Anyone use Corel DRAW Suite and printable CD or DVD's?

[UNIVACCP642B]

It wasn't so difficult making a template for printing labels and inserts, but I've never tried the printable optical media. I'm wondering if I can get the image of a CD label from a Corel document onto a disc, or if I need to use some other piece of software?

Using a PRO-100.

[ebiggs1]

I don't know if it is possible without the Canon software.  I don't think you can address the DVD printer drawer can you?

[UNIVACCP642B]

Without the Canon software? Do you mean the thing they call My Image Garden?

From a program's Print dialogue, one selects Properties for the Canon PRo-100 Series printer. Under the Printer Paper Size menu is the option for Disk tray K. As far as I know, Disk tray K is the little plastic tray used only for printable CD and DVD media.

I must assume a company such as Canon would not handicap disc printing with minimalist software, not when professional graphics applications are commonplace.

I also assume that this printing requires the use of some form of template. Graphics programs work in rectangles; printing those dreadful sticky labels was always a matter of positioning a circular design within a rectangular space correctly. Wouldn't printing onto a printable CD be much the same?

This posting further leads me to believe that other software can manage printing to Disc tray K:

http://www.audiolabel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=167

So, again, I'm tossing a message in a bottle here, has anyone designed printed CDs or DVDs with CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, and the like? I'm looking to minimalize loss associated with printing designs in the wrong location.

And I'm SHOCKED that Canon didn't create a few templates for download, when they went to all the trouble of designing software such as My Image Garden. A template is nothing more than a new document containing a set of precise measurements. Anyone can make one, but it would be nice to have some idea what measurements to use beforehand.

[ebiggs1]

Its not My Image Garden. The other one Easy Photo Print.
I don't know if you can print directly to DVD drawer. Maybe you can. I use PS andLR but have not tried it. You are correct, you will have to get everything right.

[UNIVACCP642B]

Printer manufacturers include those packages for people who buy printers but do not own any quality software solutions of their own. Professionals aren't going to use Easy Photo Print.

I've found a couple of forum discussions revolving around THIS printer and printable CDs and DVDs, but those folks are using Acoustica or AudioLabel software.

But when it comes down to it, the CorelDRAW software does all that those packages manage, and everything else, too. I can't believe it's not possible to use CorelDRAW or Illustrator to do what I want with THIS printer.

It all boils down to the measurements used to place a circular design on a virtual page. Why hasn't Canon thought to mention those measurements somewhere? Even if they're not interested in making templates for a number of media brands, there remains the universal constants of the center and diameter of the discs. Heck, even if they only told us where to put the center of the design, that would be enough. We could figure everything else out to fit whatever brand we used.

Another concern is overspray. What happens to the ink that misses the label? Does it end up on the photographic prints I make afterward?

[ebiggs1]

I have expressed what I know.  Plus I didn't know anyone used Corel Draw anymore!  I am on my third Pro-????, fill in the number.  When I print a DVD, I use PS to make what I want and the Canon software to print it.  It works well for me and I sell my DVDs,

[UNIVACCP642B]

I'll go out on a linb and say that more people use CorelDRAW than My Image Garden.

Here's what I'll do. I'm going to make a fake CD with some tag board or illustration board. Thickness should be close. Then I'll use the measurements from the AudioLabel post to narrow down a center point from which anyone can make their own template. After all, a template is nothing but a blank document with some measurements saved to it. There should be one for all major graphics applications. Someone with CorelDRAW or Illustrator shouldn't have to buy another software package or use the entry-level offerings that come with the printer.

For some reason, Canon hasn't done it, although all they had to do was somewhere make mention of the location of a single point on an 8½ by 11' sheet of paper (the center of a disc). I've made my own templates before, as when using those horrible stick-on disc labels. There's just nothing more to do.

[ebiggs1]

Maybe so but you are the first person in the past 20 years or so that I know of that even mentioned CorelDRAW.  I didn't even know it was still out there.  Everybody I know uses Illistrator.

But good luck to you.

[JgAutographs]

coreldraw actually still makes current software. i had to use it on a project last year which was sent in with native corel files. its not bad i remember some things being more intuitive than illustrator.