Apple Reviews

In the last ten years I've purchased Corel 3,4,5,6,and 7. I distinctly remember every version being slow and buggy. You'd buy the software and then have to phone Corel until they'd agree to send you software patches to fix the problems. But since there were never any complete solutions, I kept upgrading to newer versions, hoping maybe eventually, they would work out all the problems.
I lost my hope around corel 7, but recently decided to upgrade again. After all, they've had at least 5 years to design better, faster routines. Guess what - Corel 11 is even slower than Corel 7. Now it seems to be popular these days to blame all speed problems on insufficient RAM. But I don't buy it. Corel 11 is really not that much different than Corel 7, and I think 5 years of development should give massive speed improvements. I also think that it is very arrogant for software developers to build their systems a way that forces the end user to upgrade his computer.
The other issue of bugginess is also still with us. Immediately after getting the software, I was informed that I should get the servicepak in order to overcome some of the bugs.
The entire thing is an exact replay of my experience ten years ago.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the software - otherwise I wouldn't have upgraded so many times. But the software should be perfect before the company ships it and ... get ready to laugh at me ... the software should be capable of running quickly on a DX-100 486 with 32 megs of Ram under Win95. That was what I was using in 1996 and Corel 7 still ran faster than today's version on a Pentium. Ha Ha Ha

Wow! What a great price [$$$] after rebate. I was relieved to learn upgrade from corel 8 was ok. In fact I didn't even have the serial# because it was long lost. I called customer support. After giving me the serial# to load the Corel suite 11 asked me to fax or email a picture of my Corel Draw 8 disk. Although the box seems to say version8 or higher, I got the impression proof of any Corel draw version was OK to upgrade from. I was satisfied with Corel 8 but It was giving me problems after upgrading from pIII450 win98 to new P4 3gig winxp pro. My print options were all Greek and program crashed (Locked up) often. It seemed logical to just upgrade to version 11. I have had none of the old problems so far. I will enjoy some of the new features but really feel the money well spent just to have the same features solid and reliable. Corel is the best program available for the money. Especially for someone like me who has the wide range of graphic needs. That is to say the paint/photo graphic needs to the high tolerance Corel draw cadd options. I really use the ability to work in full scale and print tiled pages on banner paper. Although I rarely print longer than six feet before concern the printer paper will go out of alignment. If you don't have a previous version of Corel draw to upgrade from you may want to buy corel8 for [$$$].

Keith W. states: "These other two reviews are almost certainly not legitimate consumer opinions."

As a 12 year veteran of this program, I most certainly am a legitimate consumer and this is my opinion:

In 1990, I took a computer certificate program and one of the applications I learned was CorelDRAW [ver. 1] -- a new vector drawing program made by a little Canadian company that set out to show that the graphics industry didn't need to revolve around Adobe or MACs.

I have successfully used CorelDRAW on a daily basis in commercial print shops and more. I have sent my projects to third party printers with no production problems because CorelDRAW is able to save to so many "acceptable" file formats to satisfy anyone.

I have seen CorelDRAW grow and mature from version 1 to version 11 and I still say it beats Illustrator hands down, not only for its ease of learning and intuitive interface, but for value of dollar. Many features that Illustrator has only recently introduced in its Version 10, CorelDRAW had already implemented several versions earlier.

No, I'm not a Corel Corp employee. I'm simply a consumer that loves CorelDRAW, has used it professionally for over 10 years with consistent, high quality results and has shown others the value of this remarkable program.

If I was stranded on a deserted island with a laptop and my choice of one program, CorelDRAW would be my choice.

I work with graphics as a profession and I've been using CorelDRAW since version 2.1. I've never had to buy anything else.

Sure, if you've been using Illustrator or another vector graphics program, you may have to get used to the interface but there is nothing you can't do with CorelDRAW. In fact, I'd venture to say there are probably lots of things CorelDRAW will do that other programs will not.

But what really blows me away about CorelDRAW is the fact it's bundled with a bitmap graphics program every bit as good as Photoshop. Though a great deal of what I do involves bitmap graphics, I don't have a need for Photoshop. Corel PhotoPaint will do everything Photoshop will do--and it comes bundled with CorelDRAW! Anyone who doubts me should try the package if you can.

Corel never ceases to amaze me. Their goal was to create a new version of this suite that was supposed to be the most bug-free yet and have accomplished it with flying colors!

This suite is STILL far easier to learn than it's competitors (ie. Illustrator, Quark, PhotoShop, etc..) and just as powerful. Don't let addicts of the competitor's products fool you. This suite will do everything they can do with a much lower learning curve.

If you are familiar with previous versions of Corel's graphics suite you will appreciate many of the new features, faster speed and the best stability yet. My favorite new tool is the ability to slice images in PhotoPaint for use on the web. It works WONDERFULLY and with great ease!

As usual, Corel throws in everything PLUS the kitchen sink. For anyone who is interested in a well-rounded, inexpensive, professional publishing package this is it!! It includes a top-notch vector graphics package (DRAW), a raster (bitmap, photo, etc..) based package (PhotoPaint -- which is as good as Adobe Photoshop), an animated graphics package (RAVE) and a variety of other useful tools for use in image tracing, media management and more.

You would have to spend a couple thousand dollars on other programs to come close to what this suite includes in ONE package! If you are looking to create graphics or documents for print or the web, this is a defenite MUST BUY!

We have used Corel Draw now since version 9 and find that Corel 11 is by and far away easier, more productive than Illustrator or Freehand. We have 9 designers all of which were Illustrator users until we started with Corel 9 and now the fabulous Corel 11. There simply is no better illustration program and I can assure you that I speak for our whole staff. I only wish I held Corel stock..............

I was taking a course in Computer Graphics and was introduced to Painter through the course. I had always used Adobe Photoshop so I had no idea what Painter would be like.

Fo those people who are not familair with computer graphics programs, Painter makes it easy to learn. You can learn so many things with just playing around with the various tools. Painter makes it easy for anyone to learn how to make a graphic. This is one of the best programs I have worked with over an extended period of time! Thanks so much Corel for making a product worth buying!

Today, a creative professional can only notice how mature the graphics software industry has become, new software are offering more and more features that are using more and more computer resources, without being adding real marginal benefits. New upgrades are only to keep the products alive, on the expense of making them more cumbresome.

Painter 8 is a different story altogether!
Corel® has made a great effort to make this upgrade of a previously clunky yet powerful product, a much more versatile, standardised and user-friendly juggernault. Gone are the days where you have to hopelessly search among dozens of panels for a particular brush, style or method. A slick bar at the top dynamically changes according to the tool you're using, where you set the size, opacity, curviness..etc.
Another thing that was greatly improved is the process of choosing the brush (that used to be very annoying with the old selective dimming). The brush selector is tucked at the upper right part of the screen (also in that slick bar,) in a much more logical and standardised way.
One also has the feeling that painter 8 was given something similar to the Macormedia® MX treatment, where the palettes can be customised into different panels and the layout saved according to the project.
The mixer panel IS useful, and is very consistant with the philosophy of this new painter release: the small things that make your work faster and stress-free. The os X over all performance is much snappier, not to mention the beefed-up photoshop compatibility, and o! have i mentioned that you get both a windows and a mac version with the license price ?

In short, If you thought painter was too eccentric and boggy for you, this is the upgrade you've been waiting for. Its new slick interface made me thank God that Corel® had taken the torch from Metacreation.

It took me a few months to break down and buy this. I had Painter Classic and Painter 7, and I liked them, but they weren't what I really wanted.

Painter 8 was exactly what I was looking for. The color mixer is wonderful! I can finally get the colors I want quickly and easily. The new interface is so intuitive and not at all intrusive like Painter 7's. The new brushes are brushes I want and use. Painter 7 had a lot of the same brushes with few variations organized in a haphazard fashion.

If you enjoy the look of natural media, and you enjoy the flexiblility and forgivability of digital media, Painter 8 is for you. I am so glad I bought it. I just wish I had purchased it earlier. It is a big improvement over 7.

Kpt 5 has many different filters in it that allow you to make awesome backgrounds or touchup photos. Some of the cooler filters are vortex tiling and glass. Vortex tiling mixes the background up. This filter makes awesome backgrounds for any webpage. Glass gives you picture a shinny look to it. This is the best program I've used in Adobe Photoshop ever. It will make all of the default filters look like rinky dink filters. If anyone is looking for cool filters to make awesome backgrounds this is the filter you should get.

This set of filters is great for special effects. If you like creating abstract desktop wallpapers, it would be a shame passing on this piece of software.

I literally use this set of filters as a toy. Open a picture, pick a filter, tweak the options, run the filter, stare at your screen in amazement, rinse, repeat.

BONUS: This is a very little advertised fact, but the install CD contains both KPT3 and KPT5. Just choose custom install, and it will let you install KPT3 as well as KPT5. Double the fun! :)

A word of warning, though. Apparently some of the included filters (actually quite a few of them) do not seem to work with Photoshop 7. And I would not expect a patch to fix that, seeing as KPT5 is not really being supported by Corel anymore. So make sure you have Photoshop 6 or older installed on your machine (multiple versions of Photoshop cohabit perfectly well on one computer).

I have KPT 3,5,6 and KPT effects.
This is fun stuff. I like 5 best, mostly because of fraxplorer and fraxflame. Very Addictive