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Hi guys....are you there " grafixman " I need your help again. I am trying to fade or feather the edge of a still image. I have created a drop shadow from an eclipse shape which has given me an excellent edge but when I power clip my image into it the image edge is to crisp/sharp it doesn't look right sat in the drop shadow you can see it ? how do you fade image edges.
Thanks for all your help
David ( Manchester, England )
Hi guys....are you there " grafixman " I need your help again. I am trying to fade or feather the edge of a still image. I have created a drop shadow from an eclipse shape which has given me an excellent edge but when I power clip my image into it the image edge is to crisp/sharp it doesn't look right sat in the drop shadow you can see it ? how do you fade image edges.
Thanks for all your help
David ( Manchester, England )
feathering like this?
I think the problem is because you're powerclipping into the ellipse. Corel Draw doesn't have a feathered edge option like Xara or Illustrator. What I did was a little workaround to create a feathering effect to cover the edges of the image underneath. Think of it as a rectangle with a hole placed over the image. Sort of like a photo frame, only this one is a white feathered shadow of an invisible object. So you can't really clip anything into it. It's just used to create the illusion of feathering on the picture beneath it.
Hi skareta.....thanks for whatever it is you have sent but I am unable to open it. It is saying cannot open as it is a new version of corel ? I don't know what version you are on but I use version 10, but thanks anyway
David
Hi Grafixman....nice to talk to you again, you will have noticed I have had to change my user name due to a mess up on my cookies. Last time you helped me I was " trebor " anyway, I am still in manchester, England and as you can see still struggling. I think I understand what you are saying I am just not sure how to do it ? Sorry to be a pain I'm still learning to use the damn thing.
many thanks again for your help I really do appreciate it.
David
I'm still learning this one myself http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif .
Feathering is one thing I would not use Corel Draw on. As I said before, you'd have better luck using PhotoPaint. But I personally feel Photopaint should have the last letter removed. It's not very user friendly http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif.
If you really HAVE to use it...
Create a rectangle about the size of your pic, or a little larger. Create an ellipse inside it. Select the rectangle and ellipse, center them to one another, then press Ctrl+L. You should end up with a rectangle with an elliptical hole in it. With this still selected, click the interactive transparency tool, set it to standard transparency and slide the slider all the way to 100. Click the interactive drop shadow tool and choose Medium Glow. Change the shadow color to white. Click the + button several times to duplicate the object and make the shadow more opaque. Select the entire stack of objects you just created and group them. Place your image below this. Basically, that's it. It's not very elegant. But if it gets the effect done, well...
Thanks for that grafixman, I will have another go at it as we speak
Regards, David
P.S I don't believe you are still learning Corel for one minute. If your a learner then god only knows what I am....
errmm...not really very happy with that, it will do if all else fails but I still think the edges are to crisp and unreal.
Any other ways ?
Regards, david
OK, here's another better method:
Basically, it involves creating a grayscale image, exporting it somewhere, then reimporting it again as a bitmap transparency image.
This one's more involved, but you end up with a picture that has a feathered transparency, so you can place it over anything and still have it feathered.
I don't know if I can explain this without pictures, but here goes:
Create a shape you want your feathered outline to be. As before, make a white shadow of the transparent shape, duplicate a few times to make the white central portion more opaque, then group the shapes. Create a black no outline rectangle the size of the image you want to apply the feathering to. You can turn on the snap to object option and use the pen tool to make this easily. The points would snap to the corners of your picture. Place the white shadowed shapes over the black-filled rectangle. Make sure that the black is RGB black, not CMYK black. You can change your pallete to the RGB pallete to make sure.
With the white feathered shadowed object group and the black rectangle selected, click file/export and export it as a grayscale TIFF image. On the export dialog box, make sure that the option to export selected objects only is checked, and on the TIFF options dialog, check preserve original size, 300 dpi, and uncheck the anti-alias option. Export the image somewhere you can easily find it again. I usually export to the desktop.
Back to Draw, pick your bitmap pic, the one you want to apply the feathering to. Click the interactive transparency tool and choose full color bitmap. On the bitmap selections box, click others and an import box would come out. Find the tiff file you just exported and import that. You may have to manually resize the transparency tile to exactly fit the entire image. On the transparency options, (click the little icon on the leftmost side of the transparency bar), check the resize with image option so that the transparency will resize with the image.
That's it. Easy huh?
Attached is a jpeg image which could help explain this. You have to create the white heart on black rectangle image first, export it as a grayscale TIFF then use this as the transparency image for the picture. The two heart shaped feathered faces is what you should end up with.
Hello People
Object Clipping 101
===================
To make the technique clear and take less words to explain, you will need the attached, example Photo-Paint File (150 kilobytes approx)
Open up the file in Photo-Paint
Enable/Show the Object Docker and Channel Docker
The file consists of an image loaded into photopaint
A black filled circle created as a separate object
A circular mask feathered inside, you can use the dockers to take a look at each element.
To finish of the image.
1. Select the background in the docker and go to menu option object/create/from background
2. Select the black circle (titled - potential clipping object) in the Object docker
3. Click on the mask tool button in the toolbox
4. Press the delete key
5. Delete the mask (red no entry button in the top toolbar)
6. Click on the main background object in the object docker and drag it above the potential clipping object
7. Click on the empty box between the eye icon and the background object description so that a paper clip appears
8. Click on the potential clipping object and using the slider at the top of the docker to set the transparency to 0%
You should now have a crescent shaped image, feathered down one side
9. With the clipping object selected (lowest item in the object docker) from the docker you can slide it around over the image if it is not in quite the right place.
When happy
10. CTRL Click both objects in the docker to select them and right click/combine/objects together to reduce the elements to the size of the clipping object for incorporation into other images.
I find Photo-Paint much easier to use than a certain other bitmap editing package, I don't use it that often as I primarily work in vectors, however I have never found it lacking when I need to work with bitmaps.
HTH
Peter
Hi, Peter. You're right, this is easier done in Photopaint than Draw. Photopaint is a capable image editor. It's just that it seemed lots of the functions are tucked away and harder to find than contemporary apps. They're there, alright, but you have to be very familiar with the layout and workflow to implement them. It is lacking in convenience and intuitiveness.
2 tacksie: it was cdr11.
I was just trying to make a point that you could do it with blends. It wasn't exactly Grafixman post (nothing like that, indeed) that I had in mind... but you could really do it all in vector if you just played with blends a bit more, especially since version 11 allows to blend trasparent objects. IMHO.
>> seemed lots of the functions are tucked away and harder to find than contemporary apps. They're there, alright, but you have to be very familiar with the layout and workflow to implement them. It is lacking in convenience and intuitiveness. etc etc
Right. The default interface could hardly be worse, the way everything is really hidden and looking ugly... but once you take a little time to sort things out and place them where you want them...
Anyway, I am just posting a workspace file (one of the few that I'm using) to show how it can be different. For anyone interested, see if this is any better than default settings.
I am sure you know how to import those settings in Tools > Options > Workspace.
You're right, skareta. I guess I should spend more time customizing the work area to suit my needs. I just naturally assumed that the work area is optimized in the default, but that indeed is not the case. Going to spend more time with Photopaint now...
Hi Guys.....Blimey i'm almost sorry I asked. It is not easy is it...are you listening corel !
I will of course try all the things you are suggesting but then again I might just sneak into adobe photoshop do a feathered eclipse and export back as a bmp. I am absolutely useless with photoshop I think it is really heavy going but i'm sure it does feathering easier than this. Anyway guys, if nothing else its got you all thinking hasn't it.
Thanks for all your help you are top people
Regards
David
The simplest way to do it in PhotoPaint:
1. Open your image.
2. Convert the background into a layer.
3. Create an elliptical selection.
4. Invert the selection.
5. Press the delete button.
6. Mask/Feather; adjust the value as desired
7. Save as a psd or cmx file.
Import into Corel Draw.
Copy and paste also works between Draw and Photopaint. So if you started with PP, you can just copy the feathered layer and paste it in Draw.
If you started out in Draw, you can use the powerclip to place the pic in an ellipse. Create a larger rectangle with no fill and no outline and again powerclip ellipse into this. With the object selected, click copy. Then open Photopaint and from File, choose open new file from clipboard. (If you already have an image opened in PP, this option is in Edit/Paste/New image from clipboard.) Mask/Feather feathers the edges of the ellipse. Click the eye icon so you can preview the result as you adjust the feathering value. (The invisible rectangle makes sure you have enough transparent spaces around your ellipse.) Copy from PP and paste in Draw.
Thanks grafixman...
I think I am finally getting there bit by bit, but wouldn't you think it would be easier than this just to blur an edge...what a load of faffing around. Thanks anyway man, take care I appreciate your help
David
tacksie
Are you sure it does not seem that complicated, descriptions of techniques are always harder to write/describe than to do.
I like object clipping in Photopaint, I only used the example to show a single feathered edge to show it's flexibility but there are other ways.
For instance, given the heart example you asked about in the photoshop area, this took less than a minute.
In CorelDRAW 10/11 or 12
1. Create a heart using the preset from the perfect shape tool (basic shapes category)
2. Powerclip the source bitmap inside the heart shape and adjust position of bitmap in powerclip if required
3. Convert the powerclip object to a bitmap (menu bitmaps/convert to bitmap and make sure transparent background is checked)
4. Right click on the new bitmap object and edit in PhotoPaint
In PhotoPaint
5. Menu - Object/Feather as desired
6. Exit photopaint and save image back to draw.
That is it the entire example in 6 steps.
HTH
Peter
Exactly, Peter. And you don't really need the convert to bitmap step in Draw. Just copy it directly to the clipboard, it will paste as a bitmap in Photopaint. The previous tip I gave also had an extra unnecessary powerclip to a bigger transparent rectangle. It is redundant, as the feathering in Photopaint goes inside, not outside the mask, so you don't need the extra empty space. The final step should also be to copy the feathered layer to the clipboard and paste it back in Draw. It would save you the trouble of having to find it and import it back to Draw.
This topic has been very helpful to me, at least. It forced me to learn Photopaint, and find a better way of doing something.
Now if they would just introduce vector feathering in Draw, life would really be simpler http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.
Hi peter thanks for that you make it sound so simple i'm embarrassed that I can't seem to grasp it. I did exactly what you said and power clipped the image into a heart shape, I then converted into a bitmap...no problem. Right click to edit in photopaint and ?????? where is photopaint ? unless it is inside the coreldraw 11 somewhere I don't have it. Is photopaint a separate software package or do I have it in corel and don't even know it. I am sorry guys I know it sounds pathetic......but thats learners for you
Peter from one englishman to another my apologies i'm letting the side down
thanks again guys
David
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Now if they would just introduce vector feathering in Draw, life would really be simpler <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
It's staggering that Xara X has had this since version 9 of Draw was around, Illustrator too, yet they still refuse to add it three Draw versions later.
This is one of the reasons I'm still using version 9.
One point worth making however, this is not a vector effect. Feathering basically creates a bitmap, controlled by a transparent path. If you could apply drop shadows to objects without any fill or outline color you would have a feathering tool. Which means most of the code is already there.
Of course, as a bitmap, powerclipping into the feathered object wouldn't be possible.
Sark
Ah, now it starts to become clear
What version of CorelDRAW are you using?
Photopaint is the companion bitmap editor to CorelDRAW it has been in the full suite since V3, though only started to get interesting to me in V7 when full layer support was added.
The only versions of Draw not to have Photopaint are
CorelDRAW 8 Classic edition
CorelDRAW 11 stand alone edition - the Corel Graphics Suite 11 included it
CorelDRAW Essentials V2
Don't know about CorelDRAW 9 Office Edition, I have never seen that in operation.
As Sark has said, without a bitmap editor it is nigh on impossible to feather and object in Draw.
You can do it only with vectors similar to graphixman's technique he posted. But I think it is more trouble than it is worth and too limited in functionality.
Download the attached CDR file
Import a bitmap into Draw
Select the interactive transparency tool
Select texture transparency from the context sensitive toolbar
Then select full color pattern transparency from the same roll down list
Click on the edit transparency button (first in the toolbar) and load up my CDR file
You can slide the heart around a bit by editing the transparency but eventually the tiling effect will appear. But you could powerclip the bitmap inside a smaller rectangle to mask the effects
Note: a bitmap with this vector transparency effect really slows draw down so it may be worth converting the finished image to a bitmap when you are happy.
Personally I would start using my previous technique and when you have a heart shaped bitmap in Draw, export it as a PSD photoshop file and feather the object in Photoshop which I am sure must have such a command, then reimport it back into Draw.
HTH
Peter
P.S. Sorry for not realising you did not have PhotoPaint only it is quite rare for a Draw user not to have access to it.
Hi Peter...
Since my last post I have spoken to my systems man and he informs he deliberately didn't load photopaint on my system because I have adobe photoshop which he says knocks photopaint for six.....great !. When I explained what I was trying to do & that I was talking to guys on the corel forum he still insists I should be doing all my image editing in photoshop and export to corel.He says nothing beats adobe photoshop its the best out there.
Anyway, I have downloaded the heart shape you sent and its absolutely perfect..just what i was trying to do.......Thank you I really appreciate your help.
Regards, David
tacksie
Is photoshop better than photopaint, well maybe, but we are talking of an integrated whole here, that and the fact that despite operational differences there are very few things in most day to day bitmap operations Photoshop can do that Photopaint cannot.
There are several tricks that can only be done (or more commonly done more quickly) when both packages are working together side by side.
I'll be honest here, my Draw Suite usage is probably 90% Draw, 9% Paint and 1% Rave. There are others in the main Corel newsgroups who work the otherway around Draw as a supplemental program to Photopaint
I will be extremely vocal should Corel even think about dropping PhotoPaint.
You really should talk to your systems guy, by all means continue to use Photoshop but IMHO you are being hamstrung by not having PhotoPaint on the computer as well.
HTH
Peter
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Peter Clifton:
You can do it only with vectors similar to graphixman's technique he posted. But I think it is more trouble than it is worth and too limited in functionality.
QUOTE]
ouch!!! that reads back in a way I did not intend.
I meant my vector technique was more trouble than it is worth, I have used bitmap transparencies in the past as a non destructive edit.
Peter
No offence taken here. It is the hard and wrong way of doing it. I'm ashamed now that I even suggested it. Bouncing the file from Draw to Photopaint is the best solution. But as I said before, I'm still learning the programs myself. The use of layer mask in Photopaint was something I never could figure out until you pointed it out to me, Peter. It is a superior method to simply deleting the unwanted portions because it remains editable afterwards. But deleting is faster if you have your main image powerclipped in Draw. Just depends on what app you're mainly working on.
To peter & Grafixman.....Thanks for all your help, I have been in contact with my systems man and I will have photopaint installed on my box sometime this week. Hopefully, I will then be able to try out some of your suggestions. Thanks again for all your help I will let you know how I go on.
Regards, David
To peter....what can I say ! I now have photopaint installed and its great. I did the six step exercise that you said to feather the heart image and it worked beautifully. Thanks for all your help....until next time take care and my very best regards.
David
Hi
I'm also trying to create a feathered image in Corel PhotoPaint X5. I only need the feathering in one direction eg a rectangle with only the base feathered. I've tried to follow your instructions. However it appears that I need to create at leat 100 rectangles to achieve the feathering. If I use 10, the 1st being 90% transparent, the 2nd being 80% transparent & etc., then the whole thing has very discrete steps. It looks horrible.
Corel PP X5 will only feather ALL edges of an object which is no good. Maybe I can make the objects oversized and then trim off all but the lower edge?
I've found that I can feather a mask for 100 pixels MAX (why this limit) and then after I create the object I can superimpose it on a larger object and feather that for 300 pixels. Wonder why these limits as it makes the whole feathering task or fade out very laborious.