As an opening caveat, this review focuses on Photo-Paint, one of the many programs offered in the Graphics Suite. I have used nearly every version of Corel PhotoPaint since version 3, so I feel fairly authoritative on the program's evolution over the past 15 years or so, but I rarely use any of the other members of the Suite. I know I'm in the minority (everyone prefers Adobe Photoshop) but I'm an old dog who hates to learn new tricks, so I stick with PhotoPaint. Both programs work on different "conceptual philosophies" so switching between them is more than just learning a new interface.
I primarily use Corel PhotoPaint to create artwork from scratch, but about 20% of my usage is editing photos. I bought X3 to upgrade from version 12, and to my disappointment I found few meaningful changes. In fact, there have been few major changes or updates for several previous versions. It seems Corel is satisfied with including a few more tools or effects, which are usually just raster effect algorithms, and often accomplish something that you could already do with the existing tools. For instance, the red-eye removal tool - you can already do that with the color replace brush with a moderate degree of tolerance for red, you could desaturate the eye (to remove most of the color), or you could mask the eye area and adjust the red color tone.
Despite the lack of significant evolution, the core of the program is still the same - it is a solid contender as a photo editing or raster graphics drawing board. Once a user becomes proficient with Corel, there is little that he or she cannot accomplish with ease.
Besides adding essentially redundant tools, Corel missed the opportunity to improve the code and fix bugs. The notoriously buggy interface still occasionally freezes and crashes, and a reoccurring error (which I've seen in many versions of the software) pops up when you copy a small-sized object. This will cause a data loss from the object, and the image will be replaced with pixilated gibberish. The program still uses an archaic method to straighten images and photos - I actually use Google's Picasa to straighten images, then put them back into Corel for detail work. Tone and color can be fully controlled, but you have to juggle various different tools to arrive at where you want to be. Creating PNG alpha transparency exactly as you wish has always been unnecessarily challenging with Corel - while it seems Adobe handles this with no trouble. Other tools, commonly used by illustrators, have not been updated in many versions. For instance, the texture tool, where the artist can apply a texture (or its bumpmap) to an object or masked area, still does not allow the artist to scale the texture (one feature I REALLY want), nor does it easily scroll the texture to find the best place (it still relies on early-90's-ish X and Y coords to shift the texture around on the object)
But I could gripe about features not updated or included all day - that's easy to do with any software. The bottom line is this is an overall good program, especially if you (a) are not used to Adobe's way of doing things and (b) are looking for a cheaper alternative. I would certainly recommend this program to you.
If on the other hand you are a Corel PhotoPaint veteran and are thinking of upgrading, I would not bother if you have any version past 11. It really will not offer you anything critical you do not have already. I hear x4 updated PhotoPaint, and x5 should improve it more. Hold out for one of them, if you can.
R. Pla
Jake LaForet
Barbara J.