What are the file size limits under CorelDraw X7?
I would make a small correction. Saying that Windows imposes the limitation isn't really 100% true. It's the limitation of the 32 bit platform (CPU, system bus, etc). By the way, even 32 bit version of CorelDRAW will use up to 4 GB of RAM when run on a 64 bit system and 64 bit OS.
However as of X6, the 64 bit CorelDRAW has no hard limit on the file size. The file format has been changed to handle virtually any file size.
btw why any file can have 2 Gb file size or more? The most probable reason is the use of too high resolution bitmaps. If you use 300 dpi images, you can create a big file (such as a magazine) but never had 2 Gb of file size
If I knew exactly what I wanted before I started, I could have much smaller file sizes. What I've used Corel for now for a long time is to layout different sheets, booklets, magazines, and even a couple books and figure out where I want everything, how large everything will be, what will make the cut, what looks good next to what, toning adjacent photos, etc. using Corel as my idea pad and then going right to the final and print/pdf.
The issue for me is that let's say I start a layout and I have 5 photos across an 18" sheet. I adjust them, crop them a bit, lay some text over with a transparent color block fit to text that may change (so I may have to adjust crop), etc.
Then when I look at it the next day, I decide it's a little too busy and I only want 4 photos across.
If I had already reduced them to 300 dpi, then I would have to start over, reimport each of the photos, reapply any tone or color changes, recrop, etc.
Or, settle for a loss of sharpness through multiple resamplings.
So admittedly, I work with bloated files so that I can be free to make changes until the last minute and change my mind and not have to go back to the source and redo things. When everything is 100% set, I reduce the file size way down by resampling and final croping everything for a corel file to archive. I'm probably not going to change my mind less with age even if I try, so if I can throw some SSDs and more ram at it, I'll probably keep making Corel do the heavy lifting for me even though I know I'm stressing it more than I finalized everything before starting to work on a layout.
Island said: If I had already reduced them to 300 dpi, then I would have to start over, reimport each of the photos, reapply any tone or color changes, recrop, etc. Or, settle for a loss of sharpness through multiple resamplings.
Just "convert to bitmap" at 300 / 350 dpi. It's easy, and you can add a shorcut for fast convertion. Perhaps on screen you will see a loss of quality but the image will be printed correctly. If you see the image at 800 or 1200 dpi at 400% of the real size, you will see more detais on secreen but it's imposible to be printed with this quality. No matter if you use 600 dpi, 1800 or 4000 dpi, the printed results will have 300 / 350 dpi always
Island said:What I've used Corel for now for a long time is to layout different sheets, booklets, magazines, and even a couple books and figure out where I want everything, how large everything will be, what will make the cut, what looks good next to what, toning adjacent photos, etc. using Corel as my idea pad and then going right to the final and print/pdf.
Ariel said: If I had already reduced them to 300 dpi, then I would have to start over, reimport each of the photos, reapply any tone or color changes, recrop, etc. Or, settle for a loss of sharpness through multiple resamplings.
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The problem (and maybe I'm making my life more difficult than needed, but I hate to sacrifice any quality if I don't absolutely have to) is the following:
Let's say I work for a day on a layout where images are 3.5"
If I resample them down in coreldraw to 300 dpi, I now would have images that are 3.5" x 300 dpi = 1050 pixels across
Now a day later, the text changes and I have more room, or the client says "we need to eliminate one photo - it's too busy, fill the space with fewer" or for whatever other reason, photos now want to be one fewer per page and 4.5" each instead of 3.5". Already resampled down, this would mean that the images at 4.5" would now only be 1050 pixels / 4.5" = 233 dpi which is less sharp than they could be. Quality is lost, or I would have to go back to the source images, reimport one by one, remember and reapply any adjustments that I had applied within coreldraw.