CorelDraw X3

[AjIsCoool]

Corel has released the new CorelDraw Suite X3

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satelli...me=Corel3/Home

i downloaded the Trail from the site to test the application

from reading and watching some of the new features

i think that Corel did not produce a big upgrade to compete with Illustrator or Xtreme X

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[jens g.r. benthien]

I think they've produced a rather 'big' upgrade: I'd say it installs with at least 200 MB on your hard drive. Compare this to xtreme. And their new features - well, who'll need all the extras? Example: more precise 'text on a line', because it is an often requested feature for logo creation. Hm, I never needed a 'text on a line' feature for a logo in the past, so this is kind of a weak attempt to put some sand in the eyes of a user...

The new PhotoPaint might be interesting, but since I'm using THE GIMP for Windows and Linux now, I don't have any reason to install a monter on my HD.

Just my 2 cents...

[Koinonia]

Reading the order of the new features; Power Trace, etc. - leaves me thinking how good a choice Xtreme is!
I have had CD12 for a couple of years now.
Started with CD 8 back in the late 90's. CD8 was my very first Vector program.
Chased around Washington DC one hot summer (while our family lived on board a sailboat anchored in Washington Harbor) looking for a certain "Corel DRAW Studio Techniques" by David Huss & Gray Priester.
That book sparked my interest in things - vector!

Can't forget how much Corel & Gary's book taught me - then I discovered CorelXara.
Looked it over but kept "struggling" with CD8 then CD9 and then XaraX came on the scene. It (demo version XX) spoiled me! Xara is so USER-FRIENDLY!!!!
The images in XX had a clarity - a visual smoothness and well if you've used Xara you already know what it can do!

Wayne D

[AjIsCoool]

last week i was playing with X3

and it truley faster and better

but as i said - yet not to many new features

but the sad news is eliminating CorelRAVE

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[sallybode]

The text on a line was a feature Corel has had for a long time. I have noticed a big improvement in tracing function, it lets you merge colors and specify spot color. There are many more bells and whistle in Trace. Still lots more nodes than you need. It would be handy to tell the program which sides are lines espeically on diagonals, way too many nodes. However, if the bitmap is pretty good, it produced a pretty good vector equivalent. It seems the best way to get a good vectorization is to improve the bitmap as much as possible first.

There is a new crop function that crops both vector and bitmapped art but it is always a rectangle. The PowerClip is more useful in many reguards. If a person didn't know how to use trim and merge and simplify, it might be more of an attraction.

In PhotoPaint, it has some automation which is nice if the presets are good for you, and with the fade feature, if the adjustment is too strong, you can reduce the effect.

There is improved node editing. That is if you like node editing that is akin to AutoCAD. Not all people using DRAW will like a change in this function because they don't like change.

I noticed RAVE is gone, but never used RAVE before.

[sallybode]

Thought I'd check out text on a curve function, it has some pretty cool innovations. Again, very AutoCADish. but I know how to use CAD and the tools and the way the screen behaves is quite the same but your background is white, unless you like working on a black background.

Jens, I have to use CorelDRAW at works and the tracing feature which allows you to merge several tones to one and even specify spot color is a time saver.

Don't get me wrong, I love Xara, and I have it installed at work and use it when I have actual illustrations to do and then import to DRAW for my page layout. Since nearly all of our library of work is made in DRAW, it is convenient to look up the work.

I am the only one who knows the benefits of Xara. So consequently, the time savings that Xara is, I still have to convert it back to DRAW for the sake of the other workers. The other girl is a typesetter and can't draw much, the other artist works part-time and is addicted to Adobe products, won't try anything new. To be so set in one's ways in your twenties isn't good. Non-conformist then, still a non-conformist now.

Since I keep my C:\ as empty as possible, a big program doesn't give my system fits.

With DRAW X3, so far I have been impressed.

Everything isn't for everybody, certainly.

[okfoz]

So far for the most part I like the X3 upgrade, I ahve been using it for about a week...

What I like:
-The new Bevel Tool
-THe Smart Fill Tool
-Fillet, Scallop, Champher option.
-It seems to have corrected an anoying problem in 12 that would randomly put the wrong font into paragraph text... Should have been a hot patch in 12.
- THe snap function seems to have improved drastically, over 12.
- I like the Font Preview in the drop down better in X3, in all versions up to this point they just have the name, at least now you can see what it looks like, it will help finding the font you want faster.
- Crop tool looks like it might be useful.
-THe Hints docker might come in useful, might give me some ideas, but not my favorite new thing...


Neutral:
-THe new node editing is just different, not better or worse... THe biggest benefit I can forsee is it may be easier to find the handles. Beyond that there is little change from what I can tell.


What I do not like:
-If you want to add leaders to a Tab there is no docker, I personally liked it better before, now its a PITA to do... managable, but not preferable. I also find it more difficult to get my paragraph text to do what I want, although its all there its just in a different spot and less intuitive.
-The loss of Corel Rave - I will have to use Rave 2 I guess.

I have not had a chance to work with everything, but so far I think the pluses outweigh the minuses... I use the program for my comapnies catalog, kind of like a publisher program, which its really not intended, but it works. I have not had any stability problems...

I think if you want to stay on top, its definately worth $150 for the upgrade, (I got mine Amazon.com (Also get your free Wacom tablet)...

John