actions to move fill areas are done exactly the same as for Bézier curves. For information on how to do this, see Chapter 11. Mesh Fill Options On the property bar, when the Mesh fill tool is used and an object is selected, you have control over the following attributes of your mesh-filled object: ● Resolution of the Patches By default, a new mesh fill is created on an object with two horizontal and two vertical sets of patches. These patches are linked at the edges by paths and at their vertices by nodes. You can use the numerical entry fields or the spin boxes with these fields to increase or decrease the number of columns and rows of patches. If you right-click a node or a path segment, you have the option to create a node or an intersection by choosing from the pop-up menu. ● Add Intersection/Delete Node When you’ve clicked a path segment and a marker appears, this is your opportunity to add an intersection, either by clicking the Add Intersection button, or by pressing + on the numerical keypad. When you add an intersection, you add a row or a column to the mesh fill, depending on whether you’ve added a point to a vertical or a horizontal mesh path segment. You must first select a node to then delete it, and doing so by clicking the Delete Node button or by pressing DELETE on your keyboard removes both the mesh node and its associated intersecting path segments—reducing the number of columns or rows of mesh patches. Deleting nodes can yield unanticipated results, so give some thought before you delete a node. ● Curve and Node Command Buttons By default, path segments that make up the mesh fill are curves, bound by nodes that have the smooth property at intersections and the cusp property along the edges of the object. To change a path segment to a line, you use the Convert To Line button; click Convert To Curve to create the opposite property. Nodes can be changed to cusp, smooth, and symmetrical properties by clicking the associated property bar button; the commands can also be found on the right-click pop-up menu when your cursor has selected a node. ● Curve Smoothness Suppose you’ve added far too many nodes to a path segment, and your mesh fill looks like a bad accident in one area. If you marquee-select the nodes that bind this path segment, the Curve Smoothness slider and numerical entry field act like the Node Reduction feature in CorelDRAW. You reduce the number of superfluous nodes (CorelDRAW decides on the meaning of “superfluous”—you have no control) by entering a value or using the slider. 464 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide ● Selection Mode By default, you can select nodes in Rectangular mode, which means you marquee-drag a rectangular shape with your cursor to select nodes, and then change their properties such as color, position, and transparency. Your other selection choice is Freehand mode; your cursor behaves like a real-world lasso, and you are unconstrained by a selection shape for nodes. Additionally, you can SHIFT- click and select non-neighboring nodes to edit. When using Freehand mode, patches cannot be selected—selecting patches by clicking within them is only available in Rectangular selection mode. ● Transparency When selecting using Rectangular mode, transparency can be applied to a patch by clicking the patch once with the Mesh fill tool, and then using the numerical entry field or the slider to assign from 0 (no transparency) to 100 (completely transparent) to the patch. You can also set a transparency value to a mesh fill node by selecting it and then using the Transparency controls. Transparency on a mesh fill has no blending mode like the Transparency tool offers for entire objects— transparency is applied in Normal mode. However, once your mesh fill object is completed, you can use the Transparency tool on the toolbox to assign the object different types and modes of transparency as a single object. ● Smooth Mesh Color This is a toggle on/off button that can produce smoother color blends in your fill without changing the position or properties of the mesh nodes and curve path segments. ● Color Eyedropper When a patch or node is selected, you can choose a color anywhere on your Windows desktop by dragging the Color eyedropper over to any point. You can also sample from objects on your drawing page, but that might not be as much fun! ● Color Palette You have a mini color-palette flyout on the property bar with which you can select colors for selected nodes and patches. Click the flyout button to access the default color palette, or choose from other preinstalled CorelDRAW palettes. Clicking a color well on the (regular) Color Palette applies color, too. ● Copy and Delete Mesh Fill Properties These buttons are common to most all effects in CorelDRAW; use them to copy a mesh fill to a different object on the page, or to remove the mesh fill effect from an existing object. When working with the mesh fill, you’ll get far more predictable results if you apply colors to the nodes instead of dropping colors onto patches. Also bear in mind that regardless of how you create a shape, the mesh fill makes the object “soft”—the control CHAPTER 15: Filling Objects 465 15 nodes that make the closed path of the object are also mesh fill nodes. So, unavoidably, if you want to move a node you’ve colored in at the edge of the object, you’re also moving the associated path segment. This is fun and creative stuff, actually, and if you need the fill to be soft with the object’s original shape intact, you can put your finished object inside a container by using the Effects | PowerClip feature. You cannot mesh fill a combined shape; an object made by subtracting a circle from a rectangle so it looks like an awkward doughnut will not take a mesh fill, although the property bar will offer you mesh fill options. The following tutorial guides you through the creation of a mesh fill within a shape that’s been created for you, with the finished example on the right of the page in Shiny Sphere.cdr. The goal is to create a mesh fill that gives a simple circle object the appearance of being a dimensional, highly reflective sphere, complete with a soft cast shadow beneath it. Take a look at Figure 15-11 before you begin these steps; it’s not only a comprehensive visual guide for the steps to follow, but also is a handy reference to accompany your independent mesh fill adventures. 466 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 15-11 Mesh fills use control handles very similar in appearance and function to the paths you draw with the Pen tools and edit with the Shape tool. Mesh patch Mesh lines Mesh points Drop color over a point. Drop color over a patch. Ellipse object with linear transparency Blending Colors Using the Mesh Fill 1. Open Shiny Sphere.cdr, select the top circle at left, and then choose the Mesh fill tool. A default mesh fill grid is applied to the object: 2 rows, 2 columns. Increase the resolution to 4 rows, 4 columns for starters. 2. In a lasso marquee–drag motion, select the horizontal nodes along the center of the sphere, and then click the black color well on the Color Palette. 3. Marquee-select all the nodes below the horizontal center nodes you selected in step 2, and then choose a rich brown from either the Color Palette or from the flyout palette on the property bar. 4. Select only the bottom center node, and then click a lighter brown. 5. Choose the Freehand selection mode from the property bar, then select the five top nodes that define the top edge of the circle, and then fill them with a purple-blue medium color. Select the first row, the five nodes below the top circular edge nodes, and fill them with a light blue. 6. Click the second node in this row, and fill it with a deep gold color to suggest a sunset on the horizon of the little desert painting you’ve created. Often, traditional airbrush illustrators have created photorealistic chrome spheres using the reflection of a desert as the primary visual content. You’ve done this; now it’s time to distort the desert scene to suggest the dimensionality of a 3D sphere. 7. Select the gold node and drag it down a little. 8. Select, one by one, the nodes that are colored black, and create a slight wavy effect. 9. Select the light brown node at bottom center, and move its control handle up a little. 10. Finesse the color nodes to suit your personal artistic taste. Then select the bottom oval, apply a white fill, and apply the default 2 by 2 Mesh fill grid. 11. Click the center node with the Mesh fill tool, and then click black on the Color Palette. You now have a feathered, soft drop shadow that would take two of three additional steps to get right if you’d used the Drop Shadow tool on the toolbox. The Drop Shadow tool is often, but not always, the right tool for creating a shadow effect. 12. With the Pick tool, drag the oval highlight object currently over the completed example at right; tap the right mouse button before releasing both buttons to drop a copy on top of your shiny sphere at left. After a mesh fill has been applied to an object, the object cannot be filled with any other fill type unless the mesh fill effect has first been cleared. To clear a mesh fill applied to a selected object, click the Clear Mesh button in the property bar. CHAPTER 15: Filling Objects 467 15 SamplingandApplyingFillColors After you’ve experimented and come up with a lot of interesting and valuable fills you’ve applied to objects, a natural question to ask is: I’ve got this once-in-a-lifetime, truly excellent color (or texture), and I want to use the fill on other objects. How do I do this? Version X5 has integrated the color-sampling process and improved it so that a single tool now can be used to sample a color and apply that color to a different object. Additionally, when an object fill has more than one color—such as fountain fills—you have the Attributes eyedropper at hand to sample and duplicate any fill to a new object or group of objects. To use the Color eyedropper tool: 1. Make sure your view of the page includes both the object that is filled with the color you want to copy, and the target object. Zoom out or pan your view if necessary. 2. Choose the Color eyedropper tool from its group on the toolbox. 3. Click over the object with the color you want to sample. The cursor changes to a paint bucket, as does the function of the tool. 4. Click over the object you want to apply the sampled color to. Notice that after you click, the cursor remains in the paint bucket state. If you want to apply the sampled color to additional objects, you do it now. However, if you want to pick a different color sample—starting the process all over again—click the eyedropper icon on the property bar. The tool is now reset to sample, not apply, color. Applying samples is not limited to fills: click the paint bucket cursor over the outline of an object, and you apply the color to the object’s outline. Additional options with the process of color sampling are on the property bar: ● Select From Desktop When you click this button, you can sample more than a CorelDRAW object color. You select any color on your screen. This means, for example, you can sample the color of the Zoom tool on the toolbox, any color on the Color Palette, and you can even click CorelDRAW’s minimize/restore button above the menu bar, move the CorelDRAW window a little, and sample from your Windows desktop. ● Selected Color This is not only a good visual reference as you work, but while the Color eyedropper tool is in use, you also can drag this color well on top of any object—selected or unselected—and the current selected color is applied to that object, or to the outline of the object if your aim is precise. ● Add To Palette If you want to keep using your sampled color long after you’re done with the Color eyedropper tool, click this button to add the sampled color to the Document palette, located in Window | Color Palettes | Document Palette. 468 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide ● Sample Size Before clicking to sample, you have the option to sample a single point—one pixel on your monitor’s screen—or a 2×2 average area, or a 5×5 average color area. The use and importance of this feature is covered next. Ill 15-20 The usefulness of sampling colors with a “big” eyedropper will become evident when you’ve imported a bitmap and want to approximate a color you see in the bitmap for a border or text in your composition. Figure 15-12 illustrates the use of a large, averaged color sample. The background of the ceramic moon is dreadful, and a harmonious color value sampled from the moon sculpture itself would be splendid. But the color at left was taken using a “point sample,” 1×1 pixel. Bitmap images have pixels that vary from neighboring pixel to pixel, especially with JPEGs that by their nature have noise—similar to film grain, random distribution of color pixels that don’t belong in image areas. So the 1×1 pixel Eyedropper tool sample is a dud, even after three tries. The 2×2 averaged sample (at center) did better, but at the right, when the same area in the circle is sampled using the 5×5 setting, a color has been sampled correctly for artistic purposes, and a nice average of a 25-pixel area yields a suitable color for the background on the moon. SamplingAboveandBeyondUniformFills You will love to work with the more complex fills in CorelDRAW, and naturally, you’ll want to apply one you’ve deliberately created or even stumbled upon to other objects. Multi-color fills fit into a category called Styles, and to copy them, you need to use the Color eyedropper’s cousin tool, the Attributes eyedropper. To sample and apply fills such as fountains, texture fills, and all the others, choose the Attributes eyedropper from the toolbox, and then click CHAPTER 15: Filling Objects 469 15 Eyedropper tool Paint Bucket tool Choose color from any point on screen. Point 2×2 5×5 the Properties button and choose Fill. You can use the Attributes eyedropper to copy just about anything an object displays, but for making a rectangle’s fill look like that fountain- filled circle next to it, for example, you only check Fill before clicking with the tool. Ill 15-21 Alternatively, you can drag an object using the right mouse button, and drop it on top of an object to which you’d like to apply any style of fill. The pop-up menu appears when you release the right mouse button, and you then choose Copy Fill Here. The position of the source object does not move using this drag technique. 470 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE15-12 Increase your Color eyedropper sample size to get a general color instead of the exact underlying pixel color. 1×1 sample 2×2 sample Sample area 5×5 sample Choose the properties to sample. When a shape is selected, double-clicking the Fill box in the status bar opens a corresponding dialog where you can edit the current fill of the object and also add it to a Preset list for safekeeping for future needs. This saving option doesn’t apply to PostScript fills, which cannot be fundamentally edited in CorelDRAW. If you’ve had your fill, this is okay…so have your objects. You’ve learned in this chapter how to tap into CorelDRAW fills, and hopefully you’ve also seen how important fills can be to your drawings. Fills can actually contribute to the visual robustness of a composition more than the shape of objects. Take a cardboard box, for example. The shape of the box isn’t that interesting and takes only a few seconds to draw. But the texture of a cardboard box is where the object gets its character and mood. Outline properties and attributes are covered in the following chapter. You can do as much with customizing the thing that goes around an object as with the object itself. CHAPTER 15: Filling Objects 471 15 This page intentionally left blank CHAPTER 16 Outline Attributes 473 . is: I’ve got this once-in-a-lifetime, truly excellent color (or texture), and I want to use the fill on other objects. How do I do this? Version X5 has integrated the color-sampling process and. mode; your cursor behaves like a real-world lasso, and you are unconstrained by a selection shape for nodes. Additionally, you can SHIFT- click and select non-neighboring nodes to edit. When using. the number of superfluous nodes (CorelDRAW decides on the meaning of “superfluous”—you have no control) by entering a value or using the slider. 464 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide ● Selection