Illustrator anybody?

[Travis Watts]

I'm new here, but have just finshed browsing thru this Laser Engravers forum to the beginning. I've noticed that everybody seems to use only Corel. I'm just curious if there is a special reason having to do with the actual use of the laser vs corel being included with some of the laser packages.

Corel is easier to start out on, but Illustrator is a more powerful program. The only one thing I prefer corel over Illustrator, is choosing fonts where corel (on the last version I used) would display the drop down menu with your actual text instead of just the name of the font in the font style.

Questions comments?

[Frank Corker]

Travis I think most use Corel because they tend to come with the laser. However there are a few here that use Illustrator as their main program and don't have any problems with it.

[Mike Null]

Since Corel is the preferred software for engravers using Illustrator is kind of swimming upstream especially when it comes to sending files.

Almost all of the engravers forums have issues arise nearly everyday dealing with opening AI files.

That aside there shouldn't be any problem.

[Doug Bergstrom]

We use illustrator and have for nearly 15 years. We prefer to build all of our files in Illustrator but the laser does run easier from Corel. If you are using Corel X3 there should be no issues using any Illustrtor file including the new CS3 files. Anything before Corel X3 was problematic and usually required saving the Illustrator file as a Version 8 file to get it to work properly. If you are only running a laser than Corel will work fine for you. We output to many devices including offset presses and our Graphic Dept. uses the entire CS3 package as well as others so for us We use Corel only for output.

[Doug Griffith]

I use Illustrator exclusively but still have Corel around for the rare occasion. Check out some of my other threads. There's some information that may shed light/

Cheers

[Bill Cunningham]

My opinion is Illustrator was born on the Mac.. Corel was born on PC's.. Lasers have traditionally run on PC's so Corel is the default software... Had lasers been designed for Macs instead of PC's, they would probably cost 30%-50% more, because Mac users have been conditioned over the years, to have less selection in software and add-ons but to 'pay more' for what do find :D

[Travis Watts]

Bill lets be fair. If there were designed for macs, not only would it cost more, but they'd run better out of the box for a new laser enthusiast, give a better overall experience, and require almost zero tech support. That extra money buys you happiness, and really what's happiness worth?


Can you tell I like Mac's? I prefer Linux, and despise Windows. Can you believe my 3 computers run connected 100% of the time on cable modem, with 0 virus protection, spy ware blockers, etc..... Not that I want this to be a flame.

I'm new to the laser scene, and am looking at picking up a used laser system in the next couple of day's / weeks. Mostly for use on marble and granite tile work. I knew for the most part I'll be using windows, and I'm alright for that, provided I only need it to run the laser. I'll be doing all the design work on another computer. I have both Corel and Illustrator from previous graphic work, and while corel was definitely the program to start learning graphic work, once you learn illustrator, it has much more power. For the laser, it's possibly more then needed, and if being more powerful will save you more time in the long run over the time spent learning a new program, I don't know.

Just wanted to make sure Corel was a preference, and not something required for some obscure reason.

[Bill Cunningham]

Ahhh Don't get me wrong Travis.. That was not a flame against Macs, just an observation I discovered in the software stores when you ask for Mac software, they look around a entire room of software, then point you to the Mac 'shelf'.. I (and many others here) would drop windows like a hot potato if there were a windows 'shell' for Linux that would run all the stuff I'm forced to run under windows..
Windows is the 'only' thing I run from MS and only because I'm forced to.. Firefox browser, and Thunderbird mail are Far superior to Internet Exploiter, and the 'Look-out' express MS bundled Virus suckers.. Oh and be careful, there is now a virus that targets Macs.. (Isn't nice to be included :mad:)

[glenn bradley]

Oh and be careful, there is now a virus that targets Macs.. (Isn't nice to be included :mad:)

Blanket statements and hometown loyalty are nice but about a third of our attacked or corrupted machines at work (18,000 university students) are non-Windows machines. It's just an operating system. There's a lot of them and plenty of gripes about all of them to go around.

Hmmm, wait a minute. Are OS's going the way of power tools; no one source confidence anymore ;-)

P.s. I almost forgot "All Fords are great, all Chevy's stink. Darn, that one doesn't work either. LOL.

[Travis Watts]

That brings up something interesting. would WINE, or another shell run what is necessary for the laser with the need to actually run windows, and.. not cause any "problems" glitches, etc. that would turn less then professional results.

From what I understand, there is a laser system that has mac drivers. This is interesting to me, but I do not want stepper motors, just servos for me.

[Doug Griffith]

Just to chime in a bit, since Adobe ported Photoshop and Illustrator to PC and fonts became more manageable on the PC both platforms work about the same for graphics. This is coming from a 20 year dedicated Mac user.

I do all my laser work in Illustrator on a Mac, copy to a USB memory card, open and print from Illustrator on a PC. I do this because I know Illustrator very well and feel no need to learn Corel.

I have both Chevys and Fords.

Cheers

[Alexander James]

I have used corel for laser work for the past 2years..I know very little about illustrator from the one person in the shop that uses it. I find that I can do some things in corel much easier than they can do the same in illustrator..

For those who mentioned illustrator as a more powerful graphics program, do you mind giving a couple of examples of the advantages for us newbies..

[George Elston]

I've got to give my 2 cents worth here. I have used Illustrator, Freehand, and Corel, since the original versions. Each has it's own strengths. Corel stepped up to the plate and added a bunch of features just for the Laser and CNC people, which makes it the program of choice for those venues. Try typing + 1/2" into a size box in another program and you'll see one of the reasons Corel is useful for laser work. I ran a large design house for years (and actually about 30% of the Corel clip art is mine or my guys), and have no problem working in Corel. We even did a competition one time with one of the guys that said Illustrator was better for creating art (we had 2000 different shirts to create), the Corel guy beat the Illustrator guy by 5 shirts an hour to 1). BUT Illustrator has some features that Corel doesn't. Reduce nodes comes to mind. If you have a illustration that has a bizillion nodes (like from autotrace), Illustrator will automatically find all the nodes that are irrelevant and delete them. Corel, you have to do it by hand.
The bottom line for me as to which is better, I have to ask "for what". For editing graphics, I really like that you can right click on a node in Corel and get the choices as to what to do with it. That's three or four mouse clicks in Illustrator.
For someone who is just learning illustration programs, It's up to the individual, but if your going to run a laser, you are going to need to use Corel.
When I get jobs from local design houses and tell them to save it as an Illustrator 8 file because I'm working in Corel they cringe and laugh. Corel has a bad rep in the Professional Design world, but it is a powerful program for illustration. I can look at a printed piece and tell you it was done in Corel, but that isn't the programs fault, it's the designers.
As I sit here next to the Laser I have a Mac with Illustrator etc installed. I haven't turned it on in weeks. It's just easier to work in Corel than transfer the files.
As to which operating system is better, well I'm running Vista:mad:, so I'm not an impartial judge. But If my laser would run on a Mac it would.

[Alexander James]

BUT Illustrator has some features that Corel doesn't. Reduce nodes comes to mind. If you have a illustration that has a bizillion nodes (like from autotrace), Illustrator will automatically find all the nodes that are irrelevant and delete them. Corel, you have to do it by hand.


I know corel12 has a feature to reduce irrevlevant nodes automatically...you dont have to do it by hand

[Bill Cunningham]

I know corel12 has a feature to reduce irrevlevant nodes automatically...you dont have to do it by hand

Yup, just select all the nodes, and click the the little command at the top and enter a number, and bingo less nodes.. I don't use it all that often, but it smooths out a trace pretty slick, I'm not even sure 'how' it works..but it does the job.. Maybe someone can explain this function in detail... Never had the urge to look it up in the book of words..:o Just happy that it does the job..

[George Elston]

And me with only v11, guess I really should upgrade

[Doug Bergstrom]

As I am sitting here looking at my 30" mac monitor and running my quad core mac pro computer I realize that when I want to run windows I just push a button and I am running a full blown PC. You can either run inside a window or reboot to a full windows operating system. There is no need for two machines an longer. Just buy one and have the benefit of foth operating systems.