why is illustrator better than corel? [locked]

I have used both CorelDraw and Illustrator since the earliest versions and am using the current versions.  I won't repeat the great write-ups (right-ups?) earlier in this conversation that definitively and correctly illustrate the differences.  As an industrial designer that designs point of purchase displays, CorelDraw wins hands down.

Aside from those attributes listed above, I have two reasons for making this blog entry: one practical - CorelDraw is terribly faster for my work, and one altruistic - I dislike most aspects of Adobe from their culture to their practices relating to their software that doesn't always work anyway.  Illustrator sells because it's the best thing that will work on a Mac. Period. 

Details: My work entails creating a presentation drawing to sell the job and then communicate with the maker-types to create a prototype.  Follow-up drawings are a dream where in Illustrator it is a chore.  Finally, contract drawings are created which amount to engineering drawings.  I used to do this in an Autodesk CAD program but 'Draw can do it faster and cheaper.  Illustrator can almost do it, and it is like pulling teeth.  Most graphic artists that work with me do not agree with all my views.  But in almost 30 years of using computer design programs as a free lance CorelDraw has always been a clear choice for me.

Lol, and you expect cons on a Adobe forum?:))

And I am a Corel freak , arround 15 years, familiar with illustrator also. If we talk about vectors then Corel is by far the best, it is straight and clean on what you have to do, with what you need to do, I'm just roaring when I must finish something in illustrator, their team it's so mind twisted about tools and ergonomics, every time I want to scream and beat somebody:)). I can assure you that you finish twice as fast in Corel, illustrator is more about creativity not for productivity, also you can paste directly in photoshop as smart object witch is the best feature of all times:), anyway, you must play with what you know better.

Do not, I repeat do not, ask James or Scott or Hans.

Indeed.

Only ask Jacob, who is still using a four-version out-of-date copy of Illustrator and who tries to personify it as a female idol.

If the comparison is to be "fair" (which it clearly will not be, at least from your perspective), it should compare Corel Draw X4 to Illustrator CS3 or CS4. Release dates being what they were, X4 would more legitimately be considered Draw's answer to CS3; since it long predates CS4.

Talking about earlier versions of either program is not very meaningful, except in the sense of history of development. When I compare the release histories of Draw, FreeHand, Canvas, and Illustrator, Illustrator comes in an often-embarrassing last in terms of features long taken-for-granted in other programs.

im an illustrator freak,but my annoying boss wants me to learn corel...i need some facts [that] I can shove his face..

Shove in your boss's face? For presenting you an opportunity to escape fearful dependency upon a single software?

i need the pros and cons...to outline to him why illustrator is better...

Why don't you simply welcome this opportunity to actually know something about that which you claim a completely bogus "preference"?

Were you at all interested in gaining input that would help you help your boss reach a rational and objective decision, you would at least describe something about the kind of work your boss pays you to do. What kind of business employs you? Is the Macintosh platform even relevant to your boss's business market? How large a workgroup is affected by the software choice? What kind of artwork does that workgroup produce? How is it delivered? What are its initial content sources? Who are the end-users of the artwork? In how many different ways is it delivered, and in what formats?

Yet here you are, soliciting predisposed "why Illustrator is 'better' than Draw" advice from a handful of users who, so far, admit themselves having either no, or practically no, experience with Draw! If that's not blind-leading-the-blind, I don't know what is.

You are by admission predisposed toward Illustrator, even though you are not at all equipped to say why. Reason is pointless with so irrational a mindset. Since no one responding yet seems to actually know anything about Draw, I will instead offer some ammunition I hope your boss uses to see if you are even objective enough to consider it.

The following is a just-off-the-top list. Should you actually try to counter it, you should be prepared for more:

General:

Lower cost, both initially and in upgrades

Better support for non-current versions

Faster performance

Better support for several vertical-market industries (signage, embroidery, engineering-related)

More robust CAD and more business-centric import/export formats

Better multiple page implementation

Better-organized interface

Highly-customizable workspace

Features:

User-defined drawing scales

Reliable snaps

Dimension tools

Callout tools

Connector lines

Flowchart Tools

No-nonsense, 2D vector face extrusion

Live shape primitives

Smart Drawing tools (freehand shape recognition)

Virtual Segment tool

Ability to properly cut/crop vector and raster content

Contour tool (multiple parallels)

Export selection only

Barcodes

Print Merge

Bundle for Output Bureau

Scan directly into Draw

Trim (not merely mask) vector artwork to any path

Fit Text To Path

Text stats

Export artwork as Type 1 font.

Lens Fills (live details)

Live Perspective

Object Data (spreadsheet-formatted database of user-defined object data fields)

Fillet / Chamfer / Scallop

User-defined Arrowheads

Shared Features Better Implemented in Draw:

Mesh Grads

Dynamic Guides (with increment snaps)

Independent control over Snaps for Guides, Grid, Objects, Dynamic Grids

Property Bar (far more sensible and useable than AI's poorly-designed and buggy Control Panel)

Status Bar with context-sensitive instructions

Elastic Mode (vs. AI's Reshape tool)

Add/remove/line/curve/cusp/symmetrical curve commands properly implemented for all nodes (points) in a selected path

Logarithmic and Symmetrical spirals

Macro Recording (vs. AI Actions)

Envelopes (retract envelope handles without wrecking artwork)

Old-Saw Arguements Based on Overstatement, if not Myths:

Adobe's cross-app "integration" is more hype than substantive advantage.

Illustrator's text handing is worst among Adobe apps and worst-of-class among its direct competitors.

Draw opens and creates PDFs just fine.

Claims of AI superiority regarding importing of raster images is practically immaterial. In fact, Corel Draw's interaction with Corel PhotoPaint is at least as "smooth and seamless" as AI/PS, if not more so.

Using vector artwork created in Draw (or any other mainstream Bezier drawing program) in page-layout programs is no more difficult than using AI. This stuff has been being done for decades.

Again, this is just a beginning. You do yourself a huge disservice by declaring (let alone attempting to defend) a "preference" to the only choice with which you have experience (and evidently only beginning experience at that). That's true regardless of which program you claim to "favor." How can one, with any trace of intellectual honesty, claim to have a "favorite" of anything--when one has no exposure to any of the considered alternatives?

Since you already have Illustrator, you should absolutely welcome your Boss's willingness to provide you a current copy of Corel Draw. Here's an opportunity for you--at no personal cost--to actually learn something about another program; to potentially have some clue as to what you're talking about when you claim to "prefer" one over the other; to benefit from knowing more than one particular tool, and to overcome the fear of learning your way around more than one offering among similar programs. For all you know, you may be arguing against the program you would actually end up preferring.

I could also build a bullet list of better-than-Draw AI features. It would not be as long as its opposite. Nor would the AI-favoring listings be as broadly practical.

Fact is, anyone can build a bullet list to favor any of them. (Just look at the sides of the boxes, or each vendor's self-serving "competitive comparisons" on their respective websites.) Fact is, all of them are really rather mediocre; mostly 20+ years-old technology.

You really should have no axe to grind in this, unless you can state something specific to your work that strongly favors the relatively few functional advantages of AI.

JET

inquestflash,

Do not, I repeat do not, ask James or Scott or Hans.

Corel had its hayday back in the mid-late 90's. I used CorelDraw 5 when I

was starting to learn vector illustration and continued using it

exclusively through version 8, but I reached a point where I grew out of

it and moved on to Illustrator.

It has been a long time since I've used anything from Corel so I probably

couldn't fairly assess their strengths and weaknesses nowadays. Last time

I even saw their interface, it was CorelDraw 10. It seemed just "okay" to

me, but I still preferred Illustrator.

I don't think your boss should be the one to decide which software is best

for you if he is not having to use it himself everyday. That would be like

me going to the mechanic and telling him which tools he had to use to

repair my vehicle.

-JM