CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide part 73 pdf

If you use Subtractive transparency mode on green and red objects and overlap then with a target blue object, the result color will be black.. ● Divide The Divide mode produces only a li

● Add The Add(itive) mode applies transparency in a similar fashion to Normal mode, except it whitens and brightens the result—seriously! In English, there’s a subtle but distinct different between “plus” and “added to”; similarly, Additive mode moves the combined result of the target and source object colors in a positive direction in brightness value The artistic result is good for adding subtle shading to composition areas; this is something painters through the centuries could not do without the added step of applying pure white, because inks and pigments use the real-world subtractive color model

● Subtract This mode ignores the brightness value in the source object and is similar to mixing physical pigments If you use Subtractive transparency mode on green and red objects and overlap then with a target blue object, the result color will

be black

● Difference Remember color opposites on the color wheel? This is what Difference mode performs; it moves the result color to the difference (on the color wheel) between the source and target colors For example, a red Difference transparency object over

a yellow target object produces green areas You’ll see the difference effect most clearly

if you put such an object over an empty area of the drawing page A red difference object will cast cyan as the result on the page This is a useful blending mode for creating dramatic lighting effects—for example, you can shine a Difference mode drawing of

a shaft of theater spotlight on an object, and get truly wonderful and bizarre lighting effects

● Multiply Multiply always produces a darker result color from merging the source and target objects Its effect is similar to wood stain or repeated strokes of a felt marker on paper Several objects in Multiply mode, when overlapped, can produce black, and this is perhaps the best mode for artists to re-create real-world shadows cast on objects

● Divide The Divide mode produces only a lighter result color if neither the target nor source object is black or white Use this mode to bleach and produce highlights

in a composition by using a light color for the transparency object such as 10% black

● If Lighter The source (top transparency) object lightens the underlying object

color only if the source color/tone is lighter If the source is darker, there is no visible

effect

● If Darker Similar in effect to Multiply mode, If Darker calculates a new result color if areas in the target object are lighter If the underlying target object is darker, there’s no or very little change It’s particularly interesting to view the result when

an If Lighter or an If Darker object is placed above a fountain-filled target object

You will see clipping, a hard edge where the fountain fill reaches a specific value

where the result color doesn’t qualify to display a change

● Texturize This mode will not produce much of a change unless you fill the source

object with a bitmap or pattern fill However, if, for example, you fill the transparency

object with a bitmap fill, the result is a shaded and patterned area This mode removes

the hue and saturation from the bitmap fill, leaving only brightness values—in effect,

making your target object a shaded version of the original, sort of like merging a

grayscale photograph over an object This is a useful mode when you do not want

the target object to influence the result colors with any distinct hues, and you can

use this mode to quickly build up texture and simulate real-world complexity in your

composition

● Hue The Hue merge mode changes the result color to the hue of the target color,

without affecting saturation or brightness in the result This mode is useful for

tinting compositions, and the target object colors are ignored in the result

● Saturation The Saturation merge mode can be used to remove color from the

result; it’s quite nice at making black-and-white photographs from color images The

best use of Saturation transparency mode is with shades of black as the transparency

object’s fill, over a color object such as a bitmap photo You need to make Transparency

zero (0) in order to remove all color from an object, photograph, or vector object

The lighter the shade of black, the less saturation in the target object is removed, and

as you increase the amount of transparency, the target object becomes tinted instead

of containing a rich color Highly saturated target and source objects will produce no

change in the result

● Lightness This is a great mode for brightening the result colors of the bottom object

or bitmap because the target object’s colors are never changed, just the lightness (also

called “value” or “brightness”) Try using a bright yellow transparency object at

0 percent Transparency—blacks in the bottom object or photo will be completely

removed Transparency objects that are not bright—such as a deep blue—will only

make the resulting object look muddy, so stick to low transparency amounts and bright

colors for the transparency object on top

● Invert This merge mode produces the most predictable—and visually interesting—

results, if your transparency object is a photo or bitmap painting with lots of different

hues and the target object is a shade of black Invert merge mode produces a result

whose original colors become the color complement as a result—colors directly

opposite their originals on a traditional color wheel The less opacity you use with

the target photo, the more pronounced the colors become You can simulate a photo

negative using Invert mode If you use a solid color object such as an ellipse over a

color object, the target object will still become its color complement, but the areas it

lies over will merely blend the inverted target object color with the original color of

the bottom object

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● AND, OR, and XOR The AND function includes similarity between the source and target objects; for example, two red ellipses that overlap and that both have the AND transparency merge mode appear not to be transparent at all, but instead display 100% red where they overlap This is a useful mode when you want only

a color result in overlapping areas, because AND creates no change outside of the overlapping result area The OR operator is an exclusive operator; it excludes stuff: this is a good mode for clipping a color change, thus limiting it only to areas where the target and source objects overlap You’ll see nothing outside the overlapping areas when the target object has the OR operator XOR is a Boolean math statement, based

on something called a truth table, where certain conditions must be met to produce a

result However, you might not find a need for this transparency mode unless you use more than two objects in a design area; if either or neither object in an XOR operation

is similar, you’ll get no result color This operation works only if there is one differently colored object in the color calculation operation

Boolean math, invented by George Boole (1815–1864), adds human-understandable language to math operations You use it all the time when you use CorelDRAW’s Shaping docker When you perform a Trim operation, for example, mathematically (geometrically) the command is expressed as “choose A, but not where B overlaps A.”

● Red, Green, and Blue Each of these merge modes filters out a respective (RGB) channel, and the native color of the source object is ignored This is a useful transparency mode for color correcting photographs you import to CorelDRAW; for example, if you put a Green transparency mode object over a portrait, and then play with the amount of transparency on the property bar, you can sometimes correct for harsh indoor (particularly cheap fluorescent) lighting

Creating Multi-Stage Transparencies

You might find you need a transparency object that’s more complex than the fountain types offered on the property bar; for example, a lens flare can add a lot of photorealism to an illustration, and this type doesn’t appear to be on the property bar CorelDRAW’s Transparency tool’s power can be extended by building a multi-stage fountain fill for an object, and then using the Transparency tool in a blend operation that hides certain colors in the fountain fill Take a look at the lens flare in Saturn.cdr To create the effect, you drag shades of black from the Color Palette, and drop them onto the marker connector, as shown next Remember, darker shades represent transparency, and lighter shades stand for opacity You might want

to reposition the new markers once you’ve added them; this is done by click-dragging with the Transparency tool If your drop point for a new marker isn’t exactly over the marker

connector (the blue dashed line), your cursor will turn into an international “no can do”

symbol

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Pattern and Texture Transparencies

Pattern and Texture transparencies can add texture to object fill areas below the object, creating

intricate detail The Transparency Type drop-down menu includes Two Color Pattern, Full

Color Pattern, and Bitmap Pattern transparency types With any of these selected for the

transparency type, the Starting Transparency slider controls the percentage of transparency

applied to brightness values in the chosen bitmap that lie above 126 on a brightness scale of

0–255 (256 shades); the Ending Transparency slider controls the percentage of transparency

applied to brightness values in the chosen bitmap that fall below 128

Figure 22-10 shows Shirt.cdr, a file you should feel free to experiment with, along with the

options on the property bar when the Transparency tool is chosen and with the control handles

above the target object; you work with scale, rotate, and skew in addition to setting the center

point for the transparency exactly as you would rotate and scale an object in CorelDRAW

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Radial Transparency

Drag color well shades onto marker connector.

Clearly, CorelDRAW not only provides you with a robust feature set, but it also provides you with enough Hawaiian shirt patterns to last you for several months of vacationing

Using Transparency Freeze

Freezing a transparency object captures the composite of the object’s properties combined with whatever was beneath the object before using the Freeze button on the property bar

FIGURE 22-10 Add both color and a texture to underlying bitmaps and drawings with the

Texture Transparency types

Pattern, bitmap, and texture fills

Transparency Operation (merge modes) Libraries

Transparency

Ending Transparency Slider

Freeze Transparency

Mirror Transparency Tiles

Origin Scale/Rotate Skew Edit

Transparency

Deactivating the Freeze option (without ungrouping it) returns a transparent object

to its current and active state This means if you freeze the object, move it, and then unfreeze it, its interior will display whatever is currently under it.

Using the Bevel Effect

The Effects | Bevel docker provides you with a means to make objects dimensional, but not

as completely 3D as the Extrude tool performs The Bevel docker offers two different types

of engraving effect: emboss and soft edge The emboss effect is an automated routine that

creates duplicates of an object, offsets them, and gives them different colors to create the

effect of, for example, a seal crimped onto a piece of paper like notary publics do Although

you can manually create this emboss effect, the Bevel docker creates a dynamic, linked

group whose color and position can change when you define different light intensities and

light angles

Here are visual examples of the emboss effect If you choose to use emboss, it’s a good

idea to create a background for the object, because either the highlight or the shadow object

might not be visible against the page background Usually, a color similar to the background

will serve you well for the object color You can use any fill, including bitmaps and fountain

fills, for the object you want to emboss, but the resulting emboss objects will feature not the

fill, but only solid (uniform) colors

Ill 22-8

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Original Two offset duplicates create the effect.

Here you can see the Bevel docker and the options you have while applying the emboss effect

Ill 22-9

Here’s a rundown of what the options do on the Bevel docker in Emboss mode:

● Bevel Offset – Distance (The To Center option is only available in Soft Edge mode.) This combination num box and spin box is used to set the distance of the duplicate objects from the original You don’t gain anything visually by setting a high value for

an object; rather, this box is used to set a relational distance, depending on the size of the object to which you apply the emboss effect For example, a 4" object will look nice and embossed if you use a 0.09" Distance, but the effect looks a little phony at greater distances On the other hand, an 8" object will probably not look embossed with a 0.09" Distance setting—however, 0.16" scales the effect proportionately to the object, and the emboss looks good Use distance as a scaling factor Also, distance does not auto-scale when you scale the control (parent) object Therefore, if you need

to resize an object, plan to redefine the distance for the emboss effect after you scale the parent object

Style (Emboss or Soft Edge)

Highlight color Shadow color

Controls contrast of effect Controls angle

of emboss

Distance of objects from control object

● Shadow Color The color of the object has a direct influence on the color of the

shadow object behind the control object For example, if you create an emboss effect

with a blue object, the shadow object will be a dark blue, even if you set the color to

black You can neutralize the shadow color by defining the color opposite of the

control object; for example, if you have a cyan circle, set the Shadow Color to red,

the color complement of cyan Regardless of what color you choose for the shadow

object, the result color will always be duller than the color you define, because—

well, it’s a shadow! Shadow color is unaffected by the Intensity option.

● Light Color This controls the color of the highlight object; it affects neither the

control object’s color, nor the color or brightness of the shadow object Light color

at full intensity displays the color you choose, and as you decrease intensity, the

light color blends with the object color—light color does not depend on any object’s

color you might have beneath the effect As light intensity decreases, a bitmap-filled

object’s highlight color will move from its original color to white

● Intensity Use this slider to control the contrast of the emboss effect Although

the shadow object’s color is not affected by intensity, the highlight object’s color is

High values display the highlight object’s color most faithfully, while lower Intensity

settings dull the highlight color and move its hue toward the control object

● Direction Use this slider to control the direction that light seems to cast on the

emboss object(s) A Direction setting of 0° points the highlight at 3 o’clock,

traveling counterclockwise Therefore, if you need a highlight on an emboss effect at

11 o’clock (a very classic lighting position), you’d set the Direction at about 160°

● Altitude This option is reserved for the bevel effect, covered shortly

Creating Soft Edge Bevel Effects

The other mode on the Bevel docker, Soft Edge, performs a lot more calculations than the

emboss effect and actually creates a bitmap image, masked by the control object, which can

be dynamically adjusted The Shadow Color, Light Color, Intensity, and Direction options

on the docker produce predictable results, much like those you get when using Emboss

mode, but because the soft edge effect is generated to bitmap format, the results look more

detailed, refined, and almost photorealistic in appearance In addition to having an Altitude

slider in this mode, you have To Center as an available option in the Bevel Offset field

Here’s what To Center does and how it works

All soft edge bevels are produced from the edge of an object traveling toward its center

If, for example, you’ve created a circle that’s 3" across and then type a Distance offset value

in the num box in any amount smaller than 1.5", you’ll see a dimensional, sloping bevel

created inside the circle, with a flat top in the shape of the circle in its center If, however,

you type in a value greater than 1.5", the center of the object will bevel to a point, and the

front face of the object is entirely lost The reason this happens (you might or might not

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want this visual effect), is that the bevel effect travels toward the interior of the object, and half of the 3" diameter of this circle is 1.5" Just keep in mind the size of the object to which you apply a bevel to gain total control over the effect If, on the other hand, you intend for the sides of the bevel to come to a point, you don’t need to set values in the Distance field; you choose To Center, click Apply, and CorelDRAW creates the maximum width bevel, meeting at a point inside the object You can create interesting marine creatures such as a starfish by using the Polygon tool to create the silhouette of a starfish, fill the object, and then To Center auto-creates a very lifelike composition

Here are two very different looks for the bevel effect: at left a Distance has been set for the offset, and at right To Center is chosen

Ill 22-10

Altitude

Altitude determines the angle of the sun illuminating the bevel effect…if the sun were

actually involved in created the effect Altitude is a simulation that does something a little

different than Shadow Color and Light Color do to increase and decrease the contrast of the effect At Altitude settings that approach 90°, you lessen the difference in brightness between the darkest and lightest areas in the bevel effect Think of a coin on the sidewalk at high noon; you can’t really see the embossed president, queen, or other famous person on the coin because the bulges and recesses on the coin are fairly evenly lit It’s the same deal with the bevel Altitude setting; smaller Altitude amounts cast the hypothetical sun closer to the hypothetical horizon, and you get a lot more contrast on the bevel If you want the bevel effect to produce the greatest visual impact with your work, you’ll use a moderate Altitude value most of the time

Using the Drop Shadow Effect

With the Drop Shadow tool and the options available on the property bar when this is the active tool, you can create both shadows and glows, based on the shape of the target object (or group of objects) Although this section walks you through several variations, basically

Distance: 0.18" To Center chosen

you have three different types of effects at hand when you use the Drop Shadow tool, as

shown in Figure 22-11

● Flat shadows The presets with the prefix “Flat” create the impression that you’re

viewing an object from the front and that the object is basically lit from the front

These shadow types, also called drop shadows, are a popular effect; however, they

don’t always bring out depth in a composition, because the drop shadow suggests a

face-front orientation of a scene—a viewpoint usually reserved for driver’s license

photos and wanted posters in the post office However, drop shadows will indeed

perk up a web page, because the audience expects a face-front orientation, since we

all tend to face the front of our monitors

● Perspective shadows This effect is sometimes called a cast shadow The effect

suggests a shadow casting on the ground and diminishing in size as it travels to a

scene’s vanishing point It visually suggests that the audience is looking into a scene

from a perspective point and is not looking at an object placed on a scene, as drop

shadows tend to do

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FIGURE 22-11 The drop shadow effect can have perspective and can be used to light up a

scene, not simply to make things cast shadows

Flat (drop) shadow Perspective (cast) shadow

Glow