Re: Graphics Apps - Adobe vs. Corel

[Barb Philbrick <caslonsvcs -at- IBM -dot- NET>]

>Photoshop counts as industry standard for image processing.
I've heard good things about Photoshop, but does it handle vector art?
In particular, I need to be able to edit text entities.

I am also curious about how well it deals with DXF imports.

To answer the original question: I have been very happy with CorelDraw
for over seven years. As a contractor, I need a lot of import/export
options, and Corel has provided them. I have used it successfully with
DocuTechs and with files that are converted from Frame to PDF. I have
not used it extensively for EPS output, which seems to be the
complaint that others have with the program. (I import the Corel files
by reference into Framemaker; no conversion on the Corel side.) 

The option that works best for you might depend on the type of writing
you do. Most of my work is for engineering departments who supply
their drawings in DXF, and more recently from Visio.

My experiences with Visio have not been as positive as those with
Corel. It's wonderful for creating images, but I've found it to be
more difficult to use when editing DXFs. (A particular problem I've
had is changing line weights across an entire drawing. I've also run
into problems when trying to ungroup large drawings.) I confess that
I'm by no means an expert Visio user, and export or import the drawing
to Corel as soon as the going gets tough.

Hope this helps,

Barb

Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
Technical Writing. caslonsvcs -at- ibm -dot- net
Cleveland, OH