I downloaded the trial version of X4 and have been playing with it for a little while.
Anyone care to offer their opinions or impressions of it?
Besides the obvious slight change in the "look" of the icons etc. and the obvious ability to import the latest file formats, do you think it is worth the upgrade? And for what reasons?
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Posted by Chuck Churchill (Member # 68) on :
We jumped from 11 straight to X4 about 6 months ago. Somehow missed 12 and X3. Find X4 great for the wide format digital stuff. Also using it more for the cut vinyl work. My laser man likes (because he has) CDR 10. We are making files for him from X4 every week.
For the price of the upgrade version (about $200) you can't go wrong.
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Chuck,
What do you like about it in regard to digital printing? I am finding that my colors in X3 are way off on screen as compared to the output of my printer. However, when I get files from one of my sign shop clients to print they are right on in color. He is using Illustrator and Photoshop. I can pick the same CMYK numbers in Corel as he uses in Illustrator and it is totally different. Do you find this improved with X4?
I am also curious to know if you can import .ai files created with Illustrator without it completely shutting down Corel. We can never do this without jumping through hoops.
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Amy,
If you find .ai files instantly killing off Corel, try importing them with "Preview" turned off. Illustrator files created in Flexi bomb Corel in a heartbeat if "Preview" is on, but work fine with it off. Flexi says it's a Corel bug, Corel says it's a Flexi bug--I believe Corel on this issue since it only happens to me with .ai files created in Flexi. This has been a problem at least all the way back to Corel 10 and Flexi 6.
I'm using X4. I'll post my opinions later.
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
I’ve been using X4 for a couple months and, in general, I’m very fond of it. Version X3 weirded out on me and no longer compressed .jpg images, which prevented me from uploading several useless images to LetterVille, for which all of you should be extremely grateful. Now that I have X4, I can chew up more of Steve’s server space and torment you with additional superfluous pictures.
If you use X4, be sure to download the service pack. It fixes some of the things I initially did not like about X4, such as the status bar not showing the resolution of bitmaps and .pdf exports sometimes showing up with a white box over the image.
To me, it seems that X4 is more of an incremental upgrade than a major overhaul. X3 was quite a significant change for the better from earlier versions. X4 mainly builds on what X3 already had. I can’t address the question of accuracy in digital printing since I don’t do that in house.
From my limited experience, here’s my observations:
Some things I like about X4:
Integrated “What the Font”. You no longer have to isolate the text in question, export it and save it, and then upload the file to “What the Font”. Now, you click on a button, drag the cursor around the copy and hit “Enter” and it’s all done automatically.
There’s better bitmap editing. One useful tool is “Straighten Image”, which puts a grid on your image and allows you to use a slider to align with the grid, a real time saver.
“Crop Bitmap” saves a few steps from having to save a previously cropped image as a bitmap. It does it with a mouse click.
Some things I don’t like about X4:
Cropping bitmaps by clicking on them and dragging the corner nodes is W A Y slower than X3. I don’t know what they did to the code on that but they need to clean it up.
Why did they change the look of the GUI just for change’s sake? The icons are different than X3 and not as intuitive, in my opinion.
As other things come to mind, I’ll post them.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Chuck...I can imagine that the jump from 10 to X4 was a bit of an adjustment for you.
David...Thanks for your opinions, those are the kinds of things I was hoping to get feedback on.
I'll keep on playing with it for a few more days before I decide on whether I'll spring for the upgrade.
If I were still earning money with CorelDraw, I'd have bought it already. As a "hobby" progam these days, I'll have to ponder the decision.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
i had it, deleted it. dont see enough of a improvement to UPGRADE. but then iam one who used COREL 7 for many years. upgraded to 10, and used it till i went to X3. i tend to stay away "oh wow i need the newest"!! i like, IF IT AINT BROKE, why change? and all my experiances with corel versions, is USUALLY the newest, AINT the best, till corel does a few updates & fixes.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Joe, ole buddy, admit it... yer just too cheap to spend a couple of hundred every 2 or 3 years!!!
And I can understand that since we are both retired. (well I am, not 100% sure if you are though ) That's why I posted my question.
(above said tongue in cheek cuz Joe knows we are friends.)
But I am tending to agree with you that this version has a few improvements but maybe not enough to justify upgrading. When in business it is always handy to be able to import the latest file formats from other programs, but for my hobby purposes that really isn't necessary.
When it comes to computer stuff, if you aren't keeping up, you aren't just standing still, you're sliding backward in a hurry.
As an example, I am enjoying playing with Vista on Shirley's laptop while having the comfort zone of having XP available on my computers.
Take care my typing/spelling challenged, over weight, over the hill, hippy dippy friend!!!
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
I went to a Corel seminar in May, showing off a heap of new features in X4- I was VERY impressed.
I have since forgotten them all, but if I ever remember them, and decide I need them, I know it has them!
Posted by Chuck Churchill (Member # 68) on :
In answer to Amy's questions about X4 and colour management and also about importing files into X4.
I am not quite the right person to "answer the what colour will I get" question. Lindsey and Erin do all the colour convesion, colour testing and digital printing in our place. However I will say we (meaning they) do a lot of testing of colours on most printing projects. I get to ask them why they are spending so much time making it exactly right.
Trying to view CMYK colors on a RGB moniter is a risky endeavor unless you have the whole ICC profile subject figured out for all the devices on your system. We have had some capable and experienced graphics types tell us the human eye is far better at judging colours than all the computer code that Microsoft, Adobe, Corel and Roland have written to do it. Print PMS charts for your printer, ink and material combination then make your client pick em off the chart. When we were buying prints thats what our source had us do. They also offered the option of doing colour matches for about $30 a colour.
Importing AI files into X4 is the biggest advantage I see that X4 gave us. Version 10 was giving us problems with files out of new versions of Illustrator and Photoshop. It couldn't interpret them. With X4 I don't think we have had a single problem catching Illustrator files. We seem to get more and more AI files from graphics types that turn their noses up when you say Corel.
We have also found that we can import PDF files and use/modfy the vectors (if the file was coded as vectors initally) with X4. This is about to prove useful for some emergencey escape route diagrams that we have to modify objects on then turn into signs.
[ September 05, 2008, 08:18 AM: Message edited by: Chuck Churchill ]
Posted by Patrick G. Smith (Member # 3707) on :
Hello Dave. I had Corel 12 and when my computer crashed I bought a new one with VistaOS. I had to upgrade to x4. I like it. I'm no wizard on Corel, but there are 18 video tutorials on the disc. As you are working, there is a side window that offers 'hints' and with the book are some very helpful reference materials. I'm not to happy with Vista but it did force me to upgrade and I'm glad I did. Good luck. Patrick Smith
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