best software for the newbies?

[IGD]

I have the newest illustrator cs6, photoshop cs6 and i have coreldraw x5, I am completely new to these, and have been getting familiar with them past month or so, ive seemed to faver coreldraw over illustrator unless im vectorizing i use illustrator and send it over to corel, but i have heard alot about flexi sign and was wondering if that was easier to use than these, and also will it work with cutting master 2 plug in? Im completely new and im just trying to find the most user friendly software, I mostly do decals, vinyl applied signs, and banners? input?

 

[SignManiac]

They all work. Learn one and do your best to master it.

 

[IGD]

They all work. Learn one and do your best to master it.

thats what im trying to figure out, which one should i focus on and master?

 

[DizzyMarkus]

awful lot of cash in software for "not knowing how to use them" :0)
I use flexi and Corel
Markus

 

[SignManiac]

Okay then, Corel hands down.

 

[IGD]

awful lot of cash in software for "not knowing how to use them" :0)

Markus

haha well im about to take some courses, ive been a master tech for the past 10 years or so and decided to get out of it and do this, and i love it so far, i mean i still do car work out of my house, but i sold alot of my tools and bought everything i needed. I know its probably over kill

 

[IGD]

Okay then, Corel hands down.

that seems to be the one im liking and use mostly, but in my opinion vectorizing sucks in that program or im doing something wrong, in illustrator its easy and does it perfect. but what about flex sign, i could sell one or the other to get flexi if that one is better?

 

[Salmoneye]

It seems that for design more folks use Illustrator in the Sign Business and more use Corel in the Silkscreen business, I have no idea why. I used Corel many, many years ago, when I started back up in graphics I had to choose new software and chose Adobe, it seemed like the industry standard and I thought that there would be more updates and integration with photoshop, web development software... I could be wrong but that was my thinking. Either are great I am sure. If you choose Illy you should look into subscribing to Lynda.com, they have some awesome tutorials.

 

[IGD]

It seems that for design more folks use Illustrator in the Sign Business and more use Corel in the Silkscreen business, I have no idea why. I used Corel many, many years ago, when I started back up in graphics I had to choose new software and chose Adobe, it seemed like the industry standard and I thought that there would be more updates and integration with photoshop, web development software... I could be wrong but that was my thinking. Either are great I am sure. If you choose Illy you should look into subscribing to Lynda.com, they have some awesome tutorials.

awsome thanks for the input

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

For someone starting out, I would have to say that Corel is going to be faster and easier to learn than any Adobe product.

For vectorizing, you may want to try Inkscape. It's open source, so it's absolutely free and it's vectorizing is spot on.

 

[IGD]

For someone starting out, I would have to say that Corel is going to be faster and easier to learn than any Adobe product.

For vectorizing, you may want to try Inkscape. It's open source, so it's absolutely free and it's vectorizing is spot on.

never heard of inkscape where do you download it?

 

[Bly]

Learn Illustrator and it will serve you well.

 

[GAC05]

If you are trying to master vector software using the auto vectorizing feature in any of them is counter productive. The way to learn to draw properly is to do the tracing yourself.
Look for tutorials on how to trace.
Doing so you will get an idea of the best way to approach a complex object.
How to set up layers to isolate different elements as you finish them off. How to copy and evenly space repeating elements. Merging objects with trims & welds to quickly build more complex objects etc..
None of this will come to you by clicking the auto trace button and adjusting a few sliders.
Even though you think the resulting auto-trace looks good, 9 times out of 10 it will be a mess, especially if you are setting up multi colored layouts to be sent to a plotter.


wayne k
guam usa

 

[IGD]

Learn Illustrator and it will serve you well.

thats what i keep hearing but its alot more complicated the corel....

 

[IGD]

If you are trying to master vector software using the auto vectorizing feature in any of them is counter productive. The way to learn to draw properly is to do the tracing yourself.
Look for tutorials on how to trace.
Doing so you will get an idea of the best way to approach a complex object.
How to set up layers to isolate different elements as you finish them off. How to copy and evenly space repeating elements. Merging objects with trims & welds to quickly build more complex objects etc..
None of this will come to you by clicking the auto trace button and adjusting a few sliders.
Even though you think the resulting auto-trace looks good, 9 times out of 10 it will be a mess, especially if you are setting up multi colored layouts to be sent to a plotter.


wayne k
guam usa

thanks for the input, when i said illustrator was better at vecorizing, i didnt mean the auto vector button, ive gotten pretty decent at tracing, with the help of 100s tutorial videos

 

[GAC05]

Ahh, gotcha - my bad. I'll blame it on working until 2am last night getting some prints out.

I started with Draw and picked up Illustrator later to take care of client's files.
So normally the first app you learn will be the one you will be most comfortable working with.
Draw's editing tools seem (to me) to work in a much more intuitive speedy way when it comes to building up layouts. Illy has some nice features that I wish Corel had but overall seems a little lacking in the basic industrial drawing/editing department.
I'm sure someone who started with Illustrator will say the exact opposite so either way you are good to go.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[IGD]

Ahh, gotcha - my bad. I'll blame it on working until 2am last night getting some prints out.

I started with Draw and picked up Illustrator later to take care of client's files.
So normally the first app you learn will be the one you will be most comfortable working with.
Draw's editing tools seem (to me) to work in a much more intuitive speedy way when it comes to building up layouts. Illy has some nice features that I wish Corel had but overall seems a little lacking in the basic industrial drawing/editing department.
I'm sure someone who started with Illustrator will say the exact opposite so either way you are good to go.

wayne k
guam usa

no problem, one thing i really dont know tho is how to do layers, i havnt plotted layers yet or really done much of at all...

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

If you are trying to master vector software using the auto vectorizing feature in any of them is counter productive. The way to learn to draw properly is to do the tracing yourself.
Look for tutorials on how to trace.
Doing so you will get an idea of the best way to approach a complex object.
How to set up layers to isolate different elements as you finish them off. How to copy and evenly space repeating elements. Merging objects with trims & welds to quickly build more complex objects etc..
None of this will come to you by clicking the auto trace button and adjusting a few sliders.
Even though you think the resulting auto-trace looks good, 9 times out of 10 it will be a mess, especially if you are setting up multi colored layouts to be sent to a plotter.


wayne k
guam usa

He only noted that on the occasions that he is vectorizing he uses Illustrator and sends it over to Corel. It doesn't sound he is relying too heavily on the auto trace features of any certain program. However, using a tool that is there for the using doesn't seem counter productive to me. It's just another tool. If it works, why not learn it's capabilities inside and out and utilize it when necessary? Why would someone want to manually trace something they can vectorize from a clean raster image in less than a minute? There is a time and place for tracing and there is a time and place for auto trace. I know if someone gives me a raster image with a decent enough resolution I'm going to auto trace it rather than waste my time essentially redrawing it from the underlying bitmap. Being efficient is part of the job. Auto trace allows that. Manually tracing every job seems pointless. Essentially if one is to utilize both manual tracing techniques and auto trace functions, doesn't that ultimately make him more well rounded in the long run? There is lots of time to learn how to properly draw vectors manually, but sometimes meeting a job deadline takes precedence.

 

[IGD]

He only noted that on the occasions that he is vectorizing he uses Illustrator and sends it over to Corel. It doesn't sound he is relying too heavily on the auto trace features of any certain program. However, using a tool that is there for the using doesn't seem counter productive to me. It's just another tool. If it works, why not learn it's capabilities inside and out and utilize it when necessary? Why would someone want to manually trace something they can vectorize from a clean raster image in less than a minute? There is a time and place for tracing and there is a time and place for auto trace. I know if someone gives me a raster image with a decent enough resolution I'm going to auto trace it rather than waste my time essentially redrawing it from the underlying bitmap. Being efficient is part of the job. Auto trace allows that. Manually tracing every job seems pointless. Essentially if one is to utilize both manual tracing techniques and auto trace functions, doesn't that ultimately make him more well rounded in the long run? There is lots of time to learn how to properly draw vectors manually, but sometimes meeting a job deadline takes precedence.

i usually auto trace to see how it comes out, sometimes its ok and sometimes i have to manually trace it. your right i dont think its counter productive either when it traces a clean image

 

[sinetist]

You won't regret the extra bit of time mastering Illustrator. I used to have Flexi Letter and have to say that the vector and drawing tools in it were every bit as good as Illustrator. It was simpler than Illustrator to learn because, I think, it was designed for making signs and left off a lot of the things that Illustrator includes for other types of design work. I was kinda sorry when I had to leave it behind when I upgraded my system.