Corel X5

[Steve Clarkson]

Well, Corel X5 was finally launched this morning. You can get it (or a free trial, I believe) at Corel's website.

There are some new features that I like and I'll briefly describe them.

First, you get some premium fonts (

Helvetica, Frutiger, Futura and Garamond families).

Second, you get

BenVista PhotoZoom Pro 2......which I just tried for the first time the other day.....it can scale up a bitmap to any size with no pixelation....it's awesome....but hard to find in X5!!!

Third, they added a new tool called the "B-Spline"......if you use the bezier tool alot....you'll LOVE the B-Spline!

Fourth, they added something new called Connect......basically, it can be a docker that sits on your workspace that allows you to search your computer for files and then easily add them to your workspace. I currently used ROMCAT to find graphics on my computer....this should replace that.

Fifth, they've improved some tools.....for example....when you use the rectangle tool to make a rectangle.....the tool bar now has icons to easily round, scallop, or chamfer the edges.

Sixth, although I can't prove it or really demonstrate it.....the Power Trace function is improved.....it really does trace better.

Seventh.....instead of "Close Path" they now call it "Join Curves" and it seems to work better.

Eighth, they did alot of work on PhotoPaint and improving color.....but since we seem to live in a black & white world, I didn't spend too much time investigating it.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Other people may want to chime in with what they like/dislike about it.

There are still some small bugs that hopefully will be worked out with the first service pack.....but I think it's definitely worth upgrading if you have v10 or earlier.

[Darren Null]

Sixth, although I can't prove it or really demonstrate it.....the Power Trace function is improved.....it really does trace better.

I demand a trace-off! X5 v Inkscape. So far Corel hasn't even been in the same ballpark. Pick your graphic.

BenVista PhotoZoom Pro 2

Dan's cryptic comments are decrypted!

[Scott Challoner]

Thanks for the review Steve. I plan on upgrading. $200 seems like a pretty good deal.

[Dan Hintz]

I absolutely love the B-Spline tool... 100 times more powerful than the standard Bezier, and IMO worth the upgrade price all by itself. Here's a list of extras included in the package:

• Inclusion of SWiSH MiniMax 2 - a flash animation authoring tool
• Inclusion of BenVista PhotoZoom Pro 2 - an up-scaling plug-in for PHOTO-PAINT X5
• When registering, you will be able to download the full KPT (Kai's Power tools) Collection for PHOTO-PAINT X5.
• We are doubling the number of vehicle templates with X5 (2000 now included) and they will all have the meta data with model and manufacturer so that you can search them through Corel CONNECT
• We will include 32 premium fonts from Monotype covering the Helvetica, Frutiger, Futura and Garamond families

I have used KPT since the beginning and it is an awesome collection of plug-ins. I'll also add that a pressure-sensitive tablet really helped during playtime.

Will the new trace compete with InkScape? I don't know off hand, but I do know that I've had excellent results using IS over Corel in the past, enough to keep it around for a while longer.

[Dan Hintz]

This is kind of cutesy:
http://www.corel.com/content/pdf/cdg...c_novel_en.pdf

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Second, you get

BenVista PhotoZoom Pro 2......which I just tried for the first time the other day.....it can scale up a bitmap to any size with no pixelation....it's awesome....but hard to find in X5!!!

It's an export plugin for PHOTO-PAINT, so you'll find it in the File menu, not in the plugin's menu. FWIW, same as Photoshop, it's the way that the plugin was made.

Tony

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Fourth, they added something new called Connect......basically, it can be a docker that sits on your workspace that allows you to search your computer for files and then easily add them to your workspace. I currently used ROMCAT to find graphics on my computer....this should replace that.

Just to claify, there is a standalone version of it <Start>Programs>CGS X5..) and there are docker versions in both DRAW and PP....if you find content that you like and drag it to the tray (a feature in Connect) then both DRAW and PP will see that content in their respective trays.

Tony

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Fifth, they've improved some tools.....for example....when you use the rectangle tool to make a rectangle.....the tool bar now has icons to easily round, scallop, or chamfer the edges.

Wanted to add that the corners are now in absolute units (inches, mm) rather then in %'s. In addition they now scale so they maintain their look rather then becoming stretched.

T.

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Sixth, although I can't prove it or really demonstrate it.....the Power Trace function is improved.....it really does trace better.

It's all in the anti-aliasing....previous versions would treat the anti-aliasing as individual colors vs. this version will merge the colors first and then trace. The benefit is there are less points on the curves, making them much smoother then they were in previous versions.

T.

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Seventh.....instead of "Close Path" they now call it "Join Curves" and it seems to work better.

There is a gap tolerance built into it (which can be adjusted) and the type of corner you get can now be selected. Eg. pointed lines can be extended and then joined, they can be joined with a fixed radius, with bezier curves...

T.

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Eighth, they did alot of work on PhotoPaint and improving color.....but since we seem to live in a black & white world, I didn't spend too much time investigating it.

The two big things in PHOTO-PAINT that I think will impact engravers...

- Convert to grayscale now lets you select which tones in the image should be brought into the grayscale conversion. Previous versions used a "standard" algorithm to convert from color to grayscale. This could result in "washed out" images depending on what colors were in the original. This should result in better dark areas in you conversions

- the objects docker was totally re-written so you can now have things like nested groups, clipping groups and about 100 other things that were never possible before.

T.

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Another thing that might be of benefit...when exporting to PLT format you can now select the upper left as the origin of the document so you can export to the same co-ordinate space as the engraver.

T.

[Scott Shepherd]

Wanted to add that the corners are now in absolute units (inches, mm) rather then in %'s. In addition they now scale so they maintain their look rather then becoming stretched.

T.

That's worth the upgrade right there! HOORAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

That's worth the upgrade right there! HOORAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I figured you guys would like that one.....trouble with the reviewers guide and the supporting material is that it's very generic in nature...there were a few things that I thought should be called out so you folks knew more about them.

I hope my posts were viewed as helpful rather then as a lame sales pitch,

T.

[Rodne Gold]

Not a lame pitch , you preaching to the converted - we all use Corel - well 99% of us and it's appreciated that you took the time to come here and detail the new goodies for us folk.
Anything else you can think of will be appreciated.
does it have an easy way of doing sequential numbers or importing changeable text from spreadsheets or is the print merge unchanged?