CorelDraw
GRAPHICS SUIT X5
- First Look X5
(March 20, 2010)
First read my overview of X5 just to the left. I've used CorelDraw since 1990 and have seen a lot of products added and removed from the suite.
This time around Corel includes PhotoZoom Pro 2 and SWish miniMax, a Flash substitute. I could get excited about them but two years from now, will they remain with the suite? I'm sure they will be great for those needing the extra capabilities - the included programs are basically free, saving several hundred dollars over buying standalone versions or competitors products.
But my real point about being a long time Corel user is that when CorelDraw 8 came out there had started to be a large following that promoted only buying every other version released. Actually not a bad philosophy in general for most software. However, if you or employees can save just one-half hour per week using a new version of software, then the upgrade price is probably very well worth it.
If you read my CorelDraw X4 First Look Overview and then this one, it would appear that I am one of those advocating the buy every other version. But that all depends of how much you use the CorelDraw Graphics Suite.
I'm also basing this fist look without having seen the final shipping package or materials - but they sound as if they will compare with the materials in X3 and X4 making it a world class product. Few companies offer today what Corel has given out with its software the last few versions and this time around Corel even has an outstanding Reviewers Guide.
If you have never used CorelDraw or associated programs, what I've posted below may not make sense to you. That's where the Reviewers Guide comes in and Corels web site. Make sure to read the graphic novel (cartoon) as well, go to page 11 past the ummmm, graphic novel part.
Quite simply I highly recommend the program. If my comments below do to not seem to correspond to my recommendation, then consider my points as trivial when compared to the overall use of the program.
Now for the Good, the So So and the Bad.The Good
- Color Management - much improved. Too bad they changed the Color Management dialog. The old style was easier to explain and made sense to others if the CM had worked properly.
- Fixed rounded corner issue when resizing rectangles with radiuses on them - ADT!
- Added the ability to chamfer or scallop the corners of rectangles directly from the property bar! And they resize proportionately!
- Dimension and connector lines - ADT! Wow big difference, big time saver if you work with a lot of diagrams or dimensioned items.
- Mesh - transparency and gradations, on par
- Document palette - really nice, saves my work around of creating new palettes which is really easy in Corel.
- Finally, hex colors! - ADT!
The So So -
- Pixel preview - not sure how worthwhile that will be for me or others. The pixel preview did not consistently show the problems with exported images for web sites.
- B-Spline tool- would have been great to have before I became very proficient with all of the other drawing tools, but it will be appreciated by many.
- Transformation docker - With copies? vs. Ctrl-D, Don't see any new benefit or time saving enhancement here. Check out the docker, clone and duplicate tools.
- Content organizer - would've been great versions ago. Windows has their own, Abode has their own, and now Corel has their own. May very well be a replacement for ROMCAT though. Probably great for those that that spend a majority of their time in Corel.
- Other dialog box improvements - many are hard to tell the small changes, but maybe a worthy time saver after hours of working in the programs. A few seconds here and there, or saving one mouse click here and there, can amount to a lot of time saved over the course of a year.
- Conversion of files - converting pdf files still has text breaking every word apart or each line of text apart. Somewhat worse (actually a disaster) is importing or pasting of Word documents into Corel and then changing the line spacing. If your Word file has formatting, import the text without formatting.
- New Prcessing speed - taking advantage of quad processors - I'm really not feeling it. (Oh I hate when I hear that)
- Photozoom 2 - would have been nicer if was fully integrated but so far I've only seen a means to save the resized file out to a file. From the few comparisons I've done, PhotoPaint does nearly as good a job if you don't go pixel peeping.
- A Soft Proofing Docker - Actually it would be in the good category except, the out of gamut warnings are not accurate.
- Object docker - Added some enhancements - still not on par with comparative applications. But very good capabilities put at hand.
- Greyscale lens - renamed from the B&W lens.
The BAD -
- X5 has the same program icon in the Windows OS as the X4 version, hard to tell which is what
- CorelDraw tool icons still are still the low contrast X4 icons
- Speed and redraws - well first impressions - I have to look further, occasionally I've still had to use Ctrl-W refreshing the screen. Also when working with image files in CorelDraw the window now moves in jerks instead of nice and smooth. - will check for latest video drivers.
- Text handling - still needs much much work. And new problems I'm having when importing text from Word.
- Imposition - was a great tool, now missing options and somewhat broke with X4 and before files. I have yet to try imposition with pages created solely in X5.
- Still no transparency or non-color fills
- Start a new document with a primary color mode of RGB but CMYK palette remains - WUWT! You must select the "default palette" for the palette to change with the color mode.
- Primary color modes do not sync between CorelDraw and PhotoPaint! Beware as now you have to select a primary color mode each time you start one of the programs.
- Print Preview - now takes over the entire CorelDraw program window!
- Problems still exist, and in some cases have gotten worse when exporting jgp or png images for web sites. There are a few work around's but non work for all cases.
If you haven't used the program before or did not upgrade to X4 then you may want to read my CorelDraw X4 First Look as it is still appliacble in X5.