Corel-LifeStyle

Corel Education Products

2009-03-03T11:31:00.009+08:00

Helps students and teachers turn their creative ideas into professional-looking design and production projects with ease.

is a perfect catalyst for transforming student’s into tomorrows creative professionals introduces the revolutionary RealBristle™ Painting System, providing an organic painting & illustration experience!

is the ideal choice for students and educators. This photo editor grows with users as their skills progress and is filled with everything from easy automatic photo fixes to precision editing tools plus the NEW one-of-a-kind Express Lab. It's the easiest way to get professional-looking photos - fast!

is the ultimate package for standard & high definition video production. Corel VideoStudio® Pro X2 is an all-in-one video-editing software for creating high-quality HD and standard-definition movies, slide shows and DVDs.

is the ideal tool for creating technical illustrations and documentation, Corel DESIGNER® Technical Suite X4 is a complete technical graphics application that offers precision illustration tools, bitmap-to-vector tracing, professional photo editing and industry-leading file compatibility, including 3D CAD.

is the essential office suite for home and business users to create great-looking documents, spreadsheets, presentations, notes, and manage E-mail.

Corel: Artist of the month - Ray Rubio

2008-12-16T14:58:00.007+08:00

Brief description about the artist:

Full name: Ray Rubio
Birth Place / Date: Davao City, September 20, 1979
Hobbies: Watching short animation CG films
Talent: Sketching, Painting
Current occupation: Creative Director for Cubepixels Design Studio
Profession: Graphics Designer
Corel User ( yes / no ): Absolutely Yes
Aspiration: To be better known in the wider graphics community through my own style of design.
Current location: Davao City

Did you really choose to be a Graphic artist as a profession / occupation?
I have passion with graphics design during the early stage of my high school years but graphic arts never came into my mind or desired to be a profession until opportunity came in during college days.

What makes you choose Corel as a tool for your designs?
CorelDRAW’s learning curve and intuitive features are simply tailored to fit my every design requirement. Unlike other design tools, I can easily draw irregular shapes more quickly and edit seamlessly without complications. More than that, CorelDRAW’s versatility in handling different file types makes me more productive and flexible by exporting and importing them to other design softwares when needed.

More about the Artist:

Projects handled:

Name: Wine Glass
Memorable moments: Few years ago when my first-hand work was featured and posted in an international gallery of CorelDRAW Artists through its Corel gallery website. It was a very unforgettable feeling to see my name written on it together with the other designers whom I look up to for some time.
Comments: Believe in every piece is a masterpiece.

Name: Bull’s Eye
Memorable moments: When I was working on with this project, this client of mine is a bit funny yet arrogant with his plan – from designer’s point of view – it’s something you can only find under the rocks! I can’t imagine working on a project that cannot even satisfy myself in the first place, and put your creativity on hold. A real brain freeze.
Comments: n/a

Current project handled:

Name: 2009 Calendar
Memorable moments: One of the fastest growing petroleum company in the Southern Philippines hired me to develop their calendar template for the next year. It’s quite big project considering the scope which took us more than 2 weeks to implement the photo shoot and develop the layout. With CorelDRAW’s built-in camera RAW – I was able to view RAW files and import them directly to CorelDRAW window without having to use another software. Fine-tuning and editing took a while to capture the desired color correctly with the use of some paint programs. Corel’s build-in calendar generator completes the project as hero in the final stage.
Comments: n/a

Dream projects
For some time now, I was dreaming to develop a short-film or even part of it wherein my work is on highlight. It’s always been a fascination to me when I see animated characters done in CG. Having to see my character artworks move is like giving it a life to live.

Advice for budding future artists:
Stay in focus and believe in your own style. Be your own design teacher. Practice a lot - a real hard! Don’t be satisfied with your first creation – imagine you can do better more. Trust your work – that’s an output of your creativity. Collaborate with others.

Why choose Corel as a (alternative) Graphic solution?
In this world of creative advertising, you just need a right partner to put your ideas come into shape! CorelDRAW has been a favorite tool for me in the business of producing creative works like logo design, technical drawing, and all page-oriented tasks such as brochures, poster and flyers. It’s not just a tool but I’d rather call it solution in many ways. Corel has a complete line of softwares I need for my design business. Its versatility and compatibility with other graphics programs has made it to my number one vector software of all time!

CorelDRAW Tips and Tricks

2008-12-16T14:23:00.005+08:00

Using Eyedropper tool to copy effects

One of the unsung heroes of CorelDRAW is the Eyedropper tool. You probably tried using this in some graphics programs as a tool to pick color sample, nevertheless in Corel it has special function you may love to discover.

For example, applying drop shadow to an object is very easy. You need very straight forward command like draw an object – select Drop Shadow from the Interactive tools – apply by dragging through the shape of an object. Let’s say you have 10 different objects to apply the same effect. It may be too time consuming if you repeat the same procedure to each object one after the other.

Now, using Eyedropper tool – all you need to do is to prepare one effect to serve as point of reference. Select another object and choose Eyedropper tool from the toolbox. From the Property bar, select Object Attributes in the drop-down menu, tick all Properties, tick the Effect you want to copy from the source object (in this example is Drop shadow).

Click the object with the drop shadow effect, hold and press Shift key and then click another shape to apply the same effect.

Eyedropper tool saves time in copying effects!

Organizing Project with Layers

Layers are best way to organize your drawing files in CorelDRAW. If you want to keep each layer content editable after exporting to a bitmap file or in PDF form, it’s time for you to look up to Layers and start understanding how it works!

Layer window is found under Tools » Object Manager. Technically by default, all objects created are placed upon a single layer called Layer 1. The stacking position of each shape can be manipulated in the drawing page by using Object order options.

To create separate layer for your other objects, click New Layer button from the Object Manager panel. A new layer will be added on top of the current layer. Each layer can hold as many objects as you may need them and you may also change the order of objects through the panel by dragging over to another layer name.

Save your file to PDF and see that layers are kept intact upon viewing in Acrobat software. This method is extremely helpful when sending files to the printing press to give them the chance to manipulate the objects when necessary.

One-liner Tips and Tricks

Double click the shadow of the page document to bring-up the dialog window containing more page options like paper orientation, layout, and background.

You can select an object by just touching with the marquee selection to any part of the object while pressing ALT key.

You can rapidly select ALL objects in the drawing area by double clicking the Pick tool.

You can long-press each color in the palette to display hidden color shades.

Creating a DVD home movie using Corel VideoStudio Pro X2

2008-11-13T14:20:00.034+08:00

A home movie is a great way to document events like your daughter's birthday party, a friend's wedding, or a family trip. Why shouldn't editing a home movie be just as much fun as shooting it? VideoStudio's Movie Wizard makes video editing easy and quick by doing most of the work for you. In a few simple steps, you can now create home movies that everyone will love to watch.

Let’s import videos from an AVCHD hard disk drive camcorder:

1. Connect the camcorder to your computer via a USB 2.0 cable. Turn on the camcorder and switch to the Play mode. Launch VideoStudio, check the 16:9 option and select Movie Wizard.

2. Click Import from mobile device. (If you have a DVD-based camcorder, you can also use the “Insert Digital Media” option.)

3. In the Insert media file from Hard Drive/External Device, your hard disk drive camcorder will be shown as Memory card in Device. Click it to import videos. Check Video to display all the video files in your camcorder. Select the videos you want and click OK.

Editing your video:

4. Your videos are added to the Media Clip List.

5. If needed, trim any unwanted parts from the beginning and end of the clip by dragging the Trim Handles to the desired start and end points. Or, drag the Jog Slider until you locate the point in the video clip that you want to set as the start and click . Set the end-point by clicking . And then click Next.

6. Select HD-Home Movie from the Theme template drop-down list. Theme templates will give your home movies really cool opening/ending sequences by adding animated text, frames, graphics, and background music.

7. Click to open a dialog box where you can adjust the overall length of your movie and then click OK.

Fit to video duration retains the current movie length

Fit to background music adjusts the movie duration to fit into the length of the background music

Specify duration lets you define a custom duration for the whole movie

8. There are two animated titles in a theme template; they are at the start and end of the home movie. To personalize these titles, first select the preset title from the Title list. Double-click the preset text in the Preview Window, and then type in the desired text.

Tips: Click to change text formatting, font or color.

9. You can choose to keep the background music suggested by the Movie Wizard, or replace the music by clicking to open the Audio Options dialog box. Locate and select the desired music file.

10. Drag the Volume slider to the left to increase the volume of the background music over the volume of the video's audio. Click Next.

You can choose to save your project as a video file by clicking Create Video File in the Movie Wizard. If you want to further edit your home movie, like adding filters, overlays, and transitions, click Edit in Corel VideoStudio Editor.

However, most people will want to create a DVD, and it's really easy in VideoStudio!

Creating DVD menu and disc:

11. Click Create Disc to go to the Create Disc Wizard. Select DVD in Output disc format and then click Next. Your home movie is automatically inserted as a video clip in the Media Clip List. Make sure that your aspect ratio is 16:9.

12. You can choose to add chapter points to your video, by clicking Add/ Edit Chapter. Each chapter is like a bookmark for a video clip. By adding chapters, your viewers can skip directly to the sections of the video they want to watch by clicking on the submenu, or by pressing the Chapter button on their remote.

13. In the Add/ Edit Chapter dialogue box, drag the Jog Slider to move to a scene to set a chapter point then click Add Chapter. When all chapters are set, click OK.

14. Select a menu template from the Menu template list.

15. You can edit both your menu and submenus. Use Currently displayed menu to switch to the menu you want to edit.

Tips: In Edit page click Set the background music and Select a Music Track for this menu to replace the menu template's current background music, if you wish.

If you wish to replace the menu template's current background, in Edit page click Set the background and Select a Background Image for This Menu.

16. Use the Remote Control to preview your project then click Next.

17. To burn a DVD, insert a disc in your burner then click Burn to start the burning process.

Corel Painter X Water Color Painting

2008-11-03T09:35:00.002+08:00

Corel Painter features two ways to work with watercolors: the Watercolor layer and Digital Watercolor.

Watercolor brush variants paint onto a watercolor layer, which enables the colors to flow, mix, and absorb into the paper. The watercolor layer is created automatically when you first apply a brush stroke with a Watercolor brush variant. Most Watercolor brush variants interact with the canvas texture. You can use Watercolor brush variants to apply a watercolor effect to a photo by lifting the canvas to the watercolor layer. To paint directly on the canvas, use a Digital Watercolor brush variant.

Digital Watercolor brush variants produce watercolor effects that react with the canvas texture. Unlike Watercolor brush variants, which work with the Watercolor Layer, Digital Watercolor strokes can be applied directly to any standard pixel-based layers, including the canvas. For example, if you’re applying watercolor effects to a photo, Digital Watercolor brush strokes can be applied directly to the image. The width of Digital Watercolor brush strokes is affected by stylus pressure, with the exception of the Wet Eraser brush variant.

The difference of Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate

2008-10-22T14:27:00.010+08:00

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 makes photo editing easy with everything from automatic photo fixes to precision editing tools. Correct mistakes, make good photos better and create one-of-a-kind photo projects. It includes

Paint Shop Pro photo editor

New! Express Lab to quickly view and edit photos

Corel Media One Plus for easy photo and video management (DVD Maker not included)

Video training for Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 by Lynda.com

Photographic effects filters by Nik Software

Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 Ultimate combines ease of use with full professional power. Fix brightness, color and photo imperfections like red eye in a few clicks, or use precision photo-editing controls to create photos you'll be proud to share. It includes everything in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, plus

Enhanced! Support for more than 250 camera raw formats

New! Background remover plug-in to change the background of a photo,

Enhanced! Creative content pack with 150 new photo frames, photo edges and Picture Tubes,

New! Certified for Windows Vista for better performance and enhanced security,

Plus a Bonus! 2 GB USB flash drive to store and transfer your digital photos,

Bonus! Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 to turn photos into paintings in 3 easy steps and

Bonus! Media recovery software to retrieve images, movies and sound files, even from reformatted memory cards.

Corel Introduces Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 Ultimate Edition

2008-09-08T16:43:00.027+08:00

Award winning photo editing software now delivers more than $200 worth of additional value to photography enthusiasts; Latest release features support for more than 250 raw camera formats, a new Creative Content Pack, background remover tool, photo painting application, and other bonus items to help users create even more compelling photos and projects.

OTTAWA, Canada - September 9, 2008 - Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL) (TSX:CRE), a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, today announced the release of Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 Ultimate, featuring more than $200 worth of free bonus items and new technology enhancements designed to provide users with the widest selection of photo editing features ranging from automatic tools for quick fixes to precision controls for fine-tuning.

“With increased raw camera support, new creative content and more than $200 worth of bonus items, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate is an excellent value for consumers interested in managing, editing and being creative with their digital photo collections,” said Denise MacDonell, Senior Director of Product Management, Digital Media at Corel. “Our users will find continued depth of functionality in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate that enables them to grow as their skills and knowledge progress. Every photo and scrapbooking enthusiast will appreciate finding the latest photo-editing technologies and creative tools in a single purchase.”

Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate features new additions and enhancements including:

* Enhanced Camera Raw Support – Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate now supports more than 250 raw camera formats, making it easier for users to edit photos taken with the most popular camera models.

* New Creative Content Pack – The Creative Content Pack includes 150 brand-new, custom-made photo frames, photo edges and Picture Tubes™ that enable scrapbookers and other creative users to express their creativity with unique edges and custom graphics, including square or oval frames, modern or classic frames, mats or photo edges, or a variety of other styles.

* New Background Remover – An unwanted background image can ruin what would otherwise be a perfect photo. In three simple steps, the Background Remover isolates part of a background in an image and removes it, allowing the user to replace it with a complementary image. With the Background Remover, users can preserve image details that were once impossible to mask precisely by preserving fine, semi-transparent details such as strands of hair and wisps of smoke, as well as the detail that is found between larger objects, such as the sky seen between tree branches.

* New Certified for Windows Vista® – Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate is now fully certified for Windows Vista, the highest certification of support for that operating system, meeting compatibility standards for ease-of-use, better performance, and enhanced security.

Bonus items in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate include:

* New Corel® Painter™ Photo Essentials 4 – Scrapbookers, family memory keepers and photo enthusiasts can now convert photos into digital artwork in three easy steps. Using the unique Auto-Painting palette, users can create a stunningly realistic work of art including paintings and drawings.

* New PHOTORECOVERY® for Digital Media – When users think their digital content might have been lost forever, PHOTORECOVERY can recover images, movies and sound files from accidentally reformatted memory cards. It is compatible with virtually all media card formats, including SD™, miniSD™, microSD™, CompactFlash® I and II, Memory Stick™, MMC, xD, SmartMedia® and Microdrive®.

* New Flash Drive – A 2 GB USB Flash Drive makes it easier for users to backup and transfer photos, videos and other files from a PC. Includes plug-and-play compatibility with any PC.

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Corel Launches VideoStudio® Pro X2

2008-09-09T16:26:00.020+08:00

The Easiest Way to Create Home Movies in Minutes

Award-winning video editing and authoring software makes it easy for people to create and share their most memorable digital stories

OTTAWA, Canada - September 9, 2008 - Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL) (TSX:CRE), a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, today introduced Corel® VideoStudio® Pro X2, a significant upgrade to its consumer video editing and authoring software. VideoStudio Pro X2 provides the most complete HD solution for video editing and authoring with sharing tools to upload directly to YouTube™ and mobile devices, improved ease of use and performance, as well as the all-new Painting Creator that enables users to personalize their videos and share their creativity.

VideoStudio Pro X2 users will find workflows and features ranging from automatic tools for quick fixes to precision controls for fine-tuning and personalizing video projects in the latest formats, enabling family memory keepers, hobbyists, and video enthusiasts to quickly organize, edit, create and share home movies with family and friends.

“Capturing, enhancing and sharing life’s moments with family and friends has become increasingly important in today’s global society,” said Denise MacDonell, Senior Director of Product Management, Digital Media at Corel. “With VideoStudio Pro X2, family memory keepers and technology enthusiasts can more easily personalize and share their digital stories with family and friends across town or across continents. Whether it is creating a simple photo and video slideshow or using more advanced tools like the Painting Creator to customize video projects, consumers can use VideoStudio Pro X2 to share their most important moments in more exciting, fun and memorable ways.”

The Most Complete HD Solution

* New Blu-ray Import and Output – VideoStudio Pro X2 is among the first video editing software products to offer support for Blu-ray Disc® Movie Video (BDMV) import and output. Users can now import BDMV files directly from Blu-ray camcorders, making it easier to transfer files and get started with video-editing projects. Users can author HD video with motion menus and burn the video to Blu-ray Disc in single- or dual-layer format. Because compliant video is not re-rendered, users are ensured shorter encoding times and excellent picture quality.

Offering the most complete HD solution, VideoStudio Pro X2 lets users capture, edit, author and output video in all of the leading HD formats, including HDV™ (High-Definition Video), AVCHD™ (Advanced Video Codec High Definition), JVC™ HD camcorder (TOD) and BDMV.

* Enhanced Smart Proxy Editing – With Smart Proxy editing, users can edit HD content as easily as they edit standard definition – even on midrange PCs. By using lower-resolution files for editing and previewing an HD project, VideoStudio Pro X2 requires fewer system resources, which results in faster, smoother editing of HD video. In addition, the final output retains the full resolution of the original HD content. With a 300 percent speed increase, users can now render videos over lunch, rather than overnight.

* New Custom H.264 HD Encoding – VideoStudio Pro X2 uses the new H.264 codec, which provides rapid encoding with superior quality. Both 1440 × 1080 and 1920 × 1080 output frame sizes are supported.

More Options for Creativity and Sharing

* New Painting Creator – With the all-new Painting Creator, users can paint, draw and write on their videos while recording the movements, providing users with new opportunities to personalize their video projects and showcase their creativity.

* New Creative Content – VideoStudio Pro X2 includes new overlay objects, frames, Flash animations, and HD-quality menu templates to enhance every video production. The HD templates are designed to match the quality of any HD video.

* New NewBlue® Film Effects – Users can now apply the distinctive look of film from the silent movie era. Included with Video Studio X2, this dynamic collection of five filters provides 81 presets that recreate the nostalgic effects produced by hand-cranked cameras, dirty projectors, and dusty film vaults.

* New Mobile Device Support – VideoStudio Pro X2 users can now import video from and output video to the Apple® iPhone™ and iPod® Touch, making it easier for users to capture and share video projects on the latest mobile devices.

* Enhanced Upload to YouTube – With the new, streamlined uploader, users can more quickly and easily upload video directly to YouTube. VideoStudio Pro X2 also offers several settings, such as the WMV, H.264, and FLV formats to ensure the best possible encoding quality.

Improved Performance Supports Enhanced User Experience

* New Optimization for Intel® Quad-Core Technology – VideoStudio Pro X2 now supports Intel® quad-core technology, enhanced for both dual-core and quad-core CPUs. For users this means faster response times and less time spent waiting for encoding which is especially useful when working with HD video.

* New Resizable Interface – VideoStudio now enables users to resize any of the panels within the interface according to their preference, placing the focus exactly where the user wants it.

* New Automatic Video Transition and Audio Crossfade – Users can now simply drag video clips so they overlap on the timeline, automatically creating a video transition and audio crossfade for the duration of the overlap. Users can also easily apply transitions in overlay tracks to create sophisticated picture-in-picture and montage effects.

* New Auto Pan and Zoom Feature – Auto Pan & Zoom is now available to automatically detect the faces of subjects or objects in photos, eliminating the need to manually apply Pan & Zoom effects.

* New Single Clip Trim Dialog Box – The new Single Clip Trim dialog box makes it easy to frame and accurately trim single clips. Users can access the dialog box by double clicking any clip in the Library, making it easier than ever to quickly trim to clips.
Faster Rendering Times – While rendering a video production, users can now disable the preview window to maximize rendering resources and render the video more quickly.

Faster Encoding Performance for Transitions and MPEG-2 Files – VideoStudio Pro X2 ensures the fastest encoding at the highest possible quality. The MPEG Optimizer analyzes the bit rates of all clips on the Timeline and suggests MPEG encoding settings that ensure the least re-rendering and re-encoding while maintaining the highest quality for a video project.Users can also select a target size before encoding MPEGs. This feature is especially helpful to users who share their videos on Web sites that set limits on file size. In addition, when burning MPEGs to DVD, users can easily adjust the size setting to ensure that their files will fit on the DVD.

New WinZip® 12.0 Delivers Industry’s First Zip Photo Compression

2008-09-17T09:53:00.015+08:00

New WinZip 12.0 Combines Lossless JPEG Compression and a Complete Photo Management and Sharing Solution With Improved Security, Performance and Compatibility

Mansfield, Conn. and Ottawa, Canada - September 11, 2008 - WinZip Computing, a Corel (NASDAQ:CREL - News; TSX:CRE - News) company, today announced the availability of WinZip® 12.0, the latest version of the world’s leading compression software. New capabilities of WinZip 12.0 include industry-first JPEG Zip compression, a complete photo management and sharing solution, improved performance and compatibility and enhanced security options.

WinZip 12.0 makes it easier than ever to work with Zip files and other popular archive formats and adds functionality to improve performance for both home and corporate users.

"WinZip remains the most user-friendly compression tool available, and the new features in version 12.0 allow users to do much more than just compression," said Shawn Cole, Director of Product Management of WinZip Computing. "WinZip 12.0 includes a complete photo management solution which allows users to download, rotate, zip and send JPEG files - all with WinZip. We like to call it our ‘from camera to grandma’ photo solution."

New features and enhancements in WinZip 12.0 include:

* Photo and image compression – without any loss of quality or integrity – as well as image management and sharing.

* Ability to create smaller Zip files through new compression algorithms and support for additional Archive formats.

* Encryption security features to customize password requirements and the types of encryption available.

* Improved user experience with various interface enhancements and refinements to help you (or your users) work smarter, faster, and safer

Photo Compression, Management and Sharing

* Compress Image Files – WinZip 12.0 compresses JPEG files by 20 to 25% without any loss of photo quality or data integrity. Smaller file sizes allow users to send photos faster and fit more on hard drives and removable media.

* Transfer and compress photos directly from digital camera* – The new Zip from Camera Wizard (available in WinZip 12.0 Pro) makes it easy to transfer photos from a digital camera and compress them in a Zip file. For cameras that support orientation tags, WinZip 12.0 can also "auto-rotate" photos prior to compression so they are correctly oriented in the Zip file.

* View and work with photos directly in WinZip – WinZip’s Explorer allows users to view thumbnails of each photo, then drag and drop their images into folders for better organization. WinZip Pro includes a full-sized image viewer to view slide shows, rotate, resize, or delete photos all without unzipping them.

* Share photos with WinZip – WinZip 12.0’s enhanced Send feature makes it simple to share photos directly from WinZip. This is a fast and easy way to share pictures while reducing the required storage space and transfer time.

Improved Performance and Compatibility

* Powerful new compression technology – WinZip 12.0 adds the powerful LZMA compression method to create the smallest Zip files yet using WinZip’s unique "Best" compression option.

* Support for More Archive Formats – WinZip 12.0 adds support for 7Z archives, CD/DVD .ISO and .IMG disk image files to existing support for RAR, BZ2, CAB, LHA, Z, GZ, TAR, UUE, XXE, BinHex, Mime, and ZIP files.

Encryption Security Features

* Set password complexity preferences – WinZip 12.0 adds a new password policy which allows you to customize encryption password requirements to achieve a desired password complexity.

* Specify the types of encryption available – With WinZip 12.0 Pro, System Administrators can specify which encryption methods are available to each user and can disable the encryption features completely during MSI installation.

Improved User Experience

* Logically display file contents with Smart View – The new content-sensitive Smart View makes it easier to see the contents of Zip files. Simply open a Zip file and WinZip 12.0 will choose the most appropriate viewing method.

* More Compression Methods – The addition of WinZip’s new JPEG and LZMA compression methods to its existing PPMd, BZip2, Enhanced Deflate and WAVPack methods, WinZip offers improved compression performance for most file types.

* More intuitive and informative – New features combined with the classic Job Wizard task-automation tool in WinZip Pro, to make WinZip 12.0 the simplest and most intuitive version of WinZip ever.

Cloning a landscape photo using other paint brushes

2008-08-21T17:02:00.020+08:00

In this section, we are going to take on a trickier subject. Before you start making the clone, it's important to consider what medium will work best ith the scene. The challenges with this 'boat and houses' photo are the dark shadows and all the intersecting horizontal, vertical and angled lines. We decided to go for a simulation of a pencil drawing that had watercolour pencils and some watercolour washes applied to it. Our aim was to give the final image a light transparent look. We'll use the prepared photo as the clone source, a lightly coloured ground (paper), Watercolor brushes (none of the purpose-built Cloners) and a line drawing derived from the Sketch function.

Here's How...

1. Bring it to life. Open the boat photo from Corel.s Painter X tutorial page. To give the photo more vivacity, go to Effects>Tonal Control and pick Adjust Color. Increase the Saturation by 34 per cent and select File>Clone, All from the Select drop-down menu and Clear from the Edit menu.

2. Get the cloning ready. A click on the Transparency icon shows that the photo is still there. Watercolour paper is often off-white so use the Fill tool to add a light yellow colour (H:47 per cent, S:100 per cent, V: 93 per cent) to the white. Check under File>Clone Source that the right source image is selected.

3. Select a paper. Choose a texture now. We chose Hot Press from the list, which is a fairly smooth watercolour paper surface. We went for this because a rough watercolour paper might interfere with the line drawing. We decided to pick a Grainy brush because it shows the paper texture well.

4. Start Painting. We used the Grainy Wash Bristle variant from the Watercolors category with an Opacity of 26 per cent. With a light touch, cover in most of the image. Avoid going up to the edges and make sure you leave some gaps where the yellow paper shows through. The composite method changes to Gel. This happens by default with new or duplicated watercolour layers.

5. Develop the brushed coverage . We used the Wash Bristle brush here to add some additional colour, with the Opacity set to 26 per cent. The main purpose of this brush is to suggest some of the parallel marks made by the watercolour pencils which, at this stage, have not yet fully dissolved.

6. Add more body to the image. Now duplicate the image to give the picture more body via Select>All, then choosing Edit>Copy>Paste in Place. Select this rather than Paste. An identical, though slightly darker, layer appears above the current layer. Reduce the Opacity of the new layer to 30 per cent to keep the fuller colours and values, but lower the darkening that the Gel composite method introduces.

7. Prepare to add a grey pencil outline. With the original photo (the adjusted one) active, again choose Select>All and Edit>Copy. Then, with the cloned version active, select Edit/Paste in Place (again, not Paste). The original photo appears at the top of the layer stack. You need to use the original photo so that the sketch from it will have crisp outlines.

8. Create the pencil sketch. Go to Effects>Surface Control>Sketch and the Sketch parameters box will appear. Type in the following settings: Sensitivity: 1.00, Smoothing 1.20, Grain: 0.00, Threshold High: 40 per cent, Threshold Low: ten per cent. This will produce a black-on-white outline drawing. Then change the Layer composite mode to Multiply so that you can see the coloured image below the line drawing.

9. Add a new layer and more colour. educe the Opacity of the sketch layer so that there’s a nice balance between the line drawing and watercolour layer. Then create a new watercolour layer by clicking on the blue droplet icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Use the Diffuse Bristle brush at an Opacity of 45 per cent to add some more paint, again making sure not to cover the whole picture evenly.

10. Save as RIFF. This is worth a separate step. Get into the habit of saving layered images as RIFFs - Painter's native file format. This will preserve your stacked layers. You should do this after every level has been completed. You can always delete them later. It's better to have too many than risk losing the whole layer stack. You can use the Iterative Save function for this, too.

11. Add some clean yellow paper. The edges need a little more air so save the whole image as a TIF, close the saved RIFF image and open the TIF version. This is no longer a watercolour layer so you can make changes easily. Sample the background colour and use a Fine Feathering Oils 30 brush (from the Oils) to paint in a little more unused paper around the edges.

12. Apply Surface Texture and final sharpening. First, add a little more Saturation at about 14 per cent, and then some Surface Texture, using Hot Press paper all-over as before. The settings are shown above. Finally, add some sharpening via Effects>Focus>Sharpen. Use the Gaussian Opening settings with the Amount set to 1.77, and the Highlight and Shadow both at 100 per cent.

A way to an easy and time saving daylight hour in creating a flyer.

2008-07-30T15:44:00.005+08:00

CorelDraw Graphics Suite is the flagship product of Corel. It delivers all the essential tools for today's busy designer. Create powerful designs using intuitive vector illustration and page layout tools. Retouch and enhance photos with professional photo-editing software. And easily convert bitmap images to editable and scalable vector files. Whatever your project, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 will streamline your workflow and inspire you with new creative possibilities.

The most common way to create a layout is to use guidelines to help you align all the elements in the document. But when you need to change the layout, e.g. to add an extra row of pictures, you have to do the layout all over again.

You will save much time and effort by using the new table feature in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 to lay out your documents. That way, you can just add, remove or edit rows, columns or cells without having to start the layout all over again.

Creating a flyer in CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X4 using the Table Tool and Live Text Preview

Start by making a sketch of the flyer, either on paper, or as here using the Smart Drawing Tool in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4.

With the sketch in place, it is easy to count the number of columns and rows you need for the layout. You can create a table in two ways in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4:

Select the Table Tool in the Tool box, and drag with the tool on the page to create the table.

Or select the Table menu Create new table. You can type the number of columns and rows, as well as the overall size of the table into the dialog box that opens.

Create a table with the settings as shown above

Select the Table Tool in the tool-box and change the size of the cells in the table by dragging the lines of the cells to fit the layout. You can drag the lines, when the cursor changes to a double arrow.

You can also merge the cells together. Select the cells by dragging across them with the mouse. Then right-click and select Merge Cells in the popup menu. Selected cells are shown with a hatch pattern.

Now you are ready to fill the cells with pictures and text:

Some of the cells are merged to fit pictures and text

You can write text in the different cells by selecting the Text Tool.
To import pictures you need to deselect the Table Tool first, e.g. by clicking on the Pick Tool. Import the first picture by selecting File Import and finding the appropriate picture on your computer.

Insert the picture on the page, and drag it to the target cell while pressing the right mouse button.

Select Place inside Cell in the popup menu. You can move the picture into the right position, scale it etc.

Continue in the same way with the rest of the pictures.

Formatting the text using Live Text Preview

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Another new feature in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 is the ability to preview changes to the text before you make them. This feature is called Live Text Preview.

Select the text with the Text Tool, and then scroll the Font List drop-down menu to find the most appropriate font. You will be able to instantly preview the change in the text you selected. In the image below we are previewing the font Impact.

Finally we need to remove the lines in the table.

Select the table with the Pick Tool

Set the border to All in the Property Bar, and then select none in the Border Width field

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