October 2017 RRP $5 - coreldownunder.org.au 98... · CDU Meetings 2017 Tuesday – March 21 Tuesday...

Issue 98

October 2017 RRP $5

03) 9893 1029

Jenette [email protected]

[email protected]

Corelunder Editor:

[email protected]

03) 9729 5419

Secretary:

[email protected]

Darryl Howman

Richard [email protected]

President:

03) 9876 9161

Vice President:

David Mutch

03) 9008 8218

[email protected]

Library:Fred [email protected] 382 965

Membership:

03 9720 2913

Lance Fishman

Treasurer:Geoff George

No. 98 October 2017

CDU Meetings 2017

Tuesday – March 21

Tuesday – February 21

Tuesday – April 18

Tuesday – May 16

Tuesday – June 20

Tuesday – September 19

Tuesday – July 18 (AGM)

Tuesday – August 15

Tuesday – November 21

Tuesday – October 17

This Month’s Cover & Member’s Gallery:CDU member David Mutch

Postal Address: Corel Down UnderPO Box 627, Heathmont 3135

12-13 Our Gallery

Phone: 03 9876 9161

Preparing Travel Pics for Online Use.4

18 Introduction to the Shaping Docker – Boundary Selection

Corelunder, No.98, October 2017, 3

Many of the camera clubs in Victoriaand I assume the rest of Australia nowhave a category called ‘AV’. This standsfor Audio Visual and there are somestrict rules for the competitors. One ofthe rules is called the 3:2:1 rule. Thisrefers to the fact that all entries to thesecompetitions must be exactly 3 minutesand 21 seconds long.

Corel’s Video Studio is a perfect soft-ware tool for producing these AVs. Thismonth David Mutch, our Video Studioguru is going to give a presentation onexactly how to produce a 3:2:1 AV. Thiswill include how to make the music fitthe time exactly, which is somethingVideo Studio is particularly well suitedto.

By the end of the night everyone shouldbe able to produce one of these AVs andI’m sure will be able to enter thesecompetitions at their local camera club.

As you are aware, the committee waselected for only six months at the AGM,due to the uncertainty of the groupcontinuing. The good news for themembers is that the committee believethe group can continue as there isenough interest in the group survivinginto the future, possibly in some sort ofchanged format.

However, having served as Presidentsince 2011 and Vice President for someyears before that, the time has come forme to step down. I’d like to take thisopportunity to thank all the committeefor their support over the years. Thecommittee are a very dedicated group ofCorel users whose knowledge of Corelproducts is immense. I know I havelearned a lot from the variouscommittee members, and also frommany of the members over the years. I’dalso like to thank Corel Corporation forall the help they give our group, partic-ularly Sathish Venugopal, who haspulled out all stops to help our groupalways to be on top of all the new soft-ware and for providing software for usto use as raffle prizes. This has helpedour group raise money but also therehave been many happy winners of Corelsoftware over the years.

Corel Down Under is a fantastic organi-sation to belong to if you are a user ofCorel products.

I’m sure the new committee will takethe group to bigger and better things inthe years to come. It has been a greatprivilege to have served as the Presidentof such a great organisation.

Darryl HowmanOctober 2017

4 Corelunder, No.98 October 2017

INTRODUCTION

On a recent trip around Australia Itook thousands of photos and kept anOnline Facebook Log for viewing by aselect set of friends while we travelled,and for future reference. As we wereoften away from civilised areas (TheOutback) we often had no phone orinternet connectivity so keeping myposts updated was problematic.

However, all that aside, there are a fewbasic rules and techniques which I feelare essential to creating a good photo-journal of a travel trip. These can beapplied in a methodological approachto help improve the viewer’s experienceof enjoying someone’s photo traveljournal. And to help create a limited,memorable sub-set of the trip formyself and for posterity.

One of the limitations when usingFacebook for such a task is the limit 42images per post. This is actually a goodthing as it means that each post iscontained within a well-defined groupof deliberately selected images on aparticular topic or section of the trip.Basically it makes both creating and

reading the posts manageable, succinctand more enjoyable to view.

There were also limitations of band-width while travelling (Upload andDownload on a mobile phone contractor, for instance, at a local publicLibrary or public access point) and alsolimitations regarding imagesize/dimension. Most modern digitalcameras take photos many multipleslarger than a typical screen or Face-book / Image Viewer window. Soreducing (resampling) images beforeposting was essential.

So, within a set of limitations (connec-tivity, bandwidth, numbers of images,and sizes of images), I have come upwith a set of basic considerations,procedures and techniques to generallyassist when posting travel pics online.There are also some techniques whichshould be considered to help create anenjoyable and memorable sub-set ofyour images, rather than to need totroll back through an unselectedlibrary of all the images that were origi-nally taken.

This article will therefore concentrateon the following sub-topics, using, of

Preparing TravelPics for Online Use

- David Mutch, October 2017

Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional photographer. This article is intended to helpordinary people (amateurs like myself), using inexpensive standard (point and click)digital cameras to create better photographs and online image displays. If thesymptoms of poor photography persist, please consult your Photography Profes-sional or Doctor of Photography.


course, Corel products such as Photo-Paint to achieve the end result:

▪ Image selection

▪ Composition and cropping (subjectposition/background relationshipwithin the image, image shape)

▪ Colour and image enhancement

▪ Resize/re-sampling to suit onlineposts.

Automation of processes and work-space setup will be dealt with in afuture article.

IMAGE SELECTION

I think that most of us use digitalcameras completely differently thanhow we used to use film cameras. Nowwe can take virtually unlimitednumbers of images, at almost zero cost,and can effortlessly experiment with allsorts of photographic variations. I oftentake many versions of (almost) exactlythe same shot, with different WhiteBalance settings, differentfocus/aperture settings, slightlydifferent subject placement etc. I takeway more images than I could possiblytake in the says of film. Bulk attackrather than a well defined, careful,deliberate strategy I had to use previ-ously. Also, especially with movingtargets, I sometimes set ContinuousShooting mode on, to ensure I get that‘Best Of’ shot, and end up with dozensof almost identical photos within 2-3seconds.

That said, I still think it is important tothink about WHAT, WHO and WHENduring the actual shooting process.

Otherwise we just get gigabytes ofrubbish.

Image Selection While Shooting.

Even if we CAN take unlimitednumbers of photos, this is still impor-tant.

I often see many young people, oftenusing mobile phones, (and often Asian,sorry) taking heaps of Selfies andheaps of pics of their close friends, petor girlfriend/boyfriend at some memo-rable place. This may be all well andgood for themselves to look at later butwill everyone one else be so impressed?Also, the person/subject in the shotoften obscures the memorable object,place or background within the rest ofthe frame.

The location, time, lighting, shot direc-tion and camera settings should alwaysbe considered as well, rather than justbang off 1000 crappy photos without atleast some prior consideration.

Camera orientation should also beconsidered when appropriate.Changing from Landscape to Portraitcan make for more interesting viewinglater. Two issues to note on orientationhowever are: Firstly, many moderndigital cameras recognise when thecamera is rotated and save the orienta-tion data with the image. Some imageprocessing/display programs recognisethis and some do not. Do not rotate animage digitally later, before checkingwhether your application utilises auto-rotation detection. Secondly, always tryto rotate your camera in the samedirection, clockwise or anti-clockwiseconsistently. This way, if you do useautomation or a script to

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process your images and if resize orrotation is part of the process, then youwon’t end up with images that havebeen inadvertently turned incorrectlyor upside down.

Another thought - a common omissionin many photographs is that of thephotographer. Its often rare for a viewerto actually see the person taking thephotos.

So a few general rules need to beconsidered during shooting.

•DON’T take endless photos of thesame subject and little else. In otherwords, sometimes leave yourfavourite subject/ partner/ pet OUTof the shot.

•DO include some formal parts (evenblurred can be good) of other Objectsor Backgrounds within the shot.

•VARY the placement of subject/s (i.e.Composition) within the shot - moreon this later.

•EXPERIMENT with different Zoomlevels of the same shot - you canalways crop, resize and reshape yourimage later, but you can never accu-rately re-zoom into an image once itstaken.

•CONSIDER the camera settings(especially lighting) before shooting.

•CONSIDER varying orientation butbe consistent when you turn yourcamera.

•GET SOMEONE ELSE to take a shotwith YOU in it, occasionally. You mayhave to set up the camera first andeven show them which button topush. I often find it useful to placesomeone else (a stand-in) in positionwithin the shot first to show the

assistant where to place me withinthe shot when they take it. Thenswitch places with the stand-in andhope for the best.

Image Selection While Sorting

OK, now we’ve got thousands of photos,its time to sort and select them. No onewants to see ALL of these (not even mesometimes - LOL).

So making a good selection of say, just42, related photos for a set, fromhundreds, is pretty important. Hope-fully they will be able to tell an inter-esting, related and continuous story forthe viewer. Sometimes there is a needfor showing very similar shots (sayfrom different angles or differentlighting) so this also needs to beconsidered. But I think the GoldenRule is basically: LESS is BETTER thanTOO MANY.

Choose shots that add to a storyline,related in some way, often chronologi-cally, but not necessarily.

Non-chronological related shots can beused together in sets, such as Best Of,or People, Trees, Flowers or Sunsetsetc. As long as they are still related insome way, together they make an inter-esting set.

Choose images that you think othersmay enjoy viewing. Sometimes wechoose photos that have great personalmeaning or interest, but may meanabsolutely nothing to other people. Isee far too many of these on Facebookand usually skip them. Choose some-thing INTERESTING.

I think it’s a good idea to also consideryour folder structures and backupstrategy while sorting. As a general rule

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I always COPY, never MOVE(Cut/Paste). I always keep my originalsintact and untouched, no matter howmany I have. While sorting andselecting images for further use, Ialways create new folders, based oneither chronology or location/subject(or both) and then COPY my selectionsinto new folders. At various timesduring a selection process (and espe-cially at the end), I create a separateBACKUP (usually on a separate port-able HDD) of both the originals and theselected images.

So here are the guidelines fromabove:

•LESS is better.

•TELL a story.

•RELATE images within a set in someway.

•CONSIDER your audience.

•CONSIDER your selection folderstructures and backup strategy.

•NEVER delete, remove or alter youroriginals. Always work with copies.Backup regularly.

IMAGE PROCESSING.

OK, so now we have our imagesselected, lets think about how toprocess/enhance them to make thembetter and more appealing to bothourselves and to other viewers.

There are a few simple strategies andmethods that I routinely use toenhance and process my images. Theseare:

Composition, Image Shape and Crop-ping (subject position / backgroundrelationship within the image, imageshape)

Colour correction / enhancement

Contrast correction / enhancement

Image sharpness or blur (either overallor as detail/background)

Image size / file size / resampling.

Composition, Image Shape,Cropping and Straightening.

Image Shape. Varying the shape andorientation of your displayed imagescan reduce the ‘boring’ factor of slideshows. Cropping allows you to change

Crop-Zoom

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Crop -reorient

Image 3-Cropto Panorama.

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both the general shape and theperceived orientation of your imagesplus lots more.

Most digital cameras take photographsin either 4:3 or 16:9 ratios (eitherLandscape or Portrait). Changing theoverall SHAPE of your processedimages can help inspire interest. Aslong as the main subject/s and back-grounds are still visible, changing theoverall shape to square or short andwide like a panorama can often createexciting visual variations from oneimage to another.

The Crop Tool. Cropping also helps toreposition a subject within the frame(recompose), so it directs the viewer’s

attention better. Cropping can also beused reposition a Vanishing Point orHorizon line within the frame.

If the original image is large enough,you can also use crop to Zoom into asubject, while reshaping, if you wish, atthe same time.

Crop can also be used to turn an ordi-nary photo into a magical panorama.

Crop-Rotate. Many good image editorssuch as Corel Photo-Paint allow you torotate the image whilst cropping. Theresultant image from a rotated crop boxwill always be returned to the hori-zontal. In Photo-Paint, simply select theCrop tool and drag to draw your cropbox. Move one border so it is close to a

Crop-Rotate

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section of the image which will act asan alignment guide (e.g. a horizon).Then click once inside the crop box tochange the mode to rotate and drag-rotate a corner to rotate the crop box.Switch between rectangular adjustmentand rotate mode to reposition andresize the crop box correctly. Whenyou’re happy, just double click insidethe crop box and the image will berotated as well as cropped.

Careful attention to the positions ofsubject/foreground in relation to back-ground, plus adjustments to imageshape and zoom while cropping canchange a quite ordinary photographinto a far more interesting ‘work of art’.

The simple crop tool is really quite amagic box as it can recompose,reshape, resize and rotate andstraighten your images simply andquickly.

Straighten Image: Displaying astraight image is very important, espe-cially for images containing a horizonor a horizontal or vertical surface. Evenwith dutiful care to levels and the useof in-camera level lines, I find there willalways be occasions when I’m in toomuch of a hurry or maybe too excited,and produce nice level shots. But theseare no excuse for a poor end result - sostraighten any photo that needs it.

-Straighten-image-1.


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I described above how to use the Croptool for straightening images, butPhoto-Paint also has an excellent built-in image straightening tool which canalso crop, resample, correct lens distor-tion and correct horizontal and verticalperspective. We will just deal withstraightening here. Some other imageeditors have different (easier?) ways tostraighten an image but Photo-Paint’sStraighten Image tool is very useful andaccurate.

First, open the image you wish tostraighten and then use Adjust>Straighten Image. When this dialoguebox first opens you are usually inWindow mode with the Pan toolselected. For a larger window make thisbox full screen if you wish. First, Iusually set up the image within thewindow so that I have a clear view ofthe line I wish to straighten against To

do this I use the pan and zoom func-tions and also adjust the grid sizeand/or colour if necessary. Once this isdone you can then either drag or incre-mentally adjust (spin) or type anumber, into the Rotate image control.Before completing the straighteningprocess you can elect how the imagegets cropped, with or without re-sam-pling back to the original size. If youelect not to crop, the rotated image willbe placed inside a rectangle of thedefault paper colour and of the originalsize of the image. This will probably notbe the result you wanted, so its almostalways best to select crop orcrop/resample while using StraightenImage.

I always straighten and crop my images(physical adjustments) beforeattempting any colour correction orenhancement. Apart from aesthetics,

Straighten-image-2.


Let’sGoTravelling

With David Mutch

Signpost at Caiguna, WA. Halfway across the Nullabor, August, 2017.

Freecamp beside the Ord River, Lake Argyle, WA, June 2017


Murphy’s Haystacks near Streaky Bay, SA, August 2017.

Piccaninny Creek, Bungle Bungles, WA, June, 2017.


this helps limit the colours andcontrasts that automatic or semi-auto-matic enhancement tools take intoaccount in their algorithms. Most toolstake the total image histogram andcolour range into account whileprocessing, so try to remove anythingaround the main subject (by cropping)you don’t need so the algorithms canfocus on the important parts of theimage. These may be areas that are toodark, too light, over or under exposed,too much of one colour, blurry etc.Crop and trim for best results.

Colour Correction / Enhancement

Photography is really all about Lightand how that light reacts and playsagainst the subject, the environment,the camera’s sensors and our ownsenses. Its often really more aboutperception, interpretation and expecta-tion.

I am really not much of a fan of colourcalibration, ‘correctness’ and accuracyfor a couple of reasons. Firstly, IMHO,colour is all about the context and willchange dramatically depending on theenvironment, lighting and othersurrounding colours - and that’s justthe visual side of it, nothing to do withprinted output, paper type or colourprofiles. Secondly, we see with ourminds as much as with our eyes. Ourbrains process and enhance what wesee in order to create a mental repre-sentation. Moreover, our brainsconstruct ‘single’ images from multiplesnapshots as we unconsciously panand zoom to take in our surroundings,automatically compensating for lightand dark, dim and clear, far and near,to construct a ‘viewpoint’. A camera -even the best and most expensive - is afar less effective vehicle for transmitting

and recording images than our owneyes and minds. Regardless of howmany gigapixels it’s sensor might haveor how many bits per pixel it canresolve, a camera doesn’t have ourperception, interpretation or imagina-tion which plays a huge role in what we‘see’.

Today’s television and movies are VERYcolour saturated and quite heavilycontrasted compared to in the past. Itsoften much more saturated than in reallife! This probably makes televisionmore appealing but it is also de-tuningus to the real life colours and shadegraduations. In many cases we alsoseem to think that a more colourful,more saturated and contrasted imageis more pleasing than one with morenatural lighting. Just glancing at manycoffee table magazines and photo bookstells us that this is true.

The last part of the complex colourquality equation is the End User. Itsimpossible to tell which devices theimages will be viewed on, what screenresolution, screen type, colour capacityor settings. So online viewing is acompletely different ballpark from thatof printed images.

For me, on-line image colour andcontrast is all about perception, notaccuracy. If the shot lends itself tobright and colourful then the finalproduct should be the same. If theimage mode is dark or stormy thenthat’s how it should look. I usuallywork on what the original image istrying to tell me (or what I’ve tried toshoot at that time and place) and thendevelop and enhance the image to anacceptable level.

Possibly one of the most critical issuesI found when posting images online

� Page 12 – Preparing Travel Pics for Online Use


while travelling was Time, even abovelimitations of laptop power and band-width availability. Time constraints,along with the later two, meant that Iwas quite limited in the amount of timeI could spend on individual images, sousing a fast, yet effective image

processing strategy was really impor-tant. Thus my preference is to use useautomatic and semi-automaticenhancement procedures whenpossible.

Quite often the enhancement processis a matter of trial and error as everyimage is different. There are severalenhancement tools I use, each givingdifferent results in full or semi-auto-matic mode. Figure 7 demonstratesjust some of the range and possibleoutcomes using some of Photo-Paint’sautomatic and semi-automaticenhancement tools.

I use the following tools one at a time,usually individually, not sequentially(so an UNDO is needed if unsuc-cessful) to see if a good result can beachieved: (All of these tools are inPhoto-Paint’s Adjust menu)

- Auto Adjust

- Contrast Enhancement.

- Histogram Equalization

- Tone Curve with a manuallyinput (or saved) simple ‘S’ curve

- Local Equalization (very rarelydo I use this)

- Auto Balance Tone (also rarelyused)

If none of the top four methods giveme a reasonable result in automaticmode, then I will usually use a modi-fied Tone Curve or the Image Adjust-ment Lab. Occasionally I’ll use amanually adjusted Contrast Enhance-ment process.

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Enhancement Comparison - Image 7

16 Corelunder, No.97 August 2017

As many of my photos don’t have a fullblack-white balance range, I rarely usethe Sample Target/Balance tool.

Occasionally I’ll use one or more thefollowing tools if image really needs itand if I have time:Brightness/Contrast/Intensity,Hue/Saturation/Lightness, ChannelMixer, Colour Hue, Colour Tone.

For more unreal/un-natural results Ifind the Adjust > Grayscale tool in Tintmode and the Image > Convert To >Duotone tool (in duo, tri or quad tonemodes) both excellent for creatingtinted, atmospheric or emotive crea-tions.

So without taking too much valuabletime whenever I process sets of up to42 images for online posting, theabove-mentioned tools will usually getme about 95% of the way to a reason-able image for use online. Now for thefinal steps.

Final Steps: Further enhance-ment, Sharpening,Resize/Resample.

Following the initial physical correc-tion, followed by the colour/contrastenhancement steps, I almost alwaysadd little Vibrance and sometimesSharpening before finally Resamplingdown to the required size for onlineuse.

Vibrance (Adjust > Vibrance) is easy tooverdo so generally keep the vibranceslider levels < 20 and saturation sliderlevels < 15, otherwise the image maylook a bit fake.

Sharpening is usually only neededwhen there are fine details which mayneed to be enhanced. Similarly toVibrance, don’t over do any sharpening

- it can really ruin an image. For smallimages (less that 800x800 px) I oftenuse Adaptive Sharpening (Effects >Sharpen > Adaptive Sharpening) as it isgentle and easily controlled. For largerimages I usually use the Unsharp Masktool (Effects > Sharpen > UnsharpMask). Both care and constraint needsto be taken with this tool as its veryeasy to over sharpen an image. I oftenzoom into a section of the image firstbefore starting to use this tool so I canbetter observe the results as I tweekthe sliders. Of course, always check theimage at full size as well after sharp-ening and don’t be afraid to use UNDOand start over if needed.

Resample: (Resize in some otherprogram’s language) is the penultimatestep for online images. This is impor-tant for improving upload times andwith limited bandwidth conditions. Thefinal size of your posted images shouldalways take into consideration yourtarget audience and which online appli-cation you are posting to be it Face-book, Flikr, PhotoBucket, or dozens ofothers (seehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_image-sharing_websites for a large list) .It is impossible to know whether theimages will be viewed using 4K, fullHD, WSVGA, or within a window of acommon screen size. If I were to recom-mend a particular final image size hereI know that in a very short time anysuch advice will be obsolete, whenscreen sizes have again improved inquality, size and resolution.

Currently, for uncropped images Ireduce my images about 30% of orig-inal size. That makes it pretty easywithin the Image > Resample dialoguebox: I will already have Pixels set as theUnits set in my preferences so it’s asimple direct reduction. Use Image >



Resample (check units are pixels), thentype ‘30' into the horizontal percentagespinner and press OK. The defaultsettings for Resample are for Anti-Aliasand Maintain Aspect Ratio to be ON(checked) so this always makes theimages proportional to the original. Theresultant size from my original 16Mpixel camera sensor of 4,608 x 3,456pixels is 1,382 x 1,037 pixels. Thishelps reduce upload time/bandwidthand yet will be suitable for mostcurrent screen sizes/windows. Forcropped images I will use a slightlydifferent resample percentage so thatthe resultant overall height or width isabout the same as for uncroppedimages.

The final step should be obvious: SaveAs. NEVER save over your originalsafter processing, Always save to a

different location. I usually keep thesame filename but in a different folder,unless there is a good reason to changethe filename. Keep the original imagesafe and sound; one day you may wishto reprocess or repurpose it usingdifferent methods. Don’t forget to makebackups of everything on a regularbasis either.

There will be a follow-up to this articlesoon, on how to automate / batchprocess your image processing work-flow using Corel Photo-Paint and howto set up different workplaces fordifferent types of work, namely imageprocessing. I hope you have found thisarticle useful.

Cheers.David Mutch


learning coreldraw

Introduction to the ShapingDocker – Boundary Selection

The Shaping docker is a tool that canhelp in creating a variety of shapesusing various operations. Shapingoperations include…

1. Weld

2. Trim

3. Intersect

4. Simplify

5. Front minus back

6. Back minus front

7. Boundary – covered in thisarticle.

See Image 1.

Accessing the Docker

There are several ways to open theShaping Docker…

1. Click on Object/Shaping/Boundary – see Image 2.

2. Click on Window/Dockers/Shaping – see Image 3.

3. If you have some Dockers openalready, and are working in Corel-DRAW X7, X8, or 2017, then youcan also open the Shaping Dockerby clicking on the Quick customizeicon… (the + sign) at the bottom ofthe Docker’s panel. See Image 4.

Note: As shown in all our screen shots,we have the Shaping Docker docked tothe right side of our workspace. Bydefault, the first time you open it, usingthe menu options shown in Image 2 or3, it will be docked to the right side ofthe work space. If you already havesome Dockers docked to the left side ofthe workspace, and use the Quickcustomize dialog screen, as shown in

Image 4, then it will be docked to theside of the workspace from which theQuick customize dialog screen wascalled. In other words, call Quickcustomize from the right side of theworkspace, and the docker selected willbe docked to the right side. Call Quickcustomize from the left side, and it willbe docked to the left.

By Judy and John McDaniel

Image 1- Shaping-Boundary.


Image 2 - Object-Shaping-Boundary

Image 3 - Window-Dockers Shaping

As we’ve mentioned before, one of theneat features of using Quick customize,when you have dockers docked to bothsides of the workspace, is that you can

move a docker from one side to theother by…

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1. Call Quick customize from theside of the workspace you wantthe docker moved to.

2. Quick customize will show acheckmark next to all dockersthat are opened.

3. Left click the checkmark next tothe docker you want to move.This action will close the docker.

4. Left click the checkmark asecond time. This will cause thedocker to reopen, this time,docked to the side of the work-space from which the Quickcustomize dialogue was called.

Viewing Shaping Docker – Boundaryoption

As you can see in Image 1, the Shapingdocker contains options for severaldifferent variations. In this article, wewill focus on the Boundary option.Select the Boundary option from thedrop down list shown in Image 1.

What the Boundary option inShaping Docker does…The ShapingDocker is very easy to use once you

understand how it works. Essentially,the Boundary operation creates avector object that’s a boundary aroundthe selected objects in the layout. Inother words, Boundary creates a vectoroutline around the selected objects.The exception is that Boundary doesnot create an outline around openobjects, unless multiple open objectscreate an enclosed space.

A Quick Review… First, a quick review– as you probably know, all objects inCorelDRAW are ordered Back-to-Front.That is, the very first object created inany layout is at the very back, behindevery other object. All other objects arethen stacked on top in the order theyare created. For example, Image 5shows several objects we’ve created fordemonstration purposes. Image 5 alsoshows the order of those objects in theObject Manager docker. Please note:we’ve labelled each of the objects in theObject Manager’s list for easy identifi-cation.

Using the Shaping Docker –Boundary option

Image 4 - Quick Customize



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Back to the “Boundary”operation…This operation creates avector outline enclosing objects that areselected in the layout. It does not…

1. Outline selected objects that arecontained within other selectedobjects.

2. Outline interior spaces. Forexample, it doesn’t create an inneroutline for the inside of the letter O,capital A, etc. Interior spaces andobjects are ignored.

It has two options… (See Image 6.)

1. The first option we’ll discuss (Leaveoriginal object) deals withdiscarding or retaining the selectedobjects.

a. Unchecked – leaving this optionunchecked results in discardingall the objects selected prior tothe Boundary operation beingperformed. See Image 7, whichshows the results of theBoundary operation with every-

thing in our sample layout beingselected. Notice that everythinghas been replaced with a simpleoutside outline.

b. Check marked – This optionretains the original objects andcreates an outside outline of theobjects.

2. The second option (Place behindselected) deals with placement ofthe created object (the Boundaryoutline) in the order of objects inthe layout. The choices are…

Unchecked – leaving this optionunchecked results in the new object,the Boundary outline, being placed atthe top of the stack, in front of every-thing else. See Image 8 – everythingselected – “Leave original object”checked – “Place behind selected”unchecked. The Boundary outline isplaced in front of everything else in thelayout. b. Checked – check markingthis option results in the new objectbeing placed behind the

Image 5 - Sample Layout



bottom object selected in the layout.See Image 9 – everything selected –both options selected. Now theBoundary outline is placed behind thebottom object selected. To useBoundary, select all the objects youwant to include in the operation, thenclick Apply. Performing the Boundaryoperation on all the objects in thesample layout shown in Image 5,results in whatyou see in Image7. Image 7 alsoshows the revisedlist of objects,that is, the list ofobjects remainingin the layout afterthe Boundaryoperation hasbeen applied. Inthe case of oursample, the onlyobject left afterperforming theoperation is asimple curve. Acurve is a basic

vector object, as opposed to rectangles,ellipses, polygons, stars, and otherhigher-level objects. Notice that theobjects that were physically separatedfrom the centre group of objects (shownin Image 5) are also outlined. Thelayout now consists of a single “curve”that consists of 861 nodes on 48 sub-paths. Using the Shaping Docker –Boundary option – on Bitmap Images.The Boundary option can also be usedon bitmap images. Image 10 shows twooverlapping bitmap Images. Image 11shows the same bitmaps after applyingthe Boundary option, changing theoutline’s colour to purple, and makingthe outline thicker. Image 12 shows anadditional red outline that was createdusing the contour docker. Adding awhite space border might be somethinguseful for a print-and-cut operation.Print the bitmap images as a collage,including some outline colour. Thencontour another outline for cuttingpurposes.

Image 6 - Operation Options

Image 7 - Sample Layout after Boundary - No Options Selected

Conclusion: In short, the Shaping Docker – Boundary option allows users to easily create an outline suitable for cutting operations. This can be very useful for creating layouts for any process that includes vector cutting, such

as laser engraving or vinyl cutting. Hidden and inside lines are removed. The Shaping Docker – Boundary is yet another powerful tool within CorelDRAW. Explore it. – Enjoy! It's easy to use.

Image 8 - Sample Layout after Boundary-Leave Original Selected

https://coreldrawhelp.com

CorelDraw Help MagazineJudy & John McDaniel,

August 2017

Image 10 - Bitmapt Images

Image 11 - Bitmaps Outlined in Purple

New Cloning Capabilities

New Thick Paint

New Texture Synthesis

New Natural-Media brushes

New 2.5D Texture Brushes

October 2017 RRP $5 - coreldownunder.org.au 98... · CDU Meetings 2017 Tuesday – March 21 Tuesday...

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Transcript of October 2017 RRP $5 - coreldownunder.org.au 98... · CDU Meetings 2017 Tuesday – March 21 Tuesday...