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The Adobe PDF format takes any shortcut opportunity it gets to try to shrink file sizes. This sometimes means it will take certain geometric items, such as rule lines or vertical letters like the lowercase "L" or capital "I", convert them from being rectangle objects with 4 anchor points down to...

If you're actually wanting to delete part of an image rather than just hide parts of it with a clipping mask you have to do that in Photoshop, save either a layered TIFF or PSD file and then place that back into Illustrator. Paths can be used to create solid edges on the cut image. Soft edges on...

It's one thing to prefer designing only in CorelDRAW. I prefer doing most of my sign design work within CorelDRAW while using Adobe Illustrator in conjunction with Photoshop, After Effects, etc. on other projects. It's another more hazarous thing to go Corel-only, using it to open & edit...

I've been using both CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator for many years. Neither program is anywhere near perfect at opening files generated by the rival program. At best, vector shapes will retain accuracy. Outside of that there's lots and lots of differences in how both programs behave. And that's...

I just started having some headaches lately with font behavior in CorelDRAW X6. I'm sure this has to do with a slew of Windows updates from Microsoft. They obviously did something that is affecting CDR X6. My office PC is running Win 8.1 Pro. The problem: on screen rendering of type is kind of...

PDFs are such a mine field for CorelDRAW. The latest version can deal with them a little better since X7 has more transparency features, such as varying transparency levels on gradient stops. PDFs with Illustrator editing capabilities left intact will work better, but still not perfectly. PDFs...

Adobe is porting some of its CC mobile apps to Android. Shape CC, Brush CC, and Color CC are available in the Google Play store. I'm not surprised iOS has so many more of these apps than Android. It's more difficult to develop for the Android platform because there are so many different devices...

The file has either somehow been corrupted or the .AI file has been saved in a manner Adobe Illustrator doesn't like. For example, if the .AI file was exported from CorelDRAW X7 perhaps some kind of preset or feature worked into the artwork might have caused to glitch. I would try opening the...

It looks very likely Adobe will roll out the "2015" version of Creative Cloud next week. Adobe has a big keynote address about Creative Cloud scheduled in Berlin on Tuesday, June 16. The first CC version was released 6/17/13 and the 2014 version was released 6/18/14. I haven't seen a whole lot...

I'll also echo warnings about Brands of the World. First of all, a LOT of the major brand artwork they carry is not official artwork from the given large company. Very often the artwork is re-created by logo fans. Not only might the artwork be a bit inaccurate or even out of date, but any...

Some typefaces are better than others when it comes to their built-in default kerning. But lettering set in even the best quality typefaces may need some adjustments of some sort, even if it's just a slight tweak here and there. I might not worry about it if it is an inexpensive sign. But if...

I often encounter the duplicate paths thing importing Illustrator-based artwork in CorelDRAW or Flexi. Usually I can eliminate at least some of the duplicates by removing or flattening/expanding any "live" outline strokes to the artwork in Illustrator and also releasing any compound paths into...

There's only so much any auto-tracing application can do. Shape CC has an interesting twist on it. But essentially it has to take an arguably low resolution image from a consumer grade smart phone/tablet camera and try to do something useful with it. Most of the auto-tracing filters I've used...

Did you install the CorelDRAW X7 shell extension when installing the program? The shell extension is required to view the CorelDRAW artwork thumbnails rather than just see green balloon icons. I'm not sure if there is any way to manually add the shell extension to an existing CorelDRAW X7...

There is a variety of blur effects taking place. It looks like multiple passes on multiple layers using the Radial Blur filter, with zoom selected. Alien Skin's Eye Candy filter set has a Backlight filter that can deliver a similar looking effect, but not with all the fine ray lines. The fine...

As old as the sign is, if we had to start replacing a bunch of parts (such as letter faces) we would probably suggest the old sign be replaced. The records are actually a little iffy. They just say Helvetica Medium, but it doesn't mention the type vendor (Linotype, Adobe, Gerber, etc.). I just...

Back in the early 1990s our shop had a Gerber Signmaker IV B. For those not familiar with the Signmaker IV B, the original unit had these pretty expensive font cartridges. If I recall correctly Helvetica Medium was the default font. You had to load different cartridges to change typefaces. The...

What is the build number of the CorelDRAW X7 installation? Is the latest one (17.4.0.887)? Generally I make my page size larger than the artwork bleed if the layout is full bleed and will be cut to size. I've been having all sorts of headaches trading artwork back and forth with my X7...

One thing that comes to mind I like about X7 as opposed to X6 or earlier versions: You can finally create gradients with varying levels of transparency at every stop and "accelerate" the transitions between stops, just like Adobe Illustrator has been able to do for at least the last couple or so...

That makes me glad I don't have automatic updates enabled with my fairly new CorelDRAW X7 installation. I've run some of the updates, but am on build 17.3.0.772. The program seems to be working okay, although X7 still won't align nodes in a controlled manner just like the bug I've dealt with in...