sheffield hallam university, corporate information …cll/lskills/it/cdrwgsol.pdf · sheffield...

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

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GETTINGSTARTED

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File formats, bitmapFill tool

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ContentsIntroduction................................................................................................................1

Basic Operations........................................................................................................2The CorelDraw Toolbox – “Context-sensitive” tools – Property Bar – Status bar – Right mousebutton – Setting up your file – Page setup – Setting drawing units – Saving your Work – Usingthe Zoom tool – Refreshing the Screen Display

Creating & modifying simple objects.........................................................................6Creating rectangles and ellipses – Creating polygons and spirals – Undoing Actions – The Picktool: Selecting objects – Deleting objects – Moving objects – Copying objects – Scaling andstretching objects – Rotating objects – Changing an object’s Outline and Fill – Applyingcolour – Using the Outline pen tool – Using the Fill tool – Copying outline and fill attributes –The Interactive Fill Tool – Using the freehand drawing tool – Connecting line segments –Creating a closed object with the freehand tool – Using the Bezier tool – The Natural Pen tool– Dimensioning tools – Modifying objects with the Shape tool – Curving corners on aRectangle – Creating an ellipse Segment – Deleting a line or curve segment – Modifying linelength and direction – Manipulating Artistic Text

Using the Text tool .....................................................................................................14Artistic Text – Paragraph Text – Changing the Typeface: Artistic or Paragraph Text – Creatingbulleted text and drop capitals – Fitting text to a path – Importing text – Copying and pastingtext – Handling multi-page documents & linked text – Linked text – Inserting and deletingpages – Setting up and viewing multipage documents - Column layouts – Limitations onCorelDraw's multi-page capabilities

Changing default settings...........................................................................................20Changing Text defaults – Changing Pen and Fill defaults – Changing typing options – Savingsettings for new documents

Ordering – grouping & aligning objects ...................................................................22Ordering Objects – Grouping objects – Aligning objects to one another – Using a Grid –Creating Guidelines – Snapping options

Importing and exporting bitmaps...............................................................................24Importing and cropping bitmaps – Altering bitmaps – Wrapping text round a bitmap –Exporting bitmaps

CorelDraw bells & whistles .......................................................................................27Useful variations on Copy and Paste: – Pasting – Duplicating objects – Cloning – Copying textformatting – Using symbols and clip art – Blending – Extruding – Welding and trimming –Mirroring – Making fills and bitmaps transparent - Creating your own patterns - Powerclips -Perspective effects - Envelopes

Printing from CorelDraw...........................................................................................34

Making the most of CorelDraw help..........................................................................35

Index...........................................................................................................................36

Author: Jos Kingston


Introduction 1

Introduction

At SHU, CorelDraw is available only at Psalter Lane,in the specialist computer graphics rooms (A201and B216).

CorelDraw is the leading PC package for commercial artists. Itconsists of a suite of applications:

� CorelDraw itself is the central package, providing a host ofvector tools for manipulating display text, creating drawings, andcapabilities for importing or exporting bitmap graphics as well.You can stretch text, rotate it, fit it to a path of any shape,extrude it to give a three-dimensional effect, and much more.You can draw Bezier curves, which give you tremendous powerto create exactly the shapes you want. You can blend objects;weld objects; add perspective; and create fill patterns of yourown.

� CorelDream is for producing 3D pictures.

� Photo-Paint provides tools for modifying and adding specialeffects to bitmap images. Photo-Paint's capabilities are verysimilar to those of Adobe Photoshop, the "industry standard"software for image manipulation.

� The graphics utilities available include CorelCapture – ascreengrabbing utility which copies the current screen displayfrom any Windows application to the clipboard as a bitmap.OCRTrace converts scanned text into editable format. It alsolets you trace a bitmap image to vector format which can thenbe edited in CorelDraw. This can be very useful indeed withsimple images.

This document introduces you to the capabilities of the mainCorelDraw 7 package. If you have used any other computer graphicspackages, you will find a lot in common in how they operate. If not,a familiarity with CorelDraw will stand you in good stead for usingother graphics applications, on Macs as well as Pcs.

Some acquaintance with Windows software and Windows 95 isassumed. If you don’t have this, you might find it easiest to learn thebasics with a word processing package, such as Microsoft Word, beforemoving onto CorelDraw. It’s especially important that you should knowabout “good housekeeping” when you’re working with graphics – filescan take up a great deal of disk space. We recommend that you learnhow to use Windows Explorer for this purpose.

�� Jargon:There are two main types ofcomputer graphic image:Vector and Bitmap.

Bitmaps are formed bystoring an image as a set ofdots. The quality of abitmap is dictated by itsresolution – the number ofdots per inch used – and itscolour depth – the numberof colours used. High-resolution bitmaps usingthe full colour rangerequired for photo-realismcan create very large files.

Vector graphics are object-oriented. Anything youcreate – for instance ashape, or a string of text –is an object, which isdefined by its attributes –for instance position, linethickness, fill. Vectorobjects can be modifiedmore easily, and take upmuch less file space, thanbitmaps. Vector mode isused by CorelDraw and isstandard for CADpackages, whilst paintpackages and image-scanning processes workwith bitmaps.

You're best off working withCorel Photo-Paint or AdobePhotoshop if you want tohave all the bells andwhistles available fortransforming bitmaps. Butwithin CorelDraw itself,many of the most populartools for handling bitmapsare now available on thespot. This is a great leapforward in bridging the gapbetween vector and bitmapsoftware.


2 Basic operations

Basic OperationsCorelDraw can be set up to load simply by double-clicking its iconon the Windows 95 desktop. Otherwise:

� Click on the Start button, select Programs and findCorelDraw. Once CorelDraw has loaded:

� If you don't see a blank drawing area ready to work on, selectFile from the menu, then New.

� Look first at the Toolbox on the left of the screen: you domost of your work from here.

The CorelDraw ToolboxThe tools with triangles in the bottom right corner are flyouts – theicon gives access to a selection of related tools. Click and holddown until the flyout menu appears.

Pick. You have to click on this tool before you can select any object or objects whichyou want to move, copy, delete, resize, or modify in any other way. Page 7

Shape. Use to add rounded corners to rectangles; and to change the location of thenodes which dictate the shape of CorelDraw objects. Page 13

Zoom. Click and hold down to open a fly-out menu from which you can select themagnification you want. Page 5

Freehand. For lines and curves. Hold down the mouse button when you click on thetool, and a fly-out will open. The Bezier Pencil lets you draw curves by defining nodes.

11- 12Rectangle. Click on the tool, then click and drag with the mouse to create a rectangle.

Page 6Ellipse. Use in the same way as the rectangle tool. Hold down the Control key whileyou click and drag if you want to constrain your shape to a square or circle.

Page 6Polygon. Click and hold down to open the flyout menu, from which spirals and gridscan also be drawn. Page 6Text. Click on the tool, then click on the drawing area for Artistic Text. Click anddrag to draw a frame for Paragraph Text. 14-15

Interactive Fill. Works in conjuction with the Property Bar (next page) to providequick control over filling objects. Page 10

Transparency. Lets you apply transparency by clicking and dragging.Page 32

Interactive blend. Click and drag from one object to another to produce a blend.Page 30

Outline pen. The fly-out provides icons which allow you to change the shape, widthand colour of freehand lines or object outlines. Page 9

Fill. Select colour and patterning for an object’s fill. Page 10


Basic operations 3

“Context-sensitive” toolsThe upper row of icons at the top of the screen is the standardtoolbar. The icons on the left are found in most Windows software– save, print, cut and paste, and so on.

Property bar

The row of icons underneath the standard toolbar is known as theproperty bar. This takes context-sensitivity to giddy heights –what’s available depends upon what tool is currently selected fromthe Toolbox (see page 2), and what kind of object is selected withinthe drawing area. The top illustration shows what the property barlooks like when a rectangle has been drawn and selected. In thebottom illustration, the Text tool has been selected.

� Move the cursor slowly over the tool icons. A yellow "tooltips" box pops up to describe the function of the tool whichthe cursor is currently resting on.

Status bar

Look at the bottom of the screen. The status bar always providesinformation about your current action. For instance, it gives youdetails of what object is currently selected; its outline and fill; andtells you the typeface and size for a selected text object.

Right mouse button

As with most Windows 95 software, the right mouse button plays auseful part in providing quick access to the functions you're mostlikely to want. Like the property bar, it’s context-sensitive.

� Right-click on a few objects: shapes you’ve created, tools inthe toolbox, ruler areas. The example on the left shows thepopup menu which appears with a text object selected. Forany object, selecting Properties from the popup gives accessto all the commands you're most likely to need.

In CorelDraw, the right mouse button has somebrilliant "drag and copy" capabilities – see pages8,27,28.

�� Jargon: Status bar:In any Windows software,keeping an eye on whatthe status bar is tellingyou can be especiallyuseful if and when you getunexpected results fromwhatever you’re doing.


4 Basic operations

Setting up your filePage setup

When CorelDraw opens a new file, you should see the Page Setupcontrols on the left of the Property bar. If you don’t:

� In the Toolbar, click on the Pick tool.� Click on a blank part of the drawing area.

The Property Bar will change to display the setup controls.

Page size should normally be set to correspond to the paper sizethat you’ll be printing to. But it’s easy in CorelDraw to scale down orup at the printing stage to fit whatever paper size you want, so bear inmind that you won’t need to rework your design if, for example, youwanted to print it both as an A3 poster and A4 handbills. (Animportant qualification to this: if your file includes bitmap images,loss of quality will result from scaling, especially scaling up.)

� Click on the Property Bar buttons to switch paper orientationbetween Portrait and Landscape.

Setting drawing units

When the Property Bar is in “setup mode” as described above, you setdrawing units from here. The ruler bars will reflect your selection.

Saving your Work

Avoid working in files created with sophisticatedgraphics software like CorelDraw 7 straight fromfloppy disk. It's much more reliable to work from thehard drive (C), or from network space.

� From the Menu, select File, then Save.The first time you do this, the Save Drawing dialog box will open.

� Make sure Save In is set to the folder where you want to keepyour file.

� Make sure Save as Type is set to CorelDraw (CDR).� Enter a suitable File name. CorelDraw will automatically

add the extension .cdr to this.� Save every few minutes while you work.

Don’t use “Save As” to back up a CorelDraw file tofloppy – it sometimes corrupts the file. At the end ofyour session close down CorelDraw, then useExplorer to copy important files to floppy, Zip, ornetwork space for safe keeping.

Mousemat.cdr


Basic operations 5

Using the Zoom toolSelecting an appropriate magnification for the workyou are doing, will make you far more efficient. Getaccustomed to moving quickly backwards andforwards between the different zoom optionsavailable from the zoom icon in the Toolbox.In particular, if you are having difficulties in connecting oneline segment to another, things will work much better if youincrease your magnification. And if you “lose” an object(which easily happens if you use the scroll buttons to move upand down your page), the quickest way to locate it is byzooming to Fit in Window.

Zoom in. Click on the icon, then drag on the page area to draw afence around the objects you want to magnify.

Zoom out. Each click zooms out by a factor of two, or returns youto the magnification before you zoomed in.

Actual size. Bear in mind that the screen display isn’t as highresolution as a laser printout. Viewing at 1:1 you may not see all thedetail which is actually there.

Fit in Window. Displays all the objects in your drawing atmaximum size to fit within the window area.

Full Page/Page width/Page height. Use to design and checkyour overall page layout.

You can also change zoom levels from the StandardToolbar at the top of the screen.

Refreshing the Screen DisplayIf lines or blobs or gaps appear which shouldn’t bethere, don’t get frustrated attempting to delete them– they will almost certainly disappear when yourefresh the screen.

It’s hard work for the computer to keep the screen display completelyaccurate and up to date; sometimes there will be glitches. (Computerjargon for something not being quite right.) The less powerful yourcomputer, the more likely you are to run into this problem. If ithappens:

� From the Window menu, select Refresh Window.

There is a useful keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + W

Zooming also has the effect of redrawing the screen display, and thusgetting rid of any on-screen glitches.


6 Creating & modifying simple objects

Creating & modifying simple objects� Always use the left mouse button, unless instructed otherwise.� It’s usually best to work from top left to bottom right when

you create an object by clicking and dragging.

Creating rectangles and ellipses

� In the Toolbox, click on the Rectangle tool.� Click and drag to create a rectangle.

� Create another rectangle: this time, hold down the Controlkey while you click and drag to constrain its shape to a square.

� Use the Ellipse tool to create an oval and a circle. You can draw symmetrical shapes from the centre rather than thecorner – hold down the Shift key while you draw.

Creating polygons and spirals

� In the Toolbox, click on the Polygon tool. Hold down themouse until a flyout toolbar appears. Tools for creating spiralsand “graph paper” are also available from here.

� Click and drag to draw a polygon.

Notice how the icons centre right of the Property Bar change whenthe Polygon tool is selected. You can switch from here betweenpolygon and star mode, and specify the number of points on yourpolygon or star.

When you select the spiral tool from the flyout, the Property bar letsyou specify the number of revolutions in the spiral, and choosebetween symmetrical and logarithmic spirals. You must change thesesettings before creating your spiral.

Undoing Actions

You can quickly undo your last action:� In the standard toolbar, click the Undo button.

To undo a sequence of actions:� Click on the arrow right of the Undo button, then select from

the list.

Use the Redo button (right of undo) in just the same way.


Creating and modifying simple objects 7

The Pick tool: Selecting objects

An object needs to be selected before you can modify it – forinstance, to change colour, outline thickness, or typeface.

� In the Toolbox, click on the Pick tool. You must always do this before you can select an object.

� Click on one of the objects you have created to select it. If theobject has no fill, click firmly on its outline.

Square black handles will appear around the object. To select multiple objects:

� Hold down the Shift key while you click on each object; orclick and drag to draw a fence (referred to as a marqueebox) round them. An object will only be selected if the wholeof it lies within the marquee.

To select all the objects in a file:� In the Edit menu, choose Select All.

To select an object which overlaps with other objects: You’ll often want to place objects in front of and behindone another. (Page 22) This can make it difficult to selectthe object you want to change.

� In the Toolbox, click on the Pick tool.

� From the Layout menu, choose Object Manager.The Object Manager window will open. Click to select theobject or objects you want. Close by clicking the X icon topright of the window's title bar.

The Object Manager can be enormously useful.Bear in mind for future exploration!

Deleting objects

� Select the object or objects you want to delete.� On the keyboard, press the Delete key if you know you

won’t change your mind. If you might want to retrieve theobject, use Cut from the Standard Toolbar instead.

Moving objects

� Click anywhere on the selected object, but not on its handles.Hold the mouse button down. The cursor will change to across shape, as illustrated. Drag with the mouse to move theobject.

� Use the Property Bar to specify an object’s position accuratelyby its xy co-ordinates – see next page.



Copying objects

CorelDraw provides the usual Cut, Copy and Paste buttons on thestandard toolbar at the top of the screen. There’s also a useful mouseshortcut for copying:

� Click and drag as if you were moving the selected object orobjects, but once you’ve started dragging, hold down theright mouse button as well as the left one.

Scaling and stretching objects

CorelDraw provides the means to do this interactively by clicking anddragging; or accurately from the Property Bar.

� Click on the Pick tool if not already selected.

� Select the object or objects you want to size or move.To scale “interactively”:

� Click on a corner handle, and drag. This will scale theobject – its size will change, but its shape won’t.

� Click on a side handle, and drag. This will stretch orcontract the object in that direction.Watch it! You can easily find yourself mirroring anobject by accident when doing this. See page 31.

For accurate scaling and positioning:� Use the Property Bar to specify xy co-

ordinates, object size, and scale factor.� Click the padlock button before specifying measurements to

maintain proportional sizing.

Rotating objects

� Select the object you want to rotate.

� In the Property Bar, either specify the required rotationangle in the Angle of Rotation box, or click on the arrowsnext to it until the object is rotated the required amount.

Alternatively:� Click to select an object, then click once more.

You should now have entered Rotate and Skew mode: the squarebox handles around the selected object will be replaced with double-headed arrow handles.

� To rotate an object: click on the centre of a corner arrowhandle, and drag. The cursor should change to a horseshoeshape. If you want to leave the original (for instance, to drawblades on a windmill), hold down both mouse buttons whileyou drag.

Click and drag


Changing an object’s Outline and FillRectangles and ellipses are known as closedobjects; a curved or straight line is called an openpath. Any closed object consists of an outline, and afill. Characteristics of a CorelDraw object, such asoutline thickness, colour, or type of fill, are referredto as attributes of the object.CorelDraw offers many different ways of doing thesame thing. (Right mouse button, toolbox, etc.)Unless you're a keyboard shortcut whizzo, the MainMenu is usually slowest! Experienced computerusers should think afresh about how they do things.

Applying colour

� Select the object or objects you want to colour.� Left-click in the colour palette on the right of the screen to

apply a fill colour; right-click to apply an outline colour.� Click on the scroll tools at the bottom of the palette to increase

the colour range available to select from.

Using the Outline pen tool

� Select one of the objects you have created.� Click on the Outline pen tool.

A flyout toolbox will appear, to provide a range of tools formodifying the thickness, shape and colour of the line or

outline. The tools on the right let you apply a small number of presetwidths with just the one click of a button. The tools on the left of theflyout give access to dialog boxes which allow you much moreprecise control over the object’s outline. Especially useful is the penand special fill rollup.

Click here to expand thecolour palette.

�� Jargon: RollupRollups are windowswhich you can keepopen on screen whileyou work, to give quickaccess to the tools youare most likely to need.


� Click on the third tool from the left to display the pen rollupwindow on screen.

Click and drag on the rollup window title bar to move it to whateverscreen position you want.

� Click on the middle icon at the top of the rollup window toclose it but keep it handy on screen; click again to roll it downagain.

� You can alter outline thickness and colour, and also applyarrowheads to lines, from this rollup. Familiarise yourselfwith how to do these things.

Note that your changes won’t take effect on theselected object, until you click the Apply button.



Using the Fill tool

� Select one of the closed objects you have created.

� Click on the Fill tool. A flyout will appear.

� Click on the Special Fill rollup (right of flyout). This giveseasy access to the same fills which you can also reachseparately from the fountain fill, texture fill and pattern fillicons left of the flyout. Notice that this rollup “doubles up” inthe same window as the pen rollup. (See previous page.)

� Click on the different icons and scrollbar arrows in theSpecial Fill rollup to try out some of the many fill effectswhich are available to you.

� Remember that your changes won’t take effect until you clickon the Apply button.If you use a lot of full colour pattern, bitmap ortexture fills, your file may become very large andslow to work with. If so, don't apply such fills untilyou have done all your other work on the file.

Copying outline and fill attributes

The pen and fill rollup includes an “eyedropper” icon in thebottom left corner. This allows you to instantly copy the outline orfill attributes from one object to another.

� Give any object you have created an interesting fill.

� Select another object to which to apply this fill.� In the Special Fill rollup, click on the eyedropper. The cursor

will change to a large arrow. Click on the object from whichyou want the fill to be copied, then click on Apply.Alternatively, you can "copy object properties"using the right mouse button. See page 28.

The Interactive Fill Tool

� Select an object.

� In the Toolbox, click on the Interactive Fill Tool.

Notice how the Property Bar changes. In general, you may find itquicker to apply fills and outline attributes from here than from theRollup and colour palette. Do experiment with the “click and drag”method of applying fountain fills!


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Using the freehand drawing tool

� Click on the freehand tool in the Toolbox. (If you held downthe mouse button and the flyout toolbox has appeared, makesure you select the first left icon.)

� Click and drag to draw a freehand line or curve.

� To draw a straight line: click where you want the beginningof the line, take your finger off the mouse, then click whereyou want the end of the line.

� To constrain the straight line to 15o increments: hold downthe Ctrl key while you move the mouse and click for the endof the line. Do this whenever you want to be sure a line isvertical or horizontal.

On screen, a straight line will often look jagged.Don't worry about this. When you zoom closer onscreen or print out straight from CorelDraw, itshould look fine.

Connecting line segments

You will often want one line segment to connect to the end ofanother, so that you can treat them as a single object.

� Create a line, and double-click at its end point. The double-click will automatically start you off on a connected linesegment from this point.

A line will automatically connect to the previous line if its start pointis no more than five pixels away from the previous line’s finishing

� Jargon: Pixel:abbreviation ofPicture Element: thedots which make upthe screen display. Apixel isn’t a fixedsize: it depends onthe resolution of themonitor how manypixels make up thescreen area.

ating and modifying simple objects 11

point, but the double-click approach is more reliable.

Creating a closed object with the freehand tool

If lines connect to create a closed object, you can add a fill andchange any other attributes just as you would with a rectangle orellipse. The illustration on the left shows a closed object created withthe freehand tool.

� When you add the last line segment to form a closed object,single-click to place the finishing point of the last line, atthe starting point of the first. If you double-click, Coreldrawwill assume you want to add a further segment to the line.Alternatively and often easier, select Auto-close from theProperty Bar.

� Click on the Pick tool. (If the Line tool is left selected, you mayfind yourself drawing lines unintentionally.)



Using the Bezier tool

A Bezier curve consists of nodes, connected by line segments. Onceyou have created a Bezier line, you can use the Shape tool to tweak itinto a curve, like a rubber band, by pulling on its nodes and controlpoints. This is a very satisfying activity, but it may take a whilebefore you feel that you have any control over what happens to yourcurve!

� Click and hold down the freeehand drawing tool until theflyout appears.

� Select the Bezier icon.� Click where you want your curve to begin. Keep the mouse

button down, and drag to where you want to place the nextnode in the curve. Click and drag in the same way to placesubsequent segments.

Playing around is the best way to get a grip on what’s going on. Youmay find the on-line help information useful – select Help Topics,then search the Index for Bezier.

� Press the Space Bar twice if you want to start a new curve.When you have finished using the Bezier pencil, select thePick tool so you don’t find yourself accidentally drawingunwanted lines or curves.

� The outline boxes show the curve’s nodes, which can beedited later with the Shape tool. (Page 13)

You can create closed objects with the Bezier tool, just as you canwith the standard freehand pencil.

To draw a straight line segment within a Bezier object:� Lift your finger from the mouse button, and click at the finish

point of the segment.

The Natural Pen tool

This tool can be specially useful where you want to draw curves witha differently coloured outline and fill.

� In the Freehand flyout, click the Natural Pen icon.The Property Bar changes to provide pen controls.

Dimensioning tools

� In the Freehand flyout, click the Dimension tool.The Property Bar changes to give access to a range of dimensiontools – look up dimension lines in the Help Topics index.



Modifying objects with the Shape tool

The Shape tool has different effects, depending on the type of objectwhich you have selected. To activate it:

� Click on the Shape tool, then click on the object you want tomodify.

Curving corners on a Rectangle

� Draw a rectangle if you haven’t got one handy, and activatethe Shape tool. Node boxes will appear at the rectangle’scorners. Click on one of these, and drag, to curve the cornersof the rectangle.

Alternatively, when your rectangle is selected you can use thedragger in the Property Bar to set corner roundness.

Creating an ellipse Segment

� Draw an ellipse if you haven’t got one handy, and activate theShape tool. Click on the node box and drag to create thesegment. If the cursor is on the inside of the ellipse when youclick and drag, you will create a pie wedge; if it’s on theoutside, you will create an arc.

Alternatively, when your ellipse is selected you can use theProperty Bar controls to create an arc or pie wedge.

Deleting a line or curve segment

� Activate the Shape tool, then click on a node to select it. Theoutline node box will appear bolder. Press the Delete key. Ifthe first or last node was selected, the first or last segment willbe deleted. If any other node was selected, the line or curvewill be redrawn without that node.

Modifying line length and direction

� Activate the Shape tool, then click and drag on the node ateither end of the line.

Manipulating Artistic Text

� Create a word or two of artistic text (see following pages),scale to a fairly large size, then click on the Shape tool. Theposition of each letter is dictated by the node at its bottom left.Click and drag on a node to move that letter.

Selected node


14 Using the Text tool

Using the Text toolTypographers make a clear distinction between display text, usedto catch the eye; and body text, used for what needs to be read.Whereas display text can usefully employ a variety of artistictechniques to draw the attention, the reader is likely to be seriouslydistracted by fancy formatting of body text.

CorelDraw is primarily a commercial artists’ package, and as such isconcerned more with providing all the bells and whistles for displaytext, than with the features needed for handling large chunks of bodytext quickly and simply. (Although each new version of CorelDrawis bringing major improvements in this respect.) Most people preferto use their favourite word processing software for standarddocument workyou can easily import word processed text into aCorelDraw file. (page 17.)

Display text is referred to by CorelDraw as artistic text; and bodytext, as paragraph text.

Artistic Text

� From the Toolbox, select the Text icon.� Click in the page area where you want to enter your text, and

type in a couple of words. Don’t worry about size or typefaceat this stage.

� Click on the Pick tool, select the text object you havecreated, and scale or stretch it to whatever size you want.(Page 7)

� Apply a different fill to your text. (Page 10)

� Apply a visible outline to your text. (Page 9)

Each letter you enter is treated by CorelDraw as a closed object, withan outline and a fill. This is great if you want to create effects like theone you have just tried out. But most of the time it is a seriousnuisance if letters are set to have an outline as well as a fill – it islikely to give a thickened, jagged appearance to your text whenprinted.

� Make sure your artistic text is still selected.

� Choose one of the many possible ways to switch off the textoutline. Right-click on the �� icon at the top of the colourpalette; or use the Property Bar, the Pen rollup, or the OutlinePen fly-out.

No outline/fill icon.

� Bear in mind thatArtistic Text doesn’t “wordwrap” – you have to pressEnter every time you wantto start a new line.


Using the Text tool 15

Paragraph Text

� From the Toolbox, select the Text icon.

� Click and drag with the mouse on the page area to define aframe within which you want the text to fit. You can easilychange the shape of this later, so just go for a rough and readyapproximation.

The cursor will now be blinking within the text area you havedefined, ready for you to start typing in text. Text will word wrapto the frame borders as you type – only press Enter at the end ofparagraphs.

If there isn’t enough space in your frame for the text you want to typein; or if you want to change the frame’s shape:

� Click on the Pick tool, and select your text.� Drag on the frame handles to size and scale it.

Your text will automatically “re-wrap” to the new frame size.� Make sure all the text has all fitted into the frame. If it hasn’t,

you’ll see a triangle icon in the tab at the bottom of theparagraph frame, as illustrated. Resize the frame until this tabis blank.

You can wrap paragraph text round the shape ofany object or bitmap image - see page 25.

Changing the Typeface: Artistic or Paragraph Text

When a Text object or the Text tool is selected, the Property Barallows you to choose typeface, size, style, and alignment for bothartistic and paragraph text by methods which should be familiar ifyou’ve used any popular Windows word processing software.

Notice that you can’t use the Property Bar if you want to changemultiple text objects at the same time. To do this:

� Select the text objects you want to change – either draw amarquee round them, or Shift-Click. (Page 7)

� From the Text menu, select Format Text.

The Format Text dialog box will open: settings chosen here willapply to all selected text objects, whether Artistic or Paragraph text.

With artistic text, type size can be altered byselecting the object, then clicking and dragging toscale or stretch it. Paragraph text can’t be scaledand stretched in this way: when you click and dragyou resize the frame, not the text. Changeparagraph text type size using the Property Bar orFormat Text menu options.

The border – or frame – yousee while you're typing inparagraph text, shows the textarea you defined. Once youhave finished creating this textobject, the border will nolonger be displayed.Notice that you can often findyourself creating a newparagraph frame when youdidn't intend to. If thishappens, select the newframe and delete it.



Creating bulleted text and drop capitals

In paragraph text mode, you can automatically create bulletedpoints, selecting from a wide range of symbols.

1. Click on the Text tool, and either define a new paragraph textframe (see previous page), or click in an existing one.

2. If you have already typed in text which you want to convert tobulleted points, click and drag with the mouse to highlight it.To change the entire contents of a paragraph frame to bulletedpoints, select the frame with the Pick tool.

3. In the Property Bar, click on the Bullets icon.4. When you want to return from bulleted text to normal lines,

click again on the Bullets icon to switch it off.To change the type of bullet you’re using:

� In the Property Bar, click on the Format Text icon.

The Format Text dialog box will appear.

� Click on the Effects tab.Select your symbol, bullet size and indent from here.Usually, you’ll want Placement set to Hanging Indent.Drop caps are set in a similar way from the Effects tab.Familiarise yourself with what you can do from the othertabs in this box.

Fitting text to a path

� Create the line or shape to use as a path.� In the Toolbox, click on the Text tool.� Move the cursor close to your path object. CorelDraw will

recognise when a possible text path is “in sight”, and thecursor will change shape as in diagram 1.

� When the cursor is this shape, click and type.You can select your path independently and modify it as you wantwith the Pick or Shape tool. The text will automatically reroute.Notice in the Status Bar that the path will be referred to as a controlobject. If selecting the control object independently of the textproves difficult, use the Object Manager. (Page 7.)

� Once the text is as you want, switch off the path outline tomake it invisible. (Page 14.)

If you've already typed in text and then want to fit to a path, or if youwant to modify positioning in relation to the path:

� Select both the text and the path.

� From the Text menu, select Fit text to path. Make yourchoices from the rollup, then click the Apply button.



Importing text

You can import documents into CorelDraw 7 direct fromWordPerfect and Word 6 formats. Whatever your word processor, afile saved to plain text format (often known as ascii or .txt format)should be importable into CorelDraw.

To import files from Word 97, you must first savethe file from Word in Rich Text Format.

Most formatting will be maintained in Rich Text Format, but somecomplex layouts, for instance with text boxes, will be lost.

As a general rule, don’t apply complex formattingwithin your word processor if you’re going to importtext – leave the fancy touches to add in CorelDraw.

In CorelDraw:� From the File menu, select Import. The Import dialog box

will open. In the Files of Type list, select All Files. Setdrive and directory to display your file, select it, and OK.

Your text will be imported into CorelDraw as paragraph text,running on to as many pages as it needs in linked frames – see thenext page. Expect to have at least some reformatting to do, especiallyif the typeface originally used isn't available on the computer whereyou're working.

Copying and pasting text

When you copy and paste in the usual way, your text will be insertedinto CorelDraw as a document object – it can then only be edited ifyou double-click on the object to activate the software in which it wascreated. If you want your text to look exactly as you created it –perhaps with a fancy border added in CorelDraw – this is what youwant. But more often, it's likely to be an irritation that you can't edit orformat the text using CorelDraw's tools.

Simple copying and pasting of text from softwaresuch as Word may give unwanted results. It'susually more reliable to import a Rich Text file asdescribed above.Using Paste Special from the Edit menu gives youa wider range of paste options, depending on whattype of object you are pasting. However there is aproblem with CorelDraw 7 running under WindowsNT which means this is unlikely to work properlyon SHU's computers. Import text in preference.Spellcheck and proofread your text beforeimporting or pasting it to CorelDraw, so the wordprocessed file remains a correct reference copy.



Handling multi-page documents & linked textYou can use CorelDraw to produce multi-pagedocuments – magazines or even books. But if yourdocument contains a large number of pages withgraphics, bear in mind that it's usually best to keepfile sizes down to around 2mb for ease of handling.Split a document between different files if necessary.

When you import or paste text from a word processor intoCorelDraw, it will run on to as many pages as are required to fit thetext at your current text settings. The Navigator at the bottom of thescreen shows you how many pages there are in your file:

Keep an eye on this – it's easy to find that pages have unexpectedlycreated themselves – Beware clicking on the + button!

Editing paragraph text

Make small changes by selecting the Text tool, then clicking withinthe text. If you want to do extensive editing within CorelDraw: selectyour text object, select Text from the Menu Bar, then Edit Text.

Linked text

When you flow text into a multi-page document, it will beautomatically be contained within linked paragraph frames. Whether adocument is single-page or multi-page, you can manually linkparagraph text frames to one another. If, for example, you change thesize of a paragraph frame to accommodate a graphic, the text willreflow to the following frames.

Whenever you use paragraph text, you should be aware of whathappens if not all your text will fit into a frame:

� Click to select a paragraph frame. If the handle at the bottomcentre of the frame contains a triangle, this means that there ismore text to come.

� If you want all the text in a single frame: resize the frame andadjust type size until the triangle disappears.

� If you want the text to continue in a different frame: Click onthe triangle, and the cursor will change to a linked text icon, asillustrated. Click and drag to define your next paragraphframe. The text will flow into here, and the handles at the topof this frame and the bottom of the previous frame will changeto display a linked text icon.

It's often useful to work with linked paragraphframes where you want text to flow betweendifferently shaped areas scattered over a page.



Inserting and deleting pages

� In the Navigator, click the + button. A new page will beinserted before the currently selected page.

� To insert multiple pages: from the Layout menu, selectInsert Page.

� To delete pages: from the Layout menu, select Delete Page.If the page you delete contains any linked paragraph text, this willreflow onto succeeding pages. All other types of object on a deletedpage will be deleted, not relocated.

Setting up and viewing multipage documents

CorelDraw offers a number of settings which can make life mucheasier when working with multipage documents:

� From the Layout menu, select Page Setup.In the example, page layout has been set up for astandard booklet, printed on A4 folded to A5. Note thatpage size is set to A4 landscape – the booklet willprint two pages on an A4 sheet. When printed, the pageswill be laid out so as to be in the correct order whenprinted back-to-back and folded.

Facing pages has been selected so that the bookletcan be viewed in "double page spreads" whilst workingon it. If you're using booklet format, the pages will stillbe in consecutive order when you view them – selectPrint Preview to see them as they'll print.

Column layouts

� Select the paragraph text which you want in columns.

� In the Property Bar, click the Format Text icon.

� Select the Frames and Columns tab, specify the number ofcolumns you want, set required width, and OK.

Limitations on CorelDraw's multi-page capabilities

� Automatic page numbering isn't available, except as a "pre-press" feature. The numbering won't fall within the printedpage area unless you print to a larger paper size than you havespecified as your document's page size.

� Headers and footers – running titles along the top and/orbottom of each page – can't be generated.

� CorelDraw doesn't have the capacity to produce Contents orIndex pages, or to add footnotes.


20 Changing default settings

Changing default settingsWhen you run CorelDraw, it will use its default settings for penoutline width, fill, and typeface. Bear in mind when you changedefault settings, that these changes will only take effect on objectscreated from now onwards.

On your own computer, the changes you make to default settings canbe saved from one work session to the next. Multi-user computers,for instance in educational institutions, may be set up so a standardconfiguration is restored each time CorelDraw is loaded.

Changing Text defaults

� Make sure that you don’t have any text objects selected.

� From the Text menu, select Format Text.� Click to select whether you want the new settings to apply to

artistic text, paragraph text, or both, then OK.

� The Format Text dialog box will open. Make your choices andOK.

Changing Pen and Fill defaults

You can change the default Outline Pen attributes in a similar way,making sure that you don’t have any objects selected, and applyingnew choices from any of the Pen flyout tools. If the CorelDraw setupyou’re working on doesn’t already default to this, it can be especiallyuseful to have Outline Pen set to nil width for text objects, and to awidth of your choice for other objects. Simply repeat the process ofapplying choices, and specify each time in the Outline Pen dialogbox what type of object you want these settings to apply to.

Default fills can be altered with the Fill flyout tools following thesame procedure.

The default fill is usually set to black for textobjects, and no fill for graphic objects. Bear inmind that no fill is not at all the same as a white fill,and the distinction is vital when you want to placeobjects on top of one another.

No outline/ fill icon


Changing default settings 21

Changing typing options

Like Word or WordPerfect, CorelDraw 7 has a variety of settingsdesigned to make your life easier. For example, you may find it’s setup so that the first letter you type will always be capitalised. It mayassume that if you type (c) you want a copyright symbol: ©. Redwavy lines may appear to suggest that your spelling needs correcting.It could well be that you find such things irritating rather than useful.If so:

� In the Tools menu, click on Options.� If CorelDraw is being “too clever” about changing

what you’re typing, select the Type Assist tab. Notethat you can either switch off “Replace text whiletyping” completely, or add/delete specific items to theautomatic replacements list.

� Select the Spelling tab and switch off “Performautomatic spell check” if the red wavy lines annoyyou. (But bear in mind that they won't print in anycase.)

Saving settings for new documents

If you’re using CorelDraw on your owncomputer, there are a number of other defaultsettings which you may wish to change –most especially in relation to page setups,ruler and grid settings.

� Set up the CorelDraw workingenvironment exactly as you want it.

� From the Tools menu, selectSettings for New Documents.

� Select the settings you’d like to save,then click Save Settings Now.

On multi-user computers, administrators caneasily set up a batch file to copy over standardconfiguration files every time CorelDraw is loaded.This means that the previous user's whims,preferences and accidental alterations won't getimposed on the next user.


2

Ordering, grouping & aligning objectsOrdering Objects

CorelDraw refers to the process of placing objects one behind theother, as ordering. This is often essential to create the effects youwant: for instance, to place a fill or a shadow box behind some text.

Ordering is not to be confused with layering. Layering is used tocluster related objects together in a drawing. For example, a wiringdiagram might be created on one layer of a drawing, to overlay anarchitect’s plan on another. Beginners and non-technical users don’tnormally need to use layers in software like CorelDraw. (But you’llinstantly benefit from using layers when working with bitmaps inCorel PhotoPaint or Adobe Photoshop.)

Try to copy the example on the left:� Create a small amount of artistic text.

� Anywhere nearby, create a rectangle and select it. From theEdit Menu, select Duplicate.

� Apply a white fill (not the same as no fill) to one rectangle,and a black fill to the other. Move the two rectangles into theright position in relation to one another.

� Make sure one of the rectangles is selected. From the PropertyBar, try out the To Front or To Back buttons.

� Move the text so that it’s on top of the shadow box.

Notice that when a text object is selected, the To Front and To Backbuttons aren't available from the Property Bar. When ordering morethan two objects, you often also need more sophisticated control thanthese two buttons provide. In these cases:

� From the Arrange menu, select Order.A greater variety of ordering options is then available.

Grouping objects

The above is a good example of when you should use Group, so thatthe three objects are treated as one from now on.

� Select the three objects.

� In the Property Bar, click on Group.

You must Ungroup to edit any object within the group.

Objects, including symbols, may be combined

� If you think you have“lost” an object from aCorelDraw file, alwaysconsider the possibilitythat something else hasgot placed on top of it.

�� Always group“critically related” objectsimmediately. It’s veryirritating if, for example,you find you’veaccidentally moved orstretched one part of thetext shadow box, withoutthe rest.Copy the group, thenungroup to edit the textin the copy, if you wantto create more objectswith similar formatting.

2 Ordering, grouping and aligning objects

rather than grouped. From the Arrange menu, selectBreak Apart to edit.


Ordering, grouping and aligning objects 23

Aligning Objects

Pleasing alignment is one of the most important aspects of gooddesign. Aligning objects purely by eye is always time-consuming,and never accurate. CorelDraw lets you align objects automaticallywith one another; or snap objects onto a grid or guidelines, or toother objects.

Aligning objects to one another

� Select the objects you want to align. (Page 6.)

� In the Property Bar, click on Align.� Set alignment choices from the dialog box.

Using a Grid

Always set the grid to suit the particular needs of the workyou’re doing. Otherwise, Snap to Grid won’t be a help, andmay be a hindrance.

� In the Layout menu, select Grid & Ruler Setup.The grid will use whatever units you have specified for theruler (page 4). Bear in mind that a grid won't show fullyunless you're viewing at an appropriate magnification, butsnap to grid will work whether or not the grid is visible.

Creating Guidelines

Use Guidelines as you would a ruler or T-square. They are purely on-screen guides – they won't print.

� Click anywhere on the horizontal ruler bar, and drag downonto your page area. A blue horizontal guideline will appearon screen.Follow the same process to create a verticalguideline. Refer to online help if you want a guideline at anangle.

� To remove guidelines: drag them back to the ruler bar.

Snapping options

You can snap to guidelines or other objects, as well as grids. Youwill often want to switch quickly between having Snaps set on, andoff.

� Check that no objects are selected.� From the Property Bar, click the appropriate snap button or

buttons.� Look up Snap to Object in online help to see how this feature

works.

Learn these featuresnow: the same conceptsof “snapping” to grids,guidelines or objects areused in all CAD packages.


24 Importing and exporting bitmaps

Importing and exporting bitmapsYou will often want to incorporate a bitmap image into a CorelDrawfile. You may also need to export to bitmap format from CorelDraw– for instance, to save images in a format you can use within Webpages. In addition CorelDraw has the capacity to import and exportin standard vector formats –files in .dxf format can be movedbetween CorelDraw and CAD software packages. You can alsoexport text to standard word processing formats.

Importing and cropping bitmaps

CorelDraw has a very wide range of conversion filters whichallow you to import and export graphics from and to all the mostcommonly used file formats.

� In the File Menu, click on Import.The Import Dialog box will appear.� Click on the Arrow by the Files of Type box, and

scroll down the list – this shows you all the fileformats which CorelDraw can handle. If the settingis left on All Files, you can simply select the fileyou want whatever its format.

If you want to crop your image, it's best to do so atthis stage, before it's imported. Otherwise, theunwanted parts of the image will be adding

unnecessarily to your file size.

� Select Crop from the box lower centre of the window. ACrop Image window will open.

� Click and drag on the image preview handles to crop; orspecify crop area in exact measurements.

Once the bitmap is loaded into CorelDraw, you can use the Shapetool to crop bitmaps to non-rectangular shapes.

� Click on the Shape tool, then click on the bitmap you want tocrop. Nodes will appear at each corner. Click and drag a nodeto modify the outline shape.

� Add in extra nodes as you require: double-click on the Shapetool or on a node to display the Node Edit box. Click on thebitmap outline where you want an extra node, then click theNode + button in the box.

When cropping a bitmap to a complex shape, it’s oftenbest to define a path using Photoshop or Photopaint.But also look at CorelDraw’s PowerClip capabilities –page 33. Designating background colours astransparent is another useful strategy – page 32.


Importing and exporting bitmaps 25

Altering bitmaps

If you want to carry out sophisticated transformations to a bitmapimage, it's usually best do this before importing the image: usesoftware designed for the purpose, such as Adobe Photoshop orCorel Photopaint. But CorelDraw does provide a "cut-down" set ofbitmap manipulation tools for you to use with bitmaps afterimporting them.

� Select your bitmap.The Property Bar will change to display the toolsyou're most likely to need.

Among other things you can rotate a bitmap, mirror it, and adjustsharpness, brightness etc. from here.

� From the menu, choose Bitmaps.

From here, the same commands can be accessed as from the PropertyBar, and more besides. Resample lets you change the size andresolution of the bitmap; Convert to allows you to change its colourmode – for instance, from full colour to greyscale. These options can beuseful to keep your overall file size manageable – for example, agreyscale or 256-colour (8-bit) image will take only one-third the spaceof a full-colour (24-bit) image.

� Try out the different effects available (Blur, noise, etc.)

Wrapping text round a bitmap or other object

Paragraph text can be wrapped around any object, whether it's animported bitmap image, or a shape created in CorelDraw. The textmust be in paragraph mode, not artistic. (Page 14.) Text can beconverted from artistic to paragraph mode if necessary - select andclick the Convert Text icon to the right of the Property Bar.

� Right-click on the object which you want to wrap textaround. If you object is already positioned in the text, you mayneed to move it so you can select it independently of the text,then move it back into position.

� Select Wrap Paragraph Text from the popup menu.

To make sure that your text doesn't come too close to the object:

� Right-click on the object and select Properties from thepopup. Click the General tab, then set Text Wrap Offset asrequired.

If you want to wrap text around part, not all of abitmap image, it's often useful to draw an outlineshape around the part from which you want text tobe repelled, set the outline width to none, andwrap text around this invisible shape.


26 Importing and exporting bitmaps

Exporting to bitmapsYou can export all or part of any CorelDraw file to bitmap format.However, this is likely to result in significant loss of quality,especially if text or fine lines are exported. Quality loss can be keptto a minimum by specifying high resolution settings when youexport, but your bitmap file may then become very large and slow towork with.

A variety of bitmap file formats are available. You must use acompressed format – GIF or JPEG – if you want to include an image ina Web page. Online help has good information about which of these touse when. BMP is a reliable format for images you want to import intoMicrosoft packages such as Word. Uncompressed TIFF is a goodchoice for images you want to transfer between PCs and Macs, or if youwant to load into specialist bitmap or dtp software.

� If you only want to export part of your CorelDraw image to abitmap file, select what you want included.

� From the File Menu, select Export. The Export Dialog Boxwill open. (Only the lower part of this is illustrated.)

� Set Save as Type to the file format yourequire.

� Set the checkboxes for “Export this PageOnly” and “Selected Only” right of thesave as type list as you need.

� Name your file, then click Export.

A second dialog box will open. This is where all the importantdecisions need to be made. Experiment, especially with resolution.

� Watch the Projected uncompressed file size reading atthe bottom of the box, and note how your choices affect it.

� 256 colours will often be fine for a computer-generatedimage, and the file will be only one-third the size it would besaved in "millions of colours" Dithering is usually best left offto avoid a speckly effect.

� Best quality is achieved by leaving size set at 1 to 1. Scale upor down in CorelDraw before exporting.

� High quality printing requires much higher resolution thansimply displaying on screen. But a bitmap saved at 300 dpi isfour times the byte size it would be at 150 dpi, which in turn isfour times the byte size of the same image at 75 dpi.

� Anti-aliasing is used to minimise jagged effects on text andfine lines when exported to bitmaps. Super-sampling does thejob better than normal anti-aliasing, but takes longer.

� Jargon:Resolution: Thenumber of dots usedto create an image -measured in dots perinch (dpi) or pixelsper inch (ppi).


CorelDraw bells and whistles 27

CorelDraw bells & whistles

Useful variations on Copy and PasteLike all Windows software, CorelDraw’s Standard toolbarincludes the usual Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy and Paste operations.Select All is also commonplace in Windows software, and makes itvery quick to delete everything from a file, if you want to startafresh. (See page 8.)

Pasting

When you use the Paste option, CorelDraw will usually place thenew copy of the object, directly on top of the original. This isconfusing – you are likely to think that nothing has happened. Clickand drag to move your pasted copy to its desired position.

Duplicating objects

Duplicate copies and pastes in one go, putting the copy downslightly offset from the original.

� Select the object or objects you want to duplicate, then selectDuplicate from the Edit menu.

Notice that the duplicate copy, not the original, is now the selectedobject. If you want further copies:

� From the Edit menu, select Repeat.Your second duplicate will be positioned in relation to the firstduplicate, not to the original.

You can exactly specify the relative position of a duplicate – this isuseful if you want multiple copies of an object at fixed distancesfrom one another.

� In the Property Bar, use the Duplicate Distance buttons.Either type in the values you want, or use the arrow keys toincrease/decrease.

The example is set up so that duplicates are placed two inches to theright and one inch above the original. Duplicates can be placed to theleft of and/or below the original by specifying negative values.Distance is measured from the centre of one object to the centre ofthe next – not the space between the two. Once you have setpreferences here, they will remain in force when you duplicate orclone, until you change the values again.

Original Duplicate

Tip: The keyboardshortcut to repeat anaction is especiallyuseful. Hold down theControl key, and pressR (Ctrl + R)


28 CorelDraw bells and whistles

Cloning

If you select Clone rather than Duplicate from the Edit menu, thecopies will remain linked to the original. In the Status Line, theoriginal will be described as the control object. Changes you maketo the control object, will be automatically applied to the clones.

� Select the object or objects you want to clone from, then selectClone from the Edit menu.

The clone will now be the selected object. Notice that you can’tsimply repeat the Clone command, because you can’t clone from aclone. To place further copies of the Clone at fixed relative positions:

� Make sure the first clone (not the control object) is selected,and use Duplicate and Repeat as described on the previouspage.

In the example, an artistic letter (1) has been cloned and duplicatedas described above(2); the control object has then been selected, anda different fill applied (3).

You can modify a clone independently if you wish. If you do so, anyattributes you have specifically set for this clone will override thecontrol object attributes. However, any attributes which you haven’treset on a clone, will change when you change the control object. Forinstance, if you only changed the shade of an individual clone, andthen change the pen outline thickness of your control object, thisalteration would apply to your changed clone.

Copying text formatting

It’s often useful to apply the text formatting which you have set forone text object, to another.

� Select the source object – the text from which you want theformatting to be copied.

� Click and drag the source object with the right mouse buttonuntil it’s resting above the target object.

� Leave go of the mouse button. If you've got the knack, apopup menu should now appear. Look at the different choices,and select Copy All Properties.

The typeface, typesize, outline and fill of the source object will nowbe applied to the target object.

You can use this method to copy outline and fillfrom between any objects, not just text ones.



Using symbols and clip art

Symbols

� In the Standard Toolbar, select the Symbols icon. TheSymbols Rollup will open.

� Choose a symbol. Use the arrow keys at the top and bottom ofthe rollup to select a different set of symbols, and to scrollthrough the symbols available from that set. You can specifythe size from here, but it’s easy to alter it later with the Picktool.

� Click and drag your chosen symbol onto the CorelDrawdrawing area.

� Scale or stretch the symbol to the size you want.

You can alter the outline and fill of any symbol,just as you can any other CorelDraw object.However, with all but the simplest symbols, theresults you get might not be quite what youexpect. You need a good understanding ofCorelDraw to avoid frustrations. Most symbols aregrouped or combined objects – you must ungroupor break apart if you want to “fine-tune” them. Seepage 22.

Clip Art

CorelDraw offers a wide range of clip art, all of which can be alteredto suit your wishes just like any other CorelDraw object. Becausethese take up a large amount of disk space, they are accessed fromCD-ROM, and not installed on the hard disk. With the CD-ROM inthe drive:

� In the Standard Toolbar, select the Scrapbook icon. TheScrapbook Rollup will appear.

� Click the Corel tab in the rollup. You should see the Clipartfolder as illustrated. Double-click to open it.

� Select the appropriate folder, then click and drag yourchosen image onto the CorelDraw drawing area.

� For an index search, scroll down to the bottom of the window,and you’ll find a file called Keywords.txt. Double-click toopen this text file so you can search the list for what you want.Whatever software the file opens in, a Search command willbe available from the Edit menu.



Special Effects

If you have reached the point where you feel reasonably confident atall the operations already described in this document, finding out byyourself how to use the special effects which CorelDraw providesshould be within your capabilities. These pages introduce just someof them.

Blending

� Create two objects and apply different fills – a rectangle and acircle were used in the example.

� In the Toolbox, click on the Interactive Blend Tool, thenclick and drag from one object to the other.

Your two objects should now have blended, and the Property Barwill change to display a set of blend control tools. From here, youcan change the number of steps in your blend, blend direction, andmore besides.

However, you may find the Blend Roll-up provides easier ways ofhandling things:

� Select the two objects you want to blend. From the Effectsmenu, select Blend. Remember that you need to click on theApply button before the blend will take effect.

However you create a blend, it can be modified later:

� Try selecting the blend. If you select by clicking on anintermediate step, the selected object will be described in thestatus bar (bottom of CorelDraw window) as a blend group.

� With the blend group selected, you can size it, scale it andmove it. Click on the blend outline to enter Rotate andSkew mode (page 6), and try the effects.

� You can still select your initial two objects independentlyfrom the blend. These are now described in the status line ascontrol objects. Try the effects on your blend of moving,scaling and otherwise modifying either of your controlobjects. Then try some different settings in the blend rollup.

To fit a blend along a path: create a blend, create a path object, thenselect the Interactive Blend Tool. Using the right mouse button,drag the blend group over the path. When you release the button, apopup menu should appear. Select Fit Blend to Path. Change thepath, and the blend will reroute, just as when you fit text to a path.(Page 16.)

The path can be made invisible oncethe blend is as you want it to be.



Extruding

If you found playing with blends slightly addictive, extruding is stillmore dangerous.

� Create an object with an interesting shape to extrude, andselect it.

� From the Effects menu, select Extrude. Notice that thisshares the same window as the Blend rollup – if this is alreadyopen, select from the picklist at the top.

� From the rollup, you can control depth, lighting, colour.Experiment with every setting, and different combinations.Some things will not have any good effects at all – it alldepends on what kind of object you’re extruding. Online helpis quite useful.

Remember you need to click on Apply before yoursettings take effect.

Welding and trimming

� Create some overlapping objects, as in the example.

� Select the objects. From the Arrange menu, select Weld.The Weld Rollup will open. Click on Weld To, then on oneof your selected objects.

A single object will now be created, with the same outline and fill asthe object you selected to Weld To. You can trim one object withanother by a similar process:

� Create some overlapping objects, and select them.

� From the Arrange menu, select Trim. Or, if the Weld Rollupis open, select it from there.

� Click the Trim button, then on the target object – the one youwant trimmed.

� Move away or delete the object you used to trim with.

Mirroring

� Select an object or objects, then click the horizontal or verticalmirror button in the Property Bar.

If you want a mirrored copy, rather than replacing the original object:� From the Arrange menu, select Transform, then Scale and

Mirror. Click the mirror buttons as required, then click Applyto Duplicate.

Just as you would do simple stretches with the mouse, you can alsomirror objects by clicking and dragging:

� Select an object or objects, and drag one of the side handlesover and through to the other side.



Making objects transparent

Any object, whether created in CorelDraw or an imported bitmap,can be made transparent.

� Select the object to which you want to apply transparency.� In the Toolbox, click the Interactive Transparency Tool.� The cursor changes to a wineglass icon. Click and drag

across the object and transparency will be applied.Once you have applied transparency to an object, the Property Barwill change to give you access to a range of tools for specifyingexactly the transparency you want. Experiment!

Making a specified colour transparent

Using the Bitmap Color Mask Rollup, you can hide colours (e.g.white or black) within a bitmap, so that they are treated astransparent. This is especially useful to make single-colourbackground areas transparent, so giving a "cutout" effect.

� Select your bitmap. From the Property Bar or Bitmaps menu,select Bitmap Color Mask. A rollup will appear.

� Make sure the top bar in the colour mask is selected. (A bluemarker will show to its right.)

� Click on the eyedropper icon, top left of the rollup.� While the cursor is an eyedropper shape, click within your

bitmap on the colour you want to be transparent.� Adjust tolerance if you want to hide not just a single colour

shade, but a range of shades within that colour.If you want more than one colour to be transparent:

� Make sure the next bar down in the colour mask is selected,then repeat the steps described above.

When you have chosen all the colours you want:� Click the Apply button.� Move the bitmap on top of something else to check that the

desired transparent effect is achieved.

When you import a multi-layered Photoshop (.psd)file into CorelDraw, it will consist of a group ofobjects, with one object corresponding to eachlayer. If you want to use just one layer, ungroup theobject, then move the layers away from each other.Delete the ones you don't want. This is useful ifyou've made a cutout on a layer in Photoshop andwant to carry the cutout effect into CorelDraw.



Creating your own patterns

Any bitmap image can be used as the basis for creating a tiled fill.� Create the shape you want to fill with your own pattern.� In the Toolbox, click the Fill tool, then Pattern Tool (third

from left). The Pattern Fill dialog box will open. SelectBitmap type, then click Load. The Import dialog box willopen. (Page 24). Select the file you want to use for yourpattern, and OK.

� You will now be returned to the Pattern Fill dialog box. Settile size as you require, and OK.

� To control pattern offset: Click the Tiling button in thePattern Fill dialog box and select from the options available.

Powerclips

Powerclip lets you quickly clip a bitmap image to any shape. Anyvector object - including text objects - can be used as the "container".

� Import the bitmap you want to clip. (Page 24)� Create the shape you want to contain the bitmap.� Select the bitmap, then click and drag with the right mouse

button until the bitmap is in the correct position in relation tothe container shape. When you stop dragging and lift yourfinger from the mouse, a popup menu should appear. SelectPowerClip Inside, and the bitmap will be clipped to therequired shape.

� To reposition the bitmap inside the container: from theEffects menu, select Powerclip, then Edit Contents.When you've done, select Finish Editing from this menu.

Perspective effects

� Select the object to which you want to apply perspective.� From the Effects menu, select Add Perspective, then click

and drag the object nodes to create the perspective you want.� If you want to edit the perspective, first select Clear

Perspective from the Effects menu, then repeat the process.

Envelopes

Any vector object can be distorted to any shape by applying anenvelope, which controls the shape of the distortion.

� Select the object you want to distort.� From the Effects menu, select Envelope. The envelope rollup

will appear. Click Add New or Add Preset, then click anddrag on the object nodes to pull the envelope to the shape youwant. Nothing happens till you click the rollup Apply button!

You can select from the presetchoices, then edit as you want.


34 Printing from CorelDraw

Printing from CorelDrawWhen you're ready to print:

� Save your file just before you print in case you have a crash.� If more than one printer is available to you: from the File

menu, select Print Setup, and choose the printer you want.� From the File menu, select Print Preview.

Always Print Preview before you print. Check thatyour whole design fits within the printable area ofthe page – this is shown as a dotted border in PrintPreview mode.

You'll sometimes want to scale your whole design at the printingstage – either to fit within the printable area, or to print on a differentpaper size from the size you designed at. To do this either:

� Click and drag on the handles around the image area.� Click the Options button. The Print Options dialog box will

open. From Layout, select Fit to Page.Fit to page may have unexpected results if you have objects inyour drawing area outside the page limits. Sometimes youmay not have realised they were there. To check: 1) ClosePrint Preview. 2)From the Zoom tool, select Zoom All Objects(top right). 3) Click Select All in the Edit menu.

� When all is as you want: click the Print button in the toolbarto print one copy of the whole file; or select Print from theFile menu to print specific pages or multiple copies.

Printing to Postscript printers

Many high-quality laser printers use the Postscript page descriptionlanguage. As vector software has developed, its capabilities haveoutstripped those of Postscript. Some types of object may not print atall, or will print only partially, on a Postscript printer. Potentialproblems you should look out for and "workarounds" include:

� Complex grouped objects – try ungrouping before you print.� Text objects to which complex fills, perspectives or

enveloping have been applied, particularly if the object has anoutline as well as a fill. Possible workarounds are 1) Convertproblem text to curves – select, then click the Property Barbutton. 2) Convert to bitmap – select, then choose Convertto Bitmap from the Bitmaps menu. Both these procedures willinvolve quality loss. (1) isn't always effective, but (2) canproduce very large files.

Many printers can run in both Postscript and analternative mode. Use the alternative if possible.

Convert to curvesbutton


Making the most of CorelDraw help 35

Making the most of CorelDraw helpIf you have worked your way through this document, you are well onyour way to becoming a competent CorelDraw user. You have beenintroduced to many of CorelDraw's capabilities, and you should havebegun to get a feel for the more general computer graphics conceptswhich you most need to understand.

Once you have reached this stage, you're at the point where you canreally benefit from online help. Beginners often find online helpfrustrating rather than useful – you need some basic confidence and afamiliarity with the jargon before you can make the most of what itoffers.

However, CorelDraw does provide three easily-accessed help toolson its standard toolbar which new as well as experienced users willoften find useful.

� What's This? Click on the tool, then click on the item (forinstance, tool in the toolbox or property bar) you want helpwith. An information box will popup. Right-clicking on theitem then selecting What's This from the popup menu has thesame effect.

� Tutorials. Click here to run the Corel Tutor. When theopening screen has loaded, click on one of the hyperlinkpictures down the left of the tutorial window. The list oftutorials to select from will change to reflect your selectedarea of interest. Most tutorials include "Show me"demonstrations – these can be useful if you're havingdifficulty with a particular feature.

� Hints. This help option provides context-sensitive help whichyou can keep "always on top". Once you've clicked the hintsbutton, the content of the Hints window will changedepending on the tool and/or object you have selected.

� From the Help menu, Help Topics allows you to search forhelp via a Contents page, an Index, or by a Search. The Searchoption involves building up a database of words from theCorelDraw help files and this results in a very slow initialprocess when you first use it. Unless you're regularly usingCorelDraw on your own computer, you're unlikely to find thisworthwhile.

� If you have Internet access on your computer, you can linkstraight to Corel's Web site, and to Corel newsgroups, fromthe Help menu Corel on the Web option.

What's Tutorials HintsThis?

Getting Started

Working with Text

Changing theappearance of objects

Special effects

Publishing &Internet

Corel Tutorials


36 Index

IndexAligning Objects 23Artistic Text 14Bezier tool 12Bitmaps, concepts 1Bitmaps, altering 25Bitmaps, cropping 24Bitmaps, exporting to 26Bitmaps, importing 24Blending 30Bulleted text 16Clip Art 29Cloning 28Closed objects, creating freehand 11Colour, applying 9Colour settings, bitmap 26Column layout 19Combined objects 22Context-sensitive tools 3Copying objects 8Copying outline and fill attributes 10Copying and pasting text 17Copying text formatting 28Curve segment, deleting 13Curving corners on a Rectangle 13Default settings, changing 20Deleting objects 7Dimensioning tools 12Distorting objects 33Drawing units, setting 4Drop capitals 16Duplicating objects 27Ellipse Segment, creating 13Ellipses, creating 6Envelopes 33Extruding 31File formats, bitmap 26Fill defaults, changing 20Fill tool 10Fill, changing 9Freehand drawing tool 11Fountain fills 10Grid, using 23Grouping objects 22Guidelines, creating 23Handles 7Help tools 35Interactive Fill Tool 10Layers, 22Lines, drawing 11Line length and direction, modifying 13Line segment, deleting 13Line segments, connecting 11Linked text 18Magnification levels 5Mirroring 31, 8Moving objects 7Multi-page capabilities, limitations 19Multi-page documents 18Natural Pen tool 12Object Manager 7Online Help 35Ordering Objects 22Outline and fill attributes, copying 10Outline pen tool 9Outline, changing 9Page setup 4, 19

Pages, inserting and deleting 19Paragraph Text 15Pasting 27Pattern fills 10Patterns, creating your own 33Pen defaults, changing 20Perspective 33Pick tool: Selecting objects 7Polygons, creating 6Postscript printers, problems 34Powerclip 33Printing 34Property bar 3Properties, copying 28Rectangles, creating 6Refreshing the Screen Display 5Resolution 26Right mouse button 3Rollups 9Rotating objects 8Saving files 4Scaling objects 8Selecting objects: pick tool 7Settings, saving for new documents 21Shape tool 13Skewing objects 8Snapping options 23Spellcheck 21Spirals, creating 6Status bar 3Stretching objects 8Symbols 29Text defaults, changing 20Text tool 14Text, copying and pasting 17Text, fitting to a path 16Text, importing 17Text, linked 18Text, wrapping round objects 25Toolbox 2Tool tips boxes 3Transparency in bitmaps 32Transparent fills 32Trimming 31Tutorials 35Typeface, changing 15Typing options, changing 21Undoing actions 6Vector, concepts 1Welding 31Zoom tool 5