Roberts CorelDRAW For The Laser 2006 Robert Hensley

Creating Basic Shapes

Creating the basic shapes in CorelDRAW is relatively easy. However, the use of the alternative
properties used to create shapes can increase your CorelDRAW expertise.

The Rectangle Tool and Property Bar

You will probably use the Rectangle Tool almost every day. It is one of the components of the
CorelDRAW Toolbar. When you select this tool, its corresponding Property Bar replaces the
current property bar. Also, note that the cursor now reflects the Rectangle Tool selection shown
below:

Just place the new cursor on the drawing

page, and CLICK-DRAG the mouse. A
rectangle is created from the starting point of
the cursor.

The position, width and height are shown on the Property Bar. Also note the new information about
our rectangle on the STATUS BAR at the bottom of your Drawing Page. Note the Rectangle on
Layer 1 as shown on the example below:

Drawing an object while holding down the SHIFT constrains the rectangle with the cursors origin being the center
point. Pressing and holding the CTRL key while you CLICK-DRAG constrains the rectangle with all sides equal, from
the cursors origin. And, SHIFT+CTRL key while you CLICK-DRAG constrains the rectangle with all sides equal,
from the cursors origin which becomes the center point of the rectangle.

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Rounding Corners
You can round the corners on the rectangle interactively by dragging one of the four corner control
points horizontally or vertically. Or, you can change the corner roundness by entering the value on
the Property Bar. The corner roundness is shown on the Properties Bar in Figure 2-1.

FIGURE 2-1 Rectangle Property Bar noting Rectangle Corner Roundness and Round Corners Together
lock.

Note the Round The Corners Together lock next to the corner roundness values in Figure 2-1. If it is locked or
depressed, entering one value changes all the values identically. If it unlocked, you can enter a value to round a single
corner.

The various percentages of corner roundness are shown below:

And, below are some examples of changing the corners of rectangles.

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Ellipse Tool and Property Bar

Drawing an ellipse is just as easy as drawing a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool. However, ellipse
shapes are much more versatile. With the ELLIPSE TOOL selected, CLICK-DRAG the cursor
diagonally on the drawing page as shown in Figure 2-2.

FIGURE 2-2 Creating an ellipse by dragging diagonally with the mouse.

Note the ELLIPSE TOOL Property bar below, as well as the STATUS BAR (Figure 2-3) after creating
the ellipse.

FIGURE 2-3 Ellipse Tool Property Bar and Status Bar after creating the Ellipse in Figure 2-2.

Creating Pies and Arcs

Your new ellipse features two control points at the top of the ellipse that overlap and are invisible.
When these control points are separated, they create a pie or an arc state, and each determines either
the starting or ending angle of the pie or arc.
:
You can separate these control
points using either property bar
options or by dragging the
points using the SHAPE TOOL.
Dragging the cursor inside the
ellipses shape creates the
Ellipse Pie state. Dragging
outside the shape creates the
Ellipse Arc state.

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Some examples of using the pie and arcs for ellipses are shown below:

You can create a new pie or arc immediately by a CLICK, either the Pie or Arc button on the Property Bar before
creating the shape. You may also quickly toggle the state of any selected ellipse shape among these three states using the
same options

Dont forget to try the SHIFT and CTRL constrain keys when creating an ellipse. Using the SHIFT
key while you CLICK-DRAG the ELLIPSE TOOL creates the ellipse from the staring position of the
cursor. Using CTRL+CLICK-DRAG creates an ellipse where the origin becomes the center point.
And, SHIFT+CTRL while you CLICK-DRAG creates a circle where the origin becomes the center
point.

X3 - Polygons, Star & Complex Stars

Prior to X3, the POLYGON TOOL let you draw polygons in three different states: Polygons, Stars, or
Polygons as Stars. Now, there are three separate tools; POLYGON, STAR, and COMPLEX STAR. This
simple change really simplifies the polygon family

Polygon Tool
While the POLYGON TOOL is selected, the Property Bar (Figure 2-4) shows various options for
working with polygons.

FIGURE 2-4 Polygon Tool Properties Bar with 9 point star selected, .028 line width.

Creating a new polygon shape is the

same a drawing a new rectangle or
ellipse use a CLICK-DRAG action
in any direction.
All polygons are dynamically
editable, meaning you can change
the number of points or sides on a
selected polygon at any time.

You can adjust the appearing of your polygon or star shape by changing the Number of
Sides/points options on the Property bar. Alternatively, you can move the control points with the

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SHAPE TOOL and interactively control your polygon. Some of the various polygons and stars are
shown in Figure 2-5.

FIGURE 2-5 Examples of polygons.

Stars and Complex Stars

CorelDRAW lets you draw two types of stars: perfect and complex. Perfect stars are traditional-
looking stars and can have a fill applied to the entire star shape. Below is the Star Property Bar

Complex stars have intersecting sides and produce original results with a fill applied. Below is the
Complex Star Property Bar

If you change any of the settings for a polygon or a star on the Property Bar, while no polygon is selected, those settings
become the default settings for the POLYGON TOOL.

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Perfect Shapes
PERFECT SHAPES began in version 10, and is often overlooked. This tool is a collection different
styles which allow you to quickly create a variety of shapes. Unlike standard artwork you might load,
PERFECT SHAPES can be dynamically edited. For example, the symbol representing the arrow
features a single glyph node which lets you adjust the shaft and head of the arrow (see Figure 2-7).

Below are some of the Perfect Shapes I use most often:

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