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CNET editors' rating:
4.5 stars
Outstanding
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 28 reviews
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Product summary
CNET Editors' ChoiceJul 02
The good: Fantastic drawing tools, such as pressure-sensitive brushes; excellent filters let you seamlessly import and export more than 100 file formats; interface is the most user-friendly and configurable we've seen.
The bad: The Visual Basic Script recording seldom works properly; slow performance.
The bottom line: CorelDraw is the easiest illustration program to master, and it ships with a superior interface and feature set. This is the best choice for novice-, intermediate-, and pro-level artists who don't need speed.
Specifications: License qty: 1 user; License type: Complete package; Min Operating system: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, Apple MacOS X 10.1, Microsoft Windows 98; ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 07/30/2002
Smooth-as-butter interface
CorelDraw's completely configurable interface helps solidify its supremacy over the competition. The program makes it easy to create your own toolbars, menus, and macros as you work, then save that customized work space for specific tasks. For example, if you build lots of flowcharts, you can design an interface that puts all the most important flowchart tools right at your fingertips.
We also love CorelDraw's cross-platform support and vast range of import/export filters. The filters let you port files to and from other design programs, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Visio. To wit, when we exported a multilayer CorelDraw file to a Photoshop file, the layer arrangement remained intact. And since CorelDraw 11.0 is optimized for Windows XP and carbonized for Apple OS X, the program can take advantage of pertinent operating system features, such as XP themes and security settings.
A new bag of tricks
Graphics pros get some good news, too: CorelDraw 11.0 finally supports symbols, so you can save artwork (a symbol) to a central library, then drag and drop it into any document as many times as you want. In the past, if you wanted to reuse objects such as arrows or call-out boxes, you had to save each image to a new file, then copy and paste this file into your illustration--a time- and resource-consuming process. Symbols are faster, easier, and don't significantly bloat file size.
Version 11.0 also introduces a few new tools, including pressure-sensitive smudge and roughen brushes that respectively blur and texturize object outlines. These brushes, unfortunately, aren't as responsive as similar tools in Adobe Illustrator, but we give a big thumbs-up to a major enhancement that lets you convert paragraph text to curves, then apply artistic effects, such as drop shadows, without losing paragraph formatting.
Fortunately, even with all these fancy new features, CorelDraw remains easy to use for novices and pros alike, thanks to its self-explanatory tools and intuitive, customizable interface. Anyone who can print a Word doc can figure out CorelDraw in an hour or two. However, we recommend this program primarily for midrange and professional designers. Continue reading
User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 28 reviews
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