Corel Subscriptions

[Rodney]

Corel has followed suit with other companies in offering subscription services.

 

The going rate for the latest Coreldraw Suite appears to be $24.99 a month or $198 a year.

 

The areas I see as most beneficial to A:M Users are:

- Publishing (many formats to chose from but PDF is a standard)

- Compositing (composite back and forth between vector and raster via Coreldraw and Photopaint)

- Textures

- Limited Animation (there is a useful but very limited AVI to GIF capability)

- Font Creation (Fonts can be imported into A:M via the Font Wizard)

- AI export (these lines convert very well to splines in Animation:Master)

- Power Trace (Raster to Vector conversion allows changing from pixelated bitmaps to vector illustrations) Using this in conjuction with AI Export can help with converting images into spline based animation)

 

There are some tools that I generally don't use but that might be just what you need. The example of that would be the webpage and .swf generating features.

 

As I've been a user of Coreldraw since v3 I'd be glad to assist anyone who moves in their direction and I know we have a few other Corel users around here as well. This offer might be especially useful to those who have short term and production related needs. With a new purchase costing over $500 the subscription might be ideal.

 

CorelDraw Suite Subscription

[pixelplucker]

Not to bash Corel but their software is on the iffy side in a serious environment for a few reasons. One big one is compatibility with importing files from other applications as well as creating compatible eps files.

 

Another big issue I ran into was their copy protection software that forces you to re-register if you install additional devices such as hard drives, replace a cd or dvd drive etc. I ran into an issue where if it weren't for Gimp I would have missed a deadline because the re-authorization too a few days to come through.

 

Keep in mind their publishing is proprietary, their tracer is sub standard.

If tracing is important to you then Adobe, Canvas and Imagaro are far superior.

 

I personally use Imagaro Z Pro and Canvas for most of my 2d work. Canvas has the ability to render at any resolution combinations of vector, raster and raster effects on vector objects to what you want. The treatment of images as objects is far superior to traditional layers.

Imagaro Z is a dedicated tracer that is very precise and edge matching used in vinyl cutting as well as a font finder.

 

In general I am not so crazy about subscriptions outside of AM. One thing I avoid are "Maintenance Programs" where you not only pay for the software usage but pay additional fees to fund their bug fixes, check Quarks ridiculous and useless terms. Wonder why they are fizzling out of the marketplace?

[robcat2075]

Not to bash Corel but ...

 

Still, they probably won't put any of that on their endorsements page.

[Rodney]

Not to bash Corel but

 

Everyone has different experiences I guess.

While I've not been a big fan of the various other offerings from Corel, I've had very good experience with Coreldraw and Photopaint. I prefer them to Illustrator and Photoshop.

 

I'm not questioning your experience here so don't take it that way. I'm just wondering why your experience is so different from my own.

 

What has me stratching my head the most is the following:

 

Another big issue I ran into was their copy protection software that forces you to re-register if you install additional devices such as hard drives, replace a cd or dvd drive etc.

 

I've never ran into that problem. Well, maybe way back in v7 or so when very few companies had their registration process working perfectly. My memory might be faulty but I'd say that since at least v11 all I've ever had to do is enter the registration code and submit. My memory says that actual registration on the site itself was until very recently optional. I register because I like them to know that I'm here.

 

Keep in mind their publishing is proprietary,

 

Almost every file format offered by a major vendor is proprietary. But that's why there are other formats that can be saved or exported to. On the Photopaint side there is Photopaint's native file format (.CPT) which is their version of Adobe's .PSD. If I think I won't ever need to use the file elsewhere this is the best format to save to because it saves everything. If I do think it'll be used somewhere else then I still try to save a CPT file first and then resave it or export it to the desired format later. The reason why we (or anyone for that matter) should use a program's proprietary format is that other formats often don't support elements that are saved in that program's own format. To save to another format means loss of data (unintentionally or otherwise). So proprietary is a plus in this regard and not a negative. It's also a good reason to support native file formats in an age of open file formats. Where proprietary gets ugly is where you can't export to other formats (which is a breach of communication as well as software etiquette. Corel doesn't have this problem as it supports all the standard file formats.

 

 

their tracer is sub standard.

If tracing is important to you then Adobe, Canvas and Imagaro are far superior.

 

I would love to see more information on this because accurate tracing is important. I've yet to see a tracer that gives me better results than Corel Trace as that feature has been important to me. In fact, its accurate enough that I routinely work back and forth between Photopaint and Coreldraw in order to simplify my work (Paint a rough sketch, convert it to vector, color the vector, copy/paste back to raster, trace again and finalize the finished vector). Granted, I haven't needed to use any other tracers so that's why I haven't investigated others. When you say 'far superior' you've got me wanting to see what that means because Corel Trace in v15 is that. If you are using an earlier version (circa v9 through v11) I might agree with you on this. It was sometime around v11 that they incorporated significant improvements in their tracer.

 

Again, not disagreeing, I just have yet to see a tracer work as well as the current one in Corel. Perhaps we could trace a couple images and compare results.

 

One big one is compatibility with importing files from other applications as well as creating compatible eps files.

 

My memory is spotty here as well. I gave up using EPS as a file format years ago because it had too many shortcomings and I had issues with Microsoft Office. I don't recall having any issues with Coreldraw and EPS but then again I tried to avoid that format as much as I could. It's best not to speculate further on what I can't remember here...

 

You've got me thinking back many years ago. I remember when Canvas was first making waves. I bought in early but couldn't hang with it. At a guess I'd say that was in the '93 or '94 timeframe... right around the time I first discovered A:M. I do remember having fun with it and appreciating how it leaned forward when other companies were content to stay in place.

 

Corel has been something of a blacksheep of the graphics community. I think this may be because they've long been perceived as a business that just happens to offer graphics software. Adobe manages to maintain an image that they are artists that just happen to be doing business. That has been a considerable distinction. As a company I've always preferred Adobe but for software I've preferred Corel workflow and interface. This may be largely due to 'first learned best remembered.' Because Coreldraw was my first 'real' graphics program after that Windows Paint thingy... I've felt pretty comfortable with it.

 

Added: Here's a quicky I threw together today after seeing a pencil drawing by Milt Kahl over at Andreas Deja's blog. While it is here in raster format it's a bit of both raster and vector as I moved back and forth between the two formats. I'm posting this here mainly to let people know that it's fun to draw in whichever format you like and then mix them as you see fit. Please pardon the lousy arrow.

[pixelplucker]

I used Corel Draw from versions 1-5. At that time I was outputting film for people but discontinued Corel Draw because they were limited to 1270dpi. We needed 2540 for separations.

 

Couple of my customers use Corel Draw and can't import eps files well from Adobe CS series, Freehand 9x or Canvas. I have probelms with importing eps files from Corel as well and end up using pdf files they generate.

 

Compatibility is always an issue when it comes to vector files no matter what program suite your using. I never understood the reason why Illustrator isn't backwardly compatible other than they force you to purchase the latest and greatest because it makes them the most money.

I can open Canvas 14 files in Canvas 9 without a hitch...

 

The copy protection issue I ran into was with Paintshop Pro and Protexis that killed the program because I put in a couple of hard drives and replaced a dvd drive. Took a couple of days for Corel to get back to me to re-authorize the software and by then I replaced it.

IMO if they are that worried... sell the software with a dongle or come up with a better program that doesn't kill it because of a hardware change. Whats wrong with a Mac Address?

 

I have seen tracings done from Corel, good expamples is many of the logos on Brands of the World site are done in Corel. Edges are poor and text is crude. It couple be bad settings, poor originals not sure but most often curves are lost.

 

I have seen and receive quite a few tracings from Illustrator which are pretty nice. Canvas has a descent auto tracer but works best on black and whites, color tracings are clunky.

 

If your doing mostly digital printing and supplying pdf files you should be fine with the Corel and price wise it is easier to get into and Adobe CS and Adobe's rat race upgrading every year.

 

For a stand alone program I prefer Canvas. It is dead on precise, fairly easy to use and has probably the widest i/o of any program out there.

 

Do you use Manga at all for digital ink? For quite a while now I have been doing illustrations in Manga, outputing a high res bmp file and auto tracing them for spot separations. Not sure why Manga isn't as popular as it should be.

 

Nice fox btw.

[Rodney]

Ken,

Thanks for the info. That helps me keep everything in perspective.

I've talked with several people that just have a hard time using Corel... they see it as complex and difficult to use... I on the other hand after all this time have easily forgotten how much time it took me to get comfortable with it and because of that can't understand why others struggle with it. "Isn't it easy to use", I say. Well, no. It probably isn't.

 

Do you use Manga at all for digital ink? For quite a while now I have been doing illustrations in Manga, outputing a high res bmp file and auto tracing them for spot separations. Not sure why Manga isn't as popular as it should be.

 

In drawing programs I've used many different ones ranging from the more expensive and complex to the cheap and entirely too simple. I usually prefer the programs with utter simplicity because they focus on doing one thing well but their quality and compatibility with other products can also suffer there. I've used Manga Studio but found that (short of the zip-a-tone features) I've been able to produce better results elsewhere. My memory says that there were other incompatibilities that restricted my workflow in significant ways. For instance, I like to use the clipboard every chance I get and programs that don't play nice with the clipboard aren't likely to impress me. Interestingly, the one exception I can think of is Animation:Master which saves almost nothing to the Windows clipboard. Go figure.

 

In order to take full advantage of a drawing program the artists really needs to be able to use a pen. That drawing of the fox... I drew and colored with my finger on the 2x2 (or 2x3... I've never measured it) touchpad thingy on my laptop... definitely not the best way to draw an image!

 

I really like Toonboom Animate's ability to cut the excess/unwanted ends off of lines. That is a great feature that I wish we'd see in other programs. The historical equivalent of doing the same thing was to use white paint to quickly cover or outline shapes.

 

I am a huge fan of rapid drawing techniques. Why draw only one image when in that same amount of time you can draw ten of the same quality.

[pixelplucker]

Does the new Corel Draw use Protexis? That is the primary reason I shy away from all their products. I do miss Painter.

 

I do a ton of artwork for t-shirts which are primarily spot color work and require complex underlays, chokes, spreads and fills. Most auto tracers will stack the objects which causes major headaches in separations.

 

What I have been doing is the illustration parts that require drawing in Manga, usually 600 dpi max is sufficient. I then can generate clean un aliased edges that butt up perfectly. I run those images through Imagaro because it has edge matching that creates shapes that butt up to each other rather than stack. This allows me to pull out the shapes that need underlays and generate white plates etc for separations.

 

Toonboom looks really nice, though in my business I don't think I have that much use for it.

 

Ever think of snagging a Wacom bamboo at least? They are a little bigger than 2x3

[Rodney]

Ever think of snagging a Wacom bamboo at least? They are a little bigger than 2x3

 

Yes, I did.

Then, I lost the pen.

But I found my previous pen!

Then, I lost that pen.

 

Granted this last one was during a move from the other side of the world but after I put it in a place intentionally so it wouldn't get lost, that's frustrating.

 

Does the new Corel Draw use Protexis?

 

I didn't know what that was so I had to look it up.

I see that some people had issues with Protexis and uninstalled it. (But those references were from 2009-2011 so I'm not sure if its there currently). If it is, I've never noticed it.

 

Here's the write-up on removing Protexis:

Corel Pro X3 installs programs that cause numerous error messages and slow down the computer. The following is from yahoo:

 

If you have installed trial or paid licensed version of Corel software

products, you probably may notice a third-party unannounced software application makes its way into your computer

too. The program is PSIService.exe by Protexis, which installs a Protexis Licensing service or Protexis Licensing V2 service in Windows operating system.

 

PSIService is part of Protexis copy protection DRM (digital rights management

) and license management software, which intends to protect a software or application from piracy and illegal copying. Thus PSI service is normally installed by another program, such as Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Corel Paint Shop Pro XI (X1), Corel Paint Shop Pro

X, that uses its service to gather licensing information to send home much like spyware, ensure copy protection and authenticate user that uses genuine version of the program.

 

To make matter worse, the ProtexisLicensing service may make PC boot up slower, and when disabled, will cause Corel Paint Shop Pro to stop working, in addition to warn you of running illegal copy of non-genuine software. Besides, PSIService.exe does not uninstall together with the application that installed it, when the application is uninstalled and removed.

 

In any case, whether you want to get rid of Protexis while keeping the application that dependent on it still working properly and able to run (contrary to popular belief, Protexis Licensing service is not required for program to run), or now need to clean the Protexis PSIService spyware manually due to non-removal by original application that installs it, the procedures to complete uninstall and remove Protexis is easy. In fact, the instructions to uninstall PSIservice is provided on Protexis website.

 

If you are certain that no applications using PSIService are still installed on your system, and this service is still running, you can remove it manually by following these instructions:

 

1. Remove the following registry entry:

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentContro...

2. Reboot your computer.

3. Delete the following files:

 

%windir%\System32\PSIService.exe

%windir%\System32\PSIKey.exe

 

Of course, in order to keep applications such as Corel Photo Shop Pro continue running without error, the complete removal instructions cannot be followed. Use the following workaround instead:

 

1. Open Services (services.msc) in Control Panel's Administrators Tools.

2. Locate ProtexisLicensing or Protexis Licensing service. If you are seeing Protexis Licensing V2 service, use the next guide. Stop the service and then set the Startup Type to Disabled.

3. Bowse to %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32 folder.

4. Copy original PSIKey.dll to program folder of application that relies on Protexis, e.g. %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI\.

5. Rename PsiClient.dll to PsiClient.bak, or simply delete it.

6. Rename PSIKey.dll to PsiClient.dll

7. Rename PSIService.exe to PSIService.bak, or simply delete it.

 

If the Protexis DRM softare installed on your system is of version 2, follow these steps instead:

 

1. Open Services (services.msc) in Control Panel's Administrators Tools.

2. Locate Protexis Licensing V2 service. Stop the service and then set the Startup Type to Disabled.

3. Bowse to %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Common Files\Protexis\License Service folder.

4. Copy original PSIKey_2.dll to program folder of application that relies on Protexis, e.g. %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2\.

5. Rename PsiClient.dll to PsiClient.bak, or simply delete it.

6. Rename PSIKey_2.dll to PsiClient.dll

7. Rename PSIService_2.exe to PSIService_2.bak, or simply delete it.

 

Now, Protexis Licensing Service is tamed and disabled properly so that PSIService no longer run in background, without affecting functionality of installed application.

Emphasis added.

 

 

I do a ton of artwork for t-shirts which are primarily spot color work and require complex underlays, chokes, spreads and fills. Most auto tracers will stack the objects which causes major headaches in separations.

 

I recall being very frustrated with the earlier tracer in Coreldraw because it tried to group things that I didn't want grouped. What a pain that was. The current tracer not only doesn't do that but it has options that the earlier version did not. You can also dial in the level of detail which I usually want to crank way, way up. I'm guessing there is a place to set that as as default but I've been too lazy to find out so I dial that detail level up each time I trace a drawing. One thing that I use a lot that I didn't know I needed before was the setting to automatically drop out the background. It doesn't always get all of the background because it needs to interpret what that actually is and that can be tough in a complex drawing... but amazingly, it usually does.

[pixelplucker]

I'll try to see if Painter uses protexis, if so the it's a no go here.

 

As far as tracers, if you do a lot of tracing check out Imagaro Z. It will integrate with Corel and has probably the best curve preservation when deleting points or adding points. You can also trace individual objects at different settings. Professional version offers a wider database for font identification.

 

One of my pens on my Cintique fell pray to one of my nephews.. Cost me $100 to replace it!