Which is better COreldraw or Illustrator?

[aures_88]

hello seniors and professionals here......im new in graphic designing and used coreldraw....now i want to know if which is better...the coreldraw which i used or illustrator?

[eugenetyson]

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75

[Kool]

That is a pretty good thread eugene linked too. A lot of it is outdated though. Skip to the posts that are newer than 2004 LOL. My statements from 04 don't really apply anymore with the advances in Illustrator. :)

[eugenetyson]

Yup I see that question pop up on many forums - and a simple search yields results :)

Sorry for not being more specific, I should have explained my linking there.

I use Illustrator because I was taught it and when I served my apprenticeship that was the software at the company where I worked so I had to learn it. I never learned Corel products, I'd imagine that some people know both, but some would just know one or the other.

Everytime things like this topic come up it's the same, either some people know one really well and defend it to the hilt. Or someone knows both but prefers 1 over the other and then someone disagrees and it spirals on.

There is no right or wrong answer, it's what you're comfortable with and what works for you that is important. It's a personal choice.

I'm sure if I did a course in corel I'd pick it up quite quick and be adept at using it.


Hey why not use Freehand, it's just as good as Corel Draw and Illustrator.

In my opinion they all do the same thing, but I wouldn't try learn them all, it's like a jack of all trades and a master of none. Be a master of one them and not half know freehand, half know corel and half know illustrator.

Pick one - run with it and don't look back.

In my opinion Illustrator is fairly much the industry standard in my locale and every job requires that the person knows Illustrator, as well as photoshop and indesign.

Even adverts for quark users are getting less and less each day. I very rarely see adverts for people that can use Corel or Freehand, in my area.

I'm in Ireland by the way :)

[Kool]

They don't make Freehand anymore so it is kind of a dead program. You really can't go wrong using Illustrator. Corel Draw is a lot more popular in South America and Asia than it is here in America. I imagine it is because it is so much less expensive than the Adobe equivalent. As a result though most printers in these countries have them and will accept the native files.

[eugenetyson]

They don't make Freehand anymore so it is kind of a dead program. You really can't go wrong using Illustrator. Corel Draw is a lot more popular in South America and Asia than it is here in America. I imagine it is because it is so much less expensive than the Adobe equivalent. As a result though most printers in these countries have them and will accept the native files.

Oh that's right Adobe bought Macromedia - duh I should know that :)


Good stuff on the location where Corel is used, and the Adobe software is very expensive, especially outside the US. Thanks for that.

You can buy Freehand though :confused:

http://www.adobe.com/products/freehand/

Adobe and the Future of FreeHand

No updates to FreeHand have been made for over four years, and Adobe has no plans to initiate development to add new features or to support Intel-based Macs and Windows Vista.
To support customer workflows, we will continue to sell FreeHand and offer technical and customer support in accordance with our policies.
While we recognize FreeHand has a loyal customer base, we encourage users to migrate to the new Adobe Illustrator CS3 which supports both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs and Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Illustrator CS3 offers powerful new features, including functionality designed to appeal to FreeHand users such as tight integration with Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, sophisticated color controls, an intuitive Eraser tool, easier Path editing, and more responsive performance.
FreeHand customers can switch to Illustrator CS3 for US$199 (volume licensing also available), and access complimentary resources to ease the transition. For additional information, please visit www.adobe.com/illustrator (http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/).

[garricks]

Maybe. The article references CS3. CS4 has been out for over six months now, so that page is old.

[eugenetyson]

From the moment something is created it is old :)

Yeh I realised it was old but it was the first thing that came up using the googlemachine. Just thought it was interesting that it is/was still being sold but not updated.

So back on track now - which is better. Anyone have any recent views or recently migrated from one app to the other and give pros and cons.

Sorry for going off track there.

[PrintDriver]

CorelDraw is PC native only.
It also has a tendency to flatten gradients and transparency effects into totally unusable garbage if you save to .eps or export to Illustrator. Even if you haven't used any effects, there are sometimes export artifacts that need to be fixed when going to Illy.

A lot of sign shops will support it but I have more than a few outsource vendors who shudder if you say the name. One will only print from it if you send them a tif and you take what you get. LOL.

It's not hugely natively supported outside the sign industry. In capable hands it's a fine program but there are many many ways of making a printer's life miserable if you use it improperly.

[budafist]

We still get Freehand files come in from clients. They give me headaches. I never understood why there were pages all over the artboard. You could actually lose a page if you didn't know where it was.

[PrintDriver]

yes, and isn't it so wonderful that they gave Illy CS4 Freehand's multipage capability...:rolleyes:

[aures_88]

still i want coreldraw

[garricks]

still i want coreldraw

Well, then go for it! :)

[Outlander00]

Both have their obvious pros (and to an extent cons), I find when in a PC environment. I was brought up using Corel Draw (and still use Corel 11, the last Mac version made, from time to time to start complicated designs), but ultimately Illustrator has become a far superior product.

[Broacher]

If I was starting out, and starting to seriously consider CorelDraw, and then I met someone who, say... spent 10 years mastering Draw in a high production environment, who then switched to AI for another 10 years.... I'd probably be a lot more confused. And then I would also take a look at Xara.

[Piscosour]

If I was starting out, and starting to seriously consider CorelDraw, and then I met someone who, say... spent 10 years mastering Draw in a high production environment, who then switched to AI for another 10 years.... I'd probably be a lot more confused. And then I would also take a look at Xara.CD is extremely user friendly. I use it in regular basis and my clients are happy with the final product. CD is not better than Illy and Illy is not better than CD. It all depends on whos is using the application.

[realskill135]

Hi, I'm new in this website and I've never used forum before. How do i start a new thread? Please reply me as soon as you read this.

Sincerely RealSkill :)

[garricks]

Hi, I'm new in this website and I've never used forum before. How do i start a new thread? Please reply me as soon as you read this.

Sincerely RealSkill :)

In any subforum simply click the "New Thread" button at the top or bottom of the page.

[Mosh]

It also has a tendency to flatten gradients and transparency effects into totally unusable garbage if you save to .eps or export to Illustrator. Even if you haven't used any effects, there are sometimes export artifacts that need to be fixed when going to Illy.

Same thing applies when opening a document from Illustrator into CorelDraw. It is not a matter of the programme being faulty, but to the fact that both companies use different algorithms to perform the same tasks. As the effects in each programme are more complex, the risk of not getting the same results when exporting/importing their files to one another is bigger.