This column is being written to demonstrate practical uses of CorelDraw for those working within the awards and engraving industry. For those new to Corel, I suggest concentrating on the basics from books, media, seminars or tutoring, with the aim of becoming productive as soon as possible. In other words, earn while you learn! And the most effective way to learn is by repeated use, gaining proficiency and then moving forward adding new skills. These articles try to focus on skills relevant to your needs. Procedure descriptions are somewhat generic due to wide variation in Corel versions. Consult your version documentation as needed.

Happy 20th, A&E! 1988! That was the year I began my conversion from a monk out of the Middle Ages to 21st century computer junkie. I was hired the previous year to teach graphic design at the University of Missouri, Columbia, based mainly on the unusual work I had been doing as a calligrapher. As part of my contract, I asked for and received a brand new—get ready, folks—black and white Mac SE with a built-in 9” monitor!

Though I had never really used a computer in any kind of meaningful way, I was aware that the graphic design industry might be headed in that direction, and I wanted to be on board for the ride. Of course, at the time, it was a big deal, and basic as it was, I managed to transition 70 students to computer graphics all using that one little computer.

Designing with type for print publication in those days was a royal pain, and expensive. So I must confess I first viewed my little Mac, gratefully, only as a personal typesetting machine. In that B.C. (before computers) era, if I wanted to create an ad, I would sketch out a design on paper using a pencil. (You might want to look up those ancient terms, since I don’t have room to describe them here.) I would then type up the copy on a mechanical typewriter, making corrections with whiteout as I went (more archaic terms). I would then mark-up the typewritten copy—notes to explain to the typesetter how, exactly, I wanted my paragraphs, headlines and captions to appear.

For a steep fee, they would then convert my instructions to a printed glossy paper proof, using real fonts that I would have to then cut into little strips to paste down onto a heavy, paper board using a T-square and Triangle to form the mechanical to bring to the printer. Usually, there would be typos found or errors in the visual translation, which meant paying another steep fee for a second proof. And that’s just the type! Creating graphics and preparing them for printing was even more of a nightmare.

I am very sympathetic regarding the frustrations with computers in general, especially when it comes to creating artwork on them, but I have no illusions that the old way was a walk in the park. Different? Yes! But for the most part, I wouldn’t trade the digital frustrations for the tedious, hands-on practices in widespread use only two decades ago! Ever try to draw a curve using a ruling pen and ink and a French curve? Computers aren’t so bad…

As a sign maker in 1988, I would start with a rough sketch, move to an accurate scale rendering (again, paper and pencils—and don’t forget the blessed eraser!) and finally redraw all the letters to actual size using big paper rolls. That’s the third time the outline of each letter would have to be hand drawn. The fourth rendering was with a little perforating wheel called a pounce wheel, which followed all the pencil lines.

The paper would then be mounted to the sign-board, and charcoal would be forced through the perforations, thus transferring the outlines of the letters to the sign board. Then each letter had to be hand painted using a sign brush and following the charcoal pattern. The first time I saw a vinyl cutter/plotter in use, and watched how easily the letters were cut out, I nearly cried.

As a professional calligrapher prior to 1988, I was making handwritten and decorated awards and scrolls on paper, long before I had even heard of a recognition industry. However, at a certain point, I became absorbed with creating calligraphic logos and headlines that were cleaned up and perfected so that they could work seamlessly with type. These were hand painted and heavily retouched, and in a sense, more like sign lettering than calligraphy, but very carefully rendered.

When someone introduced me to Adobe Illustrator, I scoffed at first, feeling that the computer would never be able to deal with the subtleties required for my idealized calligraphy. However, as I began exploring vector outlines and bezier curves, I soon realized that I was about to move in a whole new direction. My first headline surpassed my wildest expectations. It took me just as long to render the headline as it would have by hand, but now that it was in the computer, I could endlessly apply the headline to a variety of projects, and that saved a lot of time.

I could also easily archive the document to be retrieved at any time. I was sold. That was 1988! Twenty years later finds me at my computer, writing articles about beziers and vectors using CorelDraw. For kicks, I am including my first computer vector headline along with a recent one. Yes, the file I created twenty years ago is still like new, thanks to digital archiving! 

So here we are! 2008! In the last issue, I walked through the process of creating small signs using CorelDraw and engraving equipment. Part of that dealt with creating a finished rendering—a printout of artwork that would come as close as possible to what the final job would look like when it was completed. Since there was little time and space to go into detail about applying fills in that rendering process, I thought I would go into a little more detail here.

A great place to start is to begin trying to simulate materials that are regularly used in the shop. There is nothing worse than perfecting a design, only to discover that the colors chosen have no counterpart in the materials available.

Creating such simulations requires the use of the Fill tool in the CorelDraw tool bar, located near the bottom with an icon that looks like a paint bucket. To experiment with the various aspects of the Fill tool, I would just create a large rectangle and keep it selected so that the changes can easily be observed.

Let’s start with simulating the color of sheet goods such as laminate acrylic. When the Fill tool is clicked on, there are several options for filling an object. The options using CorelX-3 are solid Color Fill, Fountain Fill, Pattern Fill, Texture Fill, Post-script Fill, No Fill and Docker window, which is the same as going to Window/Docker/Color, which puts color sliders in the docker for easy color adjustment.

The simplest way to simulate colors is to hold a sample of the product up to the screen and try to match it using either the Color Docker or the Fill tool set on solid color. Make sure there is plenty of light aimed at the monitor so that the color sample doesn’t appear too dark. Monitor colors will always look brighter, since the light is coming from inside the monitor as opposed to the sample, which is reflecting light. The most important aspect of saving these colors is so that they are as true to the user as possible in order for the user to make good design decisions.

Next, it would be great if the colors remained true when printed out on whatever printer is being used to make proofs. This isn’t always easy, though much better than it used to be. Both the computer and printer would need to be calibrated in order for that to work well, and that can be a challenge. If the printout is considerably off in terms of color, then showing the client samples of the materials being used can remedy that situation. For some businesses, calibrating the equipment is well worth the trouble to avoid misinterpretation.

The sliders in the docker are probably the easiest to work with in terms of making color adjustments, and of the docker options, using the CMYK sliders is the most intuitive. The solid color dialogue box option for the Fill tool, by default shows a CMYK color model. A tall thin box on the right shows a rainbow cascade of all of the hues available, and the large square to the left shows the selected hue in the upper right corner, white in the upper left corner, black in the lower right corner and dark gray in the lower left corner, except that these colors are in a continuous blend from one to the other.

By moving the little square inside, endless variations from light to dark of the particular hue can be chosen, in order to arrive at the desired color. In addition, to the right of the boxes are CMYK values, each with its own slider that can be adjusted, and below that a list of standard colors by name—select the name, and the hue and tint for that color appear in the boxes to the left. 

A page or pages could be filled with squares using these custom colors matching materials that are regularly used, and then named and saved somewhere easily accessible. It is also possible to create a color palette within Corel that can be accessed at any time using the fill tool. To do this, go to Tools/Palette editor, and a new dialogue box will appear. Clicking on the arrow to the right of the name of the default palette at the top of the box reveals a list of all the palettes below. Choose User’s Palettes and click on the page icon to the right, which adds a new palette to the User’s Palettes folder, and that can be given an easy-to-identify name.

Open the User’s Palette in the window to the left and choose the new empty palette if it is not already chosen. Click on the Add Color button to the right, choose a color as was done using the Fill Tool and click on the Add to Palette button, then close the Add Color dialogue box and name the color in the Palette Editor box. Repeat this process for as many colors as are needed and then save the palette. Don’t forget to make custom colors for the substrates that show through on engraved laminate products.

When using the solid color Fill tool, click on the Palettes tab at the top of the dialogue box and choose the new palette. All the newly created colors will appear, and when a color is selected, its name will appear in the lower right corner of the dialogue box. Alternatively, by going to Window/Docker/Color Palette Browser and putting a checkmark next to the new palette, the color palette appears to the right and stays open for easy application to selected objects. (See Figure 3)

The second option for the Fill tool is the Fountain Fill option. This tool is particularly useful for representing metallic finishes on certain products, but it can be useful in many other ways as well. Again, create a box on the page to experiment with and leave it selected in order to see the results.

The Fountain Fill dialogue box should indicate a Linear fountain fill at the top of the page. I would stick with that default option to begin with, but checking out the Radial, Conical and Square options by clicking on the arrow to the right wouldn’t hurt. Go to the Color Blend section in the middle of the dialogue box and click on the Two Color button. Choose a color for each of the two colors from their respective palettes, and the blend will appear in a square in the upper right corner.

Adjusting the midpoint slider will affect how the blend transitions between the two colors, with 50% being the most even. Again the square in the upper right will display how the current choices will appear. The blend moves in a horizontal direction in that box, but by changing the angle to the left of the box, the direction can be rotated. The Edge Pad box causes the blend to be more or less concentrated. (See Figure 4)

Clicking on the Custom Color button in the Color Blend area creates a horizontal box containing the current blend. Clicking on the little white squares on either end of the narrow bar above the rectangle reveals the respective colors at each end of the blend in the small color box above the bar. Those colors can each be changed by using the palette to the right. Double-clicking in the middle of the bar causes an arrow to appear which can be slid in either direction, allowing the transition between colors to shift.

However, when that arrow is selected, its color can be changed as well, and more arrows can be added and used to transition the colors already present, or each of those arrows can be assigned a color as well. The right combination of colors, with the right adjustments of the arrows left to right can create a blend that simulates a gold or silver metallic finish, for instance, as well as an endless assortment of possibilities. What colors should be used to simulate a finish? Studying an actual sample of the finish should be of great help in choosing colors. (See Figure 5)

The combination of edge padding and angle can also enhance the effect when applied to the selected object. If the Fill is successful, it can be named, saved as a preset at the bottom of the page and accessed whenever it is needed.

I’m not going into much detail here regarding the Pattern, Texture and Post Script fills, since they would probably be less widely used in our industry, even when trying to simulate a particular material. They all function in a similar manner in terms of application. In each, a small unit of bitmap or vector pattern serves as a sample that is repeated as needed to fill a selected shape.

The Texture fill probably has the most widespread uses in terms of creating simulations, and there are wood grain and stone textures, for instance, that are very useful. In addition, these units can be altered in terms of color, etc., and especially with the Texture fill, the options are endless. Again, I would suggest creating a large rectangle on the page, selecting it and exploring each of these fills to become familiar with the options.

Here’s to the next 20 years!