Teach Yourself
CorelDRAW 8 in 24 Hours
CorelDRAW 8 enables you to assign five basic types of fills to any selected closed object. They are:
Pattern fills, Texture fills and PostScript fills are fun for special, spectacular effects. Most of the time you will use Uniform fills to assign a single color or Fountain fills to assign colors that merge into each other.
I mentioned that you can apply fills to closed objects. What does that mean? A closed object is a shape--such as the ones you have worked with in the previous two lessons (a rectangle, an oval, or a polygon)--or a free-form drawing with a continuous (connected) outline. You'll explore freehand drawing in the next lesson in this book.
A Uniform Color fill is Corel's way of describing a fill that consists of just one solid color, such as the one I applied to the lion in Figure 7.1.
A uniformly filled lion.
Fountain fills combine two colors that fade into each other within an object. In Figure 7.2, our friendly lion is illustrating a Fountain fill that fades from a dark color in the upper-left corner of the object, to a light color in the lower-right corner.
A Fountain-filled lion--note that the status bar identifies the type of fill.
You can insert Pattern fills into an object from either bitmap graphic images or from vector images. Figure 7.3 shows both our Pattern-filled lion and the graphic file that provided the fill.
A balloon-filled lion.
Texture fills enable you to start with several lists of wild and trendy designs and then play with them. The surreal lion in Figure 7.4 has been transformed with a Texture fill.
Lion plus Texture fill.
PostScript fills are fills-created patterns defined using the PostScript page-description language. These patterns can be viewed only if you select Enhanced view from the View drop-down menu in the Standard toolbar.
Okay, you have a taste of what CorelDRAW fills can do; now you'll learn to apply them.
You already know how to assign a color to a selected object. You just click on the color in the color palette to the right of your Drawing area. If you work with a printer that requires you to select colors from a fixed color palette, such as PANTONE Matching System colors, you can assign those colors to your color palette by choosing View | Color Palette from the menu bar, and then choosing from the options for preset colors.
If you are not constrained to a fixed color palette, you can mix up custom colors from the Uniform Fill dialog box or from the Color rollup.
Just A Minute: I'll explain the distinction between fixed and mixed color palettes in the section "More on Color Palettes."
The process of mixing colors is similar in the Uniform Fill dialog box and the Color rollup. The dialog box has more features, and the rollup stays on the Drawing area while you work.
Figure 7.5 shows the Color rollup being selected from the Color flyout and displayed on the screen as well.
Both the Uniform Fill dialog box and the Color rollup have similar features. We'll use the Uniform Fill dialog box to explore them. Figure 7.6 shows the Uniform Fill dialog box being selected from the Color flyout.
The four buttons in the upper-left corner of the Uniform Fill dialog box switch between four different ways of defining colors. The first two buttons (Color Viewers and Mixers) enable you to mix up custom colors. Use the other two buttons to select colors from fixed color palettes. The More>> button exposes the entire dialog box, which can help define custom colors.
Of the four buttons, the Mixers button opens a tab of the Uniform Fill dialog box that enables you to mix up colors using the three widely used methods for defining custom colors. The three methods for defining mixed colors are CMYK, RGB, and HSV.
The Color rollup.
Selecting the Uniform Fill dialog box.
Use the Model drop-down menu in the Mixers view of the Uniform Fill dialog box to choose between the RGB, CMYK, or HSV methods of defining colors.
In Figure 7.7, I'm choosing the CMYK method for defining colors. This method defines colors as a mix of Cyan (a shade of green), Magenta (a bluish purple), Yellow, and blacK (represented with a K in the CMYK acronym).
Mixing custom colors, CMYK style.
You can use the CMYK method of mixing colors for four color printing. You can separate colors defined using CMYK into four different masters--a technique you'll explore in Hour 10, "Working with Shapes and Curves."
The RGB and HSV color definition systems are useful for defining web graphic image colors. RGB stands for Red, Green, and Blue and enables you to define a mix of those three colors. For example, say you are designing a web image and getting coloring advice from Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin's Coloring Web Graphics book. If Lynda advises you to use a background tile color of R 204, G 204, and B 0, you can define that color using the RGB model as I'm doing in Figure 7.8.
Defining colors using RGB model.
The HSV model defines colors in terms of Hue, Saturation, and Value. Hue is the location of a color on a color wheel or ramp, with 0 and 359 representing red and 240 representing blue. Saturation controls the amount of hue, and Value defines brightness. A Saturation setting of 50 mixes white pixels into your color at a ratio of 50/50. A Saturation value of 0 mixes no color pixels in with 100 white pixels to produce white no matter what value you enter for Hue. A Value setting of 0 produces black no matter what hue you define, and a Value of 100 produces the brightest possible color for your Hue.
At this point, you might be saying to yourself, "Do I really need to know all these color definition systems?" The answer is maybe not. If you create images that you want to view on a color monitor, just rely on your visual good sense and click on colors in the color grid in the Uniform Fill dialog box.
When you select custom colors by clicking on the color grid on the left side of the Uniform Fill dialog box, you automatically generate CMYK, RGB, and HSV values on the right side of the dialog box.
This becomes more relevant when you decide to send your CorelDRAW illustration to a printer or to a web site. Both of those forms of output have different limitations as to which color definition systems they accept. You'll return to color definition issues in Hour 18, "Printing," and Hour 19, "From CorelDRAW to the World Wide Web."
After you select a color in the Uniform Fill dialog box, click on OK to assign that color to all selected objects.
Fountain fills, which fade one color into another, are some of the coolest effects you will apply to an object.
You can define Fountain fills using the Fountain Fill dialog box (the second tool in the Fill tool flyout), or you can use the Special Fill rollup (the last tool in the Fill tool flyout). But the easiest and most intuitive way to define Fountain fills is to use the Interactive Fill tool. In Figure 7.9, I have selected the lion object, and I'm choosing the Interactive Fill tool from the toolbox.
Selecting the Interactive Fill tool.
From the Fill Property bar, pull down the Fill Type drop-down menu and select Fountain Fill. When you do, the Property bar displays two different color drop-down menus: the First Fill Picker and the Last Fill Picker. These two drop-down menus define the starting and ending color for your Fountain fill.
Choose a starting and ending color, and then drag from one part of your selected object to another to define the Fountain fill pattern. In Figure 7.10, I've chosen a dark color for my first color and a light color for my end color. I'm using the Interactive Fill tool to drag from the lion's head to his tail, directing the flow of the fill pattern.
Defining a Fountain fill interactively.
The Fountain Fill Midpoint slider in the Property bar enables you to shift the transition point between your two colors. In Figure 7.11, I've dragged the midpoint far to the left, creating an effect where the ending color fills more of the lion. You can adjust the slider while you have the fill selected, or you can use the Interactive Fill tool again to select the object later to change the slider settings.
The Fountain Fill Property bar also includes buttons to transform Fountain fills from Linear to (from left to right) Radial, Conical, or Square fills.
In Figure 7.12, I applied each of the four types of gradient fills to the lions on the top of the page. Then, for the lion on the bottom of the page, I selected a radial fill. To create the radial fill, I drew a line down from the top of the lion to define the fill, and I adjusted the slider on the radius line toward the first (light) colored handle to adjust the flow of the fill in favor of the ending (dark) color.
Adjusting the Fountain fill midpoint.
Tweaking a Conical Fountain fill.
There's really no way to describe the fun of applying and tweaking Fountain fills. Experiment with different colors, using the Linear, Conical, Radial, and Square Fountain fills.
The easiest way to experiment with Pattern and Texture fills is to open the Special Fill dialog box. You can do that from the Fill flyout (it's the last tool) or by choosing View | Rollups | Special fills from the menu bar.
Three tools are in the middle of the Special Fill rollup: From right to left they are the Fountain Fill, Pattern Fill, and Texture Fill tools. The Pattern Fill and Texture Fill tool buttons each open up a different gallery of fill patterns you can apply to selected objects. (The Fountain Fill tool is another way to define Fountain fills.) If you choose the Pattern Fill tool in the Special Fills rollup, you can select from galleries of Two Color, Full Color, or Bitmap images from the drop-down menu.
Each type of fill has a gallery of images that you can choose by clicking on the down button in the bottom half of the rollup. A nice selection of fills is built into CorelDRAW 8; there's no need to create them. In Figure 7.13, I'm choosing one of the Full Color patterns from the gallery of images.
Assigning a Pattern fill.
The Texture Fill Tool (the third tool) in the Special Fills rollup shows a list of Texture fills available.
The Edit button in the rollup opens up the Fountain Fill, Pattern Fill, or Texture Fill dialog box, depending on which of the three tools you select in the rollup. Each of those three different dialog boxes enables you to fine-tune each specific fill pattern. Each of these dialog boxes has a Preview button that enables you to test the effects you apply to a fill. In Figure 7.14, I'm using the Preview button to see how my distorted fill will look. When you define just the right fill, click on OK in the Texture Fill dialog box.
After you define a fill, click on the Apply button in the Special Fill rollup to apply that fill to selected objects.
You can edit any fill.
You define PostScript fills using the PostScript Texture dialog box. Use the PostScript Texture (fifth) tool in the Fill tool flyout to open that dialog box. The PostScript page description language, which is basically a programming language, creates PostScript fills. They are not easy to edit--and rarely used. You might use a PostScript fill if a graphic image file was given to you in PostScript format, and you were assigned to use it as a fill in an object.
You can define a default fill for your drawing by using any of the techniques you learned in this chapter to define a fill. Just define the fill without selecting any objects. This process is similar to defining a default outline that you learned earlier in this hour.
CorelDRAW provides two methods for defining colors that produce their own color palettes on your screen.
If you are designing an illustration to appear on your monitor, you don't have to worry about which method you use to define colors. However, if want to print or display your illustration on a web page, you need to figure out a way to tell those output destinations how you want your colors defined.
Fixed palettes (also known as spot colors) are used in printing and to define colors on web sites. Mixed color is also used in color printing. These options are discussed more in Hour 18, "Printing" and web sites Hour 19. But as you work in CorelDRAW, you do have the option of deciding which way you want to define your colors.
Fixed palettes have a number of preset colors. You can create a custom color by mixing these preset colors. When your file is reproduced by a printing process that uses the same fixed color palette you used when you created your image, the final output will match the colors you assign. An example of using a color matching system is when you are designing a two-color brochure. Your printer might tell you that he can handle any spot color you select from the PANTONE color palette. In that case, select your colors from the PANTONE color palette. If your printer allows you to save money by creating your own color separations, explore this process in Hour 10 "Working with Shapes and Curves."
Process, or mixed, color models enable you to define colors by combining primary colors or by using systems that attach values to colors. The most popular mixed color model is CMYK, which enables you to mix percentages of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK. An example of using the CMYK palette is if you prepare illustrations for four-color printing processes. Again, you can provide your printer with a CorelDRAW file, or you can produce your own color separations for each of the four colors. (Again, you'll learn to create your own color separations in Hour 18.)
Just A Minute: For more information about working with color palettes for web site design, see Hour 19.
When you know which color palette you need to match your output, you can replace the default CorelDRAW 8 palette with one that matches the colors available to you.
You can define outline and fill properties for any closed object in CorelDRAW 8. Closed objects include shapes. Outlines can be assigned from defined styles or created by customizing an outline style and can be any thickness or color.
You can mix any color imaginable and apply it to a color fill. You can also fill objects with Fountain fills that fade from one color to another, or with patterns from a large selection of Pattern fill files. You can edit these Pattern fills to create unique fills for objects.
Open and enhance the magazine cover you enhanced in the previous hours by adding special outlines to the objects.
Fill all animals with PANTONE 235CV. This color is available from the PANTONE Matching System palette. Use PANTONE 235 CV as the dark color for all the fills on the magazine cover.
Assigning a Fountain fill to text.
Assigning a Conical fill to the top of the background ellipses.
Time Saver: In Figure 7.16, I dragged all the ellipses off the Drawing page so that you can see the Conical Fountain fill more clearly. Another [beg]TIP:[end] You can select all the ellipses and apply the Fountain fill to them all at once.
Camera with no fill.
The Fountain fill midpoint for the lion set at 89.
Adding a Conical Fountain fill.
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