Description:
Designer software at the CAD end of vector drawing has undergone a number of changes during its long life. The latest evolution is the recent move into the Corel fold. A vector graphics program like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW, Designer was created as much for draftspeople as for graphic artists. Its original market was technical illustrators who wanted a more flexible tool than a drafting application such as AutoCAD, but also wanted many of that heavyweight's technical aids. Although it has all the main tools you would expect from a drawing program, Designer offers much more control than anticipated over how these drawing elements are positioned. You can, for example, choose to draw polygons from the side, corner, or center, and you can use the Dynamic Snap function to easily draw concentric shapes, such as gears within gears. Dimensioning is a strong point of the program, too, so you can accurately mark lengths of objects and tie dimensions to them. The figures then change when you resize the dimension lines. Corel Designer 9 is not as major an upgrade from Designer 8 as version 8 was from 7. The main feature that has been improved is import and export compatibility. In version 9 you can import AutoCAD 2000 drawings and export them to both Macromedia Flash and Adobe PDF formats. Finally, Designer 9 comes bundled with Picture Publisher 9, in much the same way that CorelDRAW includes Corel PhotoPaint. Picture Publisher is a top-rate bitmap photo editor, with most of the functions you will need for even professional graphics work. Together they make a compelling package for any technical illustrator who also deals with images. --Simon Williams
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