Canvas X for Windows

User Reviews

• Excited to get back to Canvas!

  tyendorNovember 14, 2012

  Pros

  Canvas is a wonderful program that once you have learned it, your illustration and layout projects are only limited by your imagination. I used Canvas 8 years ago on Mac and was my default program for everything I needed to do.

  Cons

  At this point, the only con is I'm not aware of a Mac version. I do wish the price was not as expensive, however, for those of us on a budget.

  Summary

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• Once mastered, a great time saver. Does everything.

  w11dw1rk2rOctober 7, 2012

  Pros

  It appears that owner, ACDSee, has decided to take this program seriously, as it should. It does so many things well that it would have been a crime to treat it as anything other than a first rate illustration and publishing program. It has a fairly steep learning curve due to the wealth of things this program does well, yet it has survived the years intact and is now starting to improve again. I've been using Canvas since 1997 and the main functionality has not changed a lot. This is a good thing. However, the newest developments have addressed improvements in technology in the last four or five years. It is faster, more stable, and a great value to people who don't want to waste time getting an idea out of their heads and onto paper. It handles both vector and rastor images equally well. The conversion facilities are excellent. The PDF utility is very good. The import and export utilities are excellent. It has many ways to interact effectively with other graphic programs. I

  Cons

  I suppose the complaint I had since ACDSee took it over is that some of its usefulness was becoming dated. However, ACDSee is now addressing these issues. You should be aware that there is not a lot of interface change going on. Most changes are under the hood, where feedback seems to indicate that speed and stability have truly improved. It now appears that a Canvas Mac application is under development. This will be good news to the legion of Mac users who have always lamented the day Mac development was discontinued.

  Summary

  I truly like Canvas. It is still ahead of its time with many of its features. This program is well worth the price if you value being able to most anything you can think of, whether for business, science, or art. Be prepared to spend some time becoming proficient. You will enjoy the Sprite Effects on your vector illustrations, and the ease of photo adjustments. I might add that it is a very accurate program and can replicate the look of technical drawings, maps, CAD drawings, and much more. It is truly high-end jack-of-all-trades software.

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• Great program, but Windows-only

  amoffa3July 30, 2012

  Pros

  Canvas is a very powerful all-in-one program, a refreshing break from the Adobe monopoly and endless upgrade cycle, and it's great to do everything in one interface, without switching among pixel, vector, layout, and web applications. I can do wireframe sketches and finished projects in the same document!

  Cons

  No Mac version. Running it in Parallels is a dealbreaker. Staying in one program for everything I need is great, but I'd rather stay in one OS for everything I need. Come on, ACDsee. It's 2012. Windows-only is no longer a sensible business decision.

  Summary

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• Very good product, Adobe has now a good competitor

  Asman81June 12, 2012

  Pros

  - Object-oriented - easy to create charting - export format - easy to use

  Cons

  nothing bad

  Summary

  Canvas 14 user experience was really amazing. Good product, however you need to use it to know how easy it is compare to Adobe products!

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• Does everything... not perfect, though

  southpawamiNovember 24, 2011

  Pros

  Does everything(dtp, graphics, 2d, 3d) Formats support beyond anything out there A true jack of trades

  Cons

  format support isn't perfect, export formats aren't always perfect

  Summary

  A true graphic tool that's a jack of all trades, but a master at none. It's a relief to be able to open everything in one place, and if you have a format export problem, just export through a different format... this program can do that. Hard to be sure what this program should be doing though... besides everything.

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• Canvas 12 is irrelevant. Requiem for Canvas on Mac

  nerdboyOctober 31, 2011

  Pros

  None. It's gone.

  Cons

  Sadness at the loss of a great program.

  Summary

  Canvas on Mac was perfect. True some new features would have been nice but it did everything I needed and it did it with a minimum of fuss. I do both engineering drawing as well as image annotation and page layout. I need accurate snap-to guidelines, scaling, dimensioning, etc. etc. I completely agree with wrbtu that there is nothing comparable currently. I've looked at everything I can find and tried demos of a few: Cadintosh, Intaglio, Lineform, and TurboCAD Mac Designer 2D. The latter comes close but lacks the simple elegance and some critical features. I'd love to thank the authors of Canvas for Mac; maybe they'll see this and understand. Meanwhile, I'll stick with Mac OS 10.6 and Canvas 8.

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• Best Object-Based Mac Drawing Program, Fails in Lion

  dfbishopAugust 21, 2011

  Pros

  No Pros for Mac Users. Unsupported, doesn't run in Lion

  Cons

  No version works on the latest Mac OS

  Summary

  This outstanding object-based drawing program was easy to use, bug-free, and full-featured. There is no substitute available in any other software for the Mac. It was the industrial version of MacDraw, but amazingly, in spite of its importance to scientists, engineers, artists, architects and others, it was abandoned for the Mac

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• No longer works on Mac

  wrbtuFebruary 15, 2011

  Pros

  no pros for a Mac user

  Cons

  No longer works on Mac

  Summary

  This review is written to assist Mac users find a replacement for Canvas, which no longer works on the Mac platform. I used Canvas from 1988 until they abandoned the Mac platform, & it had been my favorite program. Looking for a replacement wasn't easy, & finding a full replacement has been impossible. I've tried 7-8 different programs, but they were either too simplistic, too complicated, not intuitive in the least, feature-empty, or just plain poorly implemented. VectorDesigner, in my opinion, & for my needs, is the best alternative available, & the only one that got past the trial/demo stage for me. I design forms & simple one-page 8x10 posters (with text & graphics). Canvas was by far the best program for what I need to do. Now, I can get away with using NisusWriter Pro (a word processor), but it's not very good with graphics. VectorDesigner is better for graphics features, but is not very good with text. So I use both, depending on what I need to get done. VectorDesigner costs only a fraction of what Canvas cost, so it's understandable that it does only a fraction of what Canvas used to do. I have hundreds of Canvas documents that I can't modify, can't print, can't "save as", but I keep them, because I can still open it using Mac OS 10.6, & copy from a Canvas document & paste it elsewhere. And that, like it or not, is the best solution I've found.

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• Very good software

  P-ODecember 15, 2008

  Pros

  Easy using

  Cons

  Nothing the software is very good

  Summary

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• Sounds to good to be true

  RichardIIISeptember 17, 2008

  Pros

  According t descriptions, better then photo shop which I own... Possible.

  Cons

  Sounds like cripple ware from some of the discriptions.

  Summary

  Should include the fact that it is not free.

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