Getting Graphic with Corel Grafigo

Manufacturer: Corel

Web site: www.corel.com/grafigo

Estimated price: Free download

Corel jumped on board the Tablet PC bandwagon right out of the gate with its program Grafigo. That’s probably because pen computing is such a natural match for drawing programs, given the ability to draw with your hand rather than a mouse. And the best part? As of this writing, Grafigo is a freely downloadable program.

Grafigo, as shown in Figure 14-1, isn’t the most sophisticated drawing program, but it does enable you to sketch out your ideas visually by using a colored pen, a highlighter-type marker, and a symbol library to create flowcharts and drawings.

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Figure 14-1: This could be the best program to use to sketch out ideas or just doodle during those long meetings.

If you draw a shape (such as a circle), Grafigo instantly converts it into a smooth drawing object. You can write in Grafigo by using text boxes, and what you write is automatically converted to text; or you can use one of three Pen tools within Grafigo to write on-screen. Leave it as handwriting or use a Windows Journal-like Lasso tool to convert it to text if you like.

You can take images you have on hand and use them as underlays to what you draw or write in Grafigo. You can also use an Onionskin feature to overlay one drawing over another.

Tip Grafigo documents are saved in the Scalable Vector Graphic (.svg) format, so you should be able to open them in SVG-compatible programs, such as Adobe SVG Viewer.