The Drawplus Software successfully stands among a series of very powerful image creating software, such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw. The software is very easy to use, has an intuitive and user friendly and interface with numerous interesting characteristics. The main strength of this software regarding drawing derives from the Accelerated Graphic technology, which allows functioning at optimal performance, with great precision. The software has some characteristics present in programs of a higher price range (and quite inaccessible), such as composite transparency, blending of layers (superposing a number of images, while retaining selective visibility for areas marked by the user), and isolated blending.
The Drawplus Software supports tablet use as well, allowing the user the traditional manner of creating drawings while benefiting from digital editing techniques. The software offers a vast range of options for graphic artists. In general, most image manipulation software offer, for beginners, basic shapes such as squares, circles, rectangles and polygons; however, Drawplus exceeds this limitation, having a superior number of shapes such as spider-webs, curves, smiley faces, rhombuses and many others incorporated. Because it’s targeted for advanced users, Drawplus has numerous clip art type images incorporated, very well made and which can be easily edited. Each object is built from individual shapes, and using the Blend Tool you can blend images, this being a great starting point for designers who do not wish to begin from scratch when creating an image, but desire a final product superior to the default clip art.
Drawplus makes use of a generous number of textures, like paper, different materials, pastels with which graphic artists can obtain elusive effects which is not normally present in classic drawing. Another plus of the software is the support of 3D plans and perspective, through a tool called 3D Plane, which allows splitting the workspace into different quadrants – top view, front view, side view (left or right) and bottom view.
Drawplus puts at your disposal tools which help create highly detailed and precise illustrations, for example the option for automatic aligning, grids and rulers. More than that, you can measure with precision the dimension of objects in an image. In the initial versions of the software, the features regarding filters were rather limited and less impressive, however in the X5 version, the team at Sherif has added graphic styles and composite transparency, individual or group blending modes, in order to increase the accuracy of single or multiple images.
In the X5 version the following effects, with surprisingly spectacular results, are available:
- Drop shadow, inner shadow
- An option for creating outlines
- Options for levels and emboss
- An option to add inner and outer glow
- An option for filling a selection with a specified color
- Options for feather and blur
- Spectacular 3D effects
- Effects for applying 3D light sources
From a compatibility standpoint, the Drawplus Software supports up to 18 different image formats, can import Photoshop files (PSD), Illustrator (AI), PDF, EPS and CAD, while being capable of exporting Flash files (swf). In comparison with other field specific programs, Drawplus is very easy to use, especially of you are a beginner, its tools and panels are highly organized, making finding the needed functions or options trivial, facilitating the creation of the desired final product. Most tools are on the top bar of the menu, which can be customized by adding or removing different buttons, depending on the frequency of use. This menu can also be repositioned.
Regarding technical support, Drawplus ensures a large array of video tutorials, text tutorials, user manuals and on-line forums for aiding individuals that are genuinely interested in learning and improving their style and techniques, thus being a bridge for users who wish to evolve and reach the superior stage of other professional editors like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. If you need advanced technical support, you can ask the technical staff from Sherif, by telephone, support tickets or by their Twitter and Facebook pages.
In conclusion, if you are looking for an easy-to-use, but complex application for creating digital illustrations, the Drawplus Software is an option to consider.