Teach Yourself
CorelDRAW 8 in 24 Hours
CorelDRAW 8 is an enormously powerful graphic design package. With that power comes a fairly complex design environment and an almost infinite combination of tools and effects. In this book, you'll meet and work with all these tools and effects.
Not only is CorelDRAW an encyclopedic graphics package, it comes with two additional major programs, as well as many utilities. This book includes hours (20-24) that introduce you to Corel PHOTO-PAINT 8 and CorelDREAM 3-D 8.
With all that said, you can jump into CorelDRAW 8 with a minimum of preparation and create complex illustrations. Don't be intimidated, because it's all easy and you're going to have fun learning. In the first lesson, you'll get acquainted with enough of CorelDRAW's environment to start creating drawings. And you will learn to use lines and line segments to create graphic images.
Before you dive in and start creating your own graphic images, you need to understand a few basic concepts about what CorelDRAW does--both on your screen and behind the scenes. That's what this section is about.
Now you might be asking yourself, "Do I really need to know what's going on behind the scenes in CorelDRAW 8?" Not necessarily, but a basic understanding of the unique way CorelDRAW creates images will help you to design images and transform those images to hard copy or web page output.
CorelDRAW is different from bitmap graphic design packages. CorelDRAW is a vector-based program, which means that it creates and handles images as mathematically defined vectors. Vectors are objects with both magnitude (size) and direction (angles, curvature, and so on). The files that store CorelDRAW images consist of lists of lines, with information on their location, direction, length, color, and curves.
Just A Minute: The majority of graphic design programs are bitmap-based, which means they define images as enormous lists of dots, called pixels. Some of the more popular bitmap-based programs include Photoshop, PHOTO-PAINT, and Image Composer.
Defining images as a series of vectors is a more efficient way to work with them than defining images as a huge number of individual pixels. This is because even a simple object might have thousands of pixels, each individually defined, whereas the same image might be defined more rationally as a small number of curve segments. Therefore, CorelDRAW 8 vector image files are smaller than comparable bitmapped image files.
In addition to creating more compact files, CorelDRAW's vector-based images have other important advantages. You can easily resize a CorelDRAW image to a thumbnail sketch or icon or a billboard-sized graphic.
Another advantage to working with vector-based images is that smooth curves are easy to define; they will retain their smoothness and continuity even when enlarged (unlike bitmaps). Figure 1.1 shows a Bézier curve defined in CorelDRAW with text fitted to it. These curves are named after a French engineer who developed the math theory for them in the 1970s. That might be more than enough about the mathematics of curves for some of you, but readers with inquiring minds can find out more about Bézier and his curves by checking out the Bézier Curve web site at http://www.moshplant.com/direct-or/bezier/index.html.
The mathematically defined curves generated by CorelDRAW retain their smoothness and continuity even when enlarged. Bitmap images become grainy when enlarged.
Text fitted to a Bézier Curve in CorelDRAW.
In some ways, however, graphic designers have to live in a bitmap world. This is especially true in the era of the World Wide Web, where much of the target for graphic design is images that appear in, or as, web pages. Popular web browsers cannot interpret images in CorelDRAW's native format. And the relatively grainy resolution of computer monitors (generally 72 dots per inch) tends to negate some of the advantages of creating vector-based images. The relatively small, low-resolution images seen on web sites tend to make curves jagged and grainy regardless of how smooth and high-resolution the original image.
CorelDRAW is a vital and irreplaceable graphic tool capable of creating any graphic image file you will ever need. For one thing, many images are still destined for hard copy, and CorelDRAW's vector-based images are great for printed output. And Corel's vector-based tools provide the most powerful array of features for designing images. CorelDRAW can then easily translate those images into bitmap formats. In fact, CorelDRAW has a powerful capacity to transform objects into both of the widely recognized web-compatible bitmap file formats: GIF and JPEG. So, in that sense, CorelDRAW is the best of both worlds with unparalleled design tools, plus the capability to convert images to bitmap formats as needed.
Just A Minute: When you bought CorelDRAW 8, you also bought one of the most powerful bitmap editors available--Corel PHOTO-PAINT 8. Because more and more CorelDRAW users move back and forth between the vector and bitmap worlds, this book includes three lessons devoted exclusively to PHOTO-PAINT 8. See hourss 20-22 for detailed information about working with bitmap images.
The CorelDRAW environment can be a bit overwhelming, so I'll introduce you to it one piece at a time. In this first section, you'll become familiar with just enough of the CorelDRAW 8 window so you can start to create graphic images.
When you launch CorelDRAW 8 (using the Windows Start button or a shortcut button on your Windows desktop), the Welcome to CorelDRAW window appears, as shown in Figure 1.2.
Starting with the Welcome window.
The Getting Started window provides six options for getting started with CorelDRAW 8, as explained in the following table.
| Icon | Name | What It Does |
 |
New Graphic | Creates a new window in which you can design a graphic |
 |
Open Last Edited | Opens the last graphic image file you worked on |
 |
Open Graphic | Opens the Open Drawing dialog box, enabling you to select from any saved graphic image file |
 |
Template | Enables you to choose from a list of predesigned page templates that you can use as a basis to begin a design |
 |
CorelTUTOR | Enables you to select from several categories of online help and instructions |
 |
What's New? | Lists and explains new features in CorelDRAW version 8 |
A clean CorelDRAW 8 workspace, ready for you to begin drawing.
The Drawing window is the whole work area in the middle of your CorelDRAW 8 window, excluding the toolbars, toolbox (on the left), and status bar. This Drawing window is where you have fun creating graphics. The section of the Drawing window bounded by the shaded box is called the Drawing page. This is the part of your composition that prints when you send your file to the printer.
You can store graphic images you don't want to print (but do want to save) in the area of the Drawing window outside of the Drawing page.
The Property bar tells you information about any selected object in your Drawing window. In Figure 1.3, because the Drawing window does not have any objects yet, the Property bar indicates "No Selection." The Property bar also displays information about the Drawing page, such as it is Letter page sized, 8 1/2- by 11 inches. In Hour 2, "Creating Artistic Text," you'll explore the Property bar in more detail.
Take A Minute: The Property bar can float over your Drawing window, or you can dock it just below the Standard toolbar (or on either side or the bottom of your Drawing window). When the Property bar sits below the Standard toolbar, you can drag on any portion of the Property bar between tools and move it onto the Drawing window. If the Property bar is floating over the Drawing window, you can drag the title bar of the Property bar to move it up below the Standard toolbar, as shown in Figure 1.4.
Moving the Property bar off the Drawing window and up beneath the Standard toolbar.
The toolbox is located to the left of the Drawing window. This is where you find all the tools CorelDRAW provides to create and edit graphic objects. When you move your cursor over any of the tools in the toolbox, a ToolTip will appear identifying that tool. In Figure 1.5, the ToolTip identifies the Text tool.
When you move your cursor over a tool without cicking, CorelDRAW displays a
helpful hint describing the tool.
You will explore other tools in the toolbox in this hour, and by the time you complete
this book, you will have explored them all. Some tools have a small arrow in the
lower-left corner. If you hold your cursor down on these tools, flyouts appear,
and you can transform these tools into other tools. You'll learn about flyout tools
as you need them in later chapters.
For your reference, Figure 1.6 shows all the tools in the toolbox. Don't bother to memorize them, please! You can bookmark this page or rely on ToolTips to find the tools you need.
Toolbox tools.
Now that you've become acquainted with the CorelDRAW 8 toolbox, it's time to experiment with the most basic tool of the bunch: the Freehand tool. You can use this tool to draw designs or straight lines. First, you'll learn to draw straight lines. You'll experiment with using more complex lines to draw shapes in Hour 8, "Drawing and Editing Freehand Curves," of this book.
To create a straight line, complete the following steps:
Take A Minute: Remember, the Drawing window is the whole work area in the middle of your CorelDRAW 8 window. The section of the Drawing window bounded by the shaded box is the Drawing page. Only objects on the Drawing page print, but because you are just experimenting now, feel free to draw anywhere in the Drawing window.
When you click a second time, CorelDRAW draws a straight line from the point where you first clicked to the point where you last clicked. That's it. You've just drawn your first line.
Figure 1.7 shows a line selected, with six handles appearing around the line. To deselect the line, click on the Pick tool and then click outside the handles.
Selected lines display handles.
Time Saver: You can delete a line by clicking on the Pick tool, selecting the line, and pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.
To draw vertical or horizontal lines, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard after you click. Your cursor will not act like it is magnetized. It will "stick" to a straight line. Click a second time, and then release the Ctrl key to draw horizontal or vertical lines.
Use the Ctrl key technique to draw crosshairs, intersecting horizontal and vertical lines (see Figure 1.8).
Horizontal plus vertical lines.
You can also draw lines at 15-degree-angle increments by holding down Ctrl. You'll notice, if you try to draw a slightly off parallel line, CorelDRAW will "resist" your attempts to angle the line. But if you click once, hold down Ctrl, and then draw a diagonal line at an angle of about 15 degrees, CorelDRAW will "snap" your endpoint at exactly 15 degrees. Other snap points with Ctrl pressed down are at 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, and so on.
You can draw many parallel, 15-degree lines, as shown in Figure 1.9.
You can also draw segmented lines, which are bent or zigzag lines. They are one object but consist of more than one line. You create segmented lines by clicking once to start the line, but then double-clicking at each node in the line. Each time you double-click, you create a new, attached line segment. You can end your zigzag line by clicking once.
Here's the routine for creating a drawing from lines:
Drawing parallel, angled lines.
If the final node in your line is on top of another node (such as the point where you started to draw your line), your line will become a closed object.
Figure 1.10 shows a couple lines with several nodes. The line on the bottom is a closed object.
When you draw a line, or when you click with the Pick tool to select a line, the lines Property bar appears under the Standard toolbar. If your line is not closed, you'll see an Auto-Close button in the Property bar. Clicking on this button closes any selected line objects.
The drawings you made with the Freehand tool are objects, or they are made up of many objects. You learned that you can delete any selected object by pressing Delete.
Sometimes, it's hard to tell how many distinct objects make up a drawing, let alone select them. When your Drawing window gets crowded, it can be hard to select an object using the Pick tool.
One easy way to select objects is to select the Pick tool, or any shape tool, and then press the Tab key on your keyboard. Try this quick exercise to select objects using the Tab key.
Create closed objects by ending the last line segment on top of another node in the line.
With the Pick tool, you can select more than one object at a time. You can select multiple objects with the Pick tool in two easy ways: use the Shift+click technique or draw a marquee.
To use the Shift+click technique, hold down Shift while you click with the Pick tool to select more than one object. You can continue to select as many objects as you have in your Drawing window this way. You can even deselect objects that have been selected by Shift-clicking on them.
You can also select more than one object at a time by using the Pick tool to draw a marquee (rectangle) around more than one object (see Figure 1.11). Only those objects completely encompassed by the marquee that you draw with the Pick tool will be selected.
Sometimes, when you work with a complex drawing involving many objects, it becomes difficult to tell how many objects are selected. The status bar helps you by telling you exactly how many objects you selected. Figure 1.12 shows three objects selected.
You can select many objects at once by drawing a marquee around them with the Pick tool.
The status bar tells you exactly how many objects you have selected.
Now that you know how to select objects, try this magic trick: Select all the objects on your Drawing window, and delete them by pressing Delete. If you created a masterpiece, select Edit | Undo Delete from the menu bar. If not, you have a nice clear screen and you're ready for Hour 2, "Creating Artistic Text." Selecting objects is helpful when you want to delete them. It will be even more useful when you learn to edit objects in the following lessons.
You now have a good start with CorelDRAW. You created objects and learned your way around a bit. You're ready to start creating more complex shapes and objects.
CorelDRAW 8 is a powerful, yet easy-to-use, vector-based graphics program. Vector-drawing files save objects by calculating lines and curves. (You'll explore the difference between vector and bitmap-based graphic files in Hour 20, "PHOTO-PAINT Basics," where you learn to use CorelDRAW's bitmap cousin, Corel PHOTO-PAINT.)
Vectors are objects with both magnitude (size) and direction (angles, curvature, and so on). The files that store CorelDRAW images consist of lists of lines with information on their location, direction, length, color, and curves. The tools in the toolbox on the left of the Drawing area are used to create drawing objects. You can use the Freehand drawing tool to draw straight or angled lines, or even freehand shapes.
Lines consist of at least two nodes (one at the start, one at the end) and at least one segment. Lines can be drawn with multiple segments and nodes by double-clicking to add nodes and segments as you draw a line.
Our resident artist, Paul Mikulecky, has provided a magazine cover illustration that you will learn to create in Hour 2, "Creating Artistic Text" and Hour 3, "Working with Shapes." To start designing the cover, create crosshairs out of a horizontal and vertical line.
After that, practice your skills by drawing zigzag lines. Try drawing a closed shape with lines (connected at a single start and finish node).
Take a stab at drawing a design made up of several lines segments, such as the crude little lizard Figure 1.13.
The lizard is made mostly from one, many segmented line.
© Copyright, Macmillan Computer Publishing. All rights reserved.
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