CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide part 85 pps

If there’s a misplaced node or curve segment, with the Path tool selected, choose the Shape tool on the property bar, click the node and move it, or click the node to display its control

“create node” cursor If you use the document scroll bars for changing your view, you haven’t switched tools and you’re cool to continue drawing the path

Ill 26-2

9. Draw a tight path all the way around the outline of the labeling machine, and finally click

at your start point to close the path Right now is a good time to zoom into various areas

to make sure the path is faithful to the edge of the machine If there’s a misplaced node

or curve segment, with the Path tool selected, choose the Shape tool on the property bar, click the node and move it, or click the node to display its control handles and then drag

a control handle to steer the curve segment so it fits the edge of the machine

10. Click the Mask From Path button on the property bar The interior of your path is now selected

Ill 26-3

Begin path and create node.

Extend current path.

Close path.

11. Choose Object | Create | Object: Copy Selection (CTRL+UP ARROW) Usually, when

beginning a new program, it’s better to duplicate something by copying it than cutting it (the author usedCTRL+SHIFT+UP ARROWin these figures)

12. On the Objects docker, click the Background entry—the image without the machine—

to make sure it’s the chosen object (the title will be highlighted in a foreground Windows color), and then click the Delete button (the old-fashioned metal trash can) Now you have only the labeling machine as an object in the document, and it’s surrounded by

a checkerboard pattern indicating that there are no pixels surrounding it

Ill 26-4

13. Take a break, keep the document open, and pressCTRL+Sto save your work up to

this point

You can name an entry on the Objects docker anything you like; you don’t have to accept the default name of “Object n.” To rename an entry, click the name, then click again to open the name for editing, and then type anything you please.

Replacing the Background

Because the labeling machine is supposed to be the primary focus of the image, a new

background can be quite simple—you just add a hint of detail to make the overall scene look

consistent in its photorealism In the next steps, you’ll add a gradient to a new object behind

the machine, distort the object a little to add perspective, and apply a little texture to keep

the fountain fill object from looking too perfect Here’s how to set up and edit a new

background for the scene

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Putting a Background Behind an Object

1. Hide or delete the path in the document by clicking either the Show/Hide Path button at the bottom of the Paths docker, or click the Delete button

2. On the Objects docker, click the New Object button A new entry appears on the docker, labeled “Object 2,” and it appears above the labeling machine in the order of objects in the document

3. Drag the title “Object 2” to below “Object 1” on the Objects docker You’ll see the little hand turn into a little clenched hand as you perform this action

Ill 26-5

4. Click the “Object 2” title to make sure it’s the current editing layer Choose the Interactive fill tool from the toolbox, and then drag from top to bottom in the document window

Drag Object 2 down below Object 1.

New Object

5. Right now, you might not have the fountain fill traveling from the ideal color to an ideal color The Interactive fill tool uses the current foreground and background colors on the toolbox to create a Linear fountain fill Double-click the top color marker (node), and then in the Node Color dialog, choose R: 166, G: 166, and B:

166 Click OK to apply the color Double-click the bottom node marker, and set its color to R: 204, G: 204, and B: 204 Click OK to apply the color and close the box

Ill 26-6

6. Eventually in this tutorial, you’ll use the Mesh Warp effect to bend the background

to suggest a floor in the composition To do this, you first need to shrink Object 3 a little so you’ll be able to drag the handles of the Mesh Warp past the edges of the object

Choose the Object Pick tool, click the Scale button, and then click the Maintain Ratio button so the object scales proportionately Zoom out of the document if you can’t see the four handles at each corner of the object (you can scroll toward you with the mouse wheel to do this); drag a corner control handle toward the center of the object until the object is just a little wider than the labeling machine, and then drag toward

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Interactive

fill tool

Drag top to bottom, and then double-click a marker.

Foreground

color

Background

color

the center of the object to move it back so it’s centered relative to the document window

Ill 26-7

7. Choose Effects | Texture | Canvas In the Canvas dialog, set the Transparency to about 66% so the fountain fill isn’t completely hidden by the effect, and then set the Emboss value to about 115% for a visible yet not overwhelming effect; see Figure 26-2 Click OK to apply the texture

8. Choose Effects | Distort | Mesh Warp In the Mesh Warp box, at the default Gridlines frequency of 4, you have nine intersections within the warp lines that you drag

to reshape the selected object The idea is to mold the canvas object, as shown in Figure 26-3, so that its bottom sweeps toward the audience, creating the illusion that the labeling machine is resting on a plane that sweeps up and back off the top of the

Scale

document window First, drag the bottom right intersection to the right; doing this

warps the middle right intersection in an unpleasant way, bulging the right side too

much Drag the middle right intersection to the left until the right vertical warp line

describes an arc toward the bottom Then drag the top right intersection to further

smoothen the arc the right vertical mesh line describes

9. Perform step 8 on the left vertical mesh line, mirroring it in its direction Click OK

to apply the effect

10. With the Object Pick tool, click the Scale button on the property bar, and then

increase the size of the object until you cannot see the background in the

composition

11. Save Keep the file open

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FIGURE 26-2 Apply a subtle texture effect to the fountain fill to add visual “business” to the

background object

Adding a Shadow

What’s missing now is a visual element that binds the machine to its new background: a drop shadow Frequently, a shadow can be painted into a composition, and you really need only to suggest the shape of the shadow—audiences anticipate the presence of a drop shadow, but usually don’t notice whether the shape is authentic

In the following steps, you’ll add an object between the background and machine objects, do a little painting to represent the shadow, blur it to make it look more believable, and then use the Multiply merge mode before combining all the objects to make your blurry painted shadow look more dense in the composition

Painting Detail into the Picture

1. Click the Object 2 title on the Objects docker, and then click the New Object button Doing this forces PHOTO-PAINT to create a new object directly above the current object, sparing you the need to reorder objects by dragging their entries on the docker

FIGURE 26-3 Use the intersections of Mesh Warp by dragging them to reshape an object

Drag at intersections.

2. Choose the Paint tool on the toolbox On the property bar, choose the Art Brush category thumbnail, and to its right, choose Loaded Cover from the drop-down list;

the diameter of the brush is set to 46 pixels, and this is a good size for the next steps

It doesn’t make a lot of difference which brush you choose, because you’ll soon blur your strokes, but this particular variation is nice because it adds a little grain when you use it

3. Double-click the Foreground color icon on the toolbox to display the foreground color mixer Choose black and then click OK

4. Make a few strokes beneath the machine, as shown in this illustration Notice how your strokes appear to go behind the labeling machine because it’s the top object, above your strokes and the background object

Ill 26-8

5. Click the Merge Mode drop-down list while the shadow object is the current editing object, and then choose Multiply Then drag the Opacity slider down to about 75%

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6. Choose Effects | Blur | Gaussian Blur; there are several effects to apply a blur to an object, but Gaussian produces the most intense and pronounced You’ll see that Gaussian Blur leaves what looks like a diffuse shadow beneath the labeling machine Set the Radius for Gaussian Blur to about 35 pixels, and then click OK to apply it PressCTRL+Sto save your work one final time

7. You can consider your retouching work finished, or you can “standardize” the CPT file so a copy can be shared as a JPEG image PHOTO-PAINT object files can’t be shared with friends and clients who don’t own PHOTO-PAINT On the Objects docker, right-click over any of the object titles, and then choose Combine | Combine All Objects With Background

Ill 26-9

8. Choose File | Save As, click the Save As Type drop-down list, and pick JPG-JPEG Bitmaps Choose a file location, and then click OK In the Export as JPEG dialog, click the Quality drop-down list, choose Highest, and then click OK Then email your work to your fictitious client, and they’ll be astounded and send you a large, fictitious check Take it to a fictitious bank and cash it right away

Creating a Fantasy Composition

It would be hard to miss some of the extraordinary ads on the Web that feature smaller-than-life people in unusual settings: swimmers in a drinking glass, ant-sized folks exploring a kitchen drawer—you get the picture This section takes you through the steps involved in

getting a fellow ice-skating into a scene of a miniature turtle pond; he won’t care that the

water might not be frozen, it’s all in good fun, and you’ll use PHOTO-PAINT’s features to

make it a believable fantasy Figure 26-4 shows the two images you’ll visually integrate.

Using the Brush Mask Tool

Shortly, you’ll use PHOTO-PAINT’s Cutout Lab to assist you in trimming the skating fellow

from his skating rink background However, it will give you a better idea of how much the

gentleman needs scaling down if you first remove most of the background manually—it also

gives you the opportunity to experience the Brush Mask tool in PHOTO-PAINT The Brush

Mask is an intuitive and easy-to-use selection tool; wherever you stroke in an image becomes

subject to editing, while the exterior areas are not available for editing In the steps to follow,

the editing is simple—you’ll move the selected area, the skater, to a new object in the image,

and then drag him over to the turtle pond image

Stroking to Select an Area

1. Open Skating Claus.cpt and Rink.png Arrange the windows so both are in full view;

you’ll want to zoom out of both images and resize the documents to fit them both

within PHOTO-PAINT’s workspace

2. Click the title bar of the skater image to make it the foreground document, and then

choose the Brush Mask tool from the mask tools group just below the Object Pick

tool on the toolbox

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FIGURE 26-4 Santa Claus in the tropics is a novel idea for a PHOTO-PAINT composition