posted
I love Coreldraw and have been using it for years, but one thing that has always irritated me a bit was seemingly random 'flat spots', stray nodes, and pointy ends when applying contours. These things are easy to fix with the shape tool but are irritating non the less.
On the other hand Coreldraw does a great job of applying thick outlines. Thick outlines are not in themselves cutable but guess what, it has the ablility to convert outlines to objects.
For best results while using thick outlines: select
rounded corners; behind fill; scale with image
from the outline pen rollup. Remember to double the width you'll need, for a ¼" contour you'll need a ½" outline.
Final result - much better, and it takes much less time to do than it does to explain.
I tripped over this tip while looking at summa's site. Thanks Jim & summa people! If you would like to read their discription click here
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
I always seem to have trouble puttin contours on DNA fonts. I will get the flat spots on curves and the odd node that likes to take off in some weird direction.
I would manually go in and take out those troublesome nodes, now I can save some time.
-------------------- Stevo Design Illustration Logos Sign Design Clip Art www.stevo-design.com Posts: 1680 | From: Edmonton Ab Canada EH! | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Here's what I find when doing that. After you convert the outline to an object, you CAN make it cut-able BUT you might have some stuff there that you don't want cut... like the insides of some of the letters. Move the (outline now converted to an object) where you can see it. View in wireframe mode. Break the image apart. Delete anything unwanted (like the weird slivery stuff that you dont need). Now you can go back to enhanced mode. Select the remaining items that you DO want and combine them. Select the original letters and the outline and go to your align and distrubute box. Align horiz. center and vert. center.
Depending on what you are doing (cutting vinyl for overlays or printing) you may need to set your outlines a specifice way in order to cut. For example, if printing, you want only the outline to cut... select the outline, go back to your outline tool box, select ouline pen dialog (f12) and select your line size, then your color, then specify the line size to 0.001, then click the "OK" box - don't just hit enter. This line will now cut if you have set your specifications this way in your print setup. You don't need an outline on the inside letters. If cutting for overlays, separate the two and assign the outlines as above. You can simply move the one that you don't want cut at this time off of the page. Cut your letters, then swap them and cut the outline. This is probably pretty basic stuff but here it is anyway.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
COREL RULES!!!!!!!!!! my contour works great, iam usin version 7.467 the most stable and trouble free version. only time i ever had problems with the contour and inline outline, i tried the SIGN TOOLS DEMO...but have since rebuilt the hard drive with out it on here.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
A couple of tips I've stumbled accross to make outlining easier-
This sounds a LOT more complicated than it is, but... Before you convert the outline to an object, hit CTRL+C to make a copy. Add a new page to your document. Paste the outline here and convert to object. then select both the text and the new outline object and weld together to make one sold outlined object. Turn off the Outline as you don't need it now, and Ctrl+C to Copy the finished object. Switch back to the original page and turn off the outline on the original object. Then hit CTRL+V to paste the new outlined object back in it's proper place. Now just move the original object to the front to put it on top of your new cuttable outline.
Using a new page lets you work without disturbing the original layout. It's easier to clean up an object or remove unwanted parts without other parts of your layout in the way. It's often very handy to use extra pages to copy and paste parts of your layout to so you can experiment with effects, color ideas or typestyles without disturbing your layout until you're ready.
-------------------- Alan Dearborn Dearborn Graphics Hampton, NH USA Posts: 271 | From: NH USA | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
I sometimes still have problems with thick outlines.
When I "convert outline to an object", some letters (like an "A" for example) lose the outline completely! Like it just disappears from the letter. And when you click on wireframe view, no hidden lines show, so it seems that the whole outline deleted.
I can't seem to figure out why. I think someone tried explaining it here before, but I still couldn't figure it out.
Anyone have a simple explanation??
-------------------- Randy Graphic Details Promotional Merchandise Distributor South Glens Falls, NY Posts: 381 | From: South Glens Falls, NY USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
This is great! Just in time for a project I'm working on...now would one of you folks explain how to group multiple objects together and then outline them for cutting. I know how to set up for cutting but when I try to put an outline around multiple items, Corel wants to outline each item seperatley. I even tried the welding to and that did not work? Robin
-------------------- Robin Sharrard Sharrard Graphics & Sign Fallon, Nevada rds@phonewave.net "Proud $$$ Supporter" Posts: 282 | From: Fallon, Nevda, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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