MODUL PELATIHAN BERBASIS KOMPETENSI

CorelDRAW: The Basics

PROGRAM DESAIN GRAFIS

KEJURUAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

UPT. BALAI LATIHAN KERJA

DINAS TENAGA KERJA KABUPATEN WONOGIRI
2020
 The Workspace

If you are entirely new to CorelDRAW or maybe you haven’t had much opportunity to
use it in the past he first thing to do is to familiarise yourself with the workspace.

At the top of the screen you will find the Menu Bar. The Menus contain a wide variety of
commands to modify the characteristics of your workspace and the entities within it.

Beneath the Menu Bar you will find the property bar. This is adaptive dependent on the
object you select or the tool you are using and you should note the various options you
can control with each tool you use or shape you create.

On the left-hand side of the screen is the toolbox you use to create shapes and text with.
At the bottom of the screen is the Status bar. This will tell you important details about
the objects you select and is an invaluable guide to resolving problems.

A number of Dockers are available to allow you to manage your drawings and modify
the components you create. A Docker is a toolbar that can be opened and closed as you
wish and either kept floating or docked at the side of your workspace and collapsed to
allow you greater screen space. I always have the following dockers open: Object
properties, Transformations, Shaping. I frequently open the Object Manager and Undo
Docker for advanced control of my drawing.

Page

Menu Bar
Property Bar

Toolbox

Rulers Dockers

Status Bar Colour Palettes

 Configuring the Workspace

Defining the Page Size

You can create your drawings in any page size you find convenient however it is
very important that when you print your file to the laser cutter that the page you
print from represents the bed size of your machine.
If it doesn't you will have no control over where the file is being cut.

The page size can be set on the Property Bar:

As the bed of your Universal laser cutter has been built to
Imperial measurements, you may find it simpler to set
the Units to Inches first before entering the dimensions.
These are the actual dimensions depending on the model
you have.

The rulers on your laser cutter have their origin at the top lefthand corner and
you will find it useful if your CorelDRAW page has the same. This can be defined
by double-clicking on the rulers and entering the value you set the page height to
in the Vertical Origin. Note it is easier to keep the units in Inches when you do
this.

Nudge Keys
The Nudge Keys allow you to make quick precise incremental adjustments to the
position of selected objects. Select objects and use the arrow keys on your
keyboard to move them.
A Nudge is a movement by a defined amount. Double-clicking on the rulers
opens the ruler options dialogue where the nudge amount can be defined. I
recommend a value of 1mm is entered.

You will also see options for Super Nudge and Micro Nudge. These will move a
selection by a multiple of the Nudge value you defined. I recommend for
practical purposes you set the Super Nudge to 10 and the Micro nudge to 2. A
Super Nudge will then be 10mm and a Micro nudge will be 0.5mm.

Depending on the version of CorelDRAW you have this can be set1.0

in mm
the Property

Bar when nothing is selected by entering a value in:

Note that the Super Nudge and the Micro Nudge factors cannot be set in the
Property Bar and will be whatever factor has been defined in the ruler options.

To use Super Nudge, hold down the Shift key as you press the arrow keys.

To use Micro Nudge, hold down the Ctrl key as you press the arrow keys.
 The Toolbox

Take a tour of the Toolbox. By default this resides on the left hand side of the screen but
it can be moved anywhere else, sometimes inadvertently, particularly if you use a laptop
computer with a touch mousepad!

Select Tool

Shape / Knife Tool

Zoom Tool

Freehand Tool

Smart Drawing Tool Note the small triangle

in the corner of some
Rectangle Tool tools. Clicking on this
opens a flyout with
Elipise Tool other related tools.
Polygon /Graph / Spiral Tool

Basic Shapes Tool

Text Tool

Blend / Contour Tool

Eyedropper Tool

Outline Tool

Fill Tool

Interactive Fill Tool

Drawing Basics

Freehand with
Drawing Tool CorelDRAW is best achieved by
breaking the items you are creating down into a
series of discrete components that are then sized Click and Drag
using the Transformation Docker and shaped with
the shape tool and the Weld and Trim tools in the
Shaping Docker.
There are 4 basic tools used to create shapes:
Rectangle Tool Click, take finger off mouse
Ellipse Tool When using
Polygon Tool the Freehand Tool to move mouse then click
draw a straight line you
need to click, then move again.
Select any one of the mouse without dragging
these tools and then click again. Holding down
click and drag your the Ctrl Key as you do this will
mouse to draw. constrain the line you draw to Holding down the Ctrl
be horizontal, vertical or at as you do this
15 degree snaps
between.

Click and Drag

Holding down the Ctrl key when drawing

the other shapes will constrain the shape
to be regularly proportioned, i.e. Holding down
rectangles becomes a squares, an ellipse the Ctrl key
becomes a circle and a polygon has as you
identical sides. click and drag

The rectangle and polygon objects

you draw can be modified in these
ways: You can radius the corners
of a rectangle and you can turn a
polygon into a star shape. If you
select the shape you will see Control Points
control points where the lines
connect and at the mid point of
the polygon lines. Using the
Shape Tool, click and drag these.
 Dockers

A Docker is a type of dialogue box that can reside on the screen to allow you
quick access to commands, provide information about your work, to allow you to
modify your work, to control your drawing in many ways.

There are a number of dockers that you may choose to keep open at all times.
They can be minimized to keep your workspace as large as possible but are
readily accessible, and can be closed down if you don't use them very frequently.

Dockers that are particularly useful and worth keeping open all the time are: the
Object Properties Docker; the Transformation Docker; the Shaping Docker; the
Undo Docker and the Object Manager Docker.

Dockers are opened through the Window drop-down menu.

Minimize Expand by clicking

here or on the tab for
the Docker you want
to use.

Dockers stack over

each other as you
open them
 The Transformation Docker

The Transformation Docker enables us to modify the objects we

create or import in a precision way. We can move objects to a precise
location, rotate, mirror, size and skew accurately.

Rotat
Positio

Scale and

Siz

Ske

Anchor
 The Shaping Docker

The Shaping Docker lets you achieve the following things; Weld, Trim and
Intersect. Late versions of CorelDRAW have added more functions to the shaping
Docker that advanced users may find useful but of all the functions Weld and
Trim will be found to be powerful tools that are the most useful.
In each function you are given the option to leave the original Source object
and/or Target object. Checking these tick-boxes when you use these functions
will create duplicate objects. This is useful for advanced users with good planning
skills and enables better productivity.
It is advised that you leave these tick-boxes unchecked until you are fluent with
using the Shaping tools.

The Source Object is the object you originally select to weld or trim. The Target
Object is the object you subsequently act upon.

It is important to understand that using these tools will affect the properties of
the objects you are working with. The source object will take on the properties of
the target object.

The best way to understand how these tools are used is by example.

Weld.
Draw a rectangle. Now draw a second rectangle that overlaps the first. Apply a
colour fill to the second rectangle.

With the second rectangle selected, click Weld and with the arrow cursor that
appears click on the first rectangle.
You will find the two rectangles have combined into a single object without a fill.

Try this again, this time selecting the first object and welding this to the second.
You will achieve the same shape but this time the new object has a fill.

Trim
Draw 2 rectangles as before. Select one and trim this to the other. You will find
that the target object has a piece missing where the source object overlapped.
Using the shaping tools automatically converts objects to curves.

The Weld Command

The Weld command creates a single curve from 2 or more components. The
components may overlap, sit next to each other or be some distance apart.

You are given the option to leave the original

Source object and/or Target object. Checking these tick-boxes will create
duplicate originals. This is useful for advanced users with good planning skills and
enables better productivity. It is advised that you leave these tick-boxes
unchecked until you are fluent with using the Shaping tools. The Source Object is
the object you originally select to weld or trim. The Target Object is the object
you subsequently act upon. It is important to understand that using these tools
will affect the properties of the objects you are working with. The source object
will take on the properties of the target object. The best way to understand how
these tools are used is by example.

Draw a rectangle. Now draw a second rectangle that overlaps the first. Apply a
colour fill to the second rectangle. With the second rectangle selected, click Weld
and with the arrow cursor that appears click on the first rectangle. You will find
the two rectangles have combined into a single object without a fill.

Try this again, this time selecting the first object and welding this to the second.
You will achieve the same shape but this time the new object has a fill.
 The Trim Command
The Trim command creates a single curve from 2 or more components. The components must
overlap. Trim forms the shape of the selected object (Source Object) into the object you trim to
where it overlaps. (Target Object).

You are given the option to leave the original

Source object and/or Target object. Checking these tick-boxes will create duplicate originals. This
is useful for advanced users with good planning skills and
enables better productivity. It is advised that you leave these tick-boxes unchecked until you are
fluent with using the Shaping tools. The Source Object is the object you originally select to weld
or trim. The Target Object is the object you subsequently act upon. It is important to understand
that using these tools will affect the properties of the objects you are working with. The source
object will take on the properties of the target object. The best way to understand how these
tools are used is by example.

Draw a rectangle. Now draw a second rectangle that overlaps the first. With the second
rectangle selected, click Trim and with the arrow cursor that appears click on the first rectangle.
The Intersect Command

Intersect creates the shape that is formed by the overlap of 2 components.

You are given the option to leave the original

Source object and/or Target object. Checking these tick-boxes will create duplicate originals.

Draw a rectangle. Now draw a second rectangle that overlaps

the first. With the second
rectangle selected, click Intersect With and with the arrow cursor that appears click on the first
rectangle.

Try intersecting circles with squares

In this example I have Intersected one circle with another then intersected this with the third.
 The Object Manager Docker

Advanced CorelDRAW users

make much use of the Object
Manager Docker. Each item
you have created can be
identified, accessed and
modified in the Object
Manager.

New layers can be created in

your drawing in the Object
Manager and it allows you to
move objects between layers
and pages. You can do this by
dragging the item to another
layer or page. Dragging objects
within the layer they are on
will change the order within
the drawing.

Each page you create within

your drawing will appear in the
Object Manager and selecting
objects within these pages will
automatically switch the view
to the page they are on. You can give names to the layers and pages here too. Right-click on the
layer or page and click on rename.

Layers
Layers allow you to manage your pages efficiently and productively. You can turn on viewing,
printing and editing of individual layers. An example would be in the production of a printed
carton. Images that are to be printed on the carton will be created on one layer. A second layer is
used for the creation of the vector cutting and scoring part of the file. Turn off printing of the
cutting layer when you are printing the images, reverse this when printing to the laser cutter.

Master Page
Each new file has one Master Page that contains and controls three default layers: the Grid,
Guides, and Desktop layers. The Grid, Guides, and Desktop layers contain the grid, guidelines,
and objects outside the borders of the drawing page. The Desktop layer lets you create drawings
you might want to use later. You can specify settings for the grid and guidelines on the Master
Page. See the section on Guidelines for further information. You can specify settings, for
example colour, for each layer on the Master Page.
You can add one or more master layers to a Master Page. This layer contains information that
you want to display on every page of a multipage document. For example, you can use a master
layer to place a header, footer, or static background on every page.
 The Undo Docker
The Undo Docker
This lists the sequence of events that you have made in your drawing and allows you to get back
to a specific point without losing the work you have done. It is particularly useful for teachers as
it will let you see how your students have constructed their drawings. You can use this to go back
to a point in your drawing where you constructed an item and copy this item to the clipboard.
Then go to the last event and paste the item from the clipboard into your drawing again.

If you go back to a previous point and then change something you will lose the other work you
did from that point on.

It is important to remember that the number of undo steps available has to be configured in the
CorelDRAW setup. The default is around 20 steps but you will find this limiting at times. If you
have a reasonable amount of RAM on your computer I would suggest you increase this to around
50 steps or more.
 Outlines and Fills

When you create drawings to be cut or engraved on the laser you have to ensure
the following criteria are applied:

Outlines need to have a line weight of hairline.

They need to have a colour that the laser driver recognises as a command, i.e the
precise colour as defined in your laser manual.

Filled areas of your drawing can only be engraved.

Outline Fill
We can set the outline colour by simply right-clicking on a colour in the colour
pallette. It can also be set using the Outline Tool in the Object Properties Docker.

We can set the fill colour by simply left-clicking on a colour in the colour pallette.
It can also be set using the Fill Tool in the Object Properties Docker. You will only
be able to see and print a fill in a closed path however the object will own fill
properties if these were applied. Once the path is closed the fill will be visible
and can be printed. For information about closing paths refer to the section on
curve editting.

You will have received a CorelDRAW colour pallette with your laser driver. The
colours in this pallette are the specific colours that the driver recognises and
which you can assign tasks for the laser to do. This palette needs to be copied to
the CorelDRAW palettes folder and opened using Window - Colour Palettes -
Open Palette then locating the palette from its location.

In the Universal Laser Systems colour pallette there are 8 primary colours and 19
shades of grey. The grey colours will apply a percentage of the power you set the
black colour to corresponding to the percentage of grey you use, i.e. 50% grey
applies 50% of the power you set for black.
 Aligning Objects

As you build your drawing you will find it necessary to arrange components so that they align
with other components. There is a variety of ways to do this and CorelDRAW has some quick
methods. Select the objects you wish to align then go to the Arrange dropdown menu Align and
Distribute then select the method of alignment you need. Note the shortcuts listed to the right of
the options:

L aligns the objects to the left of their bounding box

R aligns the objects to the right of their bounding box
T aligns the objects to the top of their bounding box
B aligns the objects to the bottom of their bounding box
E aligns the objects to the to their centres Vertically
C aligns the objects to the to their centres Horizontally
P aligns the objects to the centre of the page

Remembering these shortcuts will speed up the production of your drawing. Just select the
objects and press the keyboard character corresponding to the alignment mode.

A few things to note:

All the components you select will be aligned in the same way and this may not be quite what
you intended. Imagine the example below for a simple keyring. The keyring shape has been
drawn, a hole for the ring has been drawn and you are ready to place the text to be engraved.

Solar Laser Systems

01634 290260 Solar Laser Systems
www.solarlasers.co.uk 01634 290260
www.solarlasers.co.uk

Oops!
Selecting everything and aligning them
centrally will place the keyring hole in the centre
too. To avoid this happening, first group the
Solar Laser Systems
keyring shape and the hole, then align the text on
the keyring. 01634 290260
www.solarlasers.co.uk
Format text before you align it as formatting
after will lose the alignment.
 About Curves

A curve is a series of line segments, each line segment have a node at each end. Line segments
can be straight or curved and they need not be connected to each other within a single curve.

Curve objects can be modified in different ways to the other objects you create. Each simple
shape you draw using the tools in the toolbox can be modified in its own particular way.
Rectangles can have their corners radiused, ellipses can be converted to arcs or pies, polygons to
stars etc and text can be edited. Converting any of these to curves loses that ability but gives you
the ability to infinitely modify the shape of the object.

Certain commands automatically convert objects to curves. An example is when using the
Shaping Docker tools. Converting to curves is a one-way street so make sure your object is exactly
as you want it to be before you do this. You will not be able to correct a spelling mistake once
you convert text to curves and the process of changing the radius on a rectangle is much more
complicated.

One of the great assets CorelDRAW has is the powerful curve editing capability. This is provided
by the Shape tool in the Toolbox (Not to be confused with the Shaping Docker tools). See the
section on Curve Editing for more information.

Shape tool

Node
 Curve Editing

We have almost infinite ability to change the shape of the curves we create. The position and
type of nodes can be controlled, whether the line relating to the node is straight or curved,
whether adjoining nodes are connected, whether nodes exist at all.

Node editing is achieved with the Shape tool in the Toolbox. You can use this to select the curve
you are editing, pick up individual nodes and move them around, drag the line segment to
change its form, move the node control points to alter the form of line segments, add and
remove nodes.
There are four node types: cusp, smooth, symmetrical, or line. Nodes can be changed from one
type to another.
Cusp nodes make the node's intersecting line take on the shape of a corner or point when you
adjust the position of the node's control points.
Smooth nodes make the node's intersecting line take on the shape of a curve. Each control point
can be shortened or lengthened independently, giving you smaller or larger angles to work with.
Symmetrical nodes make the node's intersecting line take on the shape of a curve as well as
intersect the node at exactly the same angle.
Line nodes let you shape objects by changing the shape of their segments. You can make a curve
segment straight or a straight segment curved.
The more nodes there are in a curve, the greater degree of control is possible with its shape
however beware of adding too many as this will increase the work your laser has to do and may
slow down its operation.
Nodes can be added by clicking on the point of the curve you wish to add the node then clicking
on the + icon on the Property Bar. They can be removed by selecting them and pressing delete,
clicking on the icon on the property bar or by double-clicking on the node.

Selecting a node and clicking on the Break Curve icon separates adjoining nodes. You can also use
the shape tool to click on a line segment then click on the Break Curve icon to break the curve at
that point. If the path has 2 separations it is possible to break the curve apart using the Break
Curve Apart command in the Arrange dropdown menu. This will produce 2 separate curves.

Selecting 2 adjoining nodes and clicking on the Join 2 nodes icon connects them.

You do not have the ability to define an absolute position for nodes directly but you can get them
to snap to guidelines or to a grid to achieve this. You can also get their control points to snap to
guidelines.

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 Combining and Breaking Apart

Terminology that applications use can sometimes be confusing and misleading especially when it
is in conflict with our usual appreciation of the same terminology. In the case of CorelDRAW a
curve for example may consist of only straight lines. It may also be comprised of several
seemingly separate entities. This can often be a difficult concept to grasp because the tendency is
to think of these entities as a group.

Individual components can be combined into a single curve. This provides very useful properties
regarding fills and editing capability. The process of separating them is called breaking apart. A
number of commands we apply to our work automatically combine curves and it may be
necessary to break these curves apart before we can continue editing them.

A simple way of understanding this is to think of text characters. The letter A for example
comprises an outline shape with a triangle inside. The fill surrounds the triangle but the triangle
itself is not filled.

Try the following. Draw the letter A using the text tool. It may help if you enlarge it to a size you
can see clearly. Convert this to curves (Arrange Convert to Curves). With the object selected look
at the status bar at the bottom of the screen. It will tell you it is a curve. Now break the curve
apart (Arrange Break Curve Apart) and notice what happens to the fill and what the status bar
tells you. We now have 2 objects. Because the triangle is a curve in its own right now it has its
own fill. Now combine them again (Arrange Combine) and you will see the letter A as before.

AConverted to Curves Broken Apart The individual pieces can be moved

The ability to control fills in this way has a huge impact on the creativity that is possible when you
are producing artwork for engraving.
 Combining and Breaking Apart Part 2

Objects can be combined to create a curve object that has particular properties.
A fill only fills the gap between the inner and outer parts of the curve. Although
the curve is made from 2 or more components it is treated as a single curve. An
example is shown below.

This curve was created by drawing the heart shape

and placing a duplicate smaller heart inside. The 2
objects are seleted together and
combined into a single curve using the Combine
command in the
Arrange drop-down menu. The curve can then be
filled. The shortcut for Combine is Ctrl + L.

Text can be Broken Apart too. The process works as follows. Paragraphs are
broken into Sentences. Sentences then have to be broken Apart into Words.
Words can be Broken Apart into individual Characters. The text is still editable as
text but it’s no longer linked to the text it was previously part of. Characters that
are converted into Curves can be Broken Apart into the individual curves that
form them, for example the letter B is formed from 3 components.

This is one curve. It was created by taking the

heart shape and duplicating 2 smaller heart
shapes inside. The 3 shapes were then
combined so that when filled there is an open
area between the filled areas of the curve. The
open area can be seen in the illustration
below.
 Convert Outline to Object

The Convert Outline to Object command can be used to produce solid objects from open curves.

Tip
Files containing text objects can only be opened on
other computers having the font that is used installed.
Converting text to Curves means that the text is now a
graphical object that can be opened on computers
that do not have the same font installed. Obviously,
once text is converted to curves it cannot be edited as
normal.
 In this example I have drawn a spiral.

Set the line weight to a

given thickness.

Now set the Convert Outline to

Object command (Arrange -
Convert Outline to Object).
Give the object an outline and
remove the fill.

Note:
When you convert an outline to an object you still retain the original line. This
line is invisible but can be located in the object manager and deleted if
necessary.

An example of a complete project created using this technique is shown later.

 Using Guidelines

Guidelines can be extremely useful tools in the drawing creation process and CorelDRAW gives
many options for their use.

Simple Guidelines
Simple guidelines can be produced by clicking and dragging the rulers. They can also be produced
by entering the guidelines setup (View Guidelines Setup) The left-hand ruler produces a vertical
guideline, the top ruler produces a horizontal guideline. You can drag them to the rough location
you require and you can set them to a precise location on the workspace. You can rotate the
guidelines, either roughly or to a precise angle. You can create guides from shapes you draw and
you can snap to the guidelines.

When you create a guideline it will appear as a red dotted line. The property bar will show its
position. Entering a value in the Object's Position will move the guideline to the location you
require. When you deselect the guideline it will appear as a faint grey dotted line.

Rotating Guidelines
Selecting the
guideline and clicking
on it again will open
the Rotation Rotation Handles
Handles enabling the
guideline to be
rotated at will. If you
want to set this to a
precise angle this can
be set in the Angle of
Rotation on the
Property Bar and the
centre of rotation can
also be set.

Snapping to
Guidelines
Snapping to
Centre of Rotation
guidelines can be
turned on or off in the
Property Bar when no
object is selected or
go to View Snap to
Guidelines if you
have objects
selected. Objects can
be snapped to guides
at their Bounding Box
or centre. The edge
of the object will
appear as a blue
dotted line when it is snapping.
Creating Guide Objects
Guideline reside in the Guides Layer on the Master Page in the Object Manager Docker.
If you make this layer active, anything you draw will be treated as a guide object. Such objects
will not have fill properties and will appear as a faint grey outline. You can drag objects from
other layers into the Guides Layer. You can of course copy objects and then paste them into the
Guides Layer when this is active.

Dynamic Guidelines

Dynamic guides were introduced in CorelDRAW 12 and can revolutionise the way you work. You
will need to turn them on either in View - Dynamic Guidelines, by using the icon in the Property
Bar or by Alt+Shift+D. They can be somewhat unnerving until you get used to them as they flash
up as blue lines when you create or move objects relative to other objects. It is well worth
persevering because they will improve your productivity once you have mastered them.

As you drag an object the Dynamic Guidelines will tell you if you are moving it orthogonally or at
a preset angle and how far you are moving it.
They will tell you the specific place you are
grabbing the object. They will automatically
snap to other objects and tell you the
specific place you are snapping to.

You can set the Dynamic Guideline options in

View Dynamic Guidelines Setup.