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Real-Draw PRO

2008 Mediachance

Real-Draw PRO
2008 Mediachance
All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems - without the written permission of the publisher. Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners. The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it. In no event shall the publisher and the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document. Printed: November 2008 in (whereever you are located)

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Contents

Table of Contents
Foreword 0

Part I Overview Part II Types of results Part III Features Part IV What's new Part V Basics
1 Types of objects ................................................................................................................................... 2 Rulers, Guides, Grid ................................................................................................................................... 3 Document Size ...................................................................................................................................

8 12 16 20 22
22 25 27

Part VI Paths
1 Editing paths ................................................................................................................................... 2 Standard Shapes ................................................................................................................................... 3 Arrow ................................................................................................................................... 4 Drawing a Shape from scratch ................................................................................................................................... 5 Add a point to existing Shape ................................................................................................................................... 6 Combine two or more objects ................................................................................................................................... 7 Liquid Shape ................................................................................................................................... 8 Import Vector Object ...................................................................................................................................

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30 31 32 33 35 36 42 44

Part VII Text


1 Text Object ................................................................................................................................... 2 Fit To................................................................................................................................... Path

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48 51

Part VIII Bitmaps


1 Bitmap Object ................................................................................................................................... 2 Bitmap as Reference ................................................................................................................................... 3 Re-Crop ................................................................................................................................... 4 Non Destructive Sharpen ................................................................................................................................... 5 Paste................................................................................................................................... Bitmap Inside a Vector Object, Cropping Bitmaps 6 Masking Bitmap ................................................................................................................................... 7 Transparency Masking ................................................................................................................................... 8 Color................................................................................................................................... Transparency 9 Trace................................................................................................................................... Bitmap
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Part IX Properties
1 Working With Object Properties ................................................................................................................................... 2 Color................................................................................................................................... & Texture 3 Adjusting the Texture ................................................................................................................................... 4 Color................................................................................................................................... Space 5 GenetX Procedural Colors and Textures ................................................................................................................................... 6 Bitmap Effects ................................................................................................................................... 7 Transparency Properties ................................................................................................................................... 8 Area ................................................................................................................................... Gradient 9 Bevel................................................................................................................................... Properties 10 Effect................................................................................................................................... Properties 11 Push-Back Tool ................................................................................................................................... 12 Outline Properties ................................................................................................................................... 13 Surface Skin ................................................................................................................................... 14 Color Correction ...................................................................................................................................

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78 78 82 84 85 87 88 91 92 97 102 109 110 112

Part X Lights
1 3D Lights & Material ................................................................................................................................... 2 3D Lights & Material - Tips for using it ...................................................................................................................................

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Part XI Painting
1 Basics of Painting Mode ................................................................................................................................... 2 Brushes Tool Bar ................................................................................................................................... 3 Editing Bitmap Object ................................................................................................................................... 4 Painting on a Vector Object ................................................................................................................................... 5 Paint Object ................................................................................................................................... 6 Cloning ................................................................................................................................... 7 Advanced Bitmap Edit Mode Options ................................................................................................................................... 8 Editing Brushes ................................................................................................................................... 9 Bitmap Envelope Editing ...................................................................................................................................

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124 125 127 128 132 133 136 137 145

Part XII Packages


1 Packages ................................................................................................................................... 2 Create and Edit Package ................................................................................................................................... 3 Package Document ................................................................................................................................... 4 Working with packages ................................................................................................................................... 5 Crop Package ................................................................................................................................... 6 Clone Package ................................................................................................................................... 7 Perspective Transformation ................................................................................................................................... 8 Liquid Package/Bitmap ...................................................................................................................................

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148 149 150 152 155 157 158 159

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Contents 9 Other ...................................................................................................................................

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Part XIII Global NPR


1 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 2 Apply NPR Style ................................................................................................................................... 3 NPR................................................................................................................................... Quick Adjust 4 NPR................................................................................................................................... Style Settings 5 NPR................................................................................................................................... Area Gradient 6 NPR................................................................................................................................... and Bitmaps 7 Tips................................................................................................................................... for NPR

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Part XIV Advanced


1 Blueprint ................................................................................................................................... 2 Export ................................................................................................................................... 3 Export To Clipboard ................................................................................................................................... 4 Mega Render ................................................................................................................................... 5 Layers ................................................................................................................................... 6 Styles ................................................................................................................................... 7 Object Library ................................................................................................................................... 8 Printing ................................................................................................................................... 9 Web................................................................................................................................... Roll-over button 10 Designing Web Page ................................................................................................................................... 11 HTML Slicer ................................................................................................................................... 12 Slicing Page, Rollover ................................................................................................................................... 13 Multimedia Button ................................................................................................................................... 14 Multimedia Extension ................................................................................................................................... 15 Script Example ................................................................................................................................... 16 Screen Capture ...................................................................................................................................

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182 184 188 190 194 199 200 201 203 205 206 213 222 226 228 234

Part XV Appendix Part XVI Thank You Index

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Part

Real-Draw PRO

Overview

Real-Draw seamlessly combines vector tools with the power of pixel based image manipulation into a new type of graphics editor, using a technology we call a VectorBit. It instantaneously moves from one form to another, eliminating time-consuming conversion operations and the need for multiple drawing packages. You can create anything from simple graphics, banners and buttons to complex interactive web page. Real-DRAW PRO is a uniquely intuitive and versatile graphics program with no limit to the quality and style of output. Create 3D or hand drawings using familiar 2D vector tools. Create children hand-drawn illustration, painted art, photo-realistic imagery, 3D scenes, photographic clones and web pages in one package. VectorBit technology The basic idea of Real-Draw is to produce rich bitmap graphics using the comfort of vector-like editing combined with 3D features and Natural paint techniques. In a standard vector application the output is usually smooth but very dry technical-like illustration and it usually takes a lot of effort to produce rich photo-like natural result. But its editing is very versatile, you can any-time change any aspect of the object or its shape.

A bitmap painting editor with its variety of brushes and effect can create natural looking or hand-painted result but by directly changing the pixels on image the degree of freedom used in vector editing is lost. Changing painted object usually means erasing it and painting it again.

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Overview

A 3D application can produce photo-realistic looking surfaces by using bump mapping and lights, but modelling in 3D is a complex affair, far from simple drawing.

Real-Draw PRO tries to take from each method its own benefits. Now you can produce a Bitmap-like graphic but still edit it using typical vector tools and adjust the texture by using lights and texture maps. You can also seamlessly mix these techniques as you wish. On the image below created in Real-Draw in just few seconds, all objects are fully editable including the sparkle and the lens flare.

But that is just the beginning...

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Types of results
Real-Draw PRO is one of the most versatile graphic editor for any screen-type of graphics. You can quickly produce any type of images - from realistic 3D-like rendering to a hand-drawn sketches or watercolor. Here are some general type of output you can produce: Ultra realistic, texture rich images, buttons, controls, text ... - First time in 2D drawing package are objects so real that you can create the feel of stones, shiny metals, wood and much more. There are hundreds of predefined natural textures in the library and you can add your own.

Rendered-like images. Unlike other 2D drawing applications, Real-DRAW can apply unlimited number of various light sources and material properties on any vector object, text, or bitmap to add realistic feeling. You can create 3D looking scenes without the need to work in 3D. Actually it is even better, because it is all in Real Time.

Hand-drawn Style Illustrations - start drawing on the opposite side of the realistic images using variety of fine tuned Non-Photo Realistic styles. Real-Draw PRO can automatically give your drawings the hand-crafted feel without any of the hard work.

Photographic-like Illustrations - You can hardly imagine a faster way to create amazing photorealistic illustrations. It is much easier and the result are usually much better than creating them in 3D. The secret is in using lights and bevels. Just a few lights alone can create the feel of a 3D shape. The whole illustration on the left was created using only vector objects with lights.

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Sketches - Spice up your documentation with a hand-drawn sketches. The secret is of course that these are not hand drawn, but easily editable vector-like objects. Unlike working with bitmap editor or a pencil you can simply edit these objects.

Large Photo Collages - The new Image by Reference allows you to quickly work with many large multi-megapixel images by simply placing a small Draft Image on the canvas and then use Megarender or Fine Print to create very large output. The Megarender will employ the best possible pixel quality using the actual data from the linked Reference images on disk. You can for example easily create a perfectly printable poster, but work on it very comfortably on a small 400 pixel wide canvas. Web Page - build-in smart HTML Slicer allows you to create whole interactive web page with roll-overs and functional links directly in software. You can create a custom buttons for roll-overs or you can simply choose one of predefined effect if you are in hurry. Multimedia Interfaces - you can create lifelike professional multimedia interfaces. With Web/ Multimedia Button you can also assign to each object three different appearances - normal, highlighted and pushed. You can then export each frame to separate bitmap files or direct export to Multimedia Builder. Web Elements - you can do anything from Web banners and logos - to buttons or other art. You can create vivid graphics with cool effects like drop shadow, glow or lights. You can even choose from 'zillions' of procedural textures and color washes.

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There is much more - Real-DRAW is one of the most versatile graphics programs, you can create images from painted art to photo-realistic rendering and everything in between or combination of all. Everything is editable all the time; you don't have to recreate the graphics again and again.

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Features
Vector Editing Any object you create is editable all the time. You can change shapes, group objects, move them in layers, resize, edit envelopes etc. Any object has its own changeable properties like color, texture, outline, lights, material, transparency, multiple 3D effects, bevels, shadows, motion blur and much more. Bitmap Editing Unlike in a normal vector editor you can actually paint directly onto any vector object using airbrushes, 3D or Artistic brushes and special Image Nozzles. You can paint on the canvas and the strokes will become another object to which you can apply effects, just as with vector objects. You can even convert a brush stroke directly into editable vector polynome.Not many software packages gives you such freedom. 3D Effects You can apply various bevels and extrude effects to any object or bitmap to create perfect threedimensional work. You can get even closer to rendered-like image by applying an unlimited number of 3D lights to any object or by changing its material properties. For example, Real-DRAW PRO makes it very easy to create realistic metallic textures - often a big problem in standard vector drawing packages. Illustration Package The combination of Real-DRAW PRO's tools allows you to create drawings in your style - illustrations, 3D render simulations, airbrush work, you name it - you have the control. Non-Photo Realistic Styles At any time you can switch the output to one of many Global NPR Styles for instant hand-drawn output using pencil, watercolor or even a paint. As any other feature in Real-DRAW PRO, this is non destructive, you can easily switch between styles, go back to original style or tweak the current style to your preference. WEB/Multimedia Graphics generator With Real-DRAW PRO you can design a whole interactive graphics web page with roll-overs, functional links and directly export it using powerful HTML Slicer. Then you can export it directly to Multimedia Builder or generate a script in any language you want - you can create HTML, XML, Java, Java Script or even a web page using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Mega Render Design small, render big! A special Mega Render export module allows you to render the design into much larger image sizes if you need them. Mega Render will not just resize the image, but it will add more texture detail as well. Export to Adobe Photoshop You can export the whole design into Adobe Photoshop keeping all the layers, transparency channels, shadow layers and layer names as you created them in Real-DRAW PRO. You can also use MegaRender technology to export large - print quality work to Adobe PhotoShop. Real-DRAW PRO offers you many new and innovative methods such as bitmap cloning, blueprint with onion skin or Packaging, and Package Clones which divide projects into logical blocks that can be worked on individually. Real-DRAW PRO turns graphics tasks that usually take several steps (and often several programs) into simple jobs.

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In More Details: Real-DRAW PRO combines many features you can find in different vector, 3D, and bitmap editors, and some that you can hardly find anywhere. The list of all the features would be too long so here are at least the most important: Multi document interface Vector editing with Path Curves and Polynomes Editing shape of the text with Path Texture Mix with hundreds of textures, Transparency texture mix GenetX Procedural Textures and Colors - millions of combinations Non Photo-Realistic Styles for instant hand-drawn feel Bitmap Effects from standard Saturation, Sharpen, Boost to some exotic effects Paining with brushes on objects or Canvas Arrow Line object - great for tutorials Four levels of Antialiasing Antialiased rotation of bitmaps - any angle Texture rotation and perspective Quick Style Library Many 3D Effects, bevels, extrude, drop shadow Unlimited number of 3D lights on each object: Point, Spot and Distant, any combination with Material properties You can apply effects (such as bevel, shadows etc.) to any object, it doesn't matter if it is text, vector object, bitmap or a brush stroke Everything is editable at any time Non-destructive editing Abilty to convert bitmpa object into vector shapes and vice-versa Non-destructive sharpening of bitmap objects Color correction for each object separately Export with detailed preview, quality control, size image, sharpen, and color correction Enhanced sampling quality on JPG, produces one of the best looking JPGs ever Export and import to SVG format (vector scalable format for web) Export to Adobe Photoshop format with all of the objects and shadows in separate layers. Ability to create a whole interactive page for a web, using HTML Slicer or even create a script for Cascade Style Sheets (CSS) Transparent PNG input and output. Ability to export separate alpha channel in any format A special Editable E-JPG export. E-JPEG is compatible with standard JPG. You can view it with a web browser or any graphic application that has JPG capability, and if you load it into Real-DRAW you can again edit the objects. Output plug-ins allow you to export into additional formats such as GIF, TIF, TGA etc. Import and translation of WMF files Import CompactDRAW IDR files Multimedia Export to Multimedia Builder or generic export to any authoring tool - thanks to the Packages, it is now very easy Smart nondestructive Crop Packaging, Nested Packaging, Nested Grouping Guidelines, Grid, full or draft wire frame view Blueprint method for cloning with onion skin ability Small, fast loading

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What's new
Liquid Shape 42 and Liquid Package 159 Non-Photo Realistic 164 Styles Export to Clipboard 188 Draft Bitmap with Reference 60 Area Gradient 174 Re-Crop 65 tool with ability to switch between Normal image and Image by Reference Crop tool can be now used inside packages 155 Various fixes and small additions: Pure Vector Export - fix on regional dependency, Limited Poly Nodes 30 option, preview during Megarender creation.

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5
5.1

Basics
Types of objects
There are four types of objects in Real-DRAW PRO: Path, Polynome, Text and Bitmap 1. Path This is the basic object. You actually create a path anytime you use one of the basic shape objects such as Rectangle, Circle or Star

Path is created with a Bezier curves and it can be closed or open. 2. Polynome Polynome is an object similar to Path. While Path is a continuous shape, Polynome doesn't have to be. A shape created from Polynome can have for example a hole inside. You can convert any Path or Text to a Polynome. 3. Text The text can be edited any time. You can also apply a Path envelope to the text and then twist the object. All the effects apply to text as well as for any objects. 4. Bitmap Object Bitmap is a non-vector object, however, you can work with it as with any other object. You can apply any effect, such as bevel, or drop shadow, or you can paint directly into the bitmap, create transparency, and much more. You can also apply envelope to twist or distort the Bitmap. 5. Painted Object Painted object is an Object created by painting with brushes on the canvas. Painted object behaves like any other object; you can apply any effects to it. Select an Object, Edit If you want to select, move or resize an object you use the Object Selector tool. If you want to change the shape by moving the Path points you use the Shape Tool. If you want to paint into the object use the Paint on Object Tool. Tip: You can switch between the Selector and Shape Tool with a double-click. When you press the Paint on Object tool, the view changes into painting view where you can see the object transparency and paint with various brushes. You can get back to the normal view by clicking the

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Object Selector, by un-clicking Paint on Object tool, or if you press the Esc key. With the Object Selector tool, you can select an object by clicking on the visible part of the object. You can resize the object by pulling on one of the 8 handles. The bottom right handle (in gray color) is for resizing in all directions, the other 7 handles always resize in their direction. (For example: the middle left and right handle will resize only in the horizontal direction.) Tip: Sometimes, if the object is very tiny, you may have a hard time selecting the object. You can just hold down the Ctrl key and click on the object again. This will select the object by its boundary. If you want to select, move, or resize an object, which is covered by other objects, just click on its name in the Layers 194 Bar. This will make it selected and you can now click on it on the workplace, drag it, or resize it. Select more objects at the same time Often, you would like to select more objects at the same time and then move, resize, or apply a command. To select two or more objects use one of these: Click on the empty part of the canvas - where there is no object - hold down the mouse button and drag a rectangle around the objects. Then release the button. You have to drag around the objects you want to select. Only the objects, which are inside the rectangle, will be selected. Click on the object you want to select first: then hold down the SHIFT key and click on the second object. Repeat until all objects are selected. Click on first object name in Layer Bar, then hold SHIFT and continue selecting the objects. To deselect all objects, click outside the selected area. To deselect only one object from the group of selected objects, hold down the SHIFT key and click on a previously selected object. Tip: During multiple selections, look at the bottom of the screen (the status bar). The text will identify the number of objects you have selected. The Objects on screen will have a small number in the top left corner - this is the order on which you selected the objects. It is important for some operations such as boolean Subtract.

Move and Resize Objects with Arrows You can move/resize objects when you have the Object Selector tool selected. You can move the object in pixel precision in almost any mode by pressing the Arrow keys on your keyboard. If you hold CTRL while you press the arrow key, you will move in increments defined by a Grid 25 . You can resize the object in pixel precision in almost any mode by pressing the SHIFT + Arrow keys on your keyboard. If you hold CTRL while you press the SHIFT + arrow key, you will resize in increments defined by a Grid 25 . Groups And Packages If you have a complex project, you can make selections easier by Grouping or Packaging related objects together. Package 148 : Package is a unique ability to divide a large project into segments where you can edit each segment (Package) in a different view window. Packaging has many benefits - the system needs less memory and you don't get lost in hundreds of objects. The package shows in your main document as a single object, which you can transform any way - resize, rotate, or add any effects to it, such a

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drop shadow or bevel. This means you have the ability to design the contents of a package in a large view. This is an important topic, please read more in a Package Section 148 . Groups: Groups are logical selections in the main document. You don't get fewer objects, you just move all objects with the group. Select two or more objects and press CTRL-G (or from the Menu: ObjectGroup). The group has a red border. You can move or resize grouped objects, and you can also change the parameters of whole group. To un-group a group, press CTRL-U (or from the menu: Object Ungroup). You can also select one or more objects from an existing group without un-grouping, by expanding the group it in Layers. See more details in Layers 194 .

Various Object Examples:

Tip: Each object type has a different color of bounding rectangle in the Selection mode. The Path is blue, Polynome is Green, Text is violet, and Bitmap is orange. The multi-object selection has a dark blue border and a group is bright red.

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Paths and Polynomes Real-DRAW PRO uses a simple path for any simple objects you start drawing - circle, square or curved line. Paths are made of Bezier curves only. Even a straight line in a square is made of Bezier curves and you can expand its control points to round the square. The more complex object is Polynome. Polynome shape has not only Beziers curves but also lines and offset points which allows you to create "Islands" or "Holes" within the object. You can convert any time any Path to Polynome or it will be created automatically by software whenever it is needed (For example when using Combine command) Combined object This is a polynome created with combine command. It still retains all combined objects even they may be not visible. You can simplify such shape into normal Polynome with Create S ingle Shape Command. You can also convert Painted object into Polynome. Perspective transformation can be applied to Packages and Bitmaps.

5.2

Rulers, Guides, Grid


To help you to place and draw objects you can use Rulers, Grid, or Guides. You can drag a guide to the workplace from the Rulers, and objects will snap to them. Alternatively, you can set up a grid where objects will snap to this grid. Rulers Rulers measure the distance in pixels. Rulers give you information about the size of the selected object, its position, and the position of the cursor.

The position and size of a selected object is marked by a red bar (as in the above image), and a blue bar marks the position, and size of a selected object. When you draw a primitive object, such as rectangle or circle, you will see a blue bar on the rulers as you draw, from the place where you started. Guidelines Guides (or Guidelines) are lines that you drag on the canvas from rulers. Guides help you to align or position objects, because objects will snap to guides. An on/off switch for the guides exists on the menu: Edit - Snap To Guidelines. To move the guide, simply click on it and drag. To delete the guide, simply drag it outside the window. You don't have to drag it in the guide direction; it is enough for you drag it to the closest border. In other words, you can drag a vertical guide to the top or bottom, even though it normally only operates from left to right.

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Guides are saved with the document, and you can add/edit the guides by pixels with the Guide editor. To open Guide Editor, right click on the Ruler or select: Edit Guidelines & Grid from menu Edit.

The Guide editor works like an ordinary editor, you can add, edit or delete the numbers (in pixels) by simply typing. It doesn't matter if you put the numbers in order or not. Grid The grid is a net of dots to which the objects snap. You can show/hide the grid from the menu: Edit Show Grid, or by clicking on the Grid button in the tool bar. The only property of a grid is distance, and you can adjust it in the same Guidelines & Grid box as above. Grid distance is saved with the document as well. Size and Position To set the size and position of the object, you can use the Sizes bar. You can show the Sizes bar from menu: View - Properties-Sizes, or simply by clicking on the Sizes Button. (On the right bar)

Above is displayed the size and position of the current selected object. You can type a new number and press Enter to update the object. Position Lock On the Sizes bar you have a lock icons beside the left and top position. This is a Position Lock. If you click on the lock, the object will be locked in that particular movement and you can move the object by mouse, only in that direction. If you lock the left horizontal position for example, you will only be able to move the object horizontally with your mouse.

You can lock both directions, and then you won't be able to move the object by mouse at all. This is good if you want to have the object selectable, but you want to protect it from accidental movements.

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What is the difference between Position lock and Lock in Layers

194

Simple, if you lock the object in layers, you won't be able to select anything it at all as it will become a transparent for the mouse. If you lock the position, however, you are still able to select an object.

5.3

Document Size
Menu Project - Size and Color The canvas is the white rectangle on your screen where you place your object. You can place objects anywhere else and it is perfectly fine, but canvas represents the part which will be exported, so it defines the size of the output image. You can, however, export any other part of the document with the Crop Tool. Real-DRAW doesn't ask you before you start your project for the canvas size. Instead, the default size will be used. This is done because many times you don't know the exact size before the project starts. Real-DRAW uses a reverse approach - to fit the canvas around the object when we are done. For that we have commands: Trim Canvas and Trim Canvas Expanded plus a manual Crop Canvas (All in menu: Project). Thanks to them you don't have to worry about the placement of the objects on the Canvas. The Canvas can be resized to fit the objects. See the detailed description in Export 184 . You can, however, still use the first standard approach when you set the Canvas size before you start working. For example, if you need the project to be exactly 320x200 pixels etc. you can use the Canvas Size and Color settings.

To change the Canvas Size and color: From menu: Project select Size and Color Here you can change the size and the background color. You can set the background color by typing the web color or selecting it from the color selector. Clicking on the Color preview, the left part of the color selector will bring you another window, where you can set the color by specifying RGB, Hue, Sat, Lum, or pick a color from the basic windows colors. Tip: You can also change the background color during Export
184

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To change the default Canvas size, which appears on startup or anytime you press New: From Menu: Project select General Settings Note: In this case the current document doesn't change. Package - Special Case If the active document is a Package See more 150 .
148

then this dialog sets the size and color of the package canvas.

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6
6.1

Paths
Editing paths
Each Path lying on the path point has two detached control handles. You can shape the curve between two points by moving these handles. If you don't see the handles, (for example on a square), this means that the handles are aligned with the main Path point. To drag the handles out of the point, hold CTRL and then drag the point. To drag symmetrical handles, hold down the SHIFT when dragging the handles.

Hold Ctrl and drag a point to reveal the handles. Hold down Shift and drag the handle to make the point symmetrical. To delete a point, press Del. Note: You can only delete "points". If you delete the handle, the handle will be aligned with the nondeleted point. Open and Closed path The Path or Polynome can be open or closed. When you draw any of the basic shapes, the path is closed. Closed path means the object is filled, whereas, open path shows only an outline. If you click on the open path object, you will see the Line Width slider appear on the upper tool bar. You can apply any effects, colors, or textures on an open path, as well as on a closed one. To change the width of the outlined path, adjust the Line Width Slider (On the top tool bar) To Break the path: Draw a basic shape, for example, a circle. Click the Shape tool From Menu: Object select Break Path.

Now, with the shape tool, you can separate the shape at the zero point. Note: Click on any point and look at the status bar at the bottom of the screen. You should see something like: Path Point 2. The break point is always at the point 0 and the last point. Also when you select an object with the Selection tool you will see a small square at the point 0 (or start of the path) To close the path: From menu: Object select Close Path. You can change the width of an open path anytime with the slider at the top tool bar. This appears only if your selected object is an open path. Break Apart Menu: Object-Break Apart We can easily separate complex Polynomes (such as text or clipart into basic shapes and then apply different formatting for each new shape.

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Here we separated Text into its simple shapes from which the Polynome is build. Limited Poly Nodes Menu: Object-Limited poly Nodes A polynome could be a complex object where displaying all nodes will result in a overcrowded canvas during editing. You may not be even sure where to click. You can switch ON the Limited Poly Nodes that will display only the main control nodes and then extended nodes only in the neighborhood of the selected control node, creating far less crowded view.

This apply only to Polynome Object. A simple objects like standard shapes 31 will always display all the nodes regardless of this setting (there are usually only few nodes anyway). Note: This setting doesn't change the object in any way, it is only a visual helper.

6.2

Standard Shapes

You create a basic shape by using one of the six predefined shapes: Rectangle, Rounded-Rectangle, Circle, Star/Polygon, Toroid, Frame. The Tools are grpouped into 3 buttons on toolbar. To reveal the subselection click on the small arrow in the corner of tool item or simply click and hold mouse on the tool for few seconds. The Rectangle is a simple object with four Path points. Each point has two handles, but to achieve sharp corners they are aligned with the Path points. You can always reveal the handles in the SHAPE editing by holding down the CTRL key and dragging the point. The Rounded Rectangle is a more complex object made from 8 Path points. Before you start drawing the Rounded Rectangle you can set the smoothness of the corners. Click on the Rounded Rectangle tool and change the Corners slider at the top tool bar: Tip: You can change the roundness of the cornes even while you draw by pressing left or right arrow
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key on the keyboard. Circle is a shape with four Path points. Star/Polygon Before you draw the star you can set the parameters on the top tool bar. Click the star tool to reveal these parameters:

The first parameter, Angles, is the number of arms the object will have. The second one is how far the inner points are from the center - this is the slider which changes the object from a polygon to a Star. Tip: You can change these parameters even while you draw by pressing Left or Right and Up or Down arrow key on the keyboard. Here is how the second slider affects the object. If the slider is on the left side, the object will be a polygon. If it is on the right side the object will be a thin star.

6.3

Arrow

The arrow is a special shape tool that draws simple arrows. This is great if you make a tutorial, using arrows, to describe elements on the picture. The Arrow is an open Polynome. One element is the head of the arrow, and the second element is the line. On the left is the general arrow. You start drawing it from the head. Click where you want to have the head of the arrow. Release and move the mouse. The next click is the knee of the arrow, and then the horizontal line is dragged until you click again. If you double click when you are about to draw a knee, the leader of the arrow will stop at that point, making it a simple arrow. Because an arrow is an open Polynome, you can change the width of the lines at anytime. Select an Arrow object you have already drawn and look at the top tool bar for Width:

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Mouse Cursor The second choice is a Mouse Cursor. If you are working on manual with screen captures you will know the importance of this tool. Simply select the tool and click anywhere on the document. A standard Mouse Cursor object (Bitmap) will be added. You can hold CTRL to draw Mouse Cursor with shadow (great to enhance the appearance of it) You can always remove or adjust the shadow with the Effect properties.

Tip: Since it is a bitmap you can doubleclick on it and then paint it over with some color. Set If Darker mode to preserve the Cursor black outline. and paint only in white area. Set If Lighter to change only the outline color.

6.4

Drawing a Shape from scratch

With these tools you can create new shapes - paths. You have few optional methods for drawing a Path from scratch. The Line Tool for (drawing paths with non-curved sides) Pencil (for drawing free paths) and the Curve Tool (Bezier Curve) Curve tool With this tool you can create lines and Path paths by drawing Path points.

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Select the Curve tool and click where you want to have the start point. If you release the mouse button right after the click, you will draw straight lines. If you hold the button and move the mouse, you will draw symmetrical Path points. To stop drawing the Path, use one of the following: Double click on the point where you want to finish. Click with the Right mouse button on the point where you want to finish. Move the mouse over the start point and click - this will create the object as a closed path.

Drawing a line with Line Tool This tool simplify drawing a line. To draw a line, just click and release the mouse button and then drag the mouse to another point, click and release. To finish at this point, click the right mouse button. Drawing a line with Curve A line is basically a path with aligned control points. To draw a line, just click and release the mouse button and then drag the mouse to another point, click and release. To finish at this point, click the right mouse button. Drawing a vertical or horizontal line As you drag the mouse, hold SHIFT key. You will draw the line only in a horizontal or vertical direction.

Pencil tool for drawing free shapes You can reveal this tool by clicking on the small arrow in the Curve tool to pop-up subselection menu, or simply clicking on Curve tool and holding the mouse button for few seconds. Open/Closed Paths

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With the Pencil you can draw a free path. Select the Pencil tool and click where you want the start point. Do not release the mouse button, just drag the mouse and release the mouse button at the end of your desired path. You can create open or closed Paths. While you are drawing, move the mouse back to the Start point and you will see the mouse cursor change to the black arrow with a square. If you release the mouse cursor at that point, the Path will be closed - creating a filled shape. Tip: You can close a Path any time from Menu: Menu Object - Close Path

Note: You can't add a point to an existing object with the Pencil nor Curve tools. For that we have the Add Point to Path tool. You can change the width of a line of an open path with the: slide.

6.5

Add a point to existing Shape


Select tool Add Point to Path

With the Add Point to Path you can add a point in an existing path or Polynome. With this tool you have to click on the edge of the object, on the exact spot where you would like to have a new point. By holding the button and dragging the mouse, you will expand the Path handles from that point.

Note: The path is a simple object created with basic tools - it has one shape. On the other hand Polynome is a complex object, it can have more than one path inside -holes or islands. A typical example of Polynome is a text. Real-DRAW PRO will convert between these two types whenever it is necessary. Adding an Island to Polynome. As you read in the basics, there are Paths and Polynomes. You always start working with Paths. Later you can convert a Path or Text to a Polynome. Polynomes can have a Hole or Island - a detached closed 'path' inside or beside another one in one integrated object. To add an island to the Polynome, you have to hold the SHIFT key when you click anywhere inside or outside the selected object. Example - Add an island.

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1. With the Circle tool create a circle. 2. Select the circle and from menu: Object - select: Convert to Polynome. The bounding rectangle will change the color from light blue to dark green, signaling that the object is now a Polynome. 3. Now click the Add Point to Path tool circle will show the Path points , and the selected

4. Hold down the SHIFT key, click inside the circle, then release the mouse 5. Now with the Shape tool, move the Path handles. Note: the Polynome doesn't keep the end point with the start point - you can separate them, creating a line between them. You can add more points to the outer or inner path of the object, again, with the Add Point to path tool.

Note: The island is always in reverse. If you cross two islands, you get the combination of both. The next chapter Combine Objects simply manipulate a shape.
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show you much easier method how to add Holes, Islands or

6.6

Combine two or more objects


Menu: Object - Combine Objects This tool combines two or more, Path, Text, Paint Object or Polynome objects together either as XOR, Union, Intersection or Subtraction Using a combination of primitive objects is the easiest way how to create any complex shapes. In the previous example, we learned how to add an Island to an object, however, there is a much easier method, which does exactly the same thing but much more elegant way.

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First we draw two circles, one larger, one in the background, and on top of it, we draw a smaller star. We just select a different color of the top object to be visible on the picture. Now click outside the object and drag a mouse selection rectangle around both objects to select them. (You can also select objects by holding the Shift key and selecting additional objects.) Click the Combine XOR button Note: The resulting object will get the color and properties of the first object in the selection. If you select all objects by dragging a selection rectangle around them then the first object will be the bottom one. If you use the Shift-Click method, then the first object will be the one you selected first.

You can combine text, paths, and Polynomes together. The result will be always a Polynome. You can also combine Paint objects with Polynomes, however the result will be always Polynome. The bitmap object will be first converted into Polynome itself (from its transparency mask) and then merged with the other objects. If you trying to make holes in the bitmap use Bitmap Masking 70 instead. Tip: Combine XOR a rectangle object and text to get a reverse (cut) text.

BOOLEAN operations Combine can have 4 modes: XOR, Union, Intersect and Subtract.

The Subtract depends on the order of selection. It Subtract the 2,3,4... selected objects from the first selected. On the image above we first selected the Rectangle, then the Circle (second image from right). The right-most image was created by first selecting the Circle, then Rectangle. Tip: The result object will get the formatting (color, texture etc.) from the first selected object. (You can see this behavior also on the BOOLEAN operations image above) When you selecting objects to be combined you can see a number on the selected object. This will tell you which object was selected first. BOOLEAN vs. All to XOR, UNION
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The normal BOOLEAN combination can be freely mixed,. You can for example combine 3 circles as union and then subtract a rectangle from the union. Consider the image below:

The other commands All Object XOR and All Object UNION would simply combine all objects to XOR or UNION and you can freely switch between these two types any time later without re-creating it all again. Consider the image below which was created from the previous object by using menu command Object-Combine Objects-Change Mode-All Object XOR.

And then Object-Combine Objects-Change Mode-All Object Union

We didn't have to re-create the object again, just simply switch the mode. Whenever you add other boolean operation to such object or choose Object-Combine Objects-Change Mode-Boolean it will return to its original state (that means 3 object Union + one subtraction). Simplify Complex Objects - Create Single Shape Menu: Object-Combine Objects-Create Single Shape Combine tools will create a complex object - with the original shapes still present inside (and thanks to this you can always Un-Combine objects). This is visible only when you do editing with SHAPE tool. Normally in Real-DRAW PRO it doesn't matter, however sometimes you may want to simplify the object (for example when you planning to do a pure vector export). You can do it in Menu: ObjectCombine Objects-Create Single Shape. Note: For best accuracy of complicated objects you should leave the result objects in the Complex mode. Create Single Shape may sometimes create less accurate object by applying curve simplification around fine areas.

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After you create Single Shape then you can no longer use Un-Combine. However, because the result is now Polynome you will be still able in some cases apply Break Apart. (Imagine our Circle and Star example from the top of this chapter - even after you convert the XOR Combination into Single Shape it still has the star as an Island. You can then separate this object into star and circle again using ObjectBreak Apart.) Combine Paint Object In Real-DRAW PRO you can BOOLEAN combine Paint Object (or even a Package or Bitmap, if you really want) with other vector objects. The result is always a vector (Polynome) object.

On the image above we combined (Subtract) a vector circle with Paint object (painted simply with brush). The result is now fully editable vector object. The bitmap is vectorized based on the transparency channel. It is obvious that combining simple picture (which has a simple rectangular mask) will not give you anything extraordinary, however it is interesting to combine Paint Objects (Brushes, Nozzles) with other vector object. General Note about Combine tool While it isn't very useful in general it is good to know that you can also combine Packages with other vector objects to create new vector object. But here apply the same as for Paint Object - it is vectorized based on the Package transparency channel. There are of course much better way to combine packages (yes, it is Packaging by itself..) Vectorizing packages makes in fact little sense, but you are free to do it.

Here we combined a package (red circle+star) with blue circle using XOR. The Package was during conversion treated as simple bitmap object with transparent channel. It is important to realize that if you have package with object having drop shadow (or other effects) then the drop shadow will be also part of
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the vectorized result. (Because it is a part of the transparency channel) Note: Reading the above you may wonder if you can vectorize a bitmap which has no transparency for example a scanned image of your signature. Yes, you can do it with a single command in menu Bitmap-Trace Shape. This will do vectorizing not based on transparency but rather on actual bitmap data. You can combine object also other way where the formatting is not shared between objects but remain for each object and you are still able to add another formatting on top of the new combined object. It is called Packaging 148 Un-Combine objects Menu: Object-Combine Objects-Un-Combine The Combined Objects carry inside their original shapes. As far as you don't convert the Combined object into Polynome (Create Single Shape) or Bitmap, you can anytime Un-Combine the objects.

Here we have Combination Object: Star subtracted from Circle. After Un-Combine the object will be divided back to 2 objects Star and Circle (The Star is shown here in different color, in real life it will come up with the same formatting as the main object) Break Apart Menu: Object-Break Apart The Combined Object/Polynome will be broken into two or more independent Single Shape objects. There is a marginal difference between Un-Combine and Break Apart. The Un-Combine will always separate Combination object into the original objects. The Break Apart will cut the Combination object into smaller Shapes depending on the Combination. See Example We created a Combination from Circle and Rectangle using Subtract method. That is - we subtracted the rectangle from the circle.

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Now if we use Un-Combine we get back the Circle and Rectangle. Here on the Image below the objects are separated for illustration.

Now on the other hand, if we use Break Apart on the Combination object we get 2 Circle halves:

Break Apart command will create a new objects from the combination, it will not use the original objects stored in combination. This gives you many possibilities for creating totally new objects:

The steps in the example above: Create Text, then paint with brush "Paint new Object" a line through the text (Image 1.). Select both objects (Ctrl+A) Then use Subtract. (Image 2) Now use Break Apart - we get 10 objects (Image 3) The rest is just a play. Here it is briefly: we selected the 5 object on upper part then use Combine Union. Selected the rest bottom part - again Union so now we have two object Top and Bottom part of the text. Little rotate and Extrude effect with Texture and few lights does the candy. The shadow was created by simply selecting both objects and use menu Bitmap-Create-Shadow from Selected Object. This gives us a shadow bitmap which we need to resize and Skew then apply some transparency to it. Note 1: For Combined Object there are two steps involved during Break Apart command. This is done automatically - to first create a Polynome from Combined Object. That means if you apply Break Apart on any Combined object Real-DRAW PRO will run two commands: Create Single Shape + Break Apart. But again this is just for your info, you don't have to worry about this.

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Note 2: It is obvious that some Combination will always create just one shape. For example if you have an Union of two overlapping object the Break Apart command will have nothing to do and you will get result the same as the Union.

6.7

Liquid Shape
Liquid Shape is a feature where you work with the shape as if it was a clay or liquid. This allows you to create organic shapes very easily without manipulating the vector nodes and curves. To use Liquid Shape select an object and press Liquid Shape Button.

The window will switch into Liquid Shape view.

There are new tools on top of this window:

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Push/Pull - move the shape Magnify - enlarge the shape under brush Shrink - shrink the shape under the brush Erase - erase to original state Rotate - rotate under the shape The idea is to use the cursor as a brush to move or otherwise affect the shape. In the image below we used the Push/Pull mode with a medium sized brush (ex. 60) to push the shape:

We can also use very small brush (ex. 10) to pull new shape out of the original shape:

The Brush Strength sets the strength which means how far and how fast we can pull or push the shapes.

When you made mistake use the Eraser and brush over the error parts. After you are done, press the Apply button. The object will use its altered shape.

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The Liquid Shape is a nondestructive parameter. At any time you can edit the Liquid Shape in any way you want. Note: A text object will be converted to Polynome when Liquid Shape is used in order to lock down its shape.. Another Part of the Liquid Shape is Liquid Bitmap 159 which apply to Bitmaps and Packages. In that case the tool not only changes only the shape but also the texture of the object.

6.8

Import Vector Object


The Image import allows you to import vector objects in WMF (Windows metafile) or SVG - Scalable vector graphics) format. You can also Import TTF (True Type font) which will result in the same action as command from menu Text-Import Font (Glyph) 50 The WMF format can be imported either as a bitmap object or a vector object, SVG format can be imported only as a vector object. The import to vector format will translate each element from the image into Real-DRAW PRO native objects. It is important to understand that some metafiles may have hundreds of tiny objects which would prevent you from using it any other way than in Package.

After you select the image to import you will be asked for a type:

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Load as Bitmap - (WMF only) this allows you to load the WMF vector format as a bitmap Create one Final Package - The result will be always packaged and you will get a Package instead of single standing object. Create Final Group - The resulting objects will be grouped Create just objects - This will leave the objects free standing Initial Size Image into Width .. pixels WMF and SVG are scalable formats - this is how big they will be imported (width only, the height will be set according to the ratio) Package every...objects Some WMF or SVG files may have thousands of objects (sometimes 3,000 and more). Such import is, for sure, not very useful since you can't do much with it anyway and because Real-DRAW PRO uses antialiasing and various advanced methods. The memory to open such file is also much larger. Here, you set how many objects should be assigned to each package. For example if you set 200 objects, then every 200 objects will be packaged, and if the WMF file has a total 400, objects you will get 2 packages. This has priority over all previous settings. What to do with the imported objects? The vector objects will be imported as native Real-DRAW PRO objects (Paths, Lines, Beziers) and you can use them as any other Objects. There are many WMF files from which you can use already prepared shapes to build your image. Also, many vector editors are able to export in WMF format. Since WMF has been here from the time of Windows 3.0, there are thousands of free, or very inexpensive libraries of vector objects in WMF. You can get CD's with ten thousands objects or more, yet the usefulness of such CD's is often questionable. The most useful objects are always the simple ones (!), various arrows, bubbles...simple shapes, where you can easily change color and add effects to your need.

Here we imported a WMF arrow, changed the color and Packaged it. We can later change the color again by editing in the package. If you don't want to disassemble the vector object you can simply load it as a bitmap. -ORafter necessary changes, if you don't want to change the vector object anymore, you may save a lot of memory by simply selecting all of its objects and packages and converting them to bitmap with menu Bitmap - Create- New Bitmap from Selected Objects, and then deleting the vector objects.

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SVG is a Scalable Vector Graphics build for the web. Currently all new browsers directly support SVG and you can, not only import SVG but also Export it with Real-DRAW PRO. The Import/Export supports colors, outlines and transparencies. Other way to get a shape into Real-DRAW PRO is a Shape Tracer 58 . Simply load any Image with the shape on white background and run it through it (Menu Bitmap- Trace Shape) This has many advantages - you can actually draw a complex shape with a black marker on piece of paper and scan it. Then load it in Real-DRAW PRO and convert your shape to vector. The next way to get some interesting shapes is to directly Import some dingbat True Type Font
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7
7.1

Text
Text Object
This tool allows you to add text. To add text, click the Artistic Text tool and click anywhere on the canvas. A dialog box, to enter the text in, will appear. You can edit the text anytime by double-clicking on the text object or using the shortcut Ctrl-T. The text input dialog

Here you can input the text, select the font, its initial size, choose if it is italic, bold, and also select alignment. Type some text and press OK. You can resize the text freely after you enter it, so you don't have to set the size if you are not sure what size text you require. Real Size Because you can resize the text afterwards, the Real Size indicates what the real size of the text is. If you start new text, or never resize the text, the Font Size and Real size will remain the same..

If you resize the text (for example from 20), the real size will change (in our case 68.0), but the Font Size will stay the same size as that which you initially entered. Note that the Real size may not be an integer number. You can return back to the initial size (here 20), by simply pressing the Reset to Original Size button. The text will return to its original size (20) and the Real Size will change to the same number.

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Note: By resizing the text, the x/y ratio may change. To make sure your text is in correct size, you may simply reset the size and then type the number, which was originally set as the Real size. Character map

You can find the Character map button on the Text dialog next to the font selection. The character map is great if you select a 'dingbar' or 'specialty' font (for example Windings), it allows you to see all the characters. When you select one and press OK, the character will be written in the text location within the text edit box. In the case of 'dingbars', you will see a corresponding letter. You can use the Character map to look for a special character, and if you really hate typing, you can even write whole sentences with it. But, if the reason is a sticky keyboard - you should really clean it :) You can import font even without installing it! See below.

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With the selection tool, you can resize and move the text. With the shape tool, you can change the Envelope of the Text You also can use Skew or Rotate tools. Envelope

With the envelope you can easily shape the text. There are upper and lower lines, each with two Path points. By moving the points and/or handles, you can give the text different shapes. If you want to reset the transformations, from menu: Text select Reset Transformations.

To Edit the Path points of the text; go to menu: Text and select

Convert to Polynome.

This will convert the text to Polynome Object (Path points and handles) Note: You can't change the text context anymore because the object is now a Polynome. You can combine the text with other objects with the Combine Tool
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. Import Font (Glyph) Menu: Text - Import Font (Glyph) Probably you have already come across such Fonts called Dingbats (Fonts that consist of symbol characters such as decorations, arrows, signs, bullets etc.) In fact you can find hundreds of such fonts on internet. It is a great oportunity to import some to your drawing. Instead of installing the font and then going to character map, Real-DRAW PRO can actually Import TTF font directly from Disk or CD. You don't have to abuse your windows directory by installing hundreds of dingbat fonts, just Import the one which you need and when you need it. Simply from menu Text, select Import Font (Glyph). Select any TTF from disk or CD and a modified Character Map window will appear. Here you simply select the Glyph you would like to import and Press Import. The Import Font window gives you also a short information about the font, plus font copyright info.

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You can Import one or multiple Glyphs. Just check the Multiple Checkbox and you can press Insert button as many times as you want. Tip: You can apply Break Apart basic shapes.
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command on the glyph if you need to desintegrate the glyph into

Note: You can Import the font also from the menu Files-Import or by clicking on Import Image button. Reload Font List Menu: Text - Reaload Font List This will actualize the list of installed fonts. You may use it for example if you install new font into Windows during your session in Real-DRAW PRO. You don't have to close software and run it again, simply use this command to actualize the installed fonts.

7.2

Fit To Path
Menu: Text - Fit to Path and Object - Follow Path Interactive Tool This tool allows you to fit a Polynome object (such as text) to Path. Note: The Fit to Path in Text menu and Follow Path in Object menu have the same functionality. Each one will first convert the object into the necesary type for processing. You can fit any Polynome to a path of other Polynome. This is probably most useful for text. You need to select the Text object and the Path together, then apply the command. The object selected First will be the Object fitted (the Text), the object selected second will be used as the Path.

When you do multiple selection (by using Shift+Click on object or item in Layer list) you will see the order numbers to show you which object is selected first and which second. Make sure the Object to be
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fited is selected as first.

With the interactive tool you can choose the Place (Outside of Path, Centerline or Inside of the Path) and the Start position relative to the path lenght

If you change any data you will see preview in the main document. Position the Text withthe slider and then click OK. Depending on the selected type you will get the result:

Note: The text can be positioned from the Path start (0%) to the Path End (100%). It can't cross the start/end. Each object may have start of the path on different place - it doesn't have to be always on left side. Because the object can't cross the start/end you have to make sure the start/end of path is not on the side where you planning to add the text. For example we would have trouble to position the text on left side of the circle because there is a start point. In this case we may just simply rotate the circle to get the start/end of its path away.

Note: You can Fit the Object to any path - closed or not. You don't have to Fit only text, but you can use any Polynome. However note that a simple polynomes such as Circle or Rectangle have just very few polygon points (Rectangle has 4). If you fit such low point Polynome to a path then it won't work well (Except for repeat command, see later) - for example the

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Rectangle will still have 4 corners placed along the path. That's why Text works best - it has hundreds of polygon points. Tip: If you want you can increase number of Bezier curves in the simple object with Increase Curves command (see below). Here is an example of high polygon object fitted around the circle:

Note: If you fit Combination of objects the best is to use Create Single Shape first to convert the combination to Single shape object. Other Fitting Methods The Menu: Text - Fit to Path has more than just Interactive Tool listed. See the picture below:

You can also Stretch the object or Repeat the object along the Path. Stretch will stretch the Object along the whole Path. The repeat will repeat the Object along the whole Path.

Complex Paths Polynomes used for Paths can be also complex - they can have holes for example. The fitting will be applied also on the holes. (Note that for holes the Inside and Outside is obviously reversed)

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This gives some interesting possibility for experimenting. For example fit a text around another text. The result will be however quite complex and calculation may take quite long.

Note: If you choose a very complex font for your text (a font which has many points per character) the result may have tens of thousands new polynomes. Tip: Use any small object such as circle or star to fit around text for interesting results. The Repeat can be used for many interesting effects of path following with small object, here are some examples:

Tip: Letters and characters such as I, O . : " can be used along some path to easy create interesting objects. To be sure the character covers all of the path use few of them in row for example IIIIII or :::::::

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Note: If you would like to fit a text around Combined object you have to first Create Single Shape from the combined object otherwise the text will follow all the objects from which the combined object is created. Increase number of Curves Menu: Object - Increase Curves You can add more Bezier points to the object, which may enable to do more with the object - for example follow a path. It is best to show it on example:

The shows two object rectangle and circle. We would like to fit the rectangle around circle. So we use Object-Follow path- Interactive and the result is in . Now, obviously this isn't what we had in mind. This is because the rectangle has only 4 points and while they are fitted around the circle the result is still rectangular. In step Curves) we increased the number of the curves in rectangle 8^2 = 64 times. (Object - Increase

Now we repeat the step two, with much better result

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8
8.1

Bitmaps
Bitmap Object
What is a "Bitmap" Object? Bitmap objects (also Bitmaps) are a non-vector objects. While vector objects are created from curves, bitmap objects can be described only by the pixels. You can import Bitmap from any supported image file: BMP, PNG, JPG, PCX etc . Please note that some people mean by Bitmap the BMP file. This isn't accurate since BMP is a "Windows Bitmap" where Bitmap is a common name for any pixel based image. This tool allows you to import image from a file into a Bitmap Object Click on the Insert Image from file button and then click anywhere on the Canvas. The open dialog box will appear and you can select image file.

If "Resize & Crop Next Step " is selected, after you press Open the image will be transferred to Resize & Crop dialog where you can crop the image or resize it before you import it into the object. By Default the Image size percentage will be set so it will be a screen-size. Also at this point you can choose the image to be used as a Normal Object or External Reference 60 .

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To resize the image before you import it, use the Resize Image box (for example 50 %). To crop the image before you import it, move the two crop handles as indicated by red arrows on the image above. Note: This will never modify the original image on the disk. You can also Re-Crop the image later with menu Bitmap - Re-Crop. When you have your Bitmap object, you can apply effects (bevel, shadow etc.), bitmap effects (blur sharpen oil paint...), you can edit it, create transparency, scale it, rotate it, and more. Scalability (Normal Bitmap Object) If you scale down the Bitmap object, Real-DRAW PRO will temporarily hold the bitmap internally in its imported size. That means you can resize the bitmap back and the object will be updated from the imported image quality. In case of Normal Bitmap Object this is rather very temporary; the bitmap will be finally resized to its display size after you do one of the following: You use Make Changes Permanent from menu Bitmap You save the project Or, you use one of the bitmap effects Since the bitmap was from a file, you can reload the original bitmap from the same file,by using command: Update From Reference from menu Bitmap. With the selection tool, you can resize and move the bitmap. With the shape, tool you can change the Envelope of the Bitmap There are other ways to create bitmap objects: Paste a bitmap from the clipboard Use the Screen Capture Tool embedded in Real-DRAW PRO Or, Paint a new bitmap 124 using brushes

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Note: This tool allows you to import also a vector drawing in either WMF or SVG format. You will find more information about this in the Vector Import 44 section.

8.2

Bitmap as Reference
The Bitmap can be imported in two different ways. Normal Editable Bitmap Object Draft Object with External Reference

It is important to understand the difference because using it correctly gives you a big advantage and ability to create large photo-montages and collages without any slow down. During export and Fine Print of a Normal Image its own internal data are used. So if we import a nice sharp 10 megapixel image, but resize and crop it to a 300x300 pixel image, this resized data quality will be what we get in export. This is fine for normal web graphics and other normal screen-resolution jobs as long as we don't want to use Megarender 190 to export or print image larger than the document size. Draft with External Reference uses the resized data only during designing to show it on canvas for easy manipulation, but during Export and Fine Print those data will be replaced with the original "best quality" data from the image on the disk. This makes big difference in Fine print 201 and Megarender 190 , but for normal screen-resolution graphic this gives very little benefit.

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As we see on the graph above both Normal and Draft with Reference comes originally from a file. They both remember the link to the original file, but in Normal Image this is only used so we can re-crop the image later or during Update from Reference command. All the editing goes to the resized image in the memory. In the Draft image the link goes much deeper. The image we see on canvas is only a shadow "placeholder" for the real data on the disk. When we do export those real data will be used. Draft with External Reference image is therefore as close to resolution independent as a bitmap goes. We don't have to think in advance how large we need our document because no matter how large we export it - the best resolution will be always automatically used on the final output. Note: During Export 184 to file we still see the draft images displayed in the Export Preview but once we hit the final Export button the images will be then loaded from their Reference and the file rendered to disk. When to use what When you work on: Screen sized images/ web graphics You use: Normal Image Why: If we are making screen-size graphics, for web for example, then we can simply import bitmap as Normal Image because our output will be equal or smaller than what we design on the screen. There will be no benefit in using Draft and we don't have to take care of the external references. If we are making a photo collage for print or for large export then using Draft with External Reference will give us a huge benefit of automatically using the right amount of resolution for any size of the output. For such project we expect to use Megarender 190 or Fine Print which multiply the size of the canvas. So we design small for fast manipulation and then export big without loss of quality.

Photo Collages or Draft with External posters for large export Reference or print

Copy of the Reference, REF file.


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When we try to use a bitmap-only effect on the Draft Image (such as painting over it or using some bitmap-only effects like contrast or levels) we will be prompted to create a copy of the Reference. Since the Draft is a placeholder for the real data on the disk, our changes have to go somewhere. Because we don't want to modify the original Reference image, we need to create a copy of it and then modify the copy. The new file will have extension *.ref and all the changes or any link to Reference image will from this time be going to this *.ref file.

Tip: When you going to paint over the new copy reference image, you will see that it will open in the bitmap editor in its full size. You can now retouch or paint in a very fine detail. Note: Creating the Ref file will make the current image crop permanent. You can still call Re-Crop tool but you will be able to crop only inside of the previous crop.

Here is an example of Photo Collage This example will show you the difference in printable output and also show you how to change the Image mode after the import using Re-Crop. We designed this little postcard using many large mega-pixel images. However to make our point clear with this example, we designed it as a small 400x300 document. As it is, it would be great for web but definitely not for print. This was a breeze because small size makes it easy to handle.

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For this image we imported all the photos (photos of paintings) as Normal Object.

Then when all was set up nicely on the canvas, we used the famous Real-DRAW PRO Megarender Export to create output 5x the size of 2000x1500

This was Output 1. After that we selected first image right-click on it and from menu selected Re-Crop. Tip: Re-Crop not only allows us to change the image crop later (which we don't want to do now) but also change the Image mode.

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In the old familiar Resize & Crop Window we simply changed the Image mode to Draft Object

We did this for every image on our tiny canvas. Again, we exported it using 5x Megarender to Output 2. We can't show you the full result images here, but as you may already know the Output 1 was simply not much better than enlarging the 400x300 collage in a bitmap editor. It wasn't print worthy any more than the original canvas. Just bigger and blurry. But when we used our images in the Draft with External Reference mode for the Output 2, the result was a large sharp Collage with all the new details taken from original images. Here is a small crop from the small corner of our 400x300 image after the 5x Megarender obvious which one was using Normal Images and which was using Reference images.
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. It is

Final thought The Draft with Reference is an amazing tool to work with many large photos very comfortably on the canvas without thinking too much about the actual sizes. Then we can Megarender it into any size of

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image and it will automatically use the best resolution possible.

8.3

Re-Crop
Re-Crop tool allows you to change the Image Crop and Image type later after it has been imported if the original (Reference) image still exist. This apply to both Normal and Draft images as they both keep track of the original Reference image. However as we explained previously in Normal Image this link is not used outside the Re-Crop or Update from Reference commands while with Draft image the link is automatically used to get data for export.

Note: We can use Re-Crop even on objects to which no Reference such as New Paint Object 132 or conversion from vector to bitmap. In such case the Re-Crop is limited to crop only towards smaller image. The most interesting usage of Re-Crop tool is when we use it on images that had been imported from a file. In this case we can simply Re-Crop image back to larger crop as illustrated by the image below.

Image Type Change Another interesting feature of Re-Crop is also its ability to change the Normal image to a Draft and back

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with the ability to copy transparency from one to another. The Data Flow. (and some nice nerdy graphs that hopefully make sense) When changing from Normal Image to Draft, only the transparency will be copied, any other bitmap editing on the Normal Image (such as painting over it) will be lost as the Draft object is created by combination of the Reference file on the disk and the Normal Image transparency Alpha Mask.

However when Converting from Draft Image to Normal image, everything can be fully transferred directly because any changes had been actually done on the full size Reference REF file.

Example: In this example we will show you how easy is to paint a large transparency area on a Normal Image then transfer it to the Draft Image. First we import a Normal image, Use Bitmap Edit Tool 127 and select Transparency Brush (looks like eraser) and paint transparency around the border to create a cutout image. Next we go to Re-Cop tool and select Draft with Reference. it will prompt us to save new *.REF file and we will get a Draft with Reference Image that inherited the painted Transparency of the Normal Image in proper scale.

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You may still not see the significance yet because they both look exactly the same on the canvas. Here is the big difference between our Normal Image and the Draft with Reference when opening in Bitmap edit 127 :

While the Normal Image was bitmap edited as a small image of the same size as on canvas, the new Draft image opens as large as the reference image, but it has also new transparency. So what we did was: we comfortably painted rough transparency border on a small image within few seconds then carry that transparency over to the new Reference image (*.REF) in its proper scale. Now if we go to Bitmap Edit we can continue to paint transparency but in much finer detail.

Because the image is a Draft with Reference we can now print it or export it in much larger size with all the details wonderfully preserved.

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8.4

Non Destructive Sharpen


Any Bitmap object (or a Package) has a special property - interactive sharpen. You can access it by clicking on the Sharpen square on top of the bitmap/package bounding box.

Interactive Sharpen is a great way in which to sharpen any image or Package, especially after sizing down. It is a non - destructive effect. You can increase or decrease the sharpness any time you want and how many times you want. It is easy to use, just click on the second top handle on any bitmap or package and move the slider up or down. If you work with Packages or bitmaps, you may use this often.

8.5

Paste Bitmap Inside a Vector Object, Cropping Bitmaps


Paste inside 1. You can paste a bitmap inside a vector object. To do so, select a source bitmap object and use Edit - Copy, Then select a destination vector object and use Edit - Paste Inside.

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The Bitmap will be stretched to fit the object. Note: even if you resize the original bitmap, the Real-DRAW PRO holds its original size and any pasting "inside" will have exactly the same effect. If you want to keep the same ratio it is desirable that the object and the bitmap also have similar width/height ratio. If they are different, you can simply adjust the bitmap: Before using Paste Inside, crop unwanted parts as described below on this page. After using Paste Inside, simply adjust with the Texture Size and Rotation 82 tool. Adjusting the size of the Pasted Inside bitmap with Texture Size and Rotation:

2. As an addition to it, you can Paste Inside any other vector object or selection of objects. Exactly the same way - select object, Copy , select destination object and Paste Inside. The objects will be Pasted as a bitmap with transparency and you can edit it as any Bitmap layer 124 . To Adjust the Size, Position, or rotation, you can again use the Texture Size and Rotation tool.

Tip: Because the objects will be pasted with their transparency, you can actually repeat this process and Paste Inside another vector object or selection, layering the bitmap layer. 3. You can Paste Inside any bitmap which is on the clipboard. You can also create your own bitmap on the clipboard from objects using Edit - Copy as Bitmap. Such Bitmaps will have no transparency. In any case, the image will be pasted into a Bitmap layer 124 of the object where you can then edit it or remove it. To remove the Pasted Bitmap, use menu: Object - Bitmap Layer - Remove Bitmap Layer or its button on a tool bar.

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Cropping Bitmap Sometimes the bitmap is just too large or you only need a portion of it. Then you can use the Crop to Object tool. The trick is to place or draw a vector object over the part you want to keep. Select both the vector object and the bitmap (by holding SHIFT while clicking or dragging a selection rectangle around them) and from menu: Bitmap - select Crop To Object. Now the Bitmap will be cropped and you will get only the portion of the bitmap object inside of the vector object.

Tip: You can use different shapes instead of a rectangle to get interesting effects. This is visually similar to the Paste Inside as described above, but it is different in nature: The difference is that Paste Inside will paste a bitmap inside the vector object and you will have a vector object as result. You can later change the shape, or if it is text, you can easily change it like any normal text. With the Crop Bitmap, you can crop the Bitmap Object - and again the result will be a Bitmap object.

Cropping to Object can be creatively used to cut out objects from bitmap such as faces etc. Note: Cropping To Object is similar to other methods such as Masking, but cropping changes the size of the result (that's the main point of it), while Masking just adjusts a transparency channel.

8.6

Masking Bitmap
Masking Bitmap is a very similar process to cropping, except the bitmap object doesn't change size; only the bitmap transparency will be created. Again the result is a Bitmap Object. There are two types: Mask From Object Mask From Object - Inverted The masking bitmap is a great way to make an unwanted part of the bitmap transparent.

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You can make the masking object semi-transparent so you can see through it. 1. Draw any object (we will call it a mask) on the bitmap and make the mask semi-transparent by adjusting the Transparency slider so you can see the bitmap behind it. 2. You can reshape the mask with a shape tool to match your desired shape. If you want to keep the mask for later, you can now copy it to clipboard and later paste it back to document. 3. Select both objects and use Mask-From Object The Masking function, unlike the Crop function, doesn't alter the bitmap, but just changes its transparency. You can later edit the transparency with Bitmap Editing 124 . You can reset the Masking by using Reset All from the menu Bitmap or clicking the Inverse masking The same as masking, except the unwanted area is behind the mask object, not around it. Use: Mask-From Object Inverted Note: Masking Bitmap, as well as Cropping to Object, will ignore the transparency of the mask as set in the Transparency properties. However, if the mask has a transparency created in the Color & Texture, with the option, Transparent, selected then this will be applied to the result bitmap as well. button.

8.7

Transparency Masking
Transparency Masking is again very similar to Masking Bitmap. In Transparency Masking the bitmap will also get the transparency as set in the Transparency settings from the Mask Object. To use the Transparency Masking, use one of the following options from the menu: Bitmap Transparency - From Object Transparency - From Object Inverted The difference between Mask and Transparency from Object is as follows ...

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If you are looking for other ways to make a part of the image transparent see next page; Making, Transparent Colors... 72

8.8

Color Transparency
As an advanced designer, you might like to use a clip art photo object in your project. The photo objects are usually photographed on a solid (white) background. If you make the background color of the photo transparent, you can compose the photo within your project and/or use drop shadow or other effects to spice up the image. There are several great tools in Real-DRAW PRO to turn the background of an image transparent. If the background of the image is not a solid color, you can use the technique described in the Masking Bitmap 70 . You can also use the Bitmap editing part of Real-DRAW PRO to Add/Remove transparency using brushes. Another method is to use the Color/Intensity transparency to simply create transparency from any color or intensity. The tools for Color/Intensity transparency are:

Color Transparency Auto Transparency from Intensity Reset Transparency and Transformation Manual Transparency Editing Paint transparency in Bitmap Editing Paint-on Transparency Color Transparency It is a an easy process to make one color transparent. After you click this tool, you can select the tolerance in the upper tool bar.
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mode

(on vector objects only)

Higher tolerance - more similar colors to the one initially selected will become transparent. The tool lets you select the color on the Bitmap object with the Color Picker tool. There are 2 kinds of Color transparency:

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Only the surrounding pixels within tolerance will be turned transparent - transparency fill. The pixels within tolerance anywhere on image will be turned transparent (applied when you hold CTRL)

1. The first image is the original photo of a domino on a white background. 2. Select the Color Transparency tool and click outside the domino on the white surrounding area. This produces the second image - the black border of the domino stopped the transparency fill. 3. For third image we used the same Color Transparency Tool, but we held CTRL when we were clicking on the domino surrounding. All colors similar to the one we clicked were turned transparent. This transparency also antialiases the edges a bit.

Here is an example of a butterfly on white background photography. We used the Color Transparency tool, low tolerance, and selected the background white color while holding CTRL . The result is good enough that we can add a drop shadow and it looks perfectly real.

Intensity Transparency The Transparency is calculated from the intensity. The more intensity the more transparency. This means this will work with images on a white background (unless you want a special effect). The Intensity Transparency uses a different algorithm than the Color Transparency and it is usually good if the image has glass, which will become semitransparent. You can always use a combination of all the tools to get great effects. Here is an example:

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We used a photograph of a car on a white background from the clip art collection. Using Intensity Transparency, we created the image in the middle, however, because there were other white areas, like headlights, plate or inner wheels, they become transparent as well. Now we use Real-DRAW PRO Bitmap Editing 127 to Paint Opaque the error areas - we painted on wheels, license plate, and headlights. The result is an object with very good transparency.

Tips: Always use the Color or Intensity tools on the maximum size of the image (before resizing). Make it transparent and then resize it to smaller size. This way you will get smoother results If the background is not a solid color you will have to use other techniques described in Masking Bitmaps 70 . If the image has a lot of tiny details (like a spider's web), you have to use very low tolerance. If you don't want to use Drop Shadow, then the Matting doesn't have to be too precise, if your project background is not too dark. You can apply the tools again and again. Even if you don't see the colors, (because they are transparent), the color picker will get the proper color from the original image anyway.

8.9

Trace Bitmap
Menu: Bitmap-Trace Shape You can trace a shape from bitmap into a vector object. One example of usage would be a scanned image which you would then convert into a vector shape for further processing.

On the left side is a bitmap, right side is a vectorized object. Now you can apply any of the Real-DRAW PRO vector formatting. The bitmap for tracing shape should be very contrast on white background.

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If you have scanner then it is easy to create even most complex objects by simply drawing them with a black marker on a piece of paper, scanning and then vectorizing. It is important to realize that it is a shape tracer. It doesn't recognize colors of the input image. Note: If you would like to trace a Paint Object, then use Object-Convert to Polynome (Vectorize) instead. This will trace the alpha (transparency) channel where the Paint Object is defined. Import Vector Format You can also import vector format with the same tool. WMF, SVG and TTF are supported. See more in other sections 44 .

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9
9.1

Properties
Working With Object Properties
Each object (Text, Path, Bitmap, Package) can have many parameters. These are in various groups represented by a dialog bars floating on the desktop. There are grouped into basic, and more advanced settings. If you don't want to see or use all the settings, you can hide/show them with the right tool bar.

AutoHide Buttons You can hide the tool bar with the buttons on the tool bar caption. You can also set Auto-Hide option with the Pin button. The Toolbar will then hide to the side when not used - showing only its Tab. Entering by numbers Clicking with the right mouse button on any slider or rotation control will show an edit space where you can directly change the value by typing in it. The edit will allow you to enter only valid numbers, and you can apply it by pressing Enter or Right clicking on it again. Esc will cancel the typed number.

Rotation controls offer a range of 0-360 degrees. The zero is on the right of the control, 90 is on the top etc.

9.2

Color & Texture


This most important property group defines the color and texture of an object. This dialog is responsible for the fill of the object and the material texture.

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Color: You can select the base color of the object in the upper part of the dialog bar. Click with the left mouse button on the Color Palette to select a primary (foreground or F) color. With the right mouse button you can select a secondary (background or B) color, which is used for linear or radial fill, or for screening the texture. Tip: By clicking on the well with the F or B color, you can edit the RGB values of the color or select an exact color from the expanded Palette. By clicking on the F or B color with the right mouse button, the two colors F and B will be switched. Texture: Select a texture. The default textures are all seamless. How to add textures. The textures you see in the list are all placed in the software folder in textures sub-folder. You can also load your own textures with the load button.The loaded textures will be placed near the top below the gradients. Loaded textures will be external to the project. If you load the project later, it will look for the texture in the specified external folder.

If you use some of your own textures often, the best is to copy them to the Textures folder of the application director For example C:\Program Files\RealDraw\Textures . Better yet, create a sub-folder within the Textures folder and place your custom textures there to keep it organized. You will need to restart the software.

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The sub-folders will then appear near the top of the list below the gradients:

Color/Texture Mix: A very important control. It adjusts the ratio between the color and the texture. If the control is to the left, 100% of the color will go to the object, if the slider is to the right, 100% of texture will go to the object. The position in between will mix the color with the texture. See the image above: we have selected the primary F color red and the texture is green. With the slider at about 60 %, the object will be brown but it will still have visible texture. Advanced Settings and Options Screen: There will be no mixing of color. Instead the texture will be screened on the color. In this case the color of the object will always be F in color (in our case red) and the slider will regulate the amount of texture. F-B: Works only with the Screen option. The Screen option mixes the color with the selected texture, which results in an image from F to white (depending on texture selection). The F-B option will mix the F color with the B color In the the picture on the left you can see how different settings changed the image. We used F color Red and B color Blue. The Texture was Fabric-Patch2, as you can see on the top right image. The first object was created by just mixing the F color with the texture. On the second image we used the option Screen. In that case, the F color is used for the whole image, and by using the Mix slider you can adjust only the texture intensity. The last image was created via

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the option Screen, and F-B. Now the whole image uses F and B color only, depending on the texture selection. Here is another texture using a 100% texture setting. This time there is no mixing with the solid color. With the Screen option you can completely change the color of the texture and with the GenetX option (see below), you can create a completely new image. Transparent: This makes the white color of the object transparent and the black opaque. All colors in between will get the appropriate transparency value. Since you can mix between solid color and Texture you can control the transparency by using the Color-Texture Mix as well. The leftmost image is a rectangle with 100% texture of the fabric. The image to its right has the Transparent color option set. Note: The transparency will be used with other effects also - for example; Bevel is sensitive to transparency. 3D -Use the texture as a bump map.

Using 3D bumps is a great way to make a texture non-flat. The slider on the 3D control changes the bumps from inwards to outwards. In the middle- there are no texture bumps visible. 3D bumps also works great with 3D lights Tip: You can also make the texture of a Bitmap Object appear 3D. It is very simple, select a Bitmap Object, select any texture and move the Texture/Color Mix to the left so no or very little texture will be applied to the bitmap. Did you know you could apply a texture to the bitmap? Now select the 3D option and you are done. Even more fun starts when you apply lights or play with transparency.

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3D option will use the texture for the effect called bump mapping. This could be grat for various effects. However in some cases you need to create bump map which differ from the texture. In that case look into 3D Lights Bump Mapping 119 option. Color Wash There are 3 types of Color Wash. They are the first 3 textures in the Texture selector. Linear wash, Radial Wash and Burst. For color wash you have to use foreground and background color. Remember that to choose background color from the palette you have to use right mouse button.

The Burst, unlike linear or radial, will actually follow the shape of the object. Gradients Real-DRAW PRO uses a special area gradient

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to create very complex flat gradients.

9.3

Adjusting the Texture

Setting the properties is not the only function available for textures. After you apply a texture to an object you can change the textures' size and position.

For that function there is a button for Texture Size and Rotation. For example: draw a square and apply some texture... then select the object and press the Texture size and position button. You will see the 3- point handle with one point in the middle.

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Moving the middle point will move the texture offset so you can find a pattern you like. The other handles are for changing size, rotation and perspective of the texture. The handle which is pointing down, is the master handle - moving or rotating this handle will keep the current aspect ratio of the texture. If you move the other handle originally pointing to the right, the aspect ratio, size, and angle will change. This allows the texture to be squeezed or expanded in a direction, as well as in an angle. The handle originally pointing to the top is for perspective. Moving it up and down will change the perspective and turning it will change the perspective angle. You can really twist the textures with these controls and create new textures.

Here is another example of creating a cloud like structure from a fractal texture.

Another example of using Texture Size, Rotation, and Perspective. The textures are interpolated with the highest quality however you twist them, they still look smooth. Bitmap Layer and Packages Texture Size and Rotation has multiple functions when it goes into Bitmap Layers and Packages. Bitmap Layers - If the object has a bitmap layer and no texture, then the settings apply directly to the bitmap layer. For example you can paste a bitmap inside an object with Paste Inside 68 function and then you can adjust the size and rotation of the bitmap layer with Texture Size and Rotation. If the Object has texture and also a bitmap layer, then simply adjusting the settings will apply to the Texture alone. If you want to apply the settings on both the texture and the bitmap layer you have to hold ALT
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key while adjusting. Packages - Packages can be also adjusted the same way. Here the settings always apply to the Package, no matter if you have texture selected or not . You wouldn't normally apply texture on a package. How to reset the settings To reset the Rotation/Perspective/Size, while in Texture Size & Rotation mode ( ) , click the right mouse button. From the pop-up menu you can select Reset All or reset each particular effect: Reset Offset, Size, Angle or Perspective

9.4

Color Space
More about colors: GenetX, Color Space, Memory, Color shift. Behind the small button under F and B color are hidden millions of complex procedural textures. The reason for the name GenetX is because each procedure is defined by DNA code and by changing the numbers in the DNA, we can create mutations of the textures. The next page will explore the GenetX 85 window. When an object uses GenetX color procedures, the button will change its color to : This will tell you that the F color is used as the GenetX procedural color, which doesn't have to be solid. With the other options (Texture Mix, Screen or 3D) we can create new completely original textures. Here are a few examples of an object created using the GenetX texture with a combination of various settings and lights. There is a virtually unlimited number of combinations and mutations, and you could spend whole days just exploring this vast area. Read more in the GenetX
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section.

If the object is a bitmap, then this button will change to: . This means that instead of F color, the colors (the image) from the bitmap will be used. Clicking on this button will reveal the bitmap effects 87 window with many standard and exotic bitmap effects available. (Sharpen, Boost, Alias, Boss...) All the other options will have the same effects. See next page for instruction on working with the GenetX. Color Space and Color Memory To select a foreground color with better accuracy, and to be able to get many shades, you can use the Color Space bar. To be able to preserve any color, foreground or Background, you can use Color Memory.

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Working with the color memory is easy - to recall a color, you just click on any color square with the left mouse button for foreground or the right mouse button for background color. To store a color you need to hold CTRL while clicking on a square. Basically you can find an empty square, by scrolling down the color memory, or replacing an already assigned one. Holding CTRL and left clicking will store the current foreground color and right clickinf will store the current background color. Color Shift. This is one of the very powerful tools provided for illustrators. If you are making an original illustration, you can design the objects of the illustration in such a way that they will always mix F color with the texture in some ratio. (More F than texture)

Later, if you want to change the color tone of the whole picture, you just select all the desired objects, and from menu: Object select Shift Color. This will shift the F color of all selected objects toward the desired new color. The illustration will change its color tone depending on the ratio of color/texture mix. See the example image, where we designed a phone with a blue housing. The illustration itself has more than 80 objects. We grouped the 19 blue housing objects into one group (CTRL-G). Now we can change the color of the housing by selecting the group and using the Shift Color command, where we select the color from blue towards red. Of course there are also many other ways to do the same. For example you can Package the objects and use Color Correction 112 .

9.5

GenetX Procedural Colors and Textures


You can edit the GenetX color by clicking on the select GenetX. button on the Color Bar or from menu: Object

The GenetX procedural color and texture function is a powerful engine for generating and mutating artificial colors and textures. There are millions of combinations, and they can be sorted into about ten general categories: color washes, spirals, patterns, etc. We will call the procedural texture Gene and the key to it, DNA. It is a combination of 3 integer numbers and by varying these numbers, we increase or decrease the effects of the mutation procedure.

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The selected (current) Gene is in the middle of the 12 randomly generated Genes. By clicking on any of the 12 genes, it will be selected and subsequentl y appear in the middle rectangle. By pressing the Randomize button all the 12 genes DNA's will be randomly changed. The selected Gene will remain. If you like any of the 12 random Genes, just click on it and it will be transferred into the large middle rectangle. Now by clicking on this middle rectangle this DNA will be mutated back into the 12 surrounding DNA's (by selecting similar patterns) and will produce mutated versions of the selected Gene. By repeating the mutation and selection process you can follow the mutation of the gene and find one which you really like. This is a really a fun process, but don't spend too much time on this option, as there's are a lot more in Real-DRAW PRO. On the left side is a window with libraries. A library is just a storage for the DNA key to the gene. You can create your own library by clicking the Create new Library button. The libraries are just very small *. dna files in the same directory as the program. Clicking on any of the predefined libraries will open, and show the stored DNA. Remember the stored DNA codes are just bookmarks or keys to the gene. When a DNA is selected from the library, the exact Gene will be selected in the middle and it will be mutated into 12 similar genes around it, so you can pick or follow any pattern you like. If you generate a gene you like, by pressing the Randomize button, or following any gene from library, and you want to store it into the library, just press the Add to Library button. You will see the DNA number and you can name this gene as you want. The Gene DNA then will be stored in the current
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opened library permanently. If you want to add the current Gene in the middle to the active object just press OK. Remember, some Genes take time to calculate and this is done every time the object changes size or any other property is updated ! If an object is using the GenetX, then the button on the Color Bar will change from to . If you don't want to use the GenetX texture on the object anymore, simply go back to the GenetX dialog and press Remove. Note: You can't use GenetX colors on a Bitmap object, since they have already defined colors in the original image. In the Bitmap case, you don't have the button displayed, instead you see the button. This opens the Bitmap Effects 87 .

9.6

Bitmap Effects
The Bitmap Effect can only be used on a Bitmap Object; a Package; a Painted Object, or on the bitmap layer of a Vector object. You can also convert any object to a bitmap - but you must have a good reason for that as it is not a reversible function. You can go to the Bitmap effects by pressing the button on the Color Bar (if you don't see it, just select any bitmap object) or from Menu: Bitmap select Tweak.... You might want to use the bitmap effect, for example, to change or boost colors etc. There are many effects and some of them produce very interesting results and drawings. Just be aware that this function actually alters the bitmap object and is not reversible. Undo: of course helps, or if the image was loaded from the disk you can use the 'Update from original' command from the Bitmap menu. In the case of applying effects to Packages, this process is reversible so remember that if you edit the package, it will always return to its original unaltered state. Once you paint inside a vector object, you can apply the bitmap effects to it as well. This applies the effect only on the part you draw, and is what we call the bitmap layer, of a vector object. In this case, you can access the effects by menu Bitmap: - Tweak

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Here we created a circle, painted on it with a brush and then applied a mosaic effect to the object. It affects only the part we painted - the bitmap layer. In the menu Bitmap: there are more adjusting tools: Adjust: Brightness & Contrast - changes the brightness and contrast of the image Hue & Saturation - changes the color, saturation and intensity of the image Auto Levels - stretches the color to fill the whole dynamic range - and usually enhances contrast. Enhance Digital Photo - applies various auto effects on a digital image to create better balanced image. An automatic process. Invert Alpha - inverts the alpha transparency of an image Effects Sharpen, More, Gaussian Sharpen - applies a sharpen effect, but note that every image or package also has an interactive sharpen, accessible from the button on the bounding box of object. It is preferable that you use interactive sharpen, unless you need more control of the process. Blur, Gaussian Blur - applies a blur to the image Oil Painting and Pop Art - two interesting artistic effects.

Note that the Pop Art filter does quite sophisticated color segmentation on an image. Such an image may be a good candidate for the blueprint methods.

9.7

Transparency Properties
Transparency is an additional and very important option you can apply to an object. Any object can have transparency - vector, bitmap, text or painted object.
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You can apply transparency by moving the Mix slider to the right. In the list box you have 3 default transparencies (Flat, Linear and Radial) and many transparency textures as well.

The white on the texture is transparent, black is opaque and the shades in between have the proper transparency. Transparency MIX This slider will add the transparency to the object. Slider on the left the object is fully opaque and on the right the object transparency is on its maximum. That means if you use texture for example - the white part of texture will be fully transparent if you slide the slider to the right.

Obviously, except Flat Transparency you can't make the object completly transparent by just moving the Transparency MIX. If you need to change the opacity of the object as a global, you will use the Opacity on the Layers bar. Please make sure you recognize the difference.
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The Layer Opacity changes the transparency of the object as a global. The Transparency MIX adjust the transparency of the Texture or Type and works closely with Bevel. Linear, Bilinear and Radial type The most common type of transparency, very usefull for various blending techniques. You have a good control over the transparency by adjusting the three transparency handles on object. when you select one of these types a small Edit Transparency button will appear.

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When you select one of the Linear, Bilinear or Radial type a small Edit Transparency button will appear on the Transparency Bar. Anytime you wish to edit the handles of transparency - press this button and the handles will appear on the object.

By moving the start and end handles you not only change the angle (linear and bilinear) but you also determine where the transparency starts and where it ends. You can even move the handle outside the object. The middle handle is for linearity - by moving it close to the start or end handle will change the linearity of the transparency. Burst Like the Burst in Color & Texture, this type will follow the shape of the vector object. By moving The Transparency Mix you will change the size of the burst border. Burst transparency has feather like effect. Transparent option: You can actually switch the transparency off with this option (un-check it) and the transparency texture will be combined by adding it to the object. You can, for example, use it for additional effects like rasters etc.. Where you don't need the transparency.

Negative option: This will make the transparent mask negative - what was transparent become opaque and vice versa. Works with linear, bilinear, radial and burst as well.

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The transparency works close with the Bevel option. By using Transparency with Bevel, you can create many interesting images. Note: Vector object can have also Paint-On Transparency.

9.8

Area Gradient
Area Gradient allows you to create flexible gradient by placing GRAD point on the surface of the object, where each GRAD point can have its own color.

Area Gradient will replace the basic color of the object with a gradient. There are various mixing modes that allows for smooth gradients up to very defined color changes.

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To work with GRAD points on the object, click on the blue button (Edit Area Gradient) on the Area Gradient Palette.

This will switch to the Area Gradient mode and you will see two initial GRAD points placed on the object. You can click outside the object to exit the Area Gradient mode. To Add GRAD point - double-click on the area. To Remove GRAD point - select it and press DEL key. To Change color - use Color Wheel 84 To learn more about the Area Gradient Usage, please read the NPR Area Gradient section.
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9.9

Bevel Properties
Bevel is the magic hat that will add a third dimension to your objects. Making Buttons or surfaces is just as easy as a click of the mouse button, but that's just the most basic thing you can do with bevels they are great for AirBrush illustration and much more.

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Select one of the desired Bevel types, and move the sliders to get various effects. With the radial Light Direction you can select the position of the sun shining on the object. The most common button selection is the upper left side.

Note: In order to apply a bevel, the target object must be at least a certain size. If you need to apply a bevel to tiny objects, use the Flat bevel, rather than the Smooth bevel which has a more radical slope. Tip: To make a button, set the source of the Light Direction to illuminate it from the upper left. To give the appearance of an inset or pressed button, move the source to illuminate from bottom right. Bevel Types There are many cool types of bevel and additional bevel-category effects in Real-DRAW PRO. Each bevel produces a specific effect, as you can see in the picture on the left. Between them, there are quite a few different bevel effects. Outline : Creates an outline around the object edges. The outline doesn't keep the size of the object in the same dimensions - if you need to maintain the same size, use Break Path instead. Bump Out: A bevel that doesn't actually display the fill, only the smooth bevel. This is cool if you want to create small bump buttons on a large bitmap image. Feather: Feathers the edges Warp: Makes a bevel and warps the texture around the edges - nice on large objects. 3D ball: Always creates a 3D ball from any object 3D Extrude: Extrudes the object into 3D dimensions Linear Wash: Applies a black/white linear wash with an angle

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Motion, Backlight and Blurrr! You have a few other effects in a category Bevel - a blur type effects. Motion Linear and Motion Zoom - add a sense of motion (any direction) to the object or package, where the main object remains fairly recognizable. Backlight - is similar to Motion Zoom, but it generates an outline projection. Blurrr! - Blur the object in any direction

Special Types 3D Ball A very special effect - no matter what the originating object is, produces a perfect Rendered Ball. With the SHAPE tool you can adjust the direction of the light and create nice light reflections. In the picture on the left we can see a few examples of 3D Ball using different settings of light, reflection and textures etc.. This effect overcomes the frustration of creating real 3D looking balls in 2D graphic software.

Some results might be quite stunning. Tip: Try using the Sky Texture as a background and below the ball in size, place a white circle as a sun. You will get a nice sunset. Oh yes, you can do the same with using just lights, but... 3D Extrude, Barrel, Transparency Using these effects to create 3D like objects from any vector, bitmap Package, or text object is a lot of fun. They work nicely with text objects and lights. You can change the angle from which you are looking

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at the object. The light always shines from top-left but you can switch it off (by moving intensity to 0) and use 3D lights from any direction. Also try to using texture.

Motion Linear, Zoom This is a nice effect if you want to add a sense of motion to an object. You can adjust the length of the motion, the intensity and the direction. In a Zoom, type the motion is in perspective where the center is always at the border of object in a direction determined by the Direction control.

Tip: By adding a different Outline color to the object you can adjust the blur color - the outline of the object more significantly affects the motion trail. Backlight This is a close brother of the Motion Zoom. The motion trail shows only the outline of object.

Tip: With this effect, the color of the trail is obviously affected by the outline color of the object. You can create a dark object with a bright outline and the trail will become bright (as in the image above). This effect probably works best this way - on a dark background with bright outline. Blurrr: By adjusting the Blur angle (direction of motion), width and the intensity, you can create various effects.

You can also get interesting effects if you combine Blurrr with Lights !

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Note: For Blur, Extrude and Motion Effects - the object will appear in a projection (smaller size) to accommodate the effect in the object boundaries. The curves of the object will remain in the original position. If you attempt to edit such an object with the SHAPE tool, the points of the curves will go back to their original (before effect) position, obviously not aligned with the object projection. That's not an error. Bevel On Transparency The bevel also depends on the transparency settings. If you don't have any transparency set then the bevel will be applied to the object edge. The object on the left has the Transparency switched off. The bevel applies only to the object border. The object on the right has the Transparency On and the bevel applies also to the transparency mask. With the bevel on transparency you can create the feel of a more complex object than there really is. The Bevel works on both the Transparency Properties 78 . Bevel and Lights To show a simple bevel, you don't need lights (top image), the bevel itself will create a simple light source and you can adjust the direction with the Light Direction setting. For more advanced settings, you may apply one or more 3D lights (bottom image) to the object. It is usually better if you switch the light from bevel, off (so the lights don't mix up) - by simply moving the Bevel Intensity slider to the left. It is done by default when you add lights. Combine Effects You can combine the bevel effects if you ever need to. Most of the time you won't need to, but you may want to create a bevel and then blur it for example. As explained in detail in the Packages 148 section, you have the ability to add and combine various effects by using Packages. Simply said, apply the bevel effect on the object, package it, and then apply another bevel effect to the whole package.
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Properties and the Transparency option from The Color

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9.10

Effect Properties
If Bevel is the bread of the 3D effects, then Drop Shadow is the butter. The Effect bars allows you to add external effects (going out of the objects) like Drop Shadow, Glow, Inset, Cutout and many Lens effects. Select one of the desired Effect types and move the sliders to get the desired effect. With the radial Direction, you can select the position of the effects offset. In the case of Drop shadow, then that would be the direction of light. Choose an effect color to spice up the effect... also useful for Glows and Halos.

Effect Types Shadows: Works best on a light background. Makes the object appear in space. The Drop Shadow is commonly used on all buttons and objects in Multimedia interfaces and Web Art graphics. Glow and Halo: Works best on darker or textured backgrounds. Commonly used on highlighted buttons in multimedia; however, it is a nice effect to distinguish an important dark text or object from a dark background. You can also get interesting effects by using a dark color as an effect color against a light background. Inset and Cutout: Works best on dark or textured backgrounds, gives the impression of an object partially inset into the background. The Cutout will give an impression of a hole inside the background. Don't use bevels if you are using Cutout - the bevel will overlap the Cutout. Sparkle: A favorite for adding a touch to reflective surfaces. Can be used on objects of any shape and will always produce a sparkle.

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Lenses: Lenses simulates various lens types but of course they need some objects behind them. With the Effect Width you can adjust the overall lens effect and with Effect Intensity, you mix between the lens color and the lens image. With Offset you can set the magnifying factor. Neither Direction control, or Color, affect these types of lens effects. Filter Lenses Filter Lenses are similar to normal Lenses, but instead of simulating glass lens, they simulate various filter effects. Defocus Filter Lens - Simulates normal and color defocus. Special Effects Lens Flare: Turns any object into a light source with lens flare. The flare is automatically calculated in the frame to reflect the real life scenario. Push-Back: A special "lens" which reorders the Layers behind it. Shadows Using shadows is obvious - it creates the feel of a real object. There are several shadow types; Drop, Sun Knock Out and Drop Gradient. The Knock Out doesn't show the object itself, but only the shadow. Where the object was, there is no shadow, just a transparent hole. Drop Gradient is similar to the Drop Shadow but the shadow is gradient - it is thin (light) on the beginning of the shadow and thick (dark) on the end. Sparkle A cool after touch effect, works best on dark backgrounds.

Sparkle is one of the effects which doesn't care about the object shape. It only uses an object to determine the position and size of the sparkle - you can use a circle for example. The sparkle can be modified in various ways, and offers 3 basic choices.

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An inner halo which is always white Rays with variable width, intensity and number An outer halo which can have various colors The Effect Width will change the width of the rays. The Intensity will change the intensity of the rays from 0 to full intensity. The Offset will change the number of rays - starting from 4. The direction will change the angle on which the first ray is drawn. You can change the color of the outer halo. If it is black (default), the outer halo isn't visible, only the inner white halo is shown. Lens Flare Lens Flare is a special version of the sparkle effect. It works in generally the same (with the same settings) way, but it also casts a flare on the whole document from the light center, as would happen in real life using a normal photographic lens.

As in the images above we just added a simple object - a circle, and set the Effect properties to Lens Flare. The object becomes a light source (much like a Sparkle) and the lens flare will be calculated to fill the document. As with the normal Sparkle, you can simply change the size of the object or it's position and the flare will be recalculated. If you would like to change the opacity of the effect you can use the Layers Opacity slider (not Transparency properties). The slider on the Effect bars has the same properties as those of Sparkle - it changes the intensity, shape and number of sparkle rays. The lens flare is used usually as a top layer, but you can of course move it within the layers as you like. You may temporarily switch off displaying this effect with the Rendering Quality buttons. Note: This effect obviously works on a dark background. Many subtle colors are calculated with this effect so the best is if you have your video display set on 24 bit (True Color) or 32 bit colors. Tip: While this looks very good, remember not to abuse this effect. It usually looks good on a "space"- like images, special letters etc. Don't try to put it on every image you create (unless you want to be known as a cheese artist). Push-Back This is a special lens which pushes the object behind it back into specified bottom layers. This is a very smart tool. Please see next chapter which is all about this unique tool. Lenses and Lens Filters A great way to create the feel of glass or other glass effects. Object, with the lens effect, will show everything which is behind it (below in the layer list) with the particular effect. Lenses take more time to compute and if you use many lenses, you may see the redrawing slowing down. This is because anytime you change something behind a lens, all the objects must be redrawn in order for lens to reflect
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the reality. It is then best if you switch the rendering lenses off during designing - see below. Sometimes the lens may show a canvas border, or in case of zoom, sometimes the lens doesn't have enough information to show the full image. This isn't a big problem since the final exported image will be without these artifacts. Note: If you use the Crop tool to export, the lens will show only objects in the export range.

Lenses tends to be very realistic. If one of the objects behind the lens is also a lens you will get multiple lens reflections. Lens, can display only objects which are behind them, and not above them.

Thick Border and Thick Center lens are two special cases.

Where the other lenses can reflect only what is behind, the Thick border and Thick Center lens have the ability to reflect also the texture of the object itself. You can switch between these two modes with the two buttons, which appear if you select this kind of lens. This way, if the object has a texture/bitmap layer, you can create various interesting effects - similar to environmental mapping where the texture follows the object shape. You can also create an interesting effect by pasting a bitmap image inside the vector object (with Paste Inside in menu Edit). While the other lenses don't allow you to have a drop shadow and lens at the same time, the 2 border/ center lenses can have a simple shadow by selecting the "S" button letter.

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Defocus Lens This is another very interesting lens for creating blured or defocused image. With Effect width you control the amount of defocus (or blur) and with the Offset together with the angle you can set a separation of rgb channels. On the image below the first is original. We then draw a square on top which covers the whole object and set its Effect property to Defocus Filter. Everything what is behind the lens will be blured (second and third image)

Tip: You can apply a linear or circular transparency to the lens to get various defocus effects. You can simulate various depth of field or create some interesting effects:

You can also try to change the transparency of the lens only on some places with Transparency 128 tool. This way you can defocus just some part of the image. Lenses takes more CPU

Paint-On

To be able to render all the scenes, lenses needs more CPU. This is especially true if you have more lenses on the scene. You can easily switch off displaying the lenses with the middle button in the Render Quality settings (or in menu: View - Rendering - Lenses Off) This will simply switch off the lenses for displaying, but all the other things will display properly. The lenses will just become "blind". This has no effect on Export. Tip: Creating a complex shadow Sometimes you need a shadow for a complex object. Here, instead of using a drop shadow on each component, you can create a new object which will represent the shadow. It is done very easily - just select all the objects that you need, and apply from menu: Bitmap - Create - Bitmap Shadow From Selected Objects.

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This will create a new bitmap object behind the selected object - Shadow. Now you can scale it, rotate it, apply effects to it (such as Feather) or paint on it. Effect Tools A few effects such as Sparkle, Lens Flare and Push-Back from the Effect properties can be created directly from the toolbar.

You can either draw any object and then select the particular effect from effect properties or you can directly use them from this toolbar. These will essentialy create an circle and apply the particular effect to it in one step.

9.11

Push-Back Tool
The Push-Back can be accessible either from the Toolbar or by drawing an object and choosing PushBack in Effect Properties.

What is it? The Push-Back is in fact a very interesting and unique tool/effect. With good understanding this tool can help you achieve nontraditional results in just a seconds. To understand the importance of this tool please look at the next image:

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This may look pretty normal to many people, however in fact this is something no other software have serious tool for. In all traditional software the objects are in layers. It isn't possible for objects to cross layers, where part of the object is in one layer and other part in a different. To do such image in a traditional software requires large amount of work. It involves a lot of clipping, cutting etc. and still the result may not be as smooth and natural as the image above. But with RealDRAW PRO it took just few seconds. The answer to this is the Real-DRAW PRO unique Push-Back tool. The Push-Back tool can push the object behind it further into another layer. This simply allows to move part of the object into other layers, behind other objects. Please follow this simple example: With the toroid tool we draw two rings - green and blue.

Now from the Toolbar select the Push-Back Tool. Normally it is as subselection with the sparkle tool:

Just click on the bottom arrow on Sparkle to open subselection toolbar and select the Push-Back Tool:
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Now with it selected simply draw a circle on the cross-section as on image below:

As you finish drawing the Push-Back object will be created:

Now as you can see, the image behind the Object already changed. The Green ring is now over the blue one under the Push-Back object. The selector on the right side of the Push-Back is a Layer selector. The second button from top is highlighted in red - that means an object behind the Push-Back will be "pushed" one layer below. You can simply click on it and select other button. If you select the top most box, the Push-back effect will be erased. That is - your first Push-Back Object. The Selector

When you select Push-Back object a selector will automatically appear near it. The selector shows how many objects down we pushed the Top Object (That is a object right below Push-Back Object)
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On the image above we have selected third button which means we push the top object (the grey button) below2 other objects behind it. Tip: For very small Push Objects you may not have enough layers visible in the selector - just zoom in the picture - the selector will show additional layers. How it works: Note: The layers for Push-Back are not the same as layers in Layer list. Push-Back use a local object list - created from objects in near proximity of Push-Back. It will simply skip not related layers or any other Push-Back object. This gives you more universal approach - for example Push-Back of one layer down will work on most cases, even if the objects are in real life much further apart in layer list. Push-Back Pushes an object which is right behind it (top object) a number of object below.

The image above is sort of a "side view" of layers for better illustration. The step are just three objects one on each other. The Green is the Top object.

Now in step we add a Push-Back on top of it, but set the Push layers in the selector to the top one. Nothing change.

In step we set the layer selector to the second button. That is - the Top Object (green) will be pushed one layer/object down, behind the blue object. In step and blue. we set it on third button, this will push the top object (green) 2 objects below - behind red

Note: Only objects behind the Push-Back are affected. Now you see for the 3-ring example all we need to do is to use 3 Push-Back objects placed on each cross-section. And all of them are set just for one layer - this shows how the "local object list" works.

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Layers List Now lets go back to our simple example:

Check the Layers list real object position.

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. The Layer List will not change by applying Push-Back - it always shows the

Our situation is in the . No matter what we set in the selector, this will always appear this way in Layer List. The object below The Push-Back (Toroid Blue) marked as gray button in selector will be pushed one object below. If we move the Push-Back object a layer down in Layer List this will have no effect, because the object below Push-Back cannot be pushed below any other object since they are none. The situation shows an additional Rectangle object on the very bottom and pushing the Blue Toroid two objects below. Because we don't have any other objects between the layers which are outside the Push-Back range the Layers list shows the same situation as Push-Back see its local object list. If, for example we draw another red circle completelly out of Push-Back range and move it behind Blue Toroid - it will appear in
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Layers, however it is not counted in the Push-Back local object list.

An object which is out of Push-Back range (doesn't lay below Push-Back boundaries) will be skipped by Push-Back selector. That is: a push-back one object below will work on our toroids even there is a Circle between them in Layers (but it is positioned outside range so the Push-Back doesn't see it and so it will skip it). This has number of advantages. Switching off Push-Backs When you add few push-backs it may be hard to remember which object is really on top of others and which is just "pushed". The Push-Back does really good job in hiding this so it won't give you a visual clue. (only The Layers List shows the real situation). It is easy to switch the Push-Backs off: Switch display from Full-Render to Lenses Off.

This will disable all Push-Backs and you will see the real object order. OK, the top ring is in fact the top most, that wasn't obvious from the left image!

Note: Push-back works on any objects - it can be Polynome, Package, Text or even a Bitmap.

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Here we Packaged our 3-ring sample and then used another Push-Back on the package with other ring. This is the beauty of Real-DRAW PRO Packages! Push-Backs is an object as any other. Yes, that's true. The basic Push-Back Object is nothing less than just a circle with Push-Back effect. But you can apply any other effects to it or change shape as you want (with the shape tool). Also you can create any shape and simply apply Push-Back to it in the Effect Properties. You can for example make it semi- transparent or with some transparent texture. That means PushBack can be used also for many different purposes. See some experiments with transparency below. We have just two solid objects and an elliptical Push-Back.

We used Linear Transparency, texture Transparency and Radial Transparency. Other interesting effects can be achieved by - adding solid Outline, adding Bevel, or even adding Lights. Notes: While you are experimenting with this tool always remember what the Push-Back really does - it pushes the top object to bottom layers. If you for example have no other object behind the Top Object (in the boundary covered by Push-Back) there will be no effect. This may happen when you move the PushBack object around - on one part it has effect, on other not - simply because a number of objects right behind it change. Sometimes when you move or resize Push-Back it suddenly become with no effect. Just remember it works on a local layer list. That is, it counts only objects which boundaries are behind the Push-Back object. When you move the Push-Back the number of objects right behind it may change - this may affect the Push layer settings in selector. Some objects have also quite large "empty" boundary - for example a text. While your Push-Back object doesn't touch the text it may still count the text object as one because the boundary of text lay
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under it. So you have to accommodate this when you setting the number of "push" in the selector. If something doesn't work as it should, check also the Layers List 194 . Because the Push-Back object is invisible, it may happen that you try to apply it on object which is above, not below it. The Layers List will show you the real position. Then you can move the Push-Back up or down layers to get to the desired object.

9.12

Outline Properties
Any object can have an outline (including Bitmaps and Packages). There are a few types of outlines: Solid, Thick, Soft, and Blurred. Outline can be a solid color or a color wash of 3 colors, where you can define the break point.

Types Solid - from very thin to a medium outline Thick - a thick outline Soft - a combination of Solid and Blurred Blurred - blurred very soft outline

Color Wash Besides a single color, outline can have a color wash from 3 colors. To set the Color Wash you have to check the checkbox near the color wash selector. The Direction tool allows you to set the direction of the color wash. How to set the color:

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The Color Wash control has 3 buttons, each representing a color. The middle button is a special button allowing you to set the break point by moving it left or right between the two border colors. You can move the break point completely left or right, creating a color wash from just 2 colors.

There are various places where you can use outline. Blurred outline for example may be used to add an additional 3D look to the object. Tip: Outline also works with transparency textures (or normal textures with the Transparent setting) where it actually outlines the texture, rather than just the object.

9.13

Surface Skin
To add even more natural feel to some objects you can use Surface Skin properties.

The Surface Skin adds very subtle uniform texture to the object which needs to look natural. You can add various skin types, textures, rust, various noise and more. With the Intensity slider you can adjust the intensity of the texture applied over the object. With the Size slider you can set the overall magnification of the Surface texture. Unlike other settings in Real-DRAW PRO this will not dramatically change the look of the object. It will only add more details to the previously flat-looking surface. Warp to Bevel option can be used only if the object has a 3D Bevel. The Skin texture will somehow bend around the bevel.

The right object has a Warp to Bevel option on the Mosaic Surface Skin.
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Tip: You can use Surface Skin on airbrushed objects to create realistic human skin. The combination of skin colored tones and gentle Surface Skin can create photographic quality objects.

Image created in Real-Draw PRO

A detail of the hand object before Surface Skin. ( Airbrush 128 painted on object)

The same detail with Surface Skin applied (Human Skin Hand)

Another example below shows the Surface Skin applied on an object where we already used a texture. This allows us to mix the Texture and Surface Skin to create a different new feel of the object material.

We already used a Chess texture on the background object.

We can create a new feel by simply adding a Marble Surface Skin to the object.

Tip: Another trick is to add some very little noise with the Surface Skin Noise to objects which are too smooth or un-natural. This adds more photography-like quality to it. Note: There is no need to use Surface Skin on EVERY object. This effect is a gentle after-touch to enhance details of some previously boring objects. The Surface Skin will be not very visible on objects which have already many texture details. New Surface Skin To create the desired effect, Surface Skin uses a special texture. Unlike normal texture, the surface skin texture is an uniform texture. The texture should not have strong repeating pattern and the color must be uniformly adjusted around the middle of intensity, sometimes with very subtle colorization. You should remember that when creating your own Surface Skin texture. The texture files are in jpg format in the Surface directory and when viewed outside Real-DRAW PRO

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they will look pale or washed out. Another MediaChance software Photo-Brush can be perfectly used for creating such textures. (The default textures were created this way) Here is small how-to.

We loaded an interesting texture of painting to Photo-Brush. We used Texture Pick (menu Tool or from menu on Color & Texture Bar) to simply create seamless texture. Clicking ok will add this texture to the Color & texture bar From the menu on Color & Texture bar chose Export Custom and save it. Now load it again in PhotoBrush Run Menu: Image-Adjust-White Balance and slide the each RGB slider so all the RGB peaks are around the middle line on the graph - initially the peaks would be probably each in different place. If youcan't move sliders far enough, you simply apply as far as you can and do White Balance again. Now you have Uniform Texture. For stronger effect you can use Image-Adjust-Levels and move the Left (0) and Right (255) sliders on the Input closer to the middle. Then do the WHite Balnce again. all you have to do is to export such texture into Real-DRAW PRO SURFACE folder (not skin!) Next time you run Real-DRAW PRO the skin texture will be there. This texture adds a subtle - rustic looking feel to the object (left without, right with):

9.14

Color Correction
Non-Destructive Color Correction, RGB, HSL and Clorize

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Any object color can be adjusted in a non-destructive way, with the Color Correction (menu: Object, or button). Similar to the Interactive Sharpen, this is non-destructive, and you can adjust it or remove it any time you want.

Note: You can also color correct the whole image on Export RGB, HSL and Colorize options

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. (Only RGB option)

You can switch Color Correction into 2 types: RGB and HSL. When you are working with RGB, you are adjusting gamma of the particular primary color. This is good to tone up photos. In HSL mode you are working simillar way as with the Hue, Saturatiion and Lightness option in Bitmap menu. You can change colors of the Object, change saturation, desaturate, make it lighter, darker or colorize it in one tone. This is very powerful tool becaus it takes from you the need to adjust textures and colors if you need to see different color variation of the object.

Above are some examples of HSL color correction applied on a Package. Colorize The colorize option is active only in HSL mode. This will make the image in one color tone determined by the Hue Slider. Very interesting and popular effect to spice up your graphics. Note: Color Correction is Non-Destructive tool. That means you can not only apply it but also remove it or change it any time later, even after you save and load the project.

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10
10.1

Lights
3D Lights & Material
One of the most innovative features of Real-DRAW PRO is the ability to use an unlimited number of lights on any object. (Including Bitmaps) and to adjust the object reflectivity properties. The 3D lights simulate the lights found in real life very closely. You can create amazing lifelike textures and object by using one, or a few lights. Note: Normally each object uses its own 2D light source for bevels. As soon as you enable light on the object the object will start to behave more like a 3D object in real life and less like a 2D drawing. You can adjust the material properties of the object (the reflectivity), and ambient intensity, and adjust any light source. Using lights is especially effective if you use any bevel on the object. The 3D lights property bar is divided into 2 sections: Lights and Object Material Properties. The lights are properties of the object and they stay with the object. That means as you move the object, the lights move with it, so the effect you build doesn't change. Also if you copy the object properties, you copy the lights with it. Lights are an amazing addition to Real-DRAW PRO's ability to generate life-like textures and objects.

The object can have an unlimited number of lights. You add light by clicking on the small sphere on the right of the list. Each sphere represents a different type of light. The lights will be added to the list and the selected light will visually appear on the object, ready to adjust its position and parameters. You can select any other light for editing by selecting it from the list box. Light Types Point Light Point light is the most dynamic light whilst being very simple to adjust; it has position and direction from the object. You may imagine this light as a light bulb or a reflector pointed straight at the object.

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You can move the center of the light (by clicking and dragging) relative to the object and the Size/ Distance point. The Size/Distance can be understood as the distance of the light source from the object - smaller radius, the light source is smaller (or more distant in the 3D world)

Spot Light Spot Light is the most complex light - it has position, direction, cone angle and focus. You may imagine this light as a reflector which can light a cone on the object. You can also adjust the cone angle and then the shape of the light will change.

You move this light by the Focus Center. The Light Source is used to adjust the direction of the light cone around the focus center. The elevation and the Size/Distance can be used for adjusting the diffusion and intensity properties. The Elevation can be used to shape the light cone (the closer it is to the focus center causes the lower elevation and the light to become more circular, depending also on the cone angle). The Size/Distance can be used to proportionally enlarge the light cone.

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The Cone angle shapes the light most significantly. You can adjust the Cone angle by moving the handle on the black ring around the Focus Center. You may create light which is very wide by moving the cone angle handle closer to the Light Source, or create an almost circular light where the cone is rotated closer to the object by moving the cone handle towards the Focus Center.

With the Focus you can adjust the focus of the light - how diffused or focused it is. The focus is the red ring around the Focus Center.

With this kind of light you can create various effects by adjusting all the parameters. Because there are so many parameters, it takes some time to master this light. It could also be used for creating a feel of shapes as explained on the next page. Distant light The simplest light - it has only direction, no distance. This simulates light sources which are very distant (the Sun for example). The light rays from a very distant source will uniformly light a flat surface. That means if we don't have bevel on the object it doesn't matter from which side the light shines, it will always uniformly brighten the object by the same amount. If we add bevel then the light will brighten closer edge and darken the other. The only adjustment with the mouse is the direction of the light (for example, top, left, right etc.) This light is used to add a shine effect to beveled edges. Tip: You can select the next light for editing, by right-clicking the mouse on the object. Material Once you enable lights to the object you can also adjust the properties of the object material. This is how the object reflects the lights. For example, metal surfaces reflect more Specular Light and less

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Diffuse Light. Plastic materials are quite the opposite. Ambient Intensity This controls the intensity of ambient light around the object. Ambient light has no direction and no position, it sets the dark point. Diffuse Reflectivity This controls how an object reflects diffuse light. Plastic materials reflect more diffuse light than metal. Note that reflected light is the main carrier of color information. We see the color of an object because of the kind of light that the material reflects. Specular Reflectivity This controls how the material reflects the light peaks. Plastic materials reflect less specular light than metal. Specular reflection doesn't carry very much color information. Here is an example of 2 materials. Both are exactly the same objects, with one Point light at top left. The left object simulates a plastic material and the right object looks more like a metallic one.

Note that we can add a light to the object not only to make it lighter but also to make it darker - it all depends on the material properties. Bump Map Pressing a button Bump Map located just below the Material Properties will open advanced option for Bump Mapping.

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Bump Map allows you to add 3D depth to the surface texture, such as various scratches, metal artifacts etc. You have maybe already discovered the 3D option 81 in Texture properties. This uses the texture itself for creating the bump map effect. However with this "real" Bump Map you can apply different surface maps onto different textures for greater flexibility. You can for example apply scratchy Bump Map into object with smooth texture. On example here, we apply "Dots" Bump Map into an object with "Fabric-Strape" texture.

There are just a few controls in Bump Map. First is the Map library - just select the bump map of choice. The second is a Inward/Outward slider. The zero is in the middle where there is no effect. Sliding it left will make the bump map go into the surface - inward. Sliding right will appear as outward. In the "golfball" example above we used the slider left of the center. Stretch to Object - this option will stretch the bump map into whole object so that means the pattern will not repeat and as you resize the object the map will resize with it. This could be good for some special effects or for small objects (so the large bump map will shrink to fit the small object)

You can actually combine the 3D from textures and Bump Map to create a new complex surface. However since the mapping is applied at different stages the result can be sometimes hard to predict. Moving one slider will also affect the other option, and sometimes it will even cancel bump mapping all together. So it is recommended that you use either Bump map or 3D texture, not both. But experimentation is free :) These are the basic properties of lights. Using 3D lights is an amazing way to create realistic effects and are probably the most interesting properties to explore.

10.2

3D Lights & Material - Tips for using it


The 3D Lights can be applied to any object - path, text, bitmap or Package. Use lights with Bevels You can use a 3D light instead of the default bevel light. The 3D light can be adjusted with more accuracy, and it also simulates, more precisely, the real life situation. And you are of course able to put more than one light in any direction, and in any color.

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Above is simple Flat bevel with 2 lights, yellow from left top and red from bottom right. The object color was originally blue. Use Light with Textures and 3D option

Lights works especially well with textures, and 3D options, to create a bump mask (see Color Properties 78 ). It is quite easy to create a realistic metallic or plastic surface with just one or two lights, some texture and a bevel.

Below is a combination of all the methods used together, with which you can simply create a fantastic, rendered-like world, full of textures, metals and materials.

No wonder we call it a Real-DRAW PRO! Use lights to create feel of curvature The 3D Lights could be often used as a way to express the curvature of the surface without actually using any bevels or any special objects.

Such methods were used in the above camera example. Use lights to create light reflections on glass

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Using the Lens Effects, and lights creates realistic glass effects. What other options I have? You can also simulate interesting spotlight effects by using the Transparency Blend Modes. Create a simple object, add a feather effect and set the Transparency Blend Mode to Soft Light. Now the object will behave as a soft light source. The light will depend on the color of the object.

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11
11.1

Painting
Basics of Painting Mode
Besides the vector editing Real-DRAW PRO allows you to use various brushes and paint on objects or canvas with a color or texture. There few basic types of objects you edit or create in a bitmap editing mode: Editing existing Bitmap Object Painting on the Bitmap layer of any vector objects. Painting a new Paint Object on the Canvas Bitmap Editing Mode You can get to Paint Mode by simply selecting an object (Vector or Bitmap) and pressing the Paint on Object button. If the object is a bitmap you can open Paint editing by simply double-clicking on the object. When you are in Paint editing mode your view changes to a view where you can see the objects transparency by showing the objects on a check board. The ruler border changes to green to remind you that you are editing a bitmap.

The check board allow you to see where your object has transparency. With bitmaps you can paint colors as well as add or remove transparency by simply using brushes. Any time you want to go back to normal vector editing you just press ESC or select Arrow tool from your tools. Painting With Color, Texture You can freely paint with various colors and also the texture. You simply select the texture in the Color & Texture 78 bar and adjust the Color Mix to your desired Color/Texture ratio. Aligned and Non-Aligned Texture There is an option on the bottom of Brush Bar - Aligned Texture. If you decide to paint with textures you have choice to use the texture Aligned (default) With the Aligned option checked, the texture will always be applied in the same position - if you paint over the stroke again, the texture will remain as before Non-Aligned If you un-check the aligned option, the texture origin will be applied in random order - if you paint over the same stroke, the texture will change, since the origin has changed. This brings a very interesting random effect to the texture. If you feel that the texture is too much repeating a pattern, you can break it with non aligned strokes.
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Other options for texture painting are Screen and Screen with F-B, similarly as described in the Color & Texture 78 .

11.2

Brushes Tool Bar


During editing in Paint mode you use only color properties, and a new Brush Tool Bar which will appear on your workplace.

You can select color from Color & Texture

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, Color Space

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or Color Memory.

The color Space is especially useful for picking out different tones. Another way is to Pick a color from anywhere in the image with the Color Pick tool. The Color Pick on the Brush Tool Bar does the same thing as the one on the main Tool bar. Brushes You have many different predefined brushes in the Brush library. There are various Airbrushes, Artistic Brushes, 3D Brushes and Nozzles and you can create your own brushes and also new libraries.

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Brush Mode The Brush Mode determines how the Paint color affects the color in the Image. Normal The most commonly used brush mode, Paint color will simply paint over the image Multiply Multiplies the Image color and the Brush color. The result is darker. Painting with Black will produce black, painting with white will leave the Image colors unchanged. All colors in between will darken the image. Difference Subtracts the Image Color from the Brush color or Brush color from the Image color, whichever is brighter. Screen Works just the opposite to Multiply. The result is lighter. Painting with black will leave the Image unchanged, painting with white will produce white. All the colors in between will lighten the image. Overlay Overlay will colorize (mix) the Image with the Brush color. It uses either Multiply or Screen which depend on the brightness of the Image color in the area that you are modifying. This is a fun way to colorize an image. If you are looking for a more optically realistic colorizing method, use the Colorize brush from the Retouch Collection. Darken The resulting color is Brush Color or Image Color - whichever is darker. Painting with white will have no effect since the pixels from the Image will be always darker. In other words, the image color will dictate the resulting color if the brush color is lighter than the image color. Lighten Similar to darken, but the resulting color will be the lighter of the two (brush or image). Painting with black will have no effect and Image pixels will always be lighter, so the resulting color will be the one within the Image. Hard Light This works similarly to Overlay, it Multiplies or Screens the color, but the decision between modes is dependent on the the Brush color; while in Overlay it is dependent on the Image color. If the Brush color is lighter than 50% gray, the image will be Screened. If the Brush color is darker than 50% gray , the image will be multiplied. Soft Light This darkens or lightens colors, depending on the the Brush color. If the Brush color is lighter than 50% gray, the image will be lightened. If the Brush color is darker than 50% gray , the image will be darkened. While Hard Light can be pure black or white, Soft Light can't produce pure black or white, it will just darken or lighten. If Lighter The Brush Color will be applied only to areas where the Brush Color is lighter than the Image Color. Therefore this will paint only in areas darker than the Brush color. If Darker
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The Brush color will be applied only to areas where the Brush Color is darker than the Image Color. In other words, this will paint over areas lighter than the Brush color. Note: The mode settings will also work for Image Nozzles and Artistic brushes. Brush Intensity (Opacity) The Intensity (Opacity) slider controls the Brush Opacity. An Opacity setting of 0% is completely transparent, and an Opacity setting of 100% is opaque. With a combination of Opacity and modes, you can control various aspects of the mode, allowing almost infinite effects.

11.3

Editing Bitmap Object

This is the basic editing - anytime you double click on the Bitmap Object or click the paint on Object button you get to the Paint Editing window where you can paint over the object, add or remove transparency, clone and more. Editing Bitmap Object - just double click on Bitmap Object

Convert to Paint Object There is a subtle difference between Bitmap Object and Paint object. A Bitmap object 58 came from a file and when editing in Paint Mode you are constrained to the object boundaries. Bitmap object keeps link to the original file and has couple of functionality related to this link. Paint Object 132 is normally created by painting and when edited in Paint Mode you are constrained to the size of the canvas. To convert a Bitmap object to the Paint Object use menu: Bitmap-Convert to Paint Object

Transparency of Bitmap Object To turn any image transparent, select the brush, click on the Erase/Transparent button and paint over the image. You will immediately see the result.

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Opacity The reverse of Transparency, you paint opacity, thereby removing the transparency. Whenever you apply a bevel, shadow or other effects in Real-DRAW on bitmaps, they work on the bitmap transparency. That means that the transparency, is the key where the bevel or shadow will be created.

11.4

Painting on a Vector Object

This is another unique specialty of Real-DRAW PRO: You can paint on top of any Vector object where the strokes will be masked by the object shape.

To start painting on any object, select it first, and then press the Paint on Object button. If your object was a bitmap, then you go to bitmap editing as described before. What you paint will become a Bitmap layer of a vector object. The bitmap layer follows the size and shape of object. That means that if you change the shape of the object or resize it, the bitmap layer will adjust accordingly.

Note: If you rotate the object, you don't rotate the bitmap layer (Same as with the Object texture). If for any reason you need to rotate the bitmap layer, you can use the Texture Size and Rotation
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tool.

Erase

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To erase a stroke, click on Erase/Transparent button and paint over the strokes. This will paint a transparency over the strokes in Bitmap layer, thus making the original color and texture of the object visible. Remove Bitmap Layer If you ever need to remove the Bitmap Layer from the object, you don't have to paint over it with an eraser, as it's enough to click the "Remove Bitmap Layer button". This button, when used outside the bitmap edit mode, will remove the Bitmap Layer and also any additional Paint-On Transparency (see below). But if you use this button, while IN the bitmap editing mode, it will remove only the bitmap layer, while the Paint-On Transparency (if any) will stay unchanged. How to use it? The simplest way is to paint various shadows or lines over the object, which may become an interesting addition to bevel. You can create brand new effects simply:

Above, we painted green, blue and yellow lines across the text with the airbrush and then added a flowers with the Image Nozzle. But there is much more you can do The feature, Paint on Object, is actually one of the most important features for airbrush drawing, and you may not be able find any similar software that makes it so easy. If you use a normal (real life) airbrush, you know that the basic way to draw is to paint with an air gun through masks. In real airbrush painting you cut a mask (for example a circle) out of a transparent adhesive sheet and stick it on a paper. Then with the airbrush gun you paint over it. When you remove the adhesive mask you have a perfect circle with sharp edges, yet it is painted. Then you can cut another mask, put it over and try some other colors and shapes ... This is also the idea for Airbrush editing in Real-DRAW PRO, where your mask is the vector object. Real-DRAW PRO goes much further though. Unlike in real life, you can reshape the object (mask) afterwards, and then you can move the object up or down the layers. You can also erase what you painted, and paint something under the object as well. There is also a very easy cloning method you can use to "blend" two objects together. It is quite simple but very powerful. If you are artistically inclined, you can easily create a painted like art form, which is both realistic, yet painted.

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The image above was painted using this method. While the pen is a pure vector object without any paint, the hand is made up of vector objects with painted layers. Each finger is basically a separate vector object.

Another even more detailed image created using a combination of an airbrush plus a Surface Skin a simple vector object. Show layer Above

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on

This feature while applicable to all bitmap editing, is especially useful if you draw painted art. When you have opened an object for bitmap editing or painting, you can make all the upper layers, that intersect the object visible. This allows you for example to paint shadows exactly on the right spot - under raised objects.

In this, surrealistic example of, let's say an orange on grass, we have 2 objects; a circle and a square. We have already painted some shadows and highlights on the circle (so it looks like a painted sphere), and also a few strokes on the green rectangle. Now we would like to paint a shadow on the rectangle from the sphere. We select the rectangle and click the Paint on Object button. In the Bitmap editing mode we check the Show layers Above, check box. The sphere appears in the places where it
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intersects the rectangle we are editing. Now we can paint with a dark airbrush on the rectangle, exactly in the places where we need the shadow. Don't forget that you can change the intensity of a brush by sliding the Intensity/Opacity slider for a softer effect or by using a pressure sensitive stylus. With this knowledge, you can start making your own painted art, and if you are a novice, you will probably learn a great deal about colors, mixing, as well as light, and shadows as you progress. Just one piece of advice - everything in this type of art, is a game of shadows and lights. There are various other very powerful tools to help you - Clone from bottom layer and Blueprint method as described later. Paint-On Transparency As an addition to the normal transparency and Painting on a vector object, you can use the Paint-On Transparency option. To Select this option you have to click on the small arrow on Paint on Object tool to reveal sub-selection toolbar.

This works similarly to the Painting on Object, however it will paint a transparency to the vector object instead of painting on the object bitmap layer. The Paint-On transparencyis also in the menu: Object - Paint Transparency, and it is enabled for vector objects. Imagine a complex object, where you want just a specific part transparent and none of the linear or radial transparency does the job - here is a perfect time to use Paint-On Transparency. Select the object, Click on the Paint-On Transparency button and you will get to the familiar bitmap editing. However, this time it doesn't matter what color you choose - it will always paint transparency.

Eraser can be used to remove the painted-on transparency (paint opaque). To remove the whole Transparency Layer from the object, while in Paint-On Transparency mode, press the Remove Bitmap Layer button .

Using the Remove Bitmap Layer button, while NOT in Paint-On Transparency mode, will clear the Transparency and Bitmap Layer. Tip: Paint-On Transparency works with the Bevel option in the same way as normal transparency, and of course you can use Nozzles, or any of the brushes.

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Don't get confused by the Paint-On transparency feature - you will understand its potential when you use, and experiment with it.

11.5

Paint Object

The third type of object you can edit and create with brushes is a Paint Object and unlike the previous two types, this type doesn't need any object to start. To start painting a New object press the Paint Object button. The view will switch to bitmap editing, however, this time, you will see the whole canvas to help you position the brush strokes.

During the painting, we can freely change colors, textures, or brush types. If you make mistake, just use the Erase brush tool, as in the previous examples. When you finish with the painting, you just need to press Esc or click the Arrow Tool button to return back to the vector editing. The part you painted will become a new Object. You can do everything that you can do to other Objects; you can apply bevels, shadows, resize it, move it in layers, etc. Above, we applied a bevel, lights and a shadow. Edit Paint Object If you wish to edit a created paint object (for example to erase some strokes or add new ones), you use the Paint On Object Tool. You can also simply double-click on it, which will have the same effect. Preserve Transparency Edit (Bitmap edit) + CTRL Normally, anytime you click a Paint on Object tool, on the object created as a New Paint Object, you will be editing on a full canvas size with the canvas visible behind. Any strokes you draw will be visible if you stay within the canvas space. If you need to edit the transparency of the strokes, as you would edit a normal bitmap, you can hold CTRL, while clicking on a Paint on Object tool, or hold CTRL while double clicking on the object.
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The Preserve Transparency Edit mode is very similar to the Bitmap editing. If you are in a Preserve Transparency Edit mode, the strokes you paint will be visible only in the places where there are already some strokes - where the object is opaque. In other words, the stroke will not make the object under it opaque, if it is currently transparent, but will preserve the transparency, as during normal bitmap editing. Also in a Preserve Transparency mode you have both the Erase/Transparent tool and the Opaque brush tool, the same as in normal Bitmap Editing.

See the difference in the pictures above: In the first example, we painted on the Paint Object in normal paint mode. In the second example, we painted on the Paint Object in a Preserve Transparency mode (also called Bitmap) Edit mode. While the Paint Object is excellent for adding various shadows, highlights, or color strokes to the airbrush image, it could be used in many other ways. As with any object you can apply various effects to it such as bevel, drop shadow, Extrude and more. Convert the paint Object to Polynome Menu: Object-Convert to-Polynome (Vectorize) Yes, you can convert this object to fully editable Polynome object.

Here we paint with Puzzle Nozzle (1), then convert it into Polynome(2) on which we can now apply all vector editing tricks such as Envelope (3)

11.6

Cloning
Cloning means that you take a part of some image and paint it into the object you edit. There are two types of cloning, each having a few different options

Rubber Stamp

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Rubber Stamp is a great tool for removing unwanted parts of an image, or adding something that wasn't there. It can clone from one part of the image (the source) to another part (the destination). It can even clone from one image to another. First, after you select the Rubber Stamp tool, you have to select the Source. This is the origin from where you want to start cloning. You can always select the origin with a Right mouse click on the particular section of the image that you want to clone, or with a left-click and holding ALT key.

The origin (Source) will be marked by a small cross. The next step is to click with the left mouse button somewhere else on the image - this location becomes the Destination. Next, as you hold the mouse button down and move, the cross will move along with it as well. You will clone the part under the Source (the cross) to the Destination location. In this manner, you can cover one area of the image with another part of the image. Rubber Stamp from a different source. You can use the Rubber Stamp feature to clone from one image or document into a different or document. What you need to do is to open the other object in the bitmap editing mode, and arrange the views so that they are both visible, and then use the Rubber Stamp as before.

Important! The source must be in the Bitmap Editing mode. You can't put a source cross on a view which is in the normal editing mode. Tip: If you need to open two windows from the same document, you can do it in menu: Window New Window: 1. Start in a normal edit Mode 2. Use Window - New Window, now you should have opened two copies of the same document. 3. Open one Bitmap Object for Bitmap editing in one copy of the document 4. Open a different Bitmap Object in the other copy of the document. 5. Use the Rubber stamp 6. After you finish, simply close one of the windows. Note: The Rubber Stamp respects the transparency of the source, where the source is transparent,
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Rubber Stamp doesn't paint anything.

Clone from bottom Layer This is a special technique in Real-DRAW PRO with which you can paint onto an object, whatever is behind the it. This is a perfect way to blend an object into the background, or into other objects.

Above are 2 spheres The second is just a copy of the first one. We opened the second sphere in Bitmap editing mode and selected the Clone from bottom Layer brush, and then carefully painted with it in places where we expected to blend it with the first sphere. On the resulting image, there are still 2 spheres, but the second one now appears to blend into the bottom one. Of course if you now move the top sphere, you would have to repaint the blend part again.

Clone from Blueprint This is another special Real-DRAW PRO technique and it is very similar to the previous method, but this time, it clones from Blueprint 182 , not from the layers below. If the layers below are transparent, only the Blueprint will be visible. If you have the Blueprint feature loaded (See the section about Blueprint) in your project, then whenever you are in a Bitmap editing you will see a small sphere near the Clone from Bottom Layer tool. This sphere is clickable and clicking on it will change its color from white to blue. If the sphere is white, then the tool works as described before - cloning from bottom layer. If the sphere is set to blue, then the tool is cloning from the Blueprint mode.

Above we have a photograph, set as a blueprint, and a vector object of a pair of lips, created by simply outlining the Blueprint. We opened the lips object in the, Bitmap Edit, selected the Clone from Bottom Layer tool, and set the clone sphere to blue. Now we can lightly paint over the object and it will clone the Blueprint photograph You can use Clone from Blueprint (as well as any clone) during any type of bitmap editing - Bitmap Object, Painted Object or Bitmap Layer on Vector object.

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11.7

Advanced Bitmap Edit Mode Options


There are plenty of options dealing with bitmap size that may be confusing at first, but the good thing is you are not normally require to change them. The basic idea is that Real-DRAW PRO tries to hold on the original bitmap data as long as it can in order to use the best quality. This may not always be what you want and so there are few options how to modify the default behaviour. Resized Edit +SHIFT It may happen, that you need to paint something very fine onto an object, but the brushes are too wide. A Resized edit is the cure. What you need to do is to hold SHIFT key while clicking on the Paint on Object Tool. What will happen is that the object will temporarily resize to fit the edit view. This isn't a zoom. The object is physically resized, and then, when you exit the view mode it will return to its original size, with everything you painted on it. In this way you can paint more than pixel precise strokes, even hairlines which are still smooth. On the menu: Object-Bitmap Layer, there are a few additional advanced options which apply to Bitmap editing. Auto Resize Bitmap Layer (Doesn't apply to Draft by Reference) If you resize the bitmap and then try to edit it, Real-DRAW PRO will automatically "apply changes". Normally Real-DRAW PRO holds the original size of the bitmap until you "Apply Changes" or save the project. You can change this behavior, by un-checking the Auto resize Bitmap Layer from the menu: Object Bitmap Layer. If auto resize isn't used and you resize the bitmap, then when you go to the edit mode you will work on the original size bitmap. The size before, last "Apply Changes".

If you rotate the bitmap and then try to edit it, you will edit on its before rotation state. Resize Bitmap Layer to Object With rotation, changing shape and other changes on the object, the size of the Object changes. The Bitmap Layer will be always be dynamically resized to the size of object. If you don't use the above option, then in many cases you will edit the object in a different size than it appears to be. This may be desired or not, so you have the tool to force the bitmap layer to become the same size as object.
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Snapshot From the Object Snapshot From the Object will copy the image, showing how the object looks (with bevel, and all the effects) into its bitmap layer. This may for example be used, if for any reason you need to know how the beveled object looks during the bitmap editing. Paint on Edge If you switch the Paint on Edge, to on, you will only be able to paint on the edges of objects, with specified Widths (the width slider will appear on the top tool bar). This is useful if you need to matte the edge of an object for example, when painting a very thin joint, shadow/highlights, between two objects. Tip: If you look at a fine painting or photograph, you will see that the edges often don't go simply from the shadow to the object color. Some times they go in a very thin layer, from shadow first, an then to a highlight, and then after that to the object color. Other times it is quite the opposite. The gradient is however always hairline thin. You can paint a similar edge, by using the Paint on Edge technique. You first select a color; set a larger Width, and then paint lightly on the edge. You then set a smaller width and select another color. Paint over the edge again, and if you did it right, you will have created a hairline edge. Of course you can put more layers, or paint several more times to create the desired effect.

11.8

Editing Brushes
You can easily create your own brushes, or you can create many interesting variations from the existing ones. In case you want to adjust brushes or add a new brush, you can do it from the Brush Properties dialog box. To get to the Brush properties, select any brush from the Brush bar, and click with the right mouse button on it, or click the small arrow near the bottom of the Brush Library. Then from the Brush Library menu, select Edit. If you want to create a new brush, click Add.

Name The name of the brush - could be anything.

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Size In the case of Circular or Rectangular brushes, this is the size of the Brush. Blur In the case of Circular or Rectangular brushes, this is the Blur of the brush. The blur creates a smooth blending edge. Air Brushes for example, generally have a large Blur Value. Spacing The Spacing is the distance between the brush marks in the stroke. The value is a percentage of the brush Size. The different spacing is most visible on Non-circular brushes:

Enable or Disable Spacing. In order for most of the Brushes to work properly, they should have the Spacing Enabled by putting a check mark next to the Spacing slider. Otherwise, the steps will depend on the speed of the mouse as it travels across the image. In many Brushes this will result in the separation of the complete stroke into dots as you move faster. However, in some exotic brushes this could be a desired effect.

The first Brush uses Spacing, but the Second does not have the spacing enabled. Notice there is no check mark next to the Spacing slider. The spacing will depend on the speed of the stroke. When you move slowly, the brush is denser, but more quickly, and it becomes sparser. Type of Brushes There are essentially 2 types of brush. A generated brush, such as Circular or Rectangular, and a brush created using different bitmaps and masks. Circular or Rectangular These are basic brushes, and you can set size, blur and spacing. Bitmap The Bitmap brush uses a bitmap for the brush mask. The bitmap brush doesn't take the color information from the bitmap but uses instead the intensity of the image to make the brush mask. Generally for Bitmap brushes, you would use black and white images. The black is transparent, and the white will be opaque, and the Bitmap Brush will paint the selected color. An example of a Bitmap Brush is shown below.

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Here is an example of a type of Bitmap Mask, used for the Bitmap Brush. You can load the Bitmap with the button "Load Mask". Check "Negative" if you want to load the mask as a negative image.

Above is what we painted with the Bitmap Brush. The effect was dependent on the spacing set. Now this is probably not a very useful brush unless you're drawing a "Slinky". Most brushes shouldn't be donut shaped.

How to create a Bitmap Brush in Real-DRAW PRO.

In the document, draw a star, set the color black, select a Transparent Texture, and move the transparency to the fullest setting. In the menu: Project, we select Trim Canvas, to make the size of the canvas, the same as the size of the star. Go to Menu: File-Export First we need to have the brush smaller, so we'll resize it to 40 %. You don't have to use sharpen Select Alpha Mask Only. The preview should look something like this:

Export it in JPG, PNG or BMP format. Open a new document and press a New Paint Object tool, to get to the bitmap editing mode. Right click on the Brush Library and select Add On the Brush Properties, select Type Bitmap, and click the Load Mask button. Select the previously saved file. You can leave all other parameters as they are and click OK Now paint something with this brush. The result should be something like this

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Note: If you use a PNG Transparent image to load the Mask - the alpha channel from the image will be loaded. Image Brush This is an extension of the Bitmap Brush. While the Bitmap brush takes only the mask for the brush, the Image Brush takes the mask as well as texture - or image information. Basically we need to create 2 files, one is a mask and the other one is the image itself. Another way, is to load the Transparent PNG as a brush. The transparent PNG carries the information for the image and the mask. If you use 2 files, you first need to load the image with Load and then the mask with the Load Mask button. If you use the Transparent PNG, it is sufficient to just load it with the Load Button. How to Create an Image Brush.

In the document, we draw a circle and apply any of the styles from the Style Library. In the above picture you can see that that is has a metallic look, and a drop shadow. In the menu: Project, we select the Trim Canvas Expanded to make the size of the canvas the same as the size of our object and drop shadow Go to the menu: File-Export. If you prefer you can resize it to a smaller size and use some sharpening to bring the details out. Select the PNG Transparent format and the preview should look something like this.

Export it. Open a new document and press a New Paint Object tool, to get to the bitmap editing mode. Right click on the Brush Library and select Add. On the Brush Properties, select Type Image Brush, and click the Load button. Select the previously saved file. You can leave all other parameters as they are and click OK. Now paint something with this brush.

The result should look like this ...

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Interesting brush! Notice that it doesn't matter which color you select, it always paints the brush with an image. This is a great way to add interesting brushes. But what if you want to change color? For that function, Image Brush has a Color overlay option. Color overlay Color Overlay allows you to select any color for the Image Brush. Open the previously created brush - Select the brush in the Library and click on it with a right mouse button to open the menu. Select Edit.

In the Brush properties, Set the Color Overlay.

Click OK, select any color, and then paint.

Our Image Brush can now paint with any color.If you want to get more from this feature, you need to create the brush image with lighter colors. You can see that the Image Brush is an incredibly strong type of brush. With some experimentation you can create very interesting, artistic and unique brushes. Try to experiment with the various transparencies. For example. Image Hose The image brush is very powerful, but how about adding a few different images in a row, into one brush? Here is an image Hose type of brush! With the Image Hose, you have to click Settings on the Brush Properties to go to the more advanced
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options. This is basically the same idea as with the Image Brush, but here we have a list of images. You can load the image with Add Image if you are using a PNG transparency as your source, or if not you can load the mask for each brush with the Load Alpha Mask.

Let's modify the previous example. We'll apply different styles to our circle and save each one under a different name, as a PNG Transparency. Now create a new brush, select Image Nozzle, open Settings and load images, one by one with the Add Image Button. Adjust the spacing a bit more, 30% for example. Click OK and paint.

Distribution of the images Sequentially - the images will be "sprayed" in the same order as they are listed in the list box. Randomly - the images will be randomly chosen Directional - the image will be chosen from the angle you paint. For example, if we have 5 images, 360 degrees divided by 5 is 72. That means that as we paint, that a different image will appear for every 72 degrees of change in the mouse travel angle. Note: 0 degrees (and image 1) is horizontally oriented to the right side. The angle used for image selection will continue in a clockwise direction at 72 degree increments in the above example. Example of different distributions

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The Directional distribution is great for Brushes, which should follow your path as you draw. For example, arrows. Below we we created 8 images of an arrow, each rotated 45 degrees from the previous angle. Don't touch that calculator :-) 45 x 8 is 360 degrees, so we needed 8 images.

The Image Hose type of Brush has the Color overlay option as well. Pressure Sensitivity. This works if you have a Pressure Sensitive Tablet. There are a few options as to how the brush will behave regarding the pressure information i.e. how hard you press with your stylus. None. No Pressure will be applied. This would be useful for Image Nozzles for example. Pressure. This will change according to how hard you press on the brush. This is a good choice for Natural and Artistic brushes, because it simulates the real situation. Opacity. This will change the opacity of the resulting brush, according to the pressure on the stylus. A good choice for "Airbrush" like brushes. Press. & Opacity. A combination of Pressure and opacity Speed. This one actually works without a Pressure sensitive Tablet. It isn't related to the pressure on the stylus, but it takes into account the speed of your drawing stroke. If you draw slowly, the stroke will be denser than if you draw fast. The minimum density is set by the Spacing parameter, and in order for Speed to work, the Spacing must be enabled. The rest are various combinations of the above. Brush preview You can let the software generate the preview for you automatically, or if you want a specific image, for
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example, for Nozzles, you might want to show the path. You can paint anything and save it as a file. In the Brush properties window, turn the Auto generate switch off, and Load the saved image. This image will now be the preview image seen in the library list box. A Secret: Instead of loading the image, you can even paste an image from the clipboard into the preview by pressing Alt-P Note: Real-DRAW PRO has the same format of brushes as does the Photo-Brush software from www. photobrush.com.

Working with the Brush library If you select any brush and then click on the library with right mouse button, a menu will appear. You can also use a small arrow near the left bottom of the library. Add Add a new brush. For more info about creating a new brush see Brush Properties. Delete Delete the currently selected brush from the Brush Library. Edit Edit the Brush Properties. Import / Export Import or Export one brush from/to current Library. The brush has the extension *.br1 You can use Export and Import if you (for example) want to move or copy a brush from one Library into another. Load / Save Library This loads or saves the *.brs library. The Brush Library is a set of Brushes grouped into one library. To make a library available for Real-DRAW PRO it has to be in the directory of Brushes. Then next time Real-DRAW PRO starts, it will show the new library in the Library combo-box on the Brushes Tool bar. Sort Sort the brushes in the library. For example, if you would like to have the brushes that you use the most on the top. You can also change a name of a brush here. Creating your own library You can use User1 library for your new creation. Or, if you want to add a totally new library you can ... Save any Library under a different name in the directory Brushes, then exit and start Real-DRAW PRO again. Copy an empty .brs file from the Brushes\Empty folder into the Brushes folder, then rename it and start Real-DRAW PRO. Note: Brush libraries will be sorted alphabetically in the Library Selection Combo Box.

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11.9

Bitmap Envelope Editing


You may have realized from the previous chapters, that a Bitmap can be distorted with the envelope the same way as text. Before you use the envelope for the first time, you have to convert the Bitmap to Envelope. To do that, go to menu: Bitmap and select Convert to Envelope or press the button on bottom toolbar.

Note: In order to make smooth effects, you have to move the envelope inwards - making the resulting object smaller.

You can make very interesting effects with the Bitmap on Envelope, however, this takes some time to calculate and the results are not always smooth.

Perspective Transformation (High Quality) The Envelope is an interesting tool for bitmaps but Real-DRAW PRO has another tool for re-shaping bitmaps (this time with advanced quality). Select a bitmap object and press the Perspective Transformation tool. (This Tool is on the bottom bar, not on the left tool bar) Main Perspective Transformation application is for Packages 148 , however it works for Bitmap Objects as well.

Simply select any bitmap and press the Perspective Transformation tool. Now you can drag each of the Bitmap corner to move the 2D image in the 3D Perspective space. When finished simply click on Arrow tool or doubleclick on the image. Note: The perspective will remain even if you rotate the object.

Make a Texture Real-DRAW PRO uses textures on the disk. There are enough quality textures with Real-DRAW PRO to allow you to design almost anything, however, you can make your own texture and copy it to the directory Textures. (PhotoSEAM makes wonderful textures for this purpose) If you want to use a texture just for a project, you can load a Bitmap, and from menu: Bitmap select Make a Texture. This will create a temporary project-specific texture. From now on in this project you will see a new
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texture in the texture list box. Real-DRAW PRO doesn't save textures to the *.rdw Project file by default, however, once you add a project-specific texture to a project, this project will also always save all used textures to an *.idr project file as well. The project file will be much bigger in this case. There is also an option in general settings to allow/disallow saving of the textures. Note: You can't add the objects, with user textures, to the Object library. The object will only work for the project for which the texture was defined.

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12.1

Packages
Packages
Package is in fact one of the most important features of Real-DRAW PRO. Understanding it will not only multiply your productivity, but will allow you to create more detailed illustrations, new effects, and much more. Packages are a revolutionary, Real-DRAW PRO own feature.

Generally speaking, Package is the ability to divide a large project into segments, where you can edit each segment (called Package) and its objects separately, in a different view. The Package itself shows in your main document as a single object which you can transform any way you like - resize, rotate, perspective transform, or add various effects to it such as drop shadow, bevel or lights. These transformations will never change the objects inside, and the objects keep their own transformations and effects. Because you can resize the package, it also means that you have the ability to design the contents of a package in a larger view than it appears in your document and create many more details. Packaging has many obvious benefits - the system needs less memory and you don't get lost in hundreds of objects, but it has also many hidden benefits. The ability to apply additional effects to a package, plus easy transformation, with non-destructive sharpening and the ability to Clone Package, and to create more details. It can be used for much more than saving some space, and making editing easier ! Packages are a higher form of Groups, and provide you with the ability to create large projects, divide project into logical segments and then apply effects globally to a whole group of objects. Working with Packages is very transparent to the user. You can easily create a Package from any group of objects, and even from a single one, with edit Package, update, and Unpack the Package, whenever you need. Because the Packages open in a separate document you can easily add, copy, or remove objects in-orout of the package. Differences between Package and Groups Both areu sed for grouping objects. However the major difference is when you apply effects or properties to each.

We have two objects, we can either Group them or Package them Here we first Group the objects and then apply some effects such as drop shadow , bevel and lights on the whole Group

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This time we Package the objects and apply the same effects to Package If we apply effects to a Group, each object in the group will get the new properties. If we apply effects to a Package, the effect will be applied on top of all other effects and properties. That is, each object inside will keep its settings, yet another set of effects will be applied to them globally. It means for example that if the objects inside Package have each a different bevel we can still apply another bevel to the whole Package.

Here is an example of the idea. We created our object by simply applying 3D Ball bevel effect from the 3D Bevel properties. Now if we Package the object we can apply yet another Bevel on top of it from the same 3D Bevel properties. This time we used Saucer bevel. This gives you unlimited possibilities in applying effects. Other difference is when you want to edit the objects inside Groups or Packages. Package Document Color In most cases you don't have to worry about the background color of the package document either. However in some cases a very little fringe may appear due to the antialiasing. For example if you create a Package of black objects on a white Package background and then place this package on a black background in the main document, you'll probably see a very thin light fringe around the package objects. It's easy to fix. When you're editing the Package, just set the background color (In the Project-Size and Color) to approximate the background on which the package will be placed, in the main document. Note: It doesn't have to be a perfect match.

12.2

Create and Edit Package

It is very easy to create a Package, just select all the objects that you want to be packaged and press the, Create package button or from the menu: Object - Package - Create Package

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You also have the ability to freely transform a package, and can also add any of the effects to it. Adding bevel, shadow or lights, will apply to the whole package, but the objects inside will be never be touched, and they'll keep their own effects!

Above, we added some lights and a drop shadow to the whole Package. Edit a Package Another great feature in Real-DRAW PRO is the ability to edit objects inside a Package without the need to unpack it. This is simply done. Just double-click on a package, or click the Edit Package Button. The package will open in a separate view where you can edit all the packaged objects.

When you finish you just need to close the Package window. You can either click on close button which will ask you to save to package (Answer Yes) or simply hit the green OK button on the top left corner of your package canvas (where Rulers meet)

Hitting the red X will close the package without accepting changes. Tip: If you want to keep the Package window open and just update the Package in a main view. Simply hit the Save button and the package in the main document will be updated.

12.3

Package Document
Package Document size You don't have to worry about the document size of the package. When you edit the package it will always appear in a document large enough to encapsulate all of the objects.

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You can freely add (or move) any object outside the Package document, and when you close the Package, all will be smartly updated the right way. You don't have to worry about moving, or resizing the result, or the package document. This behavior is indicated in the Size and Color 28 settings of the Package Canvas by the checked option: Dynamic Update of Package Canvas Size.

Note: In special cases you can disallow this option and the Package will be cropped to the Canvas size. Size and color of the package canvas (Size and Color Dialog) The Package canvas is transparent when shown in the original document. Normally the Package size is updated dynamically. That means that if you add another object out of the Package canvas, it will be resized as soon as you save the package. This way all the objects will always be visible in the package.

On the Size and Color dialog, this is indicated by checked Dynamical Update of Package Canvas Size. In special cases when you don't want this behavior you can uncheck this option. In that case the package will be cropped by the Package canvas size. This will also be indicated by the title of the Package window : "Package (Canvas Crop)". A typical example of this is the e-book cover sample.

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The Blue circle and letter B are "bleeding" from the canvas. They are just partially inside the canvas.

Because we didn't use Dynamical Update of Canvas Size, the package will be cropped at the Canvas. This is what we want.

This is if we do use Dynamical Update - obviously this isn't what we wanted.

12.4

Working with packages


The multi-documented interface gives you a lot of freedom and you can open, and edit any number of packages you want at the same time. You can edit a package and the main document at the same time. You may even open the same package more than once, make different changes and then, whichever package you save, will be updated in a main document. It's also easy to copy objects between packages, or between the main document and packages. In our example, we added lights to each small element in the package, and then closed the Package View, after answering "yes" to the Real-DRAW PRO question about saving changes to the main document.

The lights applied to the whole package will be mixed with the lights applied to each element. Working with packages has other benefits. You can actually design the Package in a larger view than it will be used in in the main document. This enables you to create a lot of small details. Tip: You can eventually treat the package as a bitmap that you can apply normal bitmap effects to, or paint on it. You should remember that these effects will be removed every time you update the Package from its data. While it's fine to paint on a Package, in the long run it would be better, if you opened the package, created a new paint object and painted whatever you needed there, and then closed the package. Same effect, but more flexibility!

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Copy a Package When you copy and paste a package, you also copy and paste the embedded objects. If you create three copies of the Package object, then you can edit each Package separately, and change the objects in each copy of the package differently.

Above, we re-sized the package and created 3 copies of it, simply by using Copy and Paste. We then opened each package and changed the colors of few objects. Sometimes you won't need to keep all of the objects embedded in the copy. You may for example decide to copy an image 20 times, and it would be just a waste of space and memory, if each image included all of the objects embedded inside. Create a Bitmap Object from package We can do it in two ways: Copy the Package, and then, instead of the normal Paste, use Paste as Bitmap from the menu: Edit Select the package, and then from the menu: Bitmap - Create use New Bitmap from Selected Object(s) The new Bitmap Object will look exactly the same as the package, and you can add effects to it as well, but you obviously can't edit the objects inside. Note: The Bitmap will be created in exactly the same way as the object looks on screen. If you have a drop shadow, bevel or lights applied on the object, then the bitmap will have it as well, and it will be non-removable. If you're planning to adjust these parameters, then it would be better to create a bitmap from the object, without any effects applied and then apply the effects to the newly created bitmap. Reload a Package Nothing that you do to the Package from the outside (except deleting it), such as resizing, applying effects, rotating etc. will change the original data inside. Some times it may happen that you want to reload a package from these original data. It is usually in these cases: You applied permanent bitmap effects to a package, such as Oil painting, and you don't want them any more, so instead of opening and closing the package you can just reload it. You resized the Package, and now you would like to have it the same size as the objects inside. The first case is obvious - you can apply bitmap effects to the package, such as "Aged Photo", or you can paint on the package.

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Reloading Package will remove these effects. See tip, in the "Edit a Package" section. The second case. If you resize a package, then the data inside will remain at the original size. You may want to make the Package the same size as the original without unpacking. To reload a Package: Select it in menu: View - and press the Reload Package button. with options will appear: A window

It just depends on how the Packaged object should change its size Reload and set the Package aspect ratio (default) The aspect ratio of the Package in the main document will become the same as the aspect ratio of the objects inside the Package. This means that the Package will look the same as when editing, except that it may be a different size, depending on how you resized it. This, in most cases is the best choice. Reload, keeping the current aspect ratio The size and aspect ratio of the Package will remain the same as before using Reload. Because the Package inside has changed its size, in most cases the result will look shrunken or expanded in one direction, but the total size of the image will remain the same. Reload and Resize to the original The size and aspect ratio of the Package will be set to the same size as the data inside. If the Package was rotated, this will be reset as well.

In the example above we resized the package and shrank it in a horizontal direction, and then applied a bitmap effect (colorize from Tweak set). Note: Keep the Current ratio. It has the same effect as simply opening and saving the package. Texture Transformation This will reset any texture transformation done with Texture Size and Rotation

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Unpack Package You can Unpack a package, anytime. The package object will be deleted and all the objects from inside will be returned to the main document at their original size.

Non-Destructive Sharpen Package, as well as Bitmaps, has a special property - Interactive Sharpen, and you can access it from the bounding box.

Interactive Sharpen is a great way to sharpen a Package especially after downsizing it. It is a nondestructive effect and you can increase or decrease the sharpness, any time you want, and as many times you want. It is easy to use, just click on the second top handle of any bitmap or package, and move the slider up or down.

12.5

Crop Package
You can use the Interactive Export Crop inside a Package.

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This will make the package on the main document visible only inside its crop

Example: By duplicating the Package (Copy and Paste) and cropping each different way you can for example easily "split" complex object into two or more parts which would be much harder to do otherwise.

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12.6

Clone Package
Menu Object - Package - Create Clone Another interesting feature of package is that it can be cloned. Create Clone will create a new object which will be a clone of the Source Package. Anytime you update the Source Package (by opening and closing) all the clones will be updated as well. Clones and Sources are clearly marked when you select them. If you double click on Clone, you will automatically go inside the Source package. Clones have however some independency on the Source Package: They can be created in different sizes, rotated, or transformed They can have their own effects: Non-Destructive Sharpen level and Color Correction. The Restrictions: Related Clones and Sources must be in the same logical document. Related Clones and Sources must all be in the same Package or outside the Package, they can't be across different packages or package, and main document. Clone Relations can't be copied with Copy/Paste, except when you copy a Clone to a document where the Source also exists. If you break the restrictions, you will break the relationship between the source and the clone, but both objects will remain intact - the Source as a Package and the Clone as a normal Bitmap Object.

In the above example we created a package with 3 objects. Next we created a Clone object from the menu: Object-package-Create Clone. Then we resized the new object, copied it to the clipboard and pasted it 3 times back into document. Now we can transform each Clone, as we want - Vertical/Horizontal Flip, Rotation, or even add more complex effects to them. You can change the source by double clicking on either the source, or any of the clones, adding a new object or changing the color of another.All 4 clones will update accordingly, preserving their own effects. Note: You can actually have nested clones (Similar to nested Packages), and you can select all the objects, the source and the clones, and package them creating one clone from that package. Cloning is a very powerful tool in the right hands. To explore more, please load the example packclone.rdw

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In the example above we have one source and a few clones. Each of the clones has a different properties set, and sometimes a drop shadow, a bevel or a healthy glow. Also, each clone has set different Color Correction so each clone has a slightly different color shade. All of the clones are also horizontally flipped. Then we opened the Source, by double-clicking on it, (actually double clicking on any clone will open the source anyway) and changed the color of the original sheet. We then closed the open package, and all the clones were updated accordingly, preserving their own settings.

12.7

Perspective Transformation

Menu Object - Package - Perspective transformation This command works like a tool where you can drag each corner of the package to stretch the package image in perspective space. Thanks to this feature you can simply design your package in regular view and then adjust its perspective. Of course this is fully dynamical so anytime you can double-click on the Package to edit it in regular 2D view.

We designed this Package as simple 2D view of a book cover.

With Perspective Transformation you can stretch the 2D package in the 3D space.

One example would be to build a whole image of a book where the Cover and Spine are Packages, each always editable in the regular simple 2D view.

Another example could be a facade of a building - design it from the front and then simply stretch it to the desired perspective. You should keep the edges as close to the object boundaries as possible. It is best to resize the object to the final size and then move the perspective.

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Note: This tool also works for simple Bitmap Objects use Envelope Tool 145 .

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. For any other vector objects you should

12.8

Liquid Package/Bitmap
Liquid Brushes allows you to use organic manipulation of objects. Packages and Bitmaps works differently with Liquid Shape 42 tools than regular objects. While with regular objects the Liquid Brush changes only its shape, with Packages and Bitmaps the Brush changes (smears) also the texture. Knowing the editing flexibility of Packages, this allows us to do new special effects. Consider This Image

Now we will select both objects and press Create Package Button.

The objects will be wrapped in a Package. If we go to Liquid Shape tool the window will switch to the Liquid Bitmap where we can smear the graphics with the Brushes similarly to the Liquid Shape 42 .

Note how we smear the texture, not only the shape. Since we apply this to the package, after pressing Apply in the Liquid Bitmap window we can still edit each of the objects! Now double click on the Package to enter Package Edit Mode, change color of one of the object and press OK to close
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Package. The whole Package will be updated using the previously created Liquid Bitmap.

We can add objects and also at any time redraw the Liquid Bitmap. Also we can use Liquid Shape inside the Package and the Liquid Bitmap on the Package... the possibilities are endless.

12.9

Other
Compact Packages Menu Object - Package - Compact package This command was added for easier Internet distribution. It basically removes any pre-build Package data and sets a Package or Clone to a preview mode showing a light transparent cyan image. Then you can save the file. Compacting packages may reduce the size of the saved *.rdw file by more than a 50% per package. The next time the compacted file is loaded, Real-DRAW PRO will automatically rebuild the missing packages from the data and also any of the missing Clones from Packages. It reduces the file size, but the drawback is that it takes longer during loading, due to the rebuilding time. This is however only a one time process for any end user because once the file has done its rebuilding, it will be automatically updated. Other things to know

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There are few tips and rules for packages Packages are great if you use Multimedia Extension 222 and then you can design a complex button, package it, and then add a Highlighted and Pushed frame. In each frame you can change the data inside the Package and the whole package will be exported as one button. You can have as many nested Packages as you want and can for example, select 2 Packages and create a new package from them. It will have the same logic - if you edit the master package, it will open a Package Window with your 2 nested packages, and double clicking on each will open another Package Window etc. You are not limited to how deep the recursion can be, and you can have packages inside packages inside packages. You can pack just a single object. For example you can apply one effect on the object, Package it and then apply another effect.

Above, we created simple text with a bevel and applied a Bevel feature Halo to it. Then we Packaged it and applied a 3D Extrude and a Drop Shadow to the Package. You can't Package a single Package. You can't use the Lens effect across documents. That means, it is fine if the Lens effect works inside a package, but you won't get the Lens effect from an Object inside a package, on objects which are outside the package. Of course, you can apply a lens effect to the whole package and that's fine. You can use the Texture Size and Rotation 82 tool on the Package and the clones as well. While the best way to rotate a Package is to use the normal Rotation tool, and to resize the Package to a normal object by, resizing, you can also use the Texture Size and Rotation tool to adjust the Package appearance in more advanced way. You can change the perspective for example, perform a crop, or stretch it in various directions. And as with other effects, Clones can each have different Texture Size & Rotation settings. To reset the rotation settings use either Reload Package or Texture Size & Rotation - Reset.

When resizing a package, remember that to obtain the best quality you need to resize down, and not up from the original package size. The same goes if you change perspective.

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13.1

Global NPR
Overview
Until now we tried to explain how to use Real-Draw to draw realistic looking images. If you read this manual from beginning you probably think that we are finally nearing the end of the many Real-Draw features. Wrong! This chapter will put all the previously learned knowledge on its head. NPR stands for Non-Photo Realistic styles or Natural Paint Rendering if you want. Each NPR style change Real-Draw into a different tool: a chalk, paintbrush, pencil, watercolor, engraving tool and much more. This is not just a simple output effect. The NPR styles go into the deep core of the Real-Draw objects and use their VectorBit information to change the whole character of it. When you set the NPR it doesn't just change the look of the objects, in fact you start drawing in that particular style. Why to use NPR style As any good illustrator knows a pleasing and consistent style makes the image look far more complete and polished even without any actual details. Consider creating the same illustration in realistic style and in a hand-painted style. Even smallest imperfection in the realistic style will stand out like a sore thumb while an hand-drawn illustration uses the imperfections to its advantage For example our brain will figure out the expression of the characters in the great Ernest Shepard illustrations even what we actually see are just very basic suggestions of the detail. With the help of NPR Style you can craft a good looking illustration much faster than normally because the NPR will supply the consistent style across the whole image and make the image look more finished. The following is a simple illustration created within two minutes, the left uses no style and the right uses one of the many NPR styles.

NPR's are normally applied Globally (However you can as easily apply them on per-object or Package basis) This is usually used to make the drawing more unconventional by applying various techniques that mimic a hand-drawn process, like this sketch:

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This doesn't of course end with sketches, the NPR Styles are extremely flexible to follow various types of Non-Photo Realistic techniques from Illustration styles to painting or engraving.

The Global NPR Style apply on top of all Object Styles, it doesn't replace them, in fact it uses them to further refine the style. It is completely Non-Destructive so you can at any time switch into different NPR Style or switch them off.

When you apply NPR Style to your document it applies to all current objects in the document and also to all the objects you will draw next (until you switch to another Style). So you can start drawing by simply switching into the favorite style first and then start drawing the objects.

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Styles have various options how to work with the effects and settings of an object. For Example Black and White style such as Ink Sketch will simply make all the objects in various styles of gray regarding of the set color. Some other Style may ignore the Texture applied to object etc.. Don't be surprised by this!

13.2

Apply NPR Style


You can set the Style at any time, the simples way is to use the Global NPR tab in the Styles palette.

All you need to do is to click on any of the style and it will be applied globally to the whole document. Apply Style on a Per-Object Basis You can apply NPR style only to a certain objects. This could be done by using the NPR Settings that can be accessed by clicking on the Global NPR Style button on toolbar or using menu Project - Global NPR Style.

The settings will be examined in another topic, but to apply any preset or custom settings to an object or selection of objects use the Apply to Selected button on the Global NPR Styles.

Apply Style to Packages Each package can have its own Global NPR Style, but if you want to apply a single Style to all objects

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inside packages use the Process Packages (Recursive) option on the Global NPR Styles.

Otherwise you can switch it off, then open a package and set a completely different NPR Style as a Global Style Inside Package, then close the package. This way you can easily mix various styles on one document and keep it all clean using packages.

13.3

NPR Quick Adjust


You can quickly adjust the NPR look of each object (or selection of the objects) separately with the NPR Quick Adjust slider that is available on the Color & Texture palette.

Note: This slider has the same effect as changing the Rel. Intensity on the NPR Settings applying it to the selection.

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It will adjust the shading type of Multisample strokes and change the relative strength of the fill brush that is applied to the object. Here is a typical effect of the slider on an object:

Note: Applying a NPR Style globally will reset the per-object settings, therefore the slider in Color & Texture should be used to fine-tune a style after it has been applied and set-up globally. Example of fine-tuning the image. The image on the left has only the stock NPR style "Real Illustration" applied. Using the NPR Quick Adjust slider we can fine-tune each object to better fit into the composition.

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13.4

NPR Style Settings


To adjust NPR Style, create New one or apply it on Per-Object basis we use the Global NPR Style settings.

The Settings could be intimidating at first because of the various options. Here are the main groups:

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1 - Presets, the same as Shown in the Style palette under Global NPR, here you can delete or add new preset with the buttons under the preset window. 2 - The Main Switch - it switches the NPR ON or OFF, all styles have this obviously ON, while the first Style called NONE, have this OFF. 3 - Outline Brush - settings for the outline 4 - Fill Brush - settings how the fill of the object will be adjusted 5 - Color Load - the characteristics of the Fill Brush Style, this largely modify the painting style 6 - Shadow settings - how the Shadow will be processed 7 - Large Preview window with some default objects to see the changes 8 - Various settings 9 - Global Settings per whole document Preset Window The Preset window shows all the available preset (default or newly created). You can delete the selected preset with the button Delete or add new preset with "Add Preset". Presets with yellow M square are multi-sample (more complex) presets. Note: you can scroll the preset window by clicking anywhere and dragging it.

Apply the Style

There are three ways to apply the style: Apply Globally - The style will be applied to all object, existing and new (this is the same as clicking on a style in the NPR Style bar on main screen) Apply to Selected - The style will be applied only to selected objects Apply to New - The style will be applied only to new object you going to create
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The Basic idea of Stye A Style consist of an outline brush set in the section (3) and the Fill set in sections (4) (5) and (6). Outline Brush

Here you select the Brush from the various Brush presets and set its: Hardness (how strong will be the drawing) Thickness (how thick will be the outline). Color - the color of the outline Brush/Pen Here are different values of Hardness:

Obj. Color - the Color will be used from the Fill of the object instead of a particular color. This is good for the various Paint styles where we don't use outline any particular pen but still want a certain outline, such as oil colors. It works best with a fat brush. Dark - works with Obj. Color. This will make the outline to be darker instead of it being lighter in color. Here is difference between normal color and Obj. Color on rather thick brush:

Overlap Strokes - overlap some strokes, this works closely with the brush and its size. Depending on the brush this could have opposite effect (the strokes may overlap more when switched off) Use Layer Transp. - Use the Layer transparency for outline. If not used then the outline will be always
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on even if you put Layer transparency to zero. Change with Size - the brush thickness will be changed depending on the object size. Some styles that are usually paint with brushes use this, where we can "use" smaller brush for smaller objects, other styles such as various pen drawings do not use this option as we normally don't "use" thinner pen when drawing smaller objects. Fill Brush

This will set the way the Fill of object is processed. It is the set of techniques that creates particular style. First you select a Stroke preset. This is an image of the way the technique is used on a paper. On the image above we have use MultiMarker1 Multisample Stroke - some of the stroke presets are called multisample where the stroke can dynamically change its character during drawing. The multisample strokes are build to produce very fine detailed output. MultiSample strokes have "Multi" as their prefix and this setting is automatically set when Multisample stroke is used. You may switch the Multisample Stroke option off to get different type of output. Rel. Intensity - changes the relative draw intensity of the Fill Brush stroke. Left it darkens - right it lightens the color or pattern . It also work closely with the pattern coverage of Multisample Stroke: Here are different values of Rel.Intensity on Multisample Stroke

This setting is probably one of the most used when drawing in a NPR style, especially with Multisample
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strokes as it can be used to fine-tune each object look -for example you would prefer more or less pattern shown on some object. Therefore this slider is also available on the Color & Texture palette where it changes each object separately.

Please note that applying a NPR Style globally will reset the per-object settings, therefore the slider in Color & Texture should be used to fine-tune a style after it has been applied and set-up globally. Color Load These settings further define the way colors are mixed and how they react on a paper. Paint type - this is set of basic paint proto-types. This is the way how the paint is applied and it works closely with the Stroke type. The name suggest the common usage, but it is a guidance because different stroke types with different paint type will produce yet different results Thinning Solution - this represents a thinning solution in the color and how it reacts. Like adding water into the Watercolor Type will make it lighter, removing water will make its color bolder as on the image below: Here are different values of Thinning Solution:

Smear - how much the color is smeared outside the object boundaries. Random Wave - this works with the settings of Wave Strength. It will make straight edges of the object appear more hand drawn. Shadow Few settings how the shadow is processed. Wave Shadow - like the Random Wave previously, this will make the shadow look more hand drawn. Clamp Shadow Blur - normal shadow has rather nice smooth blur. This may not be desirable for some techniques where it is not easy to create such smooth blur - like pen or crayon drawings. This will make the shadows appear more sharp. Texturize shadow - if to use the Fill Stroke to a shadow or not. In most cases this is yes, if you don't use it then the object may appear as cut out by using the original smooth shadow. Misc Settings

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Wave Strength - the Strength of the hand-painted look where straight edges will appear curved. Strong number above 100 create unrealistic wave. Apply to Editable Text - if the Editable text will use the NPR Style or not. This can be also switch on/ off easily on the Text edit dialog (as "Apply Global NPR") in per object basis Make Small Text more readable - a small text will be processed with finer details than other objects to be more readable. Apply Liquid Shape to Outline Brush - allows to apply existing Liquid shape 42 to the outline brush and fill or only to the the fill. This Shows the effect of Liquid Shape on outline Brush. The irregular paint streak was created from circle in Liquid shape by first pulling streaks then erasing them in the middle to create disassociated blobs. The left image has not applied the Liquid Shape on the Outline which looks like the color run out of our pre-drawn shape during painting, while the right image has it applied to the outline which looks as if we planned to have this streak.

Disable Objects Own Texture - many styles do not look right if the object has applied some texture on other Styles this may create interesting effect. Apply To Bitmaps - the coloring will be applied to bitmaps and painted bitmap objects as well. This may not work very well with most of the simple styles for regular images or produce any realistic/usable output. Some Styles are on the other hand suitable 178 for Bitmap processing. Here are two images - one when the Apply to Bitmap doesn't work very well (Watercolor) and another where it produces rather interesting output (Charaocal)

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Process Packages - the style will be applied inside the packages (recursively) Warn when Selection - if you press Apply Globally and you have selection it will pop a warning message making sure you want to apply the style globally and not to the selection only.

13.5

NPR Area Gradient


One thing that sets real painting apart from a computer generated one is the amount of complex colors and shades that easily appears on real-life canvas but are hard to emulate using software. If you enjoy painting or watch somebody who paints you see how the colors are constantly being mixed (intentionally or not) on both palette and canvas. Some approximation for this in a software could be usage of gradients. It helps of course, but typical gradient geometry (radial, linear etc...) tends to look too perfect unlike real art where it is far more difficult to produce smooth gradient. For this purpose we created Area Gradient tool and you can see it at work here:

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Area Gradient is not bound to any geometry - in fact you are creating the gradient geometry by placing Grad points over the whole area as you would when using brushes. Show Area Gradient Controls If the Area Gradient is not visible, click the Area Gradient tool button:

Area Gradient colors will replace the basic object color as set in Color & Texture 78 . You can still mix Textures and all other effects. Area Gradient works with or without NPR style but it is especially beneficial for the NPRs.

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How to Use To Start using Area Gradient, select any vector-based object and press the blue Edit Area Gradient Button:

This will immediately add first two Grad points to the object:

Adding more Grad points. To add more Grad points, simply double-click anywhere inside the object.

Change Color of Grad point. Select any Grad point and then use the Color Wheel to change its color:

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Sample Color of previous Grad point. Before you add new Grad Point (by double-clicking), click briefly on any previous existing Grad point to have its color sampled. This color will be then used for the new Grad point. Remove Grad point. Select any Grad point and press DEL on keyboard. Remove All Grad point. Press the Remove all Grad points button:

Opacity of Area Gradient The mix slider can be used to mix between the basic color/basic gradient/GenetX (slider left) and the Area Gradient (slider right).

Mode The combo-box will set the gradient mode (how steep the colors mix between Grad points). Default is Quadratic.

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Grab Color from Bg If set, whenever you move existing Grad point or create new one its color will be grabbed from all the objects behind it. This is good for fast blends between objects.

13.6

NPR and Bitmaps


As we explained in previous chapter, the simple, single-stroke NPR's are not very suitable for bitmap images and produce usually unusable results. In fact on most of the simple Presets the bitmaps have NPR switched off. However, there are few advanced NPR preset styles (using multisample strokes) that are designed to work well on bitmaps. Here is an example of Real Engraving preset that works well on both vector objects as well as bitmaps.

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The Presets that are suitable for bitmaps have them already switched on (Apply to Bitmaps) Tip: Fine Tune the image with the NPR Quick Adjust in Color & Texture Palette.

13.7

Tips for NPR


Drawing in hand-painted style require small changes in the way you normally draw graphics. You have to look around a bit for what works in each style. If you would use real brushes and pens you would be probably guided by the same principles since the NPR styles tries to mimic the real methods. Small Text If you need to use small text then you probably want to draw image bit larger than you would use and then shrink it and sharpen it later. Small text may look unreadable or out of place while large text looks nicely shaded. There is also setting to make small text more readable by over-sampling the effect. In most presets this is turned on.

Use color transitions What works really great for natural styles is simple Linear, Circular or Burst Color transition not only using different colors, but also different intensities. A perfect solid color across the object is more of a domain of the recent digital era, not a hand painted style.

Avoid Empty Background Painting styles such as watercolor or paint are almost always best used on some solid or even better gradient object background as they mimic closely the actual technique. (object are hardly ever painted on a white background except few water color illustration techniques)

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Package If some objects don't have enough details after applying the NPR style, put them in the Package, then open the package and resize the object to about twice its size. Close the Package then resize the package back to desired size and sharpen it with the interactive sharpen tool.

No Outline Using Feather Effect will disable creating object outline even if you cancel the feather effect by moving the sliders to far left. Lastly, have fun and don't be afraid to experiment.

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14
14.1

Advanced
Blueprint
Blueprint is an image, positioned on the background of your project behind all the other objects. Blueprint has a few unique properties. It is visible all of the time (Onion Skin), and it could be used as a source for cloning. You can also use the Blueprint image as an original, from which you can draw an image. You access the Blueprint from menu: Project - Blueprint.

Load Blueprint First you need to load an image as a blueprint. Remember that the Blueprint isn't an object, so while you can change its position, you can't resize it. It is however very easy to convert the bitmap object to a blueprint, and then convert the blueprint back to a bitmap object again You can load a Blueprint image from File, or from Object. Load from file - similar to the bitmap import, and you will have the option to resize and crop the image before you load it. The Blueprint image will be centered on the canvas. Load from Object - another easy way to load Blueprint from any bitmap object already existing on the canvas. In this case, the blueprint will stay on exactly the same spot as the Object is. Let's load an image with the Image import button.

Above is an image we took with a digital camera, because we wanted to draw something similar. We resized the object to the desired size, left it selected, and then from the menu: Project-Blueprint we selected Load From Object. This caused two new buttons to be enabled:

The first is Show on Back and the second is Onion Skin on Top.

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Now, we can delete the image object as we don't need it anymore. Even if you delete the object its image will be still in the very same position - that's the Blueprint.

Now we can use the blueprint to guide us while we create a shape with the

Path Tool.

Now this isn't anything special, since we could have done it before, with the bitmap. But now we would like to draw some more elements but we can't see them because the new object is covering our Blueprint. We could play with the transparency, but this would become annoying if we added more objects. Fortunately this is easy to fix. Jjust press the second Blueprint button - Onion Skin on Top .

While in Onion Skin mode, the Blueprint can always be visible, by overlaying on top of all the objects. We can easily create other paths with the guidance of the blueprint, and after that is done, it'll be time to remove the Blueprint, since we won't need it anymore. We use the Remove function from menu: ProjectBlueprint-Remove.

We now have a pretty decent drawing which was done very easily. Note: If you want to keep the the Blueprint and continue later, you can. The Blueprint will be saved with the project and if you currently don't need it, just switch off both buttons Show on Back and Onion Skin on Top. Now you can repeat this process with other images, and add another objects if you want. Clone from Blueprint

Another great feature of Real-DRAW PRO is that you can use the Blueprint feature as a Clone source during bitmap editing. More info is available in Cloning 133 .

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Other Options In the Blueprint menu we have a few other options: Position - allows you to change the position of the Blueprint by moving in any direction. Center - centers the blueprint on the canvas. Resize Canvas - Resizes the canvas to the size of the Blueprint. Convert to Object - At anytime, you can go back and create a Bitmap Object from Blueprint, and can, for example, Convert the Blueprint to an Object, resize it, or change its position, and then use Load from Object to update the Blueprint.

14.2

Export
After you've created your artwork you'll want to show it to the whole world! This is done via the Export dialog. From menu: File select Export

The Export window has many options for output. First, you select the type of the image you want to save. There are several different built in image formats: JPG, BMP, PNG, Transparent PNG, Mega Render JPG, E-JPG and SVG There is also the capability to import plug-ins, thereby providing additional formats. You can always see the total size of the file at the bottom of the export window. If you are saving a JPG file or E-JPG file then you can change the quality to achieve a smaller size output file.

JPG File

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JPG is probably the most popular image file format in use today, and Real-DRAW PRO produces one of the best looking JPGs. This is achieved by sub-sampling color components and you can set Progressive, or Grayscale JPG. Note: Whilst all web browsers can read Progressive JPGs, there are many other programs which may have a problem reading them. So use the Progressive option with caution ! Set DPI For JPG files you can also set a DPI flag to the desired number. It is important to undrstand that it is just a flag some other software may read and find interesting. It doesn't affect the image at all. You can type anything you want there. Because you are creating the image from scratch there is no prior knowledge of the size of your artwork measured in inch. That's why the DPI isn't important but some software really wants this number just to confuse users. What is E-JPG file Real-DRAW PRO saves a project as an *.rdw file. However you can also export it in the Real-DRAW PRO exclusive E-JPG format as well. E-JPG is a JPG compatible image format and you can use it on your web pages, or open it in any graphics editor. However if you open an E-JPG in Real-DRAW PRO you will again be able to edit its objects, text or whatever else you like. The quality or size of the JPG image you see doesn't affect the quality of the editable objects. In other words you can just show it as a small thumbnail on your web page, but then if somebody downloads it and opens it in Real-DRAW PRO, they will be able to edit it in full quality, and save it in the size or quality preferred. The advantages: You don't have to make two files; a thumbnail and a file to download. The thumbnail is already the project file You can show the image in small size and let the user recreate the image, in a quality, size and file format he likes. Because of the small size of the project data, the file will be much smaller than a JPG of the original size and best quality. Versatility and no quality loss. You can preview the file as a JPG with low quality, but with RealDRAW PRO, you can recreate the file again to any format and to any quality desired.

PNG and Transparent PNG Unlike JPG, PNG is a lossless format (the quality doesn't change) while still producing small file sizes. It is recommended that you use PNG as much as you can. All graphics software should be able to load it... Transparent PNG also saves the alpha channel (as if you have no canvas), andit is indicated by showing the image on the check board. Real-DRAW PRO can also load transparent PNGs back as images with their alpha transparency.

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Transparent PNG is also a great way to create new brushes or Nozzles.

PSD - Adobe Photoshop Real-DRAW PRO can save a whole project as an Adobe Photoshop PSD project, and each object and its shadow, will be in separate layers so you can continue to work on them in Photoshop if you need to. Real-DRAW PRO will export each object and it's shadows as a separate layer. Real-DRAW PRO can handle a large number of layers easier than Photoshop. It is recommended that you pack logical groups of objects into the Packages so you don't export each small line as a separate object. This will reduce the number of layers and you will then be able to work better in either Real-DRAW PRO or Adobe Photoshop. Image on left: A Real-DRAW PRO project exported entirely into Adobe Photoshop with all objects in separate layers. The layers in Photoshop will be named as the Labels of objects and each shadow layer will have the name Shadow, before its label. Note: Some Real-DRAW PRO specific effects such as lenses will obviously not be present in Photoshop. You can also use MegaRender
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feature to export the project into PSD format in enhanced resolution.

SVG - scalable vector format for web Real-DRAW PRO can save a vector drawing as an SVG format. SVG is a vector image format for the web, and all new browsers supporting XML are able to display it. Note though. that SVG is a pure vector format, and supports color fills, outlines and transparency, but other effects such as texture and bitmaps will not show. The advantage of SVG is that the files are very small, and are XML commands, which is something like HTML language. Mega Render This is an advanced export option, allowing you to export a design in a much larger size than the one it was designed in. You can find a more thorough description on the next page. Plugins You can also use additional formats to the built in ones, and only need to download the plug-ins for them. On the www.Real-DRAW PRO.com home page there are some plug-ins, and links to other sites. There is also simple SDK available to allow you to develop your own export plug-in. Background Color

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You can temporarily change the background color of your image during export, and this is most useful if you want to try the image on various background colors for the web. You can also directly change the color of a web style. Color Correction Another filter you may want to use is a Color Correction. Here, if enabled you can set the color feel of the image - you can make it warmer or colder, etc. This will not change the project image, only the image you export. The Color Correction settings are saved with the project file. Resize on Export You can resize the output image to the required size. If you want to create a small web graphic, it is always a good idea to design it larger, with many details, and then resize it during export. Note: Sharpen it also, as resizing makes an image softer There are four algorithms used to resize an image. The most used are Cubic and Bilinear. The Cubic resizes a sharp image with good quality. The Bilinear uses more antialiasing and the result has smoother details, but is less sharp. You can use the Cubic resizing for line graphics and screen captures and the Bilinear for photography and smoother effects. Sharpen Image It is a good idea to sharpen an image if you are down-sizing it so you can produce a small graphic with a lot of detail. For JPGs, the sharpening doesn't change the file size too much, but it gives you better overall quality, even if you save with a low JPG quality. You can use low sharpening even if you don't resize the image and in most cases a sharper image looks better on the web. Export Alpha Mask Only If you want to export only the alpha mask, you can do it by selecting this option. It may be useful for some authoring packages if you need alpha transparency, or have a program which doesn't support PNG, with transparency. The Alpha channel, is the information for the overall image transparency. Using Crop Tool Note: Normally, if you don't use Crop, Real-DRAW PRO exports the Canvas area, but if you have objects outside the canvas then you'll have to resize the canvas. The easiest way is to use the command Trim Canvas (Ctrl-Q) or Trim Canvas Expanded. These commands will resize and move the canvas so all the objects are inside the canvas. Trim Canvas Expanded leaves a small border around the objects and adjusts the size to include the drop shadows. Trim Canvas trims the canvas as close as possible to the union of all objects. Often, you might like to export only a part of the screen. It would be painful to always have to resize the canvas, so Real-DRAW PRO has non-destructive Export Crop feature .

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Click on the Crop Tool icon and click on the canvas, holding the mouse button down while moving. The same way you would draw a rectangle. The Crop tool will create a border and everything inside it will export, and you can always move the crop borders using the two red squares. If you would like to remove the crop, just drag one side of the crop rectangle, over to the opposite side creating a zero crop space and this will remove the crop. You can also leave the Crop rectangle in place and switch it off with the Crop Tool button. The advantage of this is that the position of the crop rectangle will be saved with the document and you can recall the crop rectangle at anytime by clicking on the Crop Tool. And you can also trim canvas by drawing a Crop rectangle and then selecting Crop Canvas from menu Object Pure Vector Export You can export the project in Pure Vector format (That means Shapes and Colors only). You have choice of few common formats:

Pure Vector export is for a special cases when you want to use Real-DRAW PRO tools to create some specific shape, or combination of objects to be used in other vector software or CAD. None of the RealDRAW PRO specific effect will be exported - only the shapes and fill color. You have to think about this when you draw your project. Also Combination objects must be converted to Polynome (Create Single Shape) before export. Note: The SVG is presented both in normal Export and in Pure Export but it is not the same. In Export as described above will the SVG export also transparencies and outline to match more closely the project. In Pure Vector Export it will be much more lean - just the fill color and shapes.

14.3

Export To Clipboard

Besides normal Clipboard Functions and the Copy as Bitmap option, the Export to Clipboard is a similar process to the Export, but the file ends up in Clipboard instead of disk. Before the document is send to windows clipboard you have the option to resize it and sharpen. This is great way for web authoring or writing manuals where you can work very fast from Real-DRAW PRO to your application without creating any intermediate files.

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The resize options allows you to select the way you want the image to be resized

Locked aspect ratio: Resize by Percentage - image will be resized by the specified percentage Maximum Width - the image will be resized so its width will be set by specified number and its height will be calculated Maximum Height - the image will be resized so its height will be set by specified number and its width will be calculated Must fit into box - the image will be resized so it never exceeds the specified width and height Force resize to - it will resize the image without regard of the aspect Interactive Export Crop Similarly to the Crop for Export you can select only some part of the document that will be sent to Clipboard.

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This is done on the document before you use the actual Export. Select the Crop tool and draw rectangle around the area you want to export. Both Export to Bitmap and Export to Clipboard will use this rectangle as the area to export.You can resize the crop area by the red handles. The Export Crop will never modify the document itself, it is just a mark to show the area.

You can keep it displayed on the document or switch it off by pressing the crop tool again.

14.4

Mega Render
Real-DRAW allows you to render an image in a larger size than the one that it was designed in. This is useful if you need to create an image for a large or special print. MegaRender can save files in JPG or PNG format or in Adobe PhotoShop PSD format. In case of PSD format, each object and its shadow, will be in separate layers so you can continue to work on them in Photoshop if you need to. See more about exporting in PSD in Export 186 . Mega Render will internally resize each vector object, and recursively, all the objects inside packages. Apply all the effects and lights, and then mix everything together to create the output image (in case of JPG or PNG as output). This may take some time but you will be provided with progress details.

First you must specify the size magnification factor 2x, 3x...of the original size. Resize Texture Fills, Transparency Textures and NPR. You have the option of deciding if you also want to resize the Texture fills applied in Color & Texture, the Transparency Textures applied in Transparency settings, or if you want to use the original. The Texture Fills and the Transparent Textures use the same idea. Use Original This will resize the object, and all the effects and bitmap layers, but will leave the Texture Fills at their
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original size. This is great if you want to keep the number of details on objects, since textures are often used to add a natural feel to an object. For example, for posters or large printouts. The image will be similar to the original, but much larger, and with more small details.

Resize for all objects. This will resize the texture along with the object. The texture will then appear as it did on the original image, but of course it will be in scale. This setting will produce an image which is very similar to the original in scale and this should be used if you need an image with better resolution, but don't necessarily want to print or use it in larger size. Note: By resizing the texture fills, you obviously don't bring more texture detail to the object because textures are just bitmaps. A solution may be to you use the texture in the original image, but scaled down. See more in the Adjusting Textures 82 . Resize for objects (Label): Here is a compromise - only the Objects listed below will have the Texture fill (or transparency) resized. This is great if you generally want to have much smaller details, but some of the textures create an important part of the message so you want to resize them. Example: 1. We used this simple, but quite nice and colorful 3D lights example.

This design in its original size is 400 x 300 pixels; almost twice as large as shown here. This of course looks great on the web or a screen but isn't very good for printing on a poster

This is a small part from the image, resized 3 times. We will use this part for comparison later.

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2. For the second image we opened the Mega Render and set the Magnification Factor to 3 x, which will gave us a 1200 x 900 output image. And for the first Image we left the default setting on Use original in the resizing Texture Fills. As we didn't use any transparent textures we didn't need to concern ourselves with the Transparent Textures setting. .

Above is how our image looked after a minute or so of rendering. It is 3 times bigger than the original, with 1200 x 900 pixels. You can already see that the image is a bit different, so let's look at it more closely.

Above is a closer look at the image (actually it is a 1:1)

3. For the third image we used the Resize for all objects setting in Mega Render.

Above is the result. If you look at the original image and this one, they are pretty much alike except that the new one has 3 times more pixels in it, although we can't see much difference in this small thumbnail. 4. Let's compare the images we produced.

And above is the detail. If you compare the original detail, and this one you should see the difference.

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The original

No resized textures

And resized textures

While the third image produces the same overall impression as the original, we felt that our printout would benefit from the small details found on the letters of the second image. However we also liked the large chessboard in the original. The third image. So here it comes. The time to use the third option Resize for objects (Label). 4. If you would like to resize textures only on the background object, open the Layer 194 list to see what Label this object has. It has a Round-Rect label. Now you can change it while in layer list or leave it. As there is no other object with this name it's OK to leave it. (In the sample 3dlights.rdw the Round-Rect is renamed to Chess rect)

Simply type the label of the object on the list below our third option. One object per line, if you need more objects. Note that this is case sensitive and must be the same as on the Layer list. Note: If the object has a Surface Skin 110 then the Skin will be resized together with the texture. However in some cases if you need to resize only the texture and leave the Surface Skin in its original size simply specify -s after the object label.

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The large chess board is the background, and the text has a nice fine texture, although it's not very visible in this small thumbnail.

Detail, Mega Render 3x

Detail, Mega Render 10x (4000 x 3000) This took around 6 minutes.

Detail, Mega Render 3x, for more natural feel we added a Marble Surface Skin to the Round-Rect and render it in original size. (-s option)

Note: Resizing the design will not only multiply the size of the objects, but will also make any small errors and misalignments more visible. For example, two small objects that looked aligned on an original image may show themselves to be quite misaligned, when rendered to a larger size. The rendering may take several minutes depending on the complexity, lights used, packages and the Magnification Factor. And remember that all packages will be recursively rendered as well. Bevels, Lights and Shadows slow down the rendering most. Generally you will be able to produce very large smooth images with lots of details, but remember that a large amount of memory is needed to create and maintain buffers while rendering. Because these images are computer generated, they are usually smooth. That means there is no need to go to the extreme sizes. The image would look good in print even in smaller sizes.

14.5

Layers
The layers are an essential part of object oriented graphics programs. Even if you don't use them they are there! Each object you put on the canvas is on its own layer and you can see it because top objects cover the bottom ones. You can move the objects between layers, bringing the object back or forward, moving the object to the bottom or to the very top. You can access these options from menu Object-Arrange or more conveniently with the tool bar at the bottom of Real-DRAW PRO. Or with the buttons on the Layer dialog itself
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The first two arrows select the previous or next object. Great if you can't select an object from behind another one. The other 4 buttons that move the object in layers are On the top of all On the bottom Move one layer up Move one layer down However, you can do much more with the layers. To display the Layers window Menu: View-Layers Below is a view of the Layers window.

The Layers window is resizable so you can adjust its size to the screen.

Each object on a layer is represented by two icons and a Label with an optional type icon.

The Object on the top is also the top most object on the canvas.

Hide The first Eye icon shows or hides the object. This is great if you want to make a few changes, and you want to export the image with or without these changes. Lock The second Lock icon locks or unlocks an object on the screen. Locked objects can't be selected and moved by a mouse. The mouse see no object and it will select any object that is behind it. This is great if you don't want to accidentally select any objects that you are not going to edit. However, you can still select a locked object in the Layers window and move it by arrow keys pixel by pixel, or change its properties. Tip: You can lock a particular direction of movement, or lock the movement and still allow the object to be selectable - see the Sizes 25 bar for more information. Group If you group a number of objects with the Group command, (Ctrl-G) all of the objects in the group will be locked but, grouped objects can still be selected with the mouse, and moved or resized. A group will appear in the Layers as a single item called Group with the plus sign.

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You can expand the Group by clicking on the Plus sign. Then you will see listed all items in the group and you can select any item inside the group to change its parameters or move it without Un-Grouping. You can also delete object from group this way or even Un-Group just the item from group. To Un-Group just the item from group you need to doubleclick on the item and from the Label Object remove the checkbox on Lock. You can move the Group (if it is collapsed) or multiple Selections, only on the top or bottom of all other objects, although you can still move a single object in between objects of the group or any other objects. If you apply parameters to the collapsed group then (simillar to selection) each object will inherit the new parameters. That is if you apply for example drop shadow to the group or selection, each object will have its own drop shadow. If you need to add a parameter globally to the group of some objects but not to each object separately then Packaging 148 is the way. Label If you double-click on the item in the Layers window, you will be able to change the Label. This way you can keep track of the objects in large documents. The optional type bitmap (on the very right) will be assigned depending on the label. Please note the difference between Transparency and Layer Opacity. Layer opacity is a global opacity setting on the whole object and unlike the Transparency it doesn't change the bevel. Layer Opacity Layer Opacity works like a global opacity on the object layer. Moving the slider to the left will make the layer more transparent. Blend Modes The Blend Mode is how an object is combined with the objects, (background) underneath it. You choose the Blend Modes from the combo box on top of the transparency bar, and then adjust the transparency with the Transparency Mix. Blending modes are useful tools in experienced hands for image/object composing. Normal

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A default and most used blend mode. It simply blends the objects with a transparency set by the Transparency Mix.

Multiply Multiplies the background and the object color. The resulting color is always darker. Multiplying any color with black produces black. Multiplying any color with white leaves the color unchanged. The effect is similar to looking at two overlapping slides. Difference

Subtracts either the Object color from the background or the background color from the Object color, depending on which is brighter.

Screen Multiplies the inverse of the objects and background. The resulting color is always lighter than the background or object. Screening with black leaves the color unchanged. Screening with white produces white. The effect is similar to projecting two slides on the same screen. Overlay

Combines Multiply and Screen modes - depending on the background color. The background color is not replaced, but is mixed with the Object color.

Darken

The resulting color is background or Object - whichever is darker. Lighten

The resulting color is background or Object - whichever is lighter. Hard Light

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Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the Object color. That's the difference from Overlay. If the Object color is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened (screened). If the Object color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened (multiplied). Soft Light Darkens or lightens the colors, depending on the Object color. The effect is similar to shining a diffused light on the image. If the Object color is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened and if the Object color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened. If Lighter

The Object Color will appear on the areas where the Object is lighter than the Background.

If Darker

The Object will appear on the areas where the Object is darker than the background .

Negative

Creates a negative of the background.

Tint

The object is more visible on a dark background than on bright background. It will disappear on white!

Colorize

It will take the color from the object but will use the intensity from the background.

You may use the Blend Modes for composing bitmaps or objects, and when creating new interesting artistic effects.
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Don't worry if you don't understand the blending modes. You can skip the science and simply try various options. Tip: Try to use bevels with various modes!

14.6

Styles
Styles, is the description of an object; it's color, texture, and the effects it uses. Style doesn't store the information about the shape of an object.

The idea behind Styles is to load only the attributes to an already defined shape. The usage is simple. Select an object, and then click on the Style you want to apply. All Styles are grouped in the Quick Style floating bar under the Tabs. You can switch the bar on/off on menu: View - Quick Style. There are basically 2 type of Styles, depending on which parameters they change. Styles replacing only one logical attributes like color, bevel, shadow etc. Styles replacing all attributes The first Style type is in the groups called, Color & Texture, Transparency, Bevel, Shadows & Effect and 3D Lights. If you apply a Style from the Tab called Color & Texture, then only texture and color related attributes will be applied. If the object has other attributes, such as bevel, then these will not be changed. Similarly, if you apply a Style from the Tab called Bevel, the object will change only the bevel attributes. The second type of Styles are in the Libraries A, B, and User group. If you apply Styles from these libraries, all the attributes will be changed, and the object will keep only its shape. All these three libraries behave the same way. You can store your own Styles in any of the libraries. Logically, if you store a Style in the bevel Library, only the bevel attribute will be stored. To store the whole style, use Library A, B or User. Add Style to Library To add an object to the Styles list, you first have to have the Styles list visible, and then select the Tab that you want to store the style under. Then select the object whose style you want to save, and click on the Styles list with the RIGHT mouse button, and select Add to Styles, and the style will be added to the end of the list. or

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Drag the object from the canvas to the Style list. You can also use Replace, or Remove a particular Style. Note: The Styles are separate *.sty files in the directory Styles. Do not delete any style manually by deleting the file, unless you want to remove all the styles, but instead, remove the style by clicking on the Styles list with the Right mouse button, and select Remove Style. How to copy Style from one object to another If you don't want to create a permanent Style, then use the simple Paste Attribute command. Copy an object with the Style that you like, to the clipboard and select Edit-Copy (Ctrl+C), and then select another object, and use Edit-Paste Attributes (Ctrl+Shift+V). The last Tab in the Quick Styles is the Object library
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14.7

Object Library
While Styles stores only the attributes of one object, the Object Library can store the whole object or selection of objects. Think of the object library as your Clip Art. You can have any type of object in the library, text, path, bitmap, Package, Brush drawing, or any selection of objects.

To view Object list go to menu: View and select Quick Style. Now select the Object Tab from the Quick Style Bar. You will see a list of groups in the combo box (Arrows, Balloons etc.). Each group could have hundreds of clip art images. Get Object(s) from Library To get an object from the library, just drag and drop a desired clip from the Object Library to the Canvas. You can also get the object by double-clicking on it. Add Object(s) to Library To store an object or selection of objects from canvas to the Object Library, first select the object(s), and then click on the Object library with the right mouse button, and select Add to Library. Similarly, you can replace an existing object in the library with the one on canvas or Drag Object or selection from your canvas to the Object Library - the new item will be added at the end. Note: If you add a Group of objects to the Object Library then the objects will automatically be grouped. To Ungroup, a group, press Ctrl-U To create a new Object library If you want to ever create a new object library you have to first exit Real-DRAW PRO. Find the Real-DRAW PRO home directory and go to subdirectory Objects. Create a new folder with the name you want to call the library. The next time you load Real-DRAW PRO you will see it in the library combo box and it will be empty.

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Feel free to store any of the objects you think may be useful in the future.

14.8

Printing
Real-DRAW PRO isn't exactly a tool where the printout is the major output format. However we prepared few types of printing: Draft printing This will print in the same resolution as you design it. Unless your document is larger size the printout on full page will be rather blocky. You will notice it especially in text objects. However the printing will be fast. Set Draft Size In this dialog you can specify the actual size of the document to be printed - for example full page or fit into predefined size.

You can use one of 3 options: Stretch to fit - will stretch the image to fit on the sheet of paper. If you need to change paper orientation then you need to go to Print Setup (File menu) Set DPI of image - Here you can set what resolution the image should be printed at. Note that in draft printing the DPI would be fairly low. If you enter higher DPI, the result image will shrink in size - in draft printing the only way to create higher DPI is to lower the printed size. Fit to Format - here you specify into what size it should fit. If you specify for example 6x4 then the image will be resized so it all proportionally fits into that specified size. Fine printing This option uses the MegaRender feature to prepare a higher resolution print. You can specify your desired DPI and the MegaRender will prepare corresponding image. This will clearly improve the quality of output, however it will take much longer.

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Desired DPI - here you can specify the desired DPI of your image. A value of around 300 is recommended for most printers. While many inkjet printers report much higher DPI, please note that DPI of image and DPI of printer are two different things. A printer creates image dithering, using dots. Each dot in Inkjets can have just a few colors created from 3-4 inks while each dot of digital image can have millions of color shades. That's why true color image resolution around 300 is enough for most of the inkjet printers. MegaRender - The size and DPI of an image will change the needed MegaRender magnification. The two values, DPI and MegaRender magnification work together - changing one of them will adjust the other one. Exact DPI - because MegaRender will resize integer steps, the actual (exact) DPI printed may not be exactly as requested, but will be a be bit higher or lower. You don't have to worry about that since the deviation is small. Stretch to fit and Fit into Size - here you set the size of the image on paper. Changing the size will adjust the MegaRender magnification. For example, for larger print size the magnification must be also be higher if the DPI should stay constant. Textures - Use Original DPI or Resample to desired DPI The image will look exactly as on screen if you choose Resample to desired DPI. In that case each texture will be re-sampled to meet the desired DPI. This is the default setting. If the textures have just a secondary role in your image (for example a grain) you might try Use Original DPI. The textures will be not re-sampled, but will stay at their original resolution, and the desired DPI will be met by repeating the texture. That means you will get many small textural details in your printed image. In the case of grain this would look good as you'll get very fine grain texture on your printout. Repeat Last - this button will appear next to the Print button if you previously printed in the session. If for example you need another copy of the same image or just to print a smaller size, adjust the properties, and use this button. The software will not go into the time consuming MegaRender but will print what was rendered last time. With Fine print you can produce high quality output, but again this takes a considerable rendering time.

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14.9

Web Roll-over button


Overview

The Web/Multimedia Button (previously called Multimedia Extension) is a means for creating multi-faced buttons for web pages, multimedia authoring programs, or other purposes.

By multi-faced buttons, we mean a button that has two or three states: Normal , Over and Down These buttons are positioned one on top of another. A. The Web pages typically use the Normal and Over Frame as Roll-Over element. Real-Draw allows you not only design these elements but also export as fully functional web page. B. Multimedia authoring tools, such as Multimedia Builder, use all these images to show interactivity on the multimedia presentation. In this chapter we will explore the possibilities to create Web Page with roll-over buttons. Next chapter will be more about Multimedia applications. Real-DRAW can not only create the web graphics and elements but it allows you to export the projects as a whole functional web page using HTML Slicer and roll-overs. Basics Working with WEB/Multimedia Button is very easy. Basically you just tell Real-DRAW which object you would like to have as buttons and Real-DRAW will add Over and/or Down Frame to them, which will be initially copy of the object. Now you can switch between these frames and edit the object for particular frame. Enable Buttons To work with the WEB/Multimedia Button you have to open its window first. Menu: View-Multimedia Extension or the button Each object on the canvas can have the extensions enabled, and if you click on any object, you will see that it only has the Normal state selected.

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To enable the WEB/Multimedia Button for a selected object you have to select one of the following options: The Over Frame or the Down frame checkbox. For WEB pages the Over frame is enough for creating roll-over. For Multimedia in most cases you would like to select both - creating a 3-state button. The selected item tells you in which state you are currently editing. Looking at the image on the left you can see that we are editing with the Over Frame selected. How to change state for editing To change which state (frame) you are editing just click on the particular item. Frame Positions The frames can have different positions - you may want to move the pushed frame of the button a few pixels down and to the left to simulate the pushing action. However normally if you move the object in any Frame all frames are moved together. If you want to offset the Over or Down Frame from the other frames move it with holding CTRL key.* * This is a change from 2.x version How to Keep two and more Objects Together in one Button? Many times you need more than one object to create each button on your design. Imagine, that just a simple Square with text already has 2 objects. How do you tell Real-Draw that these objects belong to one button? This is actually very easy - using Packages
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Because Packages behave virtually the same way as single objects, you can also create a Over and Down frame for them. Each frame will also have its own independent set of data! How to Switch All Objects These are helper buttons and switch all multi-frame objects to the appropriate state.

Simply click on appropriate eye button to switch all objects in document to this state.

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In the next Chapter we will design a web page in Real-DRAW

14.10 Designing Web Page

In previous Chapter we learned how to use WEB/Multimedia Button, now we will use this knowledge to create fully working web page. By multi-faced buttons, we mean a button that has two or three states: Normal , Over and Down These buttons are positioned one on top of another. Lets Design some Web Page Button Look We will start with creating one button, we decided to go with a Pill-shaped modern buttons.

We create simple Rounded Rectangle 31 shape, Add Linear Color Fill 78 (from Light green on Top to dark green on bottom), apply some Smooth Bevel 92 and Add one Point Light 116 shining from the Top. To make it nicer (and also to show how to have buttons with more objects) we create another smaller Rounded Rectangle, this time white. Now we used a Feather from the Bevel properties and linear transparency 88 from top to bottom. This create a nice shine on the top of our button and make it much more Pill-like. Now add drop shadow to the main Green shape and we have decent button.

Select both objects and press Create Package This will create a Package of our button. Add Over Frame We have the basic look, but still only Normal frame. Open WEB/Multimedia Button properties, select the Button package.

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Now click on the check box in the Over Frame row. This will create the Over frame and select it ready for editing Now, double click on the package to open it. Change the Color Fill from light green-dark green to light red-dark red.

Close Package to get back to document. Now switch to the Normal Frame, this should show the button in green. Switching to Over Frame will show it in red.

That is, we have our first button! Note: We don't have to take care of Down frame because roll-over will use only Over Frame. Next chapter will teach you how to export it using HTML Slicer.

14.11 HTML Slicer

Menu: Files-HTML Slicer HTML Slicer is the most important tool to create Web Pages. If you look on most professional web pages you will notice that they consist of a large number of elements rather than one large image. Each element on the page is stored in a separate file. The HTML language doesn't allow for precision positioning of elements. However designers use a HTML table where they are able position elements in table cells positioned where they require. Therefore we call the job of creating such table HTML slicing - we slice the big image into a slices of various sizes which will be placed into HTML table and will be reconstructed by browser to appear as a whole image. Why do image slicing at all? We can make some graphic elements an individual links. "Slicing" approach is much better and more preferred than using image maps. (Better compatibility, accessibility, editability) We can create rollover effect for some navigational elements. For example a button on a bar will highlight when user moves cursor over it. We can leave some parts of the big image and add a HTML Text instead. Important for frequent page changes. We can leave some parts of the image out, where the background of the page will show through. This saves downloading time. Image slicing is one of the major tool of professional web designers. Without good slicer it is very hard to create such HTML table by hand.

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Real-Draw has advanced HTML slicer - it will let you to slice the graphics exactly the way you require and it will optimize all other slices the way a professional web designer will do. In fact you will be surprised that you can draw cells of any size and exactly where you desire without any big limitations. To open HTML Slicer click on the Slicer button, or choose HTML Slicer from menu Files.

HTML Slicer will open resizable window where you can draw slices (Cells) and adjust the cell properties such as HTML link or Rollover effect. You can also specify and enter a text or HTML commands to a slice. Note:We will call each slice a Cell because ultimately the slices will be placed in a HTML table cells. Each cell is a rectangular in shape and can have any dimensions. Cells obviously can't overlap and they will form a HTML table when exporting. You don't have to draw all cells, only the cells in which you are interested in. The rest will be automatically added. There are therefore two types of Cells: Active Cell. This is a cell we are interested in and this is also the cell we draw on top of our image. Active cell are shaded in green and they can have other properties such as HTML link, alternative text, rollover, HTML Text or HTML language. The Active cell will stay the way we draw it, HTML Slicer is not allowed to touch them. Active cell can be either Navigational, Empty or a HTML Text. o Navigational Link - this is a cell which has Link set to internet page such as http://www. mediachance.com or a local page such as index.html. User can click on such cell to navigate to other pages or sites o Empty Link - this is a cell which has empty Link. This cell will be exported as non-active and it will behave the same way as a Passive Cell (see below), except the HTML slicer will preserve its size. o HTML Text - this is a cell which has HTML text or HTML commands instead of the image. The image can be alternatively exported as a background of the cell. Passive Cell. This is a cell we are not primary interested in. It is a part of the image but it has no
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link and it can't be navigational. We, therefore don't really care about its size. Passive cells are created automatically as you draw Active Cells to comply with HTML standard in creating tables and they are optimized for size encapsulating as big area as they can. Passive Cells are shown transparent and HTML Slicer is allowed to change them when it needs to as you drawing or resizing Active Cells. To draw an Active Cell select the Slice Tool (second button from left) in the Tools.

Note: This tool will be selected by default when you open the HTML Slicer.

Here we started to draw a cell around our object. As soon as we finish drawing our Active Cell all other Passive cells will be calculated and fitted. On the right image you can see our Active Cell (green) and 4 other automatically generated passive Cells. Note: Images for both Active and passive Cells are exported. Only cell having HTML Text will not export image by default - but we can ask HTML slicer to do it. As you will be progressing with drawing other cells the Passive Cells change accordingly but all Active cells wild hold their size and position. In our example we can just finish right here because we were interested only to create one cell around our object. However if we need different configuration of cells, not the one which was done automatically, we can just draw another Active Cell - even if we don't plan to add any link to it.

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We created a bigger area on the right of our object by drawing another Active Cell. However we don't plan to add any link to it - we can use the created place to add text or other HTML components. Enter text and HTML language The Active Cell can be either a Link (Navigational or Empty) or a HTML Text. To switch the cell to HTML Text, simply select a cell and click HTML Text Option.

After we switch the cell to HTML Text we can directly type text in the cell.

We can also type any HTML Tags (including Java script) or simply copy whole web page source. Here is the result in Browser:

Use Slice Image as the Cell Background When we set the cell to be HTML Text the image behind will be not exported. Instead a web page background will show through. This is preferred method, it is always best to read the text on a clean solid color page. However we can let HTML Slicer to export also the

For this example we added a textured rectangle on the full background.(We simply used GenetX texture
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and apply Interactive HSL Color Correction.) On the Image 1 we didn't let HTML Slicer to export the Image for the cell background. The Image 2 has exported the slice image behind the text.

Note: The Cell background option in HTML table is supported in all recent browsers. It has been supported from version 3.0 of Internet Explorer and from 4.01 of Netscape Navigator. Anyway, remember there are still some number of people who use old browsers - in such cases the background of the cell will not appear (as in Image 1 above) Also not many people like to read text over textured background, especially if you use heavy texture. All HTML Slicer data such as Slice positions, links or HTML Text will be also stored in with project file. Embedded Images in the HTML Text (Advanced) This optional feature require some knowledge of HTML syntax language. Since the HTML Text allows you to insert also any HTML Tags you may want to insert an images in your text. While the normal way would be to open the document in your web editor such as Adobe GoLive or Macromedia Dreamweaver and do the additional formatting there, you can still insert the images from the Real-Draw document directly into the HTML text by yourself. Such additional image is not part of the sliced table, but completely different image which supplements the text. This very page you are reading could be such example, there is a text and images to accompany the text. Normally if you write HTML commands by hand (not many people do) for image you enter something like this: <img src="images/myimage.jpg"> This of course require that such image myimage.jpg already exists. However you can let Real-Draw generate such images. It is very simple. Draw any object or Package in document and name it % IMGSRCxxxx (Double click on the Object in Layers to enter new name) Note: The % is indeed a part of the new name! The xxxx means you can additional suffix such as number to distinguish between various supplementary images. Then (assuming you named your image or Package %IMGSRC1) in your HTML Text you simply write: <img src="%IMGSRC1"> This will export the supplementary image and replace the text during export for the real link. Here is the modified example. We created a simple Package of two objects. We created it quite large, then Package it and result resized to desired size.

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We created a simple Package of two objects.

Now open Layers and double click on the Package

This will open the Object label Dialog. Enter the %IMGSRC1 there

Now we can move the object anywhere where it is not visible in normal table. We moved it to the right part of the image as on the picture above because there is going to be the HTML Text cell which will cover it. However you can move it completely outside of the canvas if you want. The idea is to have it somewhere in the document so the export can reach it, but the position is not important. Now in the HTML Slicer write in the HTML Text cell your text and where you need the image type <img src="%IMGSRC1"> Note: If you want the next text after image to be on next line not following the image simply add <br> after the image command. This is how we did it in our example. Here is the result in the browser:

That means you can have all graphics in one Real-DRAW document which may help you in cases when you often change the graphics.

Because editing HTML by hand isn't most enjoyable experience, you may actually format the whole text cell in your web editor and then copy the source to the cell. This will give you a compact version of your page without need to all the time go to your web editor if you change just the graphics. Tools

There are just three tools from left to right:

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Selection Tool - for selecting Active cells in order to add a HTML link or change other parameters. Slicer Tool - the tool for drawing cells, it can be also used to select existing cell. Resize Tool - resize the cell Show Details in image This option button ( abc) will let you to show details for each cell right on the image. The details are: Cell dimension on the top side (205x77) Cell Span on the bottom edge (2,1). The cell span is a setting for HTML tables. Show Slices in document.

Back in document we can show the slices as guides. This will show only the Active cells. Advanced Settings Default JPG Quality any new cell will have this quality set as default. Enhance Sampling Quality - makes the images more sharp especially Red colors which often looks jagged in JPG files. Images a re bit bigger, but it is worth. Use Sub-Folder for Images - you can let create image in any subfolder - or directly in the root of the web page document. Set Cell Alignment Top-Left - default HTML table has vertically centered alignment of cells. This may not be good if you plan to add text or images and you would need to change that - this setting will take care of that. Export also OnClick state (Down Frame).

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This will export that frame from buttons even if it is not used in rollovers. You may want to use the graphic for other purposes (for example as a default image in some pages)

14.12 Slicing Page, Rollover

Continue with our Example Since we learned how to use slicer lets continue with our Web page tutorial. We will create two types of rollovers - one by creating a Web Button object, the other one directly in HTML Slicer. Last time
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we successfully created pill-shaped button

Now let's create whole page. We will add few elements and copy 3 times our button. You may notice that we didn't add any text to our button. We did this so we can reuse the button. We can of course add the text inside the package for each frame, which will take longer to change it or as here we will just put text on the top of the Package, not inside it. This way we don't have to worry about replacing the text in packages for each frame and the effect is still good. Trick: The text adding on top of Package will obviously not change, just the image of button behind this may be OK for now. If you, however would like to change also the text, here is a trick: You don't have to put the text into the Package - you can just simply add Over frame to the text while it is still sitting on the top of the button, then change it accordingly! The text and the button package will run in sync, just try switching All frames (the Eye buttons):

Here it is: We didn't add the text inside Package, instead we add it on top of it and make it also a button by adding Over frame.

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Now if we know all this, lets design the page, this is what we come up with - very simple Experimental page.

Only the 3 buttons are WEB Button objects, all the rest is just graphics. Start Slicing

Open the HTML Slicer and with the Slicer Tool draw rectangle around our first button.

Continue with remaining buttons the same way.

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Now we have created Active Cell over each of the three buttons. On the graphics we added another text in the right corner for contact. While it isn't a button we can still of course add link to it. First draw Active Cell around the text:

Now this will add too much unnecessary slicing on top. To keep design simple and to create space where we can type text in our HTML editor we added also another Active Cell (but we don't plan to ad any link to it) on top of the buttons. Let's do the same on the bottom of buttons and look on the slicing a large area got opened on the right of the buttons - a great space to later add text of the page.

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We can achieve similar results by drawing a large Active Cell on the area where we plan to have the web page text. Anyway, lets; see the whole slicing design, for better illustration see also the line drawing on right.

This is how our page will be sliced-up. Pretty good. Add Links, Rollover using Buttons When you select any Active Cell, look at the top where are the cell properties:

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Please note that for cells created over buttons the Rollover is already automatically set to Use Button Object. Now add the HTML link, it could be the whole http://www.somethig.com/somepage.html or simply mypage.htm if it is page on the site.

Now add Alternative text which will be shown as tooltip in IE.

You can also set different JPG Quality for each cell, or simply leave it default. Rollover using Effects Let's do the same for the Contact cell, which has not been created as a button just a simple text

We can simply add link and that's enough for the cell to be navigational but we can add Rollover effect even if the objects behind the cells are not buttons. We simply choose one of the Effect as Rollover. Here we used Negative effect.

Real-Draw will create automatically the rollover with the negative effect for us. Many of them works very nicely on the page. This saves a lot of time for not-so-important elements. Export our first Web page

It is simple Click Export and choose location. The result will pop-up in your default browser:

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Let's examine it - all three buttons works, also the Contact Cell works - on mouse Over it will do negative effect:

Add Text Now we can continue by adding text to the large area. One way would be simply stop here and open the created page in a html editor of your choice (Dreamweaver, Adobe GoLive etc.) and continue there by removing the large image occupying the cell and type text. But we can also add a text directly in HTML Slicer! For that we have to first draw rectangle with Slicer Tool over the empty area where the text should be

This will create new Active Cell. Now we will switch the cell to the HTML Text option:

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This will enable us to write (or copy and paste as I did from some page of this manual) the text directly into that cell

Here you go, now export it!

You don't have to enter just plain text but whole HTML page. Imagine you already designed and approved a text with images and links in your favorite HTML editor. You can just copy the source and paste it all to the cell. The page would be then embedded in the result without need to switch between Real-Draw and your web editor.

Here we enter a whole part of another HTML page source code. Broken HTML Tables This above is all fine - if we type text which fits into the cell. If we add more text than the cell can hold our graphics table will be broken. If you ever designed web page you may already have seen this problem with your HTML tables. The bigger cell will stretch all the other cells:

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This would not be problem if you have graphics only on top. But for such cases with surrounding graphics, this is a serious problem. Not very pleasant but still easy to fix. Extending Height of the page The problem above is not hard to fix. Open the design in Real-Draw. Now before you go to HTML Slicer extend little bit the height of the canvas. (Menu Project- Size and Color)

Just little so we have some white space on the bottom without any graphics. Now, go back to HTML Slicer and draw another cells in a new row which has no graphics behind it. It is recommended that none of the cells in the new row have any graphics - so we created two new Cells one 40x36 to close the graphics above and the 134x36. (Even if we don't do the 40x36 it will work, but it is nicer this way)

So we created a new Cells on the bottom of page which has no graphics. Now look at the Extend Last Row check box, enable it and type long height - 1000 pixels or so.
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This will extend the last row into that height (the underlaying graphics will not be resized - just the cells in HTML table) This will create enough room in the last row so the above graphics will be not moved. Now you are able to type much longer text without breaking the design.

Note: Even if we don't add the white Cells on the bottom of our design, it will still work as far as we have Set Cell Alignment Top-Left in Advanced properties. This will extend the last row but align the graphics on that row to the top of the long cells. It works, but adding white cells is a safer and more clean approach. Show Slices in design.

We can show the slices in design by checking this button on the main toolbar. This will put rectangles on places of Active Cells:

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14.13 Multimedia Button


Application for Multimedia Builder

Multimedia authoring tools, such as Multimedia Builder, use the Multi-Faces images (Buttons) to show interactivity on the multimedia presentation. The Normal button is displayed during inactivity. If a user hovers over the button with the mouse, then the second Over image will be displayed telling the user that he is over an Active button. If the user presses the button then the third Down image will than be displayed. Such kinds of objects are very common for all authoring systems. Real-DRAW can export the projects as a MBD or MEF project for Multimedia Builder or as a number of separate graphic images plus a Script 226 . Script is a very simple but powerful language allowing you to create a file in XML, HTML, Java Script or any other text based language. Some of the basic principles are same as described in previous chapter for WEB buttons. To Export use menu Files: MM & Script Export Example - Create interactive page with cool button 1. This is that we designed for a multimedia interface. Note the handle on the right which we created as a button, so that when user clicks on the handle it will move down.

2. Now lets carefully select all the objects we need in the handle and don't forget the shadow. When it's selected, click the Create package button. We can now double click on the new package to open it, to see if all objects we want are inside, and they're if not, you can easily pick one from the document, and simply copy it to the opened package view.

3. Let's close the Package for now. Next, when in the main document, select the Package, and in the Web/Multimedia Button window Check, the Over and Down Frame options.

4. We already have Down Frame selected, so let's work on it. Double-click on it to open the Package on this frame. Then re-arrange the objects so the handle is in the down position. Rotate the shadow to get

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to the right position as well and close the package.

5. We still have Over frame which you may or may not edit. Let's say we just want the red handle to glow little if the user moves their mouse over it. Select the Over frame and the handle should change to its previous position, displaying a Over frame, which is a copy of the Normal frame by default.

6. Open the Package on this frame by double clicking. Change the color of the red sphere to orange or do whatever else you think may be good. For example move it to the middle.

7. We're done. Check all of the Normal, Over, and Down buttons to see if the transition is OK and go to menu: File - Web/Multimedia Export. Leave the Multimedia Builder as the source and export it. Now open the Multimedia Builder and load the file to test it. You should have a great working handle.

Note The Handle is created in a Bitmap Button in MMB, and that the button is set to, Locked in designer, so that you can't accidentally move it with the mouse. Create Bitmap Object - Solo mode Sometimes you don't really want to have a button but you want to have a separate object in your multimedia anyway. Maybe you just want to create a special image that will pop-up in your Multimedia applications because of some script or other action. Like a warning or window. But you don't want to have these images active and you don't need any other states. The Solo Mode Lock is just for that. It disables the Over and Down frame, and you are working with the object, just as with any other normal object. However, the Solo Mode Lock is recognized during the Multimedia Export and creates a separate object.

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To activate Solo Mode Lock you must not have Over nor Down Frame checked. Then a small padlock appear next to Normal Frame. Click on it and the Solo Mode is Locked. (You will not be able to add Over or Down Frame on Locked Objects) For Multimedia Builder (MMB) users This creates a separate Bitmap object with an alpha transparency, that could be freely hidden or moved within your MMB application. Let's continue with our example. 8. We decided that as a user moves the handle, the strange device should show some life. We wanted the middle sphere to glow like a bulb. 9. Select the Sphere and Copy it to clipboard (CTRL+C) then Paste it back (CTRL+V). This will create a new copy on the top of the first sphere. We don't want to create a bitmap button this time but only to create a simple Bitmap object in MMB and still keep the original as a background which is why we need a copy. The original will stay dull, and because it will have no Multimedia Extension properties set, it will be exported to the background. The new copy should be exported as a single object, so select the sphere and click Create Bitmap Object on the Multimedia Extension window. Now add a new Point light to the sphere, which will create an interesting glow. We also need to set the Inset intensity lower, to give a more raised look.

10. Now export to Multimedia Builder again. In Multimedia Builder load, the new project and you'll see that we have an additional object - Bitmap. Hide it, because we want to show it if the user clicks on the handle. Open the handle properties by double clicking on the Button 0 in the Object list. Click the second button in Actions - Interaction with other objects- and then in the "Mouse click on the object trigger", select Show as Action1 and select Bitmap1 as Object. That's it, now test it. If a user clicks on the handle, the large sphere will glow and look like a light bulb.

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The Multimedia function is not that hard to master, but you must be careful and always know which frame you are editing. It can definitely be a great helper, because you can design an entire graphics interface for a multimedia program, and in the case of our Multimedia Builder, you will get a working project directly. Export an MMB file This is very easy. The export will create a single Multimedia Builder file (*mbd) and you can simply load it into our Multimedia Builder program. The 3-state object will be exported as a Bitmap button. Because its surroundings depend on the position against the background, the position of the button will be locked in MMB and this is so you can't select it and drag it with a mouse by accident. The rest of the non-interactive objects will be exported as a background. If the Solo Mode was used on any object (Create Bitmap Object), it will create a movable Bitmap object with an alpha transparency. Meta Export in MEF file When you've worked with export to MMB long enough, you will realize one weakness. When you load your design to MMB, and then make changes, add script or do additional inter-activity, you may suddenly need to change a few things on the original design. While you can make the changes in RealDRAW, you won't be able to update the project in MMB without loosing what you did there, or without a large amount of copy and paste, there and back, to save your scripts. Here comes MEF to save you. The MEF has simple requirements. That all interactive objects you made in Real-DRAW have a unique Label - it will even make them unique for you. That you load these objects into MMB with the same Labels. That you do not change any of these labels in Real-DRAW, nor MMB. Unless you change them to be both the same. Basically if you keep the Labels of the same interactive object in Real-Draw and MMB the same, you are fine.The MEF update will also create a new object if you add a new object in Real-Draw and update the ones that remain. MEF utilize also the new Alpha Button in Multimedia Builder - which creates truly transparent button without boundary problems. What are the usual steps? Create a design in Real-DRAW, the same was as described above.

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Export it into the WEB/MM Export as a Meta Export MEF file. Create a new project in MMB and make it the same size as the design in Real-DRAW or continue in an already existing project. Note that the MEF Import in MMB is much like an object Import in a page, so it doesn't change the project size, nor the objects that you already have there. Load MEF using File-MEF Import-Load MEF. Work on the MMB project as you want Create changes in the design in Real-DRAW, and export it again to MEF. In the MMB use File-MEF Import-Update from MEF. The old objects will be updated, and if you created a new one, it will be added. Repeat as many times as you need to. Note 1: Even if you first exported your project in Real-DRAW as an . mbd file, you can later use the MEF update option. Simply create MEF from the Real-DRAW file remembering that the first time it will change Labels in Real-DRAW. Then make the labels in MMB the same as labels of the interactive objects you now see in the Real-DRAW project. You are ready to Update from MEF. Note 2: The first time you use the MEF Export it will cause all the Labels of interactive objects to be unique - by adding numbers. It will add a number to every interactive object; even if you just have one. Export to other authoring systems Simply use: Web/Multimedia Script using JPG files in the MM & Script Export and follow next pages.

14.14 Multimedia Extension


Menu: Files - MM & Script Export Script, is a very powerful feature of WEB/Multimedia Export, allowing you to create text based documents, such as: HTML, XML, Java Script, CSS, and more. It is up to you to decide what you want to do with the images. You can load them into your multimedia authoring tool, create a web page or Java script buttons etc. Or anything else that you might want. Instead of doing these operations manually you can use the Script Generator to create the files for you.

The Script window appears after you select a MM & Script Export export type other than Multimedia Builder. For example, Web/Multimedia using JPG files. First you will be prompted to save the Main file the background.

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All other file names will be derived from this name by adding a number, and one of the letters a,b,c characterizing the frame, Normal, Over or Down. The Web/Multimedia Script Generator window has 3 major areas: A Script list. Here all the scripts stored in the directory, Script will appear. Script is a readable text format with the extension *.mms An edit box, where you specify the name of an output file. This file will be saved in the same directory as you saved the main background image. You also have a Test button, and by pressing it, the output file will be run in a similar way as if you had double clicked on it in Explorer. For example an html file will launch a web browser, a text file or notepad etc. A Script/Output windows. In this Script you have the source of the script as loaded from the Script List. In the Output window, you will see the generated output file - the file you want to create with the script. The Script is based on a few tags, each with some connection to the exported image, such as filename, size, position etc. These tags will be replaced on the output image with the data behind the tag. Script Tags All script tags are uppercase. The tag must be exactly in the format as described. <#EXTENSION> This tag is followed by an extension that will be used to create the filename of an output file. This tag should be in the comment area of the script, before <#SCRIPTSTART> tag. Example: <#EXTENSION>html <#SCRIPTSTART> This tag divides the script into the comment area and the main script. You have to use this tag even if you don't put anything in the comment area. <#BGWIDTH> and <#BGHEIGHT> The dimension tags of the background (main) image. This is the same as a document size. <#BGFILE> The filename of the background image - that's the file you specify before entering the Script Generator. <#LOOP> <#END> You can have more than one object to be exported, so it is necessary to specify the part of the script which will be used for all objects. You do it with the loop/end pair. Everything inside this pair will be generated for each object.You can use the loop/end pair more than once in the script, however they can't be nested one inside the other. <#OBJECTNUM> A number of the object and the counts start from 1. <#OBJECT> A name of the object - it is the same as a filename but without the extension. <#LABEL> A label of the object - this is what you enter if you double click on the object in the Layer Bar. <#FILE0> Filename of a Normal Frame Image of the Object.
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<#FILE1> Filename of a Over Frame Image of the Object. <#FILE2> Filename of a Down Frame Image of the Object. <#LEFT> A left position of the object relative to the background left/top corner. <#TOP> A top position of the object relative to the background left/top corner. <#RIGHT> A right position of the object relative to the background left/top corner. <#BOTTOM> A bottom position of the object relative to the background left/top corner. <#WIDTH> The width of the object, obviously width = right-left. <#HEIGHT> The Height of the object. Height = bottom - top. (Because the 0,0 is in left to corner) Everything in between script, is the language you use for your file, for example for Java Script it is a Java Script... Managing Scripts You can easily create a new script by simply selecting any of the existing scripts and Pressing the New button. You will have to type a new name into the box, near the New button, and then press Create. This will create a new copy of an existing script. If you adjust the script, you can save it back to the file, but make sure that you're editing the Script, and not the Output!. Just press the Save button. Delete, will delete the script from the list. When you modify the Script window, the Output window will be updated. You can also modify the output window directly, but this won't be translated back into the Script window. It could be used however if you wanted to make something quick, in to special case. All scripts are located in the Script directory. See next chapter for some real-life examples.

14.15 Script Example


Nothing shows the idea of a script better than a few samples. "A picture speaks a thousand words!". We modified the following example from Multimedia
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chapter by creating 2 buttons, one is the handle,

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and the second button is the sphere in the middle.

Because our goal was to show this image on a web page, we set the Over frame to be different, and left the Down frame the same as it was - Normal. A bit different from the other example for Multimedia Builder. Note: You have all these scripts already typed, and listed in the Script List.

A Simple Generic Text file listing images and sizes Now this is actually a normal txt file so it is a kind of dummy file, but it lists most of the script tags and sizes, so you can use it as a reference.
A simple generic text info Shows images, sizes and the position <#EXTENSION>txt <#SCRIPTSTART> Project dimensions: <#BGWIDTH> x <#BGHEIGHT> Background <#BGFILE> Image:

<#LOOP> <#OBJECTNUM>.

<#OBJECT>

Label: <#LABEL> Normal Image = <#FILE0> Over Image = <#FILE1> Down Image = <#FILE2> -------------------------------------------------------------Position = <#LEFT>,<#TOP> Size = <#WIDTH>x<#HEIGHT> ************************************************ <#END> Created by Real-DRAW

First it lists the project dimensions, which is the same as size as the background image and then lists the name of the background image. Now notice the part between <#LOOP> and <#END>: First, it shows the number of the object, and the object's name. Then the next line shows the Label, and a list of the button's 3 frames, which are the filenames.

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And lastly it lists the position, and the size of the particular button. This is in between the LOOP/END tags and would be repeated for any other buttons you have. We have 2 When you press the Test button the following will appear in the notepad:

A list of all files with the preview on html document We now want to display the files one after another (the files belonging to one object in a row) in a web page used as a simple reference. We will use HTML language with tables, but for this you'll need a basic knowledge of html.
A simple script lists all objects on the web page in a table. <#EXTENSION>htm <#SCRIPTSTART> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="generator" content="Real-DRAW"> <title>Image List</title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff"> <table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td bgcolor="#ffe782">Background (<#BGWIDTH> x <#BGHEIGHT>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="center"><img src="<#BGFILE>" border="0"></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="center"><a href="<#BGFILE>"><#BGFILE></a></td>

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</tr> </table> <p></p> <#LOOP> <table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td colspan="3" bgcolor="#b2edfd">Object <#OBJECTNUM> <#WIDTH>x<#HEIGHT>) </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="center"><img src="<#FILE0>" border="0"></td> <td valign="top" align="center"><img src="<#FILE1>" border="0"></td> <td valign="top" align="center"><img src="<#FILE2>" border="0"></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="center"><a href="<#FILE0>"><#FILE0></a></td> <td valign="top" align="center"><a href="<#FILE1>"><#FILE1></a></td> <td valign="top" align="center"><a href="<#FILE2>"><#FILE2></a></td> </tr> </table> <p></p> <#END> </body> </html>

This may look complicated, but that's because of the HTML tags. Basically it uses the same idea as in the previous example.

Press the test button, and you should see something like the image on the left. Simple! But it already shows some images!

Web Page Rollover with JAVA Script Now it gets a bit more complicated by using a Java Script. What we have below is a normal way of creating rollovers in Java Script. But what is more interesting is that we actually used the LOOP/END pair twice (in blue). One is
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when we list the images for the Java variables and the second time is when we actually put the images in place. Note: This example simply ignores the background.
Simple Rollover script <#EXTENSION>htm <#SCRIPTSTART> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> <!-- Hide Script //------------------------------------------------------------------if (document.images) { <#LOOP> <#OBJECT>_normal = new Image(); <#OBJECT>_normal.src = "<#FILE0>"; <#OBJECT>_over = new Image(); <#OBJECT>_over.src = "<#FILE1>"; <#OBJECT>_click = new Image(); <#OBJECT>_click.src = "<#FILE2>"; <#END> } function switchimages(sName,nEvent) { if (document.images) { if (nEvent == 0) sVal = 'normal'; else if (nEvent == 1) sVal = 'over'; else if (nEvent == 2) sVal = 'click'; else return; sObj = eval(sName + '_' + sVal + ".src"); if (document.images[sName]) document.images[sName].src = sObj; } } // End of JavaScript --> </SCRIPT> <#LOOP> <A HREF="" onMouseOver=" switchimages('<#OBJECT>',1); return true" onMouseOut=" switchimages('<#OBJECT>',0); return true" onClick=" switchimages('<#OBJECT>',2); return true"><IMG SRC="<#FILE0>" WIDTH="<#WIDTH>" HEIGHT="<#HEIGHT>" NAME="<#OBJECT>" ALT="" BORDER="0"></A> <#END>

What is the result of this?

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The script generated a page that shows both (2) buttons and when we move cursor above them they change the frame. For this reason we also adjusted the Over frame. With such a script, the highlighted frame is the one that gets most usage.. Note that we didn't add a URL, in the HREF html tag. That means that by clicking on the buttons we'd go nowhere. You can simply put the name here of another page, or a full URL.

The complete interactive page using CSS By modifying the script above and using Cascade Style Sheet (CSS) we will be able to display the whole document.
This is a script using CSS which exports the whole design You can set a URL link for each button by adding it to the label in a layer list. <#EXTENSION>html <#SCRIPTSTART> <html> <head> <meta name="generator" content="Real-DRAW"> <title>CSS Export</title> <style media="screen" type="text/css"><!-#layer0 { position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: <#BGWIDTH>px; height: <#BGFILE>px; visibility: visible } <#LOOP> #layer<#OBJECTNUM> { position: absolute; top: <#TOP>px; left: <#LEFT>px; width: <#WIDTH>px; height: <#HEIGHT>px; visibility: visible } <#END> --></style> </head> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> <!-- Hide Script if (document.images) { <#LOOP> <#OBJECT>_normal = new Image(); <#OBJECT>_normal.src = "<#FILE0>"; <#OBJECT>_over = new Image(); <#OBJECT>_over.src = "<#FILE1>"; <#OBJECT>_click = new Image(); <#OBJECT>_click.src = "<#FILE2>"; <#END> } function switchimages(sName,nEvent) if (document.images) {

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{ if (nEvent == 0) sVal = 'normal'; else if (nEvent == 1) sVal = 'over'; else if (nEvent == 2) sVal = 'click'; else return; sObj = eval(sName + '_' + sVal + ".src"); if (document.images[sName]) document.images[sName].src = sObj; } } // End of JavaScript --> </SCRIPT> <body> <span id="layer0"><img

src="<#BGFILE>"

border="0">

<#LOOP> <span id="layer<#OBJECTNUM>"> <a href="<#LABEL>" onMouseOver=" switchimages('<#OBJECT>',1); return true" onMouseOut=" switchimages('<#OBJECT>',0); return true" onClick=" switchimages ('<#OBJECT>',2); return true"><IMG SRC="<#FILE0>" WIDTH="<#WIDTH>" HEIGHT="<#HEIGHT>" NAME="<#OBJECT>" ALT="" BORDER="0"></a> </span> <#END> </span> </body> </html>

Note: We used LOOP/END three times here, once for creating the styles, then for listing the files, and the last time for adding the styles to web layers. Now, this is cool, we actually made a fully interactive web page with Real-DRAW. Any professional web page designer would be very proud! Note: The <#LABEL> command that we use as a html link on the button. You can enter a link, for example http://www.real-draw.com in the label field of the package, by double-clicking on it in the Layer Bar, which will allow us to go to that web page just by clicking on the handle.

This of course is not the end of it. You can use Script Generator for many other things. What about a script that will create a skin for some mp3 player?

14.16 Screen Capture


One of the little-Big helpers in Real-DRAW PRO is the ability to capture a screen region or window. There are three buttons on the bottom tool bar for screen capture.
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The first is the switch to hide the Real-DRAW PRO window before capturing. The second is Region Capture. A second after you press this button, a red cross hair will appear on the screen allowing you to select a region that you would like to capture. After you select that region the image will be directly transferred to Real-DRAW PRO. The third is a Window capture. This option allows you to capture the window or windows control without having to select a region manually with the cross-hair. As you move around your screen you will see that a window under the cursor will be highlighted. In Windows terminology the window, is any defined object, for example a button or a list box. Even a simple window, many times consists of the main window with the header text, and a client window which lies on top of it. With the Window capture you can precisely capture windows and objects. Great for making a tutorial. Note: For Multi-Monitor users: The Screen Capture works in Monitor 1. If you need Multi-Monitor enabled screen capture use for example our UltraSnap.

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Appendix
Copy/Paste Commands You have various copy and paste commands on the Edit menu. Most often you would use Copy (CTRL + C) - copy any object or selection of object to the clipboard Paste (CTRL + V) - paste object, or selection of object and any normal bitmap that is on the clipboard You also have a few other special case copy/paste commands: Copy as Bitmap - copy object or selection of objects and render it as a bitmap on the clipboard. With this command you can simply copy objects and paste them inside any other application. The Bitmap will be on the solid background color (if visible). Paste as Bitmap - when you copy any Real-DRAW PRO object onto the clipboard you can paste it as a Bitmap Object back into Real-DRAW PRO. The Bitmap Object will have a transparent background (it will behave as a normal object) . You can use a similar method to do the same - select objects, and from menu Bitmap-Create select New Bitmap from selected Objects The difference between Copy as Bitmap/Paste and Copy/Paste as Bitmap is that in the first case it will copy-paste a bitmap with a solid background and in the second case you will get a Bitmap Object with a transparent background. Paste Inside - this allows you to paste a bitmap or objects inside another object bitmap layer. Paste Attributes - Paste only attributes of the object on the clipboard to the selected object. Copy an object with the Style you like onto the clipboard Copy (Ctrl+C), then select another object and use Paste Attributes (Ctrl+Shift+V).

Bitmap - Create New Bitmap from selected Objects Create a new Bitmap Object from Selected Objects - the objects will stay as they are, a new Bitmap Object will be created. Similar to Copy - Paste as Bitmap. Bitmap Shadow from Selected Objects Create a new Bitmap Object Shadow from selected object and place it behind the object. In case you need shadow from many objects - this will help you to to do it the simplest way. New Document Snapshot This will create a Bitmap snapshot of a whole document and place it in a new document view. That is, you will see a new document created with just one Bitmap Object.

Project - Production Notes You can enter a few production notes about the project such as Name, Copyright, version number, date and free text. However you have also the possibility of protecting the project with few hidden commands typed into the (c) field.

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PWD:pass After you load the project with the PWD: keyword in (c) field it will ask you to enter a password - which is the rest of the text in the (c) field after the double-colon. For example if you enter PWD:mmb then the password is mmb and you will be asked for it if such project is loaded. Note: This isn't done as any strong protection, it is there in case you want to keep original project safe against changes made by mistake. LOCK: If this keyword is present in the (c) field, then anytime you click Save or Save as you will be reminded that this file is Locked and you must confirm the overwriting. You can combine both: LOCK:PWD:oscar

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Thank You
I would like to thank you, for trying, and for using this software (and also for reading this documentation). I must also thank you for sharing with me the vision of a "new type of illustration software" and I hope you will have a lot of fun using it, at least as much fun as I had making it. The software combines both - simplicity and power. I worked many hours just on the user interface - to make it easy to use with a set of specially designed controls. But it doesn't stop here, there is much more in Real-DRAW PRO than could be described in this manual. Because of its flexibility you could create something new everyday, almost as if a Real-DRAW PRO had a life of its own. In fact it has, check the About box :-) Many thanks to these people who helped me with this help file in their spare time: Lyn Monrean Michael Redbourn Thanks for your support. Roman Voska Real-DRAW PRO author March-July 2001, Canada http://www.mediachance.com (c) Mediachance 2001-2008

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Index
-33D Ball 92 3D Extrude 92 3D Lights 116

-CCharacter map 48 Clone from Blueprint 133, 182 Clone from bottom layer 133 Clone Packages 157 Cloning 133 Clorize 112 Close Path 30 Color & Texture 78 Color Correction 112 Color Memory 84 Color shift 84 Color Space 84 Color Transparency 72 Color Wash 78 Color/Texture Mix 78 Combine Objects 36 Combine Paint Object 36 Combined object 22 Compact Packages 160 Convert to-Polynome 132 Copy a Package 152 Create a Bitmap Object from package Create Final Group 44 Create one Final Package 44 Create package 149 Create Single Shape 36 Crop 155 Cropping Bitmaps 68 Curve tool 33

-AAdd Object 200 Add Point to Path 35 Adding an Island 35 Aligned Texture 124 Ambient Intensity 116 Apply Style 166 Apply Style to Packages Apply the Style 168 Arrow 32

166

-BBacklight 92 Barrel 92 Bevel 92 Bevel On Transparency Bitmap 22 Bitmap Editing 124 Bitmap Effects 87 Bitmap objects 58 Blend Modes 194 Blueprint 182 Blurrr 92 BOOLEAN 36 Break Apart 30, 36 Break Path 30 Brush Mode 125 Brush Strength 42 Brushes 125 Bump Map 116 Burst 88 92

152

-DDefocus Lens 97 Diffuse Reflectivity 116 Distant light 116 Document Size 27 DPI 201 Draft printing 201 Draft with External Reference

60

-EEdit a Package 149 Edit Transparency 88

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Editing Bitmap 127 Editing Brushes 137 Editing paths 30 Edit-Paste Attributes 199 Effect 97 Elevation 116 Entering by numbers 78 Envelope 48 EXPORT 184 Export to Clipboard 188

Layers 194 Lens Flare 97 Lenses 97 Lights 116 Limited Poly Nodes 30 Line Tool 33 Liquid Bitmap 159 Liquid Package 159 Liquid Shape 42 Load Blueprint 182 Lock 194

-FF-B 78 Fine printing 201 fine-tuning 167 Fit To Path 51

-MMake a Texture 145 Mask From Object 70 Masking 70 Mega Render 190 MM Extension 226 Motion Linear 92 Multimedia Button 222

-GGaussian Blur 87 Gaussian Sharpen 87 GenetX 84, 85 Global NPR Style 164 Glyph 48 Grid 25 Group 194 Guidelines 25

-NNew Paint Object 132 NPR Quick Adjust 167 NPR style 164 NPR Style Settings 168

-HHSL 112 HTML Slicer 206

-OObject Library 200 Object Properties 78 Object Selector 22 Onion Skin 182 Open and Closed path Outline 109

-IImage Hose 137 Import Font 48 Import Vector 44 Increase Curves 51 Intensity Transparency Inverse masking 70

30

-P72 Package Document Color 148 Package Document size 150 Packages 148 Paint on Edge 136 Painting on a Vector Object 128 Paint-On Transparency 128 Paste as Bitmap 238
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-LLayer Opacity 194

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Paste Inside 68, 238 Path 22 Perspective Transformation Point Light 116 Polynome 22 Position Lock 25 Preserve Transparency Edit Printing 201 Production Notes 238 Push-Back 102

145, 158

Specular Reflectivity 116 Spot Light 116 Standard Shapes 31 Star/Polygon 31 Styles 199 Surface Skin 110

132

-TText 22 Text Object 48 Texture 78 Texture Size 82 Trace Shape 74 Transparency 88 Transparency Masking 71 Transparency of Bitmap 127 Tweak 87

-RReal Size 48 Re-Crop 60, 65 Rectangle 31 REF file 60 Reload a Package 152 Reload Font List 48 Remove Bitmap Layer 128 Reset All 70 Reset to Original Size 48 Resize & Crop 58 Resize Bitmap Layer to Object Resize for all objects 190 Resize Texture Fills 190 Resized Edit 136 Roll-over 203 Rotation 82 Rounded Rectangle 31 Rubber Stamp 133 Rulers 25

-U136 Un-Combine 36 UNION 36 Unpack Package 152

-VVectorBit 8

-WWarp to Bevel 110 web page 205 Window capture 234

-SScreen Capture 234 SCRIPT 226 Shadows 97 Shape 33 sharpen 68 Simplify Complex Objects Size and Color 27 Size and Position 25 Slicing Page 213 Snapshot From the Object Spacing 137 Sparkle 97
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-XXOR 36 36

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