Putting a Picture into a Car Advertisement 1. Click the Import icon on the standard toolbar or press CTRL+I to import the Expensive car.jpg. Locate it on your hard drive, select the file, and then click Import. 2. You’ll now see the attention box that tells you that the Expensive car.jpg is not tagged with the same color space as the Wally’s Wheels.cdr file. Click the Convert From Embedded Profile To The Document Profile radio button, and then click OK. Often you’ll notice a color difference in the image you view on the page if you choose to ignore the color profile (the first option in this attention box) instead of allowing CorelDRAW to convert it to the document’s color space. Another good reason not to ignore a color profile is that if you send this file to a commercial printer with two different color spaces in the document, the commercial printer is not likely to thank you for the time and paper the two of you have wasted. One document requires one color profile for all of its contents. 3. Begin your click as close as possible to the upper-left corner, and then drag down and to the right; don’t release the mouse button yet. When you believe you’re very close to the right edge of the layout, look at the cursor. If the dimensions it reports are close to 5 inches, release the mouse button. In Figure 23-2, if you can read the cursor, it reports a height and width of 4.997 inches, which is close enough for government work. Move your pointing device up and down on the page just a fractional amount until you’re close to 5 inches, and then release the mouse button. 4. If you want this image (or one in your own assignment) to be exactly 5" wide, now choose Arrange | Transformations | Size. Click the top left check box below the Proportional check box to set the direction in which the image should be scaled, and then type 5 in the H (horizontal, the width) field, press ENTER, and you’ve accomplished precision placement and scaling. 5. Save this file to hard disk, and keep it open for the sections to follow. Bitmap images can’t be edited at the pixel level directly in CorelDRAW. For example, if your cousin Flossie’s mascara is a little runny in the photo, this is an isolated photo problem area, and you need to use a bitmap-editing application to make the makeup look better. Not to worry, Flossie: you can open PHOTO-PAINT by clicking the Edit bitmap button on the property bar or by right-clicking the bitmap and then choosing to edit it from the context menu. See Chapters 24 and 25 for details on common—and a few not so common—editing techniques using PHOTO-PAINT. Switching from Resizing to Resampling If you had right-clicked the Expensive Car.jpg image in the Import dialog earlier and then chosen Properties | Details, Windows would have told you the image is 1,700×1,700 pixels at a resolution of 266 pixels per inch. Any bitmap’s resolution can be discovered this way, 714 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide within the Import dialog and anywhere in Windows where you can open a folder. However, if you click the image as placed now, the status bar will tell you that Expensive car.jpg on Layer 1 is currently 340 pixels per inch in resolution. The reason is that image resolution is inversely proportional to image dimensions—you make one smaller and the other one becomes larger, as discussed earlier. This is a function of resizing; by default, CorelDRAW doesn’t change the number of pixels in an imported photo. However, an imaging service bureau or commercial printer might request that an image placed in a CorelDRAW file be of a specific resolution. A lot of services that make full-color business cards, for example, want 300 ppi images in files, and they often reject art or charge extra for processing fees if an image is of higher resolution. When you change the number of pixels in an image, this is not called resizing, but is instead called resampling, and you’re altering the visual content of the copy of the image in your CorelDRAW document. Let’s pretend that this auto advertisement needs to be sent to a commercial printer with the image at exactly 300 ppi (pixels per inch; alternatively, dots per inch, dpi). Follow these brief steps to prep this file for proper printing. CHAPTER 23: Bitmap Boot Camp: Working with Photographs 715 23 FIGURE 23-2 Import a copy of an image you want to use at a specific size by click-dragging in the document. Cursor before placing the imported image Click-drag to set the size of the placed image. Begin click-drag here. Resampling a Photo 1. Select the image with the Pick tool. 2. Choose Bitmaps | Resample. 3. While Identical Values is checked, type 300 in either the Horizontal or the Vertical Resolution field. 4. Check Anti-alias (which makes the reduction of the image smooth and basically undetectable from the original image), check Maintain Aspect Ratio, but do not check Maintain Original Size. If you maintained the original size of the image, no resampling would take place; instead resizing would. Compare the Original Image Size and New Image Size in this dialog; this not only provides you with an estimate of how large your saved CorelDRAW file will be, but it’s also intellectual reassurance that you’re down-sampling the photo and not simply resizing it. Click OK and you’re finished. Keep the file open because the layout isn’t done. Yet. Ill 23-4 716 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Non-Rectangular Cropping in a Jiffy This mock advertisement clearly is designed on the diagonal, but the car image—like most bitmap images—is rectangular, somewhat spoiling the look of the ad as it’s currently placed. This isn’t a big design challenge; it’s an opportunity to explore CorelDRAW’s cropping features. CorelDRAW offers a Crop tool on the toolbox, which (as discussed in Chapter 25) performs destructive editing. No, it doesn’t paint a moustache or blacken a front tooth on your portrait photos, but it does permanently remove areas of a bitmap (and vector objects) that lie outside of the crop you define. It’s useful, but unnecessary for this assignment when you learn how to use the Shape tool. CorelDRAW considers any placed bitmap image to be an object that has four control nodes, one at each corner of the rectangle. Moreover, these control nodes can be moved (inward because there’s nothing outside of the boundary of a bitmap) to change the shape of a bitmap without removing areas of the bitmap—CorelDRAW simply hides them for you. Work through the following steps to hide a triangular area of the placed Expensive Car.jpg image and complete the design. Cropping with the Shape Tool 1. With the Pick tool, select the image and then press CTRL+PAGE DOWN to put the image behind the text at top. 2. Choose the Shape tool from the toolbox. 3. Click on the image to reveal the control nodes. 4. One approach to removing the slice of the image that’s covering Wally’s name is to hold CTRL (to constrain the direction in which you’ll drag the node) and then to click-drag the left bottom control node way up to about the 5" tick on the vertical ruler so you can see the underlying stripes. Then while holding CTRL, drag the control node down so it meets the bottom of the top diagonal stripe in the design. Then perform the same action on the bottom right control node. Nodes can be nudged: try saying that three times fast! You can use your UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys to nudge a selected image control node up or down. If you choose this method, it offers precision and you don’t have to hold CTRL. You can also use the super nudge option and hold SHIFT while pressing the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys. By default, if you hold SHIFT, your nudges are twice the value you set. CHAPTER 23: Bitmap Boot Camp: Working with Photographs 717 23 Ill 23-5 Although nudge distance isn’t visible on the property bar when the Shape tool is active, you can choose the Pick tool, deselect any selection (click an empty area of the document window), and set a nudge value that will apply to the Shape tool when you switch back to it. Importing Nonstandard Bitmaps With kind permission from Nicky Elliott, a small version, Monkey Pants Media.psd, of her Monkey Pants Media poster has been provided so you can get hands-on experience importing and performing a minor edit with a bitmap type that CorelDRAW handles well. Adobe Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT both can write image files that contain layers; you’ll see the advantages to using a layered bitmap image shortly, tutorial style. When you choose File | Import and then choose PSD, PHOTO-PAINT’s CPT, or even Corel Painter’s RIFF file format, any layers in these file types are imported and nested within an entry on a CorelDRAW layer. You can un-nest the layers, move them, and delete them, and one of the most useful properties of image files that are layered is that the file’s creator probably did so to include partially transparent areas within the bitmap composition. Let’s say Ms. Elliott wants a change made to the background of the Monkey Pants poster, that she’d prefer a more dramatic treatment than the medium blue solid color. Here’s how to import and edit a layered bitmap image. Working with Layered Bitmaps 1. Create a new document. Standard letter size is fine—the Monkey Pants Media.psd file is 8"×10" at 96 ppi resolution, so it will comfortably fit inside standard letter size at its original 100% size. 718 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Shape tool (nondestructive) Crop tool (destructive) Corner node of bitmap image 2. Click the Import button on the standard toolbar, and then in the Import dialog, scout down Monkey Pants Media.psd on your hard drive. Select it, and then click Import. 3. With the cursor loaded and ready to place a copy of the file, press ENTER to place the file at full size, centered on the page. 4. Choose Tools | Object Manager. Click the + icon to the left of the imported image title to open its nest of layers. 5. Click the Background layer item on the list to select it in the document window. This was a thoughtfully prepared file; the layers were named in Photoshop. In your own work, you might not be so fortunate if the creator of the layered file didn’t name the layers. Therefore, always check what’s selected in the drawing window before proceeding. 6. You’re sure the blue background is selected? Then click the trash icon to delete this layer. Ill 23-6 CHAPTER 23: Bitmap Boot Camp: Working with Photographs 719 23 7. Choose the Rectangle tool from the toolbox, and then drag a rectangle of about the size of the Background layer you deleted. 8. On the Object Manager, click-drag the Monkey Pants Media.psd entry to above the Rectangle entry. This puts the remaining two nested layers above the rectangle. 9. Choose the Interactive fill tool from the toolbox. Click to select the rectangle, and then choose Radial as the style of the fill from the property bar. 10. Click the inner color marker on the Radial fountain fill, and then click a bright yellow swatch on the Color Palette. Click the outer color marker, and then click a dramatic deep blue on the Color Palette. Ill 23-7 11. The logo layer could use some visual separation from the background. CorelDRAW native effects can be applied to nontransparent areas of imported bitmap layers: choose the Drop Shadow tool from the toolbox, select the logo on the page by clicking on the title “logo” in the Object Manager list, and choose Large Glow from the Presets list on the property bar. 720 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Interactive fill tool Radial style 12. Large Glow, at its default settings, will not provide much of an effect. So you change the default settings: click the outer color marker, and then choose black from the Shadow color pop-up on the property bar. Then, set the Shadow opacity (also on the property bar) to almost 100% opaque. Finally, set the Shadow feathering to only about 10. Figure 23-3 shows a dramatic transformation of the poster—and because the imported bitmap layers can be edited separately, you can even reposition the Monkey Pants logo on the CorelDRAW page. Working with RAW Images Camera RAW is the new generation of high-fidelity imaging; it’s affordable, most cameras you don’t buy at a drugstore can write a RAW file format, and as with any comparatively new technology, there’s a small learning curve we’ll tackle in this section. A RAW image is similar to an unprocessed physical piece of camera film; although it contains a lot of data about exposure, light temperature, f-stop, lens, and other conditions, the RAW image does not have locked data about pixel colors. RAW offers the ultimate in flexibility—if the light was too low or the wrong temperature, you can adjust for these and CHAPTER 23: Bitmap Boot Camp: Working with Photographs 721 23 FIGURE 23-3 Combine CorelDRAW objects with layered bitmap file to extensively edit layouts. Drop Shadow tool other flaws through CorelDRAW’s Camera RAW Lab. The Camera RAW Lab appears after you choose to import a RAW camera image; a RAW image cannot be placed in a CorelDRAW composition before it passes through the lab (even if you choose not to do anything to the image). Depending on your camera settings, you’ll most likely be working with a 48-bit image, 16 bits per channel; this offers a color space of several trillion unique colors and is part of the reason why RAW images can be adjusted to make dramatic lighting changes while retaining high image fidelity. Working with the Camera RAW Lab Working with the Camera RAW Lab in CorelDRAW is an experience you won’t want to miss. If you don’t have a RAW image handy or if your camera cannot take RAW file format images, a small DNG file is in the zip archive you downloaded for this chapter. Because no two manufacturers could agree on a file extension, a RAW image could have .CRW, .DNG, or any of over a dozen other extensions. The good news is that CorelDRAW doesn’t care about the file extension—you just choose All File Formats from the drop-down list in the Import dialog, and then navigate to the location of a RAW image—in the following example, Catch of The Day.dng. The better news is that CorelDRAW can import RAW images from a three-page list of manufacturers—just short of photos on a View-Master reel, you’re assured that CorelDRAW can import most RAW files. The current color space of an open CorelDRAW document is displayed in the Properties tab. Camera RAW has no color space tag, but one is assigned by Camera RAW Lab on its way into the document using the current CorelDRAW document’s color space. Let’s dig right into the features and options available to you when you import a RAW image; follow these steps and guidelines to import the image, and then perform minor processing enhancements. There’s nothing truly wrong with the image, but this tutorial is instead an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the Camera RAW Lab features. Correcting RAW Image Color 1. Choose File | Import, or click the Import button on the standard toolbar. 2. Choose All File Formats, and then choose Catch of The Day.dng from the folder you downloaded the file to. Click Import or press ENTER. 3. The Camera RAW Lab interface appears. First, check the properties of this unprocessed photograph. The Properties tab of the interface tells the day and date of the photo, the camera, whether flash was used, aperture, and ISO-equivalent film speed. If you’re familiar at all with cameras, the info shown here will give you a clue to what, if anything, needs adjusting in the image. For example, the photo has a very shallow 722 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide depth of field and isn’t truly an “out of focus” picture: at ISO 50 at an f-stop of 2.2 and a shutter speed of 1/25th of a second, the Properties tab confirms this. Also, because a flash w asn’t used, when you get to the Color tab, you can rule out Flash as a choice from the White Balance options. Ill 23-8 4. The Detail tab has a slider for sharpening the image as well as sliders for reducing Luminance Noise and overall Color Noise. This photo doesn’t require these enhancements. The Hints area at the bottom of the tab is a handy context-sensitive reminder of what each slider does, and before you take your next RAW image, it’s good practice to “get it right in the camera.” You’ll get less noise in a photo generally if you set your camera to slower ISO speeds. The ISO of 50 in this example image produced very little visible noise (similar to grain in traditional physical film), but an ISO setting of say, 400, for the camera that took this photo would indeed have required noise reduction using the Detail sliders. 5. Click the Color tab; here’s where the fun begins. Follow the callout letters in Figure 23-4 to guide you through which features do what. CHAPTER 23: Bitmap Boot Camp: Working with Photographs 723 23 . Tool 1. With the Pick tool, select the image and then press CTRL+PAGE DOWN to put the image behind the text at top. 2. Choose the Shape tool from the toolbox. 3. Click on the image to reveal the control. Choose the Interactive fill tool from the toolbox. Click to select the rectangle, and then choose Radial as the style of the fill from the property bar. 10. Click the inner color marker on the Radial. on the page by clicking on the title “logo” in the Object Manager list, and choose Large Glow from the Presets list on the property bar. 720 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Interactive fill tool Radial