CorelDraw 10 Suite!

CorelDRAW 10 Graphics Suite

"Versatility and Power in One Package"

CorelDraw 10 Graphics Suite is the latest release of Corel's comprehensive set of graphic applications. The main applications include CorelDraw 10 (a vector illustration and page layout program); Corel Photo-Paint 10 (a bitmap-based image composition, editing, and creation program); and a new addition, Corel R.A.V.E. (a vector animation program). Several utilities are also included to provide support for scripting, file management, tracing, font management, screen capture, and more. There are more than 25,000 clipart images, over 1,000 TrueType and Type 1 fonts, hundreds of photos, theme sets, frames, objects, and fills. For an overview of the items in CorelDraw 10 Suite, click on the Suite Items button. The previous versions--CorelDraw 8 Suite, which introduced a slew of new tools and features; and CorelDraw 9 Suite, which focused primarily on developing and refining its already solid features and interface--were well thought-out upgrades. CorelDraw 10 Suite refines these previous features, adds new ones, and is a faster, leaner, and tighter application suite that looks to the needs of a variety of users: graphic designers, Web designers, and desktop publishers. There are suite-wide changes such as: the ability to customize the toolbox, menus, toolbars and status bars all at once with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface; a Web image optimizer; the ability to create rollovers; and color management options that are in one redesigned dialog box. Some CorelDraw changes include RealTime Preview; Macromedia Flash support; ability to place multiple languages within the same text box; and an enhanced Publish to PDF option. Changes in Corel Photo-Paint focus on enhanced Interactive tools; new tools such as Smart Blur, and Text-on-a-Path; and new anti-aliasing abilities. The new application Corel R.A.V.E. has a movie menu; a Timeline docker, Macromedia Flash support; and audio controls. Corel Corporation has an excellent site for information about their products. (http://www.corel.com) The price of the Suite is $569 for the full package; $249 for the Upgrade, and the upgrade can be from a variety of Corel products, not just CorelDraw.

Advanced Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced PC users. The suite of programs are not difficult to use, but there are a multitude of features and options so that it takes a while to learn. The suite is suitable for professional production or for any individual who is working in graphic design, Web page design or desktop publishing and wants to go beyond a basic template driven application in order to explore their artistic side. Anyone familiar with other paint programs or graphic programs should have no problem with this suite. It is intuitive and user-friendly but powerful, and does take some dedication to learning. Advanced beginners will appreciate the on-screen CorelTutor that has step-by-step instructions on creating a variety of images or products such as the Java Hut logo on the left. I find Corel's tutorials superior to other software learning aids. They are clearly written, easy to follow, have links to graphic files used in the demonstrations that you can download and use, and they cover most of the basic material so a novice can get up and running quickly and painlessly. You can print them or have them on-screen when you are working with the Suite. As the three main applications share a similar interface, it would be appropriate for a user new to graphic programs as they are not learning a variety of applications with different interfaces, which can be confusing. Also all the programs are well-integrated and work smoothly together. Advanced PC users will appreciate the customizability of the program. The Web options have features that would help users new to Web publishing, but also would aid intermediate and advanced users. There is a variety of support for users new to the Suite, such as Corel's Web site and numerous third-party books and sites.

Suite-Wide New and Enhanced Features:

Corel R.A.V.E.: Suite includes a new vector-based program for Web animation (New);

Streamlined User Interface and Customization Control: has a more consistent user interface between all the applications. Plus you can customize the toolbox, menus, toolbars and status bars all at once with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface (Enhanced);

Web Image Optimizer: preview and optimize HTML images using JPG, GIF and PNG filter presets. Reduce file sizes and save bandwidth for faster downloading of Web pages (New);

Faster Performance, Smoother Screen Refresh:

RealTime Preview: preview formatting options and effects before applying them to your document (New);

Publish to PDF 1.3, PDF/X: add crop marks, calibration bars, file information, densitometer scales and registration marks. Plus, speed up workflow with smaller file sizes and faster, more accurate rendering (Enhanced);

Integrated Preflight Engine: receive valuable feedback during final output with many new preflight warnings and the ability to save preflight styles for common workflows (Enhanced);

Interactive Rollovers: create rollover-type effects on almost any object in CorelDraw 10 or Corel R.A.V.E. (New);

Color Management System: access all color management options from one revolutionary user interface. Choose from three styles--for the Web, for desktop printing and for professional output--or create and save your own profiles (New)

Color Selection: users have more ways to select colors: the Color Docker window has new color sliders and drag-and-drop ability for creating custom spot colors; and there is a new browse feature for color palettes (Enhanced).

Layout of Review

Since CorelDraw 10 is a suite of tools, with three main applications, I am separating the review material. This specific Web page will describe information pertaining to the whole CorelDraw 10 Suite. Further information on the individual programs and an in-depth coverage of their new and enhanced features can be found by clicking the appropriate button below. Because the total package is called CorelDraw, as well as the illustration program, and there could be confusion about the two, in the text, I will use the word "CorelDraw Suite" or "Suite" to pertain to the suite and the word "CorelDraw" or "Photo-Paint" to pertain to just the specific applications.

Installation

The installation of Version 10 is smooth and is relatively fast considering the size of the program. You have the option of choosing a typical or custom install. Since the program installs numerous fonts, it even alerts you if you are installing more than are typical for your operating system (which happened to me as I always have too many fonts installed).

Manuals

There are three manuals for CorelDraw; Corel Photo-Paint, Corel R.A.V.E., plus a smaller guide for the Canto Cumulus 5 LE application. The manuals are smaller than in the previous versions so I recommend the following. Two books by Osborne/McGraw-Hill are invaluable: CorelDraw 10: The Official Guide and CorelPhoto-Paint 10: The Official Guide. They are hefty books packed with everything you ever wanted to know about CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint, and they are easy to read (http://www.osborne.com). The Web site: http://www.unleash.com is an excellent source for products and companies that are useful to the CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint user.

Streamlined User Interface & Customization Control

There is more consistency in the user interface between all the applications in the Suite which makes it easier to move between the programs, and it cuts down the learning time. Most of the menu commands now have an icon associated with them, making it easier for you to recognize icons on the toolbars, toolbox, and property bar. In CorelDraw 10 Suite, the menus, toolbox, toolbars, and status bar have greater customization capabilities. All the commands available in the applications can be displayed in a single list in the Options dialog box, letting you customize the menus, toolbox, toolbars, and status bar all at once. Drag-and-drop functionality makes customizing the CorelDraw 10 Suite workspace an intuitive process. Also, you can export customized workspaces, or portions of them, and share them with others. There is also a built-in option to export to e-mail.

Web Image Optimizer

Web Image Optimizer helps you reduce the file size of an image, letting you save bandwidth for faster downloading of Web pages. You can see four separate, live previews of possible export modes or other image variations before sending an image to the Internet, thus seeing a preview before you decide on the most suitable file format. The image panes in the Web Image Optimizer display in several different ways (2x1, 1x2, and 2x2). You can choose to stack the previews, display them side by side, and use the Pane Toggle control to switch between the different image versions.

RealTime Preview

With CorelDraw 10 Suite, you can preview formatting options and effects before applying them to a document using RealTime Preview. For instance, you could preview fitting text to a path and see how it affects the active object or document. Because RealTime Preview shows you what a document will look like without actually applying the change, you save time by reducing the need to undo unsatisfactory formatting and effects changes.

Publish to PDF

New prepress options for publishing to PDF let you add crop marks, calibration bars, file information, densitometer scales, and registration marks to PDF files. You can also embed an ICC color profile, author and keyword information, and any type of file into a PDF file. Fountain fills and Mesh fills are now exported as native PDF 1.3 objects (from CorelDraw 10 only), resulting in smaller file sizes and faster and more accurate rendering. It is also possible to publish several open CorelDraw 10 or Corel Photo-Paint 10 documents to one multipage PDF file.

Integrated Preflight Engine

There is a new, integrated preflight engine in CorelDraw 10 Suite that gives you valuable feedback during final output. The preflight engine provide you with many new preflight warnings and the ability to save preflight styles for common workflows. You can access the preflight information from the Preflight tab found in the Print and Publish to PDF dialog box in both CorelDraw 10 and Corel Photo-Paint 10, and in the Flash Export, SVG Export, and Publish As HTML dialog boxes in CorelDraw 10. In each case, the preflight engine warns you of potential errors specific to the type of output you are producing and lets you correct these errors before the document is produced.

Color Management

CorelDraw 10 Suite has a redesigned color management dialog box that brings all the color management options, for print and the Web, together in one place. There are also three common settings provided as predefined styles that can be selected from the color management styles menu: (2) Web output; (2) desktop print; and (3) professional output. Other settings can be modified and saved as a new color management style. Other color management improvements include:

Support for both Kodak and Windows (ICM) 2 color management modules;

Support for relative and colorimetric rendering intents;

Support for embedded ICC profiles in more formats including PDF, JPEG, TIF, CorelDraw, Photo-Paint, and EPS;

Ability to specify how images with embedded profiles are treated when importing images into CorelDraw;

Ability to link different ICC color profiles to multiple printers. Once a profile is defined for a particular printer, CorelDraw will automatically use the appropriate profile for that printer.

Color Selection

There are many improvements to the way colors can be selected and applied in CorelDraw 10 Suite. The new color palette browse feature allows you to activate any of the predefined color palettes that are included with CorelDraw, simply by checking a box. See the image to the right for a view of the browser. Also, custom palettes can be created and they will also appear in the color palette browser. There is a Palette editor where you can customize existing color palettes or create new ones. See the image to the left for a view of the Palette editor. The Color Docker has even more options for picking and mixing custom colors. Colors can be applied to objects much more easily. Basically, whenever you see a color swatch on the screen, that color can be dropped on to an object to apply the color. Colors can be dragged and dropped from the Color palette, the Color docker, and even the status bar. See the image to the right for a view of the variety of ways colors can be displayed from the Color Docker.

CorelDraw 10 Suite is a feature-rich suite for artistic and technical work and has enough new features and enhancements to please both print and Web designers. At first glance, it might appear that there isn't that much difference in version 10 and version 9, but when you use the new version for a while, it is readily apparent that all the fine-tuning of the features make CorelDraw Suite 10 a tighter and more robust version. I especially liked the following. The enhancements to the interface make it more intuitive and easier to use. The faster graphics engine makes for a faster and smoother work environment, and the new all-in-one color management dialog box is exceptionally easy to use. The new prepress options for publishing to PDF, such as the ability to add crop marks, calibration bars, file information, densitometer scales, and registration marks, is a welcome addition. Plus, the inclusion of R.A.V.E. was an intelligent choice as users are demanding more Web features.

CorelDraw's Graphic Suite is aging quite nicely. It's one of the longest running illustration programs for the PC, and we hope to see it around for a long time to come. Recently Corel has had financial troubles, and the CorelDraw Suite has always had to compete with Adobe and Macromedia programs, but it is a set of programs that should be taken seriously by professionals as well as neophytes. Its features rival or even beat some of the competitors. I've always thought it would be an excellent program to be given as a graduation, birthday, or religious holiday gift for someone serious about getting into the graphics field. It includes a well-rounded group of programs to get just about anyone started. CorelDraw 10 Graphics Suite gets two thumbs up, way up, for this upgrade!

Processor: Pentium 200
Operating System: Windows 95/98, 2000, Me or NT 4.0
Memory: 64 MB RAM minimum (128 MB Ram recommended)
Hard Disk Space: minimum 160 MB
Graphics: SVGA monitor
CD-ROM: 2X CD-ROM drive

Web Page Editor: Macromedia Dreamweaver 4.0
Graphics: CorelDraw Graphics Suite 10

CorelDRAW 10 Graphics Suite "Versatility and Power in One Package"



CorelDraw 10 Graphics Suite is the latest release of Corel's comprehensive set of graphic applications. The main applications include CorelDraw 10 (a vector illustration and page layout program); Corel Photo-Paint 10 (a bitmap-based image composition, editing, and creation program); and a new addition, Corel R.A.V.E. (a vector animation program). Several utilities are also included to provide support for scripting, file management, tracing, font management, screen capture, and more. There are more than 25,000 clipart images, over 1,000 TrueType and Type 1 fonts, hundreds of photos, theme sets, frames, objects, and fills. For an overview of the items in CorelDraw 10 Suite, click on the Suite Items button. The previous versions--CorelDraw 8 Suite, which introduced a slew of new tools and features; and CorelDraw 9 Suite, which focused primarily on developing and refining its already solid features and interface--were well thought-out upgrades. CorelDraw 10 Suite refines these previous features, adds new ones, and is a faster, leaner, and tighter application suite that looks to the needs of a variety of users: graphic designers, Web designers, and desktop publishers. There are suite-wide changes such as: the ability to customize the toolbox, menus, toolbars and status bars all at once with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface; a Web image optimizer; the ability to create rollovers; and color management options that are in one redesigned dialog box. Some CorelDraw changes include RealTime Preview; Macromedia Flash support; ability to place multiple languages within the same text box; and an enhanced Publish to PDF option. Changes in Corel Photo-Paint focus on enhanced Interactive tools; new tools such as Smart Blur, and Text-on-a-Path; and new anti-aliasing abilities. The new application Corel R.A.V.E. has a movie menu; a Timeline docker, Macromedia Flash support; and audio controls. Corel Corporation has an excellent site for information about their products. (http://www.corel.com) The price of the Suite is $569 for the full package; $249 for the Upgrade, and the upgrade can be from a variety of Corel products, not just CorelDraw.



Advanced Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced PC users. The suite of programs are not difficult to use, but there are a multitude of features and options so that it takes a while to learn. The suite is suitable for professional production or for any individual who is working in graphic design, Web page design or desktop publishing and wants to go beyond a basic template driven application in order to explore their artistic side. Anyone familiar with other paint programs or graphic programs should have no problem with this suite. It is intuitive and user-friendly but powerful, and does take some dedication to learning. Advanced beginners will appreciate the on-screen CorelTutor that has step-by-step instructions on creating a variety of images or products such as the Java Hut logo on the left. I find Corel's tutorials superior to other software learning aids. They are clearly written, easy to follow, have links to graphic files used in the demonstrations that you can download and use, and they cover most of the basic material so a novice can get up and running quickly and painlessly. You can print them or have them on-screen when you are working with the Suite. As the three main applications share a similar interface, it would be appropriate for a user new to graphic programs as they are not learning a variety of applications with different interfaces, which can be confusing. Also all the programs are well-integrated and work smoothly together. Advanced PC users will appreciate the customizability of the program. The Web options have features that would help users new to Web publishing, but also would aid intermediate and advanced users. There is a variety of support for users new to the Suite, such as Corel's Web site and numerous third-party books and sites.



Suite-Wide New and Enhanced Features: Corel R.A.V.E.: Suite includes a new vector-based program for Web animation (New); Streamlined User Interface and Customization Control: has a more consistent user interface between all the applications. Plus you can customize the toolbox, menus, toolbars and status bars all at once with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface (Enhanced); Web Image Optimizer: preview and optimize HTML images using JPG, GIF and PNG filter presets. Reduce file sizes and save bandwidth for faster downloading of Web pages (New); Faster Performance, Smoother Screen Refresh: RealTime Preview: preview formatting options and effects before applying them to your document (New); Publish to PDF 1.3, PDF/X: add crop marks, calibration bars, file information, densitometer scales and registration marks. Plus, speed up workflow with smaller file sizes and faster, more accurate rendering (Enhanced); Integrated Preflight Engine: receive valuable feedback during final output with many new preflight warnings and the ability to save preflight styles for common workflows (Enhanced); Interactive Rollovers: create rollover-type effects on almost any object in CorelDraw 10 or Corel R.A.V.E. (New); Color Management System: access all color management options from one revolutionary user interface. Choose from three styles--for the Web, for desktop printing and for professional output--or create and save your own profiles (New) Color Selection: users have more ways to select colors: the Color Docker window has new color sliders and drag-and-drop ability for creating custom spot colors; and there is a new browse feature for color palettes (Enhanced).




Layout of Review
Since CorelDraw 10 is a suite of tools, with three main applications, I am separating the review material. This specific Web page will describe information pertaining to the whole CorelDraw 10 Suite. Further information on the individual programs and an in-depth coverage of their new and enhanced features can be found by clicking the appropriate button below. Because the total package is called CorelDraw, as well as the illustration program, and there could be confusion about the two, in the text, I will use the word "CorelDraw Suite" or "Suite" to pertain to the suite and the word "CorelDraw" or "Photo-Paint" to pertain to just the specific applications.

Installation
The installation of Version 10 is smooth and is relatively fast considering the size of the program. You have the option of choosing a typical or custom install. Since the program installs numerous fonts, it even alerts you if you are installing more than are typical for your operating system (which happened to me as I always have too many fonts installed).

Manuals
There are three manuals for CorelDraw; Corel Photo-Paint, Corel R.A.V.E., plus a smaller guide for the Canto Cumulus 5 LE application. The manuals are smaller than in the previous versions so I recommend the following. Two books by Osborne/McGraw-Hill are invaluable: CorelDraw 10: The Official Guide and CorelPhoto-Paint 10: The Official Guide. They are hefty books packed with everything you ever wanted to know about CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint, and they are easy to read (http://www.osborne.com). The Web site: http://www.unleash.com is an excellent source for products and companies that are useful to the CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint user.

Streamlined User Interface & Customization Control
There is more consistency in the user interface between all the applications in the Suite which makes it easier to move between the programs, and it cuts down the learning time. Most of the menu commands now have an icon associated with them, making it easier for you to recognize icons on the toolbars, toolbox, and property bar. In CorelDraw 10 Suite, the menus, toolbox, toolbars, and status bar have greater customization capabilities. All the commands available in the applications can be displayed in a single list in the Options dialog box, letting you customize the menus, toolbox, toolbars, and status bar all at once. Drag-and-drop functionality makes customizing the CorelDraw 10 Suite workspace an intuitive process. Also, you can export customized workspaces, or portions of them, and share them with others. There is also a built-in option to export to e-mail.

Web Image Optimizer
Web Image Optimizer helps you reduce the file size of an image, letting you save bandwidth for faster downloading of Web pages. You can see four separate, live previews of possible export modes or other image variations before sending an image to the Internet, thus seeing a preview before you decide on the most suitable file format. The image panes in the Web Image Optimizer display in several different ways (2x1, 1x2, and 2x2). You can choose to stack the previews, display them side by side, and use the Pane Toggle control to switch between the different image versions.

RealTime Preview
With CorelDraw 10 Suite, you can preview formatting options and effects before applying them to a document using RealTime Preview. For instance, you could preview fitting text to a path and see how it affects the active object or document. Because RealTime Preview shows you what a document will look like without actually applying the change, you save time by reducing the need to undo unsatisfactory formatting and effects changes.

Publish to PDF
New prepress options for publishing to PDF let you add crop marks, calibration bars, file information, densitometer scales, and registration marks to PDF files. You can also embed an ICC color profile, author and keyword information, and any type of file into a PDF file. Fountain fills and Mesh fills are now exported as native PDF 1.3 objects (from CorelDraw 10 only), resulting in smaller file sizes and faster and more accurate rendering. It is also possible to publish several open CorelDraw 10 or Corel Photo-Paint 10 documents to one multipage PDF file.

Integrated Preflight Engine
There is a new, integrated preflight engine in CorelDraw 10 Suite that gives you valuable feedback during final output. The preflight engine provide you with many new preflight warnings and the ability to save preflight styles for common workflows. You can access the preflight information from the Preflight tab found in the Print and Publish to PDF dialog box in both CorelDraw 10 and Corel Photo-Paint 10, and in the Flash Export, SVG Export, and Publish As HTML dialog boxes in CorelDraw 10. In each case, the preflight engine warns you of potential errors specific to the type of output you are producing and lets you correct these errors before the document is produced.

Color Management
CorelDraw 10 Suite has a redesigned color management dialog box that brings all the color management options, for print and the Web, together in one place. There are also three common settings provided as predefined styles that can be selected from the color management styles menu: (2) Web output; (2) desktop print; and (3) professional output. Other settings can be modified and saved as a new color management style. Other color management improvements include: Support for both Kodak and Windows (ICM) 2 color management modules; Support for relative and colorimetric rendering intents; Support for embedded ICC profiles in more formats including PDF, JPEG, TIF, CorelDraw, Photo-Paint, and EPS; Ability to specify how images with embedded profiles are treated when importing images into CorelDraw; Ability to link different ICC color profiles to multiple printers. Once a profile is defined for a particular printer, CorelDraw will automatically use the appropriate profile for that printer.

Color Selection
There are many improvements to the way colors can be selected and applied in CorelDraw 10 Suite. The new color palette browse feature allows you to activate any of the predefined color palettes that are included with CorelDraw, simply by checking a box. See the image to the right for a view of the browser. Also, custom palettes can be created and they will also appear in the color palette browser. There is a Palette editor where you can customize existing color palettes or create new ones. See the image to the left for a view of the Palette editor. The Color Docker has even more options for picking and mixing custom colors. Colors can be applied to objects much more easily. Basically, whenever you see a color swatch on the screen, that color can be dropped on to an object to apply the color. Colors can be dragged and dropped from the Color palette, the Color docker, and even the status bar. See the image to the right for a view of the variety of ways colors can be displayed from the Color Docker.



CorelDraw 10 Suite is a feature-rich suite for artistic and technical work and has enough new features and enhancements to please both print and Web designers. At first glance, it might appear that there isn't that much difference in version 10 and version 9, but when you use the new version for a while, it is readily apparent that all the fine-tuning of the features make CorelDraw Suite 10 a tighter and more robust version. I especially liked the following. The enhancements to the interface make it more intuitive and easier to use. The faster graphics engine makes for a faster and smoother work environment, and the new all-in-one color management dialog box is exceptionally easy to use. The new prepress options for publishing to PDF, such as the ability to add crop marks, calibration bars, file information, densitometer scales, and registration marks, is a welcome addition. Plus, the inclusion of R.A.V.E. was an intelligent choice as users are demanding more Web features. CorelDraw's Graphic Suite is aging quite nicely. It's one of the longest running illustration programs for the PC, and we hope to see it around for a long time to come. Recently Corel has had financial troubles, and the CorelDraw Suite has always had to compete with Adobe and Macromedia programs, but it is a set of programs that should be taken seriously by professionals as well as neophytes. Its features rival or even beat some of the competitors. I've always thought it would be an excellent program to be given as a graduation, birthday, or religious holiday gift for someone serious about getting into the graphics field. It includes a well-rounded group of programs to get just about anyone started. CorelDraw 10 Graphics Suite gets two thumbs up, way up, for this upgrade!



Processor: Pentium 200 Operating System: Windows 95/98, 2000, Me or NT 4.0 Memory: 64 MB RAM minimum (128 MB Ram recommended) Hard Disk Space: minimum 160 MB Graphics: SVGA monitor CD-ROM: 2X CD-ROM drive

Web Page Editor: Macromedia Dreamweaver 4.0 Graphics: CorelDraw Graphics Suite 10