Serif DrawPlus anyone?

**Giovanni** · 21 July 2007, 05:39 PM

Hello everybody, some days ago I stumbled upon Serif DrawPlus 8 demo and tried it.
Personally I find it very feature rich but a bit odd to use... obviously practice is important everywhere.
Is out there somebody that knows this product and can give a quick opinion about it?
Cheers!

**masque** · 21 July 2007, 06:19 PM

Hi
I've used Drawplus and eventually gave up I'm afraid. Its not that its difficult to use. There are something’s that need getting used to, particularly if you're used to Xara, and the brushes are very nice too. the problem is that it runs out of steam very easily if you are trying to produce a complex drawing. As the number of objects, lines, points begin to mount the whole thing slows down regardless of your system, and mines no slouch. It could be great and it is, until you push it too its limit, which for me anyway, comes to quickly.
Derek

**DGehman** · 21 July 2007, 06:29 PM

Serif has a DrawPlus forum, Giovanni, and usually the folks in the Serif forums are friendly -- you might want to ask specific questions there.

I don't know DrawPlus, but have and use PagePlus (and have since V.5), and have always found Serif's development group responsive. As you say, their software works in ways not always familiar.

I'm pretty sure Serif's primary focus is on PagePlus, and the group continues to offer This-Plus and That-Plus, including photo editing, 3D, Web (a subset of PagePlus), and DVD/CD authoring, in addition to a lot of last-rev. software (as opposed to the latest versions) from a lot of sources, at bargain prices. Aside from PagePlus, which has 85% of the capability of Adobe's InDesign and arguably more power than Quark, Serif's software now and then seems a little under-featured.

By the way, there are free previous versions, several versions back, of Serif's offerings at freeserifsoftware.com -- DrawPlus 4, for example, and PagePlus SE which is PagePlus 8 or 9. Once you register, you get (a) all sorts of offers in your e-mail and (b) more importantly, significant discounts on current versions from time to time.

Dave

**Xhris** · 21 July 2007, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by Giovanni

Hello everybody, some days ago I stumbled upon Serif DrawPlus 8 demo and tried it.
Personally I find it very feature rich but a bit odd to use... obviously practice is important everywhere.
Is out there somebody that knows this product and can give a quick opinion about it?
Cheers!

I couldn't find a demo anywhere. Their website only lets you buy it. Please could you tell me where you got the demo from?

**steve.ledger** · 21 July 2007, 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by Xhris

I couldn't find a demo anywhere. Their website only lets you buy it. Please could you tell me where you got the demo from?

Trial version here:
http://comm-unique.co.nz/uploads/Fil...rial-Setup.exe

**Albacore** · 21 July 2007, 11:04 PM

I have been a member of Serif's "Select" for too long and have been offered upgrades from this version to that version for years. Serif update software every year just about and as Dave rightly pointed out there main push is PagePlus however Drawplus is offered about every two years as an upgrade and because of the price I have kept going. It si very like Corel in its speed but has great brushes and its not that difficult to learn. Like Chris states when pushed its slow but it has a great import and export in PDF in its current version and Xara could learn from this and other Serif programmes. Do I use it? no. Will I use the current version which I spent money on, occasionally when pushed to import PDF files that don't open in Xara. Do I like using the programme, no but it is not that bad, Would I recommend DrawPlus over other programmes maybe. Would I use it instead of Xara? no but its tools have been improved so much over the last 4 years it is getting closer. Would I pay the full price compared to XPro's full price well maybe if i had been brought up on DrawPlus from the start as it is good value. But, but, but.

**Xhris** · 21 July 2007, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by Albacore

I have been a member of Serif's "Select" for too long and have been offered upgrades from this version to that version for years. Serif update software every year just about and as Dave rightly pointed out there main push is PagePlus however Drawplus is offered about every two years as an upgrade and because of the price I have kept going. It si very like Corel in its speed but has great brushes and its not that difficult to learn. Like Chris states when pushed its slow but it has a great import and export in PDF in its current version and Xara could learn from this and other Serif programmes. Do I use it? no. Will I use the current version which I spent money on, occasionally when pushed to import PDF files that don't open in Xara. Do I like using the programme, no but it is not that bad, Would I recommend DrawPlus over other programmes maybe. Would I use it instead of Xara? no but its tools have been improved so much over the last 4 years it is getting closer. Would I pay the full price compared to XPro's full price well maybe if i had been brought up on DrawPlus from the start as it is good value. But, but, but.

It was Derek that talked about pushing it to its limits

.

Intersting, I'm just installing it now. In what way is its PDF better than Xara's (as in evidence and examples)? I'll have a play around soon.

I also tried CorelDraw...hmm, I'll not go into my opinions of that here...

**Xhris** · 22 July 2007, 02:15 AM

Hmm, OK, after installing, just as it loads up, it crashes and quits. Maybe it's Vista related, I don't know. But I'm not spending time on getting it fixed. I'll wait for a future demo.

**steve.ledger** · 22 July 2007, 06:18 AM

Originally Posted by Xhris

Hmm, OK, after installing, just as it loads up, it crashes and quits. Maybe it's Vista related, I don't know. But I'm not spending time on getting it fixed. I'll wait for a future demo.

http://dl.serif.com/Patches/DrawPlus...atch-Setup.exe

"The main purpose of the patch is to resolve Vista performance and compatibility issues. It ensures that DrawPlus 8 has full functionality within the Vista operating system as well as the previously supported operating systems of Windows® 98 SE, Me, 2000, or XP. This patch also tackles a number of issues discovered after the release of DrawPlus 8, for which we apologise."
http://www.serif.com/forum/ViewThrea...d=29317&Numb=1

**juergen** · 22 July 2007, 07:40 AM

I never tried DrawPlus ever but I guess the PDF capabilities are the same in every version.

I use PagePlus for a single reason: I can open, edit and save PDF documents. It paid during the first day I bought it for that reason alone.
Same is true for PhotoPlus. I use pretty highend PC's and Serif products need every bit of their power, but PhotoPlus can open psd files like Photoshop does with nested layers displayed correctly. The only thing I use the software for is to open and extract stuff from psd files I get sent from designers.

My guess would be that DrawPlus has the same capabilites ...

Juergen