We will officially make available the third update for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 tomorrow morning (Ottawa time). CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6.3 will update CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6.1 or X6.2 (build 16.1.0.843 or 16.2.0.998). The build number after this update is applied will be 16.3.0.1114 and requires a valid Standard (free) or Premium Membership in order to be installed. If you have build 16.0.0.707 installed, please install the X6.1 update prior to installing X6.3.

If you have installed CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 on more than one computer, you might notice a message during installation regarding the fact that you are only allowed to install the product on a limited number of computers as per the End-User License Agreement (EULA - www.corel.com/eula) or that you are about to add one new computer  to your collection of machines. Part of the installation process of the update, we are actually making some changes to the way we count unique machines (a very limited number of users had some problems with virtual machines installed on the same system as CorelDRAW) and we are actually making sure the computer on which you are installing the X6.3 Update is counted correctly. We will not add a new computer to your count, simply replace the one you had previously. Please make sure to be connected to the Internet during the installation of the X6.3 Update.

The new version includes Performance and stability enhancements to CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 available to everyone with a free Standard Membership, as well as new and enhanced product features  & content exclusive to CorelDRAW Premium Members. Not a Premium Member yet, you can get your Premium Membership through the Help > About CorelDRAW Memberships menu in CorelDRAW or Corel PHOTO-PAINT, and can try the Premium Membership for 15 days at no cost.

Here more details about the X6.3 Update from the release notes:

New and enhanced features

The new features found in the X6.3 Update are available only to users with a Premium Membership.

Premium cloud-based content

The X6.3 Update offers a variety of online content for CorelDRAW® and Corel® PHOTO-PAINT™ users, including the following exclusive cloud-based content which is available to Premium Members:

• 20 new bitmap patterns
• 25 new vector patterns
• 45 new interactive text frames
• 45 new interactive powerclip frames
• 500 new photos

Inserting and editing QR codes

Now you can create customizable QR codes in CorelDRAW. Add text, images, colors and styles to create a unique artistic look. Plus, resize, scale and align your QR code or change the appearance of the fill, outline and other properties. When you're finished, use built-in validation to ensure your QR code is fully functional and can be read on all major smartphones and scanning apps.

Syncing trays with Microsoft SkyDrive

Using Corel® CONNECT™ you can instantly sync your working trays with SkyDrive*, Microsoft's all new cloud-based file storage service. You can then access your tray contents on other computers. It's a simple way to continue your CorelDRAW Graphics Suite experience no matter where you are!

*A valid SkyDrive account is required to use this feature

Applying new bitmap effects

In CorelDRAW you can now apply new special effects to bitmaps—including artistic effects, camera effects and texture effects:

• Smart blur – blur images while retaining edge detail. It's the ideal way to improve detail by sharpening lines and edges, as well as letting you remove noise, artifacts and wrinkles from JPEG images and photos.
• Colorize – replace all colors in an image with a single color to create a duotone image. You can also adjust the saturation or vividness of the color to experiment with different images.
• Photo filter – simulate the effect of placing a colored filter in front of a camera lens. Choose the color of the filter and adjust the color density and luminosity to get the perfect look.
• Sepia toning – simulate the look of old photos taken in a sepia tone.
• Time machine – take your image back through history to recreate popular photographic styles from the past. Choose from seven unique visual and historic styles which range from 1839 to the 1960s.
• Alchemy – transform images into artistic media paintings by applying brushstrokes to images. Simply create a brush and then specify color, size, angle, and transparency settings. Choose from a variety of preset brushes, or save your customized brushes for quick and easy reuse.
• Bump map – add texture and patterns to an image by embedding its surface with a relief based on the pixel values of a bump-map image. Use a preset bump map or load a custom image. You can also specify the surface and lighting properties of the effect to create a unique visual appearance.
• Cobblestone – make an image look as though it were created with cobblestones.
• Elephant skin – gives an image a wrinkled look by creating an overlay of wavy lines. You can also specify the age of the skin (up to 100 years) as well as the skin color.
• Etching – transform an image into an etching. You can control the depth of the etching, the amount of detail, the direction of the light, and the color of the metal surface.
• Plastic – make an image look as though it were made of plastic. You can specify the image depth, as well as the color and angle of the light shining on the plastic.
• Relief sculpture – transform an image into a relief sculpture. You can set the smoothness of the relief, the amount of detail it contains, the direction of the light and the surface color.
• Stone – give an image a stone texture. You can specify the amount of detail, the density of the pattern and the angle of the light hitting an image.

Drawing arcs with the Polyline tool

In addition to drawing freehand lines and straight segments, in CorelDRAW you can now use the Polyline tool to draw circular arcs, saving you both time and effort.

Smoothing Objects

In CorelDRAW, you can now smooth curved objects to remove jagged edges and reduce the number of nodes. You can also smooth shapes, such as rectangles or polygons, to give them an organic, hand-drawn look. To control the smoothing effect, simply vary the size of the brush nib and the speed at which the effect is applied. For added effect, experiment using the pressure of your digital pen.

Enhanced support for digital cameras

In both CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT, you can open and import raw camera files from new camera models, including:

• Canon EOS 6D, 1DX, SX50
• Casio EX-ZR100
• Fuji X-E1 & XF1
• Pentax K-5 II (s)
• Samsung EX2F

Applying new special effects in Corel PHOTO-PAINT

In Corel PHOTO-PAINT, you can now apply several new camera effects to adjust the color and tone of your photos.

• Boken blur – control the amount of blur applied to the outside of an editable area and adjust the transition between the area in focus and the blurred area. Choose between circular and hexagonal aperture shapes to create unique light patterns in out-of-focus areas.
• Colorize – replace all colors in an image with a single color to create a duotone image. You can also adjust the saturation or vividness of the color to experiment with different images.
• Sepia toning – simulate the look of old photos taken in a sepia tone.
• Time machine – take your image back through history to recreate popular photographic styles from the past. Choose from seven unique visual and historic styles which range from 1839 to the 1960s.

Using the Planar Mask tool in Corel PHOTO-PAINT

The new Planar Mask tool lets you define a feathered editable area along parallel lines. The lines can be moved or rotated to adjust the position and degree of the effect. In combination with a blur effect, it's the perfect way to focus on a particular object in a photograph while blurring the areas outside the lines.

Creating an Unsharp Mask lens in Corel PHOTO-PAINT

The new Unsharp Mask lens lets you sharpen your photos by increasing the contrast of adjacent pixels. It preserves both high-frequency details, such as edges, and low frequency details, such as large structures, gradients, and background colors.

Adjusting brushstroke transparency and feathering interactively in Corel PHOTO-PAINT

You can now interactively adjust the transparency and feathering of brushstrokes as you paint with any of the brush tools.

Performance and stability

The following areas feature performance and stability improvements (formerly released as service packs).

Application workspace

• The File > Send to > Mail feature works as expected.
• Options set for alignment guides and dimension lines in the Options dialog box are preserved.
• The Page Sorter View is always available.
• The Font list box has normal width.

Color styles

• The original tint of spot colors applied to objects is preserved when the color style is removed from a color harmony or the link between the object and the color style is broken.
• Hint view works as expected.

Viewing and navigating documents

• You can zoom out of very large documents.
• Working with facing pages in multipage documents no longer interferes with aligning and distributing objects correctly.
• You can use the Quick Pan mode when editing text.

Object properties and effects

• You can copy properties from objects that have a contour effect applied.
• Clone objects are updated properly when the master object changes.
• Marquee-selecting objects no longer causes a rotation transformation error.
• When you copy objects from a CorelDRAW X6 document into a Word 2010 document, the objects do not appear cut off.
• It is easier to edit drop shadows that are applied to compound objects.

Printing

• Spot colors with the same definition but different names are no longer merged when printing or exporting a document to an EPS file.

Text

• Text fit to a path in a file saved to an earlier version of CorelDRAW is displayed correctly.
• Text that you type by using an Urdu keyboard appears correctly.
• The font that you choose as a substitute for a missing font can now be saved with the document for all languages supported by the product.
• Changes that you make to the default text properties of a document are now preserved.
• Applying a full-color pattern fill to the background of text that contains swashes fills the text bounding box.
• When you move or resize a text frame that contains placeholder text and is fit to an open path, the application no longer stops responding.

Corel PHOTO-PAINT

• Pressing Alt+Shift while using the Clone tool works as expected.
• The last used values are now preserved in the following dialog boxes: Custom Rotate, Grayscale, Vibrance and Boken Blur.
• You can load custom frames from the Frame dialog box (Effects > Creative > Frame) in Corel PHOTO-PAINT.
• Separating a drop shadow from an object that has a lens applied no longer causes the application to stop responding.
• Resizing editable areas by using the size handles no longer results in errors.
• You can create editable areas that have the shape of a character even when the foreground color is white.

Corel Connect

• Shortcut paths to local files are displayed correctly in the tray.

Stability

• Instability issues were addressed in areas such as editing b-spline curves, font substitution, and using QuickCorrect.

Subscriptions

• When you purchase a 30-day subscription after trying the product, your account page and the subscription expiration reminder show the same number of remaining days.