Photoshop vs. CorelDraw?

[my4kidsma]

I work at a law firm and recently got moved into the desktop publishing position after being a secreatary for a year and a half. I am thrilled beyond belief, but have to teach myself as I go. I have always used Photoshop at home and was happy to find that I have PS7 at my disposal. It's not CS2, but very workable.

Today I had a project to edit that was originally created in Coreldraw. I found it cumbersome & not very intuitive. I could have recreated the project from scratch in PS in the same time it took me to use Corel. from what I saw (in the 20 min. I used it) it seemed very similar to PS.

My question is: Are there things that I would use Corel for that wouldn't be appropriate/as easy in PS? Is Coreldraw something that I should take the time to learn, and if so, what does it to better than or differently from PhotoShop?

Thanks so much! BTW...one of the best things about this job is that I get to poke around here...and get paid for it!!!! How good is life!

[Lauren]

From what I know Corel Draw is more like Adobe Illustrator in that it encompasses vectors as well raster "painting- -

[Kathleen]

I started a VERY long time ago with CorelDraw (version 2, I think). I used it for many years for various projects, probably for more what I would call desktop publishing. When I started to really have an interest in digital scrapbooking, I often would get frustrated because I wasn't getting the results I wanted in Corel, and whenever I scoured the web for how to do something, it was always how to do it in Photoshop!

So I made the switch to Photoshop, and almost never look back. Corel Draw is a vector illustrator program, so its base premise is much different than Photoshop. I do miss the text tools available in Corel, though. If you were doing something like a newsletter, or creating logos, Corel is probably the better tool. But other than that I'm in Photoshop's corner all the way!

[Penny M]

What a job!! To be able to check in at DSP during work!:)

[my4kidsma]

I also have InDesign & Visio to work with also.

[Kathleen]

I don't know much about InDesign. Visio I have always used for org charts, flow charts and diagrams, and it does those things very well.

[diturpin]

I use Corel Draw from time to time, although not as much as I used to. It is great for creating vector images for logos or manipulating type. I use it to create things like artwork for t-shirts or newsletter headings, etc. Vector graphics will give you smooth lines on shapes as long as you don't save them as jpegs. A lot of printing companies (brochures, newsletters, etc) prefer vector based programs because they produce sharper images. Photoshop is much better for anything photo based. Hope that helps a bit.

[Christine]

I agree w/ what everyone else has said. I love Corel Draw when I am drawing w/ shapes. I have PS CS3 and it's vector component is decent, but there are still things that are easier to do in Draw. I look at it like this: PS is primarily a raster program with some vector capabilities and Draw is primarily a vector program w/ some raster capabilities, so both good but depends on what you want to do with it.

[Digimom2008]

I am a proficient user of CorelDraw and have been using it for over 15 years. Like every graphics program, if you are use to using one program then yes, any new program is going to seem like it just doesn't do what the program you are use to does. CorelDraw is a very complex vector design program and can't be learned in a few tries. What most people don't know is that you can create your artwork much easier in CorelDraw, click on the object you just drew, click on the "convert to bitmap", click on "edit bitmap" and Corel Photopaint opens the object where you can use any special effects (90% of photoshop plugins work in Photopaint), close the program when you're done and you are back in CorelDraw and your special effects you added to your image are applied. The two programs work very well together without having to open a bunch of programs to do different tasks.