The CorelDraw 6 Suite

It's Not Just a 2D Program Anymore

CorelDraw 6 is a suite of graphics and multimedia programs built aroundCorelDraw, Corel's flagship illustration and page layout product. Corel beganselling CorelDraw as a suite during the product's third release, which includeda relatively modest set of satellite programs. Corel dramatically expanded thesuite's contents, and by the time CorelDraw 5 came to market, it was a broad andcomprehensive suite for 2D graphics, presentations, and publishing.

The CorelDraw 6 suite is significantly different from its predecessors intwo respects:

The key changes that give CorelDraw 6 a 3D/multimedia spin are not in thecore CorelDraw product. CorelDraw is still a 2D illustration and layout program,and satellite products handle the 3D and multimedia capabilities. Table 1 is achart of the differences between the key programs in the CorelDraw 5 suite andthe key programs included in the CorelDraw 6 suite.

What CorelDraw 6 has in common with the previous releases is that Corelacquired the satellite programs from other companies and integrated them intothe CorelDraw suite. For example, CorelDream 3D is a customized version of RayDream 3D.

In the Lab
CorelDraw's operating system and hardware platform have always restrainedthe package. Corel's move to a 32-bit implementation addresses many of theperformance and resource limitations of the product's previous versions.CorelDraw needs a system with a fast CPU, lots of memory, and lots of free harddisk space.

Corel's move to a 32-bit implementation does not improve overallperformance. My tests indicate that CorelDraw version 6 provides asimilar level of performance to CorelDraw version 5, which operates in a 16-bitWindows environment. This is actually good news for longtime CorelDraw usersbecause it's the first major version change to CorelDraw that hasn't resulted inworse performance due to higher resource requirements.

Although the product literature and installation documentation do notmention Windows NT support, I was able to install and operate the CorelDraw 6suite in an NT 3.51 environment with no problems or technical complications.However, one logistical complication is that you need nearly 200MB of disk spaceto install all the programs in the suite. If you don't have 200MB of disk space,you can run the programs from the CD-ROM disk and consume only about 40MB ofdisk. However, running the CorelDraw 6 suite from CD-ROM is impractical unlessyou have two CD-ROM drives: You can't access any of the clipart, fonts, orsamples on the three additional CD-ROM disks because you can't switch CD-ROMdisks while a CorelDraw program is running. Fortunately, you can opt to installsome of the programs on the hard disk and run others from the CD-ROM to giveyourself a balance between your hard disk capacity and your day-to-day needs.

The Main Event
CorelDraw is a vector-based drawing program with excellent prepressfeatures, such as color separation, registration marking, and positive/negativeimage generation. CorelDraw also offers a modest range of page layoutcapabilities, including support for paragraph-oriented styles and the ability toincorporate bitmapped graphics (e.g., photos and screen shots). CorelDrawdoes, however, fall short of being a full-featured desktop publishing tool, suchas QuarkXPress or Aldus Pagemaker.

As you can see in screen 1, the CorelDraw version 6 interface contains ahorizontal toolbar and a vertical toolbox. The toolbox is deceptively simple:Most of the options in it have an additional "fly-out" toolset thatlets you refine the operation you want. For example, the text tool (the "A"tool) has a fly-out that lets you enter either simple artistic text or formattedparagraph text.

CorelDraw version 5 users will notice some subtle changes in the version 6interface. First, Corel reorganized the toolbox to contain a new polygon tooland a dimension line tool (the tool above the rectangle tool), which used to bea fly-out option on the line drawing tool. Second, version 6 now lets youconcurrently work with multiple files. Third, all Help, configuration, anddialog boxes now conform to the Windows 95 user interface.

In all versions, one of CorelDraw's strengths has been its ability to importand export a wide range of graphics formats, such as Encapsulated PostScript(EPS), TIFF, and Windows metafiles. These strengths remain in version 6,although it is limited in its backward-compatibility with files created underprior versions of CorelDraw. Specifically, version 6 cannot read version 3 andprior files and can save files only in version 5 and 6 formats. Fortunately,this limitation affects only those who still have CorelDraw version 3.

Satellite Programs
The satellite programs in the CorelDraw 6 suite that deliver the 3D andmultimedia capabilities are Corel Photo-Paint, Corel Presents, CorelDream 3D,and Corel Motion 3D. (See the sidebar "3D by Corel.") Corel haslearned from its three previous suites to deliver a consistent interface acrossall the programs in the suite. Although you will see this in version 6 becauseall the programs use vertical toolboxes and horizontal toolbars, you'll findthat each program has its own look and feel once you get beyond the basic userinterface.

Whereas CorelDraw is a general-purpose illustration and layout tool, thesatellite programs are specialized in their purposes:

To Buy or Not to Buy
Version 6 is a worthy and notable step in the evolution of the CorelDrawsuite. If you are considering a first-time purchase of a 2D/3D graphics package,version 6 is a good choice. The sophistication and prepress capabilities of thecore CorelDraw make the program worth the suggested retail price of $695.

If you already use version 5, consider spending the $239 upgrade fee toobtain the capabilities of the new satellite programs and to move to a 32-bitimplementation. Even though there is little performance difference betweenCorelDraw version 5 and 6, all the underlying operating system tasks such asloading and saving files function faster in a 32-bit environment. In otherwords, making the transition from a 16-bit environment to a 32-bit environmentoffers its own set of advantages. You may need to take this argument to heartbecause you might find it difficult to justify an upgrade purely on the basis ofnew CorelDraw features.

And don't throw out your CorelDraw 5 software. Some of the programs in theCorelDraw 5 suite aren't in version 6, and you might need version 5 to accessold CorelDraw files.