corel draw

"chris" <cris.ebbs@nospambtopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:bvic5d$f0o$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
quote:

> I have had a good look at Illustrator and its Help files. As a result I am
> not prepared to put myself through what appears to be its tortuous learnin
g
> curve. All I am hoping to create is very basic surface drawings showing a
> few items such as trenches, shafts, roads etc for archaeological reports.
> Does anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE  alternative and inexpensive programme
?
> I am constantly amazed at how poor the help files are for so many software
> programmes. Or it it just me?
> Any advice would be appreciated.  Chris
>
>

Use Microsoft Paint or the Mac equivalent. It comes with your OS. It's not
idiot proof but close.

"chris" <cris.ebbs@nospambtopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:bvic5d$f0o$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
quote:

> I have had a good look at Illustrator and its Help files. As a result I am
> not prepared to put myself through what appears to be its tortuous

learning
quote:

> curve. All I am hoping to create is very basic surface drawings showing a
> few items such as trenches, shafts, roads etc for archaeological reports.
> Does anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE  alternative and inexpensive

programme?
quote:

> I am constantly amazed at how poor the help files are for so many software
> programmes. Or it it just me?
> Any advice would be appreciated.  Chris
>
>

If you plan to scale (re-size) your drawings, you will need to use a vector
program like Illy or Draw. If you are doing simple drawings, you don't need
to learn all the stuff in Illy. Just what you want. I don't think there is
anyone that knows all the stuff in either program. There is just too much.
How much time are you willing to spend on learning? A few hours may be all
you need depending on your background and needs. There are many excellent
free tutorials on the 'net. We can help to solve some problems too.

--
Alex
Use between nospam to reply



"chris" <cris.ebbs@nospambtopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:bvic5d$f0o$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
quote:

> I have had a good look at Illustrator and its Help files. As a result I am
> not prepared to put myself through what appears to be its tortuous

learning
quote:

> curve. All I am hoping to create is very basic surface drawings showing a
> few items such as trenches, shafts, roads etc for archaeological reports.
> Does anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE  alternative and inexpensive

programme?
quote:

> I am constantly amazed at how poor the help files are for so many software
> programmes. Or it it just me?
> Any advice would be appreciated.  Chris
>
>

Hi,
I just saw Coreldraw 9 OEM for $39.00 here:
http://www.antivirusovernight.com/M...ate=gcoreldraw9
You can pick up the manual on Ebay or in a bookstore.
Peter Cowie
"chris" <cris.ebbs@nospambtopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:bvic5d$f0o$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
quote:

> I have had a good look at Illustrator and its Help files. As a result I am
> not prepared to put myself through what appears to be its tortuous

learning
quote:

> curve. All I am hoping to create is very basic surface drawings showing a
> few items such as trenches, shafts, roads etc for archaeological reports.
> Does anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE  alternative and inexpensive

programme?
quote:

> I am constantly amazed at how poor the help files are for so many software
> programmes. Or it it just me?
> Any advice would be appreciated.  Chris
>
>

chris wrote:
quote:

> I have had a good look at Illustrator and its Help files. As a result
> I am not prepared to put myself through what appears to be its
> tortuous learning curve. All I am hoping to create is very basic
> surface drawings showing a few items such as trenches, shafts, roads
> etc for archaeological reports. Does anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE
> alternative and inexpensive programme? I am constantly amazed at how
> poor the help files are for so many software programmes. Or it it
> just me?
> Any advice would be appreciated.  Chris


If you don't need vector output (like eps or ai), try this one:
http://www.mediachance.com/realdraw/index.html
Not a competiton to Illustrator in any way, but I've found it actually fun
to use. At $55.00, it's cheap also.

Try Xara. Very user friendly. I beleive there's a free trial.
http://www.xara.com/products/xarax/
PaintShop Pro also has a free trial. It has decent vector tools and is user
friendly.
http://www.jasc.com
Macromedia's Freehand is also a good vector program. If you don't care for
Adobe's interface, you may like Macromedia's.

Illustrator does have a very steep learning curve. If you do professional
design, it's more than worth the effort.

laurak@madmousergraphics.com
http://www.madmousergraphics.com
web design, print design, photography

<snip> If you do professional design, it's more than worth the effort.</snip
>

I agree....my obsessive love affair with Photoshop has turned to a average m
arriage; still sleeping
the same bed but it is mostly a book and flannel pajamas.

Now, Illustrator has become my muse and igniting a fire seemingly long forgo
tten.  :)

Stick with it chris, I remember the first time I had to use Illustrator - my
company would never dream of paying for any form of training so I had to
figure out how to tweak the jobs that came in and eventually learn how to do
things starting from an empty artboard. That was a godawful steep learning
curve with, the boss breathing down my neck and hassling me. Nowadays I find
using Illustrator a dream and all my hard work has paid off with me using it
for so many different tasks.

Matt
"chris" <cris.ebbs@nospambtopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:bvic5d$f0o$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
quote:

> I have had a good look at Illustrator and its Help files. As a result I am
> not prepared to put myself through what appears to be its tortuous

learning
quote:

> curve. All I am hoping to create is very basic surface drawings showing a
> few items such as trenches, shafts, roads etc for archaeological reports.
> Does anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE  alternative and inexpensive

programme?
quote:

> I am constantly amazed at how poor the help files are for so many software
> programmes. Or it it just me?
> Any advice would be appreciated.  Chris
>
>

chris wrote:
quote:

>I have had a good look at Illustrator and its Help files. As a result I am
>not prepared to put myself through what appears to be its tortuous learning
>curve. All I am hoping to create is very basic surface drawings showing a
>few items such as trenches, shafts, roads etc for archaeological reports.
>Does anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE  alternative and inexpensive programme?
>I am constantly amazed at how poor the help files are for so many software
>programmes. Or it it just me?
>Any advice would be appreciated.  Chris
>


There are plenty of books around for teaching Illustrator, they are not
that expensive, take a look at
Amazon. In reply to your question try looking at Serif DrawPlus 7.

Stuart

Many thanks to all who so kindly offered advice. Very helpful. I'll think
long & hard before choosing.
Much appreciated. Chris.