Corel_Draw

CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW

Vector graphics editor


CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Alludo (formerly Corel Corporation). It is also the name of the Corel graphics suite, which includes the bitmap-image editor Corel Photo-Paint as well as other graphics-related programs (see below). It can serve as a digital painting platform, desktop publishing suite, and is commonly used for production art in signmaking, vinyl and laser cutting and engraving, print-on-demand and other industry processes. Reduced-feature Standard and Essentials versions are also offered.[citation needed]

Quick Facts Developer(s), Initial release ...

History

In 1987, Corel engineers Michel Bouillon and Pat Beirne undertook to develop a vector-based illustration program to bundle with their desktop publishing systems. That program, CorelDraw, was initially released in 1989.[1] CorelDraw 1.x and 2.x ran under Windows 2.x and 3.0. CorelDraw 3.0 came into its own with Microsoft's release of Windows 3.1. The inclusion of TrueType in Windows 3.1 transformed CorelDraw into a serious illustration program capable of using system-installed outline fonts without requiring third-party software such as Adobe Type Manager; paired with a photo-editing program (Corel Photo-Paint), a font manager, Corel Capture, and several other pieces of software, it was also part of the first all-in-one graphics suite.[2]

Features by version

More information Version support, OS Compatibility ...
:From Windows 7, 32-bit and 64-bit supported

† CorelDraw 10 to X4 can open files of version 3 and later, but certain features may not be supported.
‡ The list of file formats that CorelDraw 10 to X4 can write may not be complete in this table.

* CorelDraw X7 on Windows 10 requires Update 5.

Platform and scripting history

CorelDRAW was originally developed for Microsoft Windows 2.1, and versions existed for Windows 3.1x, CTOS, OS/2, and Power Macintosh. With the release of Corel Linux, CorelDRAW 9 was released with package support for Debian and Red Hat-based Linux.[47] Version 11 was released for Mac OS X in 2001, but was then discontinued on both Linux and Mac. CorelDRAW was available only for Windows until the 2019 version became the first to support macOS.[48][49][50]

As of 2021, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite supports Windows 10, Windows 11, and macOS, including a new release for Apple silicon.[51] A related web app and iPad app offers collaboration and markup online. In 2024, a new trial version was released available directly in the browser.[52]

Scripting

With version 6, Corel introduced task automation using a proprietary scripting language, Corel SCRIPT. Support for VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) macros was added in version 9,[53] and Corel SCRIPT was eventually deprecated. Support for VSTA (Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications) has been integrated in Windows versions since X5,[30] and currently requires Visual Studio 2017.[54] Version 2019 added Javascript as an option for cross-platform scripting with MacOS support; however, the built-in IDE does not support it as of 2020.[55]

File format

Quick Facts Filename extension, Latest release ...

Structure

In its first versions, the CDR file format was a completely proprietary file format primarily used for vector graphic drawings, recognizable by the first two bytes of the file being "WL". Starting with CorelDraw 3, the file format changed to a Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) envelope, recognizable by the first four bytes of the file being "RIFF", and a "CDR*vrsn" in bytes 9 to 15, with the asterisk "*" being just a blank in early versions.[57] Beginning with CorelDraw 4 it included the version number of the writing program in hexadecimal ("4" meaning version 4, "D" meaning version 13). The actual data chunk of the RIFF remains a Corel proprietary format.

From version X4 (14) on, the CDR file is a ZIP-compressed directory of several files, among them XML files and the RIFF-structured riffdata.cdr with the familiar version signature in versions X4 (CDREvrsn) and X5 (CDRFvrsn), and a root.dat with CorelDraw X6, where the bytes 9 to 15 look slightly different – "CDRGfver" in a file created with X6. "F" was the last valid hex digit, and the "fver" now indicates that the letter before no longer represents a hex digit.

There is no publicly available CDR file format specification.[58][59]

Other CorelDraw file formats include CorelDraw Compressed (CDX), CorelDraw Template (CDT)[60] and Corel Presentation Exchange (CMX).[61]

Use of CDR files in other programs

In December 2006, the sK1 open-source project team started to reverse-engineer the CDR format.[62] The results and the first working snapshot of the CDR importer were presented at the Libre Graphics Meeting 2007 conference taking place in May 2007 in Montreal (Canada).[63] Later on the team parsed the structure of other Corel formats with the help of the open source CDR Explorer.[64] As of 2008, the sK1 project claims to have the best import support for CorelDraw file formats among open source software programs. The sK1 project also developed the UniConvertor, a command line open source tool which supports conversion from CorelDraw ver.7-X4 formats (CDR/CDT/CCX/CDRX/CMX) to other formats. UniConvertor is also used in the Inkscape and Scribus open source projects as an external tool for importing CorelDraw files.[65][66][67]

In 2007, Microsoft blocked CDR file format in Microsoft Office 2003 with the release of Service Pack 3 for Office 2003.[68][69] Microsoft later apologized for inaccurately blaming the CDR file format and other formats for security problems in Microsoft Office and released some tools for solving this problem.[70]

In 2012, the joint LibreOffice/re-lab team implemented libcdr, a library for reading CDR files from version 7 to X3 and CMX files.[71] The library has extensive support for shapes and their properties, including support for color management and spot colors, and has a basic support for text.[72] The library provides a built-in converter to SVG, and a converter to OpenDocument is provided by writerperfect package. The libcdr library is used in LibreOffice starting from version 3.6,[73] and thanks to public API it can be freely used by other applications.

Other applications supporting CDR files

CDR file format import is partially or fully supported in following applications:

See also


Notes and references

  1. A Short History of CorelDRAW from 1989 to 2008
  2. "La historia de CorelDRAW | La biografía oficial |". CORELCLUB.org (in European Spanish). 2014-03-14. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  3. Metrailler, Gerard (Oct 26, 2007). "A little history of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite". Gérard on Graphics. CorelDRAW Community. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  4. "A Short History of CorelDraw", at Corel, retrieved 11 Jan 2011........................................................................ (PDF version)
  5. Lisa Picarille, "CorelDraw to be ported to Sun, Dec HP Unix, InfoWorld, 11 Mar 1991, page 27
  6. "New Products: Unix", Computerworld, 21 Sep 1992, page 58
  7. Corel Announces 'CorelDraw 3.0'
  8. Heck, Mike (July 13, 1992). "CorelDraw 3 moves faster, integrates modules". InfoWorld. Vol. 14, no. 28. San Mateo, CA: InfoWorld Publishing. pp. 66–67. ISSN 0199-6649.
  9. "New Products", Computerworld, 30 Aug 1993, page 55.
  10. "CorelDraw 3 will remain on market as low-price option", InfoWorld, April 19, 1993. (Anticipated date)
  11. Michalove, Sharon, ed. (2016-03-05) [1993-12-17 (date of press release message)]. "H-Net Discussion Networks - Software: Collins Dictionaries, MS Word 6.0, Corel Draw". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  12. "Testers praise CorelDraw 5", InfoWorld, April 18, 1995.
  13. "Corel Corporation Begins Shipping CorelDraw 6 Suite for Windows 95", August 24, 1995, at Corel via Internet Archive
  14. Alspach, Ted (1996-12-01). "MacAddict 004". MacAddict. Brisbane, CA: Imagine Publishing, Inc. pp. 60–61.
  15. "Corel Corporation Announces the Launch of CorelDraw 7", October 8, 1996, at Corel via Internet Archive
  16. "Corel Corporation Launches CorelDraw 8", October 27, 1997, at Corel via Internet Archive
  17. Fott, Galen (2000-08-31). "CorelDraw 8 LE". Macworld. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  18. "Corel Launches CorelDraw 9 Premium Color Edition", August 31, 1999, at Corel via Internet Archive
  19. "CorelDraw 10 Graphics Suite Available Now", Nov. 13, 2000, Corel Press Release via findarticles.com
  20. Troidl, David (2007). "SVG – From CorelDraw to Your Browser". Graphics Unleashed. Archived from the original on 23 February 2007. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
  21. "CorelDraw Graphics Suite 11 Now Available", Aug 1, 2002, at Corel via Internet Archive
  22. "Corel Introduces CorelDraw Graphics Suite X3", Jan 17-06, at Corel. Full text at hexus.net
  23. "CorelDraw Graphics Suite X4 Unveiled Today", January 22, 2008, at Corel.com
  24. Arah, Tom (January 2008). "Product Reviews: CorelDraw Graphics Suite X4". PC Pro. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  25. "CorelDraw X5 Whats New: CorelDraw Graphics Suite X5". Corel Corporation. February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  26. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Reviewer's Guide – Corel Corporation" (PDF). Corel Corporation. February 2012. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  27. "CorelDRAW Graphics X7 Press release", March 27, 2014, corel.com
  28. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7 Reviewers Guide" (PDF). Corel Corporation. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  29. "CorelDRAW Graphics X8 Press release Archived 2016-03-27 at the Wayback Machine", March 15, 2016, corel.com
  30. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 Reviewer's Guide" (PDF). Corel Corporation. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  31. "CorelDRAW Graphics 2017 Press release", April 11, 2017, corel.com
  32. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2018". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). April 10, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  33. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). March 12, 2019.
  34. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020". Techrika. Nov 6, 2020. Retrieved Dec 6, 2020.
  35. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020 Product Guide" (PDF). Corel Corporation. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  36. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021 Product Guide
  37. "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021 Update (Windows) Release notes". www.coreldraw.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-20. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  38. "Graphic Design Software - CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021". www.coreldraw.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  39. Corel (2022-03-08). "Valuable Updates to CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Will Power Productivity in Graphic Design". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  40. "CorelDRAW® 9 for LINUX Readme Notes". 2000-06-29. Archived from the original on 2021-04-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  41. López López, Anna María (2019). "2 - Software de diseño vectorial". Diseño gráfico digital. Madrid. pp. 69–70. ISBN 978-84-415-4129-0. OCLC 1151063469.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  42. "Graphic Design Software - CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021". CorelDraw.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-02. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  43. "CorelDRAW". Corel.com. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  44. "Corel Solution Partners Newsletter (May 2001)". www.corel.com. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  45. "Programming Guide – Developer Area". CorelDRAW Community. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  46. "CorelDRAW CDR Signature Format". NTFS.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  47. Corel Corporation. "Corel Draw file format". Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  48. ".CDR File Extension". Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  49. "sK1 illustration program – The history of sK1". Archived from the original on 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  50. "CDR explorer". Archived from the original on 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  51. "sK1 – UniConvertor – universal vector graphics translator". Archived from the original on 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  52. "Support for Corel DRAW files in free software gets another chance". Libre Graphics World. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  53. "LibreOffice CorelDraw Import filter – text support hatches out". Fridrich Strba. 12 June 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  54. "Libcdr resurrects Waldo, gets basic spot colors support". Libre Graphics World. Archived from the original on August 19, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  55. "Supported file formats for Illustrator". Adobe. 2021-10-27. Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  56. "CorelCAD 2019 Reviewer's Guide" (PDF). Corel Corporation. 2018-12-20. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-14. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  57. "Importing other File Formats — Inkscape Beginners' Guide 1.0 documentation". Inkscape-Manuals.ReadTheDocs.io. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  58. "Visio2000: File Formats That Can Be Imported into Visio". Retrieved 2010-12-01. You can import the following file formats into your Visio drawings: CorelDraw! Drawing File versions 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 (.cdr), Corel Clipart (.cmx)
  59. "What You Won't Find in Microsoft Office Visio 2003". 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-12-31. Retrieved 2022-10-03. The following file formats and converters are no longer supported:CorelDraw! 3.0–7.0, Corel Clipart Format, CMX
  60. "UniConvertor 1.1.5 review". Retrieved 2010-12-01.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Corel_Draw, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.