The next generation of drawing software is faster and easier to use than ever before.

This information was provided by Claris Corporation on 16 March 1998, and incorporated into Apple Computer's Tech Info Library.

New ClarisDraw software is here! The successor to the MacDraw Pro drawing environment, the best-selling Macintosh graphics application, brings new speed, clarity and intelligence to Macintosh graphics-on both Apple 680X0 Macintosh and Power Macintosh machines.

MacDraw Pro has been popular with "graphics generalists"-those whose graphics needs include the most popular business and home uses like line technical, diagrams, maps, floor plans, flyers, overhead slides, free-form graphics-because of its powerful features, which have always been easy to use. Even novice users became productive in very little time. ClarisDraw takes the "Simply powerful software" tradition one step further with performance boosts and new, intelligent features that make your drawings more dramatic, yet even quicker and easier to create.

For starters, the SmartConnector feature from ClarisDraw allows you to draw lines connecting boxes or other objects and have these lines remain perfectly connected. The SmartAlign and SmartSize features automatically maintain alignment, size and spacing between objects, even if you move or resize them.

Two more features provide one-click access to popular visual effects that used to take several steps to create. For a professional-looking drop shadow behind any object, simply click the object, then the SmartShadow button. The SmartEmbossing feature provides a dramatic embossing effect with similar ease.

ClarisDraw assists you during every phase of your drawing. The PointGuide and Guideliner tools help you draw, place, size, and move your objects correctly. PointGuide changes the appearance of the cursor to help you locate an object's corners, midpoints and centers. Guideliner provides an instantaneous "T-square" on your screen, allowing you to see how new objects-or objects being moved-relate to existing ones. There's also a floating object information palette, which gives information on any object's location, size, and angle of rotation. You can even type values directly into this palette, making high precision a snap.

ClarisDraw ships with the SmartSymbol library, a set of more than 2,400 high-resolution, professionally-designed maps, figures, symbols, engineering and architectural art, in both color and monochrome. To add a library object to your drawing, simply open the library and drag the object into your document. By using SmartSymbol objects, it's possible to have a quality, finished drawing in only minutes.

If you've duplicated library objects (called "clones") in your document, then you decide to change them, there's no need to edit each one separately. The ClarisDraw Replace Clones feature allows you to change one clone, then modify the rest based on the changes you made to the first.

Text handling is another ClarisDraw strong point. The easy-to-use Bind Text feature allows text to follow the shape of any object-no need for complicated and expensive applications to perform this special effect. Simply create the object and text, select them both, and choose "Bind Text" from a menu. And it's done. And you can easily experiment with a variety of bind text settings until you find the effect you're looking for.

The ClarisDraw Convert to Bezigons feature also adds sizzle to your drawings. With it, any object, including text, can be converted to bezigons for an almost limitless variety of special effects. For example, once converted to bezigons, a block of text (either as a group or each letter separately) can be resized, distorted or reshaped, or filled with colors, patterns or gradients.

Page layouts were a popular application for MacDraw Pro. ClarisDraw makes them even easier with several new text-handling features. You can wrap text around any object, with either regular, smoothly-justified wrapping or "irregular" wrapping. (See Figure 1.) You can also link frames so text flows from column to column and page to page. There's no longer a need to manually move text from one frame to another as it's being edited. ClarisDraw also has a Text Styles feature, allowing you easy access to frequently-used combinations of font, size, style and text color. You can name these styles, and access them with a single click from a pop up menu.

A quick tour
What's it like to see ClarisDraw in action? Let's say you have just a few graphic elements, and you want to pull them together in a way that will attract immediate attention. Starting with a new ClarisDraw document, use the text tool to drag out a couple of linked text frames. You can easily adjust the zoom controls so you can see the entire document on your screen. Once you have the linked text frames the way you want them, select "Place File" from the File menu to import your text. Since ClarisDraw supports XTND translation technology, there are numerous word processing file formats to choose from, including the ClarisWorks, MacWrite II, Microsoft Word, T/Maker's WriteNow, and other formats.

Once the text has been placed, arrange and format it as you like-use text styles to store fonts, styles and text colors, making formatting as easy as point and click. Next, import a picture into your page layout, and set the text to wrap around it: just click on the objects and choose "Wrap Text" from the Text menu. The Alignment palette helps align the text and graphic objects precisely; the Object Info palette lets you enter precise dimensions for every object's size and placement.

Type some more text, select it and the picture you just imported, then choose "Bind Text to Object" from the Text menu. The text instantly binds to the picture's edge. The "Bind Text Options" settings box lets you fine tune how the text binds. Finally, for a magnificent headline, type a bit more text, select it, then choose "Convert to Bezigons" from the Arrange menu. Now that the text is bezigon objects, you can move and stretch it any way you like-even apply a gradient. Check the clock: in only a few minutes, you've completed a page layout that looks professionally finished!

ClarisDraw brings a new array of drawing tools to the veteran MacDraw Pro fan. In addition, the ClarisDraw painting tools will open a new world. Creating images by painting offers an alternative when drawing tools just won't do the job. Painting is also the method of choice if you need to edit scans, photographs or other bitmapped images. ClarisDraw handles these tasks with ease-and you can incorporate the edited image into the finished document. Other full-color painting features include a customizable paintbrush and spray can, as well as transformation effects such as tint, distortion, crop, blend, shade and perspective.

For the page layout we were just working on, you could take a scanned photograph, insert it into a paint frame, and add artistic transformation effects (See Figure 2). Once the photo looks the way you want, simply copy and paste it to your layout.

Sharing files
Creating a magnificent drawing is one thing. Being able to share it is another. Because ClarisDraw supports XTND, numerous graphics formats, including MacDraw Pro, MacDraw II, ClarisImpact , EPSF, PICT, CGM, TIFF, and more, are supported for both import and export. It's a snap to open your MacDraw II or MacDraw Pro documents in ClarisDraw and save them back out in either format.

When ClarisDraw for Windows ships in 1995, both Macintosh and Windows versions will have the same file format. Sharing graphics files between Macintosh and Windows machines will never be a headache again! Even more importantly, since both versions will be identical, businesses will only have to support one product. That's no small point-support is a far bigger cost for businesses than the actual unit cost of software, so the potential for savings is considerable.

ClarisDraw is a worthy successor to MacDraw Pro; its new features, speed and usability make it the software of choice for those who need to get their graphics done quickly, easily and professionally.

Figure 1. The ClarisDraw feature you wonder how you ever lived without-Text on a curve!

Figure 2. Experiment with features such as painting and superior text handling to create unforgettable results.