CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3
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Although perhaps not the dominant force it once was in the graphics market, the arrival of the latest version of Corel's flagship product is still a worthwhile event. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 (either a marketing ploy or a means of avoiding the superstition attached to number 13) is aimed at professional, business and other users who want powerful graphics tools at a reasonable price.
The X3 version of this product is made up of two main applications. These are the vector drawing and illustrating CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint which takes care of photo-editing work. In addition there are a number of bonus items consisting of Corel PowerTRACE; Corel Capture; and Pixmantec RawShooter essentials for those who work with the RAW format produced by digital cameras. As usual with Corel you also get a shed load of images and fonts to use with your creative designs.
Corel has crammed more than 40 new features and over 400 enhancements into this latest version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. To help users get up to speed reasonably quickly with the new version, there is a Hints docker positioned on the right of the screen. This can be used to view context sensitive information about the currently selected tool with links to related topics. Furthermore you can select to have the new features highlighted in the various menus by selecting the appropriate option from the Help menu.
While the new Complex Star tool is hardly likely to top most users' wish list, there are other items that have the ability to appeal. Bevel effects; improved fill capabilities; and the WYSIWYG font selection menu are just some of CorelDRAW's new features that could help when creating designs. I was particularly impressed by the improved text capabilities especially the interactive fit text to an irregular path feature with its ability to show a preview in real time. Another new feature to attract my attention was the Crop Tool which lets you tidy up an image by removing unwanted areas from both bitmap and vector objects.
The new Corel PowerTRACE feature is now integrated into the main CorelDRAW X3 software. With this feature you can convert bitmap images into vector graphics. The conversion process, with user-definable settings, is quick and produces good results.
As with CorelDRAW, Corel Photo-Paint has its share of improvements including the Hints docker to help the user with advice and tips. New to this version of Photo-Paint are Labs that provide a one-stop shop approach for carrying out tasks. The Image Adjustment Lab shows before and after views as various settings can be experimented with by the user. Snapshots can be taken at different stages and these will be shown as thumbnails under the main view. You can then quickly switch back to a specific point by clicking on the appropriate thumbnail. This one tool could save a great deal of time for those who like to experiment with different settings to get the required effect.
Using technology previously seen in Corel KnockOut, the Photo-Paint Cutout lab provides the means of cutting out areas of a scene. A preview option is available to check the results against various backgrounds before the actual removal is implemented. While the preview option should help avoid taking too much or too little, mistakes can happen. In such an instance, the Cutout Lab has Add and Remove Details tools to correct mistakes. Ease of use is well to the fore with this lab.
Overall these two applications form an excellent partnership. Add in the additional items such as clip art, fonts plus the screen grabbing Corel Capture and you have a package that will appeal to many. Corel has included plenty of documentation in the form of a User Guide, CorelDRAW handbook, and quick reference card in the package. You also get CD-based training videos. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 has been priced at £329 (for those with previous versions there is an upgrade price of £149). Minimum system specifications are a Pentium III 600MHz processor running Windows 2000 or later with 256MB of RAM and 200MB of hard disk space.
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