Getting Started Guide Getting Started Guide
Notice of Liability The information in this manual is distributed on an "As Is" basis, without any representation or warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, title or fitness for a particular purpose or use. While every precaution was taken in the preparation of this manual, neither the author nor ACD Systems of America, Inc.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. This software contains portions of imaging code owned and copyrighted by Pegasus Imaging Corp., Tampa FL, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright Manual Copyright © 2010 ACD Systems of America, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Contents C H AP TER 1 : OVERVI EW 1 Getting Started Guide 2 About Canvas Documents 2 Illustrations 2 Publications 3 Presentations 3 Animations 3 About The Canvas User Interface 3 Canvas Window 3 Layout Area 5 Document Navigation Controls 5 About Document Layout 5 Pages 5 Layers 6 Master Pages 6 C H AP TER 2 : C REATI NG AND ENH ANC I NG TEC H NI C AL I L L U S TRATI ONS 7 Creating A New Illustration 8 Using The Drawing Tools 8 Drawing Shapes 10 Working With Inks And Str
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Selecting, Grouping, And Aligning Objects Selecting Objects Selecting Objects With Selection Tools 23 23 23 Grouping And Ungrouping Objects 24 Aligning And Distributing Objects 24 Saving A Canvas Document 25 Saving Files 25 Saving Selections And Layers 26 Applying Password Protection To Canvas Documents 26 C H AP TER 3 : P U B L I S H I NG , P RES ENTI NG , AND C OL L AB ORATI NG ON TEC H NI C AL I L L U S TRATI ONS 27 Printing Printing A Document 28 Previewi
Chapter 1: Overview Chapter 1: Overview 1
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Getting Started Guide Canvas is the preferred application for technical illustrators in many industries because it offers the most flexible, scalable and integrated design environment. Canvas has the full range of precise vector object illustration tools and advanced raster image editing tools that you need — all in one single, workflow- accelerating application.
Chapter 1: Overview Publications Publish documents using one of the standard paper sizes or a custom size. Specify full pages or facing pages, or choose one of the standard templates to create brochures, flyers, labels, magazine pages, and more. Publication documents are designed for publications printed with two-sided (facing) pages, although you can also create a Publication that has pages with single sides. You can use master pages to hold items that you want to appear throughout the publication.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide 1 Menu bar Menus for all the Canvas features. 2 Toolbar Shortcut icons for common tasks. 3 Properties bar Lets you control the properties for the text, painting, or vector tools as well as document setup. You can toggle this bar on or off. 4 Dynamic help Open this window to display information for selected tools and objects. 5 Docking bar Provides a customizable dock for the Canvas palettes you use often.
Chapter 1: Overview Layout area The rectangle centered in the Canvas document window is the Layout area. The white space around the Layout area is known as the pasteboard and is additional working space where you can place objects before using them in an illustration. Objects on the pasteboard are saved with the document, but they are not printed. The Layout area represents different things in the different Canvas document types. Illustration: A page, called a “sheet,” with layers.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Layers A layer is a transparent level that objects are placed on. On a page you might have one or more layers. You can use layers to organize similar objects together. For example, you might use one layer for text and another layer for objects. By default, when you place or draw objects on a page, they are placed on a single layer. Layers can help you work efficiently. You can organize objects on layers, and you can display, print, and save layers individually.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations 7
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Creating A New Illustration In Canvas there are two ways to create a new illustration: Startup dialog box: When you first start Canvas, you can create a new illustration from the Startup dialog box. The new document opens immediately. You can then use the Configuration Center to change document attributes such as the document units and drawing scale.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations To open a tool palette: Click a tool in the Toolbox. To float a tool palette: Press Shift and drag the tool palette away from the Toolbox. To draw simple lines, rectangles, squares, ovals, circles, and arcs: 1. Click one of the drawing tools in the Toolbox. 2. Click in your document and drag to draw the shape (or press Shift and drag).
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Drawing shapes Lines Drag from the starting point to the end point in any direction Lines at a 45° angle (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) Press Shift and drag from the starting point to the end point Rectangles Drag from one corner to the opposite corner Squares Press Shift and drag from one corner to the opposite corner Rounded rectangles Drag from one corner to the opposite corner Rounded squares Press Shift and drag from one corner to the opposite corner Ov
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations See the Canvas Help to learn about drawing more complex shapes. Working With Inks And Strokes In Canvas, inks are solid colors or multicolored patterns that you apply to vector and text objects. You can apply inks to the interiors and outlines of vector objects and text. Strokes are lines centered on a path. You can modify the ink used for a stroke, or the stroke itself.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide To change the pen or fill ink for a selected object: 1. Select a vector or text object. 2. Click the Pen Ink or Fill Ink icon in the Toolbox. 3. Select an ink. To change the current stroke: 1. Make sure no objects are selected in the document. 2. Click the Stroke icon in the Toolbox. 3. Select a stroke. To change the stroke for a selected object: 12 1. Select an object. 2. Click the Stroke icon in the Toolbox. 3. Select a stroke.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations To use the Presets palette: Do one of the following: Click one of the ink or stroke icons in the Toolbox, then drag the palette away from the Toolbox to float it. Choose Window | Palettes | Presets.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Creating Custom Inks And Strokes As well as using the preset inks and strokes, you can create your own custom inks and strokes and save them as presets. You do this in the Attributes palette. To open the Attributes palette: Do one of the following: In the Presets palette, click the Edit button. Choose Window | Palettes | Attributes. To create a custom ink or stroke: 1. In the Attributes palette, select the options you want to use for your custom ink or stroke. 2.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations Paint Brush Blur Pencil Sharpen Eraser Rubber Stamp Marker Smudge Airbrush Dodge Neon Burn Bucket Sponge Blend Paint Object Creator Painting To paint with a painting tool: 1. Select a painting tool from the Toolbox, such as the Paint Brush, Pencil, or Airbrush tools. 2. Begin painting with the tool. 3. When you have finished with the paint object, press Esc to exit edit mode. To create a blank paint object: 1.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide The brush icon shows the foreground color, and the bucket icon shows the background color. You can use any solid color for painting, including multicolored inks, such as gradients, symbols, textures, pattern, or hatch inks. Alternatively, you can use the Color Dropper tool to select a color from the paint object you are editing. To select a color for painting: 1. Click the foreground or background color icon in the Toolbox. 2.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations Link Info: Use the Link Info tool to check text flows in a document. The tool displays arrows showing the flow of text among linked text objects. Text Path: Use the Path Text tool to type text along a vector path. Text Form Field: Use the Text Form Field tool to create form text boxes. Text Section: Use the Text Section tool to create sections and columns in the text.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide To apply formatting from the Properties bar: 1. Select the Text tool from the Toolbox. 2. Select the text you want to format. 3. In the Properties bar, select one or more text format options. Properties Bar Text Format Options Font Select one from the menu. The font applies to selected text objects, highlighted text, or the next text you type. Size Select a size or enter one and press Enter.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations Stained Glass; Blur effects, such as Gaussian, Radial, and Motion blur; Brightness/Contrast, Color Balance, Hue/Saturation, Noise, Ripple, Spherize, Twirl, and many more. You can apply effects temporarily, adjust effects settings, change the order of effects, and hide or remove effects individually, all from the SpriteEffects palette, without having to use Undo or save the original image to preserve it.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide To create a lens object: 1. Create an object to use as a lens. You can create a new object or copy an existing object. Fill inks are removed when vector or text objects are converted to lenses. 2. Select the object you want to use as a lens. 3. Do one of the following: In the Properties bar, click the Make Lens button. Choose Object | Convert to Lens. In the SpriteEffects palette, select the Lens check box. The object becomes a lens and remains selected.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations move the viewpoint up and left of the lens center; e.g., to set the viewpoint 1 ruler unit left of the lens center, enter - 1 (X) and 0 (Y). If you move the lens, the viewpoint changes. Using Symbols You can use symbols to enhance your illustrations. You can open the Symbol Library palette, and drag and drop symbols onto your illustration, you can use Symbol pen strokes to draw a line or shape using symbols, or you can use a symbol fill ink.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Using Symbol Pen Strokes To draw with a symbol stroke: 1. Click the Strokes icon in the Toolbox. 2. Drag the pop up palette away to see the full palette. 3. In the Presets palette, on the Pen tab, click the Symbol icon. 4. Do one of the following: Select one of the preset symbol strokes. Click the Edit button to create a new symbol stroke. 5. Click one of the drawing tools in the Toolbox and draw an object. To create a custom symbol stroke: 1.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations 5. Click the object in your document that you want to use in the symbol ink. 6. Adjust the settings for the symbol ink in the Symbol manager. 7. Click the Add Preset button to add the new symbol ink to the preset inks. Selecting, Grouping, and Aligning Objects In Canvas, you need to select objects in order to edit them. If you want to edit several objects at once, you can group the objects first.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Hold down Shift, and click each object you want to select. Hold down the right mouse button and click multiple objects to select them. With the Selection tool, drag a selection box around objects to select them. Canvas selects all objects inside the selection box. To select all objects on a single layer: Choose Edit | Select All to select every object in a single-layer document.
Chapter 2: Creating and Enhancing Technical Illustrations To align or distribute objects: 1. Select two or more objects. 2. Do one of the following: Choose Object | Align, and select an alignment option. In the Properties bar, select an alignment option. In the Align palette, select an alignment or distribution option, then click Apply. You can apply alignment and distribution options to vector objects, group objects, paint objects, and text objects.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide To avoid losing your work in the event of a power failure or system failure, use the Save command frequently as you work to store changes on disk. Also use the AutoSave feature located in the General settings in the Configuration Center. Saving selections and layers In the Save As dialog box you can choose options to save selections or layers, and create previews. Save Entire Document The default setting tells Canvas to save a complete document.
Chapter 3: Publishing, Presenting, and Collaborating on Technical Illustrations Chapter 3: Publishing, Presenting, and Collaborating on Technical Illustrations 27
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Printing When it's time to print your document, Canvas provides a full range of printing options, allowing you to quickly deliver high quality printed documents or postscript files for professional printing. In Canvas to can choose whether to print an entire document, a selection of objects, or a selection of pages. You can also make use of layers to show or hide objects so that you only print what you need.
Chapter 3: Publishing, Presenting, and Collaborating on Technical Illustrations 3. When you have finished previewing the document, do one of the following: Click Print to send it to the current printer when you finish previewing a document and the settings are correct. Click Close to return to the document without printing. Setting The Print Area If you want to print only a selected area of a page, you can set the print area to define how much of the page is printed.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide When you draw in the Layout area with these tools, Canvas creates an object shape and connector lines. You can change the shape of the object or the type of connector line in the Properties bar. You can also edit the label (before you place the annotation), and modify the font and style of the text. You can also modify the outline and fill of the flowchart shapes and connectors using the Pen and Fill inks in the Toolbox.
Chapter 3: Publishing, Presenting, and Collaborating on Technical Illustrations To change the attributes of flowchart lines or symbols: 1. Select the flowchart lines or symbols in the document. 2. Set the pen, fill, dash, and arrow attributes in the Toolbox. As with any Canvas object, you can also change the size of the selected symbols, the opacity, and effects such as bevel and shadow. You can also align symbols, rotate them, or skew them. To replace one symbol with another: 1.
Chapter 4: Simplifying and Accelerating Your Workflow Chapter 4: Simplifying and Accelerating Your Workflow 33
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide Importing Files And Images Importing Files Canvas lets you import and export files in many different formats, letting you easily work with colleagues who use different applications and formats. Since the native Canvas format (.CVX) saves all the objects, properties, and effects that your document can contain, it's recommended that you always save your document in this format, in addition to saving or exporting the document in other formats.
Chapter 4: Simplifying and Accelerating Your Workflow 3. Select the Acquire as Proxy check box. 4. Click the Import button. The proxy image is linked to the image file. Exporting Files And Images Exporting files In Canvas, exporting files in different formats is as simple as saving the file in your selected format. Because not all the different file formats support all Canvas objects and effects, it's recommended that you always save your document in the standard Canvas (.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide To save a document in multiple formats: 1. Choose File | Save As. 2. In the Save As dialog box, select the Multiple Save check box. 3. Click the Options button to select the formats you want to save. Raster Formats / Non-raster Formats Select the formats you want to save the file in. Display Options dialog Select this check box to display the Render Image or PDF Options dialog boxes so that you can select the settings for each format.
Chapter 4: Simplifying and Accelerating Your Workflow 4. Click OK. A 2D view of the object is placed in the document. By default, the object is cached at a resolution of 300 ppi to optimize redrawing. You can change the resolution of the cached image. Select the object, then enter the resolution in the Res text box in the Properties bar.You can also choose to not cache the object by deselecting the Cache Object check box. To modify the view of the 3D object: 1.
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide 3D View Editor dialog box View Controls Adjust the orientation, rotation, and zoom of the object. Magnifying glass: Select this tool, then click on the preview image to zoom in. To zoom out, click the tool, then right-click the preview image. Hand tool: Select this tool, then drag the preview to change the part of the image that is displayed in the view. Free rotation: Drag the preview image through any angle. X-axis rotation : Drag the preview image along the X axis.
Chapter 5: What's Next? Chapter 5: What's Next? 39
Canvas 12 Getting Started Guide What's Next? Explore Canvas is packed with many more useful features and tools—more than we can cover in this simple guide. Hopefully, these instructions have given you some ideas on how the program can help you create and enhance technical illustrations or use it as a collaborative tool as part of your technical illustration workflow. We encourage you to explore the rest of Canvas, and to experiment with some of the features for yourself.
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