Reaffirming its commitment to the Mac platform, Corel Corp. last week announced its plans for the next two upgrades of its CorelDraw suite of graphics applications.
Version 6.1 of the $595 package, due in October, will feature new Internet publishing capabilities as well as better redraw performance and interface tweaks. The suite's components include the CorelDraw illustration and page-layout application; WordPerfect; CorelDream 3D; Artisan, an image-editing tool; and Texture, software for creating bit-mapped textures.
Corel said the interim update will let users assign URLs to individual objects within an illustration and export the graphics to HTML with the images saved as either GIFs or JPEGs. CorelDraw 6.1 will create an HTML file that references the image, Corel said.
The update will include an export filter for Barista, Corel's Java-based publishing technology for the Web.
Corel said Version 6.1 will also focus on improving screen redraw, making the display faster and flicker-free. It will also support Mac OS 8's contextual menus and memory-management enhancements, the company said. The update will pack 5,000 new clip-art images and a slew of new templates for projects such as wedding invitations and menus.
Meanwhile, the company sketched out plans for the next major upgrade to CorelDraw. Early next year the package will jump directly to Version 8; the upgrade will include Corel Photo-Paint, an application that has been popular on the Windows side, Corel said. CorelDraw 8 Suite for Mac, which will debut at San Francisco's Macworld Expo in January, will offer feature parity and file compatibility with its Windows counterpart, which is slated to climb from 7 to 8 in November.
Upgrades will be $19.95; competitive upgrades and cross-platform upgrades will be $149. In addition, Corel will offer the software for $99 to subscribers to the Macway mailing list.
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