Corel Graphics Suite Gets Animated

CorelDraw 10, the latest upgrade to Corel's graphics suite, adds several compelling features--including a new vector animation program--that many people, especially Web developers, should find attractive.

The $569 suite includes ten graphics tools, ranging from drawing and painting applications to font- and media-management utilities. The disparate tools are comprehensive but could be better integrated. As always, the program supplies templates and clip art galore for business and home users, and it has the depth to satisfy desktop publishing pros. Yet CorelDraw 10 costs much less than comparable drawing and painting applications--such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop--purchased individually.

The new animation program, Corel RAVE, has a surprisingly simple timeline interface that even novices can use to animate text and graphics. Control object properties (such as position, size, transparency, and blending) over time and save the resulting animations in several formats, including Flash for the Web. RAVE is also great for creating Web buttons. My favorite feature in the beta version of CorelDraw 10 I looked at is its new Image Optimizer, which helps you reduce Web file sizes with visual previews of various compression schemes. You can view up to four different JPEG quality levels side by side, for example, to quickly determine the best one for your project.

If you own an earlier edition of CorelDraw and need the new Web-production features, by all means upgrade to version 10. Print-oriented folks should look a little closer to see if the slightly steep $249 upgrade cost is justified.

SUMMARY

CorelDraw 10 PRO: Web-animation and image optimization; ten applications and utilities in one handy package. CON: Stiff upgrade price; difficult to navigate between apps. VALUE: Excellent all-around graphics suite for new users; worthwhile upgrade for Web developers. List price: $569, upgrade $249 Corel 800/772-6735 www.corel.com/draw10