CorelDraw X4 Just Released

[Ed Newbold]

Corel just announced the release of their version X4.

Right off the bat, the most notable change has been the addition of the badly-needed "centerline Trace" capability! (If you recall, that disappeared after version 12).

Anyway, I've decided to be the guinea pig this time, and I've ordered the upgrade. The details of the Corel release is at:

http://apps.corel.com/lp/cdgsx4/00156/a/index.html?trkid=CDX4_2A&RMID=NACDGSX4LaunchJan08&RRID=86324001

Cheers,

[Scott Shepherd]

Really like the "What the font" integration in it. I used "what the font" quite frequently. Nice to see it built in.

[Ed Newbold]

Here's their list of upgrades:

New CorelDRAW® ConceptShare™ lets colleagues and clients collaborate online with you about designs and ideas. Plus, integration with WhatTheFont™, the online font identification service from MyFonts.com, lets you save time by quickly identifying fonts
Enjoy seamless compatibility with commonly used file formats, including Microsoft® Publisher, Adobe® Photoshop® CS3, Adobe® Illustrator® CS3 and Microsoft® Word 2007. Plus, you can now import PDF files with comments
New separate layers per page make it easy to create multiple page layouts within one document
New live text formatting lets you preview changes before applying
The new Interactive Table tool lets you easily create and edit tables to provide a structured layout for better text and graphics
Enhanced Corel® PowerTRACE® X4 includes a new Centerline Trace method that produces more accurate strokes and is perfect for tracing line drawings or signatures. Plus, Corel PowerTRACE now makes it easier than ever to edit, merge or delete colors in your traced design
New built-in RAW camera support for more than 300 types of cameras. Plus, an easy-to-use RAW lab lets you preview adjustments in real time
Updated high-quality content, including 10,000 clipart images, 1,000 new high resolution digital images, 1,000 fonts and 80 new professionally designed templates, to get you started in no time
Comprehensive new learning tools, including over 2 hours of new DVD training videos, new and updated tutorials from CorelTUTOR™, and new CorelDRAW® Handbook - Insights from the Experts
Modernized interface with redesigned icons, menus and controls. Plus, Windows Vista® certification means you get to work in the latest state-of-the-art environment

[Rodne Gold]

Ed , why not just download the 15 day trial version from Corel.com? Try before you buy , I'm doing so as we speak.

[Joe Pelonio]

I think I'll wait to make sure it isn't written specifically for Vista, and has no bugs when run on XP.

[Scott Shepherd]

Joe, it says the following for requirements :

Windows® XP (with Service Pack 2 or later), or Windows Vista® (32-bit or 64-bit editions)
512 MB of RAM, 430 MB of hard disk space
Pentium® III, 800MHz processor or AMD Athlon™ XP
1,024 × 768 or better monitor resolution
DVD drive
Mouse or tablet


Not sure if that helps or not.

[Ed Newbold]

Ed , why not just download the 15 day trial version from Corel.com? Try before you buy , I'm doing so as we speak.I already have and like X3, so I'm almost positive I won't have any problems with X4. Thanks for the advice, though.

[Doug Bergstrom]

I am with Joe on this. If you are in any kind of production environment wait a few months until they work the bugs out before upgrading. Unless you have extra time and and extra machine to play on.
My 2¢!

[Rodne Gold]

One thing I have found is that even numbered versions of Corel have always been worse than odd ones for some reason??

[Nancy Laird]

Ed , why not just download the 15 day trial version from Corel.com? Try before you buy , I'm doing so as we speak.

I got the e-mail come-on too, and I'd like to know what I'm buying before I buy it. Rodne, will you keep us informed?

The website says that it works with XP and Vista. Must be different versions.:confused:

Nancy

[Rodne Gold]

Well it doesnt look like a substantial upgrade from X3 to me , barring that its a lot slower on the same puter I have x3 on!!!! A LOT slower to load and on both my laptop and my main puter it slowed the rest of the puter down a little (XP)
The response of the program seems "slow" compared to x3 , but thats maybe some setting (pop downs seem to be tardy)
Import seemed to work the same as X3 cept for the fact it can import the latest versions of some packages whereas x3 cant.
I didnt try the font thing but the trace looks good , albeit I never really had a problem with x3's trace. Centre tracing seems to be better than when they did have it some versions ago, however I can hand redraw far better and quicker and more accurately if I need to do centreline type vectors.
IMHO x3 was worth while an upgrade from 12 , X4 doesnt look like its worth it to me in terms of utility for engraving or signage. There is very little in it that makes life easier for us than X3. If it had a decent way to serialise or do items with different names other than the clunky unintuitive merge function I might actually pay money for it ;)
I think if you got 89/10/11/12 , you might as well go for X4 , I think X3 to X4 is a marginal upgrade and more like a slightly evolutionary thing than anything revolutionary , more like a non essential service pack.
DL it and give it a whirl , its 289 mb tho.

[James Jaragosky]

That group is on corel. the talk has been all about this for 3 days now.
here is the best summery I have read so far.

I was in the Beta group - and a great experience it was!
Whether you upgrade from X3 or not will depend on your needs. If
you've got any previous version from 12 on back, it may be time to
upgrade for sure!

I find the possibilities with the new Table function very interesting,
both for data tables and for document layout.

For those of you who produce multi-page documents from within
CorelDRAW, there are now separate guide layers for each page. (Some
cautions may need to be taken if you use this feature and have to save
back to a previous version. I have not tried the feature since the
final version came out, though, so that may be better.)

PowerTrace has also got a good number of added features, including a
couple of options for Centerline tracing that were missing in X3. The
outline tracing for high quality images is also pretty amazing.
(Sorry, the white line between objects that's only in the CorelDRAW
views but doesn't print is still there from X3. Yes, there are
work-arounds for that.)

PDF import is also improved. I've got a couple of PDFs that X4 opens
without flaw, but X3 turns into gobbledygoook.

There's a lot more, but those are the biggies for me. Of course, if
you didn't update to X3, there's a bunch of goodies that came along
from that version as well.

Have fun!
Val P.

I was also in the Beta testing group along with Val and others. The live
text reflow/resize is veeery nice. And there are also many other things that
have been improved and polished upon. We now can add layers independently on
different pages as we can with guides too.

What the font is now integrated in Draw and that's very cool. Another online
service is the Concept Share workspaces. I have just signed up to a free
subscription and will start to test it. It looks cool so far.

PP has raw support built in now and I think it does a good job as I made
some photos from it last night. The Image Adjustment Lab that was introduced
in X3 is now even better and has a live histogram so you can see exactly
what you are doing.

PDF output is now up to Acrobat version 8 and as far as I have seen, very
accurate.

As Val said: if you are on 12 and below this is definitely going to be worth
it, and remember, an upgrade isn't that steep in price especially if you are
in the Americas.

Of course you can never get it all your desires fulfilled in one upgrade,
but this is definitely a good step in the right direction! Very stable and
reliable too. Many bugs fixed.

Download and try it out for yourselves! Nothing to wait for now ;-)

/Lars

[James Stokes]

I am still running Version 11, I had planned on breaking down and upgrading to x3 in the next few days. I guess I will get X4 instead.
I use Photoimpact for my photowork. Three weeks ago I decided to upgrade to version 12 which was the newest. I did, two weeks after I did Corel came out with the X3 version of it. I was pissed had the program for 2 weeks and allready out dated. I called corel and they made it good and gave me the new version. They did not want to though.

[Bill Cunningham]

If your upgrading from a older version, I would wait a month or so. because X3 will in all probability drop considerably in price, just like every other version of Corel has when the 'new' one came out.. If your a 'Artist' you might want to be on the cutting edge of all the new releases, but if your just an artwork 'mechanic' like most of us, one or two versions back will do anything you want.. The only real reason I would have a need right now to upgrade, would be if everyone else upgrades, and posts everything in X4 version.. I just got used to storing X3 files so I can see them when I upgrade to 'that' version.. Perhaps in light of all these upgrades, when posting files maybe they should be posted in at least
one version back to help those of us that are software version retarded :)

[Mike Hood]

Mine's on the way... :)

Hey... just another deduction right?

;)

[Angus Hines]

Well just downloaded mine. And the only thing I know diffrent so far is the KOOL Lizard graphic is gone. and replaced by a one color one dimensional hot air ballon. How boring...LOL

[Ruben Salcedo]

Angus,
did you download the try version or you purchase it?
I'm curios to know what they include in the download version, well I know this...

* Download versions do not include DVD, printed manuals, clipart/photo images or fonts.

So my questions is, they give you an option to download clipart/photos or fonts or non at all?


Ruben

[Anthony Scira]

So any of you guys make the jump ?

I have been messing around with it and it looks a little better. But the download version does not come with the tutorials, clip art and fonts.

Do you guys think its the same font and clip art from X3?

And I do like the "What The Font" Feature. But you can use it without x4 just a couple more steps.

I may buy it but I am waiting till the box version comes out.

[James Stokes]

I have it. I did not get the fonts or clipart. Right now I am having problems with getting the text to work right. It seems to have problems with that. also the duplicate does not work quite right. The first time you duplicate on an image you get the wizard. Then if you duplicate any thing else it applies the same settings to that image. The step and repeat is what you have to use after the first duplication.

[Robert Ray]

Well, I tried to buy it, but it gives an error saying I need to contact customer support. So I follow the contact us links, and all I get is the support FAQ. I have been through the whole thing several times yet cannot find an email address link anywhere.

This is one company that don't want to be contacted at all. :confused:

I downloaded the trial, but after 15 days what do I do if they don't want to take my money? Go back to Corel 11? :eek:

[Jeanette Brewer]

Here's a brief(?) review of X4 from dad (aka Roy Brewer):

While Corel X4’s Print Merge is still not all I want it to be, it does have one terrific new option: Merge to new document which creates a new document and then adds a page for each row (plate/sign to be engraved). These “plates” are editable (Wow! Have we wanted this!), so we can handle a name that is too long or add a logo to just one of the plates, etc. Then after you’re happy with the “batch”, use the Imposition Layout to populate a multiple plate print job.

Additionally, this algorithm allows us to instruct the print engine which pages we want to print. While this was possible before, it was very non-intuitive and not versatile.

I really like the improved interface. X3 was too “artsy” for me; I couldn’t tell what tool was selected on my trusty laptop without moving head to left/right a couple times. X4 eliminates that and looks/feels like a real work horse.

There are several features that each will be important enough to certain users to make the upgrade worth the cost. Single line fonts to be able to create panels in Corel and then engrave on mechanical engraver; finally we can rotate &/or mirror paragraph text; improvements in PowerTrace (Centerline Trace is better than Draftsman!); What the Font integration is really slick; while few are infatuated with Vista, I’m one of them and I love the integration with Vista’s search/display; extremely powerful workflow enhancement.

Most of us will need to upgrade just because X4 is able to import files from Adobe’s C3 graphics suite; many are being sent these files on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Similarly, the AutoCAD import has been updated. It’s hardly bulletproof, but greatly improved.

My recommendation is to purchase X4 as soon as possible (scheduled for official release: Feb22), but keep your current version handy until the first patch to X4 is available.

[Robert Ray]

I really want this upgrade after all the features everyone had been talking about. I currently use version 11, and it is an upgrade from 9 that I bought 5 years ago. It took a couple years till I got good at 11, so I expect it will take a while to get down with X4.

I tried to order again today, and used their paypal option, but it failed, then I used the credit card option, and that did work fine. I choose the boxed copy with manual, deliever on the 12th, since I can use the demo version until then.

-Robert

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

I think I'll wait to make sure it isn't written specifically for Vista, and has no bugs when run on XP.

Lookout, they let a Corel guy on here :?

FYI...XP and Vista got the same amount of love in the release cycle.

Some things work/look better in Vista...because it's Vista...like the new high resolution preview...the ability to search for files/clipart/photos in the open/import dialogs...

...but it's not like XP was ignored through the release cycle.

T.

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

The website says that it works with XP and Vista. Must be different versions.:confused:

Nancy

Same version..the code knows what O/S you are in and runs appropriately.

Tonysecondpost

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Well it doesnt look like a substantial upgrade from X3 to me , barring that its a lot slower on the same puter I have x3 on!!!! A LOT slower to load and on both my laptop and my main puter it slowed the rest of the puter down a little (XP)
The response of the program seems "slow" compared to x3 , but thats maybe some setting (pop downs seem to be tardy)
Import seemed to work the same as X3 cept for the fact it can import the latest versions of some packages whereas x3 cant.
I didnt try the font thing but the trace looks good , albeit I never really had a problem with x3's trace. Centre tracing seems to be better than when they did have it some versions ago, however I can hand redraw far better and quicker and more accurately if I need to do centreline type vectors.
IMHO x3 was worth while an upgrade from 12 , X4 doesnt look like its worth it to me in terms of utility for engraving or signage. There is very little in it that makes life easier for us than X3. If it had a decent way to serialise or do items with different names other than the clunky unintuitive merge function I might actually pay money for it ;)
I think if you got 89/10/11/12 , you might as well go for X4 , I think X3 to X4 is a marginal upgrade and more like a slightly evolutionary thing than anything revolutionary , more like a non essential service pack.
DL it and give it a whirl , its 289 mb tho.

I'm not sure how to use this forum software so my repsonses won't be threaded in, but here goes...

- Responsiveness - display speed is timed at over 15% faster in X4 then X3, chances are that this is specifically when you're using text....the font dropdown tends to take a while to come down the first time you use it..how many fonts do you have installed?

Things that I think are of interest to engravers
- Live text...preview the font/style/size/spacing in the drawing window before you actually commit
- Print Merge - now merges to a new document so you can check the text to see if the fields are too big in any of the records
- Print Merge - it's waaaaaaay easier to generate ticket numbers
- Updated filters - supports the newest formats out there (DXF 2007)
- DXF 11 is back in the list to export to

Without going on and on I think these items are worth a look.

Tonybiased

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Angus,
did you download the try version or you purchase it?
I'm curios to know what they include in the download version, well I know this...

* Download versions do not include DVD, printed manuals, clipart/photo images or fonts.

So my questions is, they give you an option to download clipart/photos or fonts or non at all?
Ruben

There is a manual pack available from customer service (1-800-77-CORELl)that has the manuals and DVD (yes, DVD this time).

Most folks download the trial and try it out for a few days..if they purchase the product they go to the website and order the box and continue to use the trail until the box shows up. Note that the trial is for 15 days but can be extended another 15 days by via internet or calling customer service.

[Anthony Scira]

Ouestion for Tony Severenuk :

Hey how come the pricing is the same for the downloadable version and the boxed.

Not to mention you are getting a version without the tutorial and the clip art and fonts when you download.

[Roy Brewer]

Lookout, they let a Corel guy on here :?Tony,
Fantastic to see you here! Welcome.
For those of you who don't know, Tony is the hero of Corel's own forum. For years, he has been providing answers to users and has us convinced that he takes our suggestions back to the decision makers. He'll be a terrific addition to our forum.

Welcome again, Tony!

[Bill Cunningham]

Hey!!! That calls for free copies of that old version (X3) for everybody... Well, I can always hope...:D Welcome Tony...

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Thanks the welcome note folks! Hope I can help out..

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

A very good question...one of which I don't know the answer...I work in the Engineering group and pricing is set by Product Management....you can find a guy named Gerard M on www.coreldraw.com...he's the best person to ask that question to.

FWIW, a lot of folks download the trial, figure out if they like it..if they like it they buy the boxed product and use the trial until the box arrives...

T.

[Lee DeRaud]

Hey how come the pricing is the same for the downloadable version and the boxed.

Not to mention you are getting a version without the tutorial and the clip art and fonts when you download.Followup question (which may answer the first one):
I started with v12, upgraded to X3 via download, so if I upgrade via download to X14, I'll still just have the clipart/fonts from v12. So...has there been any significant upgrade to either of those collections over the last two releases?

[Roy Brewer]

FWIW, a lot of folks download the trial, figure out if they like it..Tony,
I like it! I bought it!
I do have one major disappointment, however. I still can't have my paragraph text vertically centered by default.

Several times I've been told by Corel engineers to just set a paragraph text object to vertical center, select it and go to Styles and make that the default Paragraph text. Alas, it still doesn't work!

[Bill Cunningham]

Was that aggravating little in problem in V12 of: if you d-click a guide line, and the box opens to change the position, and you change the position..., your mind just wants to hit enter and be done with it, but nope!! Ya gotta hit 'move' and then hit enter.. When 'enter' alone should lock in the move.. It may have been fixed for X3 and it's no longer a problem, but it's really the only thing that aggravates the hell out of me in v12

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

Funny enough, I never knew that paragraph text couldn't be set to vertical alignment as centered....

Tony14.5yrsanddidn'tknowthatone

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

..still need to hit move....sorry.

But you can get the results you're looking for by selecting the guideline and then editing it's position on the property bar directly...there is no need to go into the dilaog.

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

X3 was almost all new content.
X4 has 4000+ new clipart images and all new photos over X3.
T.

[Bill Cunningham]

..still need to hit move....sorry.

But you can get the results you're looking for by selecting the guideline and then editing it's position on the property bar directly...there is no need to go into the dilaog.

Hmmm Never noticed you could do that... Just chalk it up to 'user tunnel vision' :o Thanks Tony.. I'll giver a try!

[Robert Ray]

Corel just announced the release of their version X4.


Has anyone received their mailed copy yet? I only have a few days left on my trial copy, and the program won't let me save as Corel 11, so I won't be able to use my current projects until X4 arrives, after the trial shuts down.

I hope the mailed copies show in the next few days.

[Roy Brewer]

and the program won't let me save as Corel 11, so I won't be able to use my current projects until X4 arrives, after the trial shuts down.Robert,
In addition to my copy, I spoke w/several people whose "mailed" copy arrived this thurs or fri.
I've already installed mine so I can't confirm, but I was almost sure I saved CDRs to earlier versions while I was using trial(?); possibly someone else will confirm or deny. I was testing a macro which allowed me to save as previous version and it worked for sure.

In case yours doesn't come in, you know you can extend your trial for a 2nd 15 days, right?

[Robert Ray]

That's great news Roy, I did not know I could extend the trial by 15 days, and I am happy some have already received their box sets. I just started cutting parts for my newest kit release, and the drawings are converted to X4.

When I first opened the X4 trial, I opened it on my latest project, and somehow I worked with it for 4 hours before it came time to save my work. Then I tried the "Save As" button, and the "Corel A.R.M." screen of death came up. My only option was the "Save" button, which saved it as an X4 version.

I tried re-installing the trial, and always get the Application Recovery Menu when I try to Save As, so I figured that Corel must had crippled the trial, so you have no choice but to save as an X4, therefore you are forced to purchase X4, or loose your artwork.

Well I like the X4 drawing features much better than the version 11 features, so I purchased the boxed mail upgrade, and have since logged another dozen hours with this project using X4.

But this kit starts shipping Tuesday, and I want to make sure I can crank them out for the next few weeks, as demand is usually high at first. That's why I am hoping Corel ships the boxed sets quickly.

I feel better knowing people are getting theirs already, and will look for the extend trial option.

Thanks,
Robert