Corel Draw

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captmike
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Corel Draw

Post by captmike »

What are the advantages of using Corel Draw. I have problems with VCarve Pro to recognize all this lines on a JPEG photo. Will Corel Draw fix this? Thanks Mike

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martin54
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by martin54 »

If you are talking about the bitmap trace tool then the answer in my opinion would be absolutely no advantage what so ever, the trace tool in Vcarve is as good as most. If you are having problems then it is more than likely down to the process you use.
You can't simply load any old JPEG you like & expect the software to give you perfect results, won't work like that with any software I know of :lol: :lol:

laflippin
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by laflippin »

Martin is right about Corel...it really doesn't offer too much beyond what Vectric's bitmap->vector function does. However, Adobe Illustrator + Adobe Photoshop is a different story--that is a very powerful combination that allows considerable clean-up and/or substantial modifications to jpegs that you can download from the internet. The trouble with these wonderful programs is, of course, while they were always expensive to buy....at least you used to be able to own your copy for life. Adobe has not made many friends among casual, hobbyist, and small-shop users by insisting that new clients must "subscribe" to these now-cloud-based software programs instead of owning a version outright. If you are lucky enough to find a legitimate source of "Creative Suite 3", back when Adobe software came on dvds along with 10 or 15 lbs. of hard copy user manuals...well, count your blessings. If not, maybe gather together as many jpegs as you think you might use over a year or two, and bite on the Adobe subscription for a month or two (at least, I think you can still opt for short-term subscriptions...been awhile since I've really looked into it).


A year or two ago I blithely thought, "Oh, maybe it's time to upgrade from my good old Adobe CS3...". That fantasy was nixed pretty quickly when I learned about the new Adobe-World Order". Anyone who needs some comic relief on this subject, I think you can still find a pretty funny YouTube video about it if you go to YouTube and search Hitler + Adobe Photoshop...

LittleGreyMan
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by LittleGreyMan »

Have a look at Affinity products: https://affinity.serif.com

This is the new product range of Serif, so some functions are still lacking, including bitmap to vector feature. So that's a little bit off topic.

You may be surprised…

Back on topic: I totally agree with Martin. If you have a good bitmap, with the right lightning and contrast, Vectric will do the job or the most part of the job. Otherwise, you'll probably struggle with any software.
Best regards

Didier

W7 - Aspire 8.517

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martin54
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by martin54 »

However, Adobe Illustrator + Adobe Photoshop is a different story--that is a very powerful combination that allows considerable clean-up and/or substantial modifications to jpegs that you can download from the internet

You don't need a combination of photoshop & illustrator, Photoshop on it's own is enough as you are only looking to make changes to the bitmap. In fact almost any photo editing software can be used & I am sure there will be people using free or low cost photo editing software to clean up jpeg & other bitmap format graphics before importing into software for auto tracing.

Really the best thing you can do is start off with decent images so when searching look for high rez images & try to stay away from jpegs if you can. Look for formats like BMP & TIFF as these will give better results.

laflippin
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by laflippin »

Well... "need" is a relative concept of course, but I stand by my opinion that Photoshop + Adobe Illustrator is a very powerful combination and more useful than Photoshop+Vectric for creation and/or clean-up of artwork meant for V-inlay work. I am pretty new to V-inlay, but it didn't take long to figure out that the bitmap --> vector tools of AI, and the ability to usefully edit vector art in AI, are much more sophisticated and powerful than the tools in either Vectric or Corel. Believe me, that is not a knock on Vectric--it obviously was never not meant to compete with the likes of Adobe Illustrator. However, I guess it is a bit of a knock on Corel since that software is meant to compete with AI...but, again, along the same lines that Martin first suggested, Corel doesn't really do anything too much better than Vectric's basic graphics tools.

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dhellew2
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by dhellew2 »

Every software package is designed with a specific purpose in mind. Corel is a graphics program so is written with more options for tracing than Aspire & V-carve but that is about where it ends for my purposes. The only other thing besides occasional tracing is to create print files from Aspire creations that go to the laser.
It is virtually impossible to write a program that covers everything.
The trick is to find the best ones for what you do.
With Aspire in hand I no longer use CAD or CAM but I use Photoshop frequently to prepare files for Aspire.
Just my opinion.
Dale
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Young = time, no money
Old = money, no time
Dale

captmike
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by captmike »

Thanks everyone for your responses. Mike

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dealguy11
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by dealguy11 »

Here is something you can do with the Corel suite to clean up marginal bitmapped art. Sometimes the results are remarkably good. The video is an older version, but I think it still works more or less the same way. No idea if the Adobe stuff has similar tools...probably does but I don't use it. I've used this in the past to clean up some pretty bad art and it worked pretty well.

Steve Godding
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laflippin
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by laflippin »

That's a very good video tutorial for those who are interested in trying to rehab poor resolution bitmaps with Corel, dealguy. I have both Corel and Adobe Illustrator (an old, old version)….one of the main differences is, you notice that Corel Draw has 3 different "trace bitmap" options. AI has at least 7 or 8 "trace bitmap" options and one of them, "Cartoon art", cleans most highly pixelated bitmaps, jpegs, etc. to very smooth, hi-res vector art in one single step. It is quite amazing, and AI+Photoshop is always my go-to software for cleaning up and/or modifying images for eventual important into Vectric. However, as noted before, Corel still sells perpetual licenses to their software and it has always been more affordable than Adobe anyway--if I were anxious to get as much use as possible out of the plethora of freely available clip art on the internet but didn't already own an old version of AI, I would study the YouTube video you kindly linked up for us and go with Corel. That was a very powerful demonstration.

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wmgeorge
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by wmgeorge »

I use Corel Draw for my laser work and router, used it for maybe 10 years in various versions. Never compared to VCP function of tracing, so I don't know. But the real answer is a better image to start with, and thats also been pointed out. "Free" as copy and paste off the internet or cheap clipart are two sources I can think of to avoid.

You might look at InkScape, its free and some folks like it.

laflippin
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by laflippin »

Not sure why people interested in V-inlay would ever want to avoid using free clip art and other bitmap images that can be found by searching the internet... Since starting in June of this year, I've been able to make several dozen very nice inlay projects using artwork that I found during internet searches, cleaned up using Photoshop and/or Adobe Illustrator, and imported into Vectric for V-inlay project creation. (Note: It shouldn't be ignored that Corel can also be very useful, as per the video that another poster linked up). An example that needed substantial clean-up from the original free artwork is attached...I'm afraid I couldn't have drawn the artwork for this project myself. Unless you are already an accomplished graphics artist, don't be afraid to spend some time learning how to clean up "found" artwork that otherwise perfectly suits your project needs.
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sakura inlay.JPG

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wmgeorge
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by wmgeorge »

Because most of the "free' art work or clip art is poor quality. If you want to take your time to clean it up and use go for it. I am not talking about the VCarve or Corel Draw included art.

The other bonus from downloading "free" is they sometimes include Trojan Horse or other virus packages in the download.

Corel Draw is very widely used in the laser, sign and other commercial non print applications.

laflippin
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by laflippin »

Re: "Because most of the "free' art work or clip art is poor quality."

Let's cordially agree to disagree on this point. I also am not talking about the very limited types of clip art available from Vectric or Corel... I am specifically talking about the huge amount of artwork available to those who are willing to use very simple internet searches to find it. Basically, searching "________ drawings" will get you immediately to an answer like, "Images of ______ drawings" which you can select, view, scroll through and download for free until the cows come home. In every case, some won't fit your needs, but you'll have lots and lots and lots of choices. A personal favorite...if you like to inlay images of animals, check out, "Images of _______ tribal drawings". Tribal drawings are often made for use in the tattoo arts--and they often can be envisioned and used as inlay projects with just a little imagination. Most of these are very high quality and many can be used without any clean-up at all.

Another fertile category is scrollwork art....there are almost unlimited amounts of it available for any conceivable use in your inlay projects.

As for potential viruses embedded in artwork downloaded from the internet....well, I've got the standard anti-virus software that detects this kind of stuff (most everyone does, I think). I suppose there might be some risk that really sophisticated, newly developed viruses might slip by...but I don't imagine that very many malignant virus developers are really spending their time trying to infect drawings of birds or lizards or scrollwork patterns.
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wmgeorge
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Re: Corel Draw

Post by wmgeorge »

So it may be "Free" but what about the Copyright? I have been doing something with CNC either a PlasmaCAM or Router or Laser since the late - 1990's. Never bothered with the cheap way I have customers who expect the best and not copied off the Internet art. What your doing is great for family and friends, go for it.

Oh did I tell you about the Ransomware that got by my virus program two years ago? If you give it permission to install in the user agreement (do you read those?) your virus checker lets it by. Thats why I now run Nortons on all my computers, even my iPad.

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