Adobe to Corel

[altereddezignz]

So i have use the full Adobe suite for ages now but have recently been looking into corel a little more. I use illustrator and photoshop for just about everything and i have years of files in .tiff, .psd and .eps and.ai. Would it be worth the change over to Corel or stick with Adobe stuff?

Thanks

 

[WildWestDesigns]

So i have use the full Adobe suite for ages now but have recently been looking into corel a little more. I use illustrator and photoshop for just about everything and i have years of files in .tiff, .psd and .eps and.ai. Would it be worth the change over to Corel or stick with Adobe stuff?

Thanks

I can't speak for everyone, but I have been using Adobe for yrs as well. I tried to use Corel when it started becoming packaged in with my digitizing software (this was about X4 up to X6).

I tried, but I couldn't make the switch. On this last version, I don't even have the Corel side of things installed period. I do all my work in Ai and then just send it on in as an EPS.

I am in no way saying that Corel isn't a viable product or that it can't do as much (and I'm sure some would say that it can do more) then Ai.

If you get a lot of outside vector files (I do not, I get a lot of outside jpgs, pngs etc), then if nothing else it might be worth having to handle those odd ball files.

Sometimes it's not worth disrupting your workflow unless something is going on that is causing you to switch (such as you don't like Adobe's subscription only model). Although, it's possible that any commercial software could follow the same path.

 

[altereddezignz]

Thanks for the info. I currently use CS6 but just did a purchase of Adobe CC since it supports the crazy resolution for my surface pro 4 that i draw on sometimes. I like some of the new features of CC. Now is it worth what i pay for it in a months time? Well if i use it yes lol but i already had CS6. If it wasn't for needing it for my tablet i may not have ever even looked into it. Supposedly there are A LOT of features i haven't even seen yet.
I do like the fact tho that with one subscription they allow you to install on multiple computers.

I was just curious if anyone had made the switch and why you made it.

 

[CanuckSigns]

If you have no real reason to switch, why would you inflict a learning curve on yourself, not to mention all the converting files and potential inporting issues that may arise.

If it ain't broke...

 

[Santimus]

Corel can handle most .ai .pdf .eps etc files just fine. I added Corel to my workflow years ago to augment production but I find myself using it for all vector files now. The learning curve is a hurdle but it is much better for vector files in my opinion and well worth the little extra effort. I don't use Illustrator for much other than the rare occasion of converting a customer's file (on the off chance corel doesn't like their file) but I still use Photoshop for all photo editing beyond quick resolution or sizing adjustments. I find Photoshop much more powerful for that stuff. You don't have to make the switch cold turkey, you can add it to your arsenal and go from there.

 

[altereddezignz]

If you have no real reason to switch, why would you inflict a learning curve on yourself, not to mention all the converting files and potential inporting issues that may arise.

If it ain't broke...

Not saying that i am switching. I have just heard that Corel may handle illustrator files and design better than Illy but have never really tried it. I have access to i think x7 version if i need it for anything but i have never used it since i had no need to relearn years of what i already knew.

Corel can handle most .ai .pdf .eps etc files just fine. I added Corel to my workflow years ago to augment production but I find myself using it for all vector files now. The learning curve is a hurdle but it is much better for vector files in my opinion and well worth the little extra effort. I don't use Illustrator for much other than the rare occasion of converting a customer's file (on the off chance corel doesn't like their file) but I still use Photoshop for all photo editing beyond quick resolution or sizing adjustments. I find Photoshop much more powerful for that stuff. You don't have to make the switch cold turkey, you can add it to your arsenal and go from there.

I think i have had maybe once or twice that a persons files did not open or import right but it was a simply fix by the client. Other than that i have never had the need to install x7 that i have access too.

 

[myront]

I do all my work in Ai and then just send it on in as an EPS...

PLEASE STOP DOING!
NEVER, EVER, save a file with gradient fills as an eps! Why? It will not be a universal eps file. To be truly universal i.e. for use with most other vector editing programs you should use pdf. You're assuming that every designer out there uses adobe. You send me a file like that and I'll have to stake the time to open in illy and since I don't have the latest version, place the file in illy and convert. And if that fails I'll have to open it in photoshop and save out as tiff. If I just had a pdf this wouldn't be an issue.

I was "untraditionally" trained. When I started as a "Visual Information Craftsman" for the U.S. Air Force our school briefly touched on Adobe. When I arrived to my assignment they said "forget all that stuff, we use corel here." Sat me down and I took off. Easiest program to learn only if you don't come from adobe. As my career progressed we continued to purchase Adobe software and shelved all but 1 copy. I tried and tried to learn it on my own but always got frustrated within the first few minutes.

Fast forward a few years and although now considered a "sign designer" I find it a necessity to have both Adobe and Corel.

I'm not rich either so guess which one I have at home.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

PLEASE STOP DOING!
NEVER, EVER, save a file with gradient fills as an eps! Why? It will not be a universal eps file. To be truly universal i.e. for use with most other vector editing programs you should use pdf. You're assuming that every designer out there uses adobe.

Quite a few assumptions there.

Bare in mind, 90% of my work is in embroidery production and the vast majority of my eps files never, ever leave my shop. By "sending out" I mean that that's how I bring it in to my digitizing program. I have to use EPS, because I don't have the Corel portion installed for my digitizing software, so using other file formats (including PDF) are a no go and still maintain vector use. Secondly, my digitizing program will rasterize an EPS file, if the option is checked, which it has to do, because program doesn't like gradients in the first place. No matter the source file.

Most of the design work I do, goes to my stock embroidery designs. The only time that the EPS format will leave my shop is as a cut file for people to use plotters to cut out applique shapes. That's it. That won't be a problem for EPS file production.

 

[monument man]

Illustrator to Corel and EPS

I've been wondering about this as well lately, not to switch, but was wanting to make some design templates and wanted to know how well Corel deals with importing .AI files with various effects and styles applied.

Also, I've always saved out my files (basic vector graphics for plotting or printing with no effects or gradients applied) as EPS 8 because I was told that it was the most universally accepted vector format before some changes were made later. Is this no longer true?

 

[The Vector Doctor]

PLEASE STOP DOING!
NEVER, EVER, save a file with gradient fills as an eps! Why? It will not be a universal eps file. To be truly universal i.e. for use with most other vector editing programs you should use pdf. You're assuming that every designer out there uses adobe. You send me a file like that and I'll have to stake the time to open in illy and since I don't have the latest version, place the file in illy and convert. And if that fails I'll have to open it in photoshop and save out as tiff. If I just had a pdf this wouldn't be an issue.

I was "untraditionally" trained. When I started as a "Visual Information Craftsman" for the U.S. Air Force our school briefly touched on Adobe. When I arrived to my assignment they said "forget all that stuff, we use corel here." Sat me down and I took off. Easiest program to learn only if you don't come from adobe. As my career progressed we continued to purchase Adobe software and shelved all but 1 copy. I tried and tried to learn it on my own but always got frustrated within the first few minutes.

Fast forward a few years and although now considered a "sign designer" I find it a necessity to have both Adobe and Corel.

I'm not rich either so guess which one I have at home.

Are you sure about that? I have saved many files with gradients and I always use EPS V8 or higher. Any lower and the gradients turn into stepped solid fills. My normal format to send out vectors is ai v8 if unsure of the end user's software but when I have saved as v8 EPS with a gradient I have not once received any complaints from probably more than 1000 files done this way.

So unless my customers are not bringing up the issue, I don't think that this is true. Now if the gradient has transparency effects or a non linear or non radial fill then yes a v8 eps will cause import problems. Perhaps some corel users can chime in. This could also be due to older versions of Corel

 

[TammieH]

I passed up a great employment opportunity 7 years ago because they used Corel...I would rather be tossed into a bunch of blackberry bushes than use corel draw.

I started off using corel 3 around 1990, switched jobs and learned FreeHand then Illustrator, corel seems so clunky to me now.

 

[Behrmon]

I passed up a great employment opportunity 7 years ago because they used Corel...I would rather be tossed into a bunch of blackberry bushes than use corel draw.

I started off using corel 3 around 1990, switched jobs and learned FreeHand then Illustrator, corel seems so clunky to me now.

Same here!! Lived in Corel as a beginner and transitioned to Illy and FH, I've struggled w Corel on my last tries, all in what you know I guess?

 

[Graphic Destruction]

Same here!! Lived in Corel as a beginner and transitioned to Illy and FH, I've struggled w Corel on my last tries, all in what you know I guess?

Me too. I started in corel 2, used it until v.9. Now I just can't get around in it after years of illy and flexi.

I still keep a copy of x5 for rare use, but, yeah, it's all in what you know.

 

[dubhcaora]

as somebody who has used both Adobe and Corel products I can attest that the best improvement in coreldrawX8 is its updated save to AI option.

Adobe gives you tools for specific situations. Photoshop for photos. Illustrator for illustrations. InDesign for layout.

CorelDraw tries to be all these at once and while some see that as its strength is its biggest weakness. Its like using a multi-tool vs an individual tool, you can get the same results yet it is a hell of a lot less of a headache to just use the individual tool to begin with.

I have also had more issues over the years with corrupting corel files then adobe counterparts.

 

[ams]

Corel is way more user friendly than Adobe. Corel has fast become an industry standard for the sign world. I agree that the older versions of Corel weren't great, before X4 (14). However they recently released X8 and it's amazing and I haven't run into a single problem yet or any problems with any files. Generally those won't don't know how to use Corel, knock it. They don't read or watch tutorials, get frustrated trying to learn and switch to something else.

By the way with X8, you have illustrator mode built in, so you can run it just like Adobe Illustrator.

Flexi is garbage in my opinion.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Corel is way more user friendly than Adobe. Corel has fast become an industry standard for the sign world.

I disagree with that. I found it to be more cumbersome. Now, I'm used to Ai and some of the complaints that people have with Ai were also true with older versions.

DRAW is more utilized in the apparel decorating world and that's why Wilcom directly interfaced it's software with DRAW. Now, if you were to buy Wilcom and get DRAW that way, you had 15,000 reasons (if you weren't able to play the trade in, trade up game for the full version) to make DRAW work for you versus having to spend more money on another package. That's a lot of motivation to make something work for you. I don't even have it installed anymore. Now granted, that could just be me (I've been known to be a strange one).

Now I'm not saying that it isn't a capable, fully feature program, but ease of use (user friendliness) is in the eye of the beholder. And I work with some programs that are not easy to use, so I like to think I can muddle through things.

However, which ever way you are used to, I don't suggest switching workflow (unless there is a compelling reason to do so, especially beyond your control), especially cold turkey. Not that the OP said that is what they are doing.

 

[GAC05]

I am a die hard Corel user but....
If the majority of the files you work with are AI EPS or PDFs from customers you are better off editing them in the program that made them.
The majority of those will have been made with an Adobe product.
If I need to layout something from scratch (quickly) I'll use Draw - If I have to change stuff up on a customer's file in order to print I'll use Illustrator.
Illy has some very nice tools but I think Draw is a little more flexible and has ways to do things quickly that AI does not.
Knowing both is a plus - best to use the tool that fits the nut best.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[ams]

I disagree with that. I found it to be more cumbersome. Now, I'm used to Ai and some of the complaints that people have with Ai were also true with older versions.

DRAW is more utilized in the apparel decorating world and that's why Wilcom directly interfaced it's software with DRAW. Now, if you were to buy Wilcom and get DRAW that way, you had 15,000 reasons (if you weren't able to play the trade in, trade up game for the full version) to make DRAW work for you versus having to spend more money on another package. That's a lot of motivation to make something work for you. I don't even have it installed anymore. Now granted, that could just be me (I've been known to be a strange one).

Now I'm not saying that it isn't a capable, fully feature program, but ease of use (user friendliness) is in the eye of the beholder. And I work with some programs that are not easy to use, so I like to think I can muddle through things.

However, which ever way you are used to, I don't suggest switching workflow (unless there is a compelling reason to do so, especially beyond your control), especially cold turkey. Not that the OP said that is what they are doing.

With AI you have thousands of layers and it's annoying, whereas you don't have to go through all of that with Corel, you can yes, but don't need to. I had an employee once that was very experienced with AI and it took him 3 hours to design a simple banner. When asked why, he explained all of the layers and all you have to go through.

Also Adobe doesn't seem capable with anything. You have to flatten the files and sometimes even that doesn't help. Layers are the major issue when importing into other software. Sometimes it's gradients.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

With AI you have thousands of layers and it's annoying, whereas you don't have to go through all of that with Corel, you can yes, but don't need to. I had an employee once that was very experienced with AI and it took him 3 hours to design a simple banner. When asked why, he explained all of the layers and all you have to go through.

I've never had a problem with layers. While they may be experienced, it might be what makes up that experience as well. I know some people that have been using for Ai for yrs and don't take advantage of Actions. They know where everything is located in all the menus and sub menus, but they can eliminate all that needless clicking by using actions. So sometimes you have to be careful on what makes up that experience. They might be very experienced, but not necessarily efficient. Experience and efficiency do not mean the exact same thing.

 

[ams]

I've never had a problem with layers. While they may be experienced, it might be what makes up that experience as well. I know some people that have been using for Ai for yrs and don't take advantage of Actions. They know where everything is located in all the menus and sub menus, but they can eliminate all that needless clicking by using actions. So sometimes you have to be careful on what makes up that experience. They might be very experienced, but not necessarily efficient. Experience and efficiency do not mean the exact same thing.

I've dabbled very little in AI and didn't like the whole interface and the function names are different even if they do the same thing. But I started with Corel and am going to keep it.