february 2018 rrp $5 - corel down under mag 99_feb… · 4 corelunder, no.99 february 2018...

Issue 99

February 2018 RRP $5

Corelunder, No.99, February 2018, 3

Welcome to a new year for CDUmembers, Corel has reiterated theirsupport for the group with offers ofCorel programs for our raffle prisesthroughout the year, We kick off thenear with a presentation on WordPer-fect 8. We will follow in March withWinZIP and followed by envelopes inCorelDraw

Membership renewals are now due, thecommittee decided that a flat fee for allmemberships of $25 will carry usthrough to the end of the financial year.

We are looking at having a number ofexternal speakers from differentsuppliers throughout the year who maybe able to offer members discounts ontheir products.

I also want the thank Darryl Howmanwho stepped down from the Presidencyof Corel Down Under at the end of last

year. We see Darryl at the meetings anddo not realise the extra work thatDarryl was involved in on behalf ofCDU, Taking phone calls from membersand others who were having problemswith Programs, hosting the CDUCommittee at his house every month,printing of the Magazine and the RafflePrize registration slips and generallymaking sure everything ran smoothly.So thank you Darryl and of courseDebbie from myself, the committe andmembers of CDU.

Fred JonesFebruary 2018

President’s

Report

4 Corelunder, No.99 February 2018

WordPerfect beat Microsoft Word to themarketplace (1980 versus 1983), but ithas fallen way behind since Windows3. Unlike other competitors who lowballMicrosoft, like LibreOffice, OpenOfficeand WPS Office (free or paid), or GoogleDocs (free, or $50 per user per year forcompanies), WordPerfect beefed up theprice. Now, the WordPerfect Office X8Suite charges $80 (Home & Student),$250 (Standard Edition) or $400(Professional Edition). I tested theStandard Edition, the most popularsuite and the one closest to MicrosoftOffice's standard program set.

Still tied to the Windows desktop,WordPerfect X8 has no cloud-hostingor sharing options. It cooperates withSharePoint to check files in and out,but there's no concurrent editing (likein Google Docs). Not really Microsoft"interoperable" like LibreOffice butmore "compatible after converting files,"WordPerfect took its own path yearsago, and now includes multiplefeatures that Microsoft Office can'tmatch, especially for law firms. Thosewho don't care about Office compati-bility but want a work truck of an officesuite should try WordPerfect Office X8.

Included Apps and Compati-bilityWordPerfect Office includes WordPer-fect the word processor, Presentationsslideshow creator, and Quattro Pro

(remember that name?) as the spread-sheet. Some handy utility programscome with the suite, including a batchutility to convert Microsoft Office filesto WordPerfect files.

Yes, that's what WordPerfect callscompatible: a conversion utility. Everytime you open a Microsoft file it mustbe converted, much like moving a fileup to edit in Google Docs, but Word-Perfect has a bit more capability. WithLibreOffice, OpenOffice and WPS Officeyou can read and write Office filesdirectly, but not with WordPerfect. Onlythe most basic files convert withoutgetting scrambled.

InterfaceLike LibreOffice and OpenOffice, Word-Perfect kept the Office 2003 look andskipped the ribbon menu "upgrade."The standard File, Edit, View, Insert,Format, Table, Tools, Window and Helptop-line menu options look much likethe ones in LibreOffice. There are moreitems under some of the menus thatpromise some interesting features,such as Open PDF files for editing, butno ribbons.

Just as WordPerfect looks much likeWord, Presentations looks much likePowerPoint and Quattro Pro looksmuch like Excel. Common menu itemsacross all the major WordPerfect appsdo the same jobs you expect in everyprogram. Those who still remember old

Corel WordPerfectOfce X8 Review

By James GaskinLaptop Mag reviews


WordPerfect function key commands,like F3 for File > Save, will have apleasant flashback.

CollaborationWordPerfect focused on buildingpowerful tools for one computer-baseduser, not a collaboration tool for teams.SharePoint integration file check in /check out is your only real onlineaccess, if you want to call it that.

There's not really even a TrackChanges tool for feedback from editorsin X8. It has a Reviewer's feature thatonly tracks different users typing in adifferent color, but doesn't tag who iswho except by the colorchosen. There are notes onecan leave in the pagemargins, but they're fairlycrude compared withcomment features incompeting products.

WordPerfectIt may sound like WordPer-fect X8 Office wandered faroff-track and offers littlevalue for the money, butthat's just because itremains focused on serious

tools for writers,presenters and spread-sheet ninjas. WordPer-fect offers 900+TrueType fonts, 10,000+clipart images and 300+templates. Lawyers, whomay be the biggestpaper-pushers of allprofessions, love Word-Perfect. There's a sepa-rate toolbar full offeatures like PleadingDesigner and ExpertFiller, Table of Authori-ties, publish to EDGAR,

remove metadata and more.

Law firms may have files from decadespast, and WordPerfect can almostcertainly read them. WordStar, XyWriteIII Plus and even IBM DCA file formatsare supported, along with many others(MultiMate, anyone?). That said,complex Word documents don't make aclean conversion as fonts get wonkyand layouts get mangled.

Ever need a PDF editor? You canimport and edit PDF files with this soft-ware. Again, complicated graphics maynot cross over well, but PDF text docu-ments work great. And you can embed

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PDF fields for users to fill in electroni-cally with this as well.

One of WordPerfect's big selling pointsbefore graphical interfaces took overthe computer was the Reveal Codesfeature. Even today it's useful to seewhere a stray return or tab is causingalignment problems.

Some tricks to help heavy-duty writersinclude QuickWords. I got tired oftyping "WordPerfect" so often, I put"\wor" in the table. When I type thatand press the spacebar, WordPerfectappears. Clickbook, an extra utility,holds text strings cut and pasted into36 different slots. You can save a batchof boilerplate paragraphs so that whenyou hit Ctrl-V, and the window popsup, you can choose one of the savedphrases, and hit Enter. Bingo, yourboilerplate takes only three keystrokes.

Want to manually adjust kerning? Youcan. The Grammatik grammar checkercatches more potential mistakes thanMicrosoft Word, but you must choosewhether to run it or spell check in realtime (one click to check through adocument). You can even publish yourGreat American Novel written in Word-Perfect using the export to MOBI

(Amazon) and EPUB(most everything else)e-book formats.

Templates, hundredsof them, are every-where for everything.Not all are calledtemplates, however.Look under File > NewForm Project andyou'll have more tochoose from morethan you can wadethrough. There's alsoan abundance of

clipart, if you still care about cheesygraphics.

WordPerfect may have lost themarketing battle to Microsoft Word, butit never lost the feature race.

WordPerfect Ofce Presenta-tions and PresentationGraphicsPresentations creates slides as well orbetter than PowerPoint. But while thedesign process and quality of resultsare very much the same, transferringPowerPoint files to Presentationssucceeds about half the time. Onlybasic slides come through accurately.Your time will be better spent recre-ating slides rather than fixing importedones.

The look and feel echoes PowerPoint.The only real difference is that speakernotes aren't peeking out from underthe design area but in Format > SlideProperties > Speaker Notes. When youchoose to create a new Presentation,the Master Gallery appears, offeringnearly 100 templates to start yourdesign process.

Inserting text, graphics, images andcharts works the same as in Power-


Point and competing programs likeLibreOffice and OpenOffice. WordPer-fect offers 54 different slide transitionsso you'll never have to repeat one in ameeting if you like busy shows. Trek-kies will appreciate the "Beam In" tran-sition effect.

Chart fans will find 12 types with sixoptions each, many with both 2D and3D looks. Placing the charts where youwant and filling them with your datatakes little effort.

All the various Save As and Exportoptions in the word processor are hereas well: PDF, XML, and even save toDropBox. Embedding TrueType fonts, amust for moving slides over to Power-Point, is a simple check box away.

Presentation Graphics X8 looks like apart of Presentations, but it's really abasic page-oriented drawing tool. Manyof the design elements are in Presenta-tions proper, but the added programdoes offer a more drawing-specificworkspace and toolset.

Quattro Pro SpreadsheetIf you remember Quattro Pro, andLotus 123, explain to the young 'unsaround that spreadsheets existedbefore Excel. Show them the rows andcolumns. Just don't show them howlittle makes the trip from Excel fileswhen converted to Quattro Pro.

Less compatible than Presentations,Quattro Pro can't import spreadsheetformulas. Arithmetic works, so at least80 percent of spreadsheet users will befine. Spreadsheet ninjas will need torecreate rather than import.

Once you dig into Quattro Pro youshould feel at home. The PerfectExpertwizard (also in WordPerfect and Presen-tations) does a good job stepping usersthrough the creation process andshows tips along the way. The ChartExpert wizard, or the QuickChart tool,will help your data put on a nicedisplay.

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Adding charts is simple, and you get achoice of 14 types, six of which have3D options, but not as many as the 2Dchoices. You can have multiple work-sheets and then notebooks to holdthem all when the numbers keepgrowing. The QuickFit feature helpsadjust all the details to fit into thespace you have, such as for export toWordPerfect for a report, without youhaving to painstakingly finagle eachmargin and font option yourself.

Number-crunchers can switch toQuattro Pro and do their work happily.They just can't convert much of theirold work to the new program. But onceyou're in, you have the tools you need.

WordPerfect Ofce X8 andMicrosoft OfceWhen most programs get compared toMicrosoft, it's almost always a "Be likeMIC," approach. The developers assureusers the non-Microsoft program worksjust as well as Microsoft to the pointthat file interoperability is assumed tobe complete (or very nearly so). That isnot the case with WordPerfect.

It is, as promised, compatible. But tothis suite, compatible means it willconvert Microsoft file formats intoWordPerfect file formats so you canwork in a better, more complete andmore specialized set of programs fromthat moment on.

One can make the case that every partof WordPerfect Office X8 is as good orbetter than the Microsoft equivalent.It's better, or perhaps much better, ifyou're a lawyer who needs the special-ized word-processing tools that Word-Perfect includes.

Bottom LinePerhaps the final answer is that Word-Perfect Office X8 is better in some

ways, and different in all ways, fromMicrosoft Office. That umbrella state-ment covers LibreOffice, OpenOfficeand WPS Office as well, since they arethe leading vendors in the "same asMicrosoft" camp.

Google chose to separate theirprograms from Microsoft Office just asWordPerfect has. But in Google's case,they played the collaboration and cloudcards. WordPerfect played the "better-than-Microsoft-at-an-office-productivi-ty-suite" card.

WordPerfect Office X8 does it differentlythan the other office suites. It doesn'tlowball prices to undercut Microsoft,and it doesn't limit features to justmatch the competition. WordPerfectwants to beat Microsoft at its ownOffice party. And except for themarketing juggernaut that rolls out ofRedmond, Washington, and maintainsownership of the majority of themarket, WordPerfect Office X8 madegood on that promise.

The ProsGreat workhorse features; Tons oftemplates, fonts and design options;Reveal codes makes formatting abreeze; Optimized for legal offices.

The ConsWeak Office compatibility; Still compu-ter-bound with no real collaborationtools

VerdictWordPerfect offers the most powerfulproductivity applications, but it doesn'tplay well with Office 365 or offer cloudcollaborations.

Laptop Mag reviewsproducts independently.

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with David Mutch

Brief History of WinZip

WinZip 1.0 was released in April 1991as a graphical user interface (GUI)front-end for PKZIP. But it was actuallyreleased even earlier (in January 1991)by Nico Mak Computing as a GUIfront-end for OS/2 PresentationManager and was called called PMZIP.WniZip was regularly improved by itsoriginal creators up until aroundversion 11 when it was then purchasedon May 2, 2006 by Corel Corporation.Over the past 12 years Corel havesteadily improved and re-released thisimportant app until we now reach thecurrent version: 22.

WinZip22

WinZip 22 comes in 3 versions:Standard, Pro and Enterprise. Thestandard version has heaps of greatfeatures and should be suitable formost users. The biggest differencesbetween Standard and Pro and in theability to scan images and documentdirect from within WinZip, and alsosome additional (very good) Backupand Automation features. TheEnterprize version adds forensicfeatures, much higher security and

encryption, and IT administration,enterprise and cloud storagemanagement features for very high endusers, institutions, corporations andgovernment bodies. A completecomparison of all the features anddifferences between the 3 versions canbe found athttp://www.winzip.com/win/en/winzip-feature-comparison.html

So what’s New and Im-proved in Version 22?(Standard and Pro versions)

NEW! Prompt to unzip on open. Nowyou can instantly unzip any Zip file inExplorer, or from the WinZip FilesPane, the WinZip Ribbon or File menu.Easily unzip files to the folder that itoriginated from, your Documentsfolder, or a folder that you choose!

NEW! Unzip to file pane folder. Witha single click of a button, you canunzip any file to the selected folder inthe Files Pane.

NEW! Faster start-up performance.Now you can strictly focus on the taskat hand and not on whether the WinZipapplication has launched becauseWinZip now takes half the time to start

WinZip 22 is the latest version of Corel’s impressive, popular andpowerful file compression and file management software. So what’snew and cool in this latest version? We’ll see in a moment. But first, alittle...

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up. Work faster and eliminate the riskof launching multiple WinZip windows.

NEW! POSIX TAR support. You cannow open and unzip POSIX TAR files inthe updated compression format.

NEW! Image Format Conversion.Quickly and easily reduce image filesize and convert images from oneformat to another, for example, fromjpg to png. Add to a Zip file or save toyour desktop for multi-use.

NEW! WinZip Express copy to clip-board. WinZip Express enables you toshare files in many ways, nowincluding the clipboard! Easily place acloud link for any file onto the clip-board where it may be pasted intoother apps for sharing.

NEW! Address Book options. You cannow send a message via WinZip emailerto a one-time recipient and not add itto your contacts list. There is also anew option to never add recipients thatare manually entered. This is particu-larly useful during a job search or anyrepetitive activity whereby a message issent to a receiver you will likely nevercommunicate with a second time.

NEW! Remove personal data fromfiles. Easily remove personal data(EXIF) from various files so that whenthey are shared, your information isnot included. Secure any of thefollowing file types to ensure they donot contain additional data that, whilenot typically visible, may be personal:DOC/DOCX, GIF, JPG (JPEG), PDF,PNG, PSD, PPT/PPTX, and XLS/XLSX.

ENHANCED! Zip File Encryption. Youcan now easily encrypt an existing Zipfile with a click of a button on the Toolsribbon. The WinZip tools tab on theribbon makes it simple to choose all orselected files in an existing open Zip

file, and encrypt them in one step. Thistime-saving technique vastly eliminatesroom for error.

ENHANCED! Encryption options fornew files. When updating a Zip filewhich contains encrypted files, WinZipautomatically applies encryption to thereplacements. Prompting of the pass-word for the original file protectsagainst unauthorized access.

ENHANCED! Password Protection.Encrypted files within a Zip file cannotbe deleted without knowing the pass-word. This new default minimizes erro-neous file deletion.

Important Existing Features:

But WinZip already contains a wealthof important features fro previousversions, which of course are allincluded in WinZip 22. Here are a fewimportant features you shouyld beaware of if you haven’t used CorelWinZip in some time:

Replace Zip Files with their Content -Quickly and easily unzip a group of Zipfiles and replace them with their nativefiles.

Create a split Zip file from Explorer -Easily distribute large Zip files withoutworrying about timeouts or faileduploads/downloads. This convenientfeature creates a multi-part zip file foreasier distribution.

MP3 Compression - Keep more musicon your phone or on a cloud service, orshare playlists more easily, withenhanced loss-less MP3 compression.WinZip 22 compresses your MP3 filesby 15 – 20% on average with no loss inquality thanks to the enhanced Zipxformat.


Unzip anything - Extract content fromthe industry's widest selection ofcompressed file types, including Zip,Zipx, RAR, 7Zip, BZ2, LHA/LZH,VHD/VDMK, XZ and many more.When extracting encrypted files,WinZip auto-wipes all temporarilyextracted copies to prevent misuse.

Zip files from any location - Easily findyour most-used files and folders onyour PC, network and clouds inFrequent Folders, which updatesdynamically.

Zip from other applications - WinZipExpress lets you use popular WinZipfeatures even when you're working inother applications. Use it withExplorer, Microsoft Office, yourscanner (Pro only), your photos (Proonly) and Microsoft Outlook to zip,encrypt, share and more.* WinZipExpress tools now support Office 2016.

Device-friendly interface - Touchsupport puts the power of WinZip atyour fingertips on any touch-enableddevice or computer. WinZip is opti-mised for 2-in-1 computers, switchingits layout automatically depending onwhether you are using your system intablet or notebook mode.

Combined Address Book - You canhandily select recipients by name aswell as email address when you emailand share directly from WinZip’sinternal emailer to any of your contactswith the new Combined Address Book.

Create individual Zip files for stream-lined sharing - With WinZip 22, youhave the flexibility to move selectedfiles to individual zip files with optionalencryption. That means you no longerneed to download an entire Zip - youcan simply download the individual zipfile that you need.

Keep track of the files you share withZipShare - or another cloud service forstoring shared files. With the SharedFiles dashboard in the Files pane, youcan see and manage shared files fromWinZip. See a list of shared files, openand view shared files, share files againor remove shared files.

Send What feature - Share all or onlythe selected files you want to send withthis handy feature. Once you review orchange the contents of your Zip andclick Send selected files, you canchoose whether to send individuallyselected files or the entire Zip.

Share Converted files - Avoid addedclutter by sharing files without havingto save them first. Previously, whenusing WinZip’s conversion options, likeconverting to PDF or adding water-marks, you would need to overwrite theexisting file or save the converted file,then find, share and delete it. Now,simply share your converted file byemail, IM, social media or the clipboardand the temporary file is deleted aftersharing.

Link sharing from the cloud - With justa click, easily share a link to files andfolders in your cloud services. Shareyour link by email, IM, social media orthe Clipboard.

WinZip Email - WinZip's built-in emailfeature now supports IMAP for Gmailand Outlook (Hotmail). It also supportsGmail's two-step authenticationprocess.

Share anywhere - WinZip 22 lets youshare directly to YouTube, Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn. You can alsosecurely share to many leading cloudservices and several instant messageservices, including TwitterIM, Office 365 groups, � Page 14


Google Talk/Google+ Hangouts andJabber.

Simple sharing - SmartShare makessharing as easy as choosing a file and adestination. Select a file from yourcomputer, cloud service or zip, thenchoose to share the file via socialmedia, IM or email—and WinZip doesthe rest. Sharing by Skype messagesand other apps is easy with automaticlinks available for pasting from theClipboard. WinZip Pro users can sharean image directly from the File Viewerto social media sites with just a click.

Connect to leading cloud services -WinZip connects directly to ZipShare,Box, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive,CloudMe, SugarSync and MediaFire, soyou can organize all your cloud files atonce. Use WinZip to zip and save largefiles to the cloud or retrieve files orlinks to share. Secure your files andsave precious online storage space byzipping and encrypting them first.

ZipShare - Get direct access to theZipShare file sharing service. Thispowerful web app makes sharing largefiles easy no matter where you are orwhat device you're using. Access yourZipShare account directly from withinWinZip 22. Connect to your cloudaccounts and easily share compressedfiles via email. Zip and share any typeof file along with a message to Face-book, Twitter and LinkedIn. Send filesup to 500MB free using ZipShare ormove up to ZipShare Pro to send up to5GB.

Email large files with just a click -WinZip 22 lets you email large files orfolders using any of your supportedcloud services. Your files are automati-

cally uploaded to your default cloudservice and a link to them is placed inyour outgoing email.

System Requirements

WinZip 22 will run on everything fromWindows Vista, 7, 8 or 10, either 32 ot64 bit systems and browsers from IE 8or later. WinZip is also available forMac, iOS and Android.

Availability and Pricing.

If you have an existing version ofWinZip, then when you run it you cancheck to see if an upgrade is availablefor you. From my existing version 20.5of WinZip Pro, the cost to Upgrade toWinZip 22 Pro was $35.72. A newinstall of the full WinZip 22 Pro versionis $71.45. WinZip 22 Standard is$43.95.

Further information.

For all further information on WinZip,comparison tables between thedifferent versions, to download a Trialversion, or to purchase WinZip 22(downloadable version) please visit:www.winzip.com

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CorelDRAW lets you shape objects byapplying envelopes to them. In someways the envelope tool is similar to theshape tool with one very importantdifference. An envelope is a non-de-structive change to the shape of anobject’s bounding box, not directly onthe object’s nodes themselves, and canbe further changed at any time, andeven entirely removed at any time torevert an object back to its originalshape, regardless of how many inter-vening actions there have been.

You can apply envelopes to lines,shapes, artistic text, and to paragraphtext frames. You can create and edityour own envelopes and you can alsocreate, apply, save and delete presetenvelopes for reuse over and overagain. After you apply an envelope, youcan edit it by adding, removing andadjusting the nodes within the envelopeand you can also add a new envelope tocontinue changing the object’s shape.CorelDRAW also lets you copy an enve-

lope from one object to another and toremove an envelope to return an objectto its original shape.

I have used DRAW’s envelope tool formany years and really enjoy using it - itis powerful and relatively easy to use.However, I recently discovered a featurewithin the envelope tool that I’d nevernoticed previously and its really handy.I’m not sure at what version the ‘CreateEnvelope From..” feature became partof the envelope tool but its definitelyworth exploring and sharing.

The “Create Envelope From..” featureallows you to create an envelope fromone shape and apply it to anotherobject. This can really save time increating and editing your own envelopeeach time and can force one object toadapt the shape of another fairly easilyand accurately. However, on experi-menting with this tool I have become

Using Envelopes inCorelDRAW

with David Mutch

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aware of a few important aspects whichmight help you use it better as it canwork in unexpected ways. Thus somecare and a little knowledge of how itworks will help.

But rst lets have a look at DRAW’sEnvelope tool in general.

The Envelope tool is located in thesame flyout as the Drop Shadow Toolin the Toolbox. It is usually the fifthtool down, just above the Extrude tool.To use it you should already have anobject or text selected using the PickTool.

Once the Envelope tool is selected theProperty Bar changes to display all ofthe features of this tool (Fig 1).

Some of the features should be eitherself explanatory or familiar due to theirappearance in other tools such as theShape Tool, which also has controls forAdd/Remove Nodes, setting differentNode types etc. Many other tools havePresets and the ability to add your ownpreset or remove a preset. So we won’tdeal with those functions here.

But there are a few features of theEnvelope Tool Property Bar which arespecific to this tool so I will explainthem here. These are: Unconstrained,Single Line, Single Arc or Double ArcModes.

●Uncon-strainedmode —createsfreeformenvelopesthat letyouchangethe prop-erties of

the nodes, and add and deletethe nodes.

●Straight line mode — createsenvelopes based on straightlines, adding perspective toobjects.

●Single-arc mode — creates enve-lopes with an arc shape on oneside, giving objects a concave orconvex appearance.

●Double-arc mode — creates enve-lopes with an S shape on one ormore sides.

●Drag the nodes to shape theenvelope.

●If you want to reset the envelope,press Esc before releasing themouse.

Lets explore how these different modesaffect a shape when we reposition enve-lope nodes.

Fig 2 show the letter B as a shape towhich we’ll apply an envelope. The 4different modes have been used whencreating a very simple envelope bydragging the top centre envelope boxnode up to the guideline. As you cansee the result changes depending onthe mode used, However in this simpleexample the Unconstrained mode andthe Double Arc modes look the same.

Fig.2


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You will need to make more complexadjustments to see the differencebetween these two modes but clearlythere is quite a difference between thefirst 3 modes even in such a simpleexample.

Mapping Modes.

The mapping mode is used to specifyhow the object fits into an envelope.

●Horizontal — stretches the objectto fit the basic dimensions of theenvelope and then compressesthe object horizontally to fit theshape of the envelope.

●Original — maps the cornerhandles of the object’s selectionbox to the envelope’s cornernodes. The other nodes aremapped linearly along the edge ofthe object’s selection box.

●Putty — maps the corner handlesof the object’s selection box tothe envelope corner nodes.

●Vertical — stretches the object tofit the basic dimensions of theenvelope and then compressesthe object vertically to fit theshape of the envelope.

Fig 3 shows the subtle variations whichresult from using the 4 differentmapping modes in combination withthe 4 different envelope creationmodes. A careful look at Figure 3 willshow that almost all of the resultantshapes are a little different from eachother even though they were createdthe same way. (Top centre nodedragged directly up to guideline, thenleft middle node dragged left 2 placeswhilst holding down the SHIFT key tomirror the opposite node).

The mapping mode of any objectEXCEPT paragraph text frames, CANbe changed after an envelope isapplied. For paragraph text frames youwill need to UNDO and then reapplythe envelope.

Other Controls.

Copy Envelope Properties. This worksjust like Copy Drop Shadow, CopyBlend etc. First select the object youwant to apply a copied envelope to,then click Copy Envelope, then clickinside the object with the envelope youwish to copy.

Add New Envelope. Keeps any existingenvelope and resets the Envelopebounding box back to a rectangle soyou can start creating a new envelopefrom scratch while using the previouslyenveloped shape as the new shape.

Fig.3


Keep Lines. Prevents an object’sstraight lines from being converted tocurves. Thus it preserves the straightlines of the original object

Figure 4 shows the use of both CopyEnvelope Properties and Keep Lines.

Clear Envelope. Removes any and allenvelope changes to the selected object.

Convert to curves. Converts all enve-lope effects from an object and removesthe Envelope Lens component from anObject. Note that no further envelopechanges can now be made if this isdone unless you create a whole newenvelope. Objects with an envelope canbe reverted back to the original objectat any time simply by clearing theenvelope. But once the envelope isconverted to curves you cannot revert(but you can undo).

Create Envelope From.

OK, we’ve finally got to the point of thisarticle. This is a really neat featurewithin the envelope tool, but like mostthings, it does need a little care andknowledge before it can give you theresults you want. Its definitely worthsome experimentation. Basically, thisfeature can create or shape objects ortext to conform to another pre-existingshape. This can be really useful.

It is important to understand how theMapping Modes work and the utility ofother features (especially Keep Lines),

in order to achieve the results youwant.

Lets start with some simple shapesfirst. I use simple ‘TEXT’ as the object(Artistic text using Arial Black - a niceheavy font)

●Rhombus (skewed rectangle).This one is easy and all mappingmodes give the same result (Fig 5- Create Envelope fromrhombus).

●Ellipse. The result depends onwhich mapping mode you chooseBEFORE you apply the Createenvelope From command (Fig 6 -Create envelope from ellipse).

Fig.4

Fig.5

Fig.6



Complex shapes. The more complex theshape, generally, the more you mayhave to experiment with the mappingmodes and the Keep Lines controls toachieve the result you want. Figure 7shows the results for various shapesand how I achieved them.

In this article I have used simpleartistic text as an example. But you

can apply an envelope to a wide varietyof other shapes and objects. Please tryout experimenting with paragraph text,lines, custom shapes, rectangles,ellipses, polygons, and even the origi-nating objects of Blends, Contours andExtrusions! Have fun !

Fig.7


3D printing medicaldevices. Drew Turney

After years of funny desk toys, one ofthe areas 3D printing might be set totransform is medical devices.

While some treatment and disabilitytools, such as wheelchairs, have a one-size-fits-all nature, many are personalto the individual needs of the user ortheir carers, and it’s a tricky balance tomanufacture them in small enoughnumbers to be cost effective for manu-facturers and patients.

That’s where 3D printing comes in –digitally scanning a user’s unique bodyprofile and building the solution on aone-off basis faster and cheaper than afactory tooled up for mass manufac-ture.

In Germany, a collaboration betweenseveral research institutes funded bythe Federal Ministry of Education andResearch is making footwear insoles fordiabetic people.

Tailored specifically to each wearer, theresearchers scan the patient’s foot andproduce a 3D printed insole based onthe resulting computer model, completewith pliable or supportive areasmatching the skin wounds character-istic of the disease.

Now, western Sydney-based start-upAbilityMate is joining the revolutionwith a program making 3D printedAnkle Foot Orthoses (AFO) for kids withcerebral palsy. Making AFOs can take

up to a year through traditional manu-facturing channels and involves adistressing and sometimes painfulplaster casting process.

A collaboration with community organi-sations and medical science compa-nies, AbilityMate can now scan apatient’s feet and create custom devicesusing 3D printers in just hours. Co-founder Melissa Fuller says the organi-sation’s plan is to ‘‘develop and test adigital process of manufacturing AFOsthat is more childcentric’’.

It’s a sentiment the public seems toagree with. AbilityMate’s 2016 crowd-funding campaign aimed for $20,000and achieved almost five times asmuch.

Start-up AbilityMate’s co-foundersYohan du Plessis and Melissa Fuller.

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But the question such advances raiseis how far can they go? According tothe World Health Organisation therewere 422 million diabetics in 2014,which seems to mean there’s room forevery possible manufacturing approachin the market, including customprinted 3D insoles.

But what about less common afflic-tions, or ones for which it’s just toohard to make the economics of one-offmanufacturing work? AbilityMate’sreason for being is to reduce waittimes, make it less stressful to measurefor them and build them better bydesigning for the individual, but Fulleralso hopes it’s the first step in an open-source medical device revolution.

‘‘Beyond the immediate findings we’redocumenting R&D of the 3D Scanner tomake IP transparent via open source,’’she says. ‘‘It’ll be made available soorthotists, designers and engineersaround the world can collaborate andcontinually improve the technology.’’

So can 3D printing provide most – evenall – disability and prosthetic services

and parts? Are economics and politicalwill the only thing stopping us?

‘‘Eventually yes,’’ Fuller says, ‘‘butwe’re not quite there yet.’’ She sees themajor stumbling blocks as the availa-bility of shareable data and regulatoryrequirements, but thinks outfits likeAbilityMate are in the right place to putthe pieces together, working on theground with users and their families.

Dr Sebastian Pattinson, a postdoctoralfellow at MIT’s department of mechan-ical engineering, an expert in 3Dprinting with cellulose for organicstructures, agrees. He says eventhough there are limits around mate-rials science, 3D printing has theadvantage in medicine because tradi-tional economics of scale don’t apply.

‘‘Human bodies come in a lot ofdifferent shapes and sizes, and manymedical devices can perform betterwhen they’re individually customised toa person,’’ he says. ‘‘A lot of futuremedical devices, especially those thathave to be worn or implanted, will bepartly or wholly 3D printed.’’


A dumb waffle maker. When upgradingto a smart one, be wary of cheapbrands that cut corners on security.

Smart home devices are still nicheproducts, tested and bought by geeks.But the arrival of the Google Home andthe loosening of restrictions aroundApple’s HomeKit, could see the marketgrowing over the next few months. Butbefore you start filling your home withoverpriced gadgets, it’s best to ensureyour house is ready.

After years of testing this stuff, longbefore it was good enough, I can tellyou what to look for and what to avoid.

First, you’ll probably want to upgradeand secure your home network. Asmost smart devices will be connectingwirelessly, you’ll need a robust Wi-Finetwork. I’d start by wiring up every-thing else. Try snaking ethernet cablesaround your home to connect anythingstationary, like a video game console,smart TV or desktop computer.

As an alternative, if you can afford it,one of those fancy Wi-Fi meshnetworks will keep all those devicesconnected. We’ve tested the NetgearOrbi, Linksys Velop and Google Wi-Fi,

and all are incredibly simple to set upand blanket a home in fast, reliableWi-Fi. Google’s is the cheapest, buteven it costs $499 to cover an averagehome.

Then there’s security. Last year theMirai Botnet wreaked havoc on theinternet, taking down Twitter, Spotifyand Reddit, among other sites. It waspowered by rather dumb ‘‘smartdevices’’ that were easily compromisedand turned into an army of bots,attacking the infrastructure of theinternet.

Two devices have appeared this year toaddress these security issues, theNorton Core Router and the Bitde-fender Box. Both look for unusualtraffic from your smart kettle, andvulnerabilities like default passwordsbeing used. Neither product is availablein Australia yet, but Bitdefender hasfree software for Windows PCs that cando the same thing. Bitdefender’s Home-Scanner software will find any vulnera-bilities on your entire home network,not just your PC, before the bad guysdo.

When it comes to buying smart devices,it’s best to stick with brands you know

First, prep your home

INTERNETOF THINGS

Peter Wells

@ https://www.wordperfect.com

20% discount available at time of going to print.