a Navigation Panel for adding links, names, and adding actions or notes to objects. Also “Smart cursor” Pen and Bezigon Tools and a Contour Gradient Fill.
A minor version of FreeHand 10 (10.0.1) came as a result of Adobe
winning a lawsuit against Macromedia
for infringement on a Tabbed Panels patent. A reworking of the user interface produced this temporary fix for the panel issue. 10.0.1 was available with the Studio MX bundle or as a new purchase but not available as a patch to existing users.
FreeHand MX sold for $399 in 2003 or $1580 as part of the Studio MX 2004 bundle. FreeHand 11 was marketed as FreeHand MX and featured tighter interface integration with the Macromedia
MX line of products. This release also featured a revamped Object Panel where all attributes and text properties are centralized for editing, Multiple Attributes for unlimited effects, Live Effects, Live-edit of basic shapes, Connector Lines tool, Flash and Fireworks integration, Extrude, Erase, and Chart tools, along with improvements to the standard tools.
During the development of FreeHand MX, the customer install base was 400,000 users worldwide but because of competition with Adobe Illustrator
’s market share, Macromedia
focused instead on its web oriented lineup of Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Contribute. In 2003, Macromedia
reduced the FreeHand development team to a few core members to produce the 11.0.2 update released in February 2004. The company released a final product suite prior to the 2005 merger with Adobe
, called Studio 8, which was characterized by the absence of FreeHand from the suite’s interactive online applications of Dreamweaver, Flash
, Fireworks, Contribute
, and FlashPaper
.
announced an agreement to acquire Macromedia
in a stock swap valued at about $3.4 billion. The Department of Justice
regulated the transaction that came 10 years after the Federal Trade Commission
’s 1994 ruling which barred Adobe from acquiring FreeHand. The acquisition took place on December 3, 2005, and Adobe
integrated the companies' operations, networks, and customer-care organizations shortly thereafter. Adobe acquired FreeHand along with the entire Macromedia
product line that included Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks but not including Fontographer
, which FontLab
Ltd. licensed with an option to buy all rights to. Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia
cast doubt on the future of FreeHand, primarily because of Adobe's competing product, Illustrator. Adobe announced in May 2006 that it planned to continue to support FreeHand and develop it "based on [their] customers' needs". One year later on May 15, 2007, Adobe said that it would discontinue development and updates to the program and the company would provide tools and support to ease the transition to Illustrator. In a 2008 interview with Senior Product Manager of Illustrator, Terry Hemphill, he told FreeHand users: “FreeHand is not going to be revived; time to move on, really. The Illustrator team is making a determined effort to bring the best of FreeHand into Illustrator, which should be evident from some of the new features in CS4.”
’s announcement of discontinuing development with the “FreeHand Support Page” petition. It was followed in 2007 by the “FreeHand Must Not Die” petition. In 2008, the Adobe FreeHand Forum listed, “Adobe latest FreeHand MX upgrade, Would you pay?” which continues to receive signatures in 2011. In February 2009, Creative Review magazine published “Freehand Anonymous” about the present use of FreeHand in the UK. In September 2009, the Free FreeHand Organization (a user community with the goal of securing a future for FreeHand MX) was founded and by 2011, its membership had surpassed 6000 members worldwide. In May 2011, the Free FreeHand Organization filed a civil antitrust complaint against Adobe Systems, Inc. alleging that "Adobe has violated federal and state antitrust laws by abusing its dominant position in the professional vector graphic illustration software market." In spite of the aforementioned petitions with the advent of Flash Player 11 in October 2011 Adobe intentionally ditched the support for SWF contents created in FreeHand supposedly aiming to urge the transition to its Illustrator software.
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
that are oriented primarily to professional illustration, desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
and content creation for the Web. FreeHand is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
, CorelDraw
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite...
and Xara
Xara
Xara is a UK-based software company founded in 1981. It has developed software for a variety of computer platforms, in chronological order: The Acorn Atom, BBC Micro, Z88, Atari ST, Acorn Archimedes, Microsoft Windows and Linux. It was originally called Computer Concepts, Ltd.; the company name...
Designer Pro . Because of FreeHand’s dedicated page layout and text control features, it also compares to Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a software application produced by Adobe Systems. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers and books. In conjunction with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite InDesign can publish content suitable for tablet devices...
and QuarkXPress
QuarkXPress
QuarkXPress is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc...
. Professions using FreeHand include Graphic Design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, Illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
, Cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
, Fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
and Textile Design
Textile design
Textile design is the process of creating designs and structures for knitted, woven, non-woven or embellishments of fabrics.Textile designing involves producing patterns for cloth used in clothing, household textiles and decorative textiles such as carpets. The field encompasses the actual pattern...
, Product Design
Product design
-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...
, Architects, Science Research, and Multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
Production.
FreeHand was created by Altsys Corporation in 1988 and licensed to Aldus Corporation which released versions 1 through 4. In 1994, Aldus
Aldus
Aldus Corporation, named after the 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, was the inventor of the groundbreaking PageMaker software, a program that is generally credited with creating the desktop publishing field. The company was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman,...
merged with Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
and because of the overlapping market with Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
, FreeHand was returned to Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
by order of the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
. Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
was later bought by Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
, which released FreeHand versions 5 through 11(FreeHand MX). In 2005, Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
acquired Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
and its product line which included FreeHand MX, under whose ownership it presently resides.
Development has been discontinued but it is still sold in versions for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
. FreeHand MX is available in English, German, Chinese (traditional and simplified), French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish languages.
FreeHand MX continues to run under Windows 7 using compatibility mode and under Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
10.6 (Snow Leopard) within Rosetta (software)
Rosetta (software)
Rosetta was a lightweight and dynamic binary translator for Mac OS X which Apple released in 2006 when it transitioned the Macintosh from PowerPC to Intel processors. It allowed pre-existing software to run on the new systems without modification....
, a Carbon Application emulator, and requires a registration patch supplied by Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
.
Altsys and Aldus FreeHand
In 1984, James R. Von Ehr founded the Altsys Corporation to develop graphics applications for personal computers. Based in Plano, TexasPlano, Texas
Plano is a city in the state of Texas, located mostly within Collin County. The city's population was 259,841 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth-largest city in Texas and the 71st most populous city in the United States. Plano is located within the metropolitan area commonly referred to as...
, the company initially produced font editing and conversion software; Fontastic Plus, Metamorphosis, and the Art Importer. Their premier PostScript font-design package, Fontographer
Fontographer
Fontographer , is a software application used to create digital fonts, available for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms. It was originally developed by Altsys but is now owned by FontLab Ltd.-Fontastic:...
, was released in 1986 and was the first such program on the market. With the PostScript
PostScript
PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging...
background established with Fontographer
Fontographer
Fontographer , is a software application used to create digital fonts, available for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms. It was originally developed by Altsys but is now owned by FontLab Ltd.-Fontastic:...
, Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
also developed FreeHand (originally called Masterpiece) as a Macintosh Postscript-based illustration program that used Bezier curves for drawing and was similar to Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
. FreeHand was announced as “...a Macintosh graphics program described as having all the features of Adobe’s Illustrator plus drawing tools such as those in Mac Paint and Mac Draft and special effects similar to those in Cricket Draw.” Seattle’s Aldus Corporation acquired a licensing agreement with Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
to release FreeHand along with their flagship product, Pagemaker, and Aldus FreeHand 1.0 was released in 1988. FreeHand’s product name used intercaps; the F and H were capitalized.
The partnership between the two companies continued with Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
developing FreeHand and with Aldus
Aldus
Aldus Corporation, named after the 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, was the inventor of the groundbreaking PageMaker software, a program that is generally credited with creating the desktop publishing field. The company was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman,...
controlling marketing and sales. After 1988, a competitive exchange between Aldus FreeHand and Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
ensued on the Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
platform with each software advancing new tools, achieving better speed, and matching significant features. Windows PC development also allowed Illustrator 2 (aka, Illustrator 88 on the Mac) and FreeHand 3 to release Windows versions to the graphics market.
FreeHand 1.0 sold for $495 in 1988. It included the standard drawing tools and features as other draw programs including special effects in fills and screens, text manipulation tools, and full support for CMYK color printing. It was also possible to create and insert PostScript
PostScript
PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging...
routines anywhere within the program. FreeHand performed in preview mode instead of keyline mode but performance was slower.
FreeHand 2.0 sold for $495 in 1989. Besides improving on the features of FreeHand 1.0, FreeHand 2 added faster operation, Pantone
Pantone
Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System , a proprietary color space...
colors, stroked text, flexible fill patterns and automatically import graphic assets from other programs. It added accurate control over a color monitor screen display, limited only by its resolution.
FreeHand 3.0 sold for $595 in 1991. New features included resizable color, style, and layer panels including an Attributes menu. Also tighter precision of both the existing tools and aligning of objects. FH3 created compound Paths. Text could be converted to paths, applied to an ellipse, or made vertical. Carried over from version 1.0, FreeHand 3 suffered by having text entered into a dialog box instead of directly to the page. In October 1991, a 3.1 upgrade made FreeHand work with Mac OS 7 but additionally, it supported pressure sensitive drawing which offered varying line widths with a users stroke. It improved element manipulation and added more import/export options.
FreeHand 4.0 sold for $595 in 1994. Altsys ported FreeHand 3.0 to the NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
system creating a new program named Virtuoso. Virtuoso continued its development at Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
and version 2.0 of Virtuoso was feature-equivalent to FreeHand 4 (with the addition of NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
-specific features such as Services and Display PostScript) and file compatible, with Virtuoso 2 able to open FreeHand 4 files and vice-versa. A prominent feature of this version was the ability to type directly into the page and wrap inside or outside any shape. It also included drag-and-drop color imaging, a larger pasteboard, and a user interface that featured floating, rollup panels. The colors palette included a color mixer for adding new colors to the swatch list. Speed increases were made.
In the same year of FreeHand 4 release, Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
announced merger plans with Aldus Corporation for $525 million. Fear about the end of competition between these two leading applications was reported in the media and expressed by customers (Illustrator versus FreeHand and Photoshop versus PhotoStyler
PhotoStyler
Aldus PhotoStyler was developed by the Taiwanese company Ulead. The Aldus Prepress group identified the product as a potential acquisition for Aldus since they did not have an imaging product that could compete with Adobe Photoshop. The acquisition was completed in 1992 and Aldus PhotoStyler was...
.) Because of this overlapping of the market, Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
stepped in by suing Aldus
Aldus
Aldus Corporation, named after the 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, was the inventor of the groundbreaking PageMaker software, a program that is generally credited with creating the desktop publishing field. The company was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman,...
, saying that the merger deal was “a prima facie violation of a non-compete clause within the FreeHand licensing agreement.” Altsys CEO Jim Von Ehr explained, "No one loves FreeHand more than we do. We will do whatever it takes to see it survive." The Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
issued a complaint of Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
on October 18, 1994 ordering a divestiture of FreeHand to “remedy the lessening of competition resulting from the acquisition as alleged in the Commission’s complaint,” and further, the FTC ordering, "That for a period of ten (10) years from the date on which this order becomes final, respondents shall not, without the prior approval of the Commission, directly or indirectly, through subsidiaries, partnerships, or otherwise ... Acquire any Professional Illustration Software or acquire or enter into any exclusive license to Professional Illustration Software;" (referring to FreeHand.)
FreeHand was returned to Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
with all licensing and marketing rights as well as Aldus
Aldus
Aldus Corporation, named after the 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, was the inventor of the groundbreaking PageMaker software, a program that is generally credited with creating the desktop publishing field. The company was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman,...
FreeHand’s customer list.
Macromedia Freehand
By late 1994, AltsysAltsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
still retained all rights to FreeHand. Despite brief plans to keep it in-house to sell it along with Fontographer
Fontographer
Fontographer , is a software application used to create digital fonts, available for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms. It was originally developed by Altsys but is now owned by FontLab Ltd.-Fontastic:...
and Virtuoso, Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
reached an agreement with the multimedia software company, Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
, to be acquired. This mutual agreement provided FreeHand and Fontographer
Fontographer
Fontographer , is a software application used to create digital fonts, available for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms. It was originally developed by Altsys but is now owned by FontLab Ltd.-Fontastic:...
a new home with ample resources for marketing, sales, and competition against the newly merged Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
-Aldus
Aldus
Aldus Corporation, named after the 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, was the inventor of the groundbreaking PageMaker software, a program that is generally credited with creating the desktop publishing field. The company was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman,...
company. Altsys
Altsys
Altsys Corporation was a Texas-based software company founded by James R Von Ehr II. It was an early Apple Macintosh developer and publisher.Three major products from Altsys for PC / Macintosh and NeXT were:*Fontographer for Windows and Mac OS - font editor...
would remain in Richardson, Texas
Richardson, Texas
Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 99,223. In 2011 the population was estimated to be 107,684. Richardson is an affluent inner suburb of Dallas and home of the Telecom Corridor with a high...
but would be renamed as the Digital Arts Group of Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
and was responsible for the continued development of FreeHand. Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
received FreeHand’s 200,000 customers and expanded its traditional product line of multimedia graphics software to illustration and design graphics software. CEO James Von Ehr became a Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
vice-president until 1997 when he left to start another venture.
FreeHand 5.0 sold for $595 in 1995. This version featured a more customizable and expanded workspace, multiple views, stronger design and editing tools, a report generator, spell check, paragraph styles, multicolor gradient fills up to 64 colors, speed improvements, and it accepted Illustrator plugins. In September 1995, a 5.5 upgrade added Photoshop plug-in support, PDF Import capabilities, the Extract feature, inline graphics to text, improved auto-expanding text containers, the Crop feature, and the Create PICT Image feature.
A FreeHand 5.5 upgrade was part of the FreeHand Graphics Studio (a suite that included Fontographer
Fontographer
Fontographer , is a software application used to create digital fonts, available for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms. It was originally developed by Altsys but is now owned by FontLab Ltd.-Fontastic:...
, xRes (image editing application), and Extreme 3D (3D animation and modeling application).
FreeHand 6.0 in 1996. This version only existed in beta. Some Freehand 7 prerelease versions were released under the Freehand 6 tag.
FreeHand 7.0 sold for $399 in 1996, or $449 as part of the FreeHand Graphics Studio (see above.) Features included a redesigned user interface that allowed recombining Inspectors, Panel Tabs, Dockable Panels, Smart Cursors, Drag and Drop with Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
applications and QuarkXPress
QuarkXPress
QuarkXPress is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc...
, Graphic Search and Replace, Java (programming language)
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
and AppleScript
AppleScript
AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....
Automation, Chart creation, and new Effects tools and functions. Shockwave was introduced to leverage graphics for the Web.
FreeHand 8.0 sold for $399 in 1998. This version began integrating to the Web with the ability to export graphics directly to Macromedia Flash. Customizable toolbars and keyboard shortcuts were prominent features. Also Lens Fill and Transparency, Freeform tool, Graphic Hose, Emboss Effects, and a “Collect for Output” function for print.
FreeHand 9.0 sold for $399 in 2000 or $449 as part of the Flash 4 FreeHand Studio bundle. This was a major repositioning for FreeHand emphasizing the Web and especially Flash output. Creating simple Flash animation from layers was featured. The Perspective Grid, Magic Wand Tracing tool, Lasso tool, and a Page tool that treated pages like objects (resize, clone, rotate, etc.)
FreeHand 10.0 sold for $399 in 2000 or $799 as part of the Studio MX bundle. Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
released this as Carbonized for both Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
. It shared a common Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
GUI Interface and several tools were added or renamed to match Flash tools. New features include Brushes, Master Pages, Print Area, and a Navigation Panel for adding links, names, and adding actions or notes to objects. Also “Smart cursor” Pen and Bezigon Tools and a Contour Gradient Fill.
A minor version of FreeHand 10 (10.0.1) came as a result of Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
winning a lawsuit against Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
for infringement on a Tabbed Panels patent. A reworking of the user interface produced this temporary fix for the panel issue. 10.0.1 was available with the Studio MX bundle or as a new purchase but not available as a patch to existing users.
FreeHand MX sold for $399 in 2003 or $1580 as part of the Studio MX 2004 bundle. FreeHand 11 was marketed as FreeHand MX and featured tighter interface integration with the Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
MX line of products. This release also featured a revamped Object Panel where all attributes and text properties are centralized for editing, Multiple Attributes for unlimited effects, Live Effects, Live-edit of basic shapes, Connector Lines tool, Flash and Fireworks integration, Extrude, Erase, and Chart tools, along with improvements to the standard tools.
During the development of FreeHand MX, the customer install base was 400,000 users worldwide but because of competition with Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
’s market share, Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
focused instead on its web oriented lineup of Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Contribute. In 2003, Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
reduced the FreeHand development team to a few core members to produce the 11.0.2 update released in February 2004. The company released a final product suite prior to the 2005 merger with Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
, called Studio 8, which was characterized by the absence of FreeHand from the suite’s interactive online applications of Dreamweaver, Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, Fireworks, Contribute
Adobe Contribute
Adobe Contribute is a web publishing and website management tool that integrates authoring, reviewing, and publishing in a WYSIWYG HTML editor...
, and FlashPaper
Macromedia FlashPaper
FlashPaper is a software application developed by Blue Pacific Software before its acquisition by Macromedia, which was later acquired by Adobe Systems. Its functional design mimics Adobe Acrobat Distiller to behave as a virtual printer...
.
Adobe Freehand
On April 18, 2005, Adobe SystemsAdobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
announced an agreement to acquire Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
in a stock swap valued at about $3.4 billion. The Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is responsible for enforcing the antitrust laws of the United States. It shares jurisdiction over civil antitrust cases with the Federal Trade Commission and often works jointly with the FTC to provide regulatory guidance to businesses...
regulated the transaction that came 10 years after the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
’s 1994 ruling which barred Adobe from acquiring FreeHand. The acquisition took place on December 3, 2005, and Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
integrated the companies' operations, networks, and customer-care organizations shortly thereafter. Adobe acquired FreeHand along with the entire Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
product line that included Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks but not including Fontographer
Fontographer
Fontographer , is a software application used to create digital fonts, available for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms. It was originally developed by Altsys but is now owned by FontLab Ltd.-Fontastic:...
, which FontLab
FontLab
FontLab is both the name of a company, FontLab Ltd, and the former name of their flagship font editor product, now called FontLab Studio. Since the early 2000s, FontLab Studio has been the dominant software tool for commercial/retail digital font development. This is partly because the...
Ltd. licensed with an option to buy all rights to. Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
cast doubt on the future of FreeHand, primarily because of Adobe's competing product, Illustrator. Adobe announced in May 2006 that it planned to continue to support FreeHand and develop it "based on [their] customers' needs". One year later on May 15, 2007, Adobe said that it would discontinue development and updates to the program and the company would provide tools and support to ease the transition to Illustrator. In a 2008 interview with Senior Product Manager of Illustrator, Terry Hemphill, he told FreeHand users: “FreeHand is not going to be revived; time to move on, really. The Illustrator team is making a determined effort to bring the best of FreeHand into Illustrator, which should be evident from some of the new features in CS4.”
Future
In 2006, the FreeHand community protested AdobeAdobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
’s announcement of discontinuing development with the “FreeHand Support Page” petition. It was followed in 2007 by the “FreeHand Must Not Die” petition. In 2008, the Adobe FreeHand Forum listed, “Adobe latest FreeHand MX upgrade, Would you pay?” which continues to receive signatures in 2011. In February 2009, Creative Review magazine published “Freehand Anonymous” about the present use of FreeHand in the UK. In September 2009, the Free FreeHand Organization (a user community with the goal of securing a future for FreeHand MX) was founded and by 2011, its membership had surpassed 6000 members worldwide. In May 2011, the Free FreeHand Organization filed a civil antitrust complaint against Adobe Systems, Inc. alleging that "Adobe has violated federal and state antitrust laws by abusing its dominant position in the professional vector graphic illustration software market." In spite of the aforementioned petitions with the advent of Flash Player 11 in October 2011 Adobe intentionally ditched the support for SWF contents created in FreeHand supposedly aiming to urge the transition to its Illustrator software.
Release history
| Icon | Version | Company | Release year | Platforms | Notable Features (FreeHand firsts) | |
| FreeHand 1.0 | Aldus | 1988 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... |
|
||
| FreeHand 2.0 (update: 2.0.2) | Aldus | 1988 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... |
|
||
| FreeHand 3.0 (update: 3.1.1) | Aldus | 1991 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , Windows |
|
||
| FreeHand 4.0 (update: 4.0b) | Aldus | 1994 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , NeXT NeXT Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets... a.k.a. “Virtuoso”, Windows |
|
||
| FreeHand 5.0 (updates: 5.0.2 and 5.5) | Macromedia | 1995 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , Windows |
Version 5.5:
|
||
| FreeHand 6.0 | Macromedia | only existed in beta | ||||
| FreeHand 7.0 (update: 7.0.2) | Macromedia | 1996 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , Windows |
|
||
| FreeHand 8.0 (update: 8.0.1b) | Macromedia | 1998 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , Windows |
|
||
| FreeHand 9.0 (updates: 9.0.1 Mac and 9.0.2 Win) | Macromedia | 2000 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , Windows |
|
||
| FreeHand 10.0 (update: 10.0.1) | Macromedia | 2001 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , Mac OS X Mac OS X Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems... , Windows |
|
||
| FreeHand 11.0 (MX) (updates: 11.0.1 and 11.0.2 in 2004) | Macromedia | 2003 | Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... , Mac OS X Mac OS X Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems... , Windows |
|