The Vector Doctor
Chief Bezier Manipulator
I mentioned this many months ago... finally someone who agrees. I keep a copy of cs3 and use that exclusively only when i use smart guides
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Vector Software
- Thread starter Sign-Man Signs
- Start date
I mentioned this many months ago... finally someone who agrees. I keep a copy of cs3 and use that exclusively only when i use smart guides
SightLine
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I agree with dawg.....
I do agree that the artboard size limit can be frustrating in Illustrator once in a while.
Um.... Illustrator has had the ability to have multiple artboards on the canvas for quite some time. You can even name the artboards individually and if exporting to a PDF or other file type each will export as their own separate files of your want. In my opinion their implementation of that is quite excellent.
Terremoto said:
I do agree that the artboard size limit can be frustrating in Illustrator once in a while.
Um.... Illustrator has had the ability to have multiple artboards on the canvas for quite some time. You can even name the artboards individually and if exporting to a PDF or other file type each will export as their own separate files of your want. In my opinion their implementation of that is quite excellent.
I disagree... kind of. The node editing is personal preference IMHO
I will give you the artboard size. But you can set up multiple pages in Illustrator without doing layers - use the artboards.
Personally HATE when I have to work in Corel. Like Corel lovers HATE when they have to work in Illustrator... but I started on Illustrator 88 and Photoshop 2, so me and Illy - we got history
omgsideburns
New Member
If I could select which things smart guides would snap to instead of just being on or off I'd be a lot happier with them.
OldPaint
New Member
node editing in corel PRE X3 was a little complicated. since X3, node editing is a breeze. i would bet X6 is even faster.
as for SIGN SPECIFIC PROGRAMS, i have found SIGN LAB, to be heads above the rest in the node editing mode. when you node edit in sign lab, it puts all the node functions right at the cursor. you get this little box that shows up just off where you are editing, with the trashcan, cusp, break, connect all right in front of you.
2nd best is SIGN WIZARD.
as for SIGN SPECIFIC PROGRAMS, i have found SIGN LAB, to be heads above the rest in the node editing mode. when you node edit in sign lab, it puts all the node functions right at the cursor. you get this little box that shows up just off where you are editing, with the trashcan, cusp, break, connect all right in front of you.
2nd best is SIGN WIZARD.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
I wish I still had my copy of CS3.
Terremoto
New Member
Say you have a curve consisting of three nodes. In Illustrator when you delete the middle node it tends to want to flatten out the curve. In CorelDraw when you delete the middle node it considers the original curve and refines it quite nicely.
When I'm working in CorelDraw with artwork that has "rough spots" in the curve all I do is double click on each side of the rough area to add a couple of nodes and then marquee select the nodes creating the rough spot and hit delete. That's it - perfect curves (vectors). Try that in Illustrator and see what happens. Guaranteed you'll have some more refining to do to that curve in Illustrator where if you're working with CorelDraw you're already on to the next job.
Illustrator seems to want to make everything you're trying to accomplish as complicated as possible. There are many things that are quite simple to do in CorelDraw that require three or four steps in Illustrator or possibly even having to whip out the card to get a plug-in.
I've worked with both for many years but when the choice is mine I pick CorelDraw without hesitation. If you want production then CorelDraw is the software that really helps you get things done - done right and done fast.
Dan
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
Since the OP mentioned that he saw it at a sign expo, I supplied the answer of Imagaro Z in an earlier reply because they regularly show their wares at ISA. I think he is looking for an auto tracing solution and not a vector creation and editing application such as Illustrator or CorelDRAW.
Terremoto
New Member
I've tried a few different auto-tracing applications and the one I found that worked the best was Vector Magic but even then the result still required editing.
I can generally hand trace a bitmap quicker and certainly more accurately than any of the auto-tracing applications I've ever used. Saying that though, I've never tried ImagaroZ so I would have to reserve judgement on that.
In any case, the OP said he was looking for something better than CorelDraw and Flexi. Maybe CorelDraw and CoCut would be somewhat better as they're both from Corel and they work well together. I know quite a number of sign shop graphic designers and the majority of them use CorelDraw and I don't know that any of them use any kind of auto-tracing software, not even the trace feature in CorelDraw.
If I ever run across an auto-tracing application that can do a better or quicker job than I can hand tracing then I would probably purchase it and use it regularly. So far I haven't found anything suitable.
Dan
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
I agree regarding the concept of auto tracing vs hand tracing and rarely auto trace anything. What is unique about Imagaro Z is that it has built in font identification and replacement of scanned and traced text (if you have the font). Most auto tracing works reasonably well with free form graphics but fails miserably with text ... so when it works it's a nice improvement.
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SightLine
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Ah.... not having used Corel in several years I did not recall it working that way. I can see where that could be useful but at times.
Also in CS6 the accuracy of the tracing tool (now called Image Trace) is greatly improved but still far from perfect. Does indeed do much better than prior implementations though. Going to have to check out Imagaro Z - that looks like it might be handy at times.
Also in CS6 the accuracy of the tracing tool (now called Image Trace) is greatly improved but still far from perfect. Does indeed do much better than prior implementations though. Going to have to check out Imagaro Z - that looks like it might be handy at times.
Jim Doggett
New Member
For me, it's all the tooltips; less clicking tools and menu choices so it goes faster. Plus I've used Corel so long that I can do it drunk/high/and half asleep.
What you learned on probably trumps all else.
Jim Doggett
New Member
It was a licensing deal with Eurosystems (maker / owner) one year (when CorelDRAW X4 was launched)
The newer version 2011, which supports X5 and in a coupla weeks X6, too, is at www.cocut.com, which belongs to Eurosystems in Germany.
OldPaint
New Member
jim, eurosystems(owner of pro-cut, co-cut, euro-cut)got involved with COREL, back just prior to COREL launch of COREL VERSION 5.
i found this out because i was cutting from corel 3, in 92, and corel 4. i purchased COREL 5, and it WOULD NOT COMMUNICATE TO PLOTTER. also wrecked my COREL 4, that was cutting direct to plotter.
i went to ORLANDO SIGN SHOW, that year(version 5) and went to the eurocut booth, since their big advertising line was OUR PROGRAM WORKS SEAMLESSLY FROM WITHIN COREL. of course it did......BECAUSE the engine/code for plotters in their program WAS COREL!!!!
corel apperently made $$$$ arrangements with eurocut and "leased" that part of COREL to them for 2 years. this was told to me by the guy at euorcuts booth, when i told him that this what i believed happened, he said you figured that out pretty good!!! i know this because COREL 6 was also not able to cut to plotter direct. COREL 7 came out and COREL had the plotter driver/engine/code back in the draw program. the other big improvement was, COREL had increased the desktop work area from 30 INCHES x 30 INCHES to 150 FEET X 150 FEET!!!! COREL 8, came out and COREL HAD ACQUIRED XARA..........as a partner. a lot of the new things i version 8 was from XARA. all versions since then have had a lot of XARA added. then corel cut XARA loose, to fend for them selfs.
i found this out because i was cutting from corel 3, in 92, and corel 4. i purchased COREL 5, and it WOULD NOT COMMUNICATE TO PLOTTER. also wrecked my COREL 4, that was cutting direct to plotter.
i went to ORLANDO SIGN SHOW, that year(version 5) and went to the eurocut booth, since their big advertising line was OUR PROGRAM WORKS SEAMLESSLY FROM WITHIN COREL. of course it did......BECAUSE the engine/code for plotters in their program WAS COREL!!!!
corel apperently made $$$$ arrangements with eurocut and "leased" that part of COREL to them for 2 years. this was told to me by the guy at euorcuts booth, when i told him that this what i believed happened, he said you figured that out pretty good!!! i know this because COREL 6 was also not able to cut to plotter direct. COREL 7 came out and COREL had the plotter driver/engine/code back in the draw program. the other big improvement was, COREL had increased the desktop work area from 30 INCHES x 30 INCHES to 150 FEET X 150 FEET!!!! COREL 8, came out and COREL HAD ACQUIRED XARA..........as a partner. a lot of the new things i version 8 was from XARA. all versions since then have had a lot of XARA added. then corel cut XARA loose, to fend for them selfs.
GypsyGraphics
New Member
i'd always just used illustrator, but last year bought Vector Magic for quickie stuff, and clients too cheap to pay for my time, to re-illustrate their crappy file. i was pleasantly surprised with Vector Magic, but i just checked out fred's link and noticed a great feature...
Imagaro professional Z can recognize all fonts you own plus more than 70,000 typefaces from different manufacturers.
niiiiiice!
James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Most vendors have trial software that allow you to try them for 30 days. I would rather decide what works best for me based on a little bit of experience rather than just somebody's word.
If possible, load them all and run side by side trials and take good notes as to what you do and don't like about each.
JB
TyrantDesigner
Art! Hot and fresh.
I disagree... kind of. The node editing is personal preference IMHO
I will give you the artboard size. But you can set up multiple pages in Illustrator without doing layers - use the artboards.
Personally HATE when I have to work in Corel. Like Corel lovers HATE when they have to work in Illustrator... but I started on Illustrator 88 and Photoshop 2, so me and Illy - we got history
I like both illustrator and corel, prefer corel ... comes sole reason to node editing ... here is why: Scenario ... multiple items (like oh, a dual color job). in this example, lets just say some nodes are out of place on the outline color.
Process of corel draw:
Double click item that needs nodes edited
selection box around nodes *as it only grabs nodes from a selected item*
move nodes.
right click on a single node gives you all node options
double clicking on the line gives you a new node (or removes a node)
selecting 2 nodes and deleting creates a curve of the average of where the points used to be.
Process in illustator is twice as long. (both in time and process)
Also, the main gripe with illustrator, flexi and every other softwares node editing ... the selection box for nodes selects every node in that box from every item in the box.
And in illustrator, you want to get rid of one or 20 nodes ... you hit delete ... it breaks the path ... so they had to make a tool just to remove nodes ... one ... by ... one. pass on that.
Don't get me wrong, the smooth tool in illustrator is amazing, and there isn't a week that goes by that I don't load illustrator up to do the stylus drawing thing with a custom brush stroke that I made. good stuff really. not many other programs can do that sort of work with that much proficiency.
Neither can trace an ink drawing with a **** in a wind storm though ... inkscape punks both. The potrace open source is a nice addition to inkscape ...probably the most accurate trace I've seen.
James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Absolutely love these kind of photos...
JB