Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great Program!
Comment: I have used Corel products for several years and they are consistent with a great product.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A poor choice.
Comment: The Short version:
If you are a casual user and plan on using this sparingly, or intend to use this in your T-Shirt or sign business without any interaction with anyone else - ever - then Corel is probably for you. If you want to design like a pro, and get your finished projects printed right the first time - then avoid this!
The LONG version:
First, Corel PhotoPaint is the better of the two programs - it is probably the equal to a full version of Photoshop - which you need only if you are doing heavy-duty work in the professional publishing business. If you're a casual user, looking for quick touch-ups of photos, or to prepare images for the web, Adobe Photoshop Elements will do the trick just as easily for less money - you can even get it free with some scanners and cameras.
Second, CorelDRAW is their answer to Adobe Illustrator - and it works well, to a point. Many common controls are buried in menus, or are not labeled clearly enough. The options to export your file as a .pdf or other mainstream publishing formats are unreliable at best - true, you will get a file other people can work with - but with missing bits, misaligned type, or slightly altered colors. In short, you will need to proof your work with extra care! From bitter experience, I know importing files from other programs can be error-prone as well! Be sure you have an extra large monitor since the palettes to control things such as style sheets (another buggy feature) fonts (which are not handled very well) and objects will suck up about three plus inches of real estate on the right hand side of the screen. It can handle multi-page documents - but I wouldn't trust it to go much beyond 30 pages. It is not a substitute for InDesign or QuarkXPress. If you're looking for an inexpensive alternative to those heavyweight graphic design programs, and you don't need illustrations for your book, go with the latest version of MS Word. As far as pure vector drawing goes, it does an adequate job as any program I've worked with- such as Freehand 5-10 or Illustrator 8-12.
The two programs do interface with each other quite well - that is a strong point. Photos are embedded into the CorelDRAW document, and can be edited in there - although you wind up with a much larger file. Interfacing with the rest of the programs out there - especially Adobe .pdf files, which is currently the gold standard of desktop publishing - it is sorely lacking. And as I noted, if you are sending your work outside of your place of business, be prepared to be disappointed!
The fact that Corel touts it as a viable alternative to the Adobe Suite is a gross misrepresentation in my opinion - but as there is no other all in one alternative to what Adobe offers (not even from Microsoft) it is something Corel is uniquely in a position to do. The fact that training and books on these programs are so scarce is a telling indication of it's limited use in the real world.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good
Comment: With this program, u can do a lot of creation. d seller send b4 d promised date.
Customer Rating:
Summary: mickey mouse
Comment:
I've spent all day putting together a 300 page book in Corel Draw, the file was saved several times without error, the finished piece is 2.6 GB. I exported it as a PDF that is 4.5 GB. Never any errors in Corel Draw.
Acrobat won't open the PDF. Says it's corrupted.
Now when I open the CDR all I get is a single page, and when I right click on the file and look at the properties it says it's 0 pages.
I'm really upset, and now I've wasted an entire day with COREL's software, if the thing is just for 1 or 2 page church brochures COREL should WARN people on the package.
It looks like I'm SOL and I'm guessing Corel will never bother with a reply.
Hint: I think I'll switch to Adobe.
Sincerely,
Waitman Gobble
Customer Rating:
Summary: corel x3
Comment: great product. i am in the graphic arts field and corel now works easier with adobe products.
Summary: Great Program!
Comment: I have used Corel products for several years and they are consistent with a great product.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A poor choice.
Comment: The Short version:
If you are a casual user and plan on using this sparingly, or intend to use this in your T-Shirt or sign business without any interaction with anyone else - ever - then Corel is probably for you. If you want to design like a pro, and get your finished projects printed right the first time - then avoid this!
The LONG version:
First, Corel PhotoPaint is the better of the two programs - it is probably the equal to a full version of Photoshop - which you need only if you are doing heavy-duty work in the professional publishing business. If you're a casual user, looking for quick touch-ups of photos, or to prepare images for the web, Adobe Photoshop Elements will do the trick just as easily for less money - you can even get it free with some scanners and cameras.
Second, CorelDRAW is their answer to Adobe Illustrator - and it works well, to a point. Many common controls are buried in menus, or are not labeled clearly enough. The options to export your file as a .pdf or other mainstream publishing formats are unreliable at best - true, you will get a file other people can work with - but with missing bits, misaligned type, or slightly altered colors. In short, you will need to proof your work with extra care! From bitter experience, I know importing files from other programs can be error-prone as well! Be sure you have an extra large monitor since the palettes to control things such as style sheets (another buggy feature) fonts (which are not handled very well) and objects will suck up about three plus inches of real estate on the right hand side of the screen. It can handle multi-page documents - but I wouldn't trust it to go much beyond 30 pages. It is not a substitute for InDesign or QuarkXPress. If you're looking for an inexpensive alternative to those heavyweight graphic design programs, and you don't need illustrations for your book, go with the latest version of MS Word. As far as pure vector drawing goes, it does an adequate job as any program I've worked with- such as Freehand 5-10 or Illustrator 8-12.
The two programs do interface with each other quite well - that is a strong point. Photos are embedded into the CorelDRAW document, and can be edited in there - although you wind up with a much larger file. Interfacing with the rest of the programs out there - especially Adobe .pdf files, which is currently the gold standard of desktop publishing - it is sorely lacking. And as I noted, if you are sending your work outside of your place of business, be prepared to be disappointed!
The fact that Corel touts it as a viable alternative to the Adobe Suite is a gross misrepresentation in my opinion - but as there is no other all in one alternative to what Adobe offers (not even from Microsoft) it is something Corel is uniquely in a position to do. The fact that training and books on these programs are so scarce is a telling indication of it's limited use in the real world.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good
Comment: With this program, u can do a lot of creation. d seller send b4 d promised date.
Customer Rating:
Summary: mickey mouse
Comment:
I've spent all day putting together a 300 page book in Corel Draw, the file was saved several times without error, the finished piece is 2.6 GB. I exported it as a PDF that is 4.5 GB. Never any errors in Corel Draw.
Acrobat won't open the PDF. Says it's corrupted.
Now when I open the CDR all I get is a single page, and when I right click on the file and look at the properties it says it's 0 pages.
I'm really upset, and now I've wasted an entire day with COREL's software, if the thing is just for 1 or 2 page church brochures COREL should WARN people on the package.
It looks like I'm SOL and I'm guessing Corel will never bother with a reply.
Hint: I think I'll switch to Adobe.
Sincerely,
Waitman Gobble
Customer Rating:
Summary: corel x3
Comment: great product. i am in the graphic arts field and corel now works easier with adobe products.