| Working with Lines,
Outlines and Brush Strokes |
| CorelDRAW lets you add lines and brush strokes using a
variety of techniques and tools. After you draw lines or apply brush strokes
to lines, you can format them. You can also format the outlines that
surround objects. |
| Formatting lines
and outlines |
You can change the appearance of both lines and outlines.
For example, you can specify their color, width, style, corner shape, and
cap style. You can also remove a line or outline, and you can create your
own line or outline style by adjusting the distance between segments in the
line.
CorelDRAW also lets you copy customized outlines to other objects, convert
outlines to objects so that you can apply a fill to them, and create
calligraphic outlines.
Setting the miter limit for outlines lets you specify whether the spike that
forms when two lines meet at a sharp angle is either mitered (pointed) or
beveled (squared-off). |
| Applying brush
strokes |
CorelDRAW lets you apply a variety of preset brush strokes,
ranging from strokes with arrowheads to ones that are filled with rainbow
patterns. When you draw a preset brush stroke, you can specify some of its
attributes. For example, you can change the width of a brush stroke and
specify its smoothness.
You can also create custom brush strokes using an object or a group of
objects. For information about grouping objects, see "Grouping and combining
objects." The objects that you use to create a brush stroke can be vector
objects or bitmapped images, including those with dropshadows or
transparencies. When you create a custom brush stroke, you can save it as a
preset. |
| Drawing
rectangles and squares |
| CorelDRAW lets you draw rectangles and squares. After you
draw a rectangle or square, you can reshape it by rounding one or more of
its corners. |
| Drawing
ellipses, circles, arcs, and wedges |
| You can draw an ellipse or circle and change the shape into
an arc or wedge. You can also change the direction of arcs and wedges. |
| Drawing polygons
and stars |
CorelDRAW lets you draw polygons and stars and then reshape
them. For example, you can convert polygons to stars and stars to polygons,
change the number of sides on a polygon or the number of points on a star,
and sharpen the points of a star.
Changes made to a single node of a polygon or star can be applied to all
other nodes so that all changes are symmetrical. |
| Drawing spirals |
| You can draw two types of spirals: symmetrical and
logarithmic. Symmetrical spirals expand evenly so that the distance between
each revolution is equal. Logarithmic spirals expand with increasingly
larger distances between revolutions. You can set the rate by which a
logarithmic spiral expands outward. |
| Drawing
pre-defined shapes |
You can draw pre-defined shapes, such as basic shapes,
arrows, stars, and callouts using the Perfect Shapes collection. Basic
shapes, arrows shapes, star shapes, and callout shapes have glyphs which let
you modify their appearance. The right-angle, heart, lightning bolt, and
explosion shapes do not have glyphs.
You can add text to the inside or outside of the shape. For example, you
might want to put a label inside a flowchart symbol or a callout. |
| Selecting
objects |
| Before you can change an object, you must select it. You
can select visible objects, hidden objects, and a single object in a group
or a nested group. You can also select all objects at once. |
| Copying,
duplicating, and deleting objects |
CorelDRAW gives you two ways to copy objects. You can cut
or copy an object to place it on the Clipboard and paste it into a drawing
or you can duplicate an object.
You can copy entire objects or just their fill properties. Cutting an object
to the Clipboard removes it from the drawing; copying an object to the
Clipboard leaves the original in the drawing; and duplicating an object
places a copy directly in the drawing window, not the Clipboard.
You can create a transformed duplicate of an object while keeping the
original object intact. If you decide that you want to keep the original
object, you can delete the duplicate. Duplicating an object is also faster
than cutting and pasting.
When you no longer need an object, you can delete it. |
| Skewing and
stretching objects |
You can skew and stretch objects in CorelDRAW. When you
skew an object, you specify the degree by which you want to slant the
object.
Stretching changes an object's vertical and horizontal dimensions
nonproportionally. You can stretch an object from its center and in
increments of 100%.
CorelDRAW also lets you change the skew anchor point of an object from its
default center position. If you move the skew anchor point, you can reset it
to the center again. |
| Rotating and
mirroring objects |
CorelDRAW lets you rotate and create mirror images of
objects.
You can rotate an object in a drawing by specifying horizontal and vertical
coordinates. You can move the center of rotation to a specific ruler
coordinate or to a point that is relative to the current position of the
object depending on the effect you are creating.
Mirroring an object horizontally flips it from left to right, top to bottom,
or vice versa. By default, the mirror anchor point is in the center of the
object. |
| Changing the
order of objects |
| You can change the stacking order of objects on a layer by
sending objects to the front or back, or behind or in front of other
objects. You can also position objects precisely in the stacking order, as
well as reverse the stacking order of multiple objects. |
| Grouping and
combining objects |
You can group and combine objects in CorelDRAW.
When you group two or more objects, they are treated as a single unit. This
lets you apply the same formatting, properties, and other changes to all the
objects within the group at the same time. CorelDRAW also lets you group
grouped objects to create nested groups.
If you want to edit an object in a group individually, you can ungroup the
objects. You can also add and delete objects to and from a group.
Combining two or more objects creates a single object with common fill and
outline attributes. You can combine rectangles, ellipses, polygons, stars,
spirals, graphs, or text. CorelDRAW converts these objects to a single curve
object. If you need to modify the attributes of an object that is combined,
you can break the combined object apart. |
| Cloning objects |
| When you clone an object, you create a copy of an object
that is linked to the original. Any changes to the original (or master)
object will be reflected automatically in the clone (copy). You can,
however, change the clone independently. If you want, you can remove those
changes by reverting back to the original. |
