Atul's Blog

129th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Blend Effect - Part 3

Atul — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:16:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us try to blend the colors also.

Open Corel DRAW.
Draw circle using ellipse tool. Fill it with red color.
Draw square using rectangle tool. Fill it with green color.
Select both the shapes.
Go to menu.
Effects > Blend
Keep the default setting as it is.
Press “Apply”
You will get the blend effect.
You will notice that the red color is gradually changing to green along with the circle gradually changing to rectangle.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

128th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Blend Effect - Part 2

Atul — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:28:00 GMT

Dear Members,

We will try to blend two different shapes.

Open Corel DRAW.
Draw circle using ellipse tool.
Draw square using rectangle tool.
Select both the shapes.
Go to menu.
Effects > Blend
You will get the Blend docker attached to the right side. And the blend steps tab selected.
Keep the default setting as it is.
It may say number of steps 20 and rotate angle 0.
Press “Apply”
You will get the blend effect.
Circle is gradually changing to square using intermediate steps.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

127th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Blend Effect - Part 1

Atul — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:47:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us start learning blending effect in detail.

Open Corel DRAW.
Draw circle using ellipse tool.
Hold Ctrl key to draw perfect circle.
Either duplicate the same circle or draw another circle.
Make the second circle bigger than the first one.
Select both the circles.
Go to menu.
Effects > Blend
You will get the Blend docker attached to the right side. And the blend steps tab selcted.
Keep the default setting as it is.
It may say number of steps 20 and rotate angle 0.
Press “Apply”
You will get the blend effect.
Both the circles are connected with the intermediate circles blending them smoothly with the number of steps mentioned earlier.
Please make a note that small circle is blended with the big one with intermediate gradually increasing bigger size circles.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

126th Lesson! Corel DRAW - Contour - Part 10

Atul — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:34:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us find out how the color accelerate in contour effect using color acceleration separately. Go back to the position where you get orange rectangle inside the biggest red rectangle and the yellow rectangle inside orange. Yellow is the smallest one. Keep the object selected.

Select the last tab that is Contour Acceleration tab.
Uncheck Link Acceleration.
Please DO NOT move object acceleration.
Shift color acceleration slider to the extreme right.
You will find that middle orange rectangle become red.
Now drag the color acceleration slider towards extreme left.
This time, you will find that middle rectangle becomes yellow.
Both the time, object acceleration slider remained stationary as we unchecked link acceleration.
It means color acceleration changes the color to both the ends.
It accelerates to the red which is the outermost color.
And it accelerates to the yellow which is the innermost color.
So the color acceleration fluctuates between the ranges of colors used in the effect.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

119th Lesson! Corel DRAW - Contour - Part 3

Atul — Sat, 31 May 2008 06:10:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us try outside option.

Open Corel DRAW.
Draw rectangle using rectangle tool.
Effect > Contour
Select "Outside" option.
Change the steps to 10.
Keep the offset distance 0.1 inches.
Press "Apply"
You will get evenly spaced concentric shape outside the
rectangle.
Please make a note that when you select "To Center" Option,
the steps option goes blurred.
It's because the steps now will be determined by the Corel
DRAW based on the offset distance.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

118th Lesson! Corel DRAW - Contour - Part 2

Atul — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 05:29:00 GMT

Dear Members,

We will try different option given for Contour effect.

Open Corel DRAW.
Draw rectangle using rectangle tool.
Effect > Contour
Select “To Center” option.
Keep the offset distance 0.1 inches.
Press “Apply”
You will get evenly spaced concentric shape inside the rectangle up to the center.
Please make a note that when you select “To Center” Option, the steps option goes blurred.
It’s because the steps now will be determined by the Corel DRAW based on the offset distance.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

117th Lesson! Corel DRAW - Contour - Part 1

Atul — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:10:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us get into the details of Contour command. You can tryout lot of amazing effects using contour. Try to use colors and other option to get the maximum effect.

Open Corel DRAW.
Draw rectangle using rectangle tool.
Effect > Contour
You will get the docker to the right side.
By default, Contour steps tab may be selected.
With "Inside" option and 0.1 inch offset with steps 1.
Press "Apply"
You will get evenly spaced concentric shape inside the rectangle.
Since the step is 1, you get just one shape inside the rectangle.
The distance between the original rectangle and the inside rectangle is 0.1 as mentioned in the offset distance.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

116th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Envelope – Part 7

Atul — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:15:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us check out another difference between "Unconstrained" and the rest of the three envelope options.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say “Corel”. Stretch it to make it bigger. Keep it selected.
Effects > Envelope
You get a docker to your right side on the desktop with the envelope options.
Create an envelope with "single Arc" option.
Stretch the center top note to the upward direction.
The stretch get stretched in the form of single arc.
You will notice that the node you stretched just now has two arrows along with it in the opposote direction.
Try to move the arrows using the same cursor in any direction.
You will notice that it does not move.
You can move only the node, not those arrows.
This means you have limited capacity to edit this kind of envelope.
Now go back to the first step using undo option and apply the envelope using "Unconstrained" mode.
Stretch the same top center node upward and try to move those arrows to any direction using the same cursor.
This time, you will notice that the arrows have no restrictions and you can move them smoothly to any direction.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

115th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Envelope – Part 6

Atul — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:20:00 GMT

Dear Members,

The last "Unconstrained" option need some attention to understand. As it suggests, it is provided to have more free hand with envelope effect.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say “Corel”. Stretch it to make it bigger. Keep it selected.
Effects > Envelope
You get a docker to your right side on the desktop with the envelope options.
There are four icons above the drop down menu.
The forth icon is “Unconstrained” Click it.
Now click "Add New" button on the top to activate Envelope command.
Stretch top center node upwards.
Now try to move it to left or right.
It will move like an elastic object.
Click Edit > Undo till you go back to the first step.
Apply envelope effect with "Single Arc" option.
Try to stretch the top center point to the left or right.
You will notice that the point can be moved only on the upward or the downward direction. It doesn't move to the left or the right.
This is the first basic difference between "Unconstrained" and the other remaining three options
We will see other difference in the next lesson.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

114th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Envelope – Part 5

Atul — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 09:11:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Next is "Double Arc" option where the envelope shape forms double arc when stretched by any node.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say “Corel”. Stretch it to make it bigger. Keep it selected.
Effects > Envelope
You get a docker to your right side on the desktop with the envelope options.
There are four icons above the drop down menu.
The Third icon is “Double Arc” Click it.
Now click "Add New" button on the top to activate Envelope command.
Stretch top center node upwards.
You will notice that the text is stretched up in the form of double arc.
This means it has smooth zigzag or wavy shape when you stretch any single node.
Stretch any node and you will find the envelope is formed with double arc.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

113th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Envelope – Part 4

Atul — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:35:00 GMT

Dear Members,

We will try the option called "Single Arc". With this, when you stretch the any node of the text, it stretches in the form of curve. And Its a single curve.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say “Corel”. Stretch it to make it bigger. Keep it selected.
Effects > Envelope
You get a docker to your right side on the desktop with the envelope options.
There are four icons above the drop down menu.
The Second icon is “Single curve” Click it.
Now click "Add New" button on the top to activate Envelope command.
Stretch top center node upwards.
You will notice that the text is stretched up in the form of single curve.
Stretch any node and you will find the envelope is formed with single curve.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

112th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Envelope – Part 3

Atul — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:35:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us get into the details of Envelope effect. We will try straight-line option. Once you get the result you will automatically understand why it is called straight line. The effect is carried out using straight lines.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say “Corel”. Stretch it to make it bigger. Keep it selected.
Effects > Envelope
You get a docker to your right side on the desktop with the envelope options.
There are four icons above the drop down menu.
The first icon is “Straight Line” Click it.
Stretch top center node upwards.
You will notice that the text is stretched up in the middle and the envelope forms straight lines (in the form of dotted line) to both the sides of the center node, which you stretched just now.
Stretch any node and you will find the envelope is working with Straight lines only and it is not forming curve at any point.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

111th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Envelope – Part 2

Atul — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:50:00 GMT

Dear Members,

There are readymade effect provided under “Add Preset” button.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say “Corel”. Stretch it to make it bigger. Keep it selected.
Effects > Envelope
You get a docker to your right side on the desktop with the envelope options.
There is “Add Preset” button to the right side of the docker on the top near “Add New” button.
Click “Add Preset” button.
You can select any shape. We selected circle which is third in the first raw to apply preset.
Please make a note that when you select any shape in the preset, it does not get applied to the text.
It simply forms dotted outline of the envelope of that particular shape which you have selected.
If you select circle as we did, it will form elliptical outline in the text.
Click apply button, which is at the bottom of the docker.
The text is changed into the shape of the selected preset envelope.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

110th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Envelope – Part 1

Atul — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:34:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us start with another great effect using Corel DRAW. Envelope provides you number of options to shape and edit the object. We will try simple Envelope effect in this lesson before going into the depth of the effect.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say "Corel". Stretch it to make it bigger. Keep it selected.
Effects > Envelope
You get a docker to your right side on the desktop with the envelope options.
Click Add New button on the top. Please do not click any other button at this stage.
You will find the change in the cursor.
Eight nodes surround the text and you can change the shape of the text using these modes.
Place the cursor on the top center node.
The cursor changes again.
Pull the node towards top.
The middle portion of the text is stretched like elastic.
Try pulling other nodes and get familiar with the basic envelope effect.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen

109th Lesson! Corel DRAW – Add Perspective – Part 10

Atul — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:43:00 GMT

Dear Members,

Let us try to use vanishing point to adjust the perspective effect.

Open Corel DRAW.
Type the text, say “Inside”. Stretch it to make it bigger.
Effects > Add perspective
Press top point over the letter “I” towards right side (top left point of the perspective).
Press top point over the letter “e” towards left side (top right point of the perspective).
This will make the effect, which is tapering towards the top and widened towards the bottom.
If you have sufficiently compressed the top portion of the word ”Inside”, you will find the point is displayed in the window, on the page similar to the letter “X” which is called vanishing point, which is situated on the top of the word.
We will try to adjust the effect using this vanishing point.
Place the mouse pointer on the vanishing point.
It will turn into cross hair cursor, which indicate that you can work with it.
Press the mouse button and drag the vanishing point towards left.
You will find that the whole upper tapering part of the perspective is moving towards left.
Please make a note that the base remains stationary.
Now, move the vanishing point towards right.
The upper part is moving towards right.

With regards
Atul Thakur
Editor
http://www.insidegraphics.com
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points – Zen