Best Artwork packages or Software

[Jesse Anderson]

Hello Saw Mill Creeker's.......

I was wondering if anyone uses program's other than Corel Draw 6x.. My problem is not with Corel Draw. It took me a little while to know how to use it... And of course there is still even a learning curve...

I will go into detail even further what i am going with my business and my software... ""Corel Drawx6"

I usually use a google image search and try to find Black White picture's of what my customer needs engraved... I will show them the line up of BW pictures and they will pick a few... Then i will Copy and past them over to corel draw... Then use a Auto Focus Filter, Then Convert to Bitmap, And then do a black and white line drawing ""If i do not the image's come out bad of course""..

Am i approaching the converting a image process wrong ? Id say that 99% of my images i use are Black White Google image's.... The rest of the time i just type the saying or font a customer wants into Corel Draw and engrave it.. I feel that i hit a learning curve dead end... Like i am stuck doing the same routine.....


To clarify the question....

Is there any program's out there that people use daily with there lasers ?
What about Clip Art or Art package's .. Like borders, and Banners, and other various image's ? " I have never owned any ClipArt"
Also trying to figure out how to do some good Line Drawings. Take a simple black and white image and retrace it... However the professionals do it i am not sure ?

I am using Corel Draw x6 and Photo Laser Plus.. I use Photo laser plus only when i am converting picture's to engrave on wood or marble..
I have tried using InkScape, I have heard people swear by it... I tryed ink scape for a hour or so and then deleted it.. I already had countless hours, days, and weeks learning how to navigate corel draw and do good work...

I would appreciate any feed back.. Im looking for Habits of other laser engravers that they use on a Daily Basis....

Saw Mill Creek is a vast resource and i am sure this has been expanded on in the past..... But i decided to not search for the answers... And ask the questions.... Plus i like to engage in a topic that i created so the learning process is more personal...

Thank you guys.. Hoping the Regular's will chime in and give me some advice.

[Tim Bateson]

At the NBM show last week, there were several dealers of Clip Art. Some even have a nice plug-in for Corel, which makes searching through thousands of images a breeze. However the prices were as high as $5,000 for some of the better packages. I'm sure you can pay even more and less as well. I don't use a lot of clip art at this time, but if that changes, I would probably go that route.

[Phil Thien]

I don't use it w/ a laser, and I don't know if it is suitable, but...

I like Inkscape. It is free and open-source, so you can always get new versions for free.

Being a past user of Corel Draw, I will say Inkscape is a bit rough around the edges. But for the limited amount of vector drawing I need to do, it isn't bad. Especially considering the price.

[vic casware]

I use Corel Gallery Magic. even though my version is old (min requirements windows 3.1) it is still really useful with 65000 images, I think there is even a 1 million image version, but as usual no matter how many thousands of images you have, the one you need will never be there. :rolleyes:

[Joe Pelonio]

I use several other programs, all of which cost a lot more than Corel. I have also used graphic artists to create clipart from scratch, and often do my own. Creating a custom logo for a customer is far more revenue than a few
laser engraving jobs and you still get those too. Most programs do have restrictions on commercial use of their included clipart, and some of the free clipart found online is copyrighted by someone and collected by someone else without permission to be used free, meanwhile they are either advertising something else or collecting data on you when you download it. While it's unlikely that a small shop would be caught selling copyrighted material,
if you post pictures on your website as examples their chances to see it and file a suit are greater. I have a collection of clipart from Dover that I bought, read the license agreement, then wrote to them to get written permission to use the images commercially. They granted it but limited me to selling no more than 10 items with any one image.

[Mannetjie Botha]

Hi to all. I would just like to add that I am using Autocad, I work with version 12 witch is doss based, I have been working with this program for the last plus minus 20 odd years all though I also use the latest windows Autocad I find that it is hard to beat for vector art work. As for Corral draw it is only used for scanning clip art and really nothing more. My laseris running directly off Autocad, as for vector drawing I have not found a better program But then each to his own preference. Thats all Regards Mannetjie Tzaneen South Africa