CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 Home & Student Edition Review

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CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 Home & Student Edition ReviewI'm a PC user and have used PhotoShop CS2 and PhotoShop Elements and find them really hard to use. The controls are very small and hard to find, everything is iconic with no description available. You have to read a book to find out what each icon means.
Also PhotoShop is overpriced (USD $1000 for the Ultra version) so I have been using Gimp for photo editing. But Corel DRAW and Corel Photo Paint beat them both in the Price/Performance ratio. Its way more intuitive to use than both Gimp and PhotoShop (at least for a PC user). Tools are easy to find, without reading any manual I got myself doing masks, color adjustments, etc. The digital filter gallery in PhotoShop is more professional, as if the algorithms yielded a smother quality and surely there are tons of plugin filters out there. But for the price, Corel DRAW gives professional photo editing (unlike Gimp) at a bargain price.CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 Home & Student Edition OverviewCorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 - Home & Student Edition lets you explore your creative ideas and turn them into outstanding results for whatever design or creative project you need to produce. Easy-to-use features make it fun to produce all kinds of projects: from T-shirts, posters, party announcements, school club flyers and banners, to presentations and school reports. With built-in learning tools and tutorials, easy file sharing and a wealth of clipart and fonts, this all-in-one suite has everything you need to tackle design layouts, photo editing, or illustration.*For non-commercial use only. You may install and Use a copy of this Product on up to three (3) computers in your household.

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Corel Photo Album 6 Deluxe Review

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Corel Photo Album 6 Deluxe ReviewCorel's Photo Album 6 (formerly known as Jasc's Paint Shop Photo Album) bundles together the most variety of features of any consumer-grade digital image manager -- a file-level manager, slideshow and screensaver module, creative projects (calendars, magazine covers, etc.), backup and archive module; and a basic image editor. Version 6 of Photo Album sports a new interface, some new project templates and backup options, and most importantly, easy-to-use IPTC and EXIF metadata support. The latter feature makes the program well worth the upgrade for prior users, and the best general choice for mainstream users, such as self-appointed family photo archivists, looking to organize and manage their growing collection of digital photographs for posterity.
What makes metadata support so important? A photograph may be worth a thousand words, but not always. Without aid, the casual viewer may not understand or remember a picture's content or context. (E.g., When and where was this picture taken? What is this a picture of? Who are these people? Why did I take this picture?) Even the photographer himself may not remember these things one or five years later. In an analog photograph, one could write a description on back of the print itself. With digital photos, this sort of information is kept as metadata. Without metadata, that interesting digital photograph (Holiday Party 2005: Roy and Ciara with Mayor Mike. Unbeknownst to Mayor Mike, Roy and Ciara rose to power by wasting hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars.) is just another anonymous picture. It is metadata that imbues digital photographs with their context and meaning, and that enables digital photograph collections to be quickly organized or synthesized in a wide variety of ways - by timeline, event, location, person, etc.
Prior versions of Photo Album kept metadata locked away inside a proprietary database, usable only inside the program. Corel Photo Album 6's support of IPTC and EXIF metadata relegates product lock-in to the past, and potentially makes your photograph descriptions (complete memory = photograph + metadata) accessible seamlessly across:
- online-photo sharing sites that support IPTC and EXIF metadata, such as Fotki and Flickr;
- friends, family, or other users who don't use Corel Photo Album 6;
- yourself, on other computers, if or when you outgrow Photo Album 6, or the product line is discontinued.
That's potentially, because Corel doesn't quite implement IPTC support the way everyone else does. Corel Photo Album 6 is able to view metadata of digital photographs created in Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, but the opposite is not necessarily true. Also, Photo Album 6 does not support Unicode, so foreign language support (for recording foreign toponyms and friends in your photographs without the need for Romanize them) is limited. However, PA6 is still better than its competitors, who either do not support IPTC or EXIF metadata (leaving you locked into their products), or make it cumbersome to use.
Corel Photo Album 6 is worthy of consideration even if you've already purchased a digital photo-editor / image library manager bundle, such as Microsoft's Digital Image Suite 2006 or Adobe's Photoshop Elements 4. Microsoft's Digital Image Library 11 (part of Microsoft's Digital Image Suite 2006) locks metadata inside its own proprietary database and the Windows XP NTFS file system, usable only on the single computer where the program is installed. DIS2006 users who want to share picture metadata with other users must manually copy and paste it for each picture they want to share. Further, the proprietary nature of DIS2006's database renders it susceptible to breakage - if you change the filename of an image outside the program, the image and its DIS2006 database entry are disassociated. Although Photoshop Elements 4 supports IPTC and EXIF metadata, the program continues to be disjointed - you fill in different pieces of metadata in the photo editor and photo organizer sections of the program.
Unfortunately, Corel's Photo Album 6 is just as disjointed. PA6 tracks picture title, description, and keyword information. Corel's photo editor, Paint Shop Pro 10 (equivalent to Microsoft's Digital Image Suite 2006's or Adobe's Photoshop Elements 4's photo editor; and a separate purchase) is needed to track picture location (city, state, country, etc.) information, among other things. However, Corel Photo Album 6's advantage over Photoshop Elements 4 is that PE4's photo organizer is very unwieldy when managing more than a few hundred photographs. It would be nice to see future versions of Corel Photo Album and Paint Shop Pro share the same metadata management features. Experienced users may look to PixVue, a free Windows Explorer extension, for a full IPTC/XMP metadata editor in the interim.
Consumers should understand that given PA6's low price, competitor programs may exceed the depth of any particular module(s) in PA6. For example, ACD System's ACDSee 8 is a better file-level manager. Simple Star's PhotoShow Deluxe 4 has the better slideshow module. With these other choices however, users may find themselves purchasing additional programs to match the breadth of Corel Photo Album 6's functionality. For example, ACDSee 8 Standard lacks a creative projects module, which ACD Systems offers for separate purchase, as FotoSlate 4.
Corel has done a very good job with Photo Album 6. It is the best general-purpose choice for both beginning and intermediate mainstream users.Corel Photo Album 6 Deluxe OverviewCorel Photo Album 6 offers aneasy way to organize, enhance, protect, and share your photos. Photo Album automatically downloads photos from your camera as soon as you plug it in, then rotates and organizes them for you. Then you can fix photos in a snap with one-click quick fixes. When you're done you can share photos in minutes with 1000s of creative projects including greeting cards, calendars, scrapbooks and more. Plus, you can back-up your photos on CD, protecting them in just two-clicks. Packed with everything you need, Photo Album is the complete, easy-to-use software for your digital camera.
See the product tour

Capture, View, and Organize
Quick Fix and Adjust With just one click users can auto-correct the color, contrast, and brightness of their photos. The Adjust command provides simple sliders to give you complete control over a variety of settings for correcting photos. With the Add Flash tool, users can even brighten just the shadowy areas of an image.
More quick fixes and effects You can remove red-eye with one click or use the Advanced Red-Eye tool for more precision and control. The Thinify command lets you give the subjects in your photos a thinner appearance with just a few clicks. The Panorama command lets you stitch together several photos. This is particularly useful for capturing large landscapes.
Black & White and Sepia tools Corel Photo Album 6 lets you transform your color photos into black and white, and sepia tones with just one click. These quick commands are useful for giving new photos a vintage look.
E-mail and Quick E-mail The Quick E-mail and E-mail commands make it easy to send photos to friends and family. Quick E-mail automatically attaches the selected image to a new message in your e-mail program. All you have to do is add the recipient address and fill in the subject line. With E-mail, you can adjust settings to optimize the photos for quick recipient downloading.
Photo projects Corel Photo Album 6 provides creative templates to inspire you to do more with your photos. With drag-and-drop simplicity, you can create award certificates, album pages, greeting cards, calendars, CD labels, e-cards, magazine covers, and more. You can even move, rotate, and zoom in and out of photos within a template to get the exact look that you want.
New! CollagesThe new Collage project templates let you display a collection of photos in stylish and sophisticated collages. You just select a collage layout template and drag and drop photos from your folders into the collage.
Slide Shows With Corel Photo Album 6, you can easily create musical slide shows to distribute to friends and family using e-mail, or simply to display on your computer. You can also burn slide shows to Video CDs, which can be viewed on a TV using a DVD player. Now, it's quick and easy to share photos from a recent vacation, family event, or party.
Web Sharing Web Galleries let you create your own customized Web page using Corel Photo Album, or quickly upload to your favorite photo-sharing Web site.
New! Photo Finder Corel Photo Album 6 automatically finds all the photos on your computer and organizes them by the date that they were taken. This feature saves time by continuously keeping photo collection up-to-date.
New! All Photos View To provide you with the utmost flexibility in photo management, the new All Photos View lets you browse your entire photo collection at once. When the All Photos View is selected, Corel Photo Album 6 gathers every photo from every folder on your computer.
Print LayoutWith more than 40 print layout templates, Corel Photo Album 6 helps you make the most of that expensive photo paper. You can choose to print standard photo sizes, such as 8x10, 5x7, wallet-sized, and more. Print layouts also let you combine multiple photos on one page.
Five viewing options The convenient Find panel lets you choose from five viewing options, including Favorite Folders, All Folders, Calendar, Keywords, and Collections. And you can easily adjust the size of thumbnail previews. With the handy zoom slider, users can quickly zoom out to see the entire contents of a folder, or zoom in for a closer look at just one photo.
New! Favorite Photos Corel Photo Album 6 lets you designate your favorite photos with a gold star so that personal favorites can be quickly and easily identified for use in special projects, for e-mailing, or for printing.
New! Titles and Descriptions You can add titles and descriptions so that photos stand out. Corel Photo Album now saves your captions to the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) metadata so that the captions can be viewed and searched from within any program that supports IPTC.
Batch Rename With Corel Photo Album 6, you can quickly change those cryptic, numeric filenames that digital cameras assign to photos. Using the Batch Rename feature, you can easily change the name of an individual image, several selected images, or an entire folder of images.
PhotoSafe Backup SystemThe PhotoSafe Backup System helps you backup all of their photos onto CD or DVD. Archiving prevents the loss of valuable photos from hardware memory failure, or other computer mishaps, such as viruses. And PhotoSafe makes it simple by remembering which photos have already been backed-up on CD, and which photos are new.
PhotoRecovery PhotoRecovery is a straightforward application that recovers images, movies, and sound files from all types of digital media. Whether it's Memory Sticks, SmartMedia, CompactFlash, MicroDrives, Secure Digital Cards, Multimedia Chips, or floppy disks and most other forms of digital film, you simply insert your digital film into the reader, and run PhotoRecovery. Pictures are instantly saved to your computer.
What's in the box: Software on CD, Getting Started Guide, User Guide.

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Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate Review

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Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate ReviewI have been negligent in reviewing the Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate image editing program because I wanted to be sure about what I suspected when I began using it a couple of months ago. "This program is better in many ways and cheaper than the top rated Adobe Photoshop Elements version 7."
I was reluctant to believe that hunch at first. I have both programs installed on a VISTA laptop. Both installed easily and without problem. Both function perfectly without any of the crashing and buggy performance described by other reviewers. I have been using the two programs interchangeably for awhile and eventually noticed that I was opening and using the Corel Paint Shop Pro program more often than the Adobe software. That was the prompt that I needed to offer this review, but my observations do not intend to say the Adobe Photoshop Elements program is necessarily inferior--I simply prefer the Corel software and find it less complicated to use. I will attempt to tell you why.

First, the Corel home screen is easier to see. I found the Adobe Photoshop Elements screen sort of dark and foreboding. The two screens are similar in how the toolbars and menu items are arranged, but not all that much alike in how they are applied. I think the Corel program is more intuitive and logical than the Adobe system.
Both programs have all of the usual features like red eye removal, cropping, brightness adjustments and cloning. These are mostly straight forward, but the Corel program strikes me as less complicated in these areas than the Adobe.

I should admit at the onset--I have yet to master the "Layers" functions in either program. Be that as it may, I am pretty familiar with the rest of the tasks offered by both programs.
Adding images to the organizer pallet at the bottom of the main Corel window is a snap. The "saving as a copy" option in the Corel program is very helpful. Image color adjustments can be made in a number of ways in both programs, but Corel Paint Shop offers better options for changing hue, saturation and texture. I was happy to find how easily edits can be reversed with undo opportunities along the way. The image straightening and adjusting perspective features are worthy of note as is the skin smoothing and tooth whitening options. There is even an option in the Corel program to make a person appear thinner. I never thought I would use that tooth whitening thing, but I have.
I found the Corel feature called "Browse effects" to be particularly useful because it brings up a familiar outline style listing of everything the program does all in one place. One doesn't need to click around on various icons and menu items in order to find the function desired. Clicking through this "Browse effects" list brings up thumbnails that illustrate the choices involved. One could almost use this feature and ignore the array of icons and menus situated around the main window.

I have used the Corel "time machine" function a few times to give vintage appearances to certain photos and find it to be fun if nothing else. The same is true for the frames and distort features along several other artistic effect functions that I doubt most people would use very often. The reason I mention these options is to point out the presence of several functions that are really just amusing to use and probably not essential to serious photo editing.

The ability to adjust the appearance of the home window in the Corel program is appreciated, but I have not messed with that at all. I like the looks of it as is.
Oh, one more thing--adjusting the "layers" in an image may have been included in both programs as a means to humble the user. Just kidding...
If you are trying to decide which program to buy and think the Adobe Photo Shop Elements program is definitely number one you should certainly consider the Corel alternative. I would recommend you buy the Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate instead of the Adobe Photoshop Elements program Version 7 not because they are so different in what they do, but because they are so similar in almost everything else except the price and ease of use. The Corel Paint Shop software is easier to figure out and it is significantly less costly than the Adobe program. Then of course there is the matter of how I found myself using the Corel program more often than the Adobe program. I think that says something.
UPDATE(December 2009):
I recently loaded the Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate software into a new Windows 7 laptop and it went in perfectly and quickly. The program seems to open up and run faster than it did on my VISTA machine. I like it even more. Just thought you would like to know.
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate OverviewCorel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate combines ease of use with full professional power. Fix brightness, color and photo imperfections like red eye in a few clicks, or use precision photo-editing controls to create photos youll be proud to share. Includes everything in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, plus: Enhanced! Camera raw support - Enjoy support for over 250 camera raw formats New! Background remover plug-in - Easily remove the background of a photo and change it to a new scene for more creative impact Enhanced! Creative content pack - Get creative with your photos by adding fun details. Choose from 150 brand-new, custom-made photo frames, photo edges and Picture Tubes New! Certified for Windows Vista - Certified for Windows Vista software has undergone Microsoft compatibility tests for ease of use, better performance and enhanced security Bonus! USB flash drive (2 GB) - Store and transfer your digital photos with this handy thumb drive Bonus! Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Transform your photos into stunning paintings in 3 easy steps Bonus! Media recovery software - Recover images, movies and sound files, even from reformatted memory cards

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Nova Development US Photo Explosion Deluxe 4.0 Review

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Nova Development US Photo Explosion Deluxe 4.0 ReviewI used 3.0 all the time to open up a photo, add some quick text for a logo on top of my photo. I would then add a frame around the photo (there were several different options of cool effects), to block out some of the background stuff in the photo.
The new version, does not have a simple Insert Text feature like 3.0 did. 3.0 allowed you to insert text, and grab the selection bar windows to easily move it around, rotate it, make the text bigger, etc.
With 4.0, you first have to select the text tool, then increase your font (and change it if you wish). If you want to move the text, you have to then select the move tool (another step). If you want to rotate it, you then have to go to the menu, and go through a couple of steps before you manually have to put in what degree angle you want to rotate it. It was much simpler and easier in the old version because you could do it all from one place.
I used the magic effects and frame features all the time in 3.0, there was alot of cool black and white effects that you can make a pic look really elegant (I'm a cake decorator so I used it to block out the background so the cake would be focused better). In 4.0, you can't do it in the Image Editor.
The step in 4.O:
1. Create a new project in Project Studio
2. Add your photo.
3. Add your border (which are horrible,theres no magic effects anymore, and no elegant black and white effects to place around your pic).
4. If you find one you like, you then have to save your project.
5. Then you have to export it to a jpg.
I'm really surprised they took out some functionality of 3.0 and made everything more difficult. I'm now searching for a software that will allow me to quickly add text and some elegant photo effects around the edges.Nova Development US Photo Explosion Deluxe 4.0 Overview

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Adobe Premiere Elements 8 Review

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Adobe Premiere Elements 8 ReviewAfter upgrading to Premiere Elements 8, I initially had problems similar to what other reviewers have reported. The application was crashing regularly, rendering it unusable. After I spent some time sleuthing (searching the web for forum posts where users were discussing this problem) and figured out how to fix it. Turns out, the problem was related to one of the NVIDIA drivers for my graphics card (see further below for possible fixes if you are experiencing similar issues and use a graphics card with an NVIDIA chipset). Now PRE8 works like a breeze, and I'm enjoying the new "smart" features and the integration with the Elements Organizer that another reviewer also commented on in her exhaustive review.
For those interested in my system's specs, I'm running PRE8 on a Windows 7 64-bit machine w/ an AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor at 2.50 GHz, 8 GB RAM and an ASUS EN8600GTTOP graphics card (which uses the NVIDIA 8600GT chipset) w/ 256 MB RAM.
Since fixing the compatibility problem w/ the NVIDIA driver, I have completed several short video projects (between 4 and 8 minutes long) for which I used various of the "special effects" in PRE8 and did some rotation and cropping, and have used a couple of different output formats (flv and wmv). Of course, I make sure that I close any other resource-hungry applications, such as Firefox and Outlook, before I start PRE8. I have really not experienced any further problems in terms of crashes or sluggishness (hence "works like a breeze"). I have not edited any HD projects using PRE8 since I don't shoot or view HD video.
If you are on the fence at all about this product and/or are wondering if your system specs are sufficient to run PRE8 without trouble, I definitely recommend installing the trial version first that can be downloaded from the Adobe website. I believe the trial runs 30 days, enough time to put the program through the wringer and see how it holds up on your particular system.
For those interested in giving Premiere Elements 8 a try but who experience the frequent crashes and use a graphics card with an NVIDIA GPU (graphics processing unit), here are the possible fixes that I found during my search:
1. If you don't use the NVIDIA 3D goggles (i.e., most people), uninstall the NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver (in Windows 7/Vista: Control Panel > Programs and Features; in XP: Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs). To reiterate, this will *only* uninstall the driver for the NVIDIA 3D goggles. (Amazon doesn't like people posting URLs for other web sites in their product reviews, but if you want to see the source, search for a thread called "Premiere Elements 8 keeps closing or crashing" in the Adobe Support Forums and scroll down to post #8). [This is the fix that worked for me.]
2. Another possible solution to some compatibility issues that has been reported (see post #39 in the thread "Cannot restart Premiere Elements 8" in the Adobe Support Forums) is turning off the "Threaded Optimization" feature for Premiere Elements in the NVIDIA Control Panel (right-click on empty space on your desktop, click on "NVIDIA Controp Panel"; in menu pane on left, select "Manage 3D Settings"; click on the "Program Settings" tab; browse to and select "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0\Adobe Premiere Elements.exe" (Note: do *not* select "Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0.exe" as this won't do the trick) and click "Open" [Note: for 32-bit systems, replace "Program Files (x86)" with just "Program Files"]; click "Apply" and exit NVIDIA Control Panel.)
3. Lastly, of course it's also always worth a making sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed on your computer. Check the NVIDIA website to see if there are any updates available.
Hope this will help someone who is experiencing compatibility issues w/ PRE8 and their NVIDIA drivers.
(Note: I've updated this review to add my system specs and provide some more detailed info on how PRE8 has performed for the video projects I've been working on.)Adobe Premiere Elements 8 OverviewWith Adobe Premiere Elements 8, the newest version of the #1 selling video-editing software, making incredible movies is easier than ever. Bring all your video clips and photos together in one convenient place where you can easily find, view, and manage them; protect them with automatic online backup and 2GB of free storage; and then dive right into a full range of creative activities. Create your movies with smart, automated options that save you time and effort. Enhance your stories with professional effects and sound. And share movies with friends and family in interactive online experiences and on DVD, Blu-ray Disc, mobile devices, and YouTube.

Top reasons to buy Adobe Premiere Elements 8
Do it all with one powerful yet easy-to-use product Use Adobe Premiere Elements 8 software for all your video needs. Import and manage your video clips; edit them together yourself or choose automated options to effortlessly create incredible movies; enhance your movies with professional-quality effects, sound, titles, and Hollywood-style motion menus; share them on the web, on disc, and everywhere else; protect them with automatic online backup and 2GB of free storage--enough for up to 24 minutes of DVD-quality video or 1,500 photos; and view them anywhere you are.
Create a polished movie instantly Using creative techniques from Hollywood directors, InstantMovie automatically edits together your best clips with coordinated music, titles, effects, and transitions from your choice of movie theme. New customization options enable you to get just the results you envision. And all-new themes are included.
Quickly find the clips you're looking for Want to find your best video clips or clips that meet a particular set of criteria? The Auto-Analyzer automatically tags your footage and photos for quality and interest, and a variety of smart search options make it easy to zero in on just the media you need.
Make movies with drag-and-drop ease Create your story fast in the Sceneline, an easier alternative to the more traditional video-editing Timeline. Make your movie by simply dragging and dropping thumbnails of your clips, transitions, and effects.
Edit and preview in one convenient place Edit and view your movie in one convenient place--the large Monitor window--where you can easily trim and split clips, drop filters and effects right on a frame, create fun picture-in-picture effects, type titles and text right on the screen, and more.
Add professional-quality effects and transitions Add entertaining graphics that automatically follow the action in your movie. Easily combine elements from different scenes for entertaining results. And add visual appeal with hundreds of amazing special effects and TV-style transitions, including several all-new options.
Energize your movies with music Use SmartSound to add a variety of musical soundtracks that automatically adjust to perfectly match the length of your movie. Even synchronize scenes to the beat of your soundtrack.
Get creative inspiration Bring your ideas to life with relevant tutorials that appear just when you need them. New tutorials help you explore creative possibilities.
Conveniently share your movie and enjoy the latest technology Follow easy steps to create your movie once and then share it in many ways, including on disc, the web, or mobile devices. Share on high-quality HD or Blu-ray Disc, so you can enjoy your movie on virtually any screen, from your iPod to your HD flat screen TV.

Top new benefits of Adobe Premiere Elements 8
Experience the ultimate media management hub Bring all your video clips and photos together in the powerful, easy-to-use, fully featured new Organizer--the hub of yourvideo and photo experience. Easily find, view, manage, and protect your media, and then dive into a full range of creative activities and start enjoying your memories.
Save time with new automated options Make movies with less effort. Adobe Premiere Elements can automatically fix shaky footage and color and lighting problems, trim away all but your best footage, and balance audio elements to give you professional-quality sound throughout your movie.
Enliven the action with artwork and animations Add sparkle to your scenes thanks to an all-new library of artwork, including fun frames, objects, and animations.
See the same video clips and photos on every computer Forget trying to manually maintain your clips and photos across multiple computers. With automatic syncing, media added or edited on one computer will automatically be synced to another.
Share memories in fresh, exciting ways on the web Showcase your videos in one-of-a-kind Online Albums with your choice of dynamic, animated templates. Adobe Flash technology lets viewers interact with your videos for an entertaining experience. And share via public or private galleries--friends and family won't have to register to look.
Get the big picture See the full effect of your video clips and photos from within the Organizer with new full-screen previews.
Enjoy support for Windows 7 Take advantage of support for the new Windows 7 platform and the hands-on capabilities of Windows Touch technology.



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CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5 Upgrade Review

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CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5 Upgrade ReviewThis review is not about the software itself, but the inclusion of old versions in a "premium" bundle.
I am long-time user of CorelDraw Graphics Suite. I saw a review for VideoStudio Pro X4 on Tekzilla and decidied to get it. I then saw on the Corel web site that CorelDraw Premium Suite X5 included VideoStudio Pro. So I got the product on this page.
It turns out that several of the pieces of software are old versions, including VideoStudio Pro - it's X3 instead of X4. Other old vesions of PhotoZoom Pro (2 versions behind), SWiSH Max (1 version behind), SWiSH miniMax (2 versions behind), and WinZip Pro (half version behind).
If you want to upgrade just VideoStudio Pro and PhotoZoom Pro to the current version, it will cost another $180.CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5 Upgrade Overview
CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5 Upgrade
CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5 is premium design software that opens you up to new web possibilities, while supporting traditional illustration, tracing and graphic design needs with new and enhanced tools. Built on the renowned CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5, it introduces website creation, video editing, and flash animation software, so you can engage your audience with greater impact than ever before! Build standout websites with the help of dozens of templates and site styles. Create interactive flash animations with over 350 built-in multimedia effects. Even edit video and quickly create high-definition movies with 30 creative templates. Now you can do even more than you thought possible!

Ideal for:
Graphics professionals in the advertising and printing industries who spend much of their time creating and editing graphics, working with text, retouching photos, making videos and creating websites
Graphics non-professionals who use graphics software to create their own marketing materials for print or web
Marketing departments in small-to-medium businesses or enterprise environments that create brochures, print ads, newsletters, video communications, website content and other marketing collateral

Competitive Advantages
CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5 offers a complete professional graphics solution with new web design, website creation, flash and video capabilities.

Contains illustration, multi-page design layout, tracing, photo-editing, web graphics, website creation, flash animation and video editing and production in one powerful suite
Provides incredible value with a quick return on investment, enabling high-quality graphic design for print and web at an affordable price
Offers market-leading file compatibility, with its applications supporting PDF, MicrosoftWord, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, JPG, PNG, AVI, MPEG, AVCHD, BDMV, HDV, DivX, QuickTime, RealVideo, Windows Media Format, and more than 100 formats in total
Includes comprehensive learning tools, such as context-sensitive hints, video tutorials, and other helpful learning resources to help you quickly learn and grow
Contains hundreds of dollars of valuable content, including 10,000 clipart images, 2,000 vehicle templates, 1,000 high-quality, royalty-free photos, 1,000 professional fonts, 350 design templates, 350 multimedia flash effects, 30 video templates and dozens of templates and SiteStyles

Key Features and Benefits
More communication options beyond traditional channels
Extend your designs beyond traditional channels and tap into new market opportunities with CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5. New applications help you build websites, create flash animations and edit videos, with templates and built-in content to guide you.

More efficient content organization
Speed up your workflow with CorelCONNECT, a new content finder that helps you locate graphics, templates, fonts and images quickly on your computer and selected websites. Save valuable time by instantly accessing your selected content, which is stored in the tray synchronized between CorelDRAW and CorelPHOTO-PAINT.

More accurate color management
Match the colors you see on screen across printed materials and web graphics. A new color management engine enhances color consistency across all media and introduces support for new color profiles from PANTONE.

More precision for web graphics
Design web graphics more effectively than ever in CorelDRAW with a new Pixels Mode that lets you preview how content will display online. Optimize your settings to achieve the highest graphics quality with a new Export for Web Dialog box.

More file compatibility
Now enjoy support for dozens of video and flash formats, including SWF, AVI, MPEG, AVCHD, BDMV, HDV, DivX, QuickTime, RealVideo, Windows Media Format and many others.


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Corel Painter 11 Review

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Corel Painter 11 ReviewJust an Update for the review:
As of January 6, 2010 - nearly a YEAR after release, Corel has released a major patch update that resolves most problems I've had with the product. I have left the review alone (besides adding updates) to show how long it takes for these things to be resolved. I still stand by the fact Painter needs to resolve GUI issues, by appearance and stability.
** A special note, is that I wish Painter would include a dynamic resizable navigational/preview window like other paint programs have. There have been suggested work-arounds but I think it's time for Corel to include a much wanted feature.
As of August 26,2009 - I included a bug that still hasn't been fixed and is disruptive for workflow
As of May 21, 2009 - Corel has released a hotfix for the intuos3 missing stroke, corrupted workspaces, and cut and paste issue. The rest of the bugs still seem to remains.
I actually have been familiar with Painter since the old school large serial tablets and it was called Fractal Design Painter.
I really really wanted to love Painter 11. It has some nice new features such as the hard/real media brushes, and re-sizable Mixer and Color wheel. There is now PNG support too, but until there is a patch, it's not worth the upgrade or purchase. It feels like this should have been partial (but not a good update to) Painter X. The last time it took it to patch was when Painter X encountered GUI glitches on release (in Feb of that year) but it wasn't until June were there fixes. It didn't receive any patches after that and we (as in other people interested in the program) were waiting for the new release to see if it would fix previous problems.
Here's a list of major problems:
** (August 26 2009) Updating a bug issue I didn't put up here. This affects about anyone with a tablet and most likely wacoms. When you chose a brush, you have it at a certain size, for example 2.0, now use the eraser side of your stylus, change the size of your eraser. Flip back your stylus. Your 2.0 size has now increased to 17. I'm told that it doesn't have to happen when changing the brush size, but it happens when you use your eraser side of your stylus.
1. It's slow. It loads fast for a few days but for whatever reason it becomes increasingly slower to load. I'm using a Core Duo with 2gb of ram and even with nothing on (as in other programs running) it's still slow. (I'm a PC user)
2. a: Intuos 3 users will be frustrated. Apparently, there is a bug in this version of Painter. It causes a missing stroke or a random brush dab (the dab issue was present in X). Yes, that's right a painting program that can't register whether or not you're placing a stroke on your tablet. Let's see if this improves with an Intuos4. I feel sorry for intuos3 users right now (and I am one!)
b: Intuos 4 users may find themselves frustrated. I've tested the software in Windows XP sp3 with an Intuos4. The touchring can be downright unresponsive when trying to change brush sizes.
3. Bugs from X are still in here. Watch out for crashes when using guides and rulers. I already mentioned the missing brush dab problem. If you change your brush selector bars to stroke view, it changes them to thumbnail view when you go back to it. Sometimes trying to fix it back to stroke view causes it to crash.
4. CPU bug. For whatever reason, Painter likes to eat about 45% of your CPU or more even when you're idle and not drawing. I don't know why it's consuming so much CPU on idle times (as in I'm not even painting!). I'm told because I'm using multiple cores it may actually be closer to 100% if I had a single core processor.
5. Color Management. It also appears that painter is assigning incorrect color management to documents from the one you specified. This means you're blacks may not look 100% black because of this issue. There's even a bug for Mac users with color management.
6. Copy and Paste bug. Some reason Painter 11 is having issues copying and pasting selections into a new layer. This is really a problem for example if I wanted instead of lifting inks to a Watercolor layer...to copy and paste it into a new layer and setting it to gel.
7. The new Transformation tool...yep that's buggy too. It crops out certain areas, and sometimes doesn't transform selections correctly. What's the point of this tool if it doesn't work properly?
8. Ugly GUI - General User Interface. While the softened colors are better, the rest of the interface is just back to windows 2000. Nothing intuitive about the placement of tools on the tools palette, too many confusing palettes that need to be stored in an intuitive manner for many users, and interface bugs.
9. This maybe should be the number one issue for Corel. Really poor customer service. If you pay for the full edition, people have been told over the phone to go to their PanterFactory forums instead of getting real customer support. That can be absolutely frustrating for someone who just called their center expecting some support with their software package. In addition, the support level on their forums is abysmal. I'm not expecting Corel to be Adobe, but I feel like I'm on a sinking ship with the level of support.
I'm told they're already working on a Painter 12 and really....they should be working on revamping their product. I feel like more of this program is dedicated to photopainting, and the illustrators are feeling more and more ignored unless they help push the product. I really love painter for the natural brush emulation but the support and bugs leaves me bittersweet.
** - Edit I'm also trying to figure out why another person directed a counterpoint to my review about saying the Tilt function was faulty in Painter when this was never once mentioned in my review? I said there was a missing stroke bug, which is a completely different issue with the intuos 3. Reading comprehension...? (I kind of believe that to be a must in a good review before arguing something I never something I never said).Corel Painter 11 OverviewExpand your creativity with Painter 11, the most inventive digital painting software on the market. By adding Painter to your workflow, you gain a full art studio that gives you the tools to create unprecedented artwork. Digital art tools let you experiment with color theory, composition and brush strokes, without the toxins, mess and expenses associated with traditional art. Support for the entire Wacom product line, including industry-leading Cintiq interactive pen displays and Intuos drawing tablets, gives you the most responsive digital painting experience so your hand and brush work fluidly as one. Customizable paper textures give your art added artistic undertones, plus a level of texture and detail that no other digital painting or photo-painting tools can produce. Painter is changing what's possible in art. Now it's your turn.

The World's Most Powerful Natural-Media Software
Enhance the Creative Process
Enhanced Artistic Media reproduce the texture of their real-life counterparts and intensify color with each stroke
Pen and drawing tablet (recommended), combined with Painter's RealBristle brushes, recreate the natural interaction between hand and canvas
New Hard Media Controls let you create your own hard media variants, or choose from new hard media variants in the Brush Library

Go Beyond the Digital Darkroom
Improved color recognition for files imported from Adobe Photoshop, and individual color profiles per document, make your colors more precise
Photo-painting tools with SmartStroke technology let you creatively transform reality
Customizable surface texturing gives your art a level of fantasy and detail that other photo and painting software can't deliver

Learn from Unlimited Experimentation
Digital art tools let you experiment with color theory, composition and brush strokes without the toxins, mess and expenses associated with traditional art
New Hard Media controls give you the flexibility to play around to find the exact look you desire
Smart composition tools, such as Divine Proportion and the Rule of Thirds and Fifths, help you visually arrange your canvas to create perfect compositions

Features
What's Included
Content Libraries of unique textures, gradients, nozzles, patterns, stock photos and brushes, including the new RealBristle dry media brush category
Documentation
Getting Started Guide
HTML User Guide and Getting Started Guide
HTML Help files

Training
Online tutorials and testimonials

Enhance the Creative Process
New--Hard Media Controls Create your own hard media variants, or choose from new hard media variants in the Brush Library, so you have more creative control over your media. Customizable profiles, dab sizes, transitions and stroke width previews let you play around to create the exact look you want.
New--RealBristle Dry Media Marker, pen, pencil and chalk media reproduce the look and feel of their real-life counterparts in a way that no other software can!
Marker--intensify color with each new marker stroke so you can color in one continuous shade or create a buildup of color
Pen--choose to create fine pen strokes, or thick strokes and ink deposits, by changing the velocity of your stroke. The faster you go, the thinner the line; the slower you go, the thicker the line
Pencil & Chalk--control shading by changing the angle of your stylus on the drawing tablet. Choose whether to draw with the tip or shade with the side of the nib-just like in real life

Enhanced--Selection Tools A new Polygonal mode for the Lasso tool, plus overall improvements to marquee tools and the Magic Wand, let you make more nimble selections the first time around.
Enhanced--Wacom Support Support for the entire Wacom product line, including Cintiq interactive pen displays and Intuos pen tablets, gives you most responsive digital painting software and the best digital art experience.
RealBristle Painting System Replicate the sensation and interaction between traditional paint and canvas with your pen and tablet. This represents a major milestone for digital painting by making brushes totally responsive to your hand and canvas, creating the most realistic painting experience.
Customizable Brushes Create your own brushes in the type, size or pattern of your choice, so you can make custom brush strokes and create artwork that is truly unique.
Go Beyond the Digital Darkroom
New--Color Management Create better color matches with new individual color profiles for every document and improved color recognition for files imported from Adobe Photoshop. This enhances your workflow because you save time by having fewer color corrections to make.
Enhanced--Adobe Photoshop Support Maintain colors and layers when transferring files between Photoshop and Painter. This saves time when importing and exporting artwork between the two programs, because corrections are less necessary.
Photo-painting Tools Transform photos into paintings by hand, or let SmartStroke brush technology in the Auto-Painting Palette paint a photo for you. It follows the lines and contours in the picture just like a real artist would. This lets you take the best of both worlds--photography and painting--to create new forms of art.
Customizable Surface Texturing Give your art added artistic undertones, plus a level of texture and detail that no other digital painting software and photo-painting tools can produce. You can choose paper textures for your canvas, or create and customize your own textures to produce really unique artwork.
Learn from Unlimited Experimentation
Enhanced--Mixer Palette & Swatches Extra mixer swatches appear when you enlarge the newly resizable Mixer Palette. Increase the size of the Palette to put more colors at your disposal and have a clearer view of your chosen color. Reduce the size when you no longer need to mix colors so the Palette takes up less space on screen.
Smart Composition Tools Divine Proportion and the Rule of Thirds and Fifths help you visually arrange your canvas before sketching or painting to create perfect compositions.
Flexible Digital Art Tools Experiment with color theory, composition and brush strokes to your heart's content, and produce exciting results-without the toxins, mess and expenses associated with traditional art.
Universal Mixer Palette For multicolor selection, this palette gives you better control over color blending between the Mixer palette and the canvas, so your colors are more precise.
Underpainting Palette This palette includes color schemes based on various artistic styles, such as Impressionist, Classical, Modern, Watercolor, Sketchbook and Chalk Drawing, so you can create art like your favorite muses. You can also match your Underpainting Palette to that of any open image for consistency.
Match Palette Effect Match the color and intensity between 2 images. Just open an image that features your desired color scheme and use the Match Palette effect to bring that color to the image you want to change.
Increase Speed & Stability
Enhanced--Performance Painter 11 is optimized to provide artists with the fastest version of Painter ever. Depending on system hardware, brushes perform up to 30% faster, creating a more true-to-life painting speed.
New--Transformation Capabilities Switch between different Transform modes from one centralized tool, and choose whether to transform the complete contents of a layer, or selected content, for greater speed, flexibility and precision.
New--Resizable Color Palette Adjust colors manually with sliders on the Color Palette. Enlarge the Color Palette up to 800 pixels for a clearer view of your selected color. You can now also fine-tune the color wheel with your arrow keys so it takes less time to find the perfect color.
New--Color Management Interface The fresh and simplified interface makes it easier to control color profiles when creating new files, or when opening Painter and other file types.
Windows Vista Support Painter 11 supports the latest operating system from Microsoft.
Mac OS Support Painter 11 supports the latest operating system 10.5 from Apple.
Multiple Platform Support Painter 11 includes both Mac OS and Windows versions on the same CD.

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Corel Painter 12 Review

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Corel Painter 12 ReviewI have to preface that I was a beta tester for this release and I cannot discuss anything during that time. My review is for the final product. So please do not ask about the betas, I will disclose.
This may be a lengthy review so the tl;dr (Too Long Didn't Read Version) is up top - more thorough after.
Edit- August 18th 2011: - Corel released their first patch and it also helps with multicore and performance improvements. It also seems that they're listening to customers where they'd like to see more releases and updates to the program.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Painter gets an overhaul with its new release. While there are bugs that were present in past versions, along with new ones !boo! - The good does seem to outweigh the bad compared to past Painter releases that seemed more like patches to previous versions.
The Real Watercolors is a definite seller for me - to finally see watercolors that behave like watercolors for the most part. However, there is issues with lag.
The new interface and navigator window are definitely great. I also like the Brush category cleanup with some reservations. Like what happened with the Artist Oils?
The zooming has improved a lot in this version, and despite the bugs, thinking it over - I'd recommend this version because it's finally more of an update than a patch.
The New:
Overhauled GUI
Customization of your workspace including custom icons/jpegs for your entire workspace including brushes
Navigator Window
Windows 64 bit multicore support
Mirror Mode
Kaleidoscope Mode
Real Watercolor Brushes
Real Oil Brushes
Online Help with Video Tutorials
The longer review is below
------------------------------------------------------------------The last two Painter releases had left me a bit frustrated with the bugs, and I'll be honest this release is definitely not bug free. I will get into this later in the review. However, after thinking about how to review this product I felt it best to look at what this release does for Painter especially since the last two versions. I've been a long time Painter user and I also wanted to think if it helps newer users that are afraid of Painter's interface.
I am happy to see Corel finally working at listening to many complaints Painter users had.
Painter gets a brand new interface. I have to admit, I'm not completely warm to the icons - some of them seem silly or kiddie to me, but the new look is a welcome. The biggest reason is the vast amount of customization I can make to the workspace. Gone is the old Windows 2000 look. Now I have panels where I can group what I need together. I'll provide some screenshots to help users too (unless Corel updates product info and it's not necessary). Panels are collapsible and detachable. You can change the order of what panel you want up front.
Want a custom icon for a shortcut or brush you use because previous versions of Painter just used the same category icon? Now it's possible!
You can dock your panels on the top or bottom of the screen. You can even change the toolbox into a horizontal layout if you don't like the Photoshop vertical one. Double Row? Sure!
Brush Library gets an overhaul too, it's a lot easier to read instead of the previous scroll of doom. No more buggy thumbnails on how a stroke is supposed to look. The new interface puts that right down at the bottom of the Brush Selector. Have a brush category you like going into you can now drag it up to the top of your brush list. Want to hide ones you don't use without opening cumbersome dialog windows? That's also possible.
Another better feature. Finally a separate dynamic re-sizable Navigator Window. This makes workflow so much easier.
Remember that nasty jaggy zooming? That has also improved. Zooming is much more smoother - but you may need to update your graphics card.
Help Topics are now online along with a PDF file, so this means possibly better updates to topics when things aren't clear. Believe me, even in this release Painter does need it. There's still parts of the manual that need fleshing out. This now makes it easier to correct. Corel even has video tutorials for the uninitiated!
So, any new brushes? Yes, and in fact as the brush selector got an overhaul, so did the crazy amount of brushes. Gone are the Oils 30, 10 and other sizes. Categories got cleaned up. With the exception of how the Artist's Oils category was handled - it was a much needed revamp. Without the "Artist's Oil's" prefix, it's hard to know it was an artist Oil without looking at the Brush customization panels. You can however switch between the new library and Painter 11 to get it. Windows users will also have multicore support - sorry Mac users not this round.
So we have Brushes that now respond to blending modes just like Photoshop - a much requested feature. In addition we have the Real Oils and Watercolor brushes. If a brush seems slow - open up the Brush Panels and uncheck the multicore option.
I have to say, the Real Watercolors are a major seller for me along with the other goods Painter put into this product. However, after a while they tend to lag.
There are some complaints though. Painter needs to get with the program and make brush customization import and placement easier. Often times users are messing with hidden system files of their user data to import new brushes. Painter needs to make it easier for users and not have them go into those files.
Copy and Paste is still a pain. I don't understand why this is easy with other image editing programs (illustration ones are included) and this function is such hit and miss for Painter.
Painter is a bit slow to launch at times and is fussy. This program is not crash free. I was hoping for more stability this time but alas not so. Hopefully Corel will work faster at getting patches out for the bugs.
I also don't know why the color tools are somewhat broken. The color wheel no longer slides to a perfect white or black. Just look at the HSV/RGB sliders when moving to Black or White to see what I mean.
Mixer Palette seems to have taken a step back with lack of hotkeys and more confusing buttons. It wasn't that broken (other than a lack of undo/redo) so this "fix" made it more harder to work with.
Dual Monitor settings don't seem to set in as well and there are bugs with that setup.
There is an issue of getting random strokes. This is not limited to the intuos lines of tablets.
Transformation tools can still use some work. Although it is nice that Painter plays with well with Photoshop - I'd really like to be able to transform items with much more ease so that Photoshop is my image optimizer and final touchup program - than having to work between programs in the middle of a painting.
Some decisions are just bizarre. Why, for example does the Welcome Screen links launch in Internet Explorer instead of your default browser? The Online Help Topics launch in your default browser just fine - but slow for XP users.
While I was hand-wringing over the bugs. I do have to concede to this being a big overhaul that's worth an upgrade or purchase.
The new features are actually NEW features than "here's some minor update but let's throw in a bunch of new brushes you won't use to keep you distracted".
I do hope the bugs get fixed and I give a nod to Corel and its team for this release.
If you have any questions or need help with Painter feel free to leave a comment and I'll reply with more information on how to work certain features of Painter.Corel Painter 12 OverviewThe redesigned Corel Painter 12 user interface. View larger.

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Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 Review

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Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 ReviewSorry about the formatting, Amazon is removing all my spaces when I publish even though it looks fine in the editor.
Computer Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo @ 1.86 GHz
2 GB RAM
256 MB Video
32 bit
Windows Vista
My test:
Added 2 videos.
Added image stabilization to one
3D transition between them.
Rendered the project.
AVCHD in and MPG2 out (both in full HD, 1920*1440, Dolby 5.1 if available)
Video length 4 minutes and 20 seconds.Overall Review:
**** Corel Video Studio Pro X3
**** Cyberlink PowerDirector 8
*** Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Plus 9
**1/2 Adobe Premiere Elements 8
** Magix Edit Pro 15
* Roxio Creator 2010
* Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 14
Package Options:
My reviews are against the top versions of each product line. You will find that most of the differences between the top versions and the base are Blu-ray export options, and some add some extra sound options. See for yourself the option that suits you at the manufacturer's website in their respective product comparison guides.
Windows 7:
All seemed to work for me in windows 7, 64 bit with 4 GB RAM. I didn't do any tests with it b/c I wanted to use an older machine that would come closer to representing the average computer. This includes Roxio 2009, but not 2010 for reasons stated below.
Final Opinion:
If you want something super easy to use, then I would go with Cyberlink PowerDirector 8. If you want something with a bit more power that you can grow into, I would go with Corel Video Studio Pro X3. Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro plus 9 may very well be good, but I see no reason to purchase it with the power of the Corel package.
If you are a masochist, go with Adobe, Magix, Roxio, or Pinnacle.DETAILS:
Adobe Premiere Elements 8
65 min render time
Pros:
You can search effects
Layout was good but not great
Interface was pretty straightforward
Cons:
Virtually locked my system
Slow and temporarily froze frequently
Output menu was cumbersomeCorel Video Studio Pro X3
19 min render time
Pros:
Great Output menu
Very fast
Easy to use user interface
Proxy editing*
Autofit for timeline
Cons:
No search function for effects
*edit*
After further review of this software, I had to knock it down from 5 to 4 stars.
I noticed more and more buggyness from the software the more that I used it.
It wasn't enough that one couldn't use it, but it was enough to be a bit frustrating at times.
*edit*
Cyberlink PowerDirector 8
30 min render time
Pros:
Output menu was nice
Very nice and easy to use layout
Cons:
No Blu-ray output
*edit*
Blu-ray output is available on Ultra.
After further use of this program, I have some issues with it and have lowered it to 4 from 5 stars.
I was disappointed with the menu editing in that you can not do text only menus, you can't really "customize" menus, and their stock menus total a whopping 2. They state they have thousands online, but almost all of these are menus that are horrible junk ones that others have created. There are literaly a few that are good or better. In addition, you can not search these menus, and the sorting is poor at best to browse them.
*edit*Magix Edit Pro 15
41 min Render time
Pros:
Simple
Cons:
Poor user interface
Oversimplified (Too simple I think for most people)
Very Cumbersome to use and add effects
Output options were confusing and cumbersome
Extremely limited options for PC output (which is what many will be doing)
A couple of lock upsPinnacle Studio Ultimate 14
Pros:
Nice little finished project to see what can be done
Nice interface for editing
Cons:
ONLY SOFTWARE that I was not able to import a video
Locked up my system many times and left errant process running at 80% CPU
Took 50 seconds just to load the import video TAB
When I selected videos to import and hit start import, absolutely nothing happened
Tried one of their movies and went to help to find stabilization and it crashed on me b/c I didn't have enough memory
No Blu-ray output
Cons on install on windows 7 computer:
Failure on export of file on all formats
I actually tried Pinnacle about 10 years ago and had absolutely nothing but problems. Spent many days downloading patches just to get it to work. Then, like a moron, I did an entire project and when I went to burn it, the burn failed every time. I see a decade later, I still can't export a file.Roxio Creator 2010
Pros:
-----
Cons:
They don't allow a trial download. I contacted them asking them if I could download a trial and even noted that I was a current customer. I personally like the 2009 Roxio. It was a nice "all-purpose" program. They told me that I had to buy it. I was offered a money back guarantee, but to do so, I had to send in a letter of destruction. This is way too much effort on my end to see if your software works for me.
I find it ridiculous in this day and age that you can't have a trial version of something, especially when EVERY ONE of your competitors does. In addition, this is how they were treating an existing customer!
You throw in all the compatibility issues that can occur in software in general and video software in particular, and that leaves me to think they have something to hide.
As icing on the cake, the following sentence was in their reply.
"Creator 2010 does support AVCHD software and hasn't been know to have any issues thus far!"
I replied to them about this OUTRIGHT LIE! First, you can read the compatibility issues on Amazon. Second, as a person that writes programs, there is no such thing as bug free software, especially video editing software.Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Plus 9
14 minute render time (NO ANTI-SHAKE IN RENDER, see below)
Pros:
Computer stayed pretty responsive during render
Savable packages of effects
How to guide is nice
Cons:
Couldn't search effects
Very, very cumbersome to use
Couldn't find stabilization
The render time approximation stayed at around 1 minute or 2 left the entire time
Here is my issue with Sony Vegas. I have compared its features with many of the other programs and they are all very similar. Now, when compared with Corel Video Studio Pro X3 and Cyberlink PowerDirector, they are virtually identical. I personally think Sony leaves their software cumbersome so that it "looks/seems" more powerful.
I was definitely most disappointed in this product because it was the one that I was looking the most forward to using. When I say that it is cumbersome to use, it doesn't mean that it can't be used. Let me give an example. I am a programmer, and in something like excel, I like the ability to write my own code to create functions and tools that it doesn't offer or to tweak ones that it does. HOWEVER, when I want to enter numbers in boxes, I just want to enter numbers in boxes. I don't want to click in a box, go to a menu or right click, select some gadget and then enter a number. It is ok for complicated things to be complicated, but simple things should not only be simple, but also INTUITIVE.
The main thing that I saw that you could do in Sony Vegas that you couldn't do in the others is change your transitions (both audio and video) ramp as far as how quickly they come in and go out. I am not talking about changing the time, but how your out video accelerates out and how you in video accelerates in during that time. It is a cool feature, but something that 99% of people will only not use, but won't care about either.
Another thing, the image stabilizer should be easy to do, and it may be. However, I did a search in help for stabilize, stabilizer, sta, shake, anti, etc. and could not find out how to do this very simple thing. This worries me greatly that if this isn't readily available in the help docs, then much of the other stuff probably isn't either.*A note on proxy editing.
Proxy editing is basically you working on a very low def version of your file, but when it comes time to actually render your output, the original file is used. Some view this as a crutch because they say you should be able to optimize the software to work with the high def video. My opinion is that if I can work faster, then I will work faster. Who cares what my resolution is while I am editing. If you have the fastest software out there for HD, and you can do your edits in very low def and it is even faster still, then why would you not want that?Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 OverviewWork as fast as your creativity moves you with Corel VideoStudio Pro X3--HD video-editing software for serious movie making fun. Now twice as fast, it has everything you need to import, edit and share standard or HD movies and DVDs. Start with an amazing new collection of professionally designed templates from RevoStock and real-time, studio-quality effects. Stay on the creative track with a huge palette of intuitive and powerful video-editing tools. Then share your story everywhere, from YouTube to Blu-ray and everything in between.

Overview VideoStudio Pro X3 kicks the movie making process into high gear, giving you the ultimate playground for creativity. Your complete HD video-editing program, it gives you a rapid head start with professionally designed templates, real-time, studio-quality effects, polished titles and smooth transitions. Super-charge your workflow with GPU acceleration and multi-core Intel CPU support for faster editing and rendering. Quickly assemble video clips in new Express Edit mode or go deep with advanced video-editing tools. Then share your videos on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, DVD, AVCHD and Blu-ray discs, iPod, PSP and more.
Complete HD workflow--import, edit, burn and share standard or HD video
GPU acceleration--edit and render twice as fast, especially with HD video
Professional content--get $500 US worth of studio-quality RevoStock templates
Express movie making--create movies in minutes, then fine-tune with advanced editing tools
Real-time effects--work fast with live previews of special effects like RotoSketch
Blu-ray authoring & burning--author with Hollywood-style DVD menus
Online sharing--send directly to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and mobile device

What's included?
Main application Corel VideoStudio Pro X3: Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 gives users the power, speed, and creativity to produce professional-quality video. Now dramatically faster, this end-to-end video production package delivers advanced editing, as well as professional templates, stunning filters, powerful real-time effects, and online sharing to Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo in one complete package.
Supporting applications and content
Corel DVD Factory Pro 2010: Video enthusiasts can finish their masterpieces with full HD and Blu-ray authoring using Corel DVD Factory Pro 2010. Support for a wide variety of disc formats and devices--including HD formats, such as Blu-ray and AVCHD--simplifies sharing, preserving, or taking digital media to go.
Corel VideoStudio Express 2010: When users want to make fast edits or quickly create a movie project, Corel VideoStudio Express 2010 is the way to go. In a few steps, anyone can combine video clips, photos, music, and voiceover to create a great-looking video project.
DV-to-DVD Wizard: The DV-to-DVD Wizard lets users capture video from a DV camcorder, add a theme template to it, and then burn it directly to DVD.
NewBlueFX: Renowned for giving video enthusiasts and professionals plug-ins for easily and creatively customizing media, a variety of NewBlue filters and dynamic animated effects are built right into VideoStudio Pro X3. Exclusive to VideoStudio Pro X3 is the NewBlue PiP Animator, which can customize and animate any picture-in-picture window.
RevoStock Movie Templates: A new partnership with RevoStock gives VideoStudio Pro X3 users a variety of new professionally designed movie templates.

What's New Create, edit, render and share faster than ever with VideoStudio Pro X3--the best video-editing software for making HD movies. Now two times faster, it simplifies your entire workflow so you can focus on the creative aspects of movie making, without your software getting in the way.
Dramatically enhanced speed and performance
New--Hardware acceleration for Intel Corei7, NVIDIA CUDA and AMD
New--Launcher--quick access to express or advanced editing modes
New--Express Edit mode--make movies in minutes!
Enhanced--Smart Proxy for faster previewing and more responsive HD editing
Enhanced--All-new interface for a faster video-editing workflow

Studio-quality effects and templates
New--Professionally designed templates from RevoStock--worth over $500 US!
New--Real-time effects, including NewBlueFX filters with key framing
New--Effects for compositing and video animation, including RotoSketch and AutoSketch
New--Multi-track filters that let you add effects to each of your tracks
New--GPU-accelerated high-speed filters with real-time preview
New--Customizable, royalty-free audio tracks from SmartSound
Enhanced--Title effects for easy compositing

HD enhancements
New--Blu-ray authoring with Hollywood-style menus, titles, transitions and effects
New--HD authoring to standard DVD media
New--Web-ready files--save HD MPEG-4 files for the Web with H.264 compression

More sharing options
New--Upload directly to Vimeo, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr in standard or HD
Enhanced--DVD authoring--output to CD, DVD or Blu-ray Disc
Enhanced--Save to more file formats, including AVI, FLV, MP3 encode, AC3 5.1, AVCHD, HD MPEG-2 and MPEG-4
Enhanced--Send to more devices, including iPod, iPhone and PSP

More speed across the board Don't get tripped up by technical delays--create, edit, render and share twice as fast with this new version!
New! Launcher VideoStudio Pro X3 gets you right to the task at hand with the new Launcher. From one convenient location, you can start express editing, more advanced video editing, the DV-to-DVD wizard, or DVD Movie Factory 2010 for DVD and Blu-ray Disc authoring and burning.
New! GPU and CPU Acceleration Dramatically speed up your entire movie making process with NVIDIA CUDA and Intel Core i7 optimization.
New! VideoStudio Express Make quick edits, or combine video clips, photos, music and voiceover to create a professional-looking video project in minutes.
Studio-quality templates and effects Get a creative head start with professionally designed templates from RevoStock, polished titles, and studio-quality audio and video effects.
New! Movie Templates VideoStudio Pro X3 offers the best-quality movie templates in its class, including over $500 US worth of templates from RevoStock. Turn video clips into polished movies in an instant, with Hollywood-style titles, transitions, pans and zooms, credits and more.
New! RotoSketch Transform videos, video frames and photos into animated clips and hand-sketched drawings in a few clicks. By simply applying a filter, you can turn media assets into realistic animations or digital art.
Enhanced! Title Effects Create stunning titles in seconds by adding multiple title tracks and effects, then customize your work to get the perfect look.
End-to-end HD video production Import, edit and share HD video.
Enhanced! HD Capture and Import Import HD video from anywhere, including HDV, AVCHD, Blu-ray Disc and JVC HD camcorders. Import standard video from DV and analog camcorders, and Web, USB and still image cameras.
Enhanced! Blu-ray Authoring and Burning Create your own Blu-ray titles, and author menus for DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, including BD-J menus.
New! H.264 Compression Get incredible HD quality in smaller files by creating HD MPEG-4 files with the H.264 codec. This makes it easier to share videos on a variety of devices ranging from low-powered cell phones to high-powered Blu-ray devices.
Unlimited video sharing Upload, burn, copy and share any way you want.
Enhanced! Online sharing Share your movies with your own personal network or with the entire world in a few simple clicks. Upload your videos and slideshows directly to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Flickr.
Enhanced! Format Flexibility Save your movies to AVI, FLV, MP3 encode, AC3 5.1, AVCHD, HD MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and more.
Enhanced! Copy, Convert and Burn Copy movies to your device of choice, including iPod, iPhone, MP3 players (USB) and PlayStation Portable (PSP). Burn CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray and AVCHD discs. You can even burn HD video to standard DVD media to play on a DVD or Blu-ray player.

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Corel PaintShop Pro X4 Review

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Corel PaintShop Pro X4 ReviewI've been using PaintShop Pro in most of its variations since the `90s and was asked to participate in the beta development of PSPX4. There is a lot to like in this latest version, for sure!
Let's start with speed - PSPX4 opens fast, loads images fast, and just overall performs complex tasks much more quickly and without a lot of the lag time found in other programs. The workspace is really streamlined and can easily be customized to your preferences. I use a dual-monitor setup for processing images and creating art and PSPX4 fully supports dual monitor. Set it up once and save it as a preferred workspace and it's always there when you want it. And if you're not using a dual monitor setup - well, try it - you'll see how a dual monitor setup and PSPX4 work seamlessly to further enhance your own particular workflow.
Most all the tools within PSPX4 have been upgraded as well! I like to bring in RAW images (I'm using Nikon's NEF format) and give an overall "fix" for things like brightness and contrast before bringing them into PSPX4's Edit mode. The larger preview area in the RAW Lab certainly helps! And the ability to work on 16-bit files is HUGE given today's cameras.
The HDR tools are also superb - I like to shoot a lot of "auto-bracketed" shots and using exposure merge allows me to find that perfect balance of light and contrast and sharpness - seriously, my images now seem to "pop" with color. I have complete control over the overall tone and mood of my images!
The Manage tab allows me to quickly scan for other images where I may want to use a certain element in the current project. Again - dual monitor support makes it easy to keep my windows where I need them - easy to see and easy to manipulate.
I think PSPX4's performance and speed has probably been the biggest improvement in this version. It helps to have a system that can take advantage of that, of course - but I will say the application is amazingly fast and the tools work without hesitation (none of that painful lag time) as I work on very large and complex images - large file size and multi-layer projects.
From simple tasks such as brightening your P&S camera images to full blown remodeling of large scale RAW images and everything in between - I'm finding PSPX4 handles it all. I can be as simple or as complex as I want and I don't have to worry about the software slowing me down or curtailing my creativity. Perhaps that's what I enjoy the most now with PSPX4 - I can focus on being creative instead of worrying about software constraints!
For me, PSPX4 gives me all of this and at a fraction of the cost of other more expensive programs.
Cheers,
GinoCorel PaintShop Pro X4 Overview

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Corel Photo and Video Pro X4 Ultimate Bundle Review

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Corel Photo and Video Pro X4 Ultimate Bundle ReviewI upgraded from paintshop X2 to the current X4 version. The X4 version can now process my RAW files. Other differences are nice. The database management utility is a show stopper if you require such a tool. It crashes every time it is used or tries to move files. Moving or deleting files outside of the program will also cause the program to crash. This problem is maybe why Corel provided the restoredatbase utility, without it the program would be useless.
The videostudio X4 ultimate program is good. I bought it because of the Mercalli image stabilization add on. I take handheld videos at 720mm zoom and the program stabilizes the images very well. I had been using power director. Videostudio X4 is easier to use for my needs.
Overall I am happy with the X4 products. Corel needs to fix the management problem.Corel Photo and Video Pro X4 Ultimate Bundle Overview
VideoStudio Pro X4 Ultimate Multimonitor support--2 monitor view. View larger.

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CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 Education Edition Review

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CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 Education Edition ReviewHave corel X3 and bought this update X5. Corel X3 shows thumbnails and previews of all its images that are Corel or photopaint files. X5 will NOT SHOW THUMBS or previews!!! None of our CDR files will show previews. There are 1000's of cliparts that we cannot tell what they are because the program will NOT show thumbs, just a little green pencil icon which is the corel x5 logo. Nobody in corel forums knows how to solve this problem, and there are many others who have this problem with their corel X5 too. corel Inc. will not do anything to help. too bad, the program seems to have many good features if you could just see your file thumbs.CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 Education Edition OverviewCorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 offers all the tools needed to illustrate, lay out, trace, photo-edit or create Web graphics and animations. A built-in content organizer helps students find files and images quickly. Engaging video tutorials and tool tips encourage their design growth. Creativity is a key differentiator in the workforce--with CorelDRAW, students develop their creative flair. Offering attractive clipart, royalty-free photos and creative templates, this suite provides a confidence boost so students can create everything they envision from field trip reports and team newsletters to event flyers and posters.

Education Edition This is the Education Edition of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5. For the standard version click here.
Eligibility To purchase education versions of shrink-wrapped software, or take advantage of the Corel Volume Purchase Program, purchasers must be: accredited schools, faculties, full- or part-time registered students, academic supervisory organizations, hospitals, libraries, museums, and nonprofit charitable and religious organizations.
Warning! Proof of eligibility required--only accredited schools, faculties, full- or part-time matriculated students, and academic supervisory orgnizations are eligible to purchase Corel Education software.
Terms and Conditions Organizations must be able to show proof of eligibility and applicable accreditation if requested by Corel or a Corel Authorized Education Reseller. It is Corel's sole discretion to accept or decline the applicant. Any issues or concerns regarding the preceding definitions shall be resolved at Corel's discretion. All software must be used for internal administrative or educational instruction purposes only. Products may not be resold, donated or used as a prize in any promotion.
Do more than you thought possible.
All-in-one professional graphics suite Find everything you need for professional graphics illustration, layout, tracing, photo editing, Web graphics and animation in one complete suite of integrated applications that is easy to learn and use.
Easy to learn and use Start smoothly and learn quickly with built-in learning tools, valuable video tutorials, design insights from experts and a visually rich, online guidebook. (A hard cover, full-color, printed guidebook is included with the box version.)
High-value digital content Enrich your designs with over 1,000 professional fonts, including Helvetica, Garamond and Frutiger fonts for the first time ever. Plus, take advantage of high-value digital content, such as premium clipart, royalty-free photos and vehicle templates.
Precise control and easy sharing Output to a broad variety of media, from distinctive logos and signs, to striking marketing materials, Web graphics, billboards and car wraps. Export options let you compare file formats before export, so you can optimize your settings to achieve the highest file quality.
Market-leading file compatibility Re-purpose and share your creations anywhere with market-leading file compatibility. Import and export files quickly and easily with dozens of supported file formats, including PDF, JPG, PNG, EPS, AI, TIFF, PSD and DOCX.
What's New This is the upgrade you've been waiting for! CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 makes everyday tasks faster and easier, delivering new time-savers that help you create with confidence. Check out the 10 most compelling reasons to upgrade your graphics software today.
New--Built-in Content Organizer Speed up your workflow with Corel CONNECT, a built-in content organizer that helps you find graphics, templates, fonts and images instantly on your computer. Your selected content is stored in the tray that is synchronized between CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT, giving you instant access to your content.
New & Enhanced--Web Graphics and Animation Tools Create Web graphics and animations more efficiently than ever with new features, such as a Pixels mode that shows exactly how your content will display online, and a new Web animation tool. Plus, a new Export Dialog box now lets you compare file formats before export, so you can optimize your settings to achieve the highest file quality.
Enhanced--Corel PowerTRACE Convert your bitmap images into high-quality vector objects with even more precision and smoothness, thanks to the greatly enhanced Corel PowerTRACE. This version of PowerTRACE provides the best tracing results yet.
Enhanced--Optimal Speed and Performance Complete your tasks faster with powerful performance enhancements that leverage multi-core processing to maximize your computer's power. This latest edition is optimized for Windows 7 and offers new touch-screen support, as well as support for Windows Vista and Windows XP.
New--Completely Re-designed Color Management Engine Control color consistency across different media and generate a distinct color palette for each document. A new color management engine introduces greater color accuracy, plus support for new color profiles from PANTONE. Minimize your ecological footprint and reduce costly reprints by knowing that your colors are accurate before you print.
New & Enhanced--Visual Communication Tools Create compelling print and online materials with a powerful set of new and enhanced drawing, bitmap-to-vector tracing, diagramming, artistic media and text tools. It's all the graphics software you need for effective visual communication.
Enhanced--Market-leading File Compatibility Re-purpose and share your creations anywhere with broad file compatibility. Dozens of supported file formats, including PDF, JPG, PNG, EPS, AI, TIFF, PSD and DOCX, let you import and export files with other graphics software efficiently.
New & Enhanced--Responsive Drawing Tools In response to user feedback, we've introduced the option to lock toolbars in place, expanded your printing options, and made improvements to the Eyedropper, Mesh Fill and other popular drawing tools.
New & Enhanced--Expert Insights and Engaging Learning Materials Get more design insights with new and updated video tutorials, engaging learning materials and a visually rich, online guidebook that contains new articles from experts. (A hard cover, full-color, printed guidebook is available with the box version.) Be inspired to do more than you thought possible!
New & Enhanced--High-value Digital Content Enrich your designs with over 1,000 professional fonts, including Helvetica, Garamond and Frutiger fonts for the first time ever. Plus, take advantage of high-value digital content, such as premium clipart, royalty-free photos and vehicle templates. Give your work a professional finish without spending extra time and money-- you'll find all the graphics software and resources you need right here!
What's Included
CorelDRAW X5 Intuitive vector illustration and page layout software
Corel PHOTO-PAINT X5 Professional image-editing application specifically designed for use in a graphics workflow
Corel PowerTRACE X5 Bitmap-to-vector file conversion tool
Corel CAPTURE X5 One-click screen capture utility
Corel CONNECT Full-screen browser that lets you search digital content from the suite, your PC or your local network
Supporting applications Barcode wizard, Duplexing wizard, Bitstream Font Navigator, SWiSH miniMax 2*, PhotoZoom Pro 2*
Content 10,000 high-quality clipart and digital images, 2,000 vehicle templates, 1,000 high-resolution digital photos, 1,000 OpenType fonts, including 75 Windows Glyph List 4 (WGL4) fonts and 10 engraving fonts, 350 professionally designed templates
Documentation Online guidebook (hard cover, full-color, printed Guidebook available with the box version), Quick-reference card, Help files
Training 2 hours of training videos on DVD
Connect to your content From fonts, clipart and photos to previously created designs or customer files, content is a central piece of any creative design. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 lets you quickly find and re-purpose content to speed your design process. Gather your design assets from every source and swiftly prepare yourself to begin your next project.
New--Built-in Content Organizer (Corel CONNECT) Quickly find the perfect content for any design with Corel CONNECT, a full-screen browser that gives you instant access to graphics, templates, fonts and images anywhere on your computer.
Enhanced--Market-Leading File Compatibility Open, edit and save as more than 100 industry-standard formats, including AI, PSD, DOCX, ODF, EPS (with enhanced support for PostScript 3) and DXF files.
Enhanced--Color Profiles Maintain color profiles when importing files from external applications for a smoother design process. The default setting matches colors on import automatically, while advanced users can explore more options within the default settings.
New & Enhanced--High-Value Digital Content Enrich your graphic designs with more than 1,000 professional fonts, including Helvetica, Garamond and Frutiger fonts for the first time ever. Plus, take advantage of over 2,000 vehicle templates and 10,000 premium clipart images, bitmap and full-color fills, royalty-free photos, vehicle templates, new artistic media presets, and new brush nibs of different shapes and sizes for more versatility when painting.
Enhanced--Support for Adobe Products Import and export PSD files using the latest Photoshop CS 4 file format. CorelDRAW X5 will preserve the appearance of adjustment layers and Masks palette effects, while Corel PHOTO-PAINT X5 will preserve editable Vibrance, Grayscale and camera filter lenses.
Get going quickly Whether you're a first-time user or an experienced pro, CorelDRAW makes it easy from the moment you begin. You'll find all the learning tools you need to start smoothly and learn quickly, including built-in learning tools, valuable video tutorials, design insights from the experts and a visually rich, online guidebook.
Enhanced--Templates & Tutorials Get high-quality results quickly with 350 professionally designed templates. Ready-made layouts and designs help you find the right look for any job. You'll also enjoy access to new graphic design tools, industry-specific design tips and step-by-step project creation in newly updated tutorials for CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT.
New--Video Tutorials Learn from new video tutorials that demonstrate how to successfully complete popular design tasks.
Welcome Screen Begin with the Welcome Screen, a great starting point for finding your content, starting projects, accessing recently used documents, getting instructional information and viewing inspiring designs from other users around the world.
New--Guidebook Learn from other users and experts, and get inspired by visually rich overviews of each application workspace. A hard cover, full color, printed guidebook is available with the box version.
Enhanced--Corel PowerTRACE: Bitmap-to-Vector Conversion Convert your bitmap images into high-quality vector objects with even more precision and smoothness, thanks to the greatly enhanced Corel PowerTRACE. This version of PowerTRACE provides the best tracing results yet.
Hints Docker View interactive hints that get you started quickly and provide step-by-step help on the suite's powerful tools.
New--Customizable Workspace Customize the application's command bars and button arrangements to suit your workflow, or use preset workspaces similar to Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office.
Create with confidence When it comes to graphic design, confidence in your software is paramount. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 provides new and enhanced graphic design tools to help you achieve the quality you need in the shortest amount of time. With a legacy in design innovation, this trusted graphics suite offers all the support you need to create with confidence.
Enhanced--Drawing Tools Draw and design intuitively with enhanced artistic media and drawing tools that respond to the pressure, tilt and bearing of your pen on drawing tablet.
Enhanced--Corel PHOTO-PAINT: Powerful Photo Editing Experiment with exciting new photo effects, such as Vibrance, Grayscale and Photo Filter. These filters are preserved when you import and export PSD files using the Adobe Photoshop CS 4 file format. Corel PHOTO-PAINT X5 also supports RAW format for over 300 types of cameras, giving you greater artistic control and flexibility.
New & Enhanced--Web Graphics and Animation Create Web graphics and animations more efficiently than ever. Optimized filters produce consistent, high-quality Web formats with proper transparency, cropping and browser compatibility. Create your designs in CorelDRAW, then open in new SWiSH miniMax 2 to animate your images. Control motion, draw shapes, edit text and more. The new Pixels mode shows exactly how your content will display online. Plus, a new Export Dialog box now lets you compare file formats before export, so you can optimize your settings to achieve the highest file quality.
Interactive Table Tool Create and import tables to provide structured layouts for text and graphics.
CorelDRAW ConceptShare Get quality feedback on design projects without costly meetings! ConceptShare lets you quickly and easily collaborate online with colleagues and clients in a secure environment. It's packed with tools that let you share, mark up and review designs with others, on your own time.
Live Text Formatting Preview text formatting changes in real time before applying them to the document.
Smart Fill Apply fills to any enclosed object area, such as the loops of a freehand line that crosses over itself.
Image Slicing Slice an image into several smaller files for Web page optimization.
Output to any media Today, you need the export flexibility to output designs to any media: Web banners, Web sites, print ads, brochures, even multiple types of media, such as T-shirts, billboards and digital signs. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 provides extensive file support so you can send your work anywhere.
New--Completely Redesigned Color Management Engine Control color consistency across different media and generate a distinct color palette for each document. A new color management engine introduces greater color accuracy, plus support for new color profiles from PANTONE.
Enhanced--File Compatibility and PDF Support Re-purpose and share your creations anywhere with support for more than 60 file formats, including PDF, JPG, PNG, EPS, AI, TIFF, PSD, DOCX and PPT. Password-protect your PDF files to control security and user access when they are viewed, edited and printed by third-parties.
New--Collect for Output Gather fonts, color profiles and other file information with this new output option that makes it easier to share your work with a print service provider.
Print Merge Combine text from a data source with a drawing to quickly create personalized invitations, labels and other personalized projects.
Work faster and more efficiently Complete your tasks faster with powerful performance enhancements that maximize your computer's power. Plus, enjoy more options for recording macros and automating time-consuming tasks.
New--Multi-core Support Work faster with multi-core processing that maximizes the power available in your computer to process your commands more quickly.
Enhanced--Optimized for Latest Windows Platforms Work with ease, whatever your PC operating system. This latest version is optimized for Windows 7 and offers new touch-screen support, as well as support for Windows Vista and Windows XP. Take advantage of the touch technology of Windows 7 to pan, zoom and scroll with your fingertips for a more intuitive design experience.
New--Automation Technology Enjoy more options for recording macros and automating time-consuming tasks. Microsoft's Visual Studio for Applications (VSTA) technology lets you record macros and create third-party add-in solutions to enhance the existing functionality of CorelDRAW.

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