Corel X5 drops a layer

[Marty]

Hello spiders

When using multiple layers, like when tracing vectors on top of a photo, I have been experiencing a temporary loss of the photo layer, especially after zooming in......I can reload the file and get it back but is becoming a PITA.....the photos have been low resolution like 40kb so I have to think it would be worse wioth a nice clean 2mb photo.....my PC is windows 7, 6 core processor, has 16GB ram, a fast motherboard (cant remember specs but I built it using the fastest components availabale) .....so I suspect the software

I am thinking about getting Illustrator CS6 to use instaed of Corel draw X5......for two reasons...first, I read on a post from pony that the bitmap tracing ability of CS6 is very very good with it.................I also watched the adobe TV video that pony had in his post, ( http://tv.adobe.com/watch/cs6-creative- ... rator-cs6/) and was impressed

Second reason is the loss of layer problem I outlined at the beginning

Even though there would be yet another learning curve to switch to CS6.....new learning curves have always resulted in higher quality production of custom art in less time.....and it keeps my brain exercised!!

Looking for input on any of the above

thanks spiders

Marty

[Gamelord]

Does the layer re-appear when you zoom back out? Or does it delete it all? If it is there when zooming back out, I would kinda assume it is your video card in your machine. Most computers come loaded for everything now days, but they put in the cheapest low grade video card they can find. With a poor video card, you will experience problems like this and your machine will only be running at half speed.

Do this in win7....Start -> Computer --- top tab select "System Properties", then at the bottom left, select performance info & tools. This is a grading score for your system and you will be able to see what is the slowest item. A good speed would be something in the 6's, maximum is 7.9. If your system is scoring in the 4's, you are not running nearly as good as you could be....I will suspect that your video card (graphics) is chocking your system. If you are running in the 4's, going to Adobe is not going to help you that much....although you may have less crashes.

As for Corel, make sure you have the latest patches/updates. Don't rely on the "Auto update" feature to keep you up to date, instead, make sure to run the "check for updates" in your Corel Draw.

Hope this helps.

[beefy]

Marty,

I was on the Coreldraw forum a few weeks ago asking about Vector Magic. One of the "heavies" on there said they have Coreldraw, Illustrator & Vector Magic. For auto tracing they prefer to use Vector Magic most of the time. It's a dedicated auto tracing program and I think it exports dxf & other formats. Price tag of $300 though for the downloadable application or it's cheaper (but less functional) for the online one.

If the video card sorts out your layer problem, then VM may give you a great tracing solution and you don't have the long learning curve of Illustrator. Mind you I have heard that Illustrator is much more stable than Draw as far as the crashing is concerned.

Keith.

[Marty]

Well I am going to scrutinize the video card I have It is supposed to be high performance. it is an ATI Radeon HD 3600 and may need a driver upgrade or I may see about a newer model.......I checked the Windows 7 performance
score and it is a low 4.8 due to the graphics performance......if I can get the layer dropout problem whipped with some PC tuning I will stick with Corel......i am pretty happy with tracing result I get with Flexi Sign Pro.......the new Illustrator CS6 does have enhanced tracing (apprently) but I noticed that on their demo video tracing with CS6 the image they were tracing was a very crisp sharp bitmap to start with.....so the real test would be to try auto tracing starting with a raggedy low contrast bitmap. i may download a CS6 trial just to check it out. Having said all that, lately I am hand tracing vectors instaed of auto tracing anyway, doing alot of hot rods and classic cars......they never seem to auto trace well

I have used Corel for quite a while and never had a problem with layer drop out UNTIL I started tracing with my pen tablet in conjunction with G13 gamepad programmed with some Corel macros and whatnot.......so I think what may be happening is the PC and video card are trying to keep up with a lot more processing data input in a shorter time.....and the video card may be has become the weak point in the data stream. The processor and RAM utilization scored mid 7s performance score so the video card may get changed out

beefy and Gamelord thanks for the reponses I will post followup

Shall see

[Gamelord]

The ATI Radion 3600 is a nice card but considered pretty low end. I would look into upgrading to a ATI Radion HD 7750 or compatible. Just make sure your new card has a minimum of 1gig of memory on it. The 3600 only had 512m which is barely enough to do any type of complex drawings.

You can get a 7750 for around $95.00 and it will take about 10 minutes to install have up and running.

If you don't upgrade your card, make sure you have shut down anything else on your system, including other browsers and games such as solitare, facebook, forums, pandora etc... All of these will use up your resources and could task your video card even more.

Upgrading your card will also speed your system up tremendously making everything run faster, even this forum.

Hope that helps.

[Marty]

ok I am going to change out the graphics card......gamelord if you see this

which card would you recommend or at least comment on? .......a 7750 with 2gb memory or a 7850 with 1 gb memory....the 7750 is about $100, and the 7850 is about $200

I do a lot of multitasking, often having 5-6 windows open, and of course the CAD needs

I have always thought my PC was slower than it should be (6 core processer, tons of ram) and the 3600 card may be a bottleneck

fortunately when I built the PC I used the large tower case and went with a 850 watt power supply.....lots of space and cooling inside....and extra fans....

when I built the PC I remember now that the 3600 card was the only part I used from the old PC..........and that was before my world included CAD.....so as I have added CAD drawing, and faster input devices, Im gonna need to upgrade and put the 3600 will on top the E Waste pile..:)

[Gamelord]

If you do a lot of 3d gaming, the 7850 would be better. If not then either card will be a huge improvement over your 3600. If it was me, I would go for the 7850. If money is tight, the 7750 will be a very good card.