CorelDraw version 3.0b. (Software Review) (one of five evaluations of drawing software packages in 'Drawing conclusions: InfoWorld tests seven packages for Windows and Macintosh and illustrates the differences.') (Evaluation)

CorelDraw 3.0b offers both professional artists and midrange business users the best features of competing products while retaining the simple interface that made CorelDraw 2.0 such a popular product.

Version 3.0b fills practically every gap in the old version. You edit in preview mode, enter text directly in an illustration, use Adobe Type 1 or TrueType fonts, and create multilayer drawings. Furthermore, Corel bundles presentation graphics, bit-map image editing, and charting modes.

A complete review of CorelDraw can be found in the July 13 issue (page 64).

Performance: Drawing and Editing

Initially, CorelDraw 3.0b's interface appears the same as before. There is an assortment of reshaping tools and primitive objects, plus a color palette at the bottom of the screen. The outline and fill tools retain their characteristic fly-out menus that let you quickly change the look of a selected object.

Fundamental Bezier curve editing hasn't changed. That is, you can reveal control handles to change an object's outline, join lines, or cut segments without making different menu selections.

However, a new feature fits blended objects to a curve. Then, by adjusting any of the curve's nodes, you quickly change the shape of the whole blend; CorelDraw is the only program with this capability. Like FreeHand, you can edit the shape or color of blended objects, and the program redoes the blend.

The new layering feature allows any shape that's drawn on the guideline layer, such as an …