Some color management / conversion to PDF/X-3 results.

Click on image for a clearer view.

This image pertains to a CorelDRAW .com thread Here.

Test file for CorelDRAW

This 360 KB CorelDRAW X3 file may be useful for various tests:

Link is working now, from my own server.

Blogger had showed it was OK, but it was dead!

testfile.cdr

Keep your eyes open....

A few years back, I had a business card sent in by a customer for production.

Re-interpreting the file offered the following results with various programs. All are bad. Look at the butterfly in every case...

Moral of the story? Don't blindly trust any brand of software to re-interpret PDF files perfectly.

Sometimes, you'll be fortunate. Other times, not. Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger!

click on the image for a better view.

Diane's got it right...

Diane posted something regarding font recognition for rebuilding artwork:

"After working with these kinds of files, day in and day out, year after year, recognition becomes easier.

Not saying you won't get a stumper once in a while, but a good portion of them are familar.

Practice by "Naming that Font" while you watch TV. See how many you can name in commercials, titles, credits etc."

I responded:

You're someone I admire since it's clear you have a passion for using CorelDRAW to solve real production problems and also as a creative tool.

You seem to view your trade as a career, not a job. A job is something people do for money until they have time to do something they really enjoy instead. A career is something in a person's mind all the time, perhaps in their dreams too! It provides a far more fulfilling existence IMO.

Heh, on the Unleashed Euro CorelDRAW bootcamp cruise, Foster and I were walking around Rome and naming fonts found on signage. Foster worked at a Font Foundry for awhile, and I look through thousands of fonts almost daily as a production artist. So it was a fun challenge.

So, reader...

Do you dread Monday through Friday? Or instead, are you grateful to sit in a chair, looking at CorelDRAW all day and getting real things done?

One thing to ponder: there are about 3 billion Orientals, East Indians, Latin Americans and Russians that would cheerfully take your place if given the opportunity, and who'd do your work for half the price (maybe even less).

Carpe Diem...

Nifty Favicon generator

There are a few of these around, but this one seems really cool.

You have the ability to import an image, tweak it, or even create from one from scratch.

The best thing though: real-time preview of the final 1:1 results, while you work on a larger version above. Truly wysiwyg.

Who can use this utility? Webmasters.

Favicons are more than a novelty. In my Firefox UI, I have a row of them on my menu bar for one-click access to my favorite sites. Chances are that you also have 10 or so sites that you visit regularly.

Image improvement again

Some more treatment: original on left.

Reaper Audio Multitracking

Corel related? Nope.

Media related? Yes. :-)

Here's some gnarly multitracker software I've been following. In spite of scary name, it offers massive community support and numerous and regular improvements/updates.

Looks really slick (esp. with skinable UI as shown), and works quite well. Click for a better view.



Some of you know I come from an audio engineering background, so the technical nature of this stuff is a piece of cake for me.

No matter what software you use in this field, it can be deep. Kind of like learning Flash, or a 3D app. None of it is really "easy". But, therein lies the power and flexibility too. Since I'd already a handle on Steinberg's Cubase (worked with that since 1993) Everything else falls in line easily. Steinberg changed everything in the recording industry back in about 1996 with VST technology. Similar to Photoshop plugin technology, but for audio instead.

Anyway... hard to believe this prog is just a 3.4 MB download... =-0

The main programmer is Justin Frankel. He's one sharp cookie - he wrote Winamp and also Gnutella.

Here is a very short tune where I piled on some vocal harmonies.

Sing along! You are the one for me.... yeah, yeah! Yes... quite profound. LOL.

There's more for Reaper to accomplish, esp in the MIDI area. But overall - a remarkable achievement.