I have been using CorelDraw for many, many years. I am now at version X4. I am not a graphics artist but CorelDraw seems intuitive to me.
I am currently running Windows 7 x 64 and am uprading major elements of the hardware on my computer. Along with that I am thinking about upgrading to Windows 10.
Presumably the current version of Inkscape will install and work with Win 10. So my real question is how hard will it be to make the transition from CorelDraw to Inkscape? Are the tools the same with the same functionality? Or similar enough?
Corel does lots of things Inkscape does not do, but as far as vector illustration goes, all vector illustration software does most of the same things: shapes, paths, node editing, text, clones, symbols, etc. . The shortcuts will be different, and some tools are unique to each program, or will require fewer/or more steps.
There is no bitmap editing in Inkscape, but you can use GIMP with a linked bitmap and achieve much of the same.
Here are some Corel features (up to V12) that may or may not have equivilence in Inkscape:
Photo-Paint (for bitmap editing) N, (use GIMP as above) CorelSHOW (for creating on-screen presentations) N CorelCHART (for graphic charts) Possibly in extensions. CorelMOVE for animation Some animation in extensions Mosaic and CorelTRACE (for vectorizing bitmaps). Y Multi-page capabilities N Powerlines Possibly in Filters Support for graphic tablets Y Clone tool Y Elastic node editing Y Envelope tool Y Polygon, Spiral, Knife and Eraser tools Y Interactive Fill and Blend tools Y Transparency tools Y Natural Pen tool Y Find & Replace wizard Y Convert Vector to Bitmap Y Docker windows Y Interactive Distortion Y color palette editor Y guidelines as objects Y custom-sized pages Y Web graphics tools (for creating interactive elements such as buttons) Y Page sorter N multilingual document support Y navigator window Y Symbols library Y image slicing (for web design) Y pressure-sensitive vector brushes Y 3-point drawing tools N Dynamic guides N Export to MS Office or Word option Y Virtual Segment Delete tool N Unicode text support Y
I'd go through the built-in tutorials, give it a good workout (refer to the manual), and if there are sill stumpers, chime back and ask "How do I........?"
I don't have V12, I haveX4 (is that the same as V14?)...and I'm by no means a power user. I'd switch to Inkscape in a heartbeat but for the fact that I have a number of critical templates that I suspect would not convert. I suppose if those templates were saved in .cdr and then exported to .svg they might do with a bit of fiddling. But how much is the issue and I wouldn't care to do them all over again.
On the other hand, CorelDraw has not proven to be all that accurate in printing relative to what's on the screen.If I draw a circle and place snother object inside it, locating it so that all relevant edges are exactly .25 inch from the outline of the circle...centered, IOW...it will invariably print off center. On three different printers.
After the hardware and software upfrades are done, I think I need to give Inkscape another try.
Yes, there's the rub--I am doing a major hardware upgrade next week as well as looking at upgrading to Win 10. So I am 'de-cluttering' my hard drive in preparation to move it all to SDD. I don't want to install InkScape until all that is done--so no way to test the svg's ahead of time. 👣
Since you're doing an hardware upgrade anyway, why not give Ubuntu or one of the other nice Free Desktops a try? Inkscape (lower case 's') works well with Free Desktops, and you can have a dual boot. It's a good opotunity if you're going to go with the hanstle of an upgrade anyway.
Martin, thanks for the advice but I like the Windows operating system well enough...probably because there was a time when hardly any games would play under any other OS. And I still game a bit (one of the reasons I'm upgrading my hardware).
I had a VM on Windows 7 for a while and while it's not the same as dual booting I still didn't really warm up to it--didn't use it much.
Inkscape has multiple blend modes, if that's what you're asking about. It also has a lot of filters. However, I don't know if those correspond to what you understand as 'blend'. Maybe you can describe it a bit?
Ah, some part of it can be done with 'Interpolate subpaths' LPE and modifying the trajectory. However, it's going to create subpaths, not separate objects:
Well, what I had in mind was drawing a 5mm filled circle and then positioning two small 1mm filled circles about 3 mmm to the side of the large circle, grouping or combining all three objects, and then creating a series of duplicates or repetitions along a curved path (such as the edge of a piece of paper or more specifically leather)...with each group of objects spaced a set distance from each other and the objects turning to fit the curvatures of the path. And then each group of objects accurately space a set distance from the ege...or following the path accurately, as who should say.
Think of the edge of a man's wing tip shoe--the punched hole are called broguing and they follow the curves of the wingtip.
What's a pressure-sensitive vector brush thats not Inkscape's pressure sensitive brush tool? Powerlines, is that LPEs? Dynamic guides, is that guides that move around with some sort or rule?
Vector brush in Corel is a bit like Inkscape's spray-can, so I will change that to a yes.
Dynamic guides are like automatic inferences in CAD programs, which align to existing elements' features.
These are not expert opinions, but there are a few machines running Corel at my local makerspace I can fiddle with. We are nearly complete in transitioning to Inkscape, but we'll keep a machine or two with Corel, like we do with Ai and some other spendy software.
For the wingtip shoe design, I would use Scatter extension. PAP tends to distort the pattern in corners or sharp curves. Scatter isn't so bad. Extensions menu > Generate from Path > Scatter
Beginners' Questions Long time CorelDraw user
Inkscape.org
I have been using CorelDraw for many, many years. I am now at version X4. I am not a graphics artist but CorelDraw seems intuitive to me.
I am currently running Windows 7 x 64 and am uprading major elements of the hardware on my computer. Along with that I am thinking about upgrading to Windows 10.
Presumably the current version of Inkscape will install and work with Win 10. So my real question is how hard will it be to make the transition from CorelDraw to Inkscape? Are the tools the same with the same functionality? Or similar enough?
Corel does lots of things Inkscape does not do, but as far as vector illustration goes, all vector illustration software does most of the same things: shapes, paths, node editing, text, clones, symbols, etc. . The shortcuts will be different, and some tools are unique to each program, or will require fewer/or more steps.
There is no bitmap editing in Inkscape, but you can use GIMP with a linked bitmap and achieve much of the same.
Here are some Corel features (up to V12) that may or may not have equivilence in Inkscape:
Photo-Paint (for bitmap editing) N, (use GIMP as above)
CorelSHOW (for creating on-screen presentations) N
CorelCHART (for graphic charts) Possibly in extensions.
CorelMOVE for animation Some animation in extensions
Mosaic and CorelTRACE (for vectorizing bitmaps). Y
Multi-page capabilities N
Powerlines Possibly in Filters
Support for graphic tablets Y
Clone tool Y
Elastic node editing Y
Envelope tool Y
Polygon, Spiral, Knife and Eraser tools Y
Interactive Fill and Blend tools Y
Transparency tools Y
Natural Pen tool Y
Find & Replace wizard Y
Convert Vector to Bitmap Y
Docker windows Y
Interactive Distortion Y
color palette editor Y
guidelines as objects Y
custom-sized pages Y
Web graphics tools (for creating interactive elements such as buttons) Y
Page sorter N
multilingual document support Y
navigator window Y
Symbols library Y
image slicing (for web design) Y
pressure-sensitive vector brushes Y
3-point drawing tools N
Dynamic guides N
Export to MS Office or Word option Y
Virtual Segment Delete tool N
Unicode text support Y
I'd go through the built-in tutorials, give it a good workout (refer to the manual), and if there are sill stumpers, chime back and ask "How do I........?"
Have a nice day.
TD
What's a pressure-sensitive vector brush thats not Inkscape's pressure sensitive brush tool?
Powerlines, is that LPEs?
Dynamic guides, is that guides that move around with some sort or rule?
Thanks TD.
I don't have V12, I haveX4 (is that the same as V14?)...and I'm by no means a power user. I'd switch to Inkscape in a heartbeat but for the fact that I have a number of critical templates that I suspect would not convert. I suppose if those templates were saved in .cdr and then exported to .svg they might do with a bit of fiddling. But how much is the issue and I wouldn't care to do them all over again.
On the other hand, CorelDraw has not proven to be all that accurate in printing relative to what's on the screen.If I draw a circle and place snother object inside it, locating it so that all relevant edges are exactly .25 inch from the outline of the circle...centered, IOW...it will invariably print off center. On three different printers.
After the hardware and software upfrades are done, I think I need to give Inkscape another try.
Hi DWFII,
Well, the best way for you to be sure is just to try : save as SVG some of your CDR templates, download and install Inkscape, then open SVG in it.
If there's issues, you'll see them immediatly at the opening / print.
m1981,
Yes, there's the rub--I am doing a major hardware upgrade next week as well as looking at upgrading to Win 10. So I am 'de-cluttering' my hard drive in preparation to move it all to SDD. I don't want to install InkScape until all that is done--so no way to test the svg's ahead of time. 👣
Since you're doing an hardware upgrade anyway, why not give Ubuntu or one of the other nice Free Desktops a try? Inkscape (lower case 's') works well with Free Desktops, and you can have a dual boot. It's a good opotunity if you're going to go with the hanstle of an upgrade anyway.
Does Inscape do blends? And more specifically, if I have a CorelDraw blend and convert it to svg, will it still function / be a blend?
Martin, thanks for the advice but I like the Windows operating system well enough...probably because there was a time when hardly any games would play under any other OS. And I still game a bit (one of the reasons I'm upgrading my hardware).
I had a VM on Windows 7 for a while and while it's not the same as dual booting I still didn't really warm up to it--didn't use it much.
However, there are a few Inkscape extensions which can create, or help to create presentations. JessyInk, for one.
No problem @DWFII I like playing games, thank god for steam.
Bump (hope that's allowed ☺)...
Does Inscape do blends? And more specifically, if I have a CorelDraw blend and convert it to svg, will it still function / be a blend?
👣
Inkscape has multiple blend modes, if that's what you're asking about. It also has a lot of filters. However, I don't know if those correspond to what you understand as 'blend'. Maybe you can describe it a bit?
Blend is like a combination of interpolate and pattern along path.
So, Inkscape can only do the first part of a Blend, making a series of objects between two paths that morph from the first to the last.
https://www.coreldraw.com/en/pages/items/17700679.html
Ah, some part of it can be done with 'Interpolate subpaths' LPE and modifying the trajectory. However, it's going to create subpaths, not separate objects:
Well, what I had in mind was drawing a 5mm filled circle and then positioning two small 1mm filled circles about 3 mmm to the side of the large circle, grouping or combining all three objects, and then creating a series of duplicates or repetitions along a curved path (such as the edge of a piece of paper or more specifically leather)...with each group of objects spaced a set distance from each other and the objects turning to fit the curvatures of the path. And then each group of objects accurately space a set distance from the ege...or following the path accurately, as who should say.
Think of the edge of a man's wing tip shoe--the punched hole are called broguing and they follow the curves of the wingtip.
Vector brush in Corel is a bit like Inkscape's spray-can, so I will change that to a yes.
Dynamic guides are like automatic inferences in CAD programs, which align to existing elements' features.
These are not expert opinions, but there are a few machines running Corel at my local makerspace I can fiddle with. We are nearly complete in transitioning to Inkscape, but we'll keep a machine or two with Corel, like we do with Ai and some other spendy software.
Have a nice day,
TD
Can be done, methinks...
Yes, that's exactly what I meant.
The description I posted...is that pretty much what you did?
Thanks...even if the upgrade to Win !0 goes well, looks like Inkscape is in my future.
Yes, though I was not being very precise, so the spacing is not great.
Well, I noticed that...but figured this was just a fast example. The fact that it can be donerelieves my mind.
And I thank you for taking the time and interest.
Here's a more precise one in svg.
(Funny optical illusion, it looks like there are dips, but those sides are straight.)
For the wingtip shoe design, I would use Scatter extension. PAP tends to distort the pattern in corners or sharp curves. Scatter isn't so bad. Extensions menu > Generate from Path > Scatter
Looks real good.
Can you please list the steps you used to do this?