[PatWibble]

I've been happily using Serif Drawplus for the last 15 or so years, but I am looking at gradually replacing it/learning a new package. Still ( largely) happy with Drawplus, but since they have stopped developing it and because I am getting more 'stuff' that would be easier with a plugin it is probably time to move on. There is also no guarantee that it will work past Windows 10.

So what would you recommend, and why? (for the purpose of this assume that I have zero knowledge of the other packages).

I am primarily looking for a vector package.
Ease of learning is a factor.
Licence - how many installations can I make? I curently have Drawplus on my office desktop and my laptop. I also have it installed on the wifes laptop as a back-up.
Is Affinity likely to be a viable option at any time in the future?

Any help will be very useful.

 

[Signature Series]

One key issue is whether the output from the software will be used outside your shop. If so I would lean towards AI as it is by far the most common vector tool on the market. If not the first issue is $$$. CorelDraw is a one time purchase and if you want to upgrade there will be a cost or you can just stay on older versions. AI uses a subscription based model meaning you are paying a monthly/annual amount and get updated automatically. Other than that it is personal choice between CD and AI. Each do things better that the others but historically AI is a much more stable platform. CD not so much. Personally if I knew neither application I would AI simply because it is the industry standard.

 

[ProSeparatorNJ]

What kind of work?

 

[PatWibble]

What kind of work?

At the moment Drawplus covers my needs for screen, cut vinyl and sublimation.
I am adding a wide format solvent printer this year, for signs, banners and garment vinyl. Next year I am likely to be taking the plunge into dtg.

At the moment I sub out the wide format printing, which I usually send in pdf or eps format. When I get my own machine (probably a Mimaki CJV 150) I will be pushing wide format more so I am more likely to be getting sent artwork from designers and customers in various formats that I can't access.

Availabilty of generic colour profiles would also be a benefit. There are very few available for Drawplus, so everything is a compromise.

Design wise most of my needs are for vector. The wide format work usually involves compositing of images, text and vector logos. Only basic photo editing tools are needed.

I don't want to be in the situation in two or three years time where Drawplus is obsolete, and I haven't learnt anything to replace it.

When I started using Drawplus, Quark was the 'industry strandard' package. That was superceeded by AI. Is AI ripe to be supercceded by something else?
Because both AI and Corel are 'mature' packages I don't want to begin learning them at potentialy the latter stages of their respective life cycles, only for them to become obsolete in a few years time.

If I thought that I could survive on my current mix of screen/htv/sublimation I would stick to Drawplus on an old computer.
Like a lot of printers I am finding more customers are wanting shorter runs of full colour garments. They expect some form of digital capability. I look stupid when I turn away these customers because I don't have the tech to print for them. I need to upgrade both equipment and software.

 

[dcbevins]

I like CorelDraw. If I were starting out, or in your case restarting, I would go Illustrator. Not because i think it is better, but because of it's prevalence of use. If I had money to burn, I would get all the above. All of the above might be the best option as you cover all your bases.

 

[ProSeparatorNJ]

At the moment Drawplus covers my needs for screen, cut vinyl and sublimation.
I am adding a wide format solvent printer this year, for signs, banners and garment vinyl. Next year I am likely to be taking the plunge into dtg.

At the moment I sub out the wide format printing, which I usually send in pdf or eps format. When I get my own machine (probably a Mimaki CJV 150) I will be pushing wide format more so I am more likely to be getting sent artwork from designers and customers in various formats that I can't access.

Availabilty of generic colour profiles would also be a benefit. There are very few available for Drawplus, so everything is a compromise.

Design wise most of my needs are for vector. The wide format work usually involves compositing of images, text and vector logos. Only basic photo editing tools are needed.

I don't want to be in the situation in two or three years time where Drawplus is obsolete, and I haven't learnt anything to replace it.

When I started using Drawplus, Quark was the 'industry strandard' package. That was superceeded by AI. Is AI ripe to be supercceded by something else?
Because both AI and Corel are 'mature' packages I don't want to begin learning them at potentialy the latter stages of their respective life cycles, only for them to become obsolete in a few years time.

If I thought that I could survive on my current mix of screen/htv/sublimation I would stick to Drawplus on an old computer.
Like a lot of printers I am finding more customers are wanting shorter runs of full colour garments. They expect some form of digital capability. I look stupid when I turn away these customers because I don't have the tech to print for them. I need to upgrade both equipment and software.

It sounds like CorelDraw is probably the right direction for you. I don't think Illustrator covers as much ground, although it's better for straight vector color separations. But that doesn't sound like the bulk of your work. I don't have anything positive to say about Photo-Paint, but it comes in the box so you can't be that for the price of the whole package.

I don't think you need to worry about Illustrator or Corel being anywhere near the late stages of their lives. There's nothing out there competing with these two. Affinity Designer is like DrawPlus. Prosumer software. If you want the best workflow, then you have to use professional software that is made not just for creating graphics, but also for outputting to film or driving a cutter.

A complaint about CorelDraw though is that after you buy it, Corel advertises to you inside the software, on your desktop, in brush palettes, etc, and also when you close the program you get endless pop ups to buy something else. People are extremely upset about it on the Corel forum. Corel has made it very, very difficult to figure out a way to kill the ads. They even set it up so that if you have an old version of CorelDraw you get the ads in that too. It's a terrible way to treat customers who have bought the software but that's what's going on.

 

[Signature Series]

What you will find, as with most things, is there is not a perfect solution for everything. Many who have been at this for a while have both CD and AI. We have both but AI is used 90% of the time. If you are going to be getting art from outside sources you will need AI. In the 12 + years we have been receiving files I can count on one hand the number of CD files someone has sent to us. Not knowing the numbers I still would be comfortable in saying that CD installations are a pin drop compared to AI. If you go back an d look at the history of Corel Draw there has been few times the application has not had issues. From my experience CD has historically been the least stable off the shelf application ever. Once in a while they get it right with a version. When you start using ads to generate revenue it says a lot.

 

[dcbevins]

I don't know what I've done, somewhere along the line I have disabled something, and I don't get the Corel adds. So I will say it is at least possible to kill them. Still waiting on Corel to send me a 2018 license so I can try it.

 

[NoXid]

I don't know what I've done, somewhere along the line I have disabled something, and I don't get the Corel adds. So I will say it is at least possible to kill them. Still waiting on Corel to send me a 2018 license so I can try it.

I turned off automatic updates, so perhaps that is why I don't see ads? CD works for me as it is, so why risk some update changing things?

 

[dcbevins]

Eh, I have a subscription so why not. One of the reasons for subscription was I wanted to stay abreast of the new versions. A little while ago Corel support finally produced my 2018 key. So far no adds. Haven't had much time to evaluate. They bowed to user complaints in one area I see. The bitmap and pattern fills would always connect to their content servers making the process tediously slow. Now they seem to have gone back to the old way and store the fills locally.

 

[PatWibble]

Thanks for the replies.

The work flow benefits are going to be important, so that rules Affinity out. I can't see Serif having the inclination or resources to develop Affinity into a pro option. I can live with exporting a file and re-openning in Graphtec Studio for single file garment/sign jobs but it is getting to be a problem with larger multi file van writting jobs. When I add the wide format printing the quantity of short run jobs will increase so workflow will be key.

How good is Corel Draw at opening and editing AI and .eps files?
How good is Illustrator at opening Corel files?

I haven't used Corel since a trial version of x3, so I will download the trial version again to have a look. The local College is running a one day 'Introduction to Illustrator' course on Monday, so I will enrol on that and evaluate the two.

 

[Signature Series]

AI does not know Corel files even exist - there is zero import of cdr files into AI. Corel can import AI files if they are simple vector objects. If there is any gradients or other things in the AI file Corel will not give you an accurate import. Furthermore eps and pdf files are imported much better into AI than CDR. CDR is horrible at both. No application is perfect but if you were going to select one of the two AI has so many advantages overall over CDR.

 

[ProSeparatorNJ]

Looks like Corel has just released 2018 version.