After a blend has been made, you might need to dismantle it and break the link between the control objects. This is easily done, but keep in mind that it can’t be reversed without using the Undo command ( CTRL+Z). To dismantle a blend, choose the Pick tool, right-click the blend group portion, and choose Break Blend Group Apart from the pop-up menu. The control objects then become separate objects, leaving the blend intermediate objects grouped. To further dismantle the arrangement, select only the blend group by using the Pick tool, and then choose Arrange | Ungroup ( CTRL+U). Copying and Cloning Blends You can also copy or clone from existing blends. Neither command requires that you have the Blend tool selected as you do this, and both operations are done through command menus. To copy a blend, at least one blend must be in view, and at least two objects must be selected. To proceed, choose Effects | Copy Effect | Blend From. Your cursor then changes to a targeting cursor—click the blend portion of an existing blend to copy all its properties. The selected objects then adopt the blend effect you targeted. This command can also be performed using the Blend tool by clicking the Copy Blend Properties button on the property bar. Cloning a blend effect produces a slightly different result than copying the effect. When an effect is applied by cloning, the master clone effect object controls the new effect. Any changes made to the master are applied to the clone. However, any changes made to the clone override the properties of the master; any properties you’ve left alone with the clone still link to the master clone effect. To clone a blend effect, you must have created at least one other blend effect and have this in view. A Clone blend group affords limited editing: you can choose from one of the presets on the property bar, or choose Clear Blend. If you select a blend group and then choose Edit | Clone, you might find that you have more control over changes you make in the master blend affecting the clone object. This is not the same effect as cloning a blend; however, you can change master objects colors as well as make other edits and see the change in the clone. To clone a blend, choose Effects | Clone Effect | Blend From. Your cursor becomes a targeting cursor used to target the existing blend to clone. Be sure to click directly on the blend group portion of the effect. Using the Blend Docker The Blend docker provides an alternative way to apply blends. Like all dockers in CorelDRAW, it’s a handy and persistent interface element, and all the functions you can access on the property bar are located on this detachable palette. 644 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide Choose Effects | Blend or choose Window | Dockers | Blend to put the docker in the drawing window. Blend options in the docker are organized into four docker pages: Steps, Acceleration, Color, and Miscellaneous Options blends, shown in Figure 21-20. Unlike with the options on the property bar, the Blend docker lets you choose all your blend options before applying them; no changes are made to the selected objects in your drawing until you click the Apply button. As with the property bar, the control options available in the Blend docker change depending on the type of blend, for example, whether the blend is on a path. Tapping into Contour Effects Contour effects are slightly less complex than the blend effects but nonetheless powerful. Contour effects instantly create perfect outlines of shapes or paths by the dozens or even hundreds. The result is similar to viewing a topographical or contour map, hence the name. During a contour effect, dynamically linked shapes are concentrically created outside or inside an object’s path. CorelDRAW effectively calculates the shape of each contour step and applies progressive outline and fill colors based on the original object’s properties and selected contour options. CHAPTER 21: Blends and Contours 645 21 FIGURE 21-20 The Blend docker provides an alternative way of applying blends. Acceleration Color Steps Miscellaneous Options Start/End object buttons Apply To Path button While a contour effect is linked to an object, the object itself becomes a control object, and the new shapes created become the “contour group.” Changes made to the properties of the original immediately affect the linked group. While the contour group is selected, its properties can be edited at any time—without your having to begin the effect from scratch. Exploring CorelDRAW’s Contour Effects First, let’s see what contour effects enable you to do. One of the more popular uses is to simulate depth. Figure 21-21 shows two illustrations of climate zones in the Urals region of Russia. At left, uniform fills (solid colors) occupy the objects; at right, the same objects have contour effects. In the contour version, the control objects still use uniform color, but the contour uses different colors for the outermost and innermost objects. This is one of the uses of the contour effect. As with blends, intermediate objects are generated from the beginning object; however, you don’t have to draw the end—the inner object—it’s part of the contour effect function. Because the contour effect uses a large number of steps, you can see a smooth color transition in most of the objects. Also note that some of the objects have a small number of intermediate objects, producing banding, which can be useful in your design work. Just use a low number of steps when drawing a map of the Steppes. Figure 21-22 shows two versions of the contour effect applied to text. At top, a two-step contour runs inside the word “Opera,” creating an engraved look. At bottom, 25 contour steps are used outside the word to create a glowing effect; a duplicate of “Opera” with Linear transparency was put on top of the design as an embellishment. You do not have to convert text to curves to apply a contour effect. 646 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 21-21 Contour effects create a smooth color transition. Original filled with solid colors Finished artwork with contour effects Using the Contour Tool and Property Bar To apply contour effects, you’ll need to use the Contour tool, shown here, in combination with the property bar. You’ll find the tool in the toolbox, with other interactive tools: Blend, Distort, Drop Shadow, Envelope, Extrude, and Transparency. Ill 21-9 While you’re using the Contour tool, the property bar displays options for customizing the effect. These options include contour presets, contour direction, steps and offset spacing, CHAPTER 21: Blends and Contours 647 21 FIGURE 21-22 Achieve two different looks for the text by using different options for the contour effect. 2-step contour effect inside text 25-step contour effect outside text with transparent overlay Contour tool color rotation, outline and fill color, and buttons for copying and clearing the effect, as shown in Figure 21-23. Let’s dig right into the use of the Contour tool’s features. Applying a Contour Effect 1. Create an object (a polygon or star shape is a great seed shape for contours); apply a fill and (optionally) outline properties. If you’d like to go wild with this contour tutorial, try filling the object with a fountain fill—contours produce interesting results with fountain fills. 2. Choose the Contour tool. Notice that your cursor changes, and the property bar now displays contour options. 3. Click the object and drag (click-drag) in the direction you want the contour to be applied. Dragging from the center outward creates Outside contours; dragging in the opposite direction creates Inside contours. The angle of the drag action has no effect on the contours themselves—only inward and outward count. Notice that as you drag, a silhouette of the final size of the contour effect appears in inverted screen colors. 4. Release the mouse button, and your effect is finished and ready for customizing. These steps created a contour in its default state. Adjusting the effect to suit your needs takes a little more work with the property bar options. The contours outside or inside the object can also be controlled using the interactive markers surrounding the effect. The next section explains the use of these markers, their purpose, and how to manipulate them. To remove a contour effect, click the contour portion of the effect using either the Contour tool or Pick tool and choose Effects | Clear Contour, or click the Clear Contour button in the property bar. 648 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 21-23 Use the property bar to make the fullest use of the Contour tool. Preset Options To Center Inside Contour Outside Contour Contour Steps Contour Offset Color Rotation Outline Color Fill Color Acceleration Clear Contour Contour Direction Linear Contour Colors Clockwise Contour Colors Counterclockwise Contour Colors Copy Contour Properties Editing Contours Interactively The easiest way to edit a contour effect is by doing it hands-on, using the Contour tool to change the interactive markers in combination with adjusting property bar options. Use them to adjust the direction, spacing, and offset values of the effect. The black diamond-shaped marker indicates which object is the control object of the effect. The white rectangle marker indicates the final object in the contour group, and its position sets the distance between the control object and the last object in the effect. A slider between these two enables you to adjust the spacing between the contour steps interactively, which, in turn, sets the number of steps by dividing the difference. Figure 21-24 identifies the interactive markers and their purpose. Different types of objects are eligible for contour effects in CorelDRAW. You can apply contours to closed paths, compound paths (such as a doughnut shape), and grouped objects. These object types don’t have to have a fill, but obviously they’d need an outline width, or you’d be applying a contour to an invisible object. Applying a contour effect to a group applies the effect to the entire group. Depending on how a group is arranged, if objects overlap, the contour will “trace” the silhouette of the objects as though the two shapes were combined using the Weld operation. An object applied with the contour effect is not eligible for other effects unless it’s first grouped with its linked contour effect object. CHAPTER 21: Blends and Contours 649 21 FIGURE 21-24 These two objects have contours applied in opposite directions. Outside Contour Effect Object markers Offset slider Last contour marker Control object marker Contour group Inside Contour Effect Object markers Last contour marker Offset slider Control object marker Contour group You’ll also notice that the Contour tool cursor changes its appearance as you drag outside, inside, or to the centermost point of your selected object, as shown in Figure 21-25. While held over an object, the cursor will also indicate whether the object is eligible for the contour effect. To quickly edit a contour, double-click the effect portion of an existing contour with the Pick tool. Choosing Contour Direction In addition to click-dragging a contour to set its direction, you can also use property bar options, shown here. Choosing To Center, Inside Contour, or Outside Contour causes the contours to be applied in the direction relative to the object’s outline path. When Inside Contour or Outside Contour is selected, you can set the number of steps and the offset spacing between the steps by entering values in the Contour Steps and Contour Offset boxes in the property bar, and pressing ENTER. Ill 21-10 To separate an applied contour and break the dynamic link to the original object, right-click directly on the effect (objects), and then choose Break Contour Group Apart from the pop-up menu. 650 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 21-25 The Contour tool cursor lets you know what’s going on. Object can’t be contoured. Tool cursor is in default state. Tool cursor indicates that Outside contour is being created. Tool cursor indicates that Inside contour is being created. Tool cursor indicates that Center contour is being created. To Center Inside Contour Outside Contour The effect’s contour direction, spacing, and offset values affect one another. In the sections to follow, remember that when you change one parameter’s values, a different parameter will probably auto-change. Contour Inside With the exception of the 47 clowns that can get out of a Volkswagen, there’s a real-world and mathematical limit to how many steps you can create a shape within a shape. For contours, if the offset spacing value you enter in the Contour Offset box (on the property bar) exceeds the number of steps the distance allows, the Contour Steps value is automatically reduced to fit. Figure 21-26 shows some results of applying Inside contours to different objects; as you can see, compound paths produce quite elegant contour steps. Remember: open paths are not eligible for Inside contour effects; it can’t be done mathematically, and it can’t be done in CorelDRAW. Contour Outside Choosing Outside Contour creates contours around your object, and yes, you can use an open path, as shown in Figure 21-27, with outside contouring. It creates an interesting effect you can use for designing everything from neon signs to expensive paperclips. The Contour Steps value can be set as high as 999, and the Contour Offset values travel within a range of 0.001 to 300 inches. Contour To Center The To Center direction creates the contour inside the selected object, but it does so using as many steps as mathematically possible. The number of steps depends on the Contour Offset value (editing the number of steps is not available)—in any case, your object is filled with a contour. This is a terrific option for illustrating game mazes—with a little editing after CHAPTER 21: Blends and Contours 651 21 FIGURE 21-26 These objects have identical Inside contours. making a contour of a bicycle or a flower in a pot, you could fill a book with games like you see on children’s menus in restaurants. Here, the Contour Offset value is the only parameter that can be changed; the number of steps is calculated automatically. Figure 21-28 shows contours applied using the To Center option; as with the Inside Contour option, open paths cannot take a To Center contour. Setting Contour Colors Controlling the progression of color between your original object and the colors of the contour effect is important to create great illustrations; CorelDRAW is a wonderful drawing program, but you are the artist! You can set color in several different ways, specify a 652 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 21-27 The same objects as shown in Figure 21-26 look a little different when Outside Contour is chosen as the contour style. Open path FIGURE 21-28 The To Center option creates contours to the center of an object while the number of steps is calculated by CorelDRAW. nonlinear color rotation, control pen and fill colors, and even set fountain fill colors for individual contour steps. Color Rotation Options A default contour creates fill and outline colors in a steady progression between the base object and the final contour (the End object if contours were blends). However, you can rotate these colors to create rainbow contours and other special effects. To do this, choose either Clockwise or Counterclockwise Contour Colors, as shown here, which has the effect of applying fill and outline colors based on color positions located around a color wheel— red, orange, yellow…you get the idea! Ill 21-11 Outline Color The Outline Color option, handsomely screen-captured here, sets the outline color of the last contour in the effect, meaning the colors change steadily from your original to the last contour object. If your object doesn’t have an outline color applied, this option still displays black as the default color, but no color will be applied to your contours. To set the outline color, click the Outline Color selector and choose a color. Ill 21-12 CHAPTER 21: Blends and Contours 653 21 Linear Contour Colors Clockwise Contour Colors Counterclockwise Contour Colors Outline Color Fill Color . 2 1-1 0 To separate an applied contour and break the dynamic link to the original object, right-click directly on the effect (objects), and then choose Break Contour Group Apart from the pop-up. illustrations; CorelDRAW is a wonderful drawing program, but you are the artist! You can set color in several different ways, specify a 652 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 2 1-2 7 The same. embellishment. You do not have to convert text to curves to apply a contour effect. 646 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide FIGURE 2 1-2 1 Contour effects create a smooth color transition. Original filled with