Illustrator or Corel?

[ripzone]

Hi, I am a newbie in the artowork field.

I decided to learn graphics but I need to know what is better.

Thanks!

[mahuti]

That's a flame starting question, but I would suggest Illustrator if you have the desire to put in the effort to learn the program. Printers will have less problems with Illustrator files... with the format, with color seperations or preflight, gradients, etc. Also, depending on the line of work you are in, knowledge of Illustrator may carry more weight than Corel.

Most of the complaints from the Corel camp of users is that Illustrator is harder to use in certain instances, or harder to learn. Feature for feature though... both programs are roughly in parity.

I have avoided corel, or working with people that work with corel since my days working in the print design business. The more complex their files were, the longer we would have to spend rebuilding them to prepare them for printing. I'm sure corel has gotten better over the years, but Illustrator is a proven workhorse with good tools, good help, a wide & knowledgeable support base, and a long history of being great at what it does.

[ripzone]

Any links to Tutorials for AI??

Thanks!

[mahuti]

http://localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=223

[ripzone]

yeah thanks mahuti...

[Chris]

Corel is far easier and faster, but the "rest of the world" works in Illustrator.  I'm fortunate to have both; I work in Corel when it's screen output stuff just for me, but if I'm sending something off to a professional printer I use Illustrator.  Often I'll rough something together in Corel and finish it in Illustrator.

Illustrator does have the benefit of being more stable than Corel.

If you're starting from scartch, no contest: learn Illustrator.

--Chris

[Felsir]

uh.. I'm probably the only one who uses VISIO for artwork ;-)

[Nannuu]

I have both also.  I'm in the same situation that Chris is.  Learn Illustrator as it is more standard program. 

[JoyMonkey]

I'm an Illustrator hater so I vote for Corel. Yes, sending a Corel file to a print shop will cause headaches, but in these days of PDF documents you don't have to worry about your file not being compatible.
Corel lets you output your drawing as a PDF very easily, so any print shop will be able to work with it easily.

Corel is by far easier to learn and much cheaper too.

[mahuti]

I've had difficulties getting Corel to correctly output to both PDF and straight post script files in the past correctly, so I don't think that is necessarily a 100% solution. The printing code is the problem, not the lack of the program. Things may have changed over the last few years though, so I'm willing to give it the benefit of a doubt (for someone else to use... not me )

It is definitely cheaper. I never felt Illustrator was difficult to learn, however. Back during the Illlustrator 3 days, my whole class of designers learned to use it over a few nights of instruction. I'd used the "classroom-in-a-book" before, though which seemed more helpful than a professor. 

[Chris]

I've had difficulties getting Corel to correctly output to both PDF and straight post script files in the past correctly, so I don't think that is necessarily a 100% solution. The printing code is the problem, not the lack of the program. Things may have changed over the last few years though, so I'm willing to give it the benefit of a doubt (for someone else to use... not me )

It is definitely cheaper. I never felt Illustrator was difficult to learn, however. Back during the Illlustrator 3 days, my whole class of designers learned to use it over a few nights of instruction. I'd used the "classroom-in-a-book" before, though which seemed more helpful than a professor.

[Nannuu]

I've had very good luck using EPS files to transfer back and forth.  Most (if not all) printers will take an EPS.