Polar Grid Tool

Hello, I am using Corel 12 and a friend of mine is using Illustrator CS2.

To make radial spikes on a circle he uses the Polar Grid Tool, I can't find a tool that does that in mine.

I need help with this challenge.

Regards

You can rotate a line by moving the rotation axis to the end of the line, in the Transform Docker under rotate, you can choose any number of degrees you'd like to rotate the line, if you want rays of different lenghth, you can group and rotate several lines using the same method which all share a common point. Rotate from that point. In Transform you can choose to rotate and leave a duplicate behind or just duplicate, choose the first one.

Thank you for your speedy reply, I am faithful to Corel Draw since v3, good old 3.5 disk days, lol.

Do people make plugins for Draw??

There are scripts for DRAW which are very useful, they do things like add crop marks, register marks, change all of one specific color to another.

When I bought 12.0 it came with a free download from KPT but you have to change your artwork to raster first to use it. It is still very cool.

Many plug-ins are compatible with PhotoPaint and also with DRAW if rastered first.

Check out Oberon, you'll find it interesting.

Excellent site, thanks again, I will try to do a rosettte by miself using his tutorial.

Regards.

One quick tip some overlook is "Smart duplicate".

When you apply a transform function to a duplicated object, as long as the object remains selected the transforms will be memorised. If you then hit Ctrl/D, the next duplicate has the same transformations applied.

Example...If you wanted to create spokes of a wheel, you create one spoke, duplicate and rotate (say 15 degrees). Now just hold down Ctrl and every time you hit the D key you create another spoke which is rotated 15 degrees. Just continue hitting the D key until you have created 360 degrees of spokes (twelve?).

Sark

Cool tip, I don't use as many key board shortcuts as I could. I use the Transform Docker a lot, and click the ol' mouse 12 x's.

Can you do the smart transform without entering the Transform Docker?

Sally.

Once duplicated, as long as the object/s remains selected, all transforms applied to the duplicate will be applied to the next duplicate, created by pressing Ctrl/D.

I guess it works pretty much like the Transform dockers "Apply to Duplicate", but with interactive transform functionality.

This is one of the few shortcuts I use, apart from the usual copy, cut, constrain shortcuts. Like yourself, I tend to work via menus or dockers, partly due to the different apps I use not having identical shortcuts, and partly laziness. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Sark

Hello Masters (Sallybode and Sark) I have got another for you.

As instructed by Sallybode I saw a web page with a tutorial on rossetes.

I was trying to make one without the script but when I got to making the borders I got to a dead end!!

The reason: I was trying to make a corner cut-out of two objects using a lasso triangle. I would like to send the CDR file to you but I dont know how from here!!

Are you talking about the SecuriDesign page?
The generators are fantastic. I doubt if you could get the results easily by manually making them, but maybe playing with blends, envelopes and rotations acould let you create something similar.

Yes, Grafixman, I am using the normal CDR modifiers instead of scripts but when making the borders using the same method I couldnt cut the excess corners to give it a sharp edge.

MegaThunder.

I'm not sure about attachments here, but you can upload a file to the addy below. Just email it to yourself and paste the link to it here.

I always like a challenge, so will happily take a look.

Sark

http://www.yousendit.com

Yes, it would be a good challenge to try to do something similar using only the native tools in Draw. As for being unable to cut a corner out of your objects, did you make sure that the triangle you're using to trim the object(s) is closed? Or maybe you have an interactive envelope or some other effect applied to one or more objects you're trimming? Hard to tell without the file or at least a screenshot of it...

Ok, gents, lets hope that I have done it correctly.

Security Stamp

This will be my first try at it!!

I can't open the file because I'm still on CD11... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif. Hope Sark or Sallybode can help you with this one. It should be a pretty straightforward thing to trim a 45 degree corner on an object to be able to join them together at a 90 degree angle.

Sorry Grafixman, my fault, I should asked for version compatibility, anyhow here is in version 11.

Security Stamp v11

Megathunder, your files on pages one and two are very impressive. The star in the middle is really cool. I think you should solve your problem with making something like the sides of a do-it-yourself picture frame from a frame store.

When you have a dilema and don't know what to do, you actually don't need to cut anything. First, copy what you have made (in case you need it), next create an object that has the mitre you desire and place it inside a PowerClip. If in doubt as to how to do this, you must move the object you are going to mask with, underneath what you are clipping, letting it stick out enough to see. In the Effects menu, choose "PowerClip". Your cursor will change to a large arrow, click on the edge of the shape you created to do the clipping. The problem-artwork should now reside inside of the PowerClip. If it needs to be edited, you can edit by right clicking and move, recolor, shape--anything. Finish with right clicking to end the editing. If your goal is to create a frame such as used in a certificate, you may wish to make two PowerClips which mirror each other (using the Transform Docker) To ensure that the corners are mitred correctly, the Transform Docker allows you to rotate lines, etc. at any angle. Easy to rotate a box at 45 degrees and use that to trim your object you will make into the PowerClip, (of course for a frame the ends will mitre in -45 degrees) that way you will be accurate. Since opposite sides of a rectangle are the same size but will have opposite mitres, that is why I suggested to use the Transform Docker. It is very intuitive. Use the mirror and duplicate command. PowerClips allow DRAW to do what is ordinarily not possible. It is non-damaging to anything which it holds and will free up a whole lot of memory. In fact if you have a huge drawing that will be used as a component of another but DRAW is freezing up because of too much memory usage, put this drawing inside a PowerClip and you will have no more memory problems. If the PowerClip you create needs editing of its shape, use the shape editor cursor, no problem. Whenever I create a Powerclip, even when I use perfect shapes, I convert to curves so I have more editing options. You also can make clear power clips, ones with no fill for special editing circumstances. I like to have an outline on my PowerClips when they are being made, but often remove the line when I am satisfied with it, so the clipping becomes invisible. There is a fabulous tutorial on PowerClips called"Shaping". The link you want is the last one under CorelDRAW Effects. I recommend to take all of these tutorials, they are a lot of fun and have great information. There is a player it requires but the download is FREE. And FREE is good.

Once you see what PowerClips can do, you will be able to solve many problems where regular trimming or welding or simplfy does not offer a good answer. You can PowerClip anything you can import or create in DRAW. The tutorial shows how to cut the PowerClip but 12.0 has a knife tool that replaces what 9.0 was using which was a line to cut. Other than that, all the information works the same in 12.0.

Ungroup your borders and break apart the combined shapes down to their individual components, group the horizontal border into one group and the vertical border into another. Then you can use the trim function.
The same file with trimmed borders, plus some shapes I came up without using the script.

Trimmed borders

MegaThunder, Hi.

Couldn't log on yesterday, kept getting timed out. This seems to happen a lot with me on the TG forum http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Grafixman has basically answered your question, but as I had already typed a reply which is a little more explicit i'll post anyway.

Your own borders suffered from several problems. Firstly, both the vertical and horizontal borders were grouped together, making it impossible to trim just one at a time. Next, I discovered each border was grouped, not a problem except for the fact there was a blend within this group. This needed to be broken apart (via the Arrange menu) and the end objects regrouped to the broken apart blend objects.

Basically, as long as you have one group, or one combined set of objects to trim, it can pretty much consist of any number of separate sub groups, even combined objects and groups mixed. It’s certain effects you need to beware of. Blends and Contours are just two that are invalid (the rosette suffered from the same blend issue).

Finally, to create a triangle with a 45-degree side, just drag a constrained rectangle (a square), convert it to a curve and delete a corner node. When you have aligned this to one border and trimmed, you can click each Mirror button to align perfectly to the next border without having to move it with the pick tool. Just make sure it is big enough to enclose all the trimmed area.

Sark

http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...31CMK5II3IB97N

You are welcome to see how I Powerclipped the file. It is all there, untrimmed inside the Powerclip. If you want to extract or edit the clip, right click for those options.Power Clip Trimming

THANK YOU ALL,

You people are great help, I will try to dot what you have instructed I am allways learning but I never give up on Draw!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Regards

http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif. Thanks to Sark and Sallybode, too. I also learned a lot from this topic. Creative ideas from the site link, and new ways of approaching the problem. Sallybode's tip on using powerclip could be the more versatile solution. I powerclipped a corner of the border I made to a triangle and rotate-duplicated it to get the result below:

http://home.pchome.com.tw/art/grafixman/fancyborder.gif

Sally, Grafix & Mega, Hi.

Powerclipping, which is basically just a mask, is a very powerful tool. Sometimes, however, it can be beneficial to keep draw files as simple as possible. Like Lens effects, Powerclips can sometimes cause output issues. This does tend to happen if you have a lot of them in a file, but it's certainly something to keep an eye on.

This excercise was a good example of the many different ways to approach the same problem. No one method is neccesarily better than another, and it is always useful to have several options available.

I look forward to the next challenge. Maybe I should even consider setting one for you to solve. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Sark

I have done a lot of drawing both in vector and bitmap programs and do more in vector because it remain totally editable. Non-destructive editing is my preference especially because I know that customers change their mind and if you have left no way back, guess what they invariably want? Sark is right, trimming is a better solution in some circumstances. But to me the PowerClip is "quick and dirty". It masks away what no one needs to see.

Actually whatever you have too many of can become a memory hog.

Knowing how you can tear these lines from Oberon apart and manipulate them is very useful as I have had to draw certificates and that is tedious without Secure Design.

Friends Stamp

This is my humble final "friends stamp".

In the top frame I show the modified box.

How did you bend the cornes of the differnt stars?

Agreed, putting large complicated things into powerclip and duplicating it produces a lot of hidden objects which would bog down Draw.
But how about using symbols? You could create a powerclipped shape with no outline or fill, save that as a symbol then duplicate and arrange the symbol in a radial pattern. You could then create a kaleidoscope effect that you could alter by editing the symbol and it's powerclipped content.

If there are many Powerclips on a page, this may be true, if there is one Powerclips with a whole page of complicated items, it gives you back your memory. I had to work on the AV Fair LOGO, it was forwarded to us in CYMK but we needed to print it less than 1/4 of the size and in grayscale. Just as in color photography, when the saturation of colors is nearly the same, it does not make for sufficient contrast to make a good black and white picture, neither does it work in vector graphics. I recolored the drawing using shades of gray to give it the contrast it needed. But when I pasted on the page, with the rest of the information (it was a parade form sign up) things really slowed down, and about came to a halt when I added the same graphic to the next page. I went back to the back up version because this one was too large a file to open, and put the black and white Fair LOGO in a Powerclip and then resized it for both instances and had plenty of memory for the use of the LOGO and the LOGO modified on the second page. Other than that there was no difference in the way the file was put together. It is like placing graphics in InDesign and PageMaker, the placed file has a representation of the file as a place holder but does not reside fully in the file you are working with so that it doesn't bog things down. Powerclipping may manage memory as subfiles.

It seems the way the memory is being managed is very much the same as the symbols palette, except Powerclips do not have any rules, they can take any sort of file, transparency, you name it, even .eps color and duotones, tritones, and package it neatly up. The Symbols palette limits you to vector graphics with no transparency.

Grafixman, Sally.

I've only just got V12, jumping from V9, so Symbols are not something I've really used yet.

The biggest memory factor is the Undo level. In V9 it used to default to 100, which is crazy. Not sure about V12, I think it's 20, but I always work at 10 levels, as this is more than enough for me.

After 10 levels it just writes over existing history and if I work with my res set to 72DPI, I never really have too many problems. Just a matter of changing the res if needed after finishing editing. Of course, the res only effects bitmap effects, drop shadows and lens effects etc.

I guess it depends on what use use Draw for. For me , it is moostly the start for work that will be finished, or put together, in PS, so I haven't had those really big files that cause problems.

Sark

I'm still on CD11, as I said before. But browsing at the Corel site for the CD12 features, it seems that Powerclip has been improved so that the contents can also be trimmed to the shape of the containing object. Maybe this would be helpful in cutting out excess materials?
Also, I'm not sure about Sallybode's comment on the symbols being limited to vector graphics with no transparency. From what I have in CD11, almost anything can be saved as a symbol. Even bitmaps. Or powerclipped shapes. Then it's just a matter of dragging it out and reusing it. The instances can be rotated, scaled or skewed independently. Using symbols seems to work faster on my old computer, too, compared to clones or duplicates.