CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 With Serial Key
There aren't many software publishers other than Adobe who can charge high prices for graphic design software, so the fact that CorelDraw is still going after 23 years and 16 versions suggests it must be doing something right.
CorelDraw HarmonyThe Harmony Editor: cheesy name, great way to experiment with colour palettes
It's a vector-drawing application first and foremost, although the main application isn't the only one in the suite. Photo-Paint is still here, like an unwelcome sidekick that CorelDraw can't quite shrug off. It's relatively light on features, with support for layer masks and adjustment layers but no Dodge, Burn, Heal or Blur tools, and nothing to compare with the array of extra modules in Adobe Photoshop Elements or Corel's own PaintShop Pro software.
The suite also includes Connect, a powerful browser and search facility for the bundled vector and photo clip-art, as well as online content from Flickr, Fotolia and iStockphoto. Website Creator X6 is offered as a free download for registered users. This brand new product is available separately for £159 including VAT, but it's actually just a rebranded version of NetObjects Fusion XII. Its code-free design tools are easy enough to use but the templates are dated, both visually and in their underlying code. NetObjects will suffice for a small business website that will remain largely static, but going beyond that level, the learning curve gets much steeper and the Help files are impenetrable.
The main CorelDraw application couldn't be much further removed from Website Creator. CorelDraw's Help facilities are first rate, with a Hints panel that shows pertinent information for the currently selected tool, plus short video demonstrations. It also comes with a hardback manual that – amazingly – is quite a pleasant read.
CorelDraw SmearThe Smear tool provides a more tactile, organic way to edit vector shapes than with the conventional Bézier handles
CorelDraw excels at making complex features easily discoverable. The workspace is bristling with handles, nodes and other controls, so many tasks can be achieved without having to delve into menus and panels. Meanwhile, the toolbox is packed with powerful features for creating and manipulating vector graphics.
New to this version are Smear, Twirl, Repel and Attract tools, which change the shape of vector graphics using brush strokes. They're considerably more effective than the existing Smudge Brush, and closely resemble the behaviour of Photoshop's Liquify tool. Previously, creating vector graphics was a choice between freehand strokes or precise adjustment using Bézier curves and various envelopes. These new tools fall somewhere between the two, providing a more tactile way to edit existing shapes.
Most of the other new features are concerned with how content is managed. Master Layers, for elements that repeat across multiple pages, can now place them on odd, even or all pages. The Object Properties panel has been reworked to show only relevant information for the selected object type. A new Object Styles panel makes it easier to duplicate outline, fill and text character, paragraph and frame properties, and edit all occurrences at once. Style Sets brings the various Object Styles together so they can be applied and edited in combination.
CorelDraw WebsiteCorel's late entry into the web-design market struggles to make it out of the gates
The Color Styles panel can show all the colours used in an illustration. These are shown on the Harmony Editor as a series of dots on a colour wheel, giving an at-a-glance view of the palette of colours used. Individual colours can be moved around the colour wheel, and it's also possible to select multiple or all colours and adjust their hue and saturation en masse. It's disappointing that colours aren't selected automatically on the wheel when the corresponding object is selected in the workspace, but even so, this is a novel approach to colour management that taps in to the way illustrations use a limited palette of colours.
CorelDraw is friendlier than Adobe Illustrator and it's more powerful than Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 with features such as the new Smear tool and Mesh Fill with discrete transparency values for each node. It's a shame that it can't match Xara's instant, continuously updating screen redraws, though. Despite a move to 64-bit code and improved multiple-core support, CorelDraw still isn't as responsive as Xara. It's a lot more expensive, too, but on balance it's worth it for those who will appreciate its extra power.
