Teach Yourself
CorelDRAW 8 in 24 Hours
CorelDRAW 8 has three different shapes tools that you use to create ellipses, rectangles, polygons, and stars. Shapes have their own rules in CorelDRAW 8. In this hour, you'll learn to create and edit shapes.
By combining artistic text with these shapes, you can create impressive designs. In Figure 3.1, our resident graphic designer Paul Mikulecky combined shapes with graphic text to complete the cover of Zoo Review magazine. You'll be seeing more of Paul's work in the course of this book. But here he's finishing up the magazine cover you started working on in Hour 1. Paul's cover uses techniques you've already learned (lines and artistic text) or that you are about to learn.
Although CorelDRAW 8 has a gazillion effects and combinations of effects, most graphic designs boil down to combinations of shapes and text. The sizing, locating, and rotation techniques you learned to apply to artistic text can be applied to shapes as well. So you've already learned much of what you need to know to work with shapes! All that remains is to explore the specific shape tools and then to experiment with line and fill coloring. In this hour, you learn to create and edit shapes such as the ones shown in Figures 3.2 and 3.3.
Our goal--create a cover something similiar to Paul's.
You will add simple shapes such as the rectangles behind the symbols.
You can use the Rectangle, Ellipse, and Polygon tools in the toolbox (on the left side of the Drawing area) to quickly and easily create shapes.
To draw a rectangle, select the Rectangle tool, and then simply click and draw anywhere in the Drawing area. In Figure 3.4, I'm drawing a large rectangle on the left side of the Drawing page.
To draw a square, select the Rectangle tool in the toolbox, but then hold down Ctrl as you drag.
And you'll add complex shapes such as the 12-pointed star.
Drawing a rectangle.
To create an ellipse (also known as an oval), choose the Ellipse tool in the toolbox and drag. You can continue to refine the size and shape of your oval until you release the mouse button.
To draw a prefect circle, hold down Ctrl while you draw the ellipse. Figure 3.5 shows several rectangles and ellipses on the Drawing Page.
Rectangles and squares, ellipses and circles.
The default shape for the Polygon tool is a pentagon: a five-sided object. To draw a pentagon, just click on the Polygon tool and drag to create the pentagon. In Figure 3.6, I'm drawing a pentagon in the Drawing page.
This is probably how someone designed the layout of the Pentagon.
You can change the number of sides that you draw with the Polygon tool. If you define the polygon as a three-sided object, you'll draw triangles with it. The maximum number of sides a polygon can have assigned to it is 500, which is pretty much indistinguishable from an ellipse. To change the number of sides assigned to the Polygon tool, right-click on the Polygon tool in the toolbox, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu that appears. Then, in the Polygon tool area of the Options dialog box, enter a number of sides in the Number of Points/Sides spin box. In Figure 3.7, I'm defining an octagon by entering 8 in the spin box.
Octagons are useful for drawing stop signs and octopuses.
You can also use the Polygon tool to draw stars, or polygons as stars. The Polygon as Star feature is great for drawing five- or six-pointed stars, but you can also create fun little objects. What do you suppose a 13-pointed polygon-as-a-star looks like?
In Figure 3.9, I'm drawing a 13-point polygon-as-a-star.
Does anyone know the name of a 13-point star?
Drawing 13-point polygons as stars.
You may have noticed that the Polygon tool has a small arrow in the lower-right corner of the tool. That little arrow indicates that this tool is a flyout, meaning it can transform into other tools. The Polygon tool can be transformed into a tool that draws spirals or a tool that draws graph grids.
To activate the flyout, click on the Polygon tool and hold down the mouse key. As you do this, the flyout pops out revealing the other tools.
Both the Spiral and the Graph tools can be adjusted by right-clicking on them and making changes in the Options dialog box.
You can define the number of spirals you want for your object in the Number of Revolutions spin box. You can also choose between symmetrical and logarithmic spirals by clicking on either of the two radio buttons. If you choose Logarithmic, each spiral increases its extension exponentially, as opposed to the smooth, even spirals created by symmetrical spirals. And if you select the Logarithmic radio button, you can use the Expansion slider to define just how far out you want each spiral to extend. The default setting of 100 is the maximum expansion for each spiral. A minimum setting of 1 sets you back to a symmetrical spiral.
In Figure 3.10, I'm defining a Logarithmic spiral with 5 revolutions and a 50 setting on the Expansion slider.
Defining a logarithmic spiral.
When you use the Spiral tool, you can hold down Ctrl to force the spiral to conform to a circular shape, as shown in Figure 3.11. Circular spirals have evenly spaced spirals, whereas logarithmic spirals are more compressed inside and more expanded outside.
To draw graphic grids, select the Graph Paper tool from the flyout. Graph Paper options can be defined by right-clicking on the Graph Paper tool and choosing Properties from the shortcut menu. The Options dialog box lets you define how many cells high and how many cells wide you want to draw with the Graph Paper tool. Figure 3.12 defines a 4 row by 4 column Graph tool.
In Figure 3.13, I'm drawing some little graphs in the Drawing Page. If you want to make your graph square, you can hold down Ctrl as you define the graph.
Drawing a circular spiral.
Defining the Graph Paper tool.
Graphing.
When you select a shape with the Pick tool, a corresponding Property bar appears for the shape. These Property bars vary somewhat depending on which shape you select, but most of the Property bar options are the same for all shapes.
First, let's explore the common features that are in Property bars for all shapes. Then we'll look at a few unique features that apply to either rectangles, ellipses, or polygons. Figure 3.14 shows the Property bar for a selected rectangle.
Common features of Shapes Property bars.
The Object(s) position boxes enable you to define the exact location of the selected shape. You explored this same feature earlier this hour when you worked with artistic text. You can enter x values to define the distance from the left edge of the page, or y values to define the distance from the bottom of the page. Values correspond to the distances to the center of the selected object.
Just A Minute: The reason the ToolTip reads Object(s) instead of object is that Property bar features can be applied to more than one object at a time if the objects are grouped. You can explore grouping in Hour 2, "Creating Artistic Text," of this book.
You can size a selected shape exactly by entering values in the x and y fields in the Object Size area of the Property bar. This, too, is similar to a feature you explored working with artistic text.
You can resize a selected shape by percent by entering a value in the x or y boxes in the Scale Factor area of the Property bar. If the Nonproportional Spacing button is selected (pressed "in" on the Property bar), then changes that you make to one dimension will only reflect that dimension. If the Nonproportional Spacing button is not selected, then changes to one dimension will be reflected in the other dimension as well.
That can be a little confusing. Why didn't Corel just call it a Proportional Spacing button so that we didn't have to try to sort out a bunch of double-negatives? Let's look at a couple examples to make this more clear. In Figure 3.15, I have not clicked on the Nonproportional Spacing button in the Property bar. I am entering 50% in the x area.
When I press Enter, both the x and y sizing will shrink to 50% of the original. In other words, the change to the size of the selected object is proportional. The shape stays the same. My square becomes a smaller square.
If I turn on (clicked on) Nonproportional Spacing, then only the x value (width) of my selected object changes, and I end up with a rectangle. Let's walk through an example using nonproportional spacing.
The object is twice as wide as it was, but the height is still the same.
Nonproportional Spacing is not turned on.
You can rotate all selected shapes using the Angle of Rotation area of the Property bar. Just enter an angle of rotation and press Enter. If you want to flip the selected shape horizontally, click on the top Mirror button. If you want to flip your shape vertically, flip on the bottom Mirror button.
The To Front and To Back buttons become essential as soon as you start to add fills to shapes and move objects on top of each other. You'll explore fills in the next section of this lesson. For now, just note the To Front and To Back buttons. The Convert to Curves button transforms a shape into a curved line. You'll learn to work with curves in Hour 5, "Setting Up Page Layout," of this book.
Each type of shape--rectangles, ellipses, and polygons--can go through its own unique transformation. Rectangles can be rounded, ellipses can be made into arcs, and Polygons can be made into stars.
These special transformations can be assigned by the different Property bars that appear when you select a shape. The Rectangle Corner Roundness slider rounds off the corners on a selected rectangle. In Figure 3.16, I've set the slider to 20, producing a rounded corners on the selected square.
Rounding a square.
Ellipses, too, have a unique feature on their Property bar. The Pie and Arc buttons transform ellipses to pies (as shown in Figure 3.17) and curves. These tools are only visible when an ellipse is selected and the Ellipse Property bar is in view.
From a circle to a pie.
An arc is a pie that is not filled in, as shown in Figure 3.18.
A 270-degree arc.
You can define the radius of a pie or an arc using the Starting Angle spin box (the top one) and the Ending Angle Spin box (the bottom one). In Figure 3.19, I am defining a pie with a starting angle of 0 degrees and an ending angle of 180 degrees.
A semicircle.
The unique Property bar features for polygons enable you to change the number of points or sides and to transform a shape from a star to a polygon, or vice versa. In Figure 3.20, I'm using the Number of Points on Polygon spin box to change my shape to an octagon.
The Polygon Property bar used to change the number or points or sides on a polygon or star.
The Polygon/Star button in the Polygon Property bar toggles between polygons or stars.
In this lesson, you learned to create and edit two of the most useful and widely used objects in graphic design: artistic text and shapes. Before ending this lesson, let's take a look at how to assign color fills and outlines to these objects.
The default CorelDRAW screen comes with a color palette on the right side of the Drawing area. This palette has a small down arrow at the bottom and an up arrow at the top. Clicking on the up and down arrows reveals more colors in your color palette. Or you can click on the small left-pointing arrow at the bottom of the palette to display the entire set of colors at once. In Figure 3.21, I've clicked on that arrow and four rows of colors are displayed. You can shrink the color palette back to one column by clicking in the lower right-hand corner of the palette.
To apply a color from the color palette to the fill of a selected object, just click on the color. That's it! Experiment by filling your screen with some shapes and artistic text and clicking on different fill colors.
You'll explore different kinds of fills in detail in Hour 4, "Controlling the CorelDRAW 8 Environment," of this book, but you've already learned to apply color fills.
Outline colors are assigned the same way you assign fill colors, except that you use your right mouse button. First, select the object to which you are assigning an outline color. Then, right-click on a color in the palette.
Expanding the color palette.
Experiment with different combinations of fills and outlines. Artistic text can have both fill and outline colors assigned to it.
To assign no outline color to a selected object, right-click on the X in the color palette. To assign no fill color to a selected object, click on the X in the color palette. Of course, if you assign no fill and no outline color to an object, it will be invisible.
Just A Minute: Were you wondering if invisible text can be used for "reverse" white on black writing against a dark background? It's a good idea, but it doesn't work that way. Invisible text is really invisible, not white. So if you want to place white text on top of a black shape, you need to assign a white line and/or fill to that text, not make it invisible.
You can copy a selected object by choosing Edit | Duplicate from the menu bar or by pressing Ctrl+D. You can also use the Cut, Copy, and Paste tools on the Standard toolbar to cut, copy, or paste any selected object.
When you move (or copy) an object on top of another object, you can use the To Front or To Back buttons in the Property bar to move the selected object on top of or behind other objects.
In Figure 3.22, I moved an oval on top of a rectangle. I'm in the process of using the To Back button in the Property bar to move the oval behind the rectangle.
Moving a selected object behind another object.
In Figure 3.23, I've moved a text object on top of both these shapes. And I moved a symbol image of a kangaroo on top of a square.
Kangaroo jumps to top of square.
By adding fills and outlines to artistic text and shapes, and layering one object on top of another, you can create sophisticated designs.
CorelDRAW has extremely powerful options for printing files and for saving them in various file formats. In fact, whole lessons in this book are devoted to both printing and saving objects in other file formats. In Hour 10, "Editing Shapes and Curves," you'll explore exporting and printing options, and in Hour 11, "Masks and Lenses," you'll learn to convert CorelDRAW 8 objects into web-compatible graphics.
Although converting CorelDRAW drawings to other file formats can be complex, and working with different printing environments can be tricky, it's easy to save files as CorelDRAW 8 files and print them on your printer. Here, you'll learn to save files in the CorelDRAW format and print them using your own printer.
You can save your entire workspace or just selected objects by selecting File | Save from the CorelDRAW 8 menu bar.
Saving a CorelDRAW file with embedded fonts.
Just A Minute: You can ignore all the Save options and simply provide a filename. If you do that, your file will be saved as a CorelDRAW 8 file.
Printing a CorelDRAW file is as easy as clicking on the Print tool in the Standard toolbar.
For more control over printing, choose File | Print from the menu. The General tab has all the options you need to print your file on your installed printer. (You'll explore the other options in Hour 10, "Editing Shapes and Curves.")
The All radio button in the Print Range area of the Print dialog box lets you choose to print the entire file; the Current Page radio button prints only the page on your screen. Use the Selection radio button if you selected an object with the Pick button. You can also use the Pages radio button to select which pages in a multipage file you want to print.
When you have made these selections, click on OK in the Print dialog box to print your file.
Fills and outline colors can be assigned from the color palette. Right-clicking on a color assigns that color to the outline of a selected object. Clicking on a color assigns that color to the fill of a selected object.
Property bars also enable you to move selected objects to the back of other objects.
The magazine cover Paul designed for us combines shapes, artistic text, fills, outlines, polygons, and symbols. Create a cover like Paul's.
This exercise gave you a chance to experiment with all kinds of shapes, including polygons and stars.
Figure 3.25.
Magazine cover with squares, circles, ellipses, and a star.
© Copyright, Macmillan Computer Publishing. All rights reserved.
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