What is the word on Corel X4?

[Jim Watkins]

From those of you who are using this, how is it so far?

Worth going with it over X3?

[Robert Ray]

I have never used X3, having upgraded from Corel 11, but for me it is a very nice upgrade because of all the "Snap To" options.

What I am finding very useful is after I have all the drawings I need on a sheet grouped and ready for vector cutting, I turn off "Snap To Grid" and leave on the "Snap To Feature" which includes snap to node.

Then I trace over the whole sheet worth of drawings, completing each one in a serpentine pattern of order, which reduces my vector cutting time about 30%. When I am doing 500 sheets, spending an extra 30 minutes to trace over the original is well worth the investment in time. Great feature.

Other than the Snap To options, there is nothing else over Corel 11 I really use.

-Robert

[Daniel Cline]

Hi Jim,

The biggest improvement is the trace feature. It is the best bitmap to vector conversion I have found. With previous versions the image when vector cut tended to be jagged but now I can convert a picture to a vector and cut a nice smooth shape.

I will have to pay more attention to the "snap to" FUNtions.

Once again, more learning from SMC

Daniel

[Jim Watkins]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone

[Bill Cunningham]

I upgraded from 12 to X4, the trace is great, but I miss some of the shortcuts I was used to using.. i.e. cntrl A would bring up the alignment box where I could choose align to top left of page, now I have to hit alt and two other keys to bring up this window. (the single keys P,T,E,C,L,R still work) F8 used to display selected only, now again, I have to hit three keys for the same thing.. Not sure 'what' f8 does now !

There may be quicker shortcuts avail. but I just upgraded a week or so ago, and I'm still sorting my way through it..

[Roy Brewer]

Worth going with it over X3?

Jim,
I did a review a little earlier (try a search) and I can't imagine anyone not upgrading.
But, I do have one warning: if you use ROMCat or make heavy use of Keywords and notes ****AND**** you are using Vista, you won't want to upgrade. Notes/Keywords are obviously still in X4, because they work with XP. But, for some strange reason those options are not available (that I can find) in Vista!!!!