in this box, and possibly a subsequent box, depending on the file you choose to import. For example, at right in Figure 3-9, an Acrobat PDF file has been chosen, and after clicking Import in the first dialog, a box with options on which page and whether the import should convert Text to Curves appears. Bitmaps such as BMPs, JPEG photos, PNG files, and TIFFs are imported with no further questions asked (except about color profiles) because these image types are generated by dozens of applications, and CorelDRAW understands these data types. The Import dialog looks similar to the Open Drawing dialog, but it has a few more check boxes and options that are available depending on the kind of file you are importing. Check For Watermark is a common Import option; if you choose this, CorelDRAW informs you that the photo has been tagged by its creator. If you choose a file type not supported by CorelDRAW, such as an MP3 audio file, CorelDRAW lets you know (politely) that the file format is not supported. If you choose to filter the contents of a folder—exactly the same way as when you choose to Open a file (covered earlier), you not only simplify your search for the file you seek, but you also simplify the number of options for importing a specific media type. For getting various file formats into your document, CorelDRAW’s list of file types is pretty comprehensive. Of the importable file types, Corel provides support for all its own formats, 74 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 3-9 The Import dialog might trigger a second options box for additional import features, depending on the type of file you want to import. Generic bitmaps are imported with no subsequent dialog or options boxes. Proprietary media imports might pop up a second dialog. including CorelDRAW (CDR), Corel Symbol Library (CSL), Corel Painter (RIFF), CorelDRAW Compressed (CDX), Corel Presentation Exchange (CMX), Corel ArtShow 5 (CPX), Corel R.A.V.E. (CLK), Corel WordPerfect (WPD and WPG), Corel Quattro Pro (WB, WQ), Corel/Micrografx Designer (DES, DSF, and DRW), Corel Picture Publisher (PP5, PP4, and PPF), Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSP), and Corel PHOTO-PAINT (CPT). You’ll also find filter support for importing files from third-party products such as Adobe Photoshop (PSD), Adobe Illustrator (AI), Adobe Acrobat (PDF), Visio (VSD), and other Microsoft Office products. Other filters support popular PostScript, CAD, bitmap, text, and word processor file formats, and a selection of specialty file formats. Certain file types (such as PDF, discussed earlier) might have multiple pages; depending on the file type, you might see additional check boxes in the Import dialog: ● Do Not Show Filter Dialog For a few import file formats, a secondary dialog may appear, offering further options for handling inherent properties in the imported file. Choosing this option kills the display of this secondary dialog and is particularly useful for uninterrupted importing of multiple images. By default, this option is not selected. ● Maintain Layers And Pages If the file you are importing contains multiple pages and/or multiple layers, this option becomes available. By default, this option is selected. As the file is imported, additional pages are automatically added to your current document and/or layers are automatically added. Layers are controlled using the Object Manager docker. You can import multiple files if they are stored in the same folder. Click one of the files you want to open, and then hold the CTRL key while clicking additional files. You can open an entire folder’s contents: click the first file, then hold the SHIFT key, and finally, click the last file in the folder. Exporting Files and Choosing Options If this is the first chapter you’re reading in The Official Guide, you’re in for a treat—much of the rest of this guide shows you how to create exotic, intricate, and expressive artwork, logos, layouts, and other visuals that communicate your ideas. However, the world doesn’t own CorelDRAW (yet), so you need to convert your media by using export filters. Keep in mind (reading the rest of this guide will help you) that choosing the best export options affects your design’s appearance, quality, and compatibility with other applications. From the File menu, CorelDRAW offers a general-purpose Export command that is used to export your work to formats the world can view, plus a special Export For Office command for when your work will be used in a Corel WordPerfect Office application or in a Microsoft Office application. First, let’s look at the Export command that offers the greatest variety of export formats. CHAPTER 3: CorelDRAW’s Ins and Outs: Importing, Exporting, and Saving Design Work 75 3 Export File | Export (CTRL+E) contains all of the export filters you chose to install during the installation of CorelDRAW. If you installed the recommended set of import/export filters, you’ll find over 40 different file formats available in the Export dialog. If you need or just want to, you can always run the CorelDRAW installation program again to install additional export filters—the Secondary Import/Export File types: CUR, EXE, FMV, ICO, PCD, PCX, SCT, VSD, XCF, XPM, and/or the Tertiary Import/Export File types: GEM, HTM, IMG, MET, NAP, PIC, SHW, MOV, and QTM. The options available to you in the Export dialog vary depending on your document’s properties, such as whether you have anything selected, how many pages are in your file, and what type of file format you have chosen in the Save As Type drop-down. Secondary dialogs can also appear depending on the export file format. In Figure 3-10, this logo needs to be shared with a client as an email attachment. The JPG - JPEG Bitmaps file format for email attachments is one of the smallest file size, yet highest quality bitmap, file formats; this is chosen from the Save As Type drop-down list. General options are then displayed in this dialog, and version X5 offers a secondary dialog after you choose a file location, a filename, and then click Export. For JPEG images, you almost never want to check the Do Not Show Filter Dialog check box. CorelDRAW X5 has a host of options for writing JPEG copies of your work that you do not want to pass by. A short tutorial provided next explains JPEG options so your work is crisp, hi-fi, and as small in file size as possible. The following Export dialog options are available: ● Export This Page Only If your document consists of multiple pages, this option becomes available when exporting to EPS or to any file format supporting text as characters (such as text or word processor formats). Choosing this option causes only your current page to be exported. ● Selected Only Choose this option to export only your currently selected object(s) instead of your entire page or document. ● Do Not Show Filter Dialog Choose this option to export your file immediately using the options currently set in some secondary filter dialogs; this can be useful when exporting multiple individual files in identical ways. However, as a rule, skipping the secondary filter dialog is like skipping a meal—you might feel okay at the moment, but you’ll regret it in the long run. To get a good working idea of how to export a CorelDRAW design as a JPEG image, open Famous Elmer’s.cdr now. There’s an excellent possibility you can draw a better logo than Elmer did, but that’s not the point—this happens to be a representative image with colors and the drop shadow effect that you might use in your own work, and you’ll see shortly how visible quality and saved file size are affected by the options you use in the secondary filter dialog. 76 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Exporting a Design 1. Let’s assume your client (Elmer) doesn’t want a sea of white around the logo you’re presenting—he only wants to see the logo. Select the grouped object using the Pick Tool. Always do this before proceeding with your Export operation. 2. Choose File | Export (CTRL+E) or click the Export button in the standard toolbar to open the Export dialog. CHAPTER 3: CorelDRAW’s Ins and Outs: Importing, Exporting, and Saving Design Work 77 3 FIGURE 3-10 The Export dialog is the first step to exporting your current document page or selected objects. Export as a JPEG Eliminates unselected objects on page Not a good idea to check Metadata info for web search engines, also a good place for copyright and credits 3. Choose a folder and/or location, and enter a unique name for your exported file. Elmer’s Terrific Logo.jpg seems to fit the bill here. 4. Choose JPEG - JPEG Bitmaps from the Save As Type drop-down menu. 5. Check the Selected Only option. 6. Date Taken is an optional field into which you can enter a date that a photo was taken, but obviously this isn’t a photo you’re exporting. As a rule, when you send anything to a web page or attach it as an email, fill in as many metadata tags as are offered. Metadata adds very little to a saved file’s size, and it really helps web search engines identify and publicize your work. Type keywords or credits and copyright information in the Tags field, too. 7. Click Export to proceed with your export operation. 8. Here’s where the action happens: the secondary filter dialog specific to JPEG images, as shown in Figure 3-11. First, click the Two Vertical Previews button near the top left. Now you have two previews and can compare, for example, 100% quality versus 50% quality settings for export. JPEG compression discards some original photo information, but you get to set the level of compression in this dialog, and you can preview an acceptable and an unacceptable amount of visual compression. To use the preview panes, click inside one to select it, and then choose a JPEG setting from the Presets drop-down at right or enter it manually. Then compare what you see onscreen. 9. You can choose a preset from the Presets list; however, this list only provides the most general and basic amount of control over your exported image: Low, Medium, High—you get the picture. Setting quality with JPEGs is inversely proportional to saved file size, and you can do this manually by using the Quality spin box (or by entering a value in the number box). Look at the image in the right pane to see the quality, and then look below it to see the estimated saved file size. As a rule, Medium Quality compression generally provides excellent quality, except when your design has a billion different colors sitting right next to each other, such as in a drawing of confetti. JPEG doesn’t work very well for what is called high-frequency images, and if this is the case, a GIF file would work better, display better, and have a much smaller file size. 10. In the Advanced section, you can choose to tag the image with a color profile, the profile your document is defined with. You can also check Optimize, which helps compress the image a little more with little cost to the final rendered quality. You probably don’t want to check Progressive—doing this causes the JPEG to stream as it is downloaded to the recipient. The streaming image increases its resolution until it’s completely downloaded; it appears a little weird to the recipient, and Progressive should be reserved for large JPEGs (over 3 or 4MB) you send to people who only have dial-up connections. 78 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide 11. You can scale your exported JPEG without scaling your original; use the percentage boxes in the Transformation field. It’s not usually a good idea to uncheck Maintain Aspect Ratio unless you deliberately want to stretch or “smoosh” your exported image. 12. Once you’ve performed all your customization in all the Export areas, check one last time and decide on the quality you see in the preview frame that displays the compression you’ve decided upon, take a look at the approximate saved file size, and then click OK to export your image to the specified folder on your hard drive. CHAPTER 3: CorelDRAW’s Ins and Outs: Importing, Exporting, and Saving Design Work 79 3 FIGURE 3-11 When an Export displays a secondary dialog, use it to your advantage. Create the right size dimensions and file size for your intended audience. Single or split pane Magnification Zoom and Pan Display a sampled color for reference and accuracy. Presets Quality (versus saved file size) Color profile Scale Lower-quality preview High-quality preview Approximate file size When you export your design to certain bitmap file formats such as TIFF and PSD, these file types can retain color profiles. Color profiles add to total saved file size, and this is also true when you save CorelDRAW documents. If you absolutely, positively have to conserve hard drive space, you might forego saving color profiles along with a document. As accurately estimated in the Export and Save dialogs, color profiles can “cost” up to 500K of additional file size. Generally, it’s worth the price; very few professional designers and commercial printers work without color profiles, but embedding color profiles is one area where you can conserve on saved file sizes. Choosing Export File Formats The preceding tutorial covers you for exporting your CorelDRAW work to one of the most common and popular bitmap file formats used today for email attachments and web graphics. You can also choose third-party application file formats such as Photoshop, Acrobat PDF, and even AutoDesk CAD data. Where you begin your adventures exporting CorelDRAW design work depends completely on who your final audience or target is—a friend, a commercial press house, or a different application to add a finishing touch to a composition. The following is a brief summary of the available export filters: ● Bitmap formats Specific bitmap types whose format is openly used and supported by many software vendors—such as BMP (Windows and OS2), CALS, GIF, JPEG (JPG, JP2), PCX, PNG, TGA, TIF, WI—feature their own filter dialogs, custom tailoring your export for the application that receives the work. Third-party bitmap formats such as Photoshop PSD display a secondary dialog so you can set options specific to Photoshop data. Corel programs such as Painter and Paint Shop Pro will accept file formats such as PSD, TIFF, and other types. ● Metafile formats Metafile formats such as CGM, EMF, FMV, and WFM can contain both vector and bitmap information, but in practice they commonly contain only vector or bitmap information. It is usually better to choose a dedicated bitmap or vector format. ● Text formats When exporting to text formats (such as native word processor or simple text formats), no additional dialogs appear. Choose from ANSI Text (TXT), Rich Text Format (RTF), or virtually any version of Microsoft Word (DOC), WordPerfect (WPD), or WordStar 7 and 2000 (WSD). ● Font formats You have the choice of exporting to TTF to create a TrueType Font or to PFB (PostScript Font Binary) to create an Adobe Type 1 font format to create your own font. A secondary dialog opens where you specify the properties for the font and character you are exporting. See “Creating Your Own Font,” an online downloadable bonus chapter that covers font creation using CorelDRAW (http:// theboutons.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:creating- your-own-font-with-coreldraw-x4&catid=14:font-creation&Itemid=428). 80 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide ● Vector formats CorelDRAW includes the following vector graphics filters: Frame Vector Metafile (FMV) and a Scalable Vector Graphics filter (SVG and SVGZ compressed), as shown in the SVG Export dialog in Figure 3-12. SVG has become quite popular as an alternative to vector-based Flash media; if you’re considering posting a graphic to Wikipedia, the audience will appreciate SVG. Also included in this Export dialog is a preflight tab for correcting incorrect option choices (such as ICC color profiling; note the “1 Issue” remark in this figure) and options to create saved presets. ● CAD/Plotter formats You can now export files to AutoCAD (DXF and DWG) as well as to HPGL 2 Plotter files (PLT). These filters include their own specific dialog filter options. CHAPTER 3: CorelDRAW’s Ins and Outs: Importing, Exporting, and Saving Design Work 81 3 FIGURE 3-12 The improved Scalable Vector Graphics filter offers property options such as embedding a subset of fonts used and compression schemes for bitmaps in your document. ● EPS formats When you choose to export to Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) format, CorelDRAW’s filter offers a comprehensive set of PostScript-related options, organized into General and Advanced tabbed areas in the EPS Export dialog, as shown in Figure 3-13. EPS files are the coin of the realm in desktop publishing, and CorelDRAW can write an EPS graphics file that is Mac and Windows compatible. ● Third-party application formats Export to Adobe Illustrator (AI), Adobe Photoshop (PSD), Macromedia Flash (SWF), or Kodak FlashPix Image (FPX)— each of which opens a dialog filter with specific options. The Macintosh OS native file formats, MACPaint Bitmap (MAC) and Macintosh PICT (PIC), are also available. 82 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 3-13 The EPS Export dialog offers full control over all aspects of your exported graphics and images. ● Corel native formats Export to any of Corel’s own native formats: Corel WordPerfect Graphic (WPG), Corel PHOTO-PAINT (CPT), Picture Publisher (PPF or PP5), or Corel Presentation Exchange 5.0 (CMX)—each of which features its own filter dialogs. Export for Office Corel WordPerfect Office and Microsoft Office are used by tens of millions of people every day to produce letters, reports, charts, and presentations. These people often do not have graphics training or graphics software, but want and need graphics in their documents. To address these needs, Office suites not only accept graphics for placement in documents, but also provide simple tools to create and edit graphics within the suite. The tools are limited and the file formats that work best with office suites are also limited when compared with graphics applications. CorelDRAW’s Export For Office feature makes it easy for you to be sure that any graphics you supply for use in WordPerfect and Microsoft Office are optimized for their use in an Office document. Export For Office also helps you and your client avoid delays, bum documents, and other migraine-inducing issues. Choose File | Export For Office to display the Export For Office dialog and kick off the process of creating a file for your customer that’s Office-suite optimized. The Export For Office dialog has a large preview window in the center that shows what will be exported. You can navigate around the preview window and zoom in and out by clicking on the appropriate Zoom or Hand Tool icon on the side of the dialog, shown next. Ill 3-10 CHAPTER 3: CorelDRAW’s Ins and Outs: Importing, Exporting, and Saving Design Work 83 3 . click the first file, then hold the SHIFT key, and finally, click the last file in the folder. Exporting Files and Choosing Options If this is the first chapter you’re reading in The Official Guide, . affected by the options you use in the secondary filter dialog. 76 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Exporting a Design 1. Let’s assume your client (Elmer) doesn’t want a sea of white around the logo. (http:// theboutons.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:creating- your-own-font-with -coreldraw- x4&catid=14:font-creation&Itemid=428). 80 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide ● Vector formats CorelDRAW includes the following vector graphics filters: