Combining objects that normally feature unique properties—such as rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and perfect shapes—permanently converts them to curves. If you intend to output to PostScript, it might not be a good idea to combine paths that overlap each other. Again, it’s one of the limitations of the PostScript page description language—in human terms, a PostScript printer or image-setting device gets “confused” when a single closed path intersects itself; the device doesn’t know which areas to fill and which to leave empty. If you have a design need for a shape that looks like it self-intersects, ensure proper PostScript output by using the Shaping docker or the buttons on the property bar when multiple objects are selected using the Pick tool to create the illusion of a self-intersecting object. 294 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 10-13 Break a compound path apart to work with the component objects. Two separate paths FIGURE 10-14 You can make two or more separate objects into a single compound path with the Combine command. Original objects Combined objects Breaking Paths Apart You can separate the individual paths in a compound path using the Break Curve command ( CTRL+K). This command is available when a compound path composed of at least two subpaths is selected. (Using the Extract Subpath command button in the property bar also does this, but only for the selected path.) Converting Objects to Curves Converting special types of objects to curves—such as shapes auto-created with the Rectangle and Ellipse tools—frees them to be manipulated with the Shape tool as if they were ordinary paths. Choose Arrange | Convert To Curves, press CTRL+Q, click the Convert To Curves button in the property bar, or right-click the object and choose Convert To Curves from the pop-up menu. Converting an object to curves removes any special editing properties; text loses its ability to be edited as text, and rounded rectangles can no longer be edited to refine the curvature of the rounded corners. Converting to curves applies to polygon, ellipse, artistic text objects, and certain effects objects such as envelopes and perspective effects. In this chapter, you’ve seen different tools for creating paths, but the results are more or less the same; objects have path segments and nodes, and paths can be open or closed. You’ve also learned how to edit paths using the Shape tool. You’d be well served to bookmark this chapter; there’s an awful lot of power in CorelDRAW’s drawing and editing tools, and this chapter can be a good reference in the future. After all, the program isn’t called CorelFILL or CorelRECTANGLE—drawing is what good vector design is all about. CHAPTER 10: Drawing and Editing Objects 295 10 This page intentionally left blank CHAPTER 11 Editing Objects 297 L et’s say you’ve drawn an object and you’re fairly pleased with it, except for that little corner that you couldn’t draw just right. Editing objects is the theme of this chapter, where you’ll learn various techniques to massage that almost-perfect shape into exactly the shape you’ve envisioned. Because every object you draw on a page can be broken down into rectangles, ovals, path segments, and so on, this chapter covers the tools and features for doing exactly this: breaking down shapes, combining them, subtracting a little of this, adding a little of that. Often, arriving at a design of your dreams can be most quickly accomplished by creating an approximation of the shapes you need. Then, with a pull and a tug here and there, erasing a tiny area, perhaps you’ll get quicker results than if you had built the object from scratch. You’ll see in this chapter that editing objects not only provides you with the best results, but also lets you add visual complexity and embellishments that would be hard to achieve using other methods. Download and extract all the files from the Chapter11.zip archive to follow the tutorials in this chapter. Reshaping Things You have a choice of two places to begin when you want to edit an object: you can use operations (commands you make with the click of a property bar button), or you can use the hands-on approach; both are covered in this chapter. Both approaches will serve you well, and your choice largely depends on what you need to edit, and then what type of operation is required. Shaping and Reshaping Object Shapes Drawing shapes from scratch is often a tedious and time-consuming process, but CorelDRAW has great shaping commands to speed the process. Shape commands such as Trim, Weld, Intersect, and Create Boundary make creating complex shapes quick and painless. You’ll also find three other shape commands at your disposal: Simplify, Front Minus Back, and Back Minus Front. In this next section, you’ll learn exactly how you can use these commands to shape and reshape your objects. Before getting into the specifics of each type, though, let’s take a look at where you can find them in CorelDRAW X5. Shaping Commands and the Property Bar CorelDRAW X5’s property bar provides shaping command buttons that enable you to shape selected objects instantly. These property bar options become available only while at least two objects are selected—and they make shaping commands available whether or not the objects are positioned to overlap. Property bar shaping buttons are shown here: 298 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide When you use property bar shaping buttons, shapes are subtracted, added, and so on, but the original objects—except when you use Create Boundary—go away. To keep your original objects, use the Shaping docker, which offers options to specify that the source object (the one performing the operation—the “scissors”) and/or target object (the object receiving the operation—the “paper”) should remain after shaping. When using the Shaping docker and the Weld and Intersect operations, you have an additional helper: the Intersect With or the Weld To button (shown next) at the bottom. When only one object is selected, naturally it’s hard for CorelDRAW to perform these operations. The idea behind this option is that if you have several objects nestled together (making a target object hard to select), you click the Weld To or the Intersect With button, your cursor changes to a unique shape, and you then click the desired target object to complete the operation. CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 299 11 Intersects selected shapes Trims selected shapes Welds all selected shapes Simplifies selected objects Front Minus Back Back Minus Front Create Boundary: makes new object that surrounds selected shapes Now that you know where to find the buttons to launch these commands quickly, it’s time to examine what you can do with them. The following section explains the results of applying each command to at least two selected objects: ● Weld The Weld command creates a new shape based on the outline shape of two (or more) objects whether they overlap or not, as shown here. You can specify via the Shaping docker whether the original shapes remain on the page. 300 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Boolean Shaping The mathematical term for what is called “shaping” is Boolean operation. It was named after the 19th century mathematician George Boole, who invented a logic system in algebra for describing certain functions in plain English terms, such as “show me A and B together,” where A and B are geometric shapes. Other shaping operations when translated to these logical statements include “and,” “not,” “or,” and so on. The statement “show me A but not B” can describe the function of the CorelDRAW Back Minus Front shaping operation, as another example. This is the basis for the operation CorelDRAW performs when you use one shape as a target and a different one for the source in a shape operation. Before Weld After Weld This illustration shows a polygonal, sun-like shape with partial transparency applied to better show the order of objects on the page: the rectangle is behind the sun shape. Not only did the Weld operation create a single object from the two, but it also gave the result object the color of the bottom object. The important thing to know when welding objects is: ● If you marquee-select two objects for the Weld operation, the bottom object’s color is the resulting object color. ● If you select two or more objects one at a time with the Pick tool (by SHIFT- clicking), the last object you choose—regardless of whether it is on top or bottom in the stack of objects on a layer—contains the fill color that will be the result color in the welded object. ● Trim The Trim command removes any overlapping areas of the object in front from the object(s) in back when marquee-selection is used, as shown next—the rectangle in front is partially transparent to make the effect more obvious. The original objects are automatically deleted, and no color change takes place (the back object does not inherit the front object’s color, transparency, or any other trait). If you select the objects one by one (click, then SHIFT-click), the second object is trimmed. ● Intersect The Intersect operation creates a new object based on the overlapping areas of two or more objects. The original objects remain on the page, and the result is not obvious because the new object is in the same position as the overlapping parts of the original objects. In the following figure, the sun shape was on the bottom, and the resulting shape takes on the color of the bottom object, because CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 301 11 Sun is in back After Trim Rectangle is moved marquee-selection was used. Intersect is a great operation for creating difficult crops of complex objects. The new sun shape would make a nice logo for a tanning salon! ● Simplify The Simplify command removes all hidden areas of objects that “underlap” foreground objects, as the example shows here. This command is great for uncomplicating an intricate drawing, and it can also make a design that otherwise might not print to PostScript correctly, print just fine. As you can see at middle, there is no apparent change to this simple design after the Simplify command is applied, but at right, you can see that when the objects are moved, overlapping areas of the sun in back have been erased, similar but not identical to the Trim and the Back Minus Front operations. Different order and arrangements of objects will result in slightly different results. ● Front Minus Back When two or more shapes are selected, applying the Front Minus Back command removes the hidden area of the object in back from the shape in front. When more than two shapes are selected, it removes all portions where the 302 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Before Intersect After Intersect (objects are moved) Before Simplify After Simplify Objects Moved shapes in back are overlapped by the object in front, leaving only the object in front remaining, as shown here: Front Minus Back is a trim operation, “A but not B” in Boolean terminology, and the advantage to using this operation to trim objects is that it removes the guesswork of, “Gosh, what’s the order of the objects in this design?” Front Minus Back is an unambiguous, straightforward trim operation. ● Back Minus Front This shaping command works in reverse of Front Minus Back. While at least two shapes are selected, applying the Back Minus Front command removes the portions of the shape layered in front from the shape in back. When more than two shapes are selected, it will remove all portions where the shapes in front overlap the shape in back, leaving only the shape in back remaining, as shown here: ● Create Boundary This is similar to the Weld operation, except it leaves the target objects on the page. Also, if there are empty spaces between objects, Create Boundary ignores them when making the combined single object. Here is an example of several objects selected and the resulting shape. By default, the new object has no CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 303 11 Before Front Minus Back After Front Minus Back Before Back Minus Front After Back Minus Front . illusion of a self-intersecting object. 294 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 1 0-1 3 Break a compound path apart to work with the component objects. Two separate paths FIGURE 1 0-1 4 You can make. of each type, though, let’s take a look at where you can find them in CorelDRAW X5. Shaping Commands and the Property Bar CorelDRAW X5 s property bar provides shaping command buttons that enable you. and Reshaping Object Shapes Drawing shapes from scratch is often a tedious and time-consuming process, but CorelDRAW has great shaping commands to speed the process. Shape commands such as Trim,