not square fill

[inphoenix]

I'm trying to make a background for a picture,,,

So... Now I do not have a square area. The output pic is going to be 10x13 printed on 13X19 paper so I do not have to worry about printer margins. The frame is 11X14.

But I want to create a rectangle about 1 inch larger than pic and fill with a color that fades to white (at edges) so I do not have to place a mat over it.

But the only fill options are square, which my rectangle will NOT be and the others options which I cannot figure out how to use for this app.

I tried making 1/2 size so I could just clone and place side to side but still this is not a true square so it didn't work. BTW: I'm still having problems changing the auto dupe/clone offset to 0 (zero). I tried many times but cannot get it to work in CD11. I am successful in CD9. Unfortunatly I'm using CD11 on this project.

Well, I hope I've described my problem(s) properly. I really could use some help on this.

If anyone has a solution today 4/10 please check out my profile and send me a notification manually. Thank you so much! I need to print this today.

[inphoenix]

I'm trying to make a background for a picture,,,

So... Now I do not have a square area. The output pic is going to be 10x13 printed on 13X19 paper so I do not have to worry about printer margins. The frame is 11X14.

But I want to create a rectangle about 1 inch larger than pic and fill with a color that fades to white (at edges) so I do not have to place a mat over it.

But the only fill options are square, which my rectangle will NOT be and the others options which I cannot figure out how to use for this app.

I tried making 1/2 size so I could just clone and place side to side but still this is not a true square so it didn't work. BTW: I'm still having problems changing the auto dupe/clone offset to 0 (zero). I tried many times but cannot get it to work in CD11. I am successful in CD9. Unfortunatly I'm using CD11 on this project.

Well, I hope I've described my problem(s) properly. I really could use some help on this.

If anyone has a solution today 4/10 please check out my profile and send me a notification manually. Thank you so much! I need to print this today.

[inphoenix]

I found one solution. I created a rectangle the size of the pic and one the size of the frame and used the blend tool. Works but wonder if this is the best solution. I had to up the steps of the blend to over 100 to make a smooth transition.

I run across this a lot when dealing with printer margins and I don't want the pic to have hard edges.

[Grafixman]

Turn it to bitmap and apply a vignette effect or gaussian blur the mask? More like a Photopaint solution and the file would be bigger. But it's a workaround.

[inphoenix]

WOW, what a good idea. I totally forgot about PhotoPaint. Thanks so much Grafixman.

Happy Easter

[Grafixman]

Too bad Draw does not have Xara's feathering capability. It would be a good idea to contract the mask inwards towards the shape before applying the feathering in Photopaint.
If you are just going for a simple faded edge effect, I found a way of doing this completely in Draw. It basically consists of placing a white no-outline rectangle with a hole cut out in the middle the shape of your object on top of the original object. Then a white shadow is created to simulate a fade effect. Something like the heart in the back in the picture below:

http://home.pchome.com.tw/art/grafixman/vignette.jpg

The cdr file is here:

Take the file apart by ungrouping the objects and look at the drop shadow settings of the white rectangular object on top of the bigger heart.

[inphoenix]

That's really cool! That is the effect I'm trying to get.
I have one more request.... I checked out help first...
Can the color of the drop shadow be changed from grey (gray) to a color of choice?

Thank you so much and Happy Easter!

[Grafixman]

It can. Click the interactive drop shadow icon so that the control line for positioning the shadow is visible. Drag a color of your choice to the little square box at the end of the control line.

[inphoenix]

http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif FANTASTIC!
I love it. Thank you so very much.