There are two types of image files 1) raster or bitmapped image files and 2) vector image files.
These are based on a
collection of "pixels" arranged in a matrix or grid. A pixel is
the smallest single element that can be displayed on a monitor. The value of the
pixel is it's attribute and can represent something about the
real world such as population. The attribute can be represented on the display
as a colour or a shade of grey. There are many kinds of bitmapped fi les (PCX,
GIF, BMP, BIL, etc.) due to software manufacturer's compression schemes, header
info, etc. Raster images are produced by scanners, satellites, radar, etc.
Disadvantages: bitmapped images cannot be enlarged too much
before image quality suffers; file sizes can be very large; each bitmap file can
contain only one attribute. Bitmapped images are modified by altering the
attribute assigned to the pixel.
The image is made up of a series of lines whose inflection points (the point at which the direction of the line changes) are stored as coordinates, usually in a cartesian (x,y) coordinate system. In other words the coordinates of the start and end points of each straight line are stored in the vector file. A polygon is created when a series of lines enclose an area. The polygon can then be assigned any number of attributes. For example, Essex County is a polygon that is composed of a sequence of lines chained together to define it's shape. The population, wheat grown, cars produced within Essex County are some of it's attributes. Vector images can be easily produced by digitize rs and raster to vector conversion programs. Vector files are stored in a variety of schemes including EPS (Encapsulated Post Script) and CGM. Vector based graphic files can be enlarged as much as desired without affecting the quality of the image. Vector images are modified by reassigning the start and end points of each line and/or redefining the attributes of the polygons.
CorelDraw! is designed to work with vector based graphic files although it does accommodate bitmapped or raster images into it's drawings.
CorelDraw! is actually one of several, Windows based programs that are packaged and sold together. They are designed to manipulated raster images (PHOTO PAINT), draw graphs and charts (CHART), create animation (MOVE), convert raster to vector (TRACE) and organize and display a series of images (MOSAIC). DRAW however, is the foundation of these programs and is designed to create and manipulate vector based images as well as incorporate bitmapped or raster images. This course will introduce you to the more widely used features of CorelDraw! Version 4.0.
CorelDraw! is designed to work within the WINDOWS environment. The
CorelDraw! family is usually found in Program Manager in the Corel
Graphics group. Double clicking on the icon (which looks like the
illustration shown on the right) will place you in the Corel Graphics Group
shown below.
You will notice that several icons exist within the Corel 4 Group. Double click on the CorelDraw! icon in order to start the program.
The CorelDraw! Application Window that will appear on the screen will be similar in appearance to the one shown on the next page. The main features of the application window include:
Spending a few moments to customize your CorelDraw! environment can result in better productivity, pleasant working conditions, as well as allowing you to create scaled representations of the real world.
Find DISPLAY on the menu bar. Position the mouse's cursor over it and click the left button on the mouse. A drop-down menu will appear. Click on the words "Show rulers" and "Show status line". A check-mark will appear to the left of each of these lines. Now, position the mouse's cursor anywhere on the editing page and click the left button once to clear the drop-down menu below DISPLAY. The application window should show horizontal rulers along the top and vertical rulers along the left side of the editing page.
Using the horizontal and vertical rulers find the origin, that is, the (0,0)
coordinate. The origin may appear to be at the top left corner of the drawing
page. Many people prefer to work with the origin located at the bottom left
corner of the drawing p age. This places it in
the "first
quadrant" of the cartesian coordinate system where both the x and y
coordinates are positive.
To change the origin find the icon shown on the left. This icon can be found to the left of the horizontal ruler and just above the vertical ruler. Position the mouse pointer on this icon and press it's left button. DO NOT RELEASE THE BUTTON. Carefully drag the cursor to the bottom left corner of the drawing page. When you are satisfied with the position release the button. Check the horizontal and vertical rulers to confirm that the origin has be en repositioned.
Guidelines are used to help you position objects on the drawing page. Guidelines DO NOT get printed. You can create as many guidelines as you feel are necessary to assist you in positioning objects. Guidelines can be both horizontal and vertical. They can be repositioned or eliminated at your convenience.
To create a horizontal guideline, simply position the cursor anywhere inside the horizontal ruler. PRESS AND HOLD DOWN the left button on the mouse. Drag the cursor to the position on the drawing page where you want the guideline to be. Then release the button. A horizontal dashed, blue line will appear across the editing page at the position where you released the mouse's button.
Vertical guides can also be created but you must click anywhere inside the vertical ruler. You can repeat this sequence as often as you feel is necessary.
To move a guideline, simply position the cursor over any part of the guideline that is in the editing window. Press the mouse's left button and drag it to it's new position at which point you release the button.
To delete a guideline, click on any part of the ill fated guideline in the editing area and drag the cursor to either the horizontal or vertical ruler. Release the button. The guideline is gone!
You can also snap objects automatically to the guidelines.
Select Layout from the menu. Click on Snap
To. Then select from grid, guidelines or object to
snap to. CorelDraw! will always position the cursor on
the nearest one of these "snap-to" points.
Overlaying a grid onto the editing page can be a very effective aide for accurate positioning of objects. You can control the density or frequency of the grid as well as it's origin. You can have the grid appear on the editing page as a grid of blue dots or the grid can be made invisible. You can also have objects automatically snap themselves to the nodes of the grid. This is especially useful when drawings must be done to scale. The grid node is where the horizontal and vertical grid lines cross (shown by the blue dots on the editing page).
The grid is defined by placing the cursor onto the word LAYOUT in the menu bar and then clicking the mouse's left button. A drop-down menu will appear. Position the cursor over the words "GRID SETUP" and click the mouse's left button. A dialogue window will appear that is similar to the one show to the right.
Notice that you can change the grid frequency and the grid origin which you may do now. There are also two selection boxes that appear in the bottom left corner of the window. One selection box says "Show Grid" while the other says " Snap To Grid". Click on the box to the left of the words "Show Grid". Then click on the "OK" box. The "Grid Setup" window will disappear. You will notice that the screen now shows a grid of blue dots positioned over the editing p age.
You should also be aware that you can scale the grid so that the distance between two nodes on your CorelDraw! grid represent real world coordinates. One inch between grid nodes for example, can be set to represent one mile. This is what the group of options labeled "Scale" at the top of the grid menu does.
You probably noticed that we have always used the left button on the mouse to select various options from the menus. CorelDraw! allows you to define one of several functions for the right button. In this case, we'll use the right but ton to zoom in and out of our drawing whenever it is pressed. (As for the middle button, for those with three button mice, CorelDraw! doesn't do anything with it).
Click on "Special" in the menu bar. Among the
options that will appear in the drop-down menu will be the word
"Preferences". Click on "Preferences". You'll notice
that the word "Mouse" appears in the list on the right side of
the "Preferences" window. Click on the word "Mouse". You are now
presented with a list of functions that the mouse's right button can be made to
perform. Select the item "2x zoom" and click on OK.
From now on, a single click of the mouse's right button will zoom
in (magnify) the part of the drawing with the centre of the drawing
being where the cursor was when the right button was pressed. A double
click of the right button will zoom out.
Two other options worth mentioning while we're looking at the PREFERENCES
menu. The NUDGE selection refers to the movement a selected
object makes each time one of the arrow keys is pressed. Nudge is very useful
for accurate FINAL positioning of objects, something that is
virtually impossible to do with the mouse. The idea is to use the mouse to place
your object approximately where you want and then nudge it into final position.
You can set the nudge distance to be very small if object placement is critical.
The other option which can be found under PREFERENCES -
CURVES is AUTO JOIN. Without auto join,
closing a polygon would be impossible. You could never position
the end point exactly on the starting point of the polygon unless "snap to
grids or object" has been turned on. CorelDraw! however, will snap to any point
in the current object within the dimensions specified in autojoin thereby
ensuring a closure. Specifying a larger autojoin distance will ca use CorelDraw!
to search farther out for a point to automatically snap to.
This completes our customization of CorelDraw! It is important to note that
all these changes are recorded on the hard drive and will remain in effect the
next time that you use the program.
A common problem with CorelDraw! occurs when you
inadvertently set defaults for various features within the program. CorelDraw!
will remember these setups. This is a useful feature since you don't have to
waste time setting CorelDraw! up each time you use it. But the beginner can set
defaults without knowing it or, you may be using a machine that others use and
you inherit their defaults. An example of this
is when you draw a line or other shape on the screen. It appears to be outlined
in black until you close the shape off. Then it disappears. This may be caused
by the actual line colour defaulting to white, the same colour as the
background. The status bar should reveal this. Learn to depend on the
status bar for information about defaults. Defaults are set by choosing
various options in CorelDraw! without any objects being currently selected.
Examples will be shown later to illustrate how to set defaults.
5.6 Defaults and the Status Line.
6. Drawing in CorelDraw!: The Tool Bar
The Tool Bar, pictured on the left, is a collection of frequently used CorelDraw! commands that are switched on by merely clicking on the desired icon. The tool or tools that are currently active will appear darker than the rest. In the diagram shown on the left, the top most tool (called the PICK TOOL) is currently selected because it is darker than the rest. The tool bar can "float" by clicking DISPLAY followed by clicking on "Floating ToolBox". A bar will appear above the toolbox. If you click and hold on that bar you can drag the toolbox anywhere on the editing page. Because the tool bar contains some of the most frequently used features in CorelDraw! we'll examine each tool in some detail. (Note: Many of the functions that are accessible through the tool bar can also be accessed from the menus. CorelDraw! provides many alternatives to select options. You use the method which you're most comfortable with).
As their name implies, these tools can draw rectangles or squares, and ellipses or circles. If you select the RECTANGLE tool it will appear dark. To draw a rectangle, move the cursor to the top left of the editing page. Press the mouse's left button. Remember to hold it down. Drag the mouse's cursor across and down over the editing page. You will notice the outline of a rectangle following the mouse. Release the left button. A rectangle will remain where the outline was.
A square can be obtained by holding the Ctrl button on the keyboard down while you drag the mouse across the editing page.
An ellipse is created the same way you made a rectangle
except you select the ELLIPSE tool first. Make sure the Ellipse tool is shaded
dark! A circle is obtained in the same way you made a
square. With the ellipse tool selected, hold the Ctrl key down. Position the
mouse's cursor where you want the top of the circle to appear. Hold the left
mouse button down. Drag the cursor to where you want the bottom of the circle to
appear. Release the button.
This tool is one of the more interesting ones to play with because it
does more than text. It's actually the other stuff that I'll explain before
discussing text. Position the cursor over t he text tool and press the left
button. HOLD IT DOWN FOR ABOUT A SECOND OR TWO. You'll notice that just
below it a group of three icons will appear. This type of menu is called a
"Fly-out menu". Now you can release the button. C lick once
on the STAR icon.
A menu with the name SYMBOLS will appear on the editing page and looks similar to the one shown on the right. This kind of menu called a Roll-up can be placed anywhere on the editing page. Click and hold on the solid bar at the top of the roll-up. The roll-up will follow the mouse over the editing page. It will come to rest wherever you release the button. Roll-up menus can also be "rolled up" to reveal only the name of the menu, in this case "Symbols" by c licking on the up arrow to the right of the roll-up name. This helps to reduce screen clutter.
CorelDraw! has a rich library of pre-defined shapes, symbols and clip-art. These minimize the need for you to spend time creating art from scratch. The symbols roll-up offers very quick access to some of this library. If you click on the down arrow to the left of the words "ZapfDingbats BT" you'll see a list of symbol groups. Select any one of them. A number of symbols will appear in the large window.
You can scroll up or down through this window by selecting either the up or down arrows that appear just above the words " Size" and "2.00".
If you don't find the symbol you want in this group then just select another group. Once you find a symbol you like, click on it, remember to keep the mouse's left button pressed, and drag it over to the editing or drawing page. You can select as many symbols as you want.
To create artistic text, click and hold on the text tool
again for about two seconds. Release the left button on the mouse when the
fly-out menu appears below the text tool. This time, select the "A" icon.
The text tool changes back to its original form. Place the cursor back
on the drawing page and click anywhere on it. Look carefully where you
clicked. There will be a thin vertical line there. This is the
text position prompt. You can now type any text from the
keyboard and it will appear on the drawing page.
Just what is artistic text? Artistic text cannot contain more than 250 characters per block but you can apply a broad range of features to it. You can change the font, the size, distort it's shape, fit it to a line, fit it into an envelope. You can fill it with solid colours, blend it, extrude it and so on.
To change the font, size and justification of text before
you begin to type, click on the word TEXT in the menu bar at the top of
the CorelDraw! Application Window. Then select the "Text Roll-up" that
appears in the drop-down menu. A "roll-up" similar to the one shown on the
left will appear in the editing page. The arrow to the right of the word
"Harpoon" allows you to select other fonts. There are also selections for
normal, bold, italic, etc; font size and justification. When you have made
all your selections click on "Apply" to make these selections take effect.
Remember that these selections will only apply to the text currently
being entered NOT to all the text you may enter in this session. In
other words these selections you If you want to "permanently" change a font or any other text
feature, in other words, set new defaults, you MUST
make sure that no object (or anything else) is selected. Do this by
selecting the Pick Tool and clicking anywhere on the editing page where there is
absolutely nothing. Then go back to the text tool. Make your
selections. When you select "Apply" you'll get a box like the one shown on the
right. This is GOOD! Select both artistic text and paragraph text, then
select OK. These new selections will now apply for all text you do in the
future until you redefine the defaults. Of course, you can still set fonts and
so on for each line of text by altering the text roll-up as described in the
previous paragraph.
The paragraph tool is used to create a text box or frame into which
you can place paragraph text. Paragraph text is not limited to the 250
characters that artistic text is. Paragraph text can be hyphenated, justified,
placed into column s and so on. To use paragraph text click and hold on the text tool
until the fly-out menu appears. Then select by clicking on the paragraph text
tool which is the one in the middle of the fly-out menu. Place the cursor on the
editing page where you want the top left corner of your paragraph frame to
appear. Click and hold the left button. Drag the cursor down and to the right to
a point approximately where the right corner of the paragraph will be.
Don't worry about accuracy here. You can resize the frame as often as you want.
Remember, its an object. A box will appear similar to the one shown above
(without the text of course). There will be a thin vertical cursor in the box.
This is where any text you enter into the box will appear.
Make sure the text box is selected. The frame must be surrounded by eight
small squares to indicate that it is selected. If not, read ahead in the Pick
Tool section to find out how to select the paragraph frame. You can now
enter text into the paragraph frame.
You can also select how text will appear within the frame.
Two pop-up menus can be summoned to help you do this. In the previous section,
examine the text roll-up. Just above the word "Apply" are two boxes. The one on
the left says "Frame " while the The "paragraph" selection (shown below) in the text roll-up offers
considerable control over spacing, tabs, indents and bullets
(see illustration at top of next page). You can also choose from several
alignment options. Changes to fonts must be
made from the text roll-up described in the previous section.
The Pick Tool selects objects which can then be moved to a new location,
stretched to a new size, rotated about, copied or even deleted. To
select an object click on the Pick Tool. It should appear darker
than the other tools in the tool bar. Then move the cursor directly
over a line or feature within the object you wish to select. Click the
left button on the mouse.
You can move the object by placing the cursor
directly over any line that is part of the object; click and
hold the left button on the mouse and drag the object to it's new location.
Release the button when you are satisfied with the approximate location. Use
nudge (the arrow keys on the keyboard) to "fine tune" the final
position of the object.
To copy the object, that is, to leave the original in it's
place and make a duplicate of the object in a new location on the editing or
display page, follow the same instructions as when you moved the object but
press the mouse's right button as you drag the object to it's new location.
Both buttons are now pressed. Once there, release the left button first followed
by the right button. A copy of the object is now at the new location.
To delete an object simply select it and press the
"delete" key on the keyboard. If you change your mind and want it back
(i.e. UnDelete) click on Edit and select "Undo". You
can set up to ten levels of undo in Preferences but the default is five.
The zoom tool can be used to enlarge or reduce your view of the
drawing. It doesn't change the size of the drawing itself, only your
current view of it. It can also be used to reset the drawing back to
page size (use the icon that looks like a page). My own
preference is to use the right mouse button to zoom in and out since it is
faster. So, I won't say anything else about the zoom tool. But, you can always
play with it and figure out which way you prefer.
The first tool, the one that looks like a pen nib will present a menu that
will allow you to change pen colours,
widths, the shape of the pen nib (for those
who want to create some calligraphic effects), place various
arrowheads on one or both ends of the line and a host of other
effects. Remember the comments made about setting defaults. If you make changes
to the outline with no objects selected then the changes you make here will
become defaults. In other words, all the lines you make from now on will reflect
the options you select now!
One other icon, the third icon will eliminate an outline
from an object. This seems confusing at first but a thick letter can be filled
with one colour or pattern while the outline of the letter is in another,
undesired colour.
The other icons are yours to explore. Some are obvious as to what they do,
others will require a little experimentation. Don't forget the help
icon for on-line help.
Selecting the Fill Tool will present you with a fly-out menu similar to
the one shown above. The pie-like icon allows you to select a colour for a
uniform or solid fill. You could also use the colour bar for this as well.
Graded fills, which are far more impressive, At this point select a symbol from the symbol library (see section
8.1). Use the Pick Tool to select it. Next, select the fill tool and click
on the second icon. This will produce the roll-up shown above.
To the left of the "bricks" which I'll call the "sample
swatch" in the fill roll-up shown above, are four icons that appear the
same as in the fly-out menu shown above. I personally find the roll-up is more
versatile than the fly-out to work with the various fills. The top-most icon
will allow you to create graded fills including a neat circular one. If you
click on it, three icons will appear just above the word "Tile". Click on each
of these and watch what happens to the sample swatch.
The second "checker-board" icon will place a black and white
bitmapped pattern on the sample swatch. If you click on the small
grey triangle in the bottom right corner of the sample swatch you'll be
presented with a selection of patterns to choose from. A scroll bar on the
right of this pattern selection window will permit you to scroll through the
complete set of patterns. Double clicking on any of these patterns will select
it and display it on the sample swatch.
Click on the third icon (the diagonal line with the arrows on either
end). Then click on the sample swatch. You'll get to choose from yet another
selection of patterns however these are in colour. Not obvious, but
significant, is that these patterns are vector images. This
means they can be edited by CorelDraw!
The fourth icon or symbol selects the "fractal" fill. This
one's real cool! When you click on this you'll get two selection bars to
choose from. Click on the arrows next to them. You'll see the patterns
previewed in the sample swatch. When you find the pattern you want select
"Apply".
Clicking on the Pencil Tool will produce a fly-out menu The second icon in the fly-out menu selects a BÉZIER pencil
To use the bézier pencil, click on the second icon from the left in the
fly-out menu. Click on the editing screen where you want to place the starting
point of your line. Now put the cursor down on the screen where you want the end
point of the line to be and click the left button. DO NOT RELEASE THE BUTTON.
Slide the cursor over and watch what happens. A dashed blue line with one
of it's endpoints will follow your mouse but the bezier line will change shape!
As long as you keep the left button pressed you can move the control point
around changing the shape of your line. Play with it. When you're done,
release the left button. Your bézier line is done. Now the good part! The
end point of this line you just created becomes th e start point for the next
line. Go ahead! Click and hold somewhere else. Drag the cursor and you see
this next bézier line change shape and angle.
The last three icons will create parallel lines in either the vertical,
horizontal or at an angle.
The bézier control points are also available to edit. They
appear as small black rectangles or handles, on the ends of dashed blue lines.
Simply click on the small black handles and move them about as you did when
creating bézier lines until you get the effect you want. If you don't like
the effect then UNDO it.
You can also add new nodes by double-clicking (two rapid
clicks of the left button) at any point on a line. A circular dot will appear at
this point. Then select the + icon from the edit drop-down menu that will appear
on the screen. The circular dot will change to a small black square or
node.
Many other editing capabilities are also available.
A common special effect is to fit text to a curve. Two things are necessary;
text and a curve. Select TEXT from the menu and click on "Fit Text To Path". A
drop-down menu will appear similar to the one shown on the previous page. The
four options from top to bottom allow you to 1) specify how the text will curve
around the outline, 2) whether the text will appear above, below or directly
over the line that makes up the outline, 3) whether the text will appear above,
below or to the right or left of the outline and 4) whether the text will be
inside or outside of the outline.
Once you have chosen your options select "Apply" and the effect will take
place.
If you want to delete the outline of the curve you just
fitted the text to, then ensure the text and the curve are selected as the
current object (black squares around it), click on "Arrange" in the menu and
select "Break apart". The text and the curve are now separate
objects. Select the curve and delete it. The text stays in it's curved
shape but the curve is gone!
If you select EDIT while you're in the "Fit Text to Path"
roll-up you will be shown a dialogue box that asks you to select
"Horizontal Offset" and "Distance from Path".
The first option allows you t o slide the text either to the right with a
positive horizontal offset, or to the left with a negative horizontal offset.
Setting positive distances from the path will move the text a specific distance
above the line while negative values insert the text a specific distance inside
the line. Don't be afraid to try as many options as you can. If
you don't like it, UNDO it. If you can't figure it out, use the HELP
button.
First select two shapes. They can even be symbols or clipart. Position
the shapes at different places and make them different sizes. Use the Pick Tool
to select one of the shapes. Then, hold the SHIFT key down and select the other
shape. Both should now be enclosed by those familiar eight small black
squares called handles. Choose EFFECTS from the menu. Then select the Blend
Roll-Up. The roll-up is pictured on the right. Steps refers to the number
of images that will appear between the two end points. The rotation defines the
curvature of each image as it steps through the blend. If you want to loop
around, click on "Loop". Once your options are selected then click on
Apply.
You can also select rainbow to vary the colour of each step or if you want
you can select a colour or a shade of grey to do a solid fill of each of the
steps in the blend.
Extrusions give an object a three dimensional effect. To
create an extrusion, select an object with the Pick Tool. Then click on EFFECTS
followed by EXTRUDE. A drop down menu In the Extrude roll-up click on the up-arrow in the small box to the
right of the word "Depth". Hold down on the mouse until the number gets quite
large, about 75, before you release the button. You'll notice that the
three-dimensional effect in blue appears to drop back as the depth increases.
Now place the cursor over the small, black X and click and hold. Drag the X
slowly about on the screen. The blue lines will follow the black X. When you get
tired of this release the button.
Select the pie-shaped icon from the Extrude roll-up menu. From the three
selections that now appear in the Extrude roll-up select "Shade". Click on
"From". A colour selection grid will appear. Select any colour. Do the same
thing with the "To" select ion. Pick a different colour. Once you're done click
on "Apply". Neat huh!
Try playing with the other two icons that appear in the Extrude roll-up. They
control the intensity and direction from which a "light source" illuminates the
image as well as the reflectivity of your object.
Envelopes refer to the process where text is
stretched and shaped so as to fit inside an irregular shape or polygon.
The illustration below shows one such envelope effect. You can select from a
wide variety of pre-defined envelopes or you can reshape the predefined envelope
to whatever you want. There is even a way to take custom made objects and make
envelopes out of them.
Envelopes work best on large text, the larger the better. To create an
envelope perform the following;
At first glance , Power Lines are a curious way to draw lines in CorelDraw!
Nothing changes after a second, third and a few more glances as well. The best
way for me to describe power lines is to think in terms
of calligraphy where the artist uses the pen to vary the thickness of the line
as it drawn across the page.
To use this effect, select "Power Lines" from the Effects menu. A
roll-up similar to the one shown on the left will appear. You have three options
which you can vary to create the effects you would like. These can be custom
made and saved or you can select from a series of preset pens. You can control
the "flow of ink", the width of the line and even the way the ink would spread
on the page as it dries. Once you have made your selections you can switch
to the pencil tool. You can draw in free-hand style or bézier mode. Either way
it will take some practice to predict the way your power line will react.
But that's the fun of it.
You spent a lot of time creating these great artistic effects. Don't forget
to save them. To save the image as a CorelDraw! file simply
select "File" and "Save" or "Save As". The Save As option
is used when you w ant to change the name of the file and still keep the
old one.
If you're thinking about using these images in your favourite word processor
then you need to export the graphic as one of the two file
types discussed at the beginning of this course, that is, you are going to
save it as a bitmapped or a vector image. Chances are good
that your word processor will NOT read in Corel's CDR format (which is vector
based). Encapsulated Postscript is the best but is useless if you don't have a
Post Script printer. Computer Graphics Metafiles (CGM) are usually a safe bet
for the rest of us but I've frequently been disappointed with grey shading.
Exporting bitmapped images such as PCX or BMP is reasonably safe but don't
expect shades and fills to come out well. Corel's rendition of WordPerfect
Graphics (WPG) which is a bitmapped format doesn't produce good results. You can
also use Window's clipboard to transfer graphics to other Windows programs.
The next time you use CorelDraw! you may want to continue working on an
incomplete drawing. If you saved the image as a CorelDraw! file (with a CDR
extension) you can retrieve it by clicking on "File" in the menu and then on
"Open". Select your file from the dialogue menu that will appear.
Alternatively, if your drawing was one of the last four you used it will appear
at the bottom of the "File" drop-down menu. Simply double-click on the file
name if it appears here.
If the file was saved in another format, i.e. bitmapped or whatever, then you
need to select the import option that will appear under the "File"
menu. CorelDraw! will not automatically determine the file type. You must
explicitly inform it from the drop-down menu that will appear in the bottom left
corner of the import menu.
CorelDraw! Version 4 is the newest release of this fine graphic software. As
such, I have not had the opportunity to examine the literature that describe how
to use this product. Two books that I have used describe version 3. There are
however, enough significant new features in version 4 that an older manual will
not satisfy some of your questions. Keep this in mind if you're buying manuals.
Make sure they cover version 4.
make right now will not be the
defaults. What appeared in the text roll-up before you started making changes
are the defaults. Your selections will be lost as soon as you select another
tool from the tool bar.
8.3 Paragraph Text
Paragraph text cannot be
manipulated with the same range of effects that it's artistic text counterpart
can be. Essentially paragraph text acts and feels like the text you create in a
word processor.. You can type the text while in CorelDraw! or import text from
your favourite word processor. The latter method is recommended for long
passages since CorelDraw! does not have features normally associated with word
processors. The text frame, shown on the right, can be treated like any other
object. It can be moved, rotated, stretched and sized. You will learn how to
manipulate the frame using the Pick Tool.
one on the right says
"Paragraph". The frame selection presents the pop-up menu shown below. It allows
you select the number of columns of text that will appear in
the frame and the gutter width. The gutter width is the space
that separates the columns.
There is also a way to import text into a paragraph
frame from your favourite word processor. Make sure your paragraph frame is
selected. Then, under the File selection in the menu you will notice one option
named "Import". Clicking on this selection will produce a pop-up menu. In
the bottom left corner is a section entitled "List files of type". If you select
this you'll see a small roll-up menu which you can scroll by using the
slide bar along the right side of this menu until you see your favourite word
processor listed. Click on this entry. Then identify the file you wish to import
and select "OK".
9. The Pick Tool
When an object is selected by the Pick Tool it is
surrounded by eight black squares like the picture shown on the left. These are
called handles. To change the size of the
object place the cursor on any of the four handles in the corners; click and
hold; then drag the mouse away from the object to make the object
larger or into the object to make it smaller.
Similarly, you can stretch the object in the horizontal by clicking on one of
the handles on either side of the object. Finally, you can stretch the object's
height by clicking the handles directly above or below the object.
If you click twice in rapid succession on an object it will be
surrounded by arcs terminated with arrows. Clicking directly over any of these
handles will allow you to rotate and skew the object in the
direction of the arc relative to the object. Try it! The circle in the
centre of the object controls the perspective. If you drag the
circle off in one direction and then stretch or rotate you will add the
illusion of depth to the object.
10. The Zoom Tool
11. The Outline Tool
When you click on the Outline tool a fly-out menu will appear
similar to the one shown below. This tool is used to change the
thickness and colour of lines.
12. The Fill Tool.
Filling in objects can result in some of the more spectacular displays
that CorelDraw! can provide. This is one option you want to play with since
there is an endless variety of fill effects t hat you can achieve.
are created with the second
icon.
A
"roll-up" menu like the one shown on the left will appear once this icon is
selected. A n example of a fill is shown in the star symbol next to it.
The object currently selected
will be filled with that pattern.
13. The Pencil Tool.
similar to the
one shown on the left. similar to the one shown on the left. If you select
the left-most icon, known as the free hand-pencil,
you will be allowed to
draw freehand lines in the colour and width defined by the
outline tool. As long as the left button on the mouse is pressed a line will
follow the course that the cursor traces across the editing or drawing window. A
click on the left button will join the current cursor's position from the last
point the left button was clicked with a straight line. The problem with
the freehand pencil is that you have very little control over the line. It
appears jerky and jagged.
which
address the problems encountered with the freehand pencil. Bézier curves are
defined by four points. Two define the coordinates of the beginning and end of
the line. The other two define the location of control points that determine the
angle and size of the curve of the line. The Bézier pencil gives you control
over these last two points.
14. The Shape Tool.
CorelDraw! provides
many tools for creating objects but there must also be some provision for
editing your objects. This is the role of the Shape Tool.
15. Special Effects
15.1 Fitting Text to a Curve
Once these two
ingredients have been created, use the Pick Tool to select one of them. Then,
hold the SHIFT key down on the keyboard and with the Pick Tool select the other
object (either the text or the curve, whichever hasn't been selected yet).
You'll note that the six black handles or rectangles will surround both the
text and the curve. This means that both the curve and the text are NOW one
object.
15.2 Blends
Blends like the one shown
on the left can provide startling effects to your graphics. This particular one
starts with an ellipse at the top and blends through a 100 step curve until it
forms a rectangle at the bottom. Blending is easy.
15.3 Extrusions.
similar
to the one shown on the left will appear. Also notice that a small dark X will
appear next to your selected object and that there is a three-dimensional effect
drawn in blue behind your object.
15.4 Envelopes
1)
Use the Text Tool to create a line of text on the drawing page.
2)
Select the text (which is considered an object now) using the Pick
Tool. The text will now be surrounded by eight small black squares.
3)
Select "Effects" from the menu followed by "Envelope Roll-Up". A
roll-up similar to the one shown above will appear on the screen.
4)
Select "Add Preset" from the Envelope roll-up menu. A small pop-up
menu will appear with a number of pre-defined shapes. Choose one of these
shapes. You can scroll up or down through these shapes by using the
slide-bar on the right side of the pop-up menu. You choose the shape by
clicking on it causing it to be enclosed by a dark black border.
5) The
envelope shape you select will immediately surround the text that you have
selected as an object. The envelope is shown as a dashed red outline. White
handles will appear at various points along the envelope.
6)
You can click on any of these white handles and you will see those
familiar bezier handles appear which allow you to drag and shape the
envelope.
7)
After you are satisfied with the shape of the envelope click on Apply. If
you don't like it you can undo (EDIT, UNDO) or Reset the Envelope from the
Envelope Roll-up.
15.5 PowerLines.
16. Saving and Exporting
17. Getting the Drawing Back
Glossary
Bibliography
Dickman,
C. et al., 1993, Mastering Corel Draw 3, Peachpit Press, Berkely,
California. A new release is due any day now covering version 4. This book
follows a hands-on tutorial approach and can satisfy even the most demanding
user. It also covers the other programs in the Corel family. The version 4
release promises to be as good as this one.
Merrin,
Robin, 1993, CorelDRAW, Quick and Easy, Sybex, San Francisco. This book
offers a visual introduction to CorelDraw version 3. It is colourful and easy
to read but covers only the rudiments of CorelDraw. For many readers this may
be enough. Some of the other members of the Corel family are described
including PhotoPaint, CorelShow and CorelChart.
Where To Get Additional HELP!
Don't
forget the ON-LINE HELP feature that is part
of CorelDraw! It should answer most of your questions.
The
HELP DESK in Computing Services is available during regular
business hours, Monday through Friday. Call extension 4440.
If you're in the Computer Centre the Help Desk is in Room 108.