Integrated with the Adobe Creative Suite, this era saw the addition of 3D capabilities and the Scribble effect.

Introduced Creative Cloud Libraries (shared colors, text styles, assets across devices), Bezier curvature tool (draw curves without anchor handles), and Windows 8 touch gestures . Live distortion for groups and Expandable path strokes .

Jumping from “88” to 3.0 (skipping 2.0 to align with internal versioning), this release introduced PostScript color fills and gradients. More critically, it added TrueType font support (alongside PostScript Type 1). The interface gained a proper layer palette, though each layer was a blunt object—no sublayers. This version was ported to NeXTSTEP and Silicon Graphics workstations, foreshadowing cross-platform ambitions.

In 2013, Adobe transitioned to a subscription model, rebranding the software as Illustrator CC. This shifted the focus toward frequent updates, cloud collaboration, and mobile integration.