Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's see quickly how to use the
newest CorelDRAW 2017, and all you need to know to use this software for
the first time!
Please leave us comments and suggestions in the video description to
improve our future video guides for this software!
CorelDRAW is a professional software used to realize graphic designs by
drawing customized vectors, applying professional 2D and 3D effects, and
even adjusting pictures and images. In this video, we will see all the
basic features to start with this software as a beginner.
When you open CorelDRAW, the Welcome Screen tab opens, showing quick
menus and options to get started, get ideas, or simply get the latest
news from Corel. To start with a new document, just click on the New
button, in the top left corner. In the new dialog box, type the document
Name, and then its format under Size. Depending on the template you
choose, the document Width and Height change. Select the number of pages,
and other advanced options more below. When you go to OK, the new
document will open on a new tab, next to the Welcome Screen one.
The workspace is composed by several bars and panels. On the left, you
have the Toolbox, which collects all the most important tools inside
CorelDRAW, divided in several sections. Some of these buttons collect
more tools inside, when these show a black corner. To show all the tools,
click and hold on the button, and release the click when you hover on the
tool interested.
On top, you have the Menu, the Standard and the Property bar, used to
regulate the options and the properties of the objects or the tools
selected.
On the right, you have several panels, including the Hints panel. This is
very useful when you start using CorelDRAW, since it gives you additional
information and help on the tool you are using. Check it out!
In case you miss any palette or bar, you can find any of them by going to
Window and then to Dockers to open panels, and Toolbars to open missing
bars.
A CorelDRAW document is composed by three main kinds of objects: the
vector drawings, the Bitmap files, and the pieces of Text. The first
ones are used to create graphic drawings; the Bitmap files to import and
adjust pictures; and pieces of Text are used to add comments and
annotations. Let's check each of them.
All 2D drawings can be made by using all the tools inside the third
section of the Toolbox.
Use the Freehand tool to draw freehand. Just click and drag on your
document to draw a curved line, or fix two single points to draw a
straight line.
To draw curves and lines you can also use the Polyline tool, with the
difference that you go on drawing lines consecutively until you
double-click on the last node, or close the path by clicking on the
first node.
There are several tools to draw arcs and curves. Use 3-Point Curve
to draw a simple arc, by clicking and dragging to fix the first segment,
then just release and click on one point to drop the arc. Choose B-Spline
to draw consecutive arcs by sharing the last node.
Choose the Bézier or the Pen tool to draw completely customized curves.
To discover more about these, check out the related video in our channel!
To make freehand curves with special traces, use the Artistic Media tool,
and choose the trace style from the Property bar on top.
To draw regular closed shapes, use the Polygon tools below the Artistic
Media tool, and click and drag on your document to drop it. Depending on
the tool chosen, you can quickly drop rectangles, ellipses and other
regular shapes.
CorelDRAW has several drawing aids to help you at drawing correctly.
From the Standard bar on top, you can show or hide several aids, such as
the Ruler, the Grid, or the Guidelines, created by clicking and dragging
from the Rulers.
Moreover, on Snap To, you can enable and disable snappings to Grids,
Guidelines and objects keypoints, highlighted in blue.
For example, object nodes and edges are highlighted with blue squares;
midpoints with blue triangles; and centers with blue circles.
To draw more carefully, you can zoom in and out by using your mouse wheel.
Once drawings are made, you can edit them as you like. If you enable the
Pick tool and click on the drawing, this will be selected, and both the
Property bar and the Object Properties panel on the right will show
several options to regulate the drawing appearance.
From the Property bar, you can adjust the line thickness, add any arrow
shape, or change the line trace.
Whereas, the Object Properties panel shows several sections. Under
Outline, you can correct anything regarding contours and edges, such as
the line size, color, trace, corner shape. Under Fill you add filling,
which is visible only in case the drawing is a closed shape. Choose
Uniform fill to apply a flat and solid color; Fountain fill to apply a
color gradient; Vector pattern fill to apply a graphic pattern; and
Bitmap pattern fill to apply a repeated picture.
CorelDRAW also has several tools to apply effects on your drawings, all
collected inside the first section of the Toolbox.
For example, the Shape tool is used to edit your drawing as you like, by
clicking and dragging the nodes, the edges and the arrows that show up
when you select a vector drawing.
All the other tools apply several effects on your drawing, depending on
the one you choose. Just click and hold on while hovering your drawing.
If you need to remove parts of your vector objects, you can enable the
Eraser tool, and click and drag on these.
Let's see how to manage images and pictures inside CorelDRAW!
To import an image inside your document, just click and drag its file
directly on it. This will create an object called Bitmap file. Then,
you can place it where you like by clicking and dragging it, or scale it
by using the black nodes you see.
If you need, you can also use the Shape tool to edit the vector contours
of the image, in order to crop it. If you double-click on the contour,
you will also add other points, and create completely customized shapes.
CorelDRAW also has advanced effects and adjustments to improve your image
appearance, all collected inside the Bitmaps tab. You can use the Image
Adjustments Lab, the Straighten Image feature, or all the options inside
3D Effects and below it. Check them out!
Always remember that you can undo your latest actions made inside
CorelDRAW by using CTRL+Z.
Let's now see how to add text and annotations inside CorelDRAW.
Inside the Toolbox, enable the Text tool, and click and drag on your
document to create a text area. This is used to define where the text
must spread. Once created, just click inside and start typing. You can
use the Property bar on top to change anything regarding text, such as
font family, size, style and distribution. Consider that these changes
affect only the text that is selected, if you have.
You can also check the Object Properties panel to adjust the text color,
apply any background or any outline.
In case the text area is too small, it may hide part of its content, and
will get red dashed contours. In this case, use the black nodes to
enlarge the text area until the whole text content shows up.
To apply the piece of text, just click outside and use the Escape key.
In case text gets overlapped by other objects, you can use the Object
Manager panel to set the correct order of visibility. Click on the object
representing text, and drag it above all the objects that are covering
it.
Let's see how to edit and manage drawings, Bitmap and text objects on
your workspace.
To select an object, enable the Pick tool, and click on it. This will
show several nodes on it, that you can use to scale the object as you
like. If you click once more on the object, the nodes change, and can
be used to rotate and skew the object. You can also click and drag the
central circle to change the rotation point. Click again on the object
to get the scaling nodes back. To move the object, just click and drag it.
If you need to adjust position, scaling and inclination precisely, you
can check and edit the values on the Property bar above. Just type the
value, and use the Enter key to apply.
Once the object is selected, you can use the Delete key to delete it.
Use CTRL+X, CTRL+C and CTRL+V to cut, copy and paste the selected object.
If you need to edit multiple objects in the same way, you have to use
multiple selections. If you enable the Pick tool, and click and drag on
your document, you will create a selection area that selects all the
objects that are fully contained inside it. Once selected, any
modification will affect all these objects in the same way. To undo all
selections, just use the Escape key.
Inside CorelDRAW, you also have several advanced graphic effects you
can apply to your objects, all collected inside the sixth section of the
Toolbox.
We will take a look at the Extrude tool. If you want to discover more
about the other advanced effects inside CorelDRAW, check out the related
video in our channel!
The Extrude tool is used to transform 2D drawings into 3D objects by
applying extrusion. Enable the tool, and click on an object to select it.
Then click and drag to apply the 3D extrusion. Once it is created, you
can fix its direction by using the black cross, and set the proper length
by using the small rectangular marker you see.
Moreover, if you click once more on the object, you can also use the
green arrows to 2D rotate, or click and drag within the dashed circle to
3D rotate. Remember that, once a 2D or 3D rotation is applied, you are
no more able to correct the extrusion direction, since the cross, now in
white color, can't be moved.
The extrusion applied is deeply linked to its 2D drawing. If you edit its
shape, the extrusion will change according to it.
When you have an object selected with the Extrude tool enabled, you can
also use the Property bar to adjust several extrusion properties, such
as color, bevels and lights.
With Extrusion color you can fully adjust the colors for the extrusion.
Choose Use Object Fill to apply the same color chosen for the 2D object
inside the Object Properties panel; choose Use Solid Color to choose an
independent color; and choose Use Color Shading to apply a two-color
gradient.
With Extrusion lighting, you can turn on up to three lights on the
extrusion, deciding their placement by clicking and dragging their
respective numbers.
To remove the extrusion completely, just click on Clear extrusion.
Let's see how to save and export your document. To save it, just go to
File and then to Save As.... Here you can choose several formats. Choose
.pdf to export and print your document, or choose .cdr to save your
work as a CorelDRAW project file, in order to be able to open it later
if you want to apply additional modifications.
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