Corel Draw vs. Illustrator

[LTG]

This might be a lot like the quark/indesign debate - coming down to personal preference and familiarity but I'd like to know why some people prefer Corel Draw to Illustrator and vice versa. Could you explain the reason you prefer one over the other? What features does one have that the other doesn't and if I didn't have a vector drawing program, which one would be a better investment?

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done.

[D-Zine]

I think it really all comes down to personal preferance. Allhough its always good to know both. I only know Illustrator but have been told great things about Corel so I kinda wanna check it out now too...just to know. I would say go with whichever you are more comfortable with. I can't compare the features for you :o( since I don't know Corel. Come to think of it..I'm not much help at all huh....LOL! Sorry LTG!! :o) Hehe! I am sure that come Monday when everyone is back on the board you will get some good help here! :o)

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

[LTG]

It's ok d-zine. Actually, I already have Illustrator and a very old version of Corel Draw- v4. Just wondering about it since it came up in another thread. Kind of wondering if it's worth having both or if I would ever have a need for both or if I should put more time in learning one over the other as well as the basic differences.

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done.

[LTG]

hmmm...no strong opinions on this topic, I guess.

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done.

[D-Zine]

LTG...I'm not sure but you might be able to run a search on this...I know the topic has been covered ALOT, I'm just not sure if it ever got its own thread....but check it out k!

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

[Kool]

LTG, I've meant to respond to this but I forgot. /emoticons/ibf-iamstupid.gif I've had a lot of experience with both programs and I will state that Corel Draw is by far a better program. It has more features than Iliustrator ever dreamed of. If I worked in a closed system it is all I would ever use for page layout and vector work. But! It has some problems when you take corel files out of their native program. I think their biggest mistake is that they never really promoted it. I'll be the first to admit that Adobe folks are a hard sell. But if Corel had ever really tried I think they could rule the industry.

http://home.comcast.net/~rnick9/Sig.jpg

'I used to be with it. But then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me.' Abraham Simpson

[D-Zine]

I would bet there are others to back Kool up on this one. I have heard some ppl say nothing but great things about Corel. I am interested in playin around with it and learning it myself...but....yu know..no money to get the program right now so...LOL!

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

[LTG]

thanks Kool - Keyare mentioned in another thread that he thinks Corel is the better program also - seems to me that you guys have the experience and knowledge to give a good assessment.

thanks d-zine - I'll have to try another search - I did one day but I didn't I come up with any threads that compared features

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done.

[style]

i think its all about personal preferance.... by the way seeing as your all talkin about corel and illustrator, i have a question, does anyone here know how if i create a file in illustrator and i want to convert it to corel... how do i do this so that when it gets there the text stays formatted the same.. the other day i converted a file and a paragraph got seperated into seperate lines!!! ((hope you understand what i'm talking about!))

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/instyle/sigi.jpg

[Cowtoon]

I prefer CorelDraw (CD) but can't put my comments up right ... gotta get back to work. I have some strong thoughts on the subject. Of course, it will depend on what you use it for. I've used CD since version 4 and am now using vers. 11 (Version 12 was released about 3 weeks ago). Until November, I was forced to use Illustrator and I just hated it. In contrast, I think that Adobe did a great job with Photoshop. I think it's superior and easier to use than CorelPaint. I'm not totally biased!!!

Corel has newsgroups that you can also post to, but you must access through your email software. If you want the address I'll send. Those who post to it are also very helpful.

Like I said, I'll write again later.

[LTG]

Cowtoon, I'll look forward to hearing more from you and yes, I'd appreciate the address. Thanks. I used to use corelpaint years ago (v4) but like you say - photoshop is great - I'd have a hard time giving it up. I rummaged through my software cds and found a 'coreldraw essentials' that I'd gotten with one of my printers a while back. It says it is version 9. I guess I spend some time messing with it.

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done.

[Cowtoon]

ok ... here's the address for the CorelDRaw (CD) newsgroup. You can select the version you want to subscribe to. I will assume you know how to add a newsgroup to your outlook express or outlook. If not, let me know and I'll give you the steps. cnews.corel.com
Please note that you can only access this forum from your email - not through your browser.

[Cowtoon]

OK LTG ... get comfortable ... I got a little carried away with this. I hope it helps more than it confuses.

On Ill vs CD.
In addition to creative graphics, I do spec drawings using CD.
I've been using CD since 1994 and I'm used to it and find it easy to work with, so there's a chunk of bias here.

Precision: I can tell my text where (horizontally and vertically) to be positioned, where its centre should be. I can tell any image where to be and where it's centre should be. I can do the same with guidelines. The snap-to-guidelines could be improved. I overcome it by zooming, then I get the snapping that I want. Just try to determine where a guideline should be or is ... made me crazy. All of these can be determined to 1/1000 of an inch. You can choose whatever units you want.

Dimensions: I can apply dimension lines/values with CD. Width, length and angles.

Beziers: I find it quite easy to work with node edit tools in CorelDraw. In Illustrator, absolutely every time I try to edit a node in a shape, it's a by-gosh and by-golly thing.

Selection: I prefer the way the CD handles object selection. It hasn't changed. Engulf the objects by drawing a marquis around them and they are selected. In Illustrator, if your marquis touches an object when you draw your marquis, it's selected. Large object are hard to select in Illustrator without selecting just about everything else on the screen. This is my personal preference.

Copy/Paste: In CorelDraw, when I copy an item, then paste it, it gets pasted exactly where it was. I use this to my benefit so many times. In Ill, I have to hunt around the page to find the pasted object. This is most annoying when I'm zoomed in. I think they get pasted in the middle of the page. I would like to think that perhaps this is an option that can be changed.

I don't like all the palletes that Illustrator places all over my screen, but maybe Ijust didn't get use to it. I'm still trying to get used to it in Photoshop.

Unless I don't know what I'm doing in this next comment ... I cannot import Illustrator images into CorelDraw as vectors. They always show up as bitmaps. So much for converting all the files at work into CorelDraw for future modifications.

Fonts: Illustrator seems to have a handier properties/toolbar/palette for making quick formatting changes. It also seems to have an additional component when selecting font attributes.

Here's an odd one, if I'm remembering correctly (not entirely sure). I cannot use the mouse to scroll when I'm in Illustrator. In CorelDraw, depending on the pc, the wheel mouse does indeed work, however, you cannot always get what you want. On one pc, the wheel will behave as zoom in/zoom out, then on another pc, it will scroll up and down the page (no matter what your zoom is). I haven't been able to determine why you get one or another. I suspect it's a bug in the program.

With CorelDraw, you can export to many many formats. I haven't explored this in Illustrator and hope I don't have to (lol).

Well ... that should give you something to chew on. Again ... I hope it helps. Good luck.
PS ... If I'm wrong on my criticisms of Illustrator, I don't mind hearing about it. I don't know the probably very much at all. I found it tedious to find things I needed, but I ahve a CorelDraw mindset, which doesn't help, I suppose.

[LTG]

wow - thanks Cowtoon!

I've opened and messed around with coreldraw essentials twice and I've already noticed what you said about the beziers. I've gotten around the selection irritation in illustrator by using the direct selection tool and holding the shift key down to select only the specific items I want by clicking directly on them. I guess I'm used to the pallettes so they don't bother me much. I'll be sure and look for the differences you've mentioned and probably discover some as I go along.

I had an problem yesterday with something created in Illustrator and saved as an eps not printing right (fuzzy, not sharp, edges) when I imported it into quark. I remember reading somewhere that the problem can sometimes be saving the eps with a preview - but I haven't gone back and tried resaving (in illustrator) and reprinting to see if that changes anything. I tried opening the eps file in coreldraw to see if I could resave from there but it wouldn't open. Maybe I'm doing something wrong - I'll mess with it again today and see what happens. Maybe it's just quark being flaky.

I'll probably give it some time before I rush out and order an upgrade for Coreldraw after remembering the CD Essentials that I had - that'll probably be enough to let me compare the two programs and see if I actually prefer one over the other. Thanks again.

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done.

[Cowtoon]

Don't 'open' with CD ... import. Big difference, unless that's what you did. I'm rather bizzy today ... will check back later if things settle down. Might have to respond from home again like I did last night, but I also have a busy evening before that can happen.

[Magnus]

Just wondering if any of you guys have used Illustrator 11 in the new Adobe Design CS. I have a feeling poor corel draw, my most hated program won't compare anymore. Illustrator is far too compatible with PS and ID, AND the 3d modeling effects in Illustrator are unparalelled. Compatibility issues with Corel will be that program's downfall and it's inability to market itself as a preiminant design tool, and now with Adobe's new CS I have a feeling the only place you'll find Corel is in people's computers at home.

Did I mention the layout itself of that program is completely foreign to anyother design program? Why people use this confounds me.

- Win or lose, it doesn't matter...but I guarantee, you will respect me tommorow morning.

Screen printers and closed shop design departments will still use it. I worked for a screen printer in 2001 and they where using Corel 7 I think only one computer was using corel 9. LOL! but these are the people that will hold on to it. If Corel can save compatible EPS files like Magnus says it won't have a problem but right now it's like everything works fine untill you take it out of Coral.

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[Cowtoon]

Just a quick note here. If you didn't already know this, you won't get a clear looking image on your screen with Quark. It displays images as low resolution. I can't say that I've had good luck printing from Quark, but I'm still learning that software. If you pdf the quark file, you notice that the images are very clear. That's what you need to do before you say that the images are poor quality. EPS files work fine with Quark. I just wish there was a print preview with Quark so that it was easier to determine if the image was suitable for printing in the first place.

Good Luck.

[PrintDriver]

You should know before using it if your image is suitable for print.
Ya, ya, I knew you meant what might Quark do to a perfectly good image.
Get Quark 6 and you can up your screen preview.
Or Get INDESIGN (you also have to tell it to set your screen preview higher).

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

[aprilcartergrant]

I think Magnus is on to something: the value of Illustrator goes beyond its stand-alone capability.

You really have to consider how it works with the Adobe suite and other programs, especially with the downward spiral of Quark since InDesign will probably render it obsolete in the next few years (from a once true Quark-lover). I have been working with the CS Suite, and I think it totally kicks ass. I also think -- seeing how there's overlap in the tools of Photoshop and Illustrator and InDesign -- that we can expect the Adobe suite to be one program at some point.

Adobe Acrobat is getting even cooler, and just knowing how well Adobe progams work with each other (and are being accepted as 'standard' by printers, etc.) should be argument enough for choosing Illustrator over Corel Draw.

Now, if only Adobe could create something comparable to Corel Painter...

+++ april carter +++

Coming soon: www.sugarsock.com

[LTG]

The stuff I mentioned above that I was getting a fuzzy printout with in Quark was just being printed out on my QMS color laser printer here at home - it hadn't actually gone to the Printer yet. The qms 2300-DL isn't a post script printer (which Kool reminded me to think about in another thread) - it printed fine on my b/w laser so I'm sure the postscript issue was my printout problem. I'm still in Quark 5 so (like PD mentioned) I don't have the option of better image display in my current version of Quark and I'm thinking I'm not even going to bother upgrading to 6 (and I'm a quarkaholic). Using the holy graphic trinity (AI/ID/PS) together seems like the easist and cheapest route so I'll probably just have to stick with putting the time into learning Illustrator and start making myself use ID2 instead of Quark and hope that by the time I'm completely comfortable with it and can afford the upgrade, maybe Adobe will have worked out all the bugs (if there are any) with CS and I'll upgrade to the next version. Aside from having wait until I save up enough pennies for upgrades it's nice to have all these options. I wish that I was smart enough and had enough time to master all the programs AND had the money to buy them all! :)

From what Magnus and April are saying, I'm guessing there must be a lot of difference between AI/ID/PS-CS and the previous versions?

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done.
(When I grow up I want to be just like Keyare! He does excellent work - even when he's trying to not to.)

[PrintDriver]

Not a lot of differencses in the CS versions. BIG problem with backwards compatiblity. That can be overcome somewhat in Illy CS and PSCS but InDesign CS is completely NOT backwards compatible with InD2. I hear Adobe is trying to fix this.

All CS programs have a new, updated type engine so just be careful opening old files in CS or making sure text is outlined before exporting from CS to Legacy formats.

Also watch out for Magnus's extruded and 3D stuff in Illy CS. Some of that can produce very messy effects.

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

Post Edited (PrintDriver) : 3/15/2004 5:52:45 PM GMT

[smee]

Corel interface completely customizeable. Can make it work exactly Illustrator. Corel PDF perfect - no worry.

[Printing_Hugh]

Hello all!

I stumbled on this thread from google as I wanted to know what everyone else thought, while I was installing CorelDraw X4 on my laptop....

I run a Print and Design Business in town and use Corel and Illustrator hundreds of times a day. Only a couple of things stick in my head which relate to comparing the two...

In CorelDraw, you can center any item in the middle of the page (or in the middle of an object) Just by pressing "p". This is handy with anything, especially business cards, as they are small and anything slightly off center could look odd.

The second, which is a HUGE benefit (although I realise that this is a graphic design forum - and not print) is that if I was to create something in Corel, say a Business card - 85mm x 55mm, I could click print, then select how many I wanted it to repeat over an A4 document with crop marks and bleed, say 5mm. It does this automatically for me, and takes about 10/15 seconds! I have found that illustrator offers a "step and repeat" function, which I find very very long winded.

As for exporting and importing things from illustrator into Corel to anyone who wants to know - you have to convert the text to outlines, i think its called!?! In Corel its called curves. Convert all text to that, then save the item as an EPS. Then import it into Corel - and it should be a perfect working vector. It is in Corel X4 and X3, im not sure how good the older versions are at doing this - same for a PDF.

Anyway, thanks - I hope this helped, slightly! ;-)

[Broacher]

Wow, another wormhole in the forum thread-time continuum. (+four years? Is this some kind of record?)

Hi Printing_Hugh. Some interesting points, and I would argue/support you on them if I had the time.

But regarding the last one: getting Corel into AI, or vice versa. It's possible to do this without converting to curves by using a (free!) set of Macros developed by Alex V. over on oberonplace.com which allows you to use the clipboard to cut and paste from Corel to Adobe apps. For most stuff-- it works quite well! (It'll even paste into InDesign from Corel as editable vectors).

You might want to check that site out if you have a chance.

[Printing_Hugh]

Wow! I didnt even notice the 4 year gap, what a slap in the face!
Thankyou very much for that website - http://oberonplace.com/vba/drawmacros/index.htm.

Very very interesting macro's there, ill be sure to have a look. Thankyou.