Serif DrawPlus SE is a reduced-feature version of a paid-for application and so does have some limitations. However this free vector-based graphics editor offers a reasonable range of features within a clear and well-presented user interface. Unfortunately, the interface doesn't offer any indication of which features have been disabled.
If you're looking for a free alternative to Adobe Illustrator, I'd suggest you look at Inkscape, but I have no doubt that even with disabled features, there will be plenty of home users who will feel more comfortable with DrawPlus SE.
The User Interface
Pros
- Clear and well presented interface
- Slide out palette with help information
Cons
- Disabled features not clearly indicated
- No keyboard shortcuts for the tools palette
Serif do know how to put together clear and user-friendly interfaces. Users of other free Serif applications will quite quickly feel at home with the working environment of DrawPlus SE. The tools and features are all well-presented and there are nice touches to make the interface suitable for different types of users.
The main tools are grouped in the Drawing Toolbar, which by default is placed to the left, but can be dragged and dropped, either to float free or to be locked into place elsewhere within the interface. Most of the other toolbars can also be moved around to suit each individual user.
To the left, right and base of the interface are slide out drawers that can be customized to contain your preferred tabs, though they all have tabs assigned by default so there needn't be any delay in getting started having to set these up. When you first use DrawPlus SE, the left hand drawer contains a very useful How To tab that contains links to a range of useful bite-sized explanations of tools and techniques. If you keep this tab open, every time that you select a tool from the Drawing Toolbar, an explanation of how to use the tool is automatically displayed, though you can click the Lock button to keep an explanation displayed even when a different tool is selected.
Also upon selecting a tool, the Context Toolbar, which appears above the working space by default, changes to display options and settings specific to the active tool.
The biggest weakness of DrawPlus SE's interface is the inclusion of disabled tools and features, with no visual cue identifying them as disabled. As a result, the only way that you can discover if a tool isn't available is to click on it and wait to see if a new window opens inviting you to upgrade to the paid version. I appreciate that Serif is a commercial company that has to sell products to make money, but in my short time with DrawPlus SE, I did find this aspect very irritating.
Drawing with DrawPlus SE
Pros
- Pen tool to produce bezier curves
- QuickShape tool produces a number of useful vector shapes very quickly
Cons
- Mesh Fill tool disabled
- Limited options for stroke effects as Paint Brush tool disabled
Drawing is one of the staples of any vector-based graphics editor and there needs to be a selection of tools available for this purpose. DrawPlus SE does offer the basics and should be suitable for less experienced users, but the disabled features do mean that some users who are more familiar with vector line software may find themselves hampered a little.
For beginners, the Pencil Tool is a very intuitive way to quickly draw shapes. It isn't the easiest way to draw accurate shapes with a mouse, but it can make a starting point for learning to manipulate paths by adjusting their nodes and allow new users to build up the confidence to work with the Pen Tool to draw more accurate paths. The Pencil Tool also has a Smoothness option which can quite dramatically change the appearance of a hand drawn path by varying the number of nodes.
The Pen Tool has a comprehensive range of options that will allow users to produce quite complex paths. In practice, I found that it wasn't as straightforward as I'd like, since I prefer to edit paths as they are being drawn. But it's easy to amend paths afterward using the Node Tool, and this way of working isn't hard to get used to. In the Arrange tab, there are a selection of tools for combining multiple paths in different ways, including crop and clip options which offer similar options to clipping paths.
DrawPlus SE does also offer the QuickShape Tool which allows users to quickly draw common shapes from simple rectangles to arrows. There are some useful options here, but many of those displayed are only available in the paid version, so the QuickShape Tool is not so powerful in this free version.
The Fill Tool and Transparency Tool do give a great degree of flexibility in applying color to shapes. The use of transparency can allow shapes to interact in interesting and subtle ways, with a good degree of control on offer over how transparency is applied. However, DrawPlus SE also falls short of the paid version here as the Mesh Fill option is disabled. In reality, this will probably only affect more experienced users of vector-based graphics editors who are looking to produce reasonably advanced 3D style graphics.