Bri-Toon Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 (edited) As a user who experimented a lot with vector graphics over the years, I find it might be helpful for others for me to share the differences between Illustrator, DrawPlus, Designer, and CorelDraw. A lot of you might be unfamiliar with one or more of the programs. There are things I like about each and things I do not like. Onur has decided to help out in giving me background to CorelDraw since that is one I am unfamiliar with. I will explain why I prefer certain programs and why I don't prefer them with the features that I find most or partially helpful. Here are 26 I came up with. Last Updated (1/27/2017) ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Flood Fills Being able to add fills to unclosed shapes (overlapping regions) Illustrator: Yes, but fills cannot be added to weight variations, brush strokes, or effects DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Artboard Tool The overall canvas which can be resized manually or multiplied Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Nested Layers Layers that can be expanded to reveal the paths within Illustrator: Yes, but sublayers will cause each layer to be expanded when the file is open (CC1 & below) DrawPlus: Yes, but sublayers cannot be added, and paths and groups cannot be hidden or locked Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Pencil Path Continuation Being able to continue a path from its end point with the pencil tool Illustrator: Yes, but sharp corners or sensitive handling will cause the shape to delete or change form DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it will be added in 1.6 CorelDRAW: Yes Fast Loading Effects Effects such as inner and outer glows, shadows, feathers, and blurs Illustrator: No, They take far too long to load depending on the amount (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Image Tracer Converting a picture into vector artwork Illustrator: Yes, but it takes far too long to load depending on the size (sometimes 5 minutes) DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Rounding Single Corners Creating round corners to a single corner as oppose to all corners of a shape Illustrator: Yes, (Updated) DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes, but not as simple as Designer Transparency Tool Adding a fade effect to objects Illustrator: No, but there is one for InDesign? DrawPlus: Yes, but it only works on single objects or groups Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Fill/Stroke Switcher Switching the color of your stroke to your fill or fill to your stroke Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Tools and Layers Having pixel tools and layers available Illustrator: No DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pasting Inside Being able to paste clipboard selections into objects Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus: Yes (Updated) Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Replicate Tool Being able to make duplicates of an object by resizing its bounding box Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but a replicate feature will be added to 1.6 CorelDRAW: No Customizable Vector Patterns Ability to change the size, rotation, and skew form of a pattern fill while its selected Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: No B-Splines Creating B-spline curves enabling the nodes to be in an outer fenced area Illustrator: No, not in CS6 and below at least DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but it has the Smart Curve Pen Tool CorelDRAW: Yes (Updated) Smooth Gradients Having to easily create gradients, then rotate and resize them easily Illustrator: No, You must use the Gradient panel resulting B/W first, then adjusting it is not user friendly DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Smooth Type on Path Having to easily create type on a path, and then being change the path's size or shape Illustrator: No, Changing the size and shape was made a lot more difficult than they needed to be DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Over 1,000,000% Zoom Able to zoom into your drawing over 1,000,000% zoom size Illustrator: No DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Pixel Preview See what your vector drawing would like like in pixels Illustrator: Yes (Updated) DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Realistic Brush Presets Brush presets that that look natural Illustrator: No, there are several brush presets, but they are all flat DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: No Lots of Shape Tools Having a variety of shape presets to choose from Illustrator: No, a total of 6 in the latest version, and live shapes weren't introduced until CC DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes, and excellent manipulation for the cog tool CorelDRAW: Yes Redraw Paths Able to redraw a selected stroke Illustrator: Yes, but it can change the form that was not altered DrawPlus: Yes, but it can be tricky to figure out Designer: No CorelDRAW: No Indicators Indications of which tool, swatch, path, or other options are selected Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: Yes/No, no indication on swatches, paths, or effects Designer: Yes/No, dark indications on tools are hard to see with the dark background CorelDRAW: Yes Eyedropper on Select Copying a color while an object is selected to change the selected object to that color Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes, but it cannot copy the other properties CorelDRAW: Yes Vector Eraser Tools A tool that erases vector objects and maintains its quality Illustrator: Yes, but it changes the shape's proportion DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No, but there is a pixel eraser tool CorelDRAW: Yes 3D Extrusion Turning flat objects into 3D objects, and then rotating them in a 3D perspective Illustrator: Yes DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No CorelDRAW: Yes Full Boundary Selections When objects are selected with a complete close from its selection box and not partially selected Illustrator: No DrawPlus: Yes Designer: Yes, and partial selections can be used as well if adjusted in the preferences CorelDRAW: Yes If this is very helpful to people, then I will update this list as progress moves forward. I hope this helps. Edited January 27, 2017 by bleduc LyricsGirl, Alfred, lake.fx and 14 others 17 Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 Pasting Inside: "DrawPlus: Yes, but then the clipped object can't be manipulated" Unless I've forgotten where to find the 'Paste Inside' option, DrawPlus only has 'Draw Inside'. However, the 'Clip to Top/Bottom Object' commands have the same effect as 'Paste Inside' (albeit as a separate step) and you can manipulate both the clipview object and the clipped object(s) as much as you want. Quote Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted September 18, 2016 Author Share Posted September 18, 2016 Hi Alfred, thank you for your feedback. You are right. I overlooked something. In this video I recorded, I show that before I clip the three dots to the frog's skin, the frog's skin has nodes. After the dots are clipped to it, it no longer has nodes. However, what I didn't realize is that I have to hold Ctrl to bring up the nodes (not in the video); similar to as I would need to do for grouping. I'm making the correction in my list now. Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onur Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 This is the Corel Draw (at X6) version if anyone curious: Flood Fills Being able to add fills to unclosed shapes Yes (Default is No but you can change it from preferences) Artboard Tool Yes Nested Layers Technically 'Yes' but CDR layer system is rocket science for me Pencil Path Continuation Yes, also you can continue with line tool too. Fast Loading Effects Yes, easy to change preferences of effects too Image Tracer Yes - Very good and detailed controls besides with pre defined settings for quick action :) Rounding Single Corners Yes but not simple as affinity designer Transparency Tool Yes Fill/Stroke Switcher No but Corel has best color pick options. Left click fill right click outline (stroke) color Pixel Tools and Layers No Pasting Inside Yes - Powerclip Replicate Tool No Customizable Vector Patterns no B-Splines not sure what it is Smooth Gradients Hell yes. Smooth Type on Path Yes Over 1,000,000% Zoom 266,000% but not a million. Pixel Preview Yes Realistic Brush Presets No, absolutely crappy brushes Lots of Shape Tools Yes, many of them Redraw Paths Didn't understand it Indicators Yes Eyedropper on Select Not just color but also effects, lenses etc. with a second picker tool Vector Eraser Tools Yes 3D Extrusion Yes but i don't know if it is better than others. LyricsGirl and Bri-Toon 2 Quote Win 10 Home - 64 Bit on Asus X55A (original specs except SSD) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NilsFinken Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 Excellent Comparisons! I suppose your list concerns DrawPlus 8? Quote Lenovo laptop with Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, Windows 10 Home. Former user of most Serif software from PagePlus 3.0 through PagePlus X9, now enjoying Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 26, 2016 Author Share Posted November 26, 2016 Thank you very much for the list, Onur. This topic may just turn into a good source for research now. B-Splines not sure what it is B-Spines are very similar to the Smart mode Pen Tool, but it's bezier curves are caged in. See in this example. Redraw Paths Didn't understand it Drawing over a part of a line while the path is selected will update that part to match the new mouse action. (Does that make sense?) Excellent Comparisons! I suppose your list concerns DrawPlus 8? Thank you, and yes, this is comparison to DrawPlus X8. Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onur Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 I see, for B-Spine in Corel, you use Bezier tool but no need to adjust curves, just regular lines and then select all nodes (it's CTRL+A after double click that line drawing) and press smooth curve button. Not a dedicated one click button but in 2 clicks you can solve it. Still don't understand 'ReDraw Path' Quote Win 10 Home - 64 Bit on Asus X55A (original specs except SSD) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 26, 2016 Author Share Posted November 26, 2016 Just to be clear, the thing that makes up B-splines (baseline curves) is to have the nodes as a box around the selected object. It is for reducing the amount of nodes. Here is a video example of what I mean by redrawing paths. https://sendvid.com/6t5twji7 Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onur Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Ok i see it now. No, CD doesn't have redrawing paths. Just to be clear, the thing that makes up B-splines (baseline curves) is to have the nodes as a box around the selected object. It is for reducing the amount of nodes. Here is a video example of what I mean by redrawing paths. https://sendvid.com/6t5twji7 Quote Win 10 Home - 64 Bit on Asus X55A (original specs except SSD) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onur Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Also you can check these text control vid i just made. You may want to add these in your comparison. http://sendvid.com/f5xh89ko Quote Win 10 Home - 64 Bit on Asus X55A (original specs except SSD) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 I was thinking it would be a good idea to add Corel to the list, but I am working on more comparisons to add to this topic, and I really don't know much about Corel. Would you be up to backing me up if I add it? Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paolo.limoncelli Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Flood Fills Being able to add fills to unclosed shapes Illustrator: Yes, but fills cannot be added to weight variations, brush strokes, or effects DrawPlus: Yes Designer: No Check "use Fill" and you're done... ;) Quote The white dog, making tools for artists, illustrators and doodlers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Check "use Fill" and you're done... ;) You can also add a fill "after the fact". paolo.limoncelli 1 Quote Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Check "use Fill" and you're done... ;) By that first feature, I mean making "flood" fills entirely by overlapping regions. Applying a regular fill on an open path will just create the fill from the beginning point to its end point. Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Hello everyone, there has been a major update to the original post and title. Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paolo.limoncelli Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Pasting Inside Being able to paste clipboard selections into objects Illustrator: No, but it does support clipping in a less intuitive way DrawPlus: Yes (Updated) Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes Illustrator can do this... ;) I'm using it right now. Quote The white dog, making tools for artists, illustrators and doodlers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff TonyB Posted November 28, 2016 Staff Share Posted November 28, 2016 The problems with this kind of comparison is why Affinity was actually created. DrawPlus marketing became just about ticks just like your list above. Flood Fill is a good example as the DrawPlus version actually attempts to trace the rasterised version of the interior of a shape. This produces a terrible quality result but it got a tick on the list. Affinity is an attempt to be different and only introduce high quality tools and features. This is still a work in progress but sets out the path we are trying to follow. We could add AutoTrace, Flood Fill, 3D extrusion etc in a few weeks by using similar methods to DrawPlus but we just don't think it's the right thing to do. superhaschi, peter, CartoonMike and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 By that first feature, I mean making "flood" fills entirely by overlapping regions. Applying a regular fill on an open path will just create the fill from the beginning point to its end point. Or rather, flooding areas outlined by visual boundaries. DrawPlus marketing became just about ticks just like your list above. Flood Fill is a good example as the DrawPlus version actually attempts to trace the rasterised version of the interior of a shape. This produces a terrible quality result but it got a tick on the list. I'm sure there's plenty of room for improvement, but the DrawPlus implementation generally produces quite a reasonable result for the use cases that I've encountered. Quote Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Illustrator can do this... ;) I'm using it right now. Really? Can you explain how? Affinity is an attempt to be different and only introduce high quality tools and features. This is still a work in progress but sets out the path we are trying to follow. We could add AutoTrace, Flood Fill, 3D extrusion etc in a few weeks by using similar methods to DrawPlus but we just don't think it's the right thing to do. I understand, and I hope this list doesn't cause controversy for that reason. The crew of every program has different intentions in what they are trying to sell. Some overthrow everything, some keep it simple, and some only use the essentials. This list isn't comparing which one is the best of all time; it is comparing which works best for the user. After all, every designer benefits differently. But just to be clear, I prefer Designer. :D Or rather, flooding areas outlined by visual boundaries. Right, but I think Paolo was saying that feature was in Designer, so I was trying to be more clear in what I was getting at. Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paolo.limoncelli Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Really? Can you explain how? Check your inbox ;) Quote The white dog, making tools for artists, illustrators and doodlers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Check your inbox ;) I just made the update. I've been using Illustrator for about 6 years, and I never knew that. To avoid confusion, that to me seems more like 'clipping' than their other feature, 'clipping mask.' The clipping mask in Illustrator seems more like a cropping mask. Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff TonyB Posted November 29, 2016 Staff Share Posted November 29, 2016 Or rather, flooding areas outlined by visual boundaries. I'm sure there's plenty of room for improvement, but the DrawPlus implementation generally produces quite a reasonable result for the use cases that I've encountered. The problem is the method used is fundamentally flawed so can't be improved. Sometimes you just have to do it properly and invest the time. 000 and Alfred 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Toon Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 Well on a good note, for those who want to accomplish something very similar, making fills out of pixel selections sounds like the next best thing. I am just hoping that there is a way to make selections more precise in between overlapping curves. Quote The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLGMEX Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Is there a "Gallery" feature in Designer? And I suggest that several of teh items considered to be "NO" for DrawPlus should be yes ie: Rounding Single Corners Creating round corners to a single corner as oppose to all corners of a shape Illustrator: No DrawPlus: No Designer: Yes CorelDRAW: Yes, but not as simple as Designer http://snap.ashampoo.com/9P9biYuQ I am happy with my DrawPlusX8 and hope that Serif will continue to support the program which I find incredibly capable for my needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JET_Affinity Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Affinity is an attempt to be different and only introduce high quality tools and features. This is still a work in progress but sets out the path we are trying to follow. We could add AutoTrace, Flood Fill, 3D extrusion etc in a few weeks by using similar methods to DrawPlus but we just don't think it's the right thing to do. Tony, For what it's worth, thank you for that. Some of us have long hungered for a truly elegant vector drawing program with cleanly integrated features, real geometric power and accuracy just under the surface, and true vector-based innovation, as opposed to just yet another "me, too" grab-bag of instant-gratification eye-candy features repeatedly re-packaged into ostensibly "new" features. Please encourage the team to hold fast to the vision of functional elegance. And please never let Adobe acquire Affinity like it did FreeHand. JET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.