Antialiasing issues (CD12)

[Sark]

Please, someone tell me this issue is my system and not Coreldraw (12)

Draw two objects overlapping. Fill with a dark colour like red, and with both objects selected, right click the “no colour� swatch to remove there outlines. Now, with both objects still selected hit Simplify.

On my system a pale line appears where the two objects butt up to one another. If I export this as a transparent antialiased ping, the line still shows up, likewise in other formats.

The line also appears if I use Trim, but no such problem occurs when I use Trim in CD9. It’s as if antialiasing, both onscreen, and on export, now antialiases inwards on an object, instead of outwards.

This would make Simplify all but useless for me if this is how Draw now works. You can solve the problem with an same colour outline, but that only works for solid filled objects, not gradients etc.

I really hope this is my system, if not I will definitely be removing CD12 (again). I shall just admit defeat and give up on Corel altogether.

Sark

One other strange discovery is, if I export an object using Publish to Web with the documents zoom at, say 200%, the object will export at twice its true size, even though the actual size is quoted correctly in the proprty bar. Easily solved, but….

[sallybode]

I also have 12 and simply does behave exactly as you describe. I have found Power Clipping solves problems when other methods don't. In fact in my experiment with two dark red filled circles, one converted to a power clip container, same size on both, I could change the fill on both the unclipped sphere and the rectangle filled with a gradient into my Power Clip container and get good results but not in cases where two light gradients butted up against each other.

If you have to use this method of simpliying or trimming, an outline converted to an object can then be filled with the gradient of the interior object. Once that is done, you can weld them together again. Too much work, but if I selected one object only when simplify has finished and resize it with the % height x width at 101% x 101%, the line goes away. The change in size is imperceptible. And outlining did not need to be used.

It would be nice if there was a choice in which way the anti-aliasing would work. Either way, making objects bigger or smaller, there are headaches.

However since you know how this is working and understand what DRAW is doing, you are in a better place to figure out how to solve the problem.

When I encounter flaws like this, it is when I am under a deadline and I just don't have the patience to solve the dilema.

Except for yesterday, I had a funeral folder to do, and the people gave me 11 color family snap shots, only one was a studio shot. Additionally, I am outputting for a monotone plate and convert everything to grayscale. This was for a black family, and it is a challenge to keep the faces and backgrounds balanced so that faces do not get too dark, and yet they have a full range of grayscale. This part I did in Photoshop. (I do a lot of funeral folders and have often had to do retouching for my black friends, it is always a challenge, but one I am glad do.) The client wanted me to make a collage. I often have spent a long time doing this and I had to have the whole thing done inside of two hours. So I decided to place the ten pictures in their own vignettes and assemble them in DRAW and see what I could do quickly (the eleventh picture was for the cover and not the collage). Of course there was overlap from the crop I did in Photoshop. I applied 100% transparency set to Subtract and I got the effect I wanted, my vignettes were easy to position and no boundary lines. That is one time an epiphany hit me.

Since there were so many bitmaps on the page, I grouped them all and converted to bitmap, even though each one was grayscale at 300 dpi already, to avoid any problems with PostScript and the Subtract lens. The result printed beautifully.

DRAW isn't perfect but it can behave brilliantly at times. Considering what I had to do, I met my deadline, but I was glad when it was off the press and picked up.

BTW, don't give up, you have some of the most interesting ideas here and learn a lot from your posts.

The forum is helpful in stimulating creativity.

[Sark]

sallybode, thanks for posting.

You're right, Draw can be quite brilliant at some of what it does, and at other times utterly frustrating.

What is so frustrating is the fact that some issues were never an issue in previous versions, but seem to appear in upgrades for no good reason.

There may well be a work around for certain problems, but they should never arise in the first place. These products are beta tested by people who are surely discovering the issues others find. Corel often just choose to leave them installed.

It is often silly things, like the export issue when exporting with the zoom at anything other than 100%. Another I've just discovered is that the large + key on the keyboard can now only duplicae in place when the pick tool is selected. In previous versions it worked with any object selected irrespective of the currently active tool.

These are not serious problems, but you just get the impression Corel does even want to compete with companies like Adobe. I've been using Photoshop for a couple of years now and can honestly say I can count the number of problems encountered on one hand, and this is across two versions.

Ultimately Draw is still so much easier to work with than Illustrator so I'll be stuck with it for a while yet. As a non professional I can only sympaphise with anyone that encounters these problems while working to a deadline.

Thanks again

Sark

[sallybode]

The program I work in all day long is CorelDRAW and though I was a freelance illustrator/designer for a long time and got to choose the software I wanted to use, now where I work, I have to use DRAW. In comparison to Illustrator, it is clear why we use DRAW, it has so many more features that a printing business like ours uses. Before we had our digital plate maker, we sent a lot more work out for negatives, then we'd strip them up and burn metal plates. We do have photo-stripped neg flats yet that we continue to use for reruns. For most prepress issues for color separations, Corel does a very good job. And is no comparison to Illustrator, even CS does not show you as much information so you can pinpoint areas you need to fix.

I do like the new Illustrator, the Scribble effect is cool. Transparency effects as least for the Windows version of Illustrator make the program so bogged down, you can't get it to budge. But when I did my work in Illustrator, I had a layer for everything, so I could easily fix what I needed to do. We of course get the Illustrator artwork flattened and it is virtually impossible to edit it and to then select what you want. I end up importing it into CorelDRAW and fixing it in there because I get ten projects off my desk every day, not just one. And if my work flow slowed, the fellas in the print shop get sent home because of no work to do. And they lose pay. I still have work but I wouldn't want that to be me. My bills don't stop because I lose pay either.

I wish the people who send us files sent us a layered Illustrator file, then I'd use it.

Corel apparently has so many loyal users that they know how many of the bugs kick up and avoid those things that even make 12 crash. You have to work. Adobe apparently keeps the same software designers year after year. But still why they have drill down problems, no holding down alt and clicking to find the object you need.

CS has many improvements for the print industry however but it is a nightmare to figure out how to get its output to be compatible with Corel, which is an on-going headache for me. With 10, the script from Oberon to import AI via the clipboard, works well but only works in a haphazard way with CS. Adobe wants you working in Adobe. But this is no way to do business. We use InDesign, Photoshop, PageMaker, QuarkXpress as well and all but the last are Adobe products.

Photopaint, I rarely use though I am getting better at it. It is still no match for the flawless ease of use of PS.

The worst thing PS does is make .pdf's. What an oversight.

When I get my set of transparent brushes finished, I'll zip it and post them, I've done some pretty neat effects. But if I started over again, I'd have to make use of the symbols palette to cut down the number of instances, it got rather top heavy even with my gig of RAM.

[Sark]

Hi again sally.

With 10, the script from Oberon to import AI via the clipboard, works well but only works in a haphazard way with CS

Sally, not sure I'm reading this right, but does this script just get .ai files into Draw, or can it go from Draw to illustrator as well.

This is something I've been trying to achieve for a while. I occasionally need to get a Draw path into PS, but I can only do it with closed paths exported as .pfb fonts. Have even started looking for a cheap copy of illustrator.

As you know PS only accepts paths, as paths, via the clipboard. Another attempt at encouraging you to use only Adobe apps.

Sark

[sallybode]

With pasting to Adobe Illustrator, it works with AI CS and AI 10, I say that with qualifications, it does not work with all types of illustrations such as those with drop shadow, items that may have been skewed with perspective or the envelope tool, lines that are unique to CorelDRAW will not transfer. It is just basic stuff.

Anything fancier you could try a .pdf but .pdf's are infamous for headaches with CorelDRAW such as turning outlined type into dragon's horns (you have to convert outlined type to curves and then change the line style to have the curved endcaps or it draws spikes in various places--renders hours of labor useless, otherwise).

Not all items will render with .pdf, if you paint with shadows as we have discussed, it is a convert to bitmap first sort of thing.

I just did a business card like that.