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.

Back in the old days, when I was just starting out as a designer, there were no computers, at least as far as the average person was concerned. We did have our own brand of high tech, which centered mostly on cameras and film. A design layout was a physical thing in which black and white design elements were pasted onto illustration boards, at first using rubber cement (what glorious fumes) and later hot wax as an adhesive. This involved a lot of manual and visual dexterity and an even greater degree of neatness—one dark speck of rubber cement along the edge of a pasted element would be picked up by the camera as a black dot that had no business sitting where it was. Alignment was a nightmare second only to making sure any elements requiring a horizontal axis did not land crooked on the page. I can still see my big clumsy fingers trying to paste down a 1/8” x 3’ strip of paper containing a single line of 6 point type so that it was perfectly straight.

You know those fonts we’ve got on our computers? We had three fonts to work with—handwriting, hand printing, and the standard typewriter font (courier). We had to pay to have the text in our layout turned into real type (fonts) from a type house, printed out on photographic paper that we cut apart to paste onto our boards. We had to provide the typesetter with typewritten copy marked up with a special code in order to get back a simple block of text 3” wide by 4” tall set in 10 point Helvetica. Mess up and you had to fork over another ten bucks for that paragraph.

The point of all this reminiscing is that we had a holy grail back then—a silhouetted photo. For instance, if I had a photo of a dog, and I wanted it to sit in the middle of my layout without any background behind it so it could nuzzle up against a line of type, I would have to paint, using an opaque white paint and a tiny brush, an outline about 1/8” wide right on the photograph, following the contour of the dog. The interior edge of this outline would have to be spot on and required a steady hand and nerves of steel. The printer would then block out using film all of the background outside of the white outline, leaving just the dog shape.

Figure 1 Figure 2

The technology has changed dramatically since then, but the problem is still with us—how to construct a floating image, better yet, a peek-a-boo floating image. What do I mean by that? In CorelDraw, I can make two concentric circles with black outlines and filled with white so that it resembles a donut, but if I place those over a black background, the donut hole will still be solid white. If I select both shapes and go to Arrange/Combine, then the donut hole becomes empty, allowing the black background to show through. Pretty easy.
(See Figure 1)

Not so if the image is pixel-based (an imported bitmap image), and even less so if instead of a simple donut hole, the trapped space(s) is (are) complex. I touched on this very common problem in last month’s issue, but I wanted to discuss it in more detail, since sooner or later most of us will need to understand how to make it happen.

As I mentioned in my last article, removing the background from behind an image in a photo so that the background is white will not work when imported into CorelDraw unless it is placed on a white background. Place it on top of another color, and a white rectangle will be sitting on that color with the image surrounded by white. It can be very frustrating, since it is so easy to imagine just the image floating on the color background.
(See Figure 2)

There are a few ways to get this to behave the way you imagine it. The first is to isolate the image in PhotoPaint using selection tools, saving it as a .cpt (Corel PhotoPaint) document with the image selected (no background showing inside the marquis). The second method is to select the image, create a path from the selection outline, save that as a clipping path and export as an .eps file. Another way is to bring the bitmap image into CorelDraw, and using the auto trace feature, create a vector path following the contour of the image and then PowerClip the image (bitmap ends up inside the container). The last possibility is to hand-trace the imported bitmap in CorelDraw and again use the PowerClip feature.

The first method is the easiest and fastest way to go, but the drawback is that the edge of the silhouetted image is pixilated. In the other three methods, the edges of the object will be much smoother with the image confined within a vector path, but they will require more effort to produce. So let’s take a look at each method.

Select And Save As CPT (PhotoPaint)
This method is the easiest. In PhotoPaint, open the full image containing the content desired, say the dog in the photo. Using various selection tools, create an outline following the contour of the dog. With just that outline selected, save the file using a different name (to preserve the original photo), but as a .cpt PhotoPaint file. Then open CorelDraw and import the file. Test it by placing it on top of a solid rectangle of color. Only the image and no background from the original photo should show. And that’s it—almost.

The edges of this silhouetted object will be pixilated and can be distracting if done poorly. Try to avoid having to enlarge the image in CorelDraw, since it will only increase the chances of the pixelation being a problem. Decide ahead of time how big a final image you need and make sure that it is 300 pixels per inch at that size in PhotoPaint before even creating the selection. This will insure good results. A low-resolution image saved this way will look pretty ragged.

There is no room here to explain how to make selections in PhotoPaint, but I covered that thoroughly, earlier this year, in a series of articles. When making selections, it is optional whether or not to delete the background to white along the way or at the end of the process. Any selection can be inverted, meaning that it is possible to toggle between selecting the object itself and the background surrounding it. If the latter, not only will the object have an outline marquis, but so will the outer rectangle of the entire photo. Make sure when saving as a .cpt that the object, not the background, is selected.

We started off by discussing donut holes. It is not uncommon for images to not only be surrounded by background, but for islands of background to be trapped inside the image as well. The dog’s legs might be crossed, for instance, trapping some background in between its legs. If the dog is selected, it is possible to deselect the patch of background trapped inside the selected area. Again I refer to those earlier articles. Remember, whatever is selected will appear in CorelDraw. You want just dog and no background.

Clipping Path
In PhotoPaint, once an image has been carefully selected, it is possible to make a Path from that selection marquis by going to Mask/Create/Path from Mask. You will have the option of smoothing the path, but unless you have good reason to, you will have more accurate results leaving Smoothness at 0. Then go to Windows/Dockers/Paths to see your vector path options. You will see your path closely following the selection marquis on the image and in the docker as a little icon, along with an arrow that provides some options for your selected path when clicked on.

In that dropdown menu of options, choose Make Clipping Path, and a little symbol will appear across from the Path icon. Go to File/Save As, choose Encapsulated Post Script as the format, give this document a name, and click the Save button. A dialogue box will appear. Check the Thumbnail box, choose 8 Bit Color and 300 DPI, check the Clip To box, choose Clipping Path, make the Flatness 21, check Discard Image Outside Selection, and click OK.

Open CorelDraw and go to File/Import, select the file and click Import, and in the dialogue box choose both Import as Editable and Curves and click OK. The mouse Icon will be loaded with the image, which will appear when clicked on the page. A close examination will show the vector outline along the contour of the silhouetted image providing nice smooth edges to the photo.

AutoTrace/PowerClip
Import your entire bitmap image into CorelDraw. In most cases, it will help to have eliminated the background behind the image, (our dog, for instance) leaving the background solid white. However, when saving as a .cpt, don’t leave any selection marquis on the image. Control/R will get rid of those.

There is not enough room here to explain the Autotrace feature of CorelDraw other than to point out its location: Bitmaps/Trace Bitmaps (make sure bitmap image is selected first). If you can make an accurate tracing of the dog in the photo, then move the vector outline created by the Trace feature to the side and select the bitmap.

Go to Effects/PowerClip/Place inside Container. A large arrow will appear. Point it at the vector path and click. The image will be confined by the container. Go back to Effects/PowerClip/Edit Contents, move the image around until it matches the vector path then go back to Effects/PowerClip/Finish Edit to complete the process. Editing contents can include slightly enlarging or rotating the image if necessary. This method also produces a smooth, unpixelated outline.

Hand Trace/Power Clip
In certain circumstance, hand tracing the bitmap image in CorelDraw using the Bezier tools makes the most sense. Sometimes autotracing does not give accurate results, something that can be better achieved with hand tracing. Once the path has been created, the bitmap is PowerClipped to fit the vector path as mentioned above.