Corel X8 is out!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sidney]

I invested in Corel quite some time ago (maybe 20 years) but also used Illustrator. When my business really started to expand and I began investing in "tools" needed in the sign business I realized back then that CorelDraw could output to my cutter and my printer(with No Rip program). CorelDraw X8 really is impressive...I definitely recommend it. Here is sample of a project printed without a Rip program....Just Corel

 

[decalman]

For one, you will be limited on types of files you can import. If you ever get a message that a vector "cannot be opened" or that it's "corrupt", it's just your version. With X7, I've never once had a file that wouldn't open.
Also the features you use are upgraded to better ones with more options, it's more stable and lots of new features. There are too many reasons to list.

Yeah, and thanks. I do get files every now and then that I can't open.
I'm learning things here.

 

[kheebl]

Does anyone know if macros from x7 will work with x8?

 

[Ponto]

I invested in Corel quite some time ago (maybe 20 years) but also used Illustrator. When my business really started to expand and I began investing in "tools" needed in the sign business I realized back then that CorelDraw could output to my cutter and my printer(with No Rip program). CorelDraw X8 really is impressive...I definitely recommend it. Here is sample of a project printed without a Rip program....Just Corel

That is impressive,.... and reason enough to use Corel software. Is the process going to large scale print through Corel relatively painless.... are there any drawbacks on output?

JP

 

[myront]

Does anyone know if macros from x7 will work with x8?

yes, X7 macros will work with X8

 

[Sidney]

I personally did not find it difficult to transition over to large scale printing, but that is my experience. The Top 3 major pluses for me is ....
1)the ability to work on large scale designs from within Corel and not do 1/4 scale at "X" dpi or "X" scale at "X" dpi.(some projects will need to be scaled down, but I have done 20' designs at full scale)
2) consistency in color output
3) quick transfer speed (from Corel to printer)

That is impressive,.... and reason enough to use Corel software. Is the process going to large scale print through Corel relatively painless.... are there any drawbacks on output?

JP

 

[Andy D]

That Mac-only snobbery really annoyed me.

Amen to that! Also Corel handles scaling out large projects much better than Adobe, for exsample if you have a mechanical of a shopping center with multiple signs, you could select any
object and get actual sizes.

 

[Andy D]

I realized back then that CorelDraw could output to my cutter and my printer(with No Rip program).

I didn't know you could rip directly from Corel, I plot from Corel but use Finecut (a third party macro) . I'll have to look into that.
Aside from the obvious fact of not having to buy a rip program are there other benefits of printing directly from Coreldraw?

 

[Ponto]

I imagine all the automated tasks found in various RIP software (tiling, bleeds, nesting,...etc.) would simply become manual efforts within Corel. Once the software is dialed in for color output I can see significant savings....

JP

 

[Behrmon]

I'm going to have to revisit Corel, haven't used since V3. I saw some of Mr Diaz's nice work on one of the "trailers". Although I personally dread the idea of working on a PC it might be worth a shot if not just not having an dartboard limitation!

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I'm going to have to revisit Corel, haven't used since V3. I saw some of Mr Diaz's nice work on one of the "trailers". Although I personally dread the idea of working on a PC it might be worth a shot if not just not having an dartboard limitation!

Technically speaking even a Mac is a PC (although, it seems like we are coming full circle with the oncoming rise of "cloud computing"), it's really operating systems that people really quibble about. Somewhere along the line the term has morphed into something else however.


I never could get the hang of DRAW. Not that I'm saying that means it isn't as good as Ai (I actually use Inkscape on the Linux side on occasion, so I'm not totally stuck on Ai), it's just that I couldn't quite get the hang of it. It all really depends on what you learned first.

Everything is just tools really. Only as good as the person is behind the keyboard/tablet/what have you.

 

[Sidney]

Corel is Great with a Tablet

Now, for many designers we use tablets simply because a mouse is not natural feeling. I have always used Wacom tablets (they are awesome) but I just invested in a UGEE 2150 and all I can say is "what a tablet". You designers who currently use tablets but can't afford a Wacom Cintiq for 2k or a small 13" Cintiq at 1k might want to take a look at the Ugee 2150 Pen Display Monitor . You can purchase new on Amazon for$649 or go to Ebay and purchase from their supplier in California for $550+.....It is HD, easy to install and has a 1year manufacturer warranty etc.
You can purchase a 19" for $429 (Ugee UG1910 Pen Display Drawing Monitor with 2 Original Digital Pens)

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Now, for many designers we use tablets simply because a mouse is not natural feeling. I have always used Wacom tablets (they are awesome)

Love the Wacom Cintiq line. Great products.

 

[XtremeXccessories]

This checkbox ALONE would be worth the $200 upgrade cost for me. This drives me NUTS. Why did it take so many versions for them to implement this?

 

[rcook99]

You can run a machine with Corel Draw. I run my laser from it. And my plotter. And my printer.

Adrian

I would love love to be able to print from Corel and then die cut as well. Is it possible without a bridge program using a Mutoh VJ 1204 and Graphtec FC 7000? I also run Signlab for print and cuts but some of my prints have a green hue to them in Signlab as opposed to Corel.

 

[ams]

I would love love to be able to print from Corel and then die cut as well. Is it possible without a bridge program using a Mutoh VJ 1204 and Graphtec FC 7000? I also run Signlab for print and cuts but some of my prints have a green hue to them in Signlab as opposed to Corel.

You can print from corel.

 

[ams]

Has anyone gotten X8 yet? if so how do you like it?

 

[phiscribe]

X8

Hey guys.

I lurk around here a bit, but thought I would chime in on X8.

I have been banging around on it a few weeks. This is what is new.

That annoying message you get when zooming out too far is able to be disabled now. I hated that message. A dark UI is included, window dressing but some people will be glad.

It supports 4k monitors now, but I don't have one yet.

Tools like twirl are now pressure sensitive. Other pressure sensitive tweaks are there but I haven't explored them a great deal.

The shape tool has a new thing where you can pick part of a path and copy/paste. I haven't explored it fully but looks useful. It is good when trying to isolate part of a path into a new object/path.

The knife tool now has options for overlap and gap.

There is a new font manager. It is a pretty large improvement. It now allows working with uninstalled fonts directly in Draw. I have an absurd number of fonts and have not yet loaded them all, going a folder at a time. It isn't as responsive as I would like with my current set of about 21k fonts, but workable.

There are new mirror, stretch and grommet options for printed canvas, which I don't do, but nice to know they are there.

The drop shadow tool now has gaussian blur.

New options to hide/show objects individually or in groups without resorting to layers.

There have been some bug reports about the mesh tool and working in different color models. Something about the eye dropper reporting the wrong color.

Photo-paint has new things, but I haven't even touched on them.
​

This thread has a bit of a Draw vs Illustrator flavor. Some things I like about Draw are the max canvas size of 45.72m × 45.72 m and a 45000% zoom. Illustrator has a 5.7785m × 5.7785 m max artboard and 6400%. I don't often hit those large sizes, I am kind of a one man show atm, but it is nice when I do hit it to work at scale. The zoom in Illustrator seems "slippery," for lack of a better term. I am very used to the one handed mouse wheel zoom and can't easily adapt to two hands. I also like the snapping and dynamic alignment better in Draw. Illustrator can seem stubborn to get things to align node to node. Plus overall, thing just seem faster in draw. Say the shape/anchor point editing tools. In draw they are consolidated into one tool where in Illustrator you might have switch back and forth to two or three tools. It seems to my I have to do less spelunking to get to something buried under several menu's or options in Draw than Illustrator. Draw supports true multiple pages, but I wouldn't want to do a book in it, or even a newspaper. For around a twenty page or less publication, it's ok. I am married to the C E P T keyboard shortcuts for alignment. A divorce would be ugly, ruin the kids, and invoke depression.

Draw does not have some of the 3D tools that Illustrator has, I wish it did. I think for just raw power, Illustrator has things that are compelling. It just doesn't seem as efficient in the kind of get it done yesterday environment I am sure all you people know all to well. Draw will fumble over some import options from AI at times, with certain kinds of gradients and complex designs. Usually it isn't too terrible.

 

[freebird1963]

Does X8 choke on large files still ? Or files with gradients ? I still have issues opening some SVG files with corel. Does x8 fix that. X6 fixed some of these to a degree but not all.

 

[phiscribe]

Does X8 choke on large files still ? Or files with gradients ? I still have issues opening some SVG files with corel. Does x8 fix that. X6 fixed some of these to a degree but not all.

It's not choking on large files here, going by just size. However it will bog down on files with ginormous node counts. Any vector editor will. I am not sure this is so much Draw or I need a faster machine.

Draw has always been weird about SVG. Many SVG's are Inkscape generated. Something about how Inkscape and Draw view SVG is out of wack. As SVG 1.1 doesn't really support layers, Inkscape marks layers a certain way using groups. If you save as plain svg in Inkscape vs Inkscape svg these layers can be lost. However, opening them with Draw will see the layers, but often result in them being hidden and or locked. I think in X6 and prior trying an ungroup all in Draw on one of these SVG's would lock the program. You could ungroup one at a time and get there, but still annoying. X7 and beyond this doesn't happen with an ungroup all. But you still have to deal with the locked layers and get them unlocked. Workable but still annoying. Still other SVG's will have content in root which causes weirdness. SVG 2 needs to surface I think for all this to be resolved, so down the road probably.

As to gradients, if they are native Draw gradients it does fine. If they are import, well who knows what will happen. There is no postscript object called a gradient. Mesh's are likely to be rasterized. Last time I looked Illustrator has no conical or square gradients and similar Illustrator has gradient effects not in Draw. These are all probably going to be rasterized going between programs. Sometimes saving as svg can be an intermittent solutions. PDF export and playing with the flattening and rasterizatin options can help at times. Bottom line, imports from AI with complex gradients are probably not going to remain editable in Draw.

If your getting this kind of artwork regularly, then having Illustrator on hand probably makes a lot of sense. Draw excels when most of your art is in house. There are work arounds for many of the problems, but they are work arounds. The native program is usually best for dealing with native files.