ACD Systems Canvas X

However, the bulk of the new features in this version are intended to make it easier to use Canvas in conjunction with other design and graphics tools. The program can now import and edit a huge range of file formats, including .dxf and .dwg files from Cad programs such as Autocad.

It can also import files from Coreldraw, Visio and Powerpoint, and there's even a somewhat bizarre new option called the Canvas Printer Driver. This printer driver option can be installed onto your PC so it appears within the Print dialogue box of any Windows application.

You can then tell that application to print a document to Canvas. This then turns it into a new Canvas document which can be opened and edited within the graphics program.

The idea seems to be that business users in large organisations can use Canvas as a kind of multi-purpose design tool that can be employed to gather files and material from different departments or sources.

To emphasise this new collaborative focus, there are other new tools such as the Mark-Up Highlighter, which allows you to highlight parts of a document and then add annotations.

The highlighter graphics and annotations are stored on a separate layer so they don't affect the underlying document. Multiple annotations can be added so several users in a workgroup can each enter their own comments.

This kind of versatility has always been Canvas' strong point, but it's not necessarily a reason to buy it. Most organisations will have already decided on a set of design tools, so it's unlikely they will flock to Canvas simply because it's so good at importing so many different file formats.

It's best, then, to view Canvas as a capable tool for technical illustrations and to treat its wide-ranging file-import and collaborative features as a welcome bonus. A free trial version is available should you want to take a look before buying.

System requirements:

• 300MHz processor
• 256MB RAM
• 100MB hard disk