Corel draw Windows
Window Components A - Standard Toolbar B - Property Bar You can
customize this or any other Toolbar or create additional Toolbars.
The Property Bar is dynamic. Property options change depending on
what you are working on. This enables you to access commands that
are specific to the current tool or feature you are using. The main
tools you will use are accessed from this bar.
C - Main Tool Box
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CONTINUATION D - Rulers The Rulers show the current mouse cursor
location as you move in the work area. The Color Palette by default
is located to the right of the work window. Like the Toolbars, it
can also be relocated. You can choose from a preset palette of
colors, or use a specific color system such as Pantone Spot Colors.
The Status Bar is used to give you information about cursor
movements or symbol properties such as the fill or size. The Page
Selector is used to add and move between pages. When a file
contains multiple pages, individual page tabs appear to the right
of the Page Selector bar. Dockers allow access to effects, styles,
colors, and many other features of CorelDRAW. They can be floated
or docked at the side of the window. When closed, they are
accessible through a vertical tab.
E - Color Palette
F - Status Bar
G - Page Navigator
H - Docker Tabs
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Tools Overview Pick Tool Selects objects or groups of objects.
Once selected, you can use the Pick Tool of move, stretch, scale,
rotate, and skew objects. Reshapes objects. Objects are reshaped by
moving nodes, lines, and control points. Changes the current view
of the drawing. You can also select magnification options from the
Property Bar in the Zoom mode. Draws lines and curves. You can also
use this tool to trace bitmaps. Converts the freehand strokes you
draw to basic shapes and smoothed curves.
Shape Tool
Zoom Tool
Freehand Tool
Smart Drawing Tool
Rectangle Tool
Draws rectangles and squares. Squares are created by using the
Control key while drawing. Draws ellipses and circles. Circles are
created 3
Ellipse Tool
by holding down the Control key as you draw. Graph Paper Tool
Draws a collection of boxes that simulates a sheet of graph
paper.
Perfect Shapes Tool
A collection of objects which you can add to your drawing. They
include such things as arrows, stars, talk bubbles, and flow chart
symbols. Adds either Artistic or Paragraph text to your
drawing.
Text Tool
CONTINUATION Interactive Blend Tool The Blend Tool allows you to
merger objects together through a series of steps. The flyout gives
access to several more interactive tools that are described on the
following pages. The Eyedropper Tool allows you to select a color
within an object, especially a bitmap, and allows you to apply that
color to another object. You can also capture the color for a
customized palette. The flyout gives access to the paint bucket
that applies the color. Sets the outline style of an object or a
line. This includes the line type, ends, color, and weight. The
flyout gives quick access to some changes. Assigns the fill style
of any object. Fills are only visible on closed objects. The flyout
gives access to control dialogs for each type of fill. Allows you
to apply Fountain fills (gradients)
Eyedropper Tool
Outline Tool
Fill Tool
Interactive Fill
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Tool
using the mouse. The flyout gives access to the Mesh fill
Tool.
Flyouts Tool buttons containing a small triangle in the lower
right corner display Flyouts. Flyouts are used by CorelDRAW to
display additional tools. They are activated by holding down the
tool button with the mouse. The table below is not meant to be a
comprehensive look at each tool Flyout, but rather a reference.
Flyouts Shape Edit Flyout Holds Shape Edit, Knife, Smudge, Roughen,
Free Transform and Virtual Segment Delete Tools. Holds the Zoom
Tool, which is used for changing the view magnification, and the
Pan Tool, which is used for moving the drawing page around the
display area. Holds the Bezier Tool, Artistic Media Tool, Dimension
Tool and the
Zoom Tool Flyout
Curve Flyout
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Connector Tool. Each tool is used to create specific types of
lines. Rectangle Tool Flyout Holds the Rectangle tool and the
3point Rectangle tool.
Ellipse Tool Flyout
Holds the Ellipse Tool and the 3-point Ellipse Tool.
Object Flyout
Holds the Polygon Tool for creating multi-sided objects, the
Spiral Tool and the Graph Paper tool. Accesses the collection of
shapes you can add to your drawing .
Perfect Shape Flyout
Interactive Tool Flyout
Holds the Interactive Blend, Contour, Distortion, Drop Shadow,
Envelope, Extrude, and Transparency Tools.
CONTINUATION Eyedropper Tool Flyout Holds the Eyedropper Tool
and the Apply Tool for the color, effect, or property selected by
the eyedropper. Displays options for changing line color, styles,
weights, and ends.
Outline Tool Flyout
Fill Tool Flyout
Displays options for changing fill color, styles, creating
custom colors, and removing fills. Holds the Interactive Fountain
Fill Tool and the Mesh Fill Tool.
Interactive Fill Flyout
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Corel Draw Techniques We will start with the shaping where we
can weld, trim, intersect and do lot more things with the selected
objects. Let us understand the basic principle of weld, trim and
intersect.
1. You always need two objects for weld, trim and intersect.
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2. Better to overlap them first before you work with weld, trim
and intersect.
3. When you overlap two objects and go for weld command, the
overlapped part of the objects is melted and the two objects are
turned into one single object.
4. If you overlap two objects and try trim command, the
overlapped part of the first object will cut or trim the part of
the second object.
5. If you overlap two objects and try intersect command, the
overlapped or the intersected part will be available
separately.
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6. There are different ways to work with shaping commands.
Shaping can be useful to create irregular shapes.
Welding Welding is, melting of the overlapped parts and
converting the two objects into one. 1. Open Corel Draw.
2. Select Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle. Draw another
rectangle so as to overlap the part of the first one. Double
click
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on the pick tool to select both the rectangle
simultaneously.
3. Go to Arrange > Shaping > Weld
4. Both the rectangles are joined and formed one single shape,
melting the overlapped part.
5. Create three rectangles overlapping each other. Select all of
them simultaneously using pick tool.
6. Use weld command to weld them together.
Trim
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Trim can be used to create complex shapes. The process of
trimming depends on what object you select for trim. Please
understand the procedure carefully. 1. Open Corel Draw.
2. Select Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle. Select Ellipse
tool and draw the circle so as to overlap the part of the
rectangle. Keep the circle selected.
3. Go to Arrange > Shaping > Shaping
4. This will open the docker i.e. the dialogue box fixed to the
right of the desktop. Select Trim from the drop down. "Source
Object" is selected by default, if not select it leaving other
option blank.
5. Click Trim. You will get "Trim" cursor to select the object
you want to trim by the already selected object.
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6. Click the cursor on the rectangle.
7. The selected rectangle is trimmed; it means the portion of
the rectangle is cut in the shape of the overlapped part of the
circle. And the source object that is the initially selected circle
will also remain intact.
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Intersect When two object overlaps each other and we apply
Intersect command we get the overlapped portion cut separately as
an intersection. 1. Open Corel Draw. 2. Select Rectangle tool and
draw a rectangle. Select Ellipse tool and draw the circle so as to
overlap the part of the rectangle. Keep the circle selected.
3. Go to Arrange > Shaping > Shaping 4. This will open the
docker i.e. the dialogue box fixed to the right of the desktop.
Select Intersect from the drop down. "Source Object" and "Target
Object" may be selected by default, if not select it.
5. Click on "Intersect With" 6. You will get "Intersect" cursor
to select the object you want to intersect by the already selected
object. Click the cursor on the rectangle.
7. You get the overlapped part separately intersected as a copy
keeping the original objects intact
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Simplify One of the best commands introduced with the latest
Corel draw version. Many of you may not have this if you are using
older versions. This will trim the overlapping areas of the
objects. You can draw more than two objects to experiment with this
command. 1. Open Corel Draw.
2. Select Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle. Select Ellipse
tool and draw the circle so as to overlap the part of the
rectangle.
3. Then again draw an ellipse that will overlap both rectangle
and the last circle.
4. We will select all of the objects 14
to work on this command. Double click on the Pick Tool to select
all the three objects.
5. Go to Arrange > Shaping > Shaping 6. This will open the
docker i.e. the dialogue box fixed to the right of the desktop.
Select "Simplify" from the drop down. Click Apply.
7. The first rectangle will be trimmed by the second circle and
the third ellipse that are overlapped. The second circle is also
trimmed by the third overlapped ellipse.
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8. You will observe that the top most object i.e. the last drawn
ellipse remained intact.
Front Minus Back This removes back object from the front one. 1.
Open Corel Draw. 2. Select Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle.
Select Ellipse tool and draw the circle so as to overlap the part
of the rectangle.
3. You need to select both of the objects to activate this
command. Double click on the Pick Tool to select both the
objects.
4. Go to Arrange > Shaping > Shaping 5. This will open the
docker i.e. the dialogue box fixed to the right of the desktop.
Select "Front minus Back" from the drop down. Click Apply.
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6. In this case the rectangle is considered as back and the
ellipse is considered as front. 7. As a definition goes, this will
remove back from the front. 8. It means overlapped rectangular
portion will be removed from the elliptical object.
Back Minus Front While trying to trim the object those are
overlapped, this command takes front and back order into
consideration and removes the front object from the back one when
clicked on "Back Minus Front" 1. Open Corel Draw. 2. Select
Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle. Select Ellipse tool and draw
the circle so as to overlap the part of the rectangle.
3. You need to select both of the object to activate this
command. Double click on the Pick Tool to select both the
objects.
4. Go to Arrange > Shaping > Shaping
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5. This will open the docker i.e. the dialogue box fixed to the
right of the desktop. Select "Back minus Front" from the drop down.
Click Apply.
6. In this case the rectangle is considered as back and the
ellipse is considered as front. 7. As a definition goes, this will
remove front from the back. 8. It means the overlapped elliptical
part will be removed or trimmed from the rectangle.
MODULE 3: INTERACTIVE TOOLS AND EFFECTS Interactive Blend Tool
Blending objects in CorelDRAW 12 lets you add realistic depth to
your drawings and create interesting transition effects. Did you
know that you can use the Interactive blend tool to blend objects
along a path in one easy step? You can blend objects along a
straight or freehand path.
The Interactive blend tool is located on the Interactive tools
flyout in the toolbox. To blend objects along a straight path,
select the first object with the Interactive blend tool, and then
drag to the second object. 18
A blend along a straight path To blend objects along a freehand
path, select the first object with the Interactive blend tool, and
while holding down Alt, draw a freehand path to the second
object.
A blend along a freehand path
Interactive Contour Tool There are many different ways to create
text engravings that are original and eye catching. In this
exercise we will be using the Interactive Contour tool to add an
engravable 3-D beveled edge to a font. 1. Start by using the Text
Tool to create your sample text. For this exercise we will be using
Arial Black with a size of 125 pts. The font fill is black and the
font outline is white. Now we are ready to begin creating the
beveled edge.
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2. Select the Interactive Contour Tool located in the pull-out
menu of the Interactive Blend Tool.
3. With the Interactive Contour Tool now selected, the options
for the tool appear above in the Property Bar. For the beveled edge
effect, we want to add multiple steps (or outlines) to the outside
of the letters by choosing the Outside Contour button.
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4. Next we'll set the number of grey's that are outlining our
letters by setting the Contour Steps. The number will vary
depending on the thickness of bevel you want to achieve and the
size font you use. For 125 pt. font we are going to use 30 steps of
gray. To do so select the Contour Step box and type 30.
5. To control the width of each contour step use the Contour
Offset box. As a general rule, using more contour steps and a
smaller contour offset creates more detail and better engravings.
For this exercise we are going to set the contour offset to 0.002.
Double click inside the Contour Offset box and change the value to
0.002.
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6. And that's all there is to it! Using the Interactive Contour
Tool to create 3-D text will add depth and quality to your engraved
products. This tool can be used in many different ways, so be
creative and have fun with it.
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Interactive Drop Shadow Tool Shadow can be applied to any
object, including text. There are different methods of applying
shadows. Corel provides the tool for applying beautiful shadow
effect. It's pretty simple as compared to other effects. We will
apply it using rectangle. 1. Open Corel DRAW. 2. Select Rectangle
Tool and draw rectangle of a medium size. Fill it with some color.
Keep the rectangle selected.
3. Select Interactive Drop Shadow Tool. It's in the same menu
that of Interactive Blend Tool (shown with green circle). You need
to press the menu to display the tool.
4. Bring the cursor inside the rectangle somewhat near to the
center. Press and Drag a bit outside the border of the rectangle
towards bottom left. Shadow is created at the back of the
rectangle.
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5. You will notice that the shadow is created to the side where
you drag the cursor.
6. Draw any shape and apply Interactive Drop Shadow Tool.
Interactive Envelope Tool Its an interesting effect where you can
stretch and compress the object using eight available points and
give desired shape to the object. We will apply this effect on the
text. 1. Open Corel DRAW. 2. Select Text Tool. Type something,
stretch it to bigger size, fill any color and keep it selected.
3. Select Interactive Envelope Tool. It's in the same menu that
of Interactive Blend Tool (shown with green circle). You need to
press the menu to display the tool.
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4. Once you select Interactive Envelope Tool, the text will
display dotted line around it with eight points.
5. Take the cursor to any point and stretch it outside. We will
stretch top middle point.
6. Now take the cursor to some other point and drag it
inside.
7. You will notice that the text get stretched and compressed as
if it is made up of elastic material.
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Interactive Extrude Tool Corel Draw provides the facility of
applying 3d effect on the object. This is bit complicated effect of
Corel draw but we will cover just basic at this stage. Creating
proper 3d effect is a matter of experience as it also includes
proper color, perspective and lighting. Let us understand how to
use Interactive Extrude Tool. We will apply it on the text. 1. Open
Corel DRAW. 2. Select Text Tool. Type something, stretch it to
bigger size, and fill some bright color say yellow. Text must have
black outline and keep the text selected. Please try thick font for
better effect.
3. Select Interactive Extrude Tool. It's in the same menu that
of Interactive Blend Tool, eleventh from the top in the tool box.
You need to press the menu to display the tool.
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4. Bring the cursor inside the text. The cursor will change.
Press and drag the cursor to the top left corner.
5. You will notice that the text is converted into 3D.
6. Try to drag the cursor in any other direction.
Interactive Transparency Tool A bit tricky tool gives you
transparent object. It provides the transparency in terms of
gradation where the black gives full transparency and the white
gives opaque object. We need to draw two different colored objects
to check out the transparency. 1. Open Corel DRAW. 2. Select
Rectangle Tool and draw rectangle. Fill it with red color.
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3. Draw another rectangle which will overlap the large portion
of the previous red rectangle. Fill this new rectangle with green
color. Keep the top green rectangle selected.
4. Select Interactive Transparency Tool. It's in the same menu
that of Interactive Blend Tool (shown with green circle). You need
to press the menu to display the tool.
5. Place the cursor at the top left corner of the green
rectangle and drag it to the bottom right corner.
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6. You will get the dotted line with small white and the black
rectangle at an end. 7. You will notice that the portion around
white rectangle is opaque and the portion around the black
rectangle is transparent where you can see red rectangle through
it.
8. Try to drag the cursor in any other direction.
References: http://www.insidegraphics.com/corel_learning_tools/
http://www.corel.com/
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