Coreldraw Exercises Pdf
Destiny Olatunji
The Blend Tool is one of these interactive tools that at first glance doesn't show its impressive versatility. However, once its potential is uncovered, it quickly becomes a favorite tool among CorelDRAW pro users. The Blend Tool always takes center stage in the courses I teach and the blending exercises are usually everyone's favorite ones.
This quick and easy tutorial is a clear example of the creative power of this tool. You will use only three CorelDRAW tools in order to complete it: the Freehand Tool, the Blend Tool, and the Shape Tool.
A blend is like a metamorphosis or morphing between two objects, so, in order to create a blend you will first need to create two objects. One will be the starting point and the second will become the end point of the blend.
In a CorelDRAW document, draw two lines such as the ones shown in the following illustration, and apply a different color to each one by left-clicking on the color of your choice in the color palette.
You will notice that the cursor has now become the interactive Blend Tool cursor. Click on the center line with the interactive cursor (1. Image below), drag it and release it over the second line (2). Upon releasing the button of your mouse, the Blend Tool will automatically create a metamorphosis between the two initial lines (3). This will result in an abstract shape as shown in the following image.
Finally, click on the Blend Group in order to change the color of the abstract shape and to obtain a multicolor effect. Click on the Clockwise blend icon in the property bar at the top and you will see how the color wheel changes direction creating an abstract shape with multiple gradient colors.
The abstract shape or blend group isn't a conventional group of objects. Instead, the lines (that were initially the starting and ending objects), have a dynamic behavior and are known as control objects. If you choose a control object, you can make changes to it (position, size, color, stroke, etc.) and these changes will automatically update the blend group.
Give it a try with something simple, select the blend group again and in the top property bar increase the number of objects/steps in the blend, as shown in the following image (Blend Steps increased from 20 to 50).
The advantage of this type of blend is its interactive nature. If you want to continue creating abstract shapes, click on the starting control object (the central line) with the Shape Tool. The control handles of the curve will be activated. You can drag these control handles and see the different shapes that are generated automatically.
Remember that you can also use the Shape Tool to modify the curvature of the starting and ending objects by adding or removing nodes (straightening curved paths, etc). The changes applied to the starting and ending objects will update the entire blend, drastically expanding your creative possibilities.
Try this technique by experimenting with different types of lines as shown in the following image, and you will obtain varying results using the same technique and taking advantage of all the possibilities offered by the Blend Tool.
Now that we have reached this point in this series of articles, it is time for some real, down to Earth exercises to illustrate the principles we have discussed so far. This will be a nuts and bolts article to build a file that is not prone to problems.
Our exercise will assume that we are making a graphic for a sign. The benefit to setting up a sign graphic is that it is easily converted to any other use. This means it is often the best way to set up a file. Keep in mind that I am referring to conventional sign making that uses vinyl cutting equipment. When digital sign making is implemented, the rules are different.
The clip art below is all too typical of what you usually have to work with. I suppose the benefit is that you are still earning your pay when you use clip art. As is, this artwork is mostly only useful for one thing... Printing on paper. If you want to do much else with it, you will need to modify it. Wireframe view reveals the real chaos as shown below.
These are both the same graphic, but anyone who has worked with sign cutting equipment will immediately identify with the problem. As for file sharing, even if this graphic was being shared to print restaurant menus, there is still a risk of problems. Does it look good on the screen in Enhanced view? Yes, but looks are deceiving, and Wireframe view reveals this potential for trouble.
Even though I did not create this graphic, I can tell it was done using the easiest, quickest methods. The time saved in creating it pales in comparison with the grief you might experience in trying to share it for production use.
If you adopt the principles I am laying out here, you will invest little extra time creating a graphics file. When you need to modify or share the file, that initial time investment will pay dividends back to you. CorelDRAW provides some powerful tools for doing designs correctly with minimal time. So let's start fixing the file above.
This coffee bean graphic is from an older version of Corel clip art, but you can download the coffeebean.cdr file here for this practice exercise. After opening this file with CorelDRAW and making changes, you may get a message about saving in a newer version when you try to save; just click Yes or OK. I've kept this file in the older format so it will open in any version from 9 on up. If you are using CorelDRAW 9 or 10, you would be much better off with the archived versions of these articles.
I have shown both Wireframe and Enhanced view here, but you may want to alternate between Enhanced and Wireframe to see the effect. Don't worry about the color of the inside contour object; as you can see, mine is white. The idea here is that if you lay the coffee bean on top of the starburst, the coffee bean will slightly overlap the starburst behind it. This overlap is most apparent in Wireframe view.
After trimming the other bean, select just the inside contour of one of the beans and hit the Delete key. Select the other inside contour and Delete that also. Your images should now look like the examples below.
Although this graphic is now greatly improved, it still needs some fixing. Note in Wireframe view how the outlines of the coffee beans cut into each other where the beans overlap. Sign cutting equipment would cut these lines unnecessarily. You don't want that, do you?
Select the outline of both coffee beans. The order you select them in does not matter in this case, but remember to use the Shift key when selecting more than one object. Make sure you are in Wireframe view so you can see what happens next.
With the details inside the beans selected (your Status Bar should tell you 8 objects are selected), click the To Front icon on your Standard tool bar if you have it. Otherwise, right click on one of the selected objects (it's important to do this right click over a selected object), choose Order, then To Front. Now when you see it in Enhanced view, everything is fixed. It also looks much cleaner in Wireframe, and sharing a graphic created this way will be much less prone to problems.
If you want to create a bleed for the details in the beans, which is recommended for a screen printed T-shirt, you can use the contouring techniques you just learned. Darker colors will cover lighter colors in screen printing. For the hypothetical sign job we just did, we were done in Step #12 above because the inside detail colors would just be applied on top of the coffee beans. For many printing methods, you can skip the bleed, and the colors will butt up against each other. Some printing methods require that colors have no contact, in which case you would use contouring to create a gap between colors.
Whatever the requirements, now you know how to create good files that share easily. You also understand some important principles. This knowledge will help you analyze your designs better, plus it will equip you to troubleshoot problem graphics when someone dumps them on you.
Since you are so creative, I am mostly laying out principles because I think you will explore the program further on your own, and learn even more using this information as a launch point. The next article will build more on the material we have covered. I promised some information on Node Editing, and now you are ready for it.
In the previous article, we put the Break Apart icon on your Property Bar, but some of the power has yet to be revealed. When we cover Node Editing next, it has usefulness there. It is also useful for working with text. When you select text and choose Break Apart, all words are separated. Break Apart again, and all letters in the words are separated.
When you use the Spacebar with any tool except the Text tool, you will revert to the Selection tool. Hit the Spacebar with the Selection tool active, and it will revert to the tool last used. This could be mixed blessing for those who use Adobe and Macromedia where the space bar selects the hand tool for panning around the screen. I admit I do like that in their products, but the Corel method has some real advantages too.
There is a way to toggle out of Text mode even though I am not aware of any tool tip to tell you how. If you are like me and like keyboard shortcuts, this will save time. The Ctrl + Spacebar will take you out of Text mode and back to the Selection tool.
If you frequently use tools on any of the Toolbox flyouts on the left side of the screen, and you would like to not always have to open the flyouts first, grab any flyout by the double line handles and drag it to an open location (or create a new column if needed). If you notice in my screen shots, on the left side I have two rows of tools. That is how I did some of them.
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