Customer Reviews

Deneba CANVAS X WIN/MAC ( F9105-0100-EN )

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have been using this product for a long time.. years ago this was one of the most affordable and feature rich graphics software for windows. The problem I have always had with this software is that it was designed for the Mac, and the windows version seems like an after thought.. features that work great on the mac, just don't translate well into the windows world.. and the programmers and software designers at this company didn't really take the time or the effort to make them work on the windows version.. I would avoid this if you are buying the windows version

I disagree with the previous reviewers who seem to believe that this is a great program for the Macintosh that doesn't translate well to the PC. Its a horrible piece of software on both platforms. Many years ago, Canvas 3.5 for the Mac was one of the best drawing programs available at the time. Unfortunately, Canvas X is buggy, unstable, and much more difficult to use than earlier Macintosh versions. Most of the user interface does not seem vary Mac like at all and appears to have been directly ported from Windows 95. It frequently crashes (often when trying to save a file). It also hangs frequently, especially when trying to export complex graphics to other file formats, and one must use the OS X "force quit" feature. I've also had problems with graphics becoming corrupted when pasting them in from other programs. As others have mentioned the customer support is useless and no bug fixes have been released in a long time.

I've used the Canvas application since the late '80s when it was Mac only. A new, OS X version, Canvas 9, promised more than it could deliver. The program suffered from slow printing and random crashes to the point I could not trust it. I disliked it so much that I still used V3.5 (circa 1992) for most tasks! Like many users I expected steady improvements and thought that many of the problems and rough edges would be fixed in the next version.

Only weeks after prying $149 from me for an upgrade to Canvas X, ACDC announced that it will no longer support future Mac versions or even bug fixes to the current version! Anyone who still believes marketing statements from this company or gives them money has my sympathies.

I bought this software to work on AutoCAD files: the software was not able to properly open one single drawing! It quits either upon opening or when performing basic tasks as zooming. When contacted the technical support from ACD was only able to aknowledge the fact but could not bring in any solutions.
My advise: do NOT buy it: you are wasting your money!

It is not too disappointing that ACD decided not to support Mac users by discontinuing with Canvas for Macintosh for their Canvas 11 version. After all, previous Canvas versions (7,8,9 and 10) are prone to problems including frequently crashing and slow printing. Canvas 3.5 was a wonderful product and not only did they (ACD) not improve on that, they raised the price dramatically. That was the first sign of trouble and sure was the first move to lose customer support. Their decision to finally forget about Mac users due to economic issues is something they created and deserve.

I don't own this version but I have used it and it has deteriorated greatly over the years. Canvas 3.5 was the best and Canvas 5.0 wasn't bad but Canvas 8 had quite a few problems on the mac including a windows type interface and stability problems. After Deneba sold it to ACD, it went down hill fast. Deneba had great customer service and support but ACD was lousy in this area and they raised the price significantly. ACD kept sending me offers to buy the windows version (I have bought 5 different mac versions) when I sent them an email asking about a fourth coming mac version they would not even answer the email. I think the once great graphics program "Canvas" is dead (at least for the mac)

I am a PC user, and I was originally upset that older versions of Canvas were Mac only, since it seemed the best software for my work applications.

Canvas 9, for PC, was a bit unstable. Yes, it would crash a lot and have difficulty opening some files. I still have it on one of my older computers and frankly it is no longer effective as a program.

Canvas X, however, is a gem!! Only on _rare_ occasions does it crash, and I only notice it as occurring when trying to convert an excel graph.

As a design program, this is the best!! It has a lot of the functionality of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, but with complete manipulatability. Converting files to other formats is easy (but best conversion compared to other programs to tif files). This program maintains the highest resolution of photographs, better than other programs I've tried.

Unfortunately, it is also lacking for conversion to CMYK color formats. If I need that format, I convert with this program to a RGB tif, and then have Adobe Photoshop convert to a CMYK tif.

I highly recommend this program if you need such control over graphic files. I don't even know how to do half of its functions (primarily because I don't need to know), but this is such a rich program!

You'll never receive worse customer service than this company provides.

I lost my identification code for the software when I moved across the country, and then I needed it to install the software on my new computer. The company refuses to give me a code because I can't provide them with an order number from an email they sent me three years ago.

I swapped to CanvasX Win after using CorelDraw for almost 20 years from Version 2 to X3. The decider for me was opening a dxf plan and seeing the UTM coordinates immediately displayed in the rulers. CanvasX knows about where things sit in space, how to scale them easily and deals with bitmaps and vector objects all within the same package. Yes, it has difficulty importing large files, yes save often, perhaps even more often than say in CorelDraw, yes it seems that Canvas has been the forgotten child in ACD System's suite of programmes. There are some features that send some users nuts judging by the discussion forums (but isn't that true of any program?). However, the word from ACD on the forums indicates that a new version (Windows only at this stage) is due out towards the end of 2007. ACD even say they've been listening to their customers' suggestions. If nothing changed, CanvasX remains, for me, a very useful, good value tool in my kit bag for producing technical illustrations. I've given a 4 star rating rather than 5 because CanvasX is much, much better than average but still has a few bugs and can be unstable and slow with big (>10Mb) vector files.