Big Rice Field
Electrical/Architectural Sign Designer
I am running Corel Draw version 2021 (Version 23) and after three weeks of working almost every day, it has only crashed twice. It seems to be a more stable version than earlier ones.
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Opinion Corel Draw 2021
- Thread starter Big Rice Field
- Start date
I'm still seeing the same font handling issues that were present in CDR 2020. Some font files don't show up in the font menu. I think the root cause is how CorelDRAW and its font manager treat upright versus italic fonts. Some fonts can be accessed by clicking the Italic button on the toolbar. But others just aren't available unless you uninstall either the upright or italic companion. You get one or the other, but not both.
Plus, I think the OTF Variable Font "engine" in CorelDRAW 2021 is a bit buggy. Yesterday bought a new type super family called Heading Now that was on sale (160 OTFs plus two OTF VAR files); the variable fonts "render" more normally in Illustrator whereas the same OTF VAR instances in CDR 2021 look more crooked, wiggly, glitchy, etc. Zero problems with the standard OTFs btw. The OTF VARs are not 100% quirk-free in Illustrator, but the issues are noticeably worse in CorelDRAW. Hopefully Zetafonts will issue an update on their end. Given Corel's track record as of late I'm not as hopeful for updates from their end.
The biggest issue I've seen so far with CorelDRAW 2021 is its new Find Objects function. Most of the time I've tried using it the function has totally crashed CorelDRAW 2021, bad enough that I had to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up Task Manager and force-quit the application. Just another reason for me to keep CDR 2018 installed on the same machine.
On the positive side, CorelDRAW 2021 definitely launches much faster than CDR 2020.
Plus, I think the OTF Variable Font "engine" in CorelDRAW 2021 is a bit buggy. Yesterday bought a new type super family called Heading Now that was on sale (160 OTFs plus two OTF VAR files); the variable fonts "render" more normally in Illustrator whereas the same OTF VAR instances in CDR 2021 look more crooked, wiggly, glitchy, etc. Zero problems with the standard OTFs btw. The OTF VARs are not 100% quirk-free in Illustrator, but the issues are noticeably worse in CorelDRAW. Hopefully Zetafonts will issue an update on their end. Given Corel's track record as of late I'm not as hopeful for updates from their end.
The biggest issue I've seen so far with CorelDRAW 2021 is its new Find Objects function. Most of the time I've tried using it the function has totally crashed CorelDRAW 2021, bad enough that I had to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up Task Manager and force-quit the application. Just another reason for me to keep CDR 2018 installed on the same machine.
On the positive side, CorelDRAW 2021 definitely launches much faster than CDR 2020.
Big Rice Field
Electrical/Architectural Sign Designer
I am always forced to upgrade if only for the import/export filters that are updated.
Strange how one user has issues and most other users don't, I don't think I have had any of those issues...
But when I upgraded I decided to do a fresh installation of Windows.
There are enough complaints about crash issues with the Find-Replace function over in the CorelDRAW 2021 user forum that there is little doubt over it being a bug.
Some of the issues I've been seeing with type will vary from one type family to the next. But the same fonts work normally in other applications.
In the case of OpenType Variable Fonts I've never seen any irregularities that were very noticeable at all before. At most just a very slight bump or bend that shouldn't be there. However there is something about ZetaFonts' newly released Heading Now family that CorelDRAW cannot render the variable instances properly. Many of the vertical and horizonal lines in the letter forms just get crooked. In Adobe Illustrator all the vertical and horizonal straight lines render properly. But features such as a cross bar in a "S" get some wiggly trash in the middle and the interior counter in a "O" looks out of whack at the top and bottom of the loop. There's definitely issues with the variable font itself, but I think it's also exposing an issue in the CorelDRAW type engine as well.
Some of the issues I've been seeing with type will vary from one type family to the next. But the same fonts work normally in other applications.
In the case of OpenType Variable Fonts I've never seen any irregularities that were very noticeable at all before. At most just a very slight bump or bend that shouldn't be there. However there is something about ZetaFonts' newly released Heading Now family that CorelDRAW cannot render the variable instances properly. Many of the vertical and horizonal lines in the letter forms just get crooked. In Adobe Illustrator all the vertical and horizonal straight lines render properly. But features such as a cross bar in a "S" get some wiggly trash in the middle and the interior counter in a "O" looks out of whack at the top and bottom of the loop. There's definitely issues with the variable font itself, but I think it's also exposing an issue in the CorelDRAW type engine as well.
Big Rice Field
Electrical/Architectural Sign Designer
I just do not use Find and Replace all that much. I set my autobackup to ten minutes for insurance against crashes, and hit Ctrl-S whenever I do some complicated command. A habit I have been using since Corel Draw 4 in 1994
romeo-blue
New Member
I have been with the new version for 3 weeks and only had problems with 1 single time.
Some of us are more extreme and we save our files like this Ctrl + Shift + S / Save as from time to time.
Some of us are more extreme and we save our files like this Ctrl + Shift + S / Save as from time to time.
CorelDRAW X5 was released 11 years ago and is getting into some arguably primitive territory. A decent number of features have accumulated over the eight version releases that followed.
Version X6 was the first 64-bit version of CorelDRAW. X6 added proper, advanced support of OpenType fonts. For me that's a must-have feature; I buy a good number of commercial fonts. Most new commercial fonts have advanced character sets sporting features like alternate characters, native small capitals, advanced number sets, ligatures, additional alphabets, etc. It covers the full Unicode table.
X8 was the first version to fully support Windows 10. Fountain fills were improved, but levels of transparency in gradients didn't arrive until CorelDRAW 2018. Version 2018 added a Pointillizer effect that I find handy for simulating the appearance of LED sign graphics. It produces some interesting halftone effects similar to Astute Graphics' Phantasm plugin for Illustrator. Version 2018 added a pretty good Block Shadow tool to go with the old Extrude tool.
Version 2020 added support for OpenType Variable Fonts. Still no support for OpenType-SVG fonts though.
Version 2021 didn't have much in terms of new features (perspective drawing, multi-page view). But v2021 does launch faster and run more stable than v2020 or v2019.
Version X6 was the first 64-bit version of CorelDRAW. X6 added proper, advanced support of OpenType fonts. For me that's a must-have feature; I buy a good number of commercial fonts. Most new commercial fonts have advanced character sets sporting features like alternate characters, native small capitals, advanced number sets, ligatures, additional alphabets, etc. It covers the full Unicode table.
X8 was the first version to fully support Windows 10. Fountain fills were improved, but levels of transparency in gradients didn't arrive until CorelDRAW 2018. Version 2018 added a Pointillizer effect that I find handy for simulating the appearance of LED sign graphics. It produces some interesting halftone effects similar to Astute Graphics' Phantasm plugin for Illustrator. Version 2018 added a pretty good Block Shadow tool to go with the old Extrude tool.
Version 2020 added support for OpenType Variable Fonts. Still no support for OpenType-SVG fonts though.
Version 2021 didn't have much in terms of new features (perspective drawing, multi-page view). But v2021 does launch faster and run more stable than v2020 or v2019.