Corel Draw Support

[ed_lang]

Who is using Corel Draw for design work?

I have Corel X3 and thought it would be nice to know the user base that has experience with it. Maybe even find folks who are willing to help others with questions.

If there are enough folks using it maybe we can get our own section.

Ed Lang
Corel X3

[applik]

I use Corel X3 for just about everything. Do all my artwork in it and then import into ArtCam.

Shari

[jbworden]

We use CorelDraw X3 for nearly all of our design work. Then we export from Corel and import into PartWizard or VCarve.

[pete]

I use CorelDraw 12 and X3 for laser engraving and for the ShopBot - love it.

[cjohnson]

I have corel x3 but don't know how to use it beyond very basic stuff.

[donchapman]

I have CorelDraw X3, use it, especially like the quick trace, don't pretend to know a lot but willing to share what I know and to learn from those who know more.

[srwtlc]

I've used 7, 9, 12, and now X3. I use it mainly for artsy free form design work and for tracing scans of objects or bitmap/jpegs for V-carving, small signage, custom pockets in display boxes, custom shaped plaques, etc.

Always glad to help when and if I can.

[dennislunde]

I use corel x3 with vector for toolpathing
It's great

[bob_reda]

Just got it, don't know much about it

[brian_h]

Question: Do you think it's more useful to us then Illustrator? Is "trace" really accurate on low-res web graphics? I'm tracing a picture by hand in Illustrator and it takes a while to do.

[ed_lang]

Does anyone think that a Corel section should be added to the ShopBot Forum? I do.

I have a couple of questions and I now see that Brian H. does as well. Maybe the first of the week will see a new section for Corel and this thread can be moved there and we all start asking and helping each other.

[paco]

I have subscrided to the COREL newsletter and there is quite some nice tips and tutorials to get right into your inbox.

Still, Ed as a nice idea.

I use COREL mainly to SWMCS (see what my customer see) when they send me COREL and Adobe file. COREL read about just anything... and export about anything as well... as long as it is 2D.

[rg_engravers]

Here are a few movies I made for Coreldraw X3 I pulled from the server.

http://cncsb.onlinestoragesolution.com/CoreldrawX3.htm

[gamisano]

"Question: Do you think it's more useful to us then Illustrator?"

I have the latest version of both. Corel draw blows doors on Illustrator IMO. It is equally as powerfull, yet far more intuitive, and less cumbersome and clumsy than Illistrator. The only problem I have with Corel is issues with importing/exporting .ai files. Not sure what it is, but it fails to open many of the .ai files I import, and likewise, Illustrator doesn't like the .ai files I exported from corel. Both seem fine when saving the same file as eps, so its not a really big issue for me. Pretty much the only time I use Illustrator is to open an .ai file that corel has trouble with, then save as eps and open in corel.

As for my opinion on having a Corel section on here, I'm all for it. I got some of my best tips and tricks for corel from this forum, and like everything else, everyones experience can contribute to a greater cause.

Guido

[jbworden]

Brian,

There's no such thing as a "really accurate" trace on low-res graphics. We end up tracing a lot of stuff for our vinyl cutter. When the trace is particularly bad our artist will print the blown up graphic and hand trace it with a black felt tip pen. Then he'll rescan it and trace that. Saves a lot of point manipulation in CorelDraw.

[danhamm]

There are a few videos on the use of coreldraw, on the shopbot website..I made many years ago, using ver. 7..most of the moves still apply using x3..how use most of the functions...

[routerclouter]

_Good move by ShopBot to create DESIGNING AND CREATING THE SBP CUTTING FILE, good work by Ed Lang lighting the CorelDRAW fuse and Dan Hammerstron and Ron Varela for their excellent videos. Already there’s good posts and a search for ‘Corel’ in the forum brings up lots of excellent advice in multiple posts.
_I’m just starting up again and I’ll do my best to contribute when I can. It’s amazing how much a little help can mean in computers.
_I’ve helped at local computer clubs. I’ve seen the helped person light up when I or someone else showed them something that for years they’d worked around or been blocked from doing. It was so easy. They got a hundred dollar present and it cost me or someone else a nickel. When I get help from someone on something that’s stumped me, I light up that way too. A hundred bucks from a nickel.
_And when you help someone on something, it very often – at least for me –helps you because to think it out or say it or write it down it makes it clearer in your mind. Certainly clearer in my mind, anyway.
_Some programs like CorelDRAW X3 have been improving for 20 years or so and have millions of dollars spent on development. They’re incredibly complex with many different ways of accomplishing even a simple task. For the complicated jobs, well, there’s so many ways, and so many rich, hidden tips and traps. So even highly skilled users can learn from others.
_When I get to the level in CorelDRAW that I can help others, I will.
_But mostly -- thanks for getting this up and thanks for all the tips I’ve acquired, and I’m still reaping, on Corel from this forum.

[chiere]

Right now, we use Corel 9. We have a hot wire machine, made by Croma, that we export jobs to as .plt's. Unfortunately, 9 is the only one we can use, as Corel changed the .plt export filter from 170+ points per circle to about 65, so everything faceted, (think, circle to polyhedron,... all the obviouse flat sides did not make our customers verra happy,...) We can either design, export, and cut w/ 9, OR design, select every single circle, circle segment, oval, ogee, arch, and arc, select the necessary segments, hit add points about 5 times, THEN export through .plt,...

Who wants to make their work day longer? So we stayed w/ 9. I'm a wizbang at 9, so if anyone has questions for that, I'm yer girl, LOL!

But! Since we bought the shop bot, I am the dedicated designer for that, and don't need to design the 2-D stuff anymore, so I am going to try to talk my boss into the latest edition of Corel Draw. So I suspect I will be asking y'all for help, =-)

[ed_lang]

Welcome Cheri!

[edcoleman]

Cheri:

I use Corel X3 and have just tried to export a circle using the plt filter. I think you MIGHT be able to overcome your problem by clicking on the "advanced" tab and selecting 0.0 inches for the "curve resolution" (I don't know what the "default" value was since I've changed it). Attached is a 5 inch circle that was exported that way. The attached plot file still estimates a circle with straight lines, but the attached file has 129 nodes (up from the 33 nodes with the default setting).

-Ed
5 inch circle in plt format

4326 (2.0 k)

[butch]

I have X3 - just started using it, so still in the sharp rise learning curve.

[routerclouter]

If you have CorelDRAW X3 and version 9 on the same computer (which I don’t so I can’t test this) you can try copying the drawing from X3 to 9 and saving it from there as a .plt.
As an extra, you get to learn all the extra power of X3 over time, while also keeping the ease and speed of using the Ver.9 you are skilled in.
There are a few ways of moving the file, but Control-C and Control-V is the fastest and would probably work.
Ed Coleman’s way looks the best, but this is an option. The power of mixing art with technology makes Corel look great for ShopBot. But the complexity of all these fancy program can sometimes get a bit scary.