CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide part 4 potx

So I want you to know I’m here for you; I want you to feel as though you own a Pocket Author, who talks to you in PlainSpeak, who makes tutorial files not only relevant but also interest

about and works alongside my documentation Jan, thanks for your thoroughness,

and for pointing out that certain thesauruses actually do contain synonyms for

“thesaurus.”

● Technical Editor William Schneider Bill really should be listed as coauthor on the cover of this book, but that would probably mean making my own name smaller Nah Bill flew with me through every chapter, even the online bonus chapters, and

he didn’t stop at letting me know when I made a (small, insignificant, hardly worth mentioning) mistake in a tutorial step, or accidentally called the Mesh fill tool “that funny looking icon that messes up fills.” Bill always offered a different and better way to cast a sentence and put a tutorial step in more reader-friendly terms Bill, thanks, as always, for being my favorite technical editor for over a decade of books

● Nicky Elliott, Barbara Bouton, and William Schneider for the use of their photography in this book’s tutorials

● Nick Wilkinson for portions of his original manuscript on VBA

● Lyssa Wald for once again making the color section look as good on the printed page

as it does on my monitor

● Production Supervisor George Anderson Thanks to George and his expert team for the layout of this book’s interior

● The folks at Glyph, who allowed me to get in there and work on a few figures to make them look their best in a black-and-white book

● John Falsetto at Corel Corporation Thanks for going that extra mile, John, and promptly providing me with answers to technical questions during the beta cycle right up to the release version of X5 The sort of candid backs-and-forths we exchanged in email were productive, refreshing, and ultimately for the better of the book

● Tony Severenuk at Corel Corporation Thanks to Tony for his technical support, his speed, and his ability to cut to the chase when I needed frank answers at a moment’s notice I’m sorry you never took me up on putting a cartoon of you in one of the book’s illustrations, Tony; I had to make fun of Bill Schneider as a last-minute substitution Hats off and a big bow of appreciation to you and all the people at Corel Corporation for supporting this book and my efforts I hope I did you all proud

xxviii CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide

Bear with me as you read this book Like any ongoing piece of literature, CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide is a work in progress Yes, the book is complete, but I wanted to

approach the documentation of a new version of DRAW a little differently—okay, a lot

differently—than did previous versions of this book I’ve tried very hard to put a little of myself into this book, so you know that someone real, who professes to know CorelDRAW

in certain ways better than you do, is communicating with you Let’s get real: CorelDRAW

is large The application has so many features that you might feel at times as well-oriented

as if you were visiting this planet from another planet and a taxi driver dropped you off in the middle of Los Angeles At 2A.M.

So I want you to know I’m here for you; I want you to feel as though you own a Pocket

Author, who talks to you in PlainSpeak, who makes tutorial files not only relevant but also interesting, and who as an artist provides you with what you need to accomplish a task instead

of a generic, “This is what you need,” or a presumptuous, “This is what we think you need.” I’m going to ask you to think about what it is you want to do in CorelDRAW throughout the chapters, because you’re probably a goal-oriented sort of fine artist or business professional Although we have some of the best documentation on these pages concerning where items are, what tools do, and other structural definitions of CorelDRAW, knowing where a tool is, and knowing the steps to create a logo your boss wanted last Tuesday are two entirely different approaches to understanding One is called “having a bunch of facts memorized” and the other

is called Wisdom

You’ll see what I mean as you read through the chapters and work through the dozens of

tutorial examples and files Read this book, but embrace what you learn I’ve learned through

years of working in the field of graphics that when you understand a technique or a principle,

you own it You take it everywhere you go, it’s part of your own personal craft, and you’re all

the richer as an artist when you digest the information you’re given and turn it into something uniquely your own

xxx CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide

CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide is divided into nine parts plus two online Bonus

Chapters and an online Quick Reference listing keyboard shortcuts that’ll speed up your work in CorelDRAW

Organization is key to explaining things, so the parts follow a progression, from a very basic introduction to later chapters that delve into special effects, and with this edition, we’ve added two complete chapters on Corel PHOTO-PAINT, because it’s an important

program you will use if you first understand how to edit bitmap images If you’re the type

of reader who likes to begin at the beginning and make a linear voyage to finish with the last chapter, you won’t be surprised However, the chapters are structured and fairly compartmentalized to address a specific topic; if you want fast solutions for specific areas within CorelDRAW, you can also “pick and choose.” One of the wonderful things about books is that you can skip ahead and rewind—and probably do it faster than using an online search engine

● Part I starts you off with the new features in CorelDRAW X5, a must-read for users

who’ve made the upgrade In particular, Chapter 1 is a tutorial-based jumpstart into graphics productivity—you’ll create new stuff as you learn what’s new! Also in this part, you’ll be guided through CorelDRAW options, thoroughly pore through the menus and palettes (including CorelDRAW dockers), and you’ll learn how to set up the workspace to make you feel right at home New users are encouraged to set aside some quality time for this part—you’ll save a lot of time later when you want to get

to the Fun Stuff

● Part II focuses on navigating and measuring the workspace and your document, and

how to size things up, from measuring objects to moving and rotating them You’ll also learn how to set up a multi-page document, create brochures and flyers, and you’ll see that each page can be a unique size and orientation

● Part III gets you up and running with two of the most important tools used in

designing original artwork, the Pen tools and the Shape tool You’ll also get a handle

on creating shapes by using various presets CorelDRAW has to offer Once you have your object created and edited to your liking, it’s only natural to make more of them; this part shows you how to arrange, group, duplicate, clone, and perform other tasks

in your document to make laying out what you’ve created an inspired effort

● Part IV dives into typography, working with artistic and paragraph text, spelling and

other CorelDRAW proofing tools, and some special effects you can create for fancy headlines Sometimes it’s better to just say it instead of show it; CorelDRAW has the ideal tools for both the text and graphic message, and these parts of the book also show how to blend the two vehicles artistically for what you want to communicate

● Part V puts the meat on the bones of the objects you design; in these chapters,

you’ll learn everything you need to know about object fills, outline properties, and

most importantly, about digital color Learn how to define and apply uniform fills,

bitmap fills, and colors from different color models to your work so they’ll print

exactly as you intend them to And if you need a map or schematic drawing, check

out this part for the lowdown on creating dashed lines, lines with arrowheads, and

more

● Part VI is a truly special part; you’ll see that 3D object and scene creation doesn’t

require a megabuck modeling program—you’ll find what you need to make scenes

in camera-perfect perspective with CorelDRAW’s Effects menu You’ll also learn

how to extrude objects, letting CorelDRAW perform calculations to create a side

view of the front of objects you draw It’s fun and the result can have the visual

impact you need to create new worlds and sell your ideas

● Part VII comes with a boatload of CorelDRAW special effects features, and these

chapters take you through the steps to distorting, blending, and creating photorealistic

effects such as object transparency and soft, lifelike shadows If you’ve ever been

stuck at a point where your design needs that “special something,” look into this

special part of the book Learn how to create shading like you’ve seen in airbrush

illustrations, to design chrome and glass-like objects, and to create a seamless

integration between what you draw and the digital photos you can place in your

document

● Part VIII (that’s “8” if you’re tired of reading Roman numerals) moves from vector

drawing to bitmap editing; specifically, you’ll learn how Corel PHOTO-PAINT can

help you resize and retouch photos and help you make near-perfect pictures into

outstanding ones Also in this part, you’ll see how to work between DRAW and

PHOTO-PAINT, to make a seamless composition that contains both vector and

bitmap art PHOTO-PAINT is part of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite; it’s sitting

there for you on disk or on your hard drive If you have a brochure or gallery photo

you need to get out there and get noticed, you need to get with the program, and the

program is Corel PHOTO-PAINT This is truly an advanced section of the book, but it’s accessible to readers of all skill levels, and its contents take you through working with photographs, getting your prints looking their best, and more You’ll also see

how to get the best look out of imported bitmaps, beginning right with CorelDRAW’s

Raw Lab Learn how to work with image resolutions, and see how to export your

vector drawings to bitmap file format You’ll also want to pore through CorelDRAW’s HTML publishing features—make that print ad you’ve designed into a web banner

with only a few clicks Finally…

● Part IX (pronounced “icks”) introduces you to CorelDRAW’s extensive host of

print options and features; the techniques for output to paper, film, and transfer materials; and CorelDRAW’s preflight options so your time and the expense of professional printing are on your side Also, you’ll learn how to prep your designs for nonprinting purposes Get all the details on how CorelDRAW X5 can export your work for the Web, how to make a basic web page, and something additional and quite special On the CorelDRAW installation DVD is a full working copy of SWiSH miniMax This program can generate Flash animation for the Web; you’ll learn step-by-step how to move copies of your CorelDRAW work to SWiSH, animate the objects, add a little audio that’s provided for you via our website download, and how about this: you’ll make a full-screen animation that loops (plays over and over) that’s only 70K! A movie that’s smaller than some CorelDRAW files? Yes And it’s all laid out for you in terms that someone who has no previous

experience with animation can follow

● Online Bonus Chapters document Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in a PDF

file you can download from www.mhprofessional.com/computingdownload and www.theboutons.com See how to write simple scripts without actually writing a line of code (it’s visual; you record cursor movements), and speed up your work by making common tasks automated through VBA Also, learn how to design a typeface using CorelDRAW, and export your very own TrueType font Imagine making and distributing a font that has your company logo to everyone in your department You’ll learn the steps in this online PDF document, and become font savvy in a jiffy

● The CorelDRAW Quick Reference, which you’ll also find online, is full of

shortcuts you can use in CorelDRAW Find a task you need to perform faster, and the Quick Reference lists the combinations of keys you can press to get you where you need to go

Tutorial and Bonus Content: Where to Find It

You can’t miss a Tutorial section: it’s marked with the Educated Lightbulb icon Many of these Tutorials will go better and more smoothly, and better demonstrate a technique or principle, if you have a working file loaded in the drawing window, so we’ve provided you with several To get the tutorial files, go to the following URLs:

● www.mhprofessional.com From this page, click the Downloads link and locate this book’s title to get to the tutorial files

● www.theboutons.com This is a mirror site for the files Go to the top page, and you can’t miss the conspicuous, obnoxious, but superbly designed CorelDRAW X5 Official Guide Download icon

xxxii CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide

Additionally, www.theboutons.com has some Bonus Content, goodies for our readers

that have nothing to do with this book’s Tutorials, but everything to do with your continuing

adventures in CorelDRAW The Boutons are offering original, seamless tiling textures—

perfect for web page backgrounds, custom object fills, and backgrounds in your CorelDRAW

documents You’ll also find high-resolution images of indoor and outdoor scenes with blank

signage Because so many CorelDRAW users create billboards, package designs, and vinyl

signs for vehicles, we thought it would be nice if you could previsualize a logo or other signage

You can then show your design to clients and coworkers before you go through the expense

of commercial printing

The Boutons also offer original typefaces and some content that we want to remain a

surprise for now

I know I speak for the entire group who helped make this book happen that we were

highly motivated to make this Official Guide reflect all the creative possibilities that you’ll

have fun learning, exploring, and building upon Playtime isn’t the only time when a creative

person can have fun Work time can be fun, too It’s how you approach it.

So enough with introductions! Turn the page and get to the Good Stuff!

—Gary David Bouton

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CorelDRAW X5

Essentials

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What’s New in CorelDRAW X5?

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