Serif DrawPlus
Encyclopedia
DrawPlus is a 2D
vector graphics
editor developed by UK-based software company Serif
, also responsible for PhotoPlus
, PagePlus
, WebPlus
, Digital Scrapbook Artist
and other titles.
In addition to traditional vector drawing tools, DrawPlus provides realistic, natural-looking brushes that allow the user to paint with watercolours, oils and other media whilst retaining vector editing capability. DrawPlus is also able to produce Stop frame and Key frame animations, including output to Adobe Flash
swf file format and support for ActionScript
.
DrawPlus X5 and Starter Edition offer support for pressure sensitive input devices such as Wacom
's range of tablets. Both applications feature a Pressure Studio to allow calibration of the individual devices and allow functions to be mapped to the supported buttons on the tablet. DrawPlus supports pressure-sensitive vector lines and brushes to create a striking range of effects from manga
through to painting in an array of media.
DrawPlus is available both as a paid-for version, DrawPlus X5, or as a cut-down Starter Edition which is completely free. Both variants support SVG
import and export to provide compatibility with other vector editing software.
and is fully compatible with Windows XP
, Windows Vista (32/64bit)
and Windows 7 (32/64bit).
DrawPlus 5 2000.
DrawPlus 6 2001.
DrawPlus 7 2003.
DrawPlus 8 2005.
DrawPlus X2 6th August 2007.
DrawPlus X3 16th February 2009.
DrawPlus X4 19th April 2010.
DrawPlus X5 1st August 2011.
(There was never a DrawPlus 9, 10, or 11).
file format in order to allow cross-application document exchange. Both versions also support PNG, JPEG
, GIF
, Microsoft HD Photo and TIFF export. DrawPlus also opens and exports PDF documents, CAD drawings, and is also able to open EPS
documents and Adobe Illustrator
files (version 9.0 onwards). DrawPlus can be used to create Adobe Flash
swf files and WMV/AVI
movies from user animations. DrawPlus can also be used to create GIF animations.
Output from both DrawPlus and Starter Edition can be automatically supersampled
to create very high quality exported images.
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
editor developed by UK-based software company Serif
Serif europe
Serif is an independent developer and publisher of desktop publishing and graphic design software for the PC. Established in 1987, Serif is a privately owned British company with operations in Europe and North America...
, also responsible for PhotoPlus
Photoplus
PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo is an annual event held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Designed for professional and advanced amateur photographers, PhotoPlus displays recent advances in photography through a variety of exhibitions as well as photography and digital design...
, PagePlus
PagePlus
PagePlus is a desktop publishing program developed by Serif. The first version was released in 1991 as the first commercial sub-£100 DTP package for Microsoft Windows...
, WebPlus
WebPlus
WebPlus is a website design program for Microsoft Windows, developed by UK-based software company Serif. It allows users to design, create and upload their website onto the internet without any knowledge of HTML or other web technologies....
, Digital Scrapbook Artist
Digital Scrapbook Artist
Serif Digital Scrapbook Artist is a digital scrapbooking program for Microsoft Windows.It has many standard vector graphics features, due to a shared code base with DrawPlus and also includes features designed specifically for digital scrapbooking such as photo frames, auto-flowing of photos into...
and other titles.
In addition to traditional vector drawing tools, DrawPlus provides realistic, natural-looking brushes that allow the user to paint with watercolours, oils and other media whilst retaining vector editing capability. DrawPlus is also able to produce Stop frame and Key frame animations, including output to Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
swf file format and support for ActionScript
ActionScript
ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of...
.
DrawPlus X5 and Starter Edition offer support for pressure sensitive input devices such as Wacom
Wacom
in Krefeld, Germany. Wacom is a Japanese portmanteau: Wa for "harmony" or "circle", and Komu for "computer". Wacom tablets are notable for their use of a patented cordless, battery-free, and pressure-sensitive stylus or digital pen...
's range of tablets. Both applications feature a Pressure Studio to allow calibration of the individual devices and allow functions to be mapped to the supported buttons on the tablet. DrawPlus supports pressure-sensitive vector lines and brushes to create a striking range of effects from manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
through to painting in an array of media.
DrawPlus is available both as a paid-for version, DrawPlus X5, or as a cut-down Starter Edition which is completely free. Both variants support SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
import and export to provide compatibility with other vector editing software.
Supported platforms
DrawPlus was developed for Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and is fully compatible with Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, Windows Vista (32/64bit)
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and Windows 7 (32/64bit).
History
DrawPlus 3 1996.DrawPlus 5 2000.
DrawPlus 6 2001.
DrawPlus 7 2003.
DrawPlus 8 2005.
DrawPlus X2 6th August 2007.
DrawPlus X3 16th February 2009.
DrawPlus X4 19th April 2010.
DrawPlus X5 1st August 2011.
(There was never a DrawPlus 9, 10, or 11).
Object creation and editing
DrawPlus provides a range of object creation and editing tools which are common in other editors, and also offers additional tools- Pencil and Paintbrush tools create freehand curves. The Pen tool creates Bezier curves and the Line tool allows easy creation of straight line segments. All of these tools can also be used to manipulate existing curves.
- Context-sensitive Node tool provides control over post-editing objects and nodes.
- A range of QuickShapes which are predefined simple shapes that can be quickly modified with sliders to adjust certain parameters, for example quickly creating rounded rectangles, etc. Shapes include: Rectangles, Ellipses, Stars, Spirals, Cogs, Petals, etc.
- Freeform Paint tool creates solid polygons by 'painting' areas.
- Eraser tool for intuitive object erasing and manipulation.
- Knife tool to cut through objects leaving them in multiple, editable pieces.
- HSL, RGB and CMYK colour models. Plus a range of PantonePantonePantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System , a proprietary color space...
palettes. - Gradient colour picker which samples gradients and allows them to be used as fills, in addition to single colour picking.
- Gradient fill and transparency effects, also mesh fills.
- Connector and Dimension tools for creating flowcharts and technical drawings.
- Artistic Text, Frame Text (which wraps to a frame) and Curve Text which can be entered onto an existing curve.
- DrawPlus offers image editing and filters through its PhotoLab and also provides a dedicated background-removal tool in the form of Cutout Studio. X4 introduced an Autotrace Studio to automatically convert bitmaps into vector representations.
- Shadow tool to interactively add drop and wall shadows to any object.
- Crop tool allows easy cropping of any object(s) including photographs.
- Blend tool.
- Envelope, Roughen and Perspective tools.
- Filter Effects for one-click realistic effects such as glass, metallic, plastic and other 2D/3D filters. (this is limited in Starter Edition).
- Instant 3D to transform 2D objects into 3D.
- Snapping allows objects to be snapped to page margins, centres and guides. Dynamic Guides allow snapping objects to existing objects and vertices.
- Object Properties tab shows all the current attributes applied to the selected object at a glance and allows them to be edited freely.
- 3D Planes to aid creation of pseudo-3D objects.
- Various Overlays such as Golden SpiralGolden spiralIn geometry, a golden spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is , the golden ratio. That is, a golden spiral gets wider by a factor of for every quarter turn it makes.-Formula:...
, Rule of ThirdsRule of thirdsThe rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design.The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important...
and an Export Overlay, which help with design and layout. - How To tab offering context-sensitive help depending on current selection and tool choice.
- Layers Control showing previews of each element of the document in a tree-view.
- User-definable keyboard shortcuts.
Import/Export
DrawPlus X5 and Starter Edition both support the SVGScalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
file format in order to allow cross-application document exchange. Both versions also support PNG, JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
, GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
, Microsoft HD Photo and TIFF export. DrawPlus also opens and exports PDF documents, CAD drawings, and is also able to open EPS
Encapsulated PostScript
Encapsulated PostScript, or EPS, is a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions which is intended to be usable as a graphics file format...
documents and Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
files (version 9.0 onwards). DrawPlus can be used to create Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
swf files and WMV/AVI
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...
movies from user animations. DrawPlus can also be used to create GIF animations.
Output from both DrawPlus and Starter Edition can be automatically supersampled
Supersampling
Supersampling is an antialiasing technique, the process of eliminating jagged and pixelated edges . It is a method of smoothing images rendered in computer games or other programs that generate imagery.-Overview:...
to create very high quality exported images.
See also
- Comparison of vector graphics editorsComparison of vector graphics editorsA number of vector graphics editors for various platforms exist. Potential users of these editors will make a decision based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the feature set, usability of the user interface and the focus of the program. Some programs are more suitable...
- List of vector graphics editors
- Open Clip Art LibraryOpen Clip Art LibraryThe Open Clip Art Library project aims to create a collection of vector clip art that is free content.- History :The project started in early 2004 by Inkscape developers Jon Phillips and Bryce Harrington to collect designs of flags from all around the world, having been inspired by the efforts to...
- Open Font LibraryOpen Font LibraryThe Open Font Library is a project devoted to hosting, and encouraging the creation of fonts released under Free Licenses. It is a sister project to the Open Clip Art Library and has hosted over one hundred fonts...
External links
- DrawPlus official website
- DrawPlus Starter Edition official website and free download
- Serif Forums user support forums
- www.drawplus.com official community site
- DrawPlus X4 official video