Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's get a quick and complete
overview on how to use the newest CorelDRAW Release 2018!
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CorelDRAW is a professional software used to realize vector drawings and
logos, import and adjust pictures, and add great pieces of text. In this
video we will see all the basic tools and features you need to
start for the first time.
When opening CorelDRAW, its Welcome Screen opens with everything you
need to start quickly. You can get extra resources, tutorials, galleries
and templates, or continue with an existing document with Open Document.
To create and start with a new project, go to the New Document button,
and set all of its options, such as name, format, with Width,
Height and orientation customizable, the number of pages, and other
advanced options more below, such as the color mode and resolution.
When going to OK, the new document shows up on the workspace, under a
new tab with its name on top.
All the main features are collected around the big document preview. On
the left you have the Toolbox, with all the main tools available inside
CorelDRAW, divided in sections. Some of these buttons collect multiple
tools inside, when they show a black corner. In this case, just click
and hold on to choose from the list, and release the click on the
interested tool to enable it.
On top you have the Menu, the Standard, and the Property bars, used to
adjust options and properties on objects and tools. On the right you
have the panels, showing information on your document and a quick and
an easy interface to edit objects. In particular, the Hints panel shows
additional suggestions on how to use the tools, and can be useful in
case you are starting from a beginner level.
In case you miss any bar or palette, you can open these by going to the
Window tab, and then to Dockers to open panels, and Toolbars to reopen
bars.
Inside a CorelDRAW document you have three kinds of objects: the
vectors, used to realize graphic drawings; the Bitmap objects, importing
photos and pictures; and the annotations, used to add comments and text.
To start drawing vectors, you can use all the tools inside the third
section of the Toolbox. With the Freehand tool you can draw lines and
closed shapes freehand, by clicking and dragging on your workspace. You
can also draw straight lines by clicking twice.
The Polyline tool works just like the Freehand tool, with the difference
that you go on dropping lines and curves, all connected through the last
node fixed. To finish drawing, just close the shape or double-click on
the last point.
The 3-Point Curve is used to draw arcs. Click and hold on your pointer to
drop the segment, then release to define the shape, and click on the
drawing when the arc is good.
The B-Spline, Bézier or the Pen tool are used to draw curves in
different ways. B-Spline drops curves through consecutive segments.
The Bézier and the Pen Tools draw curves according to the nodes fixed
and the tangent directions defined besides them. We won't see these in
this video.
The Artistic Media Tool is used to draw freehand with a special style
and trace chosen from the Property bar, changing the brush type between
Brush and Sprayer.
All the other tools from Rectangle to Polygon are used to drop regular
shapes such as polygons and ellipses, by clicking and dragging on the
workspace.
CorelDRAW has several drawing aids to help you at drawing your vectors
quickly and easily, such as the Rulers, the Grid on the workspace, and
the Guidelines, which are dashed horizontal or vertical axes used as
reference, created by clicking and dragging from the Rulers. All these
drawing aids can be turned on or off by using their respective buttons
on the Standard bar.
In addition, you can use Snap To inside the Standard bar to enable
snappings to the Grid, the Guidelines, or important objects keypoints,
such as nodes or points on edges (represented through squares),
midpoints (through triangles) and centers (through circles).
To draw more precisely, use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the
workspace around your pointer.
Now, let's see how to adjust and edit the vector objects on the document.
Enable the Pick tool, and click on the object to select it. At this
point you adjust its appearance by using either the Property bar on top,
or the Object Properties panel on the right.
Use the Property bar to adjust the line thickness, trace, or add any
arrow shape on the endpoints. In case of regular shapes, you can set
the kind of shape, and fine the corners.
Use the Object Properties panel to adjust the object appearance in
detail. Under Outline, correct the line thickness, color and style.
Under Fill, add filling to close shapes, and choose its properties more
below. Use Uniform fill to add a solid color; and Fountain fill to apply
a color gradient, choosing its kind at the bottom, and its direction
through its preview. Then, click on the markers to set the color to use,
and the transparency percentage. Use Vector and Bitmap pattern fill to
apply ready-made patterns or images.
Under Transparency, apply a flat transparency or use any gradient or
patterns, as seen for the filling options.
The second button inside the Toolbox collects all the tools used to
edit and apply effects on vectors by clicking and dragging on them.
In this video, we will see just the Shape tool.
When you enable the Shape tool, click on the drawing to select it to
start editing. You can adjust the corners of a rectangle, move each
node, or shape a curve by dragging the blue anchors tangent to its
nodes. You can add new nodes and further customize the shape by
double-clicking on the vector edge.
Inside CorelDRAW you can also adjust and edit pictures, here called
Bitmap objects. You can import these by dragging and dropping them
inside your document; or you can go to File, Import..., and browse for
your image. At this point, click and drag on the document to define its
size and position on it.
Each image gets a vector contour that delimits its borders, which can be
edited with the Shape tool just seen, in order to crop the image as you
like.
On the Property bar, use Edit Bitmap... to edit the picture with Corel
Photo-Paint, and Trace Bitmap... to transform your picture into groups
of drawings with color filled. On the Object Properties panel, you can use the
Transparency panel to apply Transparency effects on the picture, as seen
for vectors.
To apply advanced corrections and effects, you can use all the features
inside the Bitmaps tab. For example, you can use Image Adjustment Lab
to adjust color temperature, tint and saturation, including brightness
and contrast levels. Remember that you can undo any effect or change
applied by using CTRL+Z.
Inside CorelDRAW you can add text and annotations with the Text tool.
When you enable it, click and drag on the workspace to create a text
box, which defines where the text content can spread. Then, type inside,
and adjust the text properties from the Property bar, such as font
family, size and style. These changes affect just the piece of text that is
selected.
In addition, use the Object Properties panel to set the text color, its
background color and alignment. You can add any outline, applying a
solid color or any gradient as seen for vector filling.
In case you see the text box in a red color, make sure to size it
properly its black nodes in order to show what's hidden.
Whereas, in text is covered by other objects, you can adjust its
visibility from by Object Manager panel on the right, by dragging and moving
such object up or down in respect to other elements.
Now, let's see how to manage and edit vectors, images and annotations.
First of all, select the object with the Pick Tool. Then, click and
drag it to move, and use its black nodes to scale.
If you click once again on the object, its black nodes change,
in order to skew and rotate. The object is rotated according to the center point that
you can moved as you like. Click once again to come back to the
scaling nodes.
To move, scale and rotate the selected object precisely just use the left side of the
property bar typing and applying with the Enter key.
To cut, copy, paste or delete a selected object, just right-click on it.
To apply modifications on multiple objects at the same time, you have
to select all of them first. Enable the Pick tool, and click and drag
on the workspace to create a selection area, that selects all the
objects within it.
CorelDRAW has advanced tools to apply effects to vectors, images
and annotations
inside the sixth section of the Toolbox. As for this video,
we will see just the Extrude tool.
The Extrude tool is used to turn a 2D object into a 3D one. Enable the
tool, and click and drag from any object path to add extrusion. Then, you
can move the cross to change the extrusion direction, and slide the small
rectangle in the middle to set depth. The extrusion created is
linked to the original 2D object, if you modify its shape,
also the extrusion changes.
Moreover, you can rotate the extrusion by clicking once on it.
Click and drag within the green dashed circle to 3D rotate, and use
the green arrows to 2D rotate. Consider that
you won't be able to correct the extrusion direction once you rotate.
With the Extrude tool enable than the objects selected you can use the property bar
to set the extrusion type, depth, and appearance. Use Extrusion color,
to apply color to the extrusion such as the object fill color with Use Object Fill; an
independent color with Use Solid Color; and any color gradient with
Use Color Shading.
Use Extrusion bevels to adjust the bevels, and Extrusion lighting
to add up to three lights from any direction.
To remove any extrusion, click on Clear extrusion.
Now, let's see how to save and export your document! Go to File, Save
As....and choose Under Type, the file format .cdr is used for CorelDRAW
projects, used to open and edit it your document later. Whereas .pdf to
render and export your document.
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