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Anyone use Serif Draw?

wancowwancow Posts: 2,708
edited December 1969 in The Commons

I'm helping a friend publish a book who is about as useless with computers as... well, he's a writer and he has no use for computers.

Anyway, so I did the cover and I have to make a PDF cover file to upload to Createspace.

I'm a very, very, very huge fan of XARA, which I had for years and I'd like to get that, just don't have the cash atm... so I'm looking at Serif Draw in order to convert the front and back covers to PDF.

I'd really like to know if anyone has any recomendations or caution regarding Serif or whatever else that's under $100.

The freeware version of Serif won't export to PDF, so if I'm going to use it, gotta pull the trigger and buy it...

Comments

  • norbert.meier_6efa9019danorbert.meier_6efa9019da Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    i like the Serif Programs by now, and i used the PDF import / edit / export features of Page Plus X5/X6 in a lot of presentations during the last several months.

    I don't use Serif Draw a lot, but did a quick check with Draw Plus X4 - seems to work ;)

    Once i had a program freeze when using the "preview in Adobe Reader" option from Draw Plus, though.

  • TheWheelManTheWheelMan Posts: 1,014
    edited December 1969

    You need to see if it will properly embed fonts, or you will have to flatten any layers you may have in the cover first.

  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917
    edited December 1969

    I have all Serif programs, although I don't use them as much these days. They may be cheaper than a lot of programs, but they are just as good, if not better.

    You could use Page Plus to make a page, much better in my opinion for PDF.

  • TheWheelManTheWheelMan Posts: 1,014
    edited December 1969

    wilmap said:
    I have all Serif programs, although I don't use them as much these days. They may be cheaper than a lot of programs, but they are just as good, if not better.

    You could use Page Plus to make a page, much better in my opinion for PDF.

    He's not making a page, he's making a book cover.

  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917
    edited December 1969

    You can still do a book cover in Page Plus. It has drawing tools very similar to DrawPlus.

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,212
    edited May 2012

    If you have Xara you have an affordable upgrade path. The non Pro version still exports in PDF!

    http://www.xara.com/us/products/designer/

    PDFExportXara2012.jpg
    800 x 700 - 128K
    Post edited by RAMWolff on
  • MJ_VivianightMJ_Vivianight Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I recently got the Serif PagePlus freeware, and after closing it down was given the message I could get the full program for 40% off, which I did. An email also arrived a week later after downloading the freeware saying I could get the full program X6 at what they called an ‘upgrade’ price. Only good through those two methods since on the site itself you can’t get the ‘upgrade’ price since no official version was purchased. Might work for their draw program as well is why I’m posting.
    Cheers.

  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited December 1969

    Try this free gem.
    http://www.pdfforge.org/
    Installs as a printer so it can be accessed from any software.

  • BagletBaglet Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Also have a look at PDF-XChange Viewer. It is free and lets you edit and create PDFs.

  • TapiocaTundraTapiocaTundra Posts: 268
    edited December 1969

    Inkscape I find is a most useful vector graphics and image processing programme, open source therefore free, it will create .pdf files.

    Inkscape, Draw Freely

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