Hi Sonja, The high standard for graphic programs is Adobe. They produce a
program called Illustrator among many other graphics products for graphic
arts professionals and for the average user. Illustrator 6 is the latest
version (for Mac anyway). I don’t know much about Corel Draw because I
haven’t used it, but the reviews I’ve read Only give it two stars out of a
possible five and say the drawing program is lacking. I would buy
Illustrator (I did) or possibly FreeHand which also has a good reputation.
These are both vector-based drawing programs. If you want to get further
into graphic arts you would need Adobe Photoshop also which is a painting
and photo correction program. Also for page layout you would need Adobe
PageMaker or Quark XPress. The last two are very expensive, but they are
industry standards. Well, I’m sure I’ve given you and every one else more
than you wanted to know, but I had to comment, especially after every one
was talking about Corel Draw and I didn’t want any one to buy an inferior
product. These are not cheap but if you want to also do your own promotion
and advertising, labels, etc. they are very useful.
It’s always great to hear alternate viewpoints and what products work for
different people.
How can you be so sure CorelDraw is an inferior product if, as you state,
you have never used it before? Do you always agree with what the critics
write about movies, restaurants or music? I have no loyalty to Corel… in
fact they are a direct competitor to my regular employer. I suspect each
product has strengths and deficiencies, based on what you are doing with
it. Regardless of which one is “better” (based on how you define
"better"), CorelDraw is still a reputable and reasonably effective product.
David, Is CorelDraw A pixle-based program or a vector based program. If
it is a pixle-based program, it is limitted in what it can do comapared
to a vector based program like Freehand or Illustrator. Im not saying
CorelDraw is a bad program, but it might be the wrong tool for the job.
CorelDraw is definitely vector-based. It seems to do the job quite
effectively for me, and several other people hanging around this listgroup.
Corel Photo-Paint is pixel based, and is geared more toward image
manipulation, as opposed to image creation. I got both, and much more, in
one fairly expensive box.
I use CorelDraw 3 along with CorelTrace. This CD cost less than
$100. Corel 3 is an older version that was and is a standard in
business such as the engraving industry. For the price it is
pretty sophisticated. However, I am always interested in learning
about advancements in this technology.
All righty then! Paint programs are bitmap (Aka: Raster) based.
This means they are “pixel” paint programs. Draw programs are
Object (Aka: Vecter) based. The computor focuses on the "object"
being created rather than each individual pixel. Adobe has been a
leader in graphics programs for years, Corel has been a leader in
word processing. Lately, (in the past 3-5 years) both company’s
have begun dabbling in other markets. It’s no surprise to me
that friends of mine at Industrial Light and Magic (a special
effects firm) use Adobe products. I do too. I’m not the type of
guy to pay too much attention to what is said in the media, or
otherwise. I would let experience speak for itself. (yes, I use
Snap-On Tools as well) As for the two programs, or companys, I
have used both, but I tend to lean toward Adobe, HOWEVER, I am
not real satisfied with Illustrator as a Jewelry design program.
I feel there should be a specific program for jewelry design, as
I’m sure there will some day be, where you can select from a
pull-down menu, a certain cut/size of stone and the program will
draw the stone as a top view, 3/4 view, or whatever. That’s about
it for now. Tim Goodwin @tmn8tr
I’m pretty happy with Canvas 3.5 and will be happy with 5.0 when I get
enough memory to run it. I was interested a while back when someone was
describing the fun he was having with Dabbler. I have wanted Painter for a
long time but it always seems too expensive and I wondered how close
Dabbler comes to it. Marilyn Smith
