Which design program?

[duggan]

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations of suggestions on which one is better than the other. I have Corel Draw 13, as well as Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator CS.
Does anyone have any suggestions as which one is better and why?
Thanks for the help!
Duggan

 

[Gino]

It would be easier to ask yourself the same question. Which one do YOU like better ??

We used to be big into Corel in the late '80's and into the '90's, but everyone started using Adobe products and we went there also.


Both have their strong and weak points. Seems that more hardware is geared towards the Adobe line.

 

[BlueRidgeFabrication]

We use Illustrator CS2 for all of our design work and love it!

 

[GK]

The graphics industry standard would be geared more towards Adobe's line of products. Corel makes excellent products as well but you should make the decision based on your own personal comfort level with the software titles. Personally for me I spend most of my day using Adobe's products.

 

[MobileImpact]

Exactly what Gino said...

They will both do the same thing, perhaps different steps to get there, but both will make it happen.

Pick the one you feel comfortable using or learning and go to town.

Kevin

 

[flisk]

I think the bigger question is; what are you going to be using the final design for? Will it be for...

Printing?
Plotting?
Both?

Second question is, what is going to be the primary use of the program?

Create from scratch?
Clean up provided artwork?

From the question it sounds like you are going to be creating designs from scratch.

Let me give a breakdown on the top 3 pieces of software:

Corel: Great for creating vector graphics. Great for converting supplied graphics into vector.

Illustrator: Great for creating vector graphics. Okay for converting supplied graphics into vector. Great at doing ad-slicks.

Photoshop: Great at manipulatiing photos. Cannot convert anything into a vector (however it can open a vector based file). Great for designing vehicle wraps.

My personal recomendation is to learn all 3 programs. It's "expansive", but as stated earlier in this thread, each program does something very well that the others either cannot do or just do poorly.

Corel tends to have super tiny file sizes regardless of the actual design size (I have always loved .cdr files because of that). Both of the Adobe programs tend to save HUGE files.

 

[Techman]

Corel draw.
Then Corel Draw.. and then Corel Draw some more.

 

[WVB]

Illustrator: Great for creating vector graphics. Okay for converting supplied graphics into vector. Great at doing ad-slicks.

Photoshop: Great at manipulatiing photos. Cannot convert anything into a vector (however it can open a vector based file). Great for designing vehicle wraps.

These are only opinions of flisk... Just that... CS2 is awesome at creating graphics into vectors. Photoshop can create vector files by the way. Via the create working path/export as paths, etc.

I have always used Adobe products before they were even ported over to PC to compete with Corel on PC... I only used Corel during my college years. I just liked Adobe products more (my opinion) Corel is an excellent program, but so are Adobe products. Your best bet is to try them both out and use the one you feel best at utilizing to your abilities... Both will get the job done just via different steps/techniques...

 

[KR3signguy]

Adobe products are better to learn if you ever need to cross over into the world of print/prepress/advertising production. By far, there is a greater demand to know adobe products than any other. More clients like to provide adobe products than any other. I'd stick with them & learn corel on the side, which will be very simple to do. I'm sure Adobe will be around much longer. You might never know what the future will bring.

 

[GK]

Illustrator: Great for creating vector graphics. Okay for converting supplied graphics into vector. Great at doing ad-slicks.

Photoshop: Great at manipulating photos. Cannot convert anything into a vector (however it can open a vector based file). Great for designing vehicle wraps.

Not really an accurate statement since the CS package was created and even more so CS3 where you can swap back and forth from Illustrator to Photoshop via smart objects. Photoshop exports vector paths either by using the Export function or by selecting the appropriate path via the Path palette (usually grouped with the layers one) and turn your selection into a path, then copy it in Photoshop and paste it into Illustrator.

 

[flisk]

Let me clarify my statement of "cannot convert anything to a vector".

I cannot, for example, use photoshop to take an image from the internet (just did a google search for banana; attached is the pic) and simply convert it into a vector image. There is just simply no way to do that. If there is, please explain it to me.

 

[WVB]

Use your magic wand and select the white spots. Invert your selection. Click your path tab and click create working path. Now you can copy/paste into Illustrator or you can export paths to Illustrator. This will leave you with *.ai vector file (in wire frame mode).

 

[flisk]

you are still missing my point...

Photoshop alone cannot convert anything to a vector. That is, you cannot use photoshop by itself to convert a vector and then use photoshop to process that vector to a plotter or any other device that requires a vector.

You would have to have a 2nd program to give that vector a way to be output. My statement was said on the basis of using 1 (one) program, not multiple programs to achieve something.

If that were the case then I'd simply go with either illustrator or corel to convert the image to vector and be done with it. MUCH easier that way because those two programs have that ability on their own.
Photoshop does not.

 

[GK]

you are still missing my point...

Photoshop alone cannot convert anything to a vector. That is, you cannot use photoshop by itself to convert a vector and then use photoshop to process that vector to a plotter or any other device that requires a vector.

You would have to have a 2nd program to give that vector a way to be output. My statement was said on the basis of using 1 (one) program, not multiple programs to achieve something.

If that were the case then I'd simply go with either illustrator or corel to convert the image to vector and be done with it. MUCH easier that way because those two programs have that ability on their own.
Photoshop does not.

I know what you are getting at, but you are still stating it incorrectly. By saying photoshop by itself cannot convert anything to vector is an inaccurate statement. You are saying it cannot process the vector files to cut from a plotter/embroidery etc. Photoshop can however convert, create, alter points/paths, import/export vector files -- it just cant process them for cutting.

 

[schmitty]

Photoshop does create vector files.


I have to admit, I like to create my vector artwork from a bitmap inside photoshop better... I dont know why, just find it easier.


Good Luck on your decision!

 

[OldPaint]

COREL TRACE IS AWESOME
all i got to say.............screw
adobe)))))))

 

[Jackpine]

CorelX3 is my design choice.

 

[Billct2]

I use Gerber for my layouts/text and when printing use CorelDraw to add effects/images.

 

[Kevin Dooley]

In much the same way I was forced to abandon my beloved Mac universe to conduct business, I have also been forced to bow to the altar of Adobe. Clients tend to stick to the stuff their corporate masters give them. (One asked me once, "what's CORAL?" referring to COREL - uh-duh)

((Me - meekly succumbing to the "nail that doesn't stick up won't get hammered down" or "bend with the winds like the willow" zen thing. Pat Morita is channeling me to switch to decaf))