Artistic Media strokes don't line up with the control lines... why?

When I make my own custom artistic media strokes and try to draw with them, the A.M. stroke is offset from its control line. (see screenshot below) I don't seem to notice this so much in the strokes that come with CorelDraw.

I try to make my shapes as straight as I can and with as few nodes as possible, but they still don't line up when turned into a brush. And when I fill the shapes, there are gaps between the end of the strokes and the filled areas, even though the control lines form a closed shape.

I want the ends of the artistic media stroke to line up with one another and for the stroke to be centered along the control line.

Are there any tricks to creating better strokes, or is this just a limitation of CorelDraw itself?

Thanks!

 

Gap

Image attached.

Offset

The horizontal axis that divides the brush's shape (objects) into two halves will be bent and fitted to match the Control Curve when using the brush. So any offset from that horizontal axis will result an offset from the Control Curve.

Ahmad, thanks so much for your answer! The second problem you described is the problem I was having.

Here's a screenshot of what I meant about there being a gap between the fill and stroke. I used the Smart Fill tool to fill this.

I did try to create the brush horizontally, but it is difficult to line it up just by eye. Do you have any advice about how to ensure the shape(s) are lined up perfectly on the horizontal axis before converting them to a brush shape?

 

EDIT:  Well, I figured out how after I posted this... Create a horizontal guideline and set "snap to guideline". Duh!

Also, I figured out how to get the smart fill without any gaps...

1. After drawing the line with the Artistic Media Tool, break the Artistic Media Group apart. (Control + K) If you don't, it fills the artistic media stroke, and you get a solid shape, but it covers up the stroke.

2. Select the curve that doesn't have the artistic media stroke and use the smart fill tool to fill that.

3. Drag the filled curve underneath the stroke curve to place the fill behind the line.

Now, if I could just figure out a way to automate those steps...

 

Thanks again!

Hi PixelDust,

I saw your edition by chance!

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PixelDust:

After drawing the line with the Artistic Media Tool, break the Artistic Media Group apart.

If you break the Artistic Media Group apart, it will not considered as an Artistic Media; you will not be able to change its brush 'Width', or the Brush Stroke type.

You can leave the Artistic Media Brush as it is (editable brush), and

1. Duplicate the Control object (curve, rectangle, ellipse…)
2. Fill the duplicate (just click on the desired color from the color palette)
3. Send it behind the Artistic Media Brush

The idea is to use two objects; one to fill and another to be the Control object of the Artistic Media (without breaking it apart). For example, if I want to draw a red rectangle with a brush stroke, I

1. Draw a rectangle with the Rectangle tool
2. Click the red swatch (right-click the "No Color" well to remove the outline)
3. Duplicate (hit the + key)
4. Apply the Artistic Media Brush to the duplicate

In CorelDRAW you can easily reach any object on your drawing. As for the Artistic Media Groups, you can select the whole group or the Control object only; see the attached image.

Try to select the Control object with the Shape tool and see what happens. It's your turn to explore and invent your own ways of selecting and filling Artistic Media Groups.

PixelDust:

Select the curve that doesn't have the artistic media stroke and use the smart fill tool to fill that

If you select a closed curve you can fill it without the Smart Fill tool; just click a color swatch. The Smart Fill tool detects the edges of an area and creates a new closed curve, so that the area can be filled. In your case, you don't need a new object; filling the existing one does the job with better result.

To send the filled curve behind the brush, right-click the curve and see options available under the Order sub-menu.

Ahmad Ajlouny:

... you can select the whole group or the Control object only; see the attached image.

See How to select control curves of Artistic Media strokes from CorelHOUSE.

Related Feature Requests

• Artistic Media Improvements
• Change Nib Size in CorelDRAW