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From:Corel
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![CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VF4KhO7lL._SL160_.jpg)
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#598 |
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 Way more than I need - but a great product for professionals, 2008-08-22
This review has been long in the making as I've struggled to find reasons to delve deeper into this massive software suite. I have no complaints about the user-friendliness of the programs. Corel is not hard to figure out and there are plenty of tutorials and help resources included. I've never attempted to use a graphics programs before, let alone the previous edition of CorelDRAW, so this was all new - and intimidating - to me. But I needn't be intimidated by anything other than the sheer volume of applications, because the drag-and-drop for formatting and such made things fairly easy to handle.
I wish I could say I was a business owner, because in that case I would have many more uses for this program. Fooling around with the program for review purposes, I was able to create mock-ups of webpage layouts that looked pretty good. With more motivation (i.e. practical reason for using this) I am confident that I could do pretty well with DRAW. There are a lot of photos, clipart, and templates included - you can tinker around with this stuff for hours and hours. Not to keep driving at the same point, as much as I like this software I would love it if I had more I could apply it to. Perhaps in the future.
It takes up quite a bit of room to install - it requires a DVD-ROM drive (which should be pretty obvious from the product name that includes DVD in brackets) - and it took a long, long time to actually install. Not that I am complaining, I don't have the greatest system in the world. It is a fairly new computer though, so if you are working with a computer that you have been planning to upgrade -- I recommend doing so before trying to put this on your computer. I have no point of reference to compare this to, having never used a similar product. But I certainly have no complaints and no reason to bother with anything similar - this does it all.
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
 Somewhat of a competitor to Photoshop..., 2008-08-16
If you do any kind of graphics creation at all on a regular basis, there is one reason why you MUST have this program: Converting images to vector graphics on a budget. In a nutshell, this means that you can infinitely reduce or enlarge an image with NO distortion, and still have money in your pocket. Other reasons? I have about 2500 fonts, and the font navigator is fantastic for finding just the right typeface. The screen capture software is of little use to me, but for folks who need screencaps from games, movies, etc., it might prove very useful. For fontaholics, obsessive clip art collectors, and beginners, the program comes with fonts and a nice starter pack of clip art so you'll be ready to start playing right away.
I have to admit, I'm not crazy about the interface. It's about on the same level as Photoshop for confusion, but there seems to be a trade-off in graphics programs: The more a program can do, the more complicated the buttons and menus. I only caught on as quickly as I did because I have used other programs for years, and knew to keep looking when I couldn't find or duplicate a certain function. Fortunately you'll never really be on your own.
What's great about Corel is that they have so many tutorials and great product support. Even if you've familiar with other graphics programs, you'll find new features to explore, and if you're unsure of something, you can always find help for it. You won't find the plethora of third-party books, classes and online tutorials like with Photoshop, but with Corel's resources and/or a rudimentary knowledge of other programs, you probably won't need them. This will require more effort, but for me the end results were worth it.
While I don't feel that this program is a serious competitor for Photoshop, it's a GREAT, less expensive alternative. If you want something more than Corel's Paint Shop Pro (another great product), but you don't have an Adobe budget, you should seriously look at this program.
Great product!! Great service!!!, 2008-07-29
I purchased this item for my graphics design person who was using Corel Draw Suite 11, and he says there are major improvements that benefit us as a business by upgrading to the newer version. Keep up the good work!!
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
I'm back to CorelDraw. It's good to be home again., 2008-07-28
I began using CorelDraw with version 2.0 in 1990. It was the first serious vector-based drawing package for Windows, and I think it's still the best. They keep adding features, but it's actually easier to use now than it was back when I first started with it.
When I moved to Vista recently, I discovered that I had lost my CorelDraw 7 disks, and that version probably would not have worked properly on Vista anyway. About that time I was given a copy of Microsoft's new Expression product. It includes a vector-based drawing program called Expression Design, so I thought I would give it a try.
Well, that didn't last long. I spent a frustrating weekend trying to make Expression Design do the things that worked easily and naturally in CorelDraw. I would have thought that such a new product would have an intuitive and powerful interface, but it didn't. (Some of the other parts of the Expression suite, such as Expression Blend, are quite good and have no effective competition, but Expression Design is not up to that level.)
So now I'm back with CorelDraw, version X4. It's as good as always. I did the vector drawing work I was trying to do with Expression Design in a couple of hours, and then did some bitmap manipulation I'd been putting off by using the new version of Photo-Paint. While professionals might need PhotoShop because of the filters and so forth, Photo-Paint does anything I need in that area.
A couple of days later, I needed to get some clip art for some fancy vector-based icons, and again CorelDraw came through. The printed manual with clip art thumbnails is enormously helpful. Browsing through clip art on screens is quite frustrating by comparison.
You might consider this an expensive product, but if you do enough vector illustration to spend more than a couple of dozen hours on it, then I think you'll save more than enough time with CorelDraw to pay back the cost.
Lots of features, easy to use and learn for relative beginner, 2008-07-24
I really have not had a lot of experience with graphics programs and really only need to put together pretty simple graphics to create flyers and handout sheets. Having said that, I find CorelDraw to be a very easy to use package with lots of features that are easy to use and pretty well documented with LOTS of tutorials, help screens, and a very good user's manual.
This is a suite of applications, but I have been mostly using PHOTO-PAINT, which is a lot like Photoshop. It is very good at manipulating images and making adjustments to photographs. I don't have the latest version of PhotoShop, but will say this does everything my older (2 year plus) version of PS does with ease.
The other part of the suite I really like is CorelDRAW that works like Adobe Illustrator to create and manipulate vector graphics. I have found it pretty easy to use in working with existing images, including the large amount of clipart that comes with the program. I am hardly a sophisticated user, but have really found the program very useful for pulling together images and text for flyers.
There is an extra feature of the program (CAPTURE) that creates screen shots -- I have found this really useful for putting together materials for courses that I sometimes teach.
I have been very impressed with this software and really look forward to spending more time with it. It is something that a beginning user can use, something that cannot always be said of all high-end programs. Users with complex needs should probably check other reviews, but I have found that the program really meets my "garden variety" needs.
PS The software installed very easily on my Vista machine.
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