Operation Manual

CorelDRAW basics | 49
CorelDRAW basics
CorelDRAW lets you create and edit drawings. In this section, you can find information about commonly performed tasks.
This section contains the following topics:
• “Understanding vector graphics and bitmaps” (page 49)
• “Starting and opening drawings” (page 50)
• “Scanning images” (page 53)
• “Working with multiple drawings” (page 54)
• “Undoing, redoing, and repeating actions” (page 55)
• “Zooming, panning, and scrolling” (page 56)
• “Previewing drawings” (page 58)
• “Choosing viewing modes” (page 60)
• “Working with views” (page 61)
• “Saving drawings” (page 62)
• “Working with locked files” (page 64)
• “Backing up and recovering files” (page 65)
• “Adding and accessing drawing information” (page 66)
• “Closing drawings” (page 66)
• “Exploring basic tasks” (page 67)
Understanding vector graphics and bitmaps
The two main types of computer graphics are vector graphics and bitmaps. Vector graphics are made of lines and curves, and they are
generated from mathematical descriptions that determine the position, length, and direction in which lines are drawn. Bitmaps, also known
as raster images, are composed of small squares called pixels; each pixel is mapped to a location in an image and has numerical color values.
Vector graphics are ideal for logos and illustrations because they are resolution-independent and can be scaled to any size, or printed and
displayed at any resolution, without losing detail and quality. In addition, you can produce sharp and crisp outlines with vector graphics.
Bitmaps are excellent for photographs and digital paintings because they reproduce color gradations well. Bitmaps are resolution-dependent
— that is, they represent a fixed number of pixels. They look good at their actual size, but they can appear jagged or lose image quality
when scaled, or when displayed or printed at a resolution higher than their original resolution.
You can create vector graphics in CorelDRAW. You can also import bitmaps (such as JPEG and TIFF files) into CorelDRAW and add them to
your drawings. For information about working with bitmaps, see “Working with bitmaps” on page 537.