CorelDRAW is the most important graphics package under Windows. It allows the creation of beautiful illustrations, professional advertising, annual reports. It is an object-oriented drawing program.
In many ways, it is similar to computer-aided design programs (AutoCAD). With its module PHOTO-PAINT, this program resembles the painting programs, where they use the graphics made through dots and give the illusion of painting on canvas or of working with the pens.
For an artist, as seen from the point of view of the printing environment, a software that is based on vectorization, such as CorelDRAW is better suited to the software that creates the graphics through the use of dots. The advantages of vector graphics are precision and flexibility; working with mathematical equations, we do not depend on the output device and resolution.
We will discuss some aspects of information transfer in Corel Draw.
The first thing we need to know is that file transfer between two systems (which usually do not have a standard configuration) is difficult, almost impossible. Even assuming that you have the same version of Corel on both systems, you almost certainly do not have the same set of fonts installed.
When you try to open a Corel file on a system that uses fonts not installed on that system, Corel will greet you with a message informing you of this and asking for a replacement for that font, after trying to single it identify a similar font. The results are always unexpected and are often unsatisfactory.
In general, the only case where font replacement is practical is when you have fonts of the same or similar type, but for different nations, for example, Arial with Arial-Rom or Arial CE can even Arial Black. And in that situation, what would be the solution?
One solution would be to use only standard fonts in your work, such as Arial, Times New Roman, Courier, etc. If you only write down what you do in Corel so you can send them a heart and send them to the boss’s e-mail, then this solution is viable, but in all other cases, you will seriously limit the possibility of graphic expression.
Another solution, and in general the preferred solution, is the following: once you are convinced that the drawing is ready, convert all the text elements into curves. This can be done from the Arrange – Convert to curves menu (For speed, you can use Edit-Select All – Text and then convert or Ctrl + Q). This action will transform all the characters in your text into closed curves.
Now you can save the file under another mandatory name, and you can open it on any other system without any other font problems, there are practically no fonts in that file. But this method has its drawbacks. First of all, converting the text into curves assuming you have more than two words, it will create a bunch of objects with many nodes that put problems first and foremost on the computers in the last wave. This may not be a problem anymore, and secondly, the file is a little bigger, but considering the speed of the Internet today, this is not even a problem anymore.
The main problem, however, remains the following: the text is no longer editable. So, assuming you have mistakes in the text, you will have two options: either you run home to correct and come back, or you begin to modify the text as graphics by multiplying characters and moving them from left to right.
Another disadvantage of this method is that anyone will be able to use the elements you draw. So you will have to use another method. In general, this method is exporting the document in a bitmap format (remember that you now work in vector format). Corel can export to a wide variety of formats.
If it does not, then it means that at installation, you did not select them. Let’s say a few words about the most popular formats.
1. BMP format
It is the most unfortunate choice, export in this format only if you want to view the image on an ‘old’ computer or if you want to make a screensaver.
2. JPEG format (JPG)
It is the preferred format for presentation on the Internet or fast file transfer. Its main advantage is that it has very good compression. But here the disadvantage also appears. JPEG is a format that does not preserve image quality.
3. TIFF format (TIF)
Although this format loses ground, it was once quite popular. The quality does not suffer in this format, but the files are also considerably larger than in the case of JPEG. This format has two modes: compressed and uncompressed. If you ever have problems with an open file in an older program, you can be sure that you have a compressed file, and the program has only heard the uncompressed ones.
4. EPS format
This format is not a bitmap itself. It contains a vector description of the image. This is great because you get a small file (in case you only have some geometric shapes and text, even a very small one), and from this file, you can get infinite resolution (theoretically) printouts. This format converts everything into curves, but it’s a bit smarter than the CDR format.