Types of Cuts with the Knife Tool There are three ways to cut a shape with the Knife tool, and each one requires a different keyboard/mouse technique. ● Straight cuts Suppose you want to slice an object into two separate shapes as you’d do with a workshop saw. To produce straight lines on sides of both objects, you aim the cursor on the near side of the object, hover until you see it change from an angled cursor to an upright one, click, release the mouse button, and then click the far side of the object, as shown in Figure 11-5. ● Freeform cuts This technique can be used, for example, to quickly create an illustration of a sheet of paper roughly torn in half. You hover the cursor until it turns upright, click-hold the near side of the object, and then drag until you reach the far side of the shape, as shown in Figure 11-6. ● Bézier cuts If you need to guide the Knife tool to make smooth jigsaw-like cuts, you hold SHIFT, and then click-drag points, beginning at the near side and completing the cut at the far side, as shown in Figure 11-7. Notice that not only do the cut result objects inherit the original shape’s fill, but this applies to all types of fills, including gradients. The shapes in this figure each have a gradient start and end point inherited from the original shape, and if you choose the Interactive gradient tool, you can adjust each object’s gradient directly and come up with a visually interesting jigsaw puzzle composition or other complex drawing. 314 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 11-5 Click, release, then click to create a Knife tool straight cut. Knife is over an object. Knife is not over an object. Click and then release. Click Resulting straight-cut objects Naturally, if you have a specific cut in mind, you’ll get the best results using the shaping operations, and you cannot edit a Bézier cut’s path as you make the cut, but the Knife tool does provide fast and easy results. If you hold both SHIFT and CTRL while click-dragging to make a Bézier cut, doing so constrains the direction of the path to 15-degree increments for more predictable results in making the edge of the cut. CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 315 11 FIGURE 11-6 Click-drag to create a freeform cut. Click-drag Release FIGURE 11-7 Bézier cuts guide the Knife tool with the precision of using a digitizing tablet and stylus. Hold SHIFT and drag. Cut objects inherit the original object fill and outline. Setting Knife Tool Behavior Using the Knife tool results in just what you’d expect—several objects out of a single one. However, you do have options, the two property bar options shown here. Each of these options toggles on and off to suit a specific cutting requirement. ● Auto-Close On Cut mode This option, on by default, sets the Knife tool to create closed-path objects following any style of Knife tool cutting. If you turn this option off, the Knife tool divides an object into two open paths and removes any fill. This can be a useful mode for breaking a closed shape into open paths. To use this option, don’t drag with the Knife tool, but instead click a near point and a far point. ● Leave As One Object mode This option is active by default; if you disable it, the Knife tool cuts an object, but the result is a combined path—in other words, you don’t get two separate objects. This option is useful on occasions (for creating characters in typefaces, for example), but it probably would not be an everyday mode of operation for your work. Both the Eraser and Knife tools can be used on imported bitmaps; you can perform a little photo retouching with these tools exactly as you would with vector objects. The only restriction is that a bitmap (BMP, TIFF, JPEG, and so on) has to actually be imported to the document; if it is externally linked, the tools can’t be used on this reference to bitmap images. Using the Eraser Tool The Eraser tool, shown next, completely removes areas of selected objects you click-drag over—just like a real art eraser, but without the stubble landing in your lap. The Eraser tool comes in two different shapes, and you can define the size by using the property bar. You’ll find it in the toolbox grouped with the Knife, Virtual Segment Delete, and Crop tools. 316 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Leave As One Object Auto-Close On Cut Eraser tool Eraser tool cursors Working with Eraser Operations With this tool, you can remove portions of shapes in four ways: ● Double-clicking When you double-click a selected shape, you remove an area that is the shape of the cursor. Therefore, if you double-click a lot with the circular cursor chosen, you can quickly design a slice of Swiss cheese. ● Single-click two points If you single-click, move your cursor, and then click a second time, the Eraser tool erases a straight line through the selected object. ● Click-drag This is the most common method of erasing, and the results are totally predictable. If you click-drag, you erase the area you’ve dragged over on a selected object. Grouped objects do not qualify for use with the Eraser tool. However, if you CTRL- click an object in a group to temporarily isolate it, you can indeed erase part of the object. ● Hovering and pressing TAB This technique creates several connected straight-line segments, and after you get the hang of it, it will feel like you’re painting with an eraser, and you’ll be able to quickly produce phenomenally expressive and complex drawings. Walk through the following tutorial to see the power of this hover- TAB erasing technique and to make it your own. Power Erasing 1. Open Don’t Litter.cdr, an incomplete international symbol that tells the audience, “Put refuse in the appropriate place; don’t be a pig.” The orange areas are guides for you; they’re locked on the Guides layer. 2. Select the main object. Choose the Eraser tool and then set the nib style to rectangular by clicking the default nib style (the circle) on the property bar. For this example, set the nib size to about .18". 3. Single-click at the top left of the wastebasket guide. Move your cursor over to the bottom left of the wastebasket guide, but don’t click. Notice as you move the Eraser tool that a path preview follows the cursor. 4. Press TAB, but don’t click your mouse button. Notice that a new erasure appears between the first single-click point and the point where you pressed TAB. CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 317 11 5. To define a third point, move your cursor to a new point (without clicking the mouse button) and then press TAB again. A third point is defined, and the path between the second and third points is erased. To stop using the Eraser tool, click at the end to halt CorelDRAW from connecting the points you click with a line between them. 6. When you’re done with the wastebasket, set the nib style to round, and then add limbs to the thoughtful international guy. Use the TAB technique, for example, to extend a forearm from the guy’s shoulder, and once this segment has been erased, double-click where you think his hand would be to extend the erasure. Single-click to end an erasure. Figure 11-8 shows the work in progress. Each time the Eraser tool cursor is clicked to erase portions of your object, CorelDRAW considers the action as a unique and separate erase session. This means that Eraser tool actions can be reversed using the Undo command ( CTRL+Z) in steps, depending on which erase technique was used. While using the single-click technique, an Undo command is needed to reverse each erase point. During a continuous erase using the click-drag action, a single Undo command reverses each continuous erasing session. Setting Eraser Tool Properties The width and shape of the Eraser tool are set using property bar options, as shown next. The complexity of the removed shape, the number of path segments, and the connecting nodes created during an erase session can also be controlled. These properties significantly affect the shape of erased object areas. 318 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 11-8 Press TAB to define intermediate points between your first and last erase-path points to create connected, straight-line erasures. Single-click Pressing TAB defines points; single-clicking defines end. As with most of the toolbox tools, you can get to the options for the Eraser tool in Options by double-clicking the button on the toolbox. Eraser Width Width can be set between 0.001 and 100.0 inches either by entering values in the property bar combo box or by pressing the UP and DOWN ARROW keys on your keyboard to increase or decrease the size. Naturally, you might never need a 100-inch eraser; it makes more sense to use the shaping operations—but you do have this latitude. Use the keyboard to change the cursor size while you erase. Press the UP ARROW and/or DOWN ARROW key while click-dragging, and the result can be a tapered brush, as shown here. After you release the mouse button, the Eraser tool resets to its original size, so you don’t have to worry about starting out a new erase stroke with a yard-wide tip! Reduce Nodes Mode Erasing continuous paths removes portions of objects to create new sides that are made up of normal vector path segments and nodes. How closely the new edges follow your erase path is determined by the number and properties of the nodes that are produced. The more nodes, the more complex and accurate the erased shape will be. While selected, the Reduce Nodes option affects the complexity of the resulting erased shape when erasing in continuous freehand-style paths. CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 319 11 Eraser Width Reduce Nodes Eraser Shape Adding nodes to an already-complicated object, however, can create an overly complex object, something that can slow you down—the excess nodes don’t contribute to the artwork and may result in inconvenient screen redraws of effects you might apply. The Reduce Nodes option lets you reduce the complexity of erased area shapes at the price of what’s usually trivial inaccuracy. To activate the Reduce Nodes option, click the button to the depressed position (the default), or deactivate it by clicking it to the undepressed state. The Eraser tool’s Reduce Nodes settings are set according to the Freehand smoothing default setting used by the Freehand and Bézier tools, which can be set between 0 and 100 percent (the default is 50). To set this option, double-click the Eraser tool button on the toolbox. By default, it’s enabled. Using the Virtual Segment Delete Tool The Virtual Segment Delete tool is used to delete specific portions of objects, specifically, overlapping areas. Additionally, this tool removes portions of an object’s path where they intersect paths of other overlapping objects. To use this tool to delete path segments where an object intersects itself, use these quick steps: 1. With the Freehand tool, draw a path that loops around and crosses itself. 2. Hold your cursor over the segment to delete—you don’t need to have the objects selected to use this tool. You’ll notice the cursor becomes upright when an eligible segment is hovered over (shown at top here). 3. Click the cursor directly on the segment you want to delete. The segment you targeted is immediately deleted. After deleting portions of a path with this tool, what remains is either an open curve with just one path, or a compound curve with two or more subpaths. For example, if the object 320 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide you’re deleting segments from is a closed path, deleting one segment will result in an open curve. Deleting a segment from a rectangle, ellipse, or polygon object will convert the resulting shape to curves and remove the dynamic object properties. To delete segments that are hidden behind an overlapping object, temporarily set its Fill to None. If the object you are deleting segments from is a compound path (an object composed of more than one open or closed path), the Virtual Segment Delete tool will work best if the object is first broken into individual curves using the Break Apart ( CTRL+K) command. Cropping an Illustration The Crop tool, located in the group with the Knife and the Eraser tools, brings a bitmap effect to vector drawing. If you have experience with Corel PHOTO-PAINT or another photo-editing program, you already are familiar with a crop tool: you select an area within a photo, perform a command such as clicking inside the crop area, and the area outside the crop is deleted and the image is resized. The Crop tool in CorelDRAW behaves exactly like an image editor’s crop tool. Objects do not have to be grouped; you just drag a rectangle around the area of your design you want cropped, double-click inside the proposed crop area, and all object areas outside the crop box are deleted. In Figure 11-9 at left you can see two objects: the goal is to leave only the comedy mask and to get rid of the tragedy mask. In the middle the Crop tool is dragged around the desired area, which then is double-clicked. At right you can see two separate objects: the cropped gray background and the cropped mask. This is a powerful and potentially very destructive tool, but fortunately you can work with the proposed crop box before cropping. You can drag a corner crop box handle before cropping to proportionately resize the crop; dragging a middle handle disproportionately resizes the crop area. CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 321 11 FIGURE 11-9 The Crop tool removes all areas of every object that lies outside the crop box. Original Crop Cropped Objects Additionally, once you’ve made a proposed crop, clicking, then clicking again inside the box puts the box in rotation mode, and you can actually crop a diamond shape. If you want to cancel a crop operation, press ESC and the crop box goes away. Using the Smudge Brush The Smudge brush tool is yet another paint tool in a drawing program: not only is this tool a lot of fun to use, but you can also dramatically alter shapes in a natural, painterly fashion whose results would take hours using any other method. You move areas of a vector object by dragging from a starting point inside the object, dragging outward, or by starting outside and dragging inside the object. The result is a smear, but with all the crispness of a vector design. You’ll find the Smudge brush, shown next, in the toolbox, grouped with the Roughen brush, the Shape, and Free Transform tools. Applying Smudge to Shapes Using the Smudge brush, you can alter the outline shapes of open or closed paths by click- dragging across the outline path, in either an outward direction (to add a bulge) or an inward direction (to create a pucker). As you drag, the path is altered according to your drag action and to the shape settings of the Smudge brush cursor. Figure 11-10 shows a creative example of using the Smudge brush: the cartoon head has long, spiky hair now; the editing took less than 5 seconds, and the resulting path can be edited for refining by using the Shape tool and other CorelDRAW features. If you’re trying to smudge shapes that have been applied with an effect (Envelope, Blend, Contour, Distortion, Extrude, or Drop Shadow), you’ll first need to break apart the effect. If the shape is part of a group, you’ll need to ungroup it first ( CTRL+U). Smudging cannot be applied to bitmaps. Choosing Smudge Brush Property Bar Options In case you haven’t noticed, the Smudge brush works quite differently from other tools. You can control how the Smudge brush effect is applied by varying tool properties such as the 322 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Smudge Brush tilt, angle, and size of the nib; or by adjusting how quickly the effect diminishes; or by using optional pressure stylus settings. While the Smudge brush is selected, the property bar offers these options for controlling the shape and condition of your Smudge brush cursor: Changing each of these options has the following effect: ● Nib Size Nib Size can be set between 0.02 and 2.0"; the default is 0.1". ● Pen Pressure If you have a digitizing tablet and stylus that supports pressure, choose this option to have the Smudge brush react to pressure you apply while increasing the width of the nib. CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 323 11 FIGURE 11-10 The Smudge brush treats vector objects as though they’re made of liquid. Nib Size Pen Pressure Dryout Tilt Bearing . areas. 318 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 1 1-8 Press TAB to define intermediate points between your first and last erase-path points to create connected, straight-line erasures. Single-click Pressing. edge of the cut. CHAPTER 11: Editing Objects 315 11 FIGURE 1 1-6 Click-drag to create a freeform cut. Click-drag Release FIGURE 1 1-7 Bézier cuts guide the Knife tool with the precision of using. far side of the shape, as shown in Figure 1 1-6 . ● Bézier cuts If you need to guide the Knife tool to make smooth jigsaw-like cuts, you hold SHIFT, and then click-drag points, beginning at the near side