looking at switching from Adobe...has anyone else?

[spudcity]

It looks like I am no longer able to open .eps files sent from newer versions of Illustrator. Has anyone switched over to Corel from Adobe Illustrator?

Are you still able to use all of the files you created in Illy that are in an .eps format?

I have no clue how Corel works...I'm assuming it is still vector/.eps?

I assume it works with the latest versaworks also...

 

[WildWestDesigns]

In my experience, Corel tends to be a generation behind in translation of files created by Ai. Even then, it can have quirks even if it was created in the previous version of Ai. So, it could still be a crap shoot on rather it will work or not.

 

[DravidDavid]

As far as I'm aware, Illustrator is still the best. Just ask for the file to be saved in a legacy format. We've got clients that are still using CS2/3/4.

 

[jfiscus]

Every Adobe program (and almost every other software company) has always been like this. it is done to encourage everyone to upgrade once the upgrade comes out, and a lot of the time there are specific features in the newer program that the older program cannot understand, therefore making you HAVE to open the file created with the newer program as it would be corrupt (have unknown data) in the older program.

However, I have always found ways around this if they are supply you with well-crated artwork. Most of the time you can either place this newer file into another Illustrator file and embed the file, or distill it with Acrobat Distiller into a PDF that you could then open with Illustrator.

 

[Stephenedwardgraphic]

Pony up the money for the Adobe Creative Cloud and chalk it up as an expense necessary to do business.

 

[royster13]

Having the most current software (Corel & Adobe) is a cost of doing business and is a must.....Sure you can send files back to clients to get saved in an older version......This is inconvenient and may "****" some of them off and cause them to go elsewhere next time.....It may also delay "time sensitive" projects...It may also result in a file that is not quite the same as the original and cause you to redo a job....All of these could cost you more money that just keeping up to date.....

 

[Bobby H]

I've been using both CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator for many years. Neither program is anywhere near perfect at opening files generated by the rival program. At best, vector shapes will retain accuracy. Outside of that there's lots and lots of differences in how both programs behave. And that's just for effects features common to both programs, such as gradient fills and text on path effects. Both programs have various effects that are dependent on that specific application and version of that application. I'm often annoyed at how poorly CorelDRAW X7 can be at saving CorelDRAW files down to version X6 or X3.

It's just a lot easier to have both applications so customer provided art files, be they any flavor of Adobe or Corel, may open correctly.

We even have to have a copy of MS Publisher (spit) on a couple machines for the same reasons.

 

[mark-s]

Like Bobby H, I run both Corel DRAW and Adobe Illustrator.

mark-s

 

[sewfun52]

CorelDraw

I use Corel. I wasn't bright enough to pickup on how to use Illustrator but have kept up with the Corel versions (from when they first started numbering them). I haven't had trouble opening Illustrator files in X7, but I print and using a file stepped through Corel always makes the colors suspect. I also use VersWorks as my rip software and, push come to shove, just send the file to the printer. But I'm also a low volume shop. I do like that I can use Corel in all of my machine applications as I cut vinyl, print and cut stickers, engrave and cut applique.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I do like that I can use Corel in all of my machine applications as I cut vinyl, print and cut stickers, engrave and cut applique.

You can do that with Ai as well.

Only reason I actually got a copy of Corel was due to my digitizing software of choice (Wilcom) came bundled with DRAW starting with X4 up to X6 now. Although, I don't have X6 installed with this current iteration.

I think with some of this stuff it's what you learn first that tends to stick with you the best, unless you just had a horrid experience. I for one just couldn't get a handle on DRAW. I'm not saying it's a bad program, I just didn't couldn't get it to work for me.




In a perfect world, you would want to have both. If not, just make sure that you have it mentioned somewhere what formats you would like to have. Although you will probably still get those files that need to be sent back for a tweak or 2. I actually get far more text substitution errors then anything else and no matter how up to date you are with your programs, that can always be a concern.

 

[Bobby H]

It's one thing to prefer designing only in CorelDRAW. I prefer doing most of my sign design work within CorelDRAW while using Adobe Illustrator in conjunction with Photoshop, After Effects, etc. on other projects. It's another more hazarous thing to go Corel-only, using it to open & edit customer provided art files generated by Adobe Illustrator.


CorelDRAW X7 is -slightly- better at opening .AI and .PDF files than previous versions, but it's still far from perfect. CorelDRAW X7 still trips up on complex AI gradient fills, shifting colors and stop positions along the gradient. Sometimes even the beginning and ending of the gradient can be totally out of whack. CDR X7 supports transparancy on gradient stops (finally), but even that can render oddly. Certain vector-based effects in Illustrator get rendered as pixel-based bitmaps when imported into CorelDRAW. There's no support for things like gradients on line strokes. CorelDRAW's fill percentages are in whole numbers while Illustrator can do fills in hundreths of percentage points (example C=88.75%, M=66.52%, Y=10.02%, K=13.45%). I could go on and on.


Adobe Illustrator is no better at opening .CDR files. In fact, I'd advise against it. I once hosed a Creative Cloud installation via some bug when trying to open a .CDR file directly into Adobe Illustrator CC rather than export an .AI file out of Corel. I literally had to factory reset my desktop PC from scratch to get Illustrator to launch. I haven't tried opening a .CDR file in Illustrator since then.


Artwork that is reliable to share between CorelDRAW and Illustrator: vector-art with flat fills and all text converted to curves. Generally if the artwork is more simple and not polluted with app-dependant effects it will hop between CDR and AI with no noticeable change.


A Corel-only shop can use Adobe Acrobat Reader as a fallback to proof Illustrator-generated .AI and .PDF files to see how they're really supposed to look. But that only works if the .AI file is saved with .PDF compatibility. Just drag and drop the .AI file into the Adobe Reader window.


A shop using only Adobe Illustrator has to fall back on a number of .CDR file viewer applications to proof CorelDRAW files. None of those apps are as good as having a real CorelDRAW installation.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Artwork that is reliable to share between CorelDRAW and Illustrator: vector-art with flat fills and all text converted to curves. Generally if the artwork is more simple and not polluted with app-dependant effects it will hop between CDR and AI with no noticeable change.

Some effects from later applications can actually be handled in such a way that legacy versions will read them. Variable stroke width, gradients on strokes etc. Convert to outlines and they can be read by legacy software.

Bad thing is that if people are as bad as they are with converted text to outlines, chances aren't too good with this either.