In this video I'm going to show you how to create some special effects using
transparency to blend photos and create reflections. We will also use the Pointillizer
tool in combination with the transparencies to create some unique
halftone effects. In CorelDAWwe can use transparency to blend two photos
together without using a photo editor. Here are the two photos we're going to
blend together - we're going to make the railroad tracks blend into the trees.
First let's select our railroad tracks and drag them over and above our
trees. Press F4 to zoom in and center. Now we want to scale our image
to match the width of this design so let's check that size.
It's eight inches wide so we're going to select this
image. Make sure our aspect ratio is locked so it will stay
proportional. Type "8" for the width and press Enter. Now we
want to align it. Hold down the Shift key and select
your image in the back to start aligning. Now that both images are selected
press C on your keyboard to Center them and then press B on your
keyboard, which will align on the images the bottom. Another way to get to the
alignment settings are in under Object > Align and Distribute, and here's all your
alignment options, with the two shortcuts we used to the bottom and to
the center. OK now we're ready to start blending. Deselect both images by clicking
on the desktop and re-select the railroad photo. On the Tools toolbar, activate the
Transparency tool and click on Fountain transparency. Now drag
from the bottom up to apply a fountain transparency. Remember that where
the white is, it's more opaque - we can't see the tree photo underneath. And where
the black is, we can start to see through. Now we can adjust it how we want.
So we can adjust our slider to pull the fading how we want it up there, and
we can pull this down so we lose that hard edge. Then we can tweak it
just the way we want it, to end up with a perfectly blended photo collage.
Another use for transparency is to create fading reflections on text or
images. Let's make a reflection with this car image. One of the first things we
need to check is our Duplicate Distance, because we're going to make a copy of this
exact image and we want it to land right on top of each other. So with nothing
selected on your page, look up here in your property bar and here is our
duplicate distance setting. Right now it's set at a quarter of an inch but we
want it set at 0. So let's set these both to 0
and select our car image. Now go to Edit > Duplicate and that will
create one right on top of each other. Now we need to mirror it but first,
before we mirror, we want to adjust the Object Origin - this little thing in the
corner here. It will mirror it based on where this little black dot is.
We want to mirror it down so we're going to click the mirror and
click on the bottom center dot.
Now click Mirror vertically and it will mirror it down.
Now we can apply a transparency. With the duplicate selected, activate the
Transparency tool and drag up from the bottom of the image.
The transparency is fading in the wrong direction, so we will need to reverse the colors.
Click on Edit transparency and then click on Reverse transparency. Now we can adjust it so that
the bottom is fading away, and by adjusting the nodes create just a
little bit of reflection.
We can also create reflections using transparency on text. Here's our text
item and since our duplicate distant and object origin are already set, we can get
going by just clicking Edit > Duplicate. Our duplicate is on top and our origin is
already set so we can click on Mirror vertically.
Activate the Transparency tool and drag to draw a transparency.
We can tweak it as we need to by adjusting the nodes
and you can also adjust the transparency with middle slider,
which pulls the gradation to different levels. If you find that the
edge is a little too harsh, you can drag a color to this node and that
will lighten it up and our reflection is good to go.
In our next exercise I will show you how to use the Transparency tool to help you
create some really cool halftone effects with the Pointillizer tool. You can use
all the different types of transparency: fountain, linear, elliptical and even
pattern transparency to create some unique results. To open the Pointillizer
docker go to Effects > Pointillizer.
Select the star and activate the Transparency tool.
Choose fountain transparency and drag the Transparency tool to apply a
fountain transparency. The key thing to keep in mind with the fountain transparency
is that where it's white it is more opaque, meaning it's darker and you will have
heavier halftones. And where it's black it will be
less opaque and fade off - you'll have less halftones. A good setting to
keep on your Pointillizer is Keep Original, which will allow you to experiment until
you get the effect you want, without losing your original object with transparency.
Click Apply and let's see what results we get.
It's a little heavier at the top and it fades off in the bottom.
Let's delete it and try again to see if we can adjust it to get
a little more density to the halftone. Drag the black node down farther
so we have more dense color at the bottom, and we'll also make it
heavier up at the top. Now we will have halftones all the way down but
still fading off at the bottom. Click Apply to see the results.
So now we have heavy halftones on top
and it fades off on the bottom. This image could in any design
such as a patriotic flyer. Since it is vector, you can scale it
to any size you need. You can also make it whatever color you need,
by selecting a swatch from the Color palette.
Another cool thing about the Pointillizer tool is that you can use a custom
shape to create the halftone. The defaults are Circle and Square but we can
make our own. Let's make a star for the shape we're going to use. On the Tools
toolbar, go to the Polygon tool group flyout and select Star. Hold down the Ctrl
key and drag to create a perfect, symmetrical star.
In the Pointillizer docker, select Custom from the Shape drop-down menu
and click Select. The cursor will change to a little arrow then click on the star shape you created.
The star will appear in the Shape window and now we can apply a fountain transparency that
uses stars instead of circles. So let's click Apply, some effects take longer
than others to render, and there you go. The stars are quite small so
this is where we might want to adjust the Density or Scale. Change the Scale
to 3 and change the Density to 15, and let's see what happens.
Once it has rendered, we can zoom in and you
can see how that it's little stars in place of circles. That's a pretty cool
effect and you can tweak it to get the results you want.
Another neat thing to do is to combine Pattern transparency and the Pointillizer.
Let me show you how to do that, with this star
that already has a Pattern transparency applied.
This is a Vector Pattern transparency and if you activate
the Transparency tool you will see the different types of transparency on the Property bar.
There are Vector, Bitmap, 2-color and Texture transparencies but we will leave it
set just the way it is. What's good about this one is that it has some dark areas
and light areas in the transparency. This will produce a stronger effect with the
Pointillizer, because if it's all the same value
you will end up with even halftones, which won't provide enough
contrast. That's the key with these transparencies to get a good effect in
with the Pointillizer. So let's go back and reset our settings back to the
Circle shape, Density 12 and Scale 1.0, then click Apply
and see what happens. Since we had good contrast in the pattern, it
gives us darker halftones in the darker area and you got a neat effect. You
can change it to any color you need for whatever project you need, and you can
also scale it to a different size and see what it looks like at smaller scale.
Here are a couple more examples so you can get some ideas.
Here are some other vector pattern transparencies using different colors for the original shapes.
Now let me show you what these look like once they have been
processed with the Pointillizer tool. Since there was lots of contrast in the patterns,
we ended up with different edges and different sized halftones inside the
design that can be used for any type of project. Thank you for watching.
If you're watching this video on YouTube you'll find a link in the description
below that will take you to our tutorial page on the Discovery Center. Here you
can download a written copy of this tutorial and the exercise file to follow
along. You will also find other helpful tutorials on CorelDRAW.