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CompactDraw

What is the difference between CompactDraw and other vector or Bitmap drawing software?

 

CompactDraw combines both the vector and the image editing software. It uses the tools and convenience of vector drawing packages to create a Bitmap image. The first difference between vector drawing packages is the output with smooth edges and effects only Bitmap editors can have. The difference with Bitmap editors is that CompactDraw has nondestructive editing and everything is editable all the time.

What is e-JPG?  

CompactDraw saves the project in *.idr file. However you can export it in CompactDraw special e-JPG format as well. e-JPG is a JPG compatible image format. You can use it on your web pages or open it in any graphics editor. However if you open the e-JPG in CompactDraw you will be able to edit again its objects, text or whatever else. The quality or size of the JPG image you see doesn't affect the quality of the editable objects. In other words you can just show it as a small thumbnail on your web page but then if somebody downloads it and open it in CompactDraw he will be able to edit it in full quality and he could save it in size or quality he prefer.

The advantages:

  • you don't have to make two files: a thumbnail and a file to download - the thumbnail is already the project file
  • you can show the image in small size and let user to recreate the image in a quality, size and file format he likes - because of a small size of the project data the file would be much smaller than a jpg of the original size and best quality.
  • Versatility and no quality loss, you can preview the file as a jpg with low quality but with CompactDraw you can recreate the file again to any format and any quality.

Samples of e-JPG can be found on CD Gallery pages.

Why there is no export to GIF?  

Gif is a popular format, however it is not license free. There are royalties to be paid to Unisys. We were hoping for some reasonable fee, but we have been asked for fee in amount of few thousands dollars. This is still open and we are ready in the future to pay the fees.
You can still save the image in png or bmp and convert it with many free available tools.

How are the Airbrush-like images done?
(for example the Nokia phone)
  There is a short example at the end of a manual showing the major tricks behind the phone image. It is easy to do with CompactDraw. All shapes were created with Make New Path tool or Circle and the rest is just the power of texture mixing and bevels.
Also look at the CompactDraw gallery to see more cool images. Usually the best effects are the simple ones.
How to add your own permanent textures?  

You have to put a texture image file (it could be in any format) to the Textures subdirectory of CompactDraw. Rename it to something appropriate. Important: Make sure you don't have any two textures with the sme name (even if the file format and extension is different).
Note: Because you can change the colors and mix of the textures you don't need that many textures. You can create water by using stone texture with Screen etc...the combinations are endless. Also if you want to share the idr file you create with custom texture with someone else you have to give him the texture file or save the idr in a Portable file format (from menu Project, select General Settings) which of course makes the idr file bigger.

What are seamless textures and how to create them?   The textures used in CompactDraw are seamless also referred as uses perpetual repetition or perpetuating. When such image is tiled, the image seems to be perpetual, going on and on indefinitely in all directions, not mirrored or overlapped. Such images are also used as a backgrounds on the web pages.
All the textures in CompactDraw were created with special care from different non-seamless images. This is a long manual process. There are many tutorials how to create seamless backgrounds. The common way is to use offset and different painting methods. See some tutorial.
Also there are millions of seamless background images on the web.
What is the difference between CompactDraw and Real-Draw Pro? Compact draw is entry-level software, yet with many powerful features. Real-Draw Pro continues where CompctDraw stops, it is more complex, offer even more effects (such as lights) and has also bitmap editing support.
Other difference is the price.
 
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