Corel aims design suite at technical illustrators

Corel Designer Technical Suite 12 eases the creation of documents such as instruction manuals and maintenance guides

Corel last week introduced a new suite aimed at technical illustrators. Corel Designer Technical Suite 12 allows professionals to create technical documentation such as instruction manuals and maintenance references quickly and easily, according to the firm.

Corel Designer Technical Suite 12, available now, comprises the Corel Designer 12 illustration tool combined with three other applications: Corel Photo Paint 12 for image editing; CorelTrace 12 to convert images to vector graphics; and a screen grabbing tool, Corel Capture 12. A trial version of the suite can be downloaded from Corel's site.

The new suite has been created to meet the needs of illustrators in various industries, including manufacturing, automotive, and defence, Corel said. The apps that make up the suite are compatible with over 75 industry file formats, including AutoCad 2004, Adobe Illustrator, and Corel's own CorelDraw.

"This suite has been created specifically for technical illustration," said Gerard Metrailler, Corel's product manager for graphics. "For the first time, businesses have access to an affordable and comprehensive suite that's ideal for their needs, whether they have one technical illustrator or need to deploy to an entire documentation team."

In addition to the four main apps, the suite includes a library of over 4,000 manufacturing, electrical and architectural symbols, and also features Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications 6.3 to help staff automate repetitive tasks, said Corel.

Corel Designer Technical Suite 12 costs £454. However, it is available for £194 to users upgrading from a variety of rival tools.