“An Overview of CorelDraw 9 Beta 2”
“The CorelDraw 9 Graphics Suite is composed of Photo-Paint,
a bitmap image editor providing photo-editing and painting
capabilities; and CorelDRAW, a vector graphics tool for creating
illustrations. The suite is currently in beta release. Later
this month, Corel will be releasing Photo-Paint as a free download.
In August, the entire suite (Photo-Paint and CorelDraw combined)
will be released with a price comparable to the Windows
version.”
“Like the GIMP and PhotoShop, Photo-Paint allows users to create
multi-layered images and apply a number of graphical filters (which
Corel refers to as “effects”). Corel includes about 40 separate
effects. Most of them will be fairly familiar to those who’ve used
other photo-editing packages. They run the gamut from “art effects”
(making the image look like an oil painting, charcoal drawing, or
watercolor) to textural effects that introduce three-dimensional
“surfaces” to make the image look like it was painted on rough
paper, fabric, or brick. Each of the effects is previewable, and
the undo feature allows the user to back out of undesired
changes.”
“Corel Draw isn’t about making pictures prettier, though, it’s
about producing ready-to-print material that includes a mix of
illustrations and text. … Because a lot of material is prepared
for release both as paper copy and as web content, Corel’s included
a wizard that aids in the generation of CSS-oriented output. …the
800 pound gorilla of the suite, though, is the option to export
work to Macromedia Flash (SWF) files. …the ability to author
Flash content is a powerful addition to the Linux productivity
desktop, and one we suspect will lull quite a few businesses into
considering Linux for their design bullpens.”