Corel Unveils CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4
Tuesday January 22, 2008
Image: © Corel
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 now ships on a single DVD which includes the following:
Notable new features for the Suite include:Software:
- CorelDRAW
- PHOTO-PAINT
- PowerTRACE
- Corel CAPTURE
- Bitstream Font Navigator
REALVIZ Stitcher Express(I have been informed that this application has been pulled from this version.)Utilities:
- Barcode wizard
- Service Bureau Profiler
- Duplexing wizard
Documentation and Training:
- CorelDRAW Handbook: Insights from the Experts
- Two hours of video training
- 482-page printed User Guide
- Spiral-bound Digital Content manual
- Quick Reference card
- Digital help files
Content:
- More than 10,000 pieces of clip art and digital images (4,000 of which are new)
- 1,000 high-resolution digital photos
- 1,000 OpenType fonts
- 80 professionally-designed templates
- Windows Vista Search and Windows Desktop Search integration. Users can add tags and keywords to their files as an aid to search. All content included with the suite has been tagged with keywords already.
- Online collaboration through a new ConceptShare docker.
- Thumbnail previews for CDR and CPP files are now displayed when browsing files in Windows Explorer and in open/save dialog boxes.
- Increased and improved file format support, including support for many Microsoft and Adobe files.
- Font identification assistance through WhatTheFont integration.
- An updated user interface.
- Each page of a document can have independent layers.
- Print Merge Wizard.
- An interactive table tool for creating structured layouts.
- Live text formatting so font changes can be previewed immediately.
- Options for mirroring paragraph text.
- Options to edit quotation mark styles for different languages.
- PowerTRACE provides a new centerline trace method for better bitmap-to-vector conversions of line drawings and signatures.
- Many adjustments tools now include a real-time histogram.
- RAW file support for more than 300 different cameras.
- A new tools for straightening images.
- More precise tone curve adjustment.
Related Resources:
• CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 Review
• CorelDRAW Graphics Suite User Resources
• CorelDRAW Tutorials
Comments
I used this allong with solidWorks and a Univesal laser to laser cut a house from 1.8 birtch plywood.
With a grade 10 student we used corel draw and a 25 watt universal laser to make a house from 1/8″ birtch plywood
Dont be fooled by false reports. The software IS easy to use and much less convoluted than Adobe Illustrator HOWEVER support is practically non existant unless you want to pay for it. The software is wrought with bugs and crashes often. Corel is notorious for what they call Legacy Issues. Bugs they cant fix in their own software. Makes one wonder if their pragrammers are really as good as they claim. I have Beta tested for corel draw 12. Even then comments and suggestions were ignored or passed off as unrecreatable. Yet people still complain about those exact same bugs in user forums. Its great software for people that arent real professionals but hobbiests. If you value your time and work, Choose another graphics package. In CorelDraws defense,I have never used Illustrator in depth due to its complicated nature. I am seriously considering switching though.
As a professional graphics designer I don’t use Coreldraw. When I tried the trail X4 I found the extrusion tool horrible and clunky compared to Adobe or Xara products. I concede that Corel dominates the fashion industry due to Corel’s good patterning tool. But for me, I just loathe Corel.
Some may loathe CorelDRAW as much as the money in their wallet, will you have any left embracing the Adobe Creative Suite? Really, I am a graphics professional in print. I do not have trouble with DRAW in the least and it outputs great .pdf, it gives reliable results. I correct Illustrator files with it, I run a lot of user scripts which extends what DRAW is capable of and it is fast. Whereas I love Xara, those who use it, like Illustator users, ignore DRAW as clunky. They just don’t want to learn to use it. I also am an AutoCAD user, DRAW is very similar in how it approaches many tasks, logically and interactively. Illustrator cannot draw an interactive gradient. Xara has everyone outclassed with gradients and transparencies, however. I first learned Illustrator and relunctantly learned DRAW. Now I am a DRAW affecianado. Xara has some capable tools but it doesn’t make placeable .pdf at all and its spot color tools are ill conceived. If you work in print, DRAW’s a multi-page tool which works circles around Illustrator. Can you do a 60 page book in Illustrator? PhotoPaint is capable in its own right. It does most of what Photoshop does. I do like ImageReady, however and Acrobat and Designer are cool tools. I just think the software designers with Adobe think that everyone should pay through the nose for graphics software. Those of us who really know DRAW will not be tempted by Illustrator at any price. The one to watch in the future is Xara, as though they are no longer owned by the developer, still it is the more innovative of the three. It is now multi-page but does not have the imposition tools which DRAW is so strong in. For a person under a deadline, Xara is a hopeful, but crashes more than DRAW on my computer. Illustrator just isn’t worth the money. DRAW gets things done. Invest in some tutorials from unleash.com and advancedartist.com and learn the software. Then you can really earn a living while others are being layed off. DRAW outputs to so many kinds of industries, to vinyl cutters, embroidery, silk screening, sublimation and yes, the web. If you know DRAW using it for web isn’t all that bad though since I have Xara too, for that I prefer Xara. Use the tool that works. I like Illustrator’s brushes, but I design my own for DRAW so big deal. For when I need to use an extrusion, sometimes I use DRAW but prefer Xara’s. Illustrator again does everything in a dialogue box. It is not a hands on approach. And that lack of interactivity means it is harder to get what you want. When Illustrator gets an upgrade they steal ideas which have been used for years in DRAW or in Xara. If these tools were as lame as they claim, why would Adobe do that? I do wish Corel would redevelop a port to MAC and Xara too, though it has not had one though it offers Xara for Unix. There is nothing to use to compete against Adobe unless you are using InkScape for MAC and it is not a professional program. Other programs I’ve tried are even less productive than Illustrator. Employers expect high production output when you work in print. No way we’d stay in business and be competitive using Illustrator. That is a fact.
I’ve been a Corel user for 9 years, up to Corel 12, which was kind of slow, but O.K. for what I use it for. Upgraded to Corel X4 and the biggest can of worms opened up. I’ve never experienced such ultra-sluggish text in my entire life. Also DEAD slow opening anything from Menu Bar and from Tool Bar. Freezes solid often. Corel Help is the worst in the world. No attention at all is given to my specific problems, and they provide links to nowhere, as Internet doesn’t recognize their link addresses.
Michaelson
In my earlier comment of today, I forgot to mention that I’m actually concurring with every comment and complaint that A. Middleton mentioned in March 2008, and also with hundreds of other unfortunate Corel X4 users world wide. If only Corel Corporation would read these comments and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
Michaelelson
One thing I notice about every single complaint/praise for Corel X4, is that photographic work seems to be the exclusive use they put it to. I am a technical illustrator, and do not work with photographs other than to copy /paste into my drawings. Secondly, I am a regular writer of contentious opinions on matters scientific and palaeontological matters, therefore text issues are vital to me. I don’t want to hear about Microsoft Excel or other text specific software. CorelDraw in the past was just fine – until Corel 12, when it was slow, but eventually I got used to it. But Corel X4 is the pits, having upgraded from my 12 version. At the expense of repeating myself here, X4 crashed often, is DEAD slow with text, slow responding to tool and menu bar selections. Finally, any kind of specific help from Corel is a ball-ache, and quite useless. They entirely ignore my very specific issues and provide links that get you absolutely NOWHERE.
Michaelson
Corel Photopaint always had a great UI. Too bad the tablet support (and the brush feedback) is just HORRIBLE. Make a small image (100×100 pixels, 96 dpi) and write something quick on it with the tablet, to see what I mean. And they were not able to solve this in FOURTEEN VERSIONS. So long Corel. For illustrators, Photopaint is a joke. As I said, it’s a shame for its UI and tools.
My life revolves around CorelDRAW and Photo-PAINT. The core logic of the software makes sense to me. With some add-ons from macromonster.com, CorelDRAW becomes a new animal. I love to modify the workspace also. After learning or creating shortcut keys, no one can touch you for speed. OK people: CorelDRAW is the easiest to learn, but also offers the most power in the long run. I have no regrets owning it. The user community is also awesome and mature.
I really think it’s unfair to say X4 isn’t a compelling upgrade for X3 users. Apart from a huge list of small bug fixes there is a major update to the layer system and RAW camera import.
I am using CGSX4 on a 6-7 year old computer with no problems. I can’t relate to the slowness issues with text posted in earlier threads. I use the suite in everything I do. I even dumped Photoshop for Photopaint! The interactivity of the component programs and the ability to reconfigure the interface – as well as being able to create my own keyboard shortcuts – make it my program of choice.
I can’t relate to some some of the not so flattering comments here. I have used the Corel Suite for some years, I am a signmaker and typesetter and the Corel suite has been the backbone of the software I use. I regularly get files from my printer to sort out before they will output to their ctp which says volumes about Corel’s import filters and imposition and output features. When you consider what the suite can do and the extras you get in the box it is outstanding value for money.