Canvas X: Ten Times the Versatility of Your Average Graphics Tool New in Canvas X Scott Koegler
Vectors
Most photo editors deal with images as bitmap files, while those in the graphic arts world often deal with hand-drawn images consisting of curves and lines rather than dots. The functions needed for working with these types of vector-based drawings are not normally included in bitmap editors, resulting in the need to use multiple applications when crossing over from one type of graphic to the other.
Adobe's Illustrator standalone application, for example, can be used alongside Photoshop and the images produced by each can be intermingled. Canvas X, on the other hand, provides both bitmap and vector capabilities within the same program and in the same file.
This combination makes a wide variety of effects possible and simplifies the process of integrating images for designers who need to handle a diverse set of files. We don't consider ourselves artists, so our editing work stays on the bitmap side; similarly, the added functionality may be lost on the average digital photographer.
Canvas' text function allows the same kind of text creation and placement you would expect to find in an image editor and includes the ability to place text on curves. However, its page layout functions also let you create "snaked columns" with text automatically flowing from one column to the next, and from one page to another, a function also found in other document-oriented publishing packages like Adobe PageMaker and InDesign. We created a simple two-page pamphlet and were able to place images and add text, and then easily manipulate both the text and the images.
Other text manipulation tools in Canvas X allow typing on curves, as well as the ability to extrude text, apply images within text, convert text to curves, and manipulate the individual character shapes.
New in Canvas X
The recently released version 10 (Canvas X) adds a variety of new features and enhancements for both power and novice users, including the new Canvas Print Driver, which makes it possible for virtually anything that can be printed to also be brought into Canvas X for editing, enhancement, presentation, and distribution; support for ActiveX controls; the ability to create and share Secure PDF files; new collaboration tools (mark-up pen and highlighter, circle red-line, and rectangle red-line tools) for easily indicating revisions and adding comments to objects that may require attention or correction; a Trim to Path command; a 3D Emboss command; the ability to import DXF/DWG files with "pinpoint accuracy"; a scripting utility that allows users to open, view, and edit Visio, Corel, and PowerPoint files within Canvas; and the new Canvas Assistant, a helpful tool designed to reduce the learning curve for new users with instant context-sensitive help).
The Canvas Print Driver, support for ActiveX Controls, and the scripting utility for working with Visio, Corel, and PowerPoint files directly within Canvas are new features exclusive to the Windows edition of Canvas X. A complete list of new and enhanced features in Canvas X can be found on the Canvas X Website.
