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Contents Contents 1. Welcome .......................................................... 1 Key features ....................................................................................................... 4 New features in DrawPlus X3 ..................................................................... 12 Installation........................................................................................................ 15 2. Getting Started ...............................................
Contents 4. Lines, Curves, and Shapes ............................ 51 Selecting one or more objects ................................................................... 53 Drawing lines and shapes ............................................................................ 55 Editing lines and shapes............................................................................... 61 Using QuickShapes ........................................................................................
Contents 7. Working with Objects .................................... 105 Copying, pasting, cutting, and deleting objects ................................ 107 Cloning an object......................................................................................... 107 Cropping an object...................................................................................... 110 Copying an object's formatting ............................................................... 113 Moving objects ..................
Contents 9. Working with Pictures................................... 169 Importing pictures ...................................................................................... 171 Importing camera and scanner images................................................ 172 Using Image Cutout Studio ...................................................................... 173 Autotracing ................................................................................................... 179 10.
Contents 12. Publishing and Sharing................................. 243 Previewing the printed page.................................................................... 245 Basic printing................................................................................................. 245 Printing special formats ............................................................................. 247 Publishing as PDF.........................................................................................
Contents
Welcome 1
2 Welcome
Welcome 3 Welcome to DrawPlus X3—the design and illustration solution from Serif, fully certified for Windows Vista, and packed with all the features expected of award-winning design software. From decorative page elements and logos to full-page illustrations, scale drawings, multi-page publications, and Stopframe or Keyframe animations— DrawPlus X3 does it all.
4 Welcome Key features Document • Multipage Document Support From startup to printout, the versatile DrawPlus engine sustains your creativity. Choose from a wide range of preset document types, including booklets and folded documents. Work on pages right side up... automatic imposition assures correct order and orientation of your output. Use DrawPlus's always-at-hand collection of popular design templates to create designs quickly.
Welcome • 5 Professional-Standard Drawing Features Features like converting text to curves, defining custom envelopes, fully customizable drop shadows, layers, and scalable vector graphics give complete creative power. Combine two shapes into one... Subtract for cropping and masking... Intersect to carve out unique shapes and regions. Design • Cropping Any object can serve as a "cookie cutter" for trimming one or more other objects into a single shape...
6 Welcome • Object Default control Set your intended object’s default line colour/style, fill, and transparency before even drawing your object! As a more powerful default control, Synchronize Defaults lets you adopt a currently selected object’s attributes for future objects; For example, select a red brush stroke, to subsequently paint in red, then a green brush stroke to paint in green; all or selected attributes can be affected. Global and object-specific defaults can be reset independently.
Welcome • 7 Transparency Effects Transparency can make the difference between flat, ordinary visuals and sparkling realism! And DrawPlus provides it all—a full range of transparencies for shading, shadows, reflections, depth effects, and more. Lines, brushes, and shapes • Versatile Line Drawing Sketch using calligraphic lines with an adjustable pen angle. Add rounded corners when and where you need them... and choose different end caps and joins.
8 Welcome • Brushes Unleash the painter within you, with DrawPlus's powerful Paintbrush Tool and the supporting Brush tab's galleries! Pick from natural media brush types such as acrylic, charcoal, dry paint, pastel, pen, and watercolour, or create your own. Using a pressure-sensitive pen tablet? Pressure sensitivity is supported (via a Pressure tab) with preset or custom pressure profiles and control over the maximum and minimum pressure applied.
Welcome 9 • Perspective Effects Get a new slant on things... With a context toolbar flyout full of presets plus a built-in tool for freeform adjustments, the Perspective Tool lets you tilt and skew text (or any other object) for truly “spatial” results! • Roughen Tool For jagged, jaunty edges on text, lines, or QuickShapes, just drag the tool up or down for subtle or bold results. • Border Wizard Vastly flexible Border Wizard instantly adds borders to the page or to individual objects.
10 Welcome • Stopframe Animation Tap the power of QuickShapes to turn out Web stopframe animations in no time—using advanced features like onion skinning, backgrounds, overlays, and frame management. • Keyframe Animation Produce smooth, professional and quick-to-design animations as Adobe® Flash® files, all from within the Storyboard tab. The Easing tab defines editable envelope profiles for defining the rate of change of an object's transformation and attributes.
Welcome • 11 Professional Print Output PDF publishing to the PDF/X-1 or PDF/X-1a file format is a great choice for professional output from DrawPlus. Deliver with confidence to your print partner, safe in the knowledge that your single composite print-ready PDF drawing includes all fonts and colour information for spot or process colour separation. Select file information, crop marks, registration targets, and densitometer/colour calibration bars for inclusion in your PDF.
12 Welcome New features in DrawPlus X3 Images • AutoTrace (p. 179) Convert bitmaps to vector art with AutoTrace studio. Adopt preset profiles for optimum tracing of bitmapped logos, as well as colour and black and white photos. Create your own custom profiles for tracing files with similar characteristics. Use adjustment tools for fine-tuning traced output (add/remove colours, merge areas, smooth curves, or erase nodes). • Quick-and-easy image cutouts (p.
Welcome 13 Design • Spray brush strokes (p. 81) Have some painting fun with spray brushes from categories such as Airbrushes, Grunge, and Special Effects; change brush colours to suit your design or adjust brush nozzle control. • Brush and edge effects on object outlines (p. 147) Bored of solid line fills? Try stroking a brush outline around artistic text, image, and shapes. Alternatively, use textured edge brushes for ripped, painted, smudged, glowing or burnt edges. • Design aids (p.
14 Welcome • Export selected regions (p. 252) Easily draw and size an overlay region around an area of your design, then export it via Export Optimizer! • HD Photo and PostScript files (p. 171) Import and export as Microsoft's new HD Photo file format! Import Encapsulated PostScript files (.eps) as well. • Open Adobe Illustrator files (p. 25) Open and edit Adobe Illustrator files (9.0 and above) directly into DrawPlus. • A new metafile format (p. 171) Import and export Serif Metafiles (.
Welcome 15 Installation System Requirements Minimum: • Windows-based PC with DVD/CD drive and mouse • Microsoft Windows® XP or Vista operating system • 512MB RAM • 438MB (recommended full install) free hard disk space • 1024x768 monitor resolution Additional disk resources and memory are required when editing large or complex documents. To enjoy the full benefit of brushes and their textures, you must be using a computer whose processor supports SSE (most modern computers do).
16 Welcome First-time install To install DrawPlus X3 simply insert the DrawPlus X3 Program CD into your DVD/CD drive. The AutoRun feature automatically starts the Setup process. (If it doesn’t, follow the manual install procedure described below.) Just answer the on-screen questions to install the program.
Getting Started 2
18 Getting Started
Getting Started 19 Startup Wizard Once DrawPlus has been installed, you're ready to start. Setup adds a Serif DrawPlus X3 item to the All Programs submenu of the Windows Start menu. • Use the Windows Start button to start DrawPlus (or if DrawPlus is already running, choose New>New from Startup Wizard... from the File menu) to display the Startup Wizard. The Startup Wizard offers different routes into the program for you to explore: The above options are described as follows: Create Allows you to....
20 Getting Started Open Open Saved Work open and edit your saved DrawPlus drawings Design Template create an instant drawing or animation from a design Import PDF create a design from an existing PDF file. Sample Designs load some example drawing files to boost your imagination! Browse Tutorials access the DrawPlus tutorials Online Videos View a selection of online product videos View Use the Choose Workspace drop-down menu to choose your workspace appearance (i.e.
Getting Started 21 Starting with a design template It's so much easier creating drawings with a little bit of help—DrawPlus can utilize a whole range of design templates which will speed you through the creation of all types of drawings and animations! Templates can be thought of as “object factories.” They let you pick a design and leave you with one or more new objects on the page. If the design is exactly what you want then all that is left is for you to print it or export it.
22 Getting Started 3. From the dialog, select a drawing category on the left, and examine the designs on the right. Click the thumbnail that's closest to the one you want, then click Open. The design is loaded and forms the basis of your new unsaved drawing or animation. When you make any changes, you'll be prompted to save the drawing or animation to a file name. You can save any drawing or animation as a template (see Saving templates; p. 27) at any time.
Getting Started 23 To start a new drawing during your DrawPlus session: • Click New Drawing on the Standard toolbar (if Startup Wizard is disabled). - or Choose New>New Drawing from the File menu. You'll get a new drawing in a new untitled window each time you choose this method—the default page size is adopted. You can always adjust the page size and document format later via File>Page Setup.... To turn on/off the Startup Wizard: 1. Choose Options... from the Tools menu. 2.
24 Getting Started To open an existing document via toolbar or menu: Open on the Standard toolbar, or select File>Open.... 1. Click 2. In the Open dialog, navigate to, then select the file name and click the Open button. Displaying drawings If you open multiple drawings at the same time, you can easily jump between drawings by selecting a drawing name from the Window menu. Unsaved drawings are indicated by an asterisk; the currently active document is shown with a tick.
Getting Started 25 To open an image: Open on the Standard toolbar. 1. Click 2. Change the file type drop-down menu to display All Image Files, locate and select the file, and click Open. The image occupies your workspace such that page dimensions are adjusted to match the image dimensions (a Custom page size is adopted; in pixels). 3.
26 Getting Started Opening AutoCAD files DrawPlus opens AutoCAD® .dwg and .dxf files quickly and easily. Using the same process as that for PDF files, this creates an opportunity to not only view engineering layouts and designs (up to AutoCAD 2006) in DrawPlus, but to edit the drawn objects and to save the drawing as a DrawPlus Drawing (.DPP). On file open, a DXF/DWG Options dialog provides options to scale the imported file objects, position the artwork on the page and merge objects onto one layer.
Getting Started 27 Saving your work DrawPlus saves its documents as .dpp (Drawing), .dpx (Template) or .dpa (Animation) files (for Stopframe and Keyframe animation modes). To save your work: • Click Save on the Standard toolbar. - or To save the document under its current name, choose Save... from the File menu. - or To save under a different name, choose Save As... from the File menu.
28 Getting Started Closing DrawPlus To close the current document: • Choose Close from the File menu or click the window's button. - or - Close If you have a middle mouse button (wheel), click it when you hover over the document tab at the top of your workspace. If the document is still unsaved or there are unsaved changes, you'll be prompted to save changes. To close DrawPlus: • Choose Exit from the File menu. For each open window, you'll be prompted to save any changes made since the last save.
Working with Pages 3
30 Working with Pages
Working with Pages 31 Setting up a document A document's page size and orientation settings make a fundamental difference to its layout, and are defined when the new document is first created (see Starting with a new drawing on p. 22). If the Startup Wizard is turned off, or you cancel the setup dialog, a new document defaults to A4 (Europe) or Letter size (US) in Drawing Mode.
32 Working with Pages 4. Adjust the document Margins to your specifications. You can set the left, right, top, and bottom margins individually, or click the From Printer button to derive the page margin settings from the current printer settings. The dialog also provides options for Balanced margins (left matching right, top matching bottom) or for two Mirrored margins on facing pages where the "left" margin setting becomes the "inside," and the "right" margin becomes the "outside.
Working with Pages 33 Setting measurement units and drawing scale For precision drawing, you need techniques that allow you to position and draw accurately without effort, which will also be of use at any scaled size. Such techniques make use of rulers and guides for actual-size or scaled drawings. Rulers The DrawPlus rulers mimic the paste-up artist's T-square, and acts as a measuring tool and guide creator. The rulers that surround the page allow you to measure the exact position of an object.
34 Working with Pages The small tab that is shown on the intersection button can be used to set a new ruler origin—simply drag the tab onto the page and release to set the position of your new origin (cross-hair guides and the Hintline toolbar help this positioning). Double-click on the intersection to reset the origin back to its default position. All guide positions are recalculated as the origin changes position.
Working with Pages 35 Rulers as a measuring tool The most obvious role for rulers is as a measuring tool. As you move the mouse pointer, a small line marker along each ruler displays the current horizontal and vertical cursor position. When you select an object the rulers not only show its position, but also its extent by a lighter coloured area (also showing the object's dimensions).
36 Working with Pages To create a guide: • For a horizontal or vertical guide, click on the horizontal or vertical ruler, respectively, and drag onto the page while fine-tuning the guide into its position. Hold down the Alt key before guide creation to produce a horizontal guide from a vertical ruler and vice versa. To move, delete and lock guides: • To move a guide, click and drag it into position with the Pointer Tool. • To remove a guide, drag and drop it onto the respective ruler.
Working with Pages 37 To change the drawing scale: 1. Choose from the context toolbar (shown with Pointer or Rotate Tool selected). 2. Check the Scale Drawing box. 3. Use the input boxes to set the drawing scale as a proportion between the Page Distance (in page units that define the document's actual printing dimensions) and the Ruler Distance (in on-screen ruler units that represent the "real world" objects you're depicting). Units and object dimensions update and scale accordingly.
38 Working with Pages To turn snapping on and off: 1. Choose from the context toolbar (shown with Pointer or Rotate Tool selected). 2. In the Snapping pane, check or uncheck the Snapping box. Alternatively, switch Snapping on or off via the Arrange menu. To snap to guides and/or grid: • With the Snapping option checked, check the Snap to Guides and/or Snap to Grid option in Tools>Options>Snapping.
Working with Pages 39 Viewing pages The HintLine toolbar at the bottom of the screen displays the current page number and provides a number of controls to let you navigate around your pages. As an alternative, the Pages tab shows your pages as thumbnails, which when selected, will display that page in your workspace. Once you've got a page in view, you can use the scrollbars at the right and bottom of the main window to move the page and pasteboard with respect to the main window.
40 Working with Pages Zooming The Hintline toolbar also allows the user to view and/or edit the page at different levels of detail. You can zoom in/out step-by-step or by a userdefined/preset amount. Panning is also possible. The Current Zoom setting on the toolbar displays the current zoom percentage, with 100% representing an actual-size page. Click over the value, then type to enter any zoom percentage up to 5000% or select a preset zoom from the flyout list (includes fit to Full Page or Page Width).
Working with Pages 41 Adding and deleting pages DrawPlus uses the Page Manager to add one or more pages before or after a currently selected page; you can even make use of an object "cloning" feature which copies objects from a chosen page. To add one or more new pages: 1. Select a page from which to add page(s) before/after. 2. from the context toolbar (shown with Choose Pointer or Rotate Tool selected).. 3. On the Page Manager's Insert Page tab, specify the following: 4.
42 Working with Pages To make a page a background for other pages: • From the Pages tab, right-click the intended background page and choose Set as Background (to undo choose Unset as background). Using design aids DrawPlus provides a number of tools to assist you as you design. Each is designed to improve stroking lines/brushes, page composition, and focused design on specific areas on the page.
Working with Pages 43 The above example illustrates how grass-like brush strokes can be added more easily to a canvas once it has been rotated 30°! To rotate your canvas: Either: 1. Rotate Canvas on the Hintline toolbar (don't click the Click down arrow). 2. Hover over your workspace until you see the cursor, then click and drag to rotate the canvas clockwise or anti-clockwise. 3. Once you're happy with the degree of rotation, release the mouse button to reposition the canvas.
44 Working with Pages Applying the Rule of Thirds Traditionally a technique used in photography, the Rule of Thirds grid can also be applied to your design to help with its composition. For example, note the way the primary object (pear) is vertically aligned between the top- and bottom-left intersecting points, i.e. under the stalk and core. The secondary object (orange) is located under the opposite intersecting line to offer some balance to the design.
Working with Pages 45 Once applied, the grid stays selected. Clicking away from the grid will deselect it, but it can be reselected at any time (e.g., for repositioning later). To select the grid: • From the Standard toolbar, click Rule of Thirds. and choose Select Using divine proportions Divine proportions in DrawPlus involve overlaying a grid over your design for aesthetic proportioning of design elements.
46 Working with Pages To apply a Divine Proportions grid: 1. and select Divine From the Standard toolbar, click Proportions from the drop-down menu. The grid is overlaid over your page. 2. (Optional) Resize, rotate, or reposition the grid over your design (or planned design area) by dragging corner or edge handles. 3. Begin drawing, using the guide lines to draw objects proportionately. To select the grid (once deselected): • From the Standard toolbar, click Divine Proportions.
Working with Pages • 47 Select the object, then click Solo Mode on the Hintline toolbar. After editing, click the button again to return to normal editing mode. Updating defaults When you create new objects in DrawPlus, the way they look depends on the current default settings for that particular type of object. DrawPlus stores defaults separately for (1) lines/shapes (including QuickShapes), (2) artistic text objects, (3) connectors, (4) dimension objects and (5) brushes.
48 Working with Pages To see what the current defaults are for a particular object type, simply create a new object of that type. Although you can switch Synchronize Defaults on or off globally, it is also possible to independently switch on or off attributes which synchronize with, or update to, the currently selected object. To change which attributes synchronize: 1. Defaults flyout Choose Synchronization Settings... from the (Standard toolbar) to optionally select attributes (e.g.
Working with Pages 49 To switch synchronize defaults off (for manual default control): • Uncheck Synchronize Defaults on the Standard toolbar. Defaults flyout of the To set object defaults manually: 1. With Synchronize Defaults disabled, create a sample object (the object type matching the set of defaults you’re updating: line/shape, artistic text object, connector, or dimension object), and alter it to use the specific properties you plan to use as defaults.
50 Working with Pages
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 4
52 Lines, Curves, and Shapes
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 53 Selecting one or more objects Before you can change any object, you need to select it using one of several tools available from the top of the Drawing toolbar. Pointer Tool Click to use the Pointer Tool to select, move, copy, resize, or rotate objects. Rotate Tool Click to use the Rotate Tool to exclusively rotate an object around a centre of rotation. You can also use the Rotate Tool to move or copy objects.
54 Lines, Curves, and Shapes Selecting multiple objects It is also possible to select more than one object, making a multiple selection that you can manipulate as if it were one object, or turn into a grouped object. To select more than one object (multiple selection): 1. Choose the Pointer, Rotate or Node Tool. 2. Click in a blank area of the page and drag a "marquee" box around the objects you want to select. Release the mouse button.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 55 Selection using a lasso For more detailed multiple object selection, using a fixed marquee or Shift-select may be too inflexible. Instead, you can draw an irregular-shaped lasso around one or more objects in a complex design. To select using a lasso: 1. Choose the Pointer or Rotate Tool. 2. With the Alt key pressed, draw a "lasso" around the objects you want to select. 3. Release the mouse button. All of the objects within the lasso region are selected.
56 Lines, Curves, and Shapes Choose one of the line tools shown below from the Drawing toolbar. The Pencil Tool is used to sketch freeform lines. The Straight Line Tool is used to draw straight lines. The Pen Tool is used for drawing complex, combination curves and shapes in a highly controlled way by using a series of "connect the dots" mouse clicks. As soon as you draw a line, or choose one of the line tools when a line is selected, you'll see the line's nodes appear.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 4. 57 (optional) To set the degree of smoothing to be applied to the line (and subsequent lines), set the Smoothness value on the context toolbar above your workspace. Click its right arrow to display a slider—drag right, then left. You’ll see your drawn line—still selected—smooth out (with fewer nodes) as you drag right, and become more jagged (with more nodes) as you drag left.
58 Lines, Curves, and Shapes To extend a line: 1. Move the cursor over either of the end nodes, a small + cursor will appear. Click at that location. 2. The line that you drag out will be a continuation of the existing line, as a new line segment. To draw a curved line: Pen Tool from the Drawing toolbar. 1. Choose the 2. From the displayed context toolbar, choose to create your drawn segments in Smooth joins or Sharp joins creation mode. By default, you'll be in Smooth joins mode (i.e.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes (4) 59 (5) 6. However, you can press the Alt key while drawing the segment to define a "cusp" or sharp corner (5). This locks the control handle on the last created node. For more on line corners, see Changing nodes and line segments. 7. To end the line, press Esc or choose a different tool. Drawing shapes You can make a shape by closing a curve—extending a freeform line or a segmented straight line back to its starting point.
60 Lines, Curves, and Shapes To close a curve (without new segment): • Select the curve with the Node Tool, and drag from an end node (note the Node cursor), moving the line, onto the other end node (a Close cursor will show); releasing the mouse button will create a shape. If you're trying to draw a cartoon outline made up of many independent curves (e.g., a cartoon ear, rose, etc.) you may want to fill each curve without closing it. This is made easy by using the Fill-on-Create feature.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 61 Editing lines and shapes To edit lines or shapes, you can manipulate their segments and/or nodes, allowing you to: • Redraw part of a curve • Reshape a line (or curve) • Simplify a line (remove nodes) • Enhance a line (add nodes) • Change the type of node or line segment • Convert to straight line segments • Adjust a shape • Join two lines together Redrawing part of a curve With the Pencil Tool, it's easy to redraw any portion of a curve.
62 Lines, Curves, and Shapes 2. Click on the line, and a new node appears. 3. Keep the mouse button down and drag to draw a new line section, connecting it back to another point on the original line. Again, the cursor changes to include a curve when you’re close enough to the line to make a connection. When you release the mouse button, the original portion is replaced by the newly drawn portion. Reshaping a line The main tool for editing lines and shapes is the Node Tool.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 63 - or Select nodes and drag. Selection can be by one of the following methods: Hover over a single node and click to select the node. Shift-click for multiple nodes. drag out a marquee to select multiple neighbouring nodes drag out a lasso (with Alt key pressed) to select multiple nodes otherwise difficult to select via a marquee. Once selected, a node becomes highlighted and control handles for the adjacent line segment(s) will appear.
64 Lines, Curves, and Shapes 4. Drag any selected node to reshape adjacent segment(s). All selected nodes move in the same direction, so you can reshape the curve in complex ways by selecting specific nodes. Shift-drag to constrain the movement to horizontal or vertical. 5. Drag one or more control handles to produce very precise changes in the curvature of the line on either side of a node.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 65 To adjust the smoothness of the most recent pencil line: Pencil Tool and draw a freeform line. 1. Choose the 2. Click the right arrow on the Smoothness option and drag the displayed slider left to increase the number of nodes (you can also add absolute values into the input box). 3. To make the curve less complex, i.e. smoother, drag the slider right to decrease the number of nodes.
66 Lines, Curves, and Shapes To change one or more nodes to a different type: 1. Select the object with the Node Tool, followed by the node(s) you want to change. 2. Click one of the node buttons (described below) on the displayed context toolbar. A Sharp Corner means that the line segments to either side of the node are completely independent so that the corner can be quite pointed.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 67 To change a line segment from straight to curved, or vice versa: 1. With the Node Tool, select the leading node of the line segment (the node nearer the start of the line). 2. Then, either: • To make a line segment straight, click Straighten Line on the context toolbar. The selected segment immediately jumps to a straight line.
68 Lines, Curves, and Shapes When you first break a curve the two nodes are in exactly the same location and so the curve may still look as if it is connected. If you drag one of the red node ends away you will quickly see the separation. Joining lines together You can connect any two straight or curved lines to form a new line. To join two lines together: 1. Select both lines by Shift-clicking with any selection tool. 2. Choose Join Curves from the Tools menu.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes • 69 Click and drag on the page to draw out your QuickShape to a chosen size (use the Shift key to lock the aspect ratio; the Ctrl key to scale from its centre point; or both together). New QuickShapes adopt the currently set line and fill in DrawPlus. All QuickShapes can be positioned, resized, rotated, and filled. What's more, you can "morph" their designs.
70 Lines, Curves, and Shapes Using the Gallery The Studio's Gallery tab contains pre-built design objects and elements you'd like to reuse in different drawings. Arts and Crafts, Cartoons, Connecting Symbols (for family trees, electronics, and computers), Layout Symbols (for garden and home), and ShapeArt are all folders under which various categories (or further sub-folders) are stored.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 71 To view your Gallery: • Click the Studio's Gallery tab. • Select a folder or category from the drop-down menu. The items from the folder's first listed category are displayed by default. To add, delete, or rename design folder (or category): 1. Right-click in the drop-down menu and choose Add Folder... (or Add Category..., Delete Category/Folder, or Rename Category/Folder.... 2. For adding and renaming, use the dialog to enter and/or confirm your change.
72 Lines, Curves, and Shapes Converting a shape to editable curves The conversion of QuickShapes to curves provides you with a starting point for your own shapes, whereas converting text to curves is one way of incorporating editable letter-based shapes into designs. To convert an object into curves: 1. Select your QuickShape or text object. 2. Click 3. Edit the curve outline using the Node Tool. Convert to Curves on the Arrange tab.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 73 Applying perspective The Perspective Tool, like the adjacent Envelope Tool, produces an overall shape distortion. But while the Envelope effect stretches the object as if it were printed on a rubber sheet, perspective gives you the visual impression of a flat surface being tilted (or skewed) in space, with an exaggerated front/back size differential. To apply a perspective effect: 1. Select an object and click Perspective Tool on the Drawing toolbar.
74 Lines, Curves, and Shapes Applying envelopes An envelope distortion is one that you can apply to any object to change its shape without having to edit its nodes. You can use envelopes to bend text into a wave, arch, trapezoid, or just about any other shape. You can edit envelopes into custom shapes and apply them to other objects for corresponding effects.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes • 75 Select the object(s) with the Envelope Tool. DrawPlus automatically selects the Node tool when an envelope is applied. The Node Tool along with the displayed curve buttons on the Envelope context toolbar lets you reshape the envelope by dragging its corner nodes and attractor nodes, as when editing curved lines. (To review these concepts, see Editing lines and shapes on p. 61.) The only difference is that you cannot add or delete corner nodes to an envelope.
76 Lines, Curves, and Shapes To create a connection: 1. Select Connector Tool on the Line Tools flyout (Drawing toolbar). Hover over an object so that default Auto Select connection points become visible, e.g. as on the left Quick Rectangle: 2. From the context toolbar, select 3. Click the connection point on the right edge midpoint of the left shape. Drag to the right and release the mouse button when the pointer is over the connection point on the left edge midpoint of the right shape.
Lines, Curves, and Shapes 77 Connector types The Connector Tool, when selected, offers various types of connector tool on the Connectors context toolbar situated above the workspace. Choose the Direct Connector Tool to draw a single, straight-line connector between any two connection points.
78 Lines, Curves, and Shapes
Using Brushes 5
80 Using Brushes
Using Brushes 81 Selecting brushes DrawPlus supports a wide range of brushes, all capable of producing: natural brush effects: natural media (charcoal, pastel, pen, pencil, paint, watercolour) or photo brushes (stitching). spray and photo brush effects: airbrushes, grunge, special effects (glitter, smoke, snowflakes, and more), rope, chain, zippers. Painting inherits the principles of Drawing lines and shapes (see p. 55).
82 Using Brushes The Brushes tab lets you select a brush type from a range of natural (opposite), spray or photo-based categories. You can also view brushes currently being used in your document, and edit brushes or create your own brushes (see online Help). Natural and spray brush types are indicated by symbols, respectively.
Using Brushes 83 Applying brush strokes The Paintbrush Tool is used exclusively to apply brush strokes to the page. The tool is used in conjunction with the Brushes tab, and a supporting context toolbar. To apply a brush stroke: Paintbrush Tool from the Drawing toolbar. 1. Select the 2. Display the Brushes tab and choose a brush from a category (use the drop-down list for different categories). 3. Select a Colour, Width, or Opacity from the Brush context toolbar.
84 Using Brushes 5. (Optional) Enable to leave the brush stroke selected on the page or, if disabled, leaves it deselected. 6. (Optional) Enable to fill the unclosed curve produced with the brush stroke with a default fill colour. 7. With the brush cursor drag a brush stroke across your page. After this first brush stroke, there are two ways in which you are likely to paint subsequently, depending on the extent to which you plan to edit brush strokes as you go.
Using Brushes 85 To change brush stroke properties: • Use the Brushes context toolbar to adjust the properties of a drawn brush stroke once applied to your page. To change brush stroke type: 1. Select the brush stroke. 2. Go to the Brushes tab and select firstly a brush category then a brush type from the displayed gallery. The brush stroke adopts the newly chosen brush. Brush types currently applied to your brush strokes are handily listed in the Document folder of the Brushes tab.
86 Using Brushes The pressure chart may appear a little daunting at first! It becomes a lot clearer if you imagine the chart when it is superimposed over the brush itself —it represents one half of a brush stroke along its entire length exactly. Of course, the same profile shape will be mirrored on the lower half of the stroke. To apply a pressure profile: 1. Expand the Pressure tab at the bottom right of your screen, and choose a pressure profile from the drop-down menu.
Using Brushes 87 To create a new pressure profile: . This sets the pressure chart back to 1. Click default. 2. A turquoise line runs along the maximum pressure line at the top of the chart. Click on this line (the cursor changes) and drag downwards, moving the displayed red node into your chosen position. You now have a blue curve which represents the pressure profile. 3. Repeat the process for the number of nodes that you want to add to make up the profile.
88 Using Brushes You can set the degree to which width and opacity changes either independently or in combination. Let’s look at some examples... based on a Default brush called "Circle". The example doesn’t use a natural media texture so the concept is illustrated more clearly. We’ll use a pressure profile available from the preset drop-down menu for all examples. Here’s how the degree of width/opacity changes the brush stroke appearance.
Using Brushes 89 To adjust brush width or opacity with pressure: 1. Select a previously drawn brush. 2. In the Pressure tab, pick a pressure profile from the drop-down menu. 3. Enter a Width or Opacity value by setting a percentage value in the input box, using the slider or using the up/down arrows. The lower the value the less the pressure effects the brush width or opacity, i.e. a value of 50% will apply half the brush width or opacity under pressure. You can set the pressure variance, i.e.
90 Using Brushes
Working with Text 6
92 Working with Text
Working with Text 93 Entering text You can create different types of text in DrawPlus, i.e. Artistic Text, Frame Text, or Shape Text, all directly on the page. Artistic Text Frame Text Shape Text It's easy to edit the text once it's created, by retyping it or altering properties like font, style, and point size.
94 Working with Text For artistic text that will be automatically sized into an area, click and drag out the area to the desired size. 3. To set text attributes (font, size, etc.) before you start typing, make selections on the Text context toolbar. For colour, set the Line/Fill swatches on the Studio's Colour or Swatch tab. 4. Start typing. To create frame text: Frame Text on the Drawing toolbar's Text flyout. 1. Select 2.
Working with Text 95 To retain formatting, use "Formatted Text (RTF)" or for plain text use "Unformatted Unicode Text". For the latter, if your imported text appears as blocks instead, remember to apply a Unicode font such as Arial Unicode MS to fix the formatting. Editing text Once you've entered either artistic, frame or shape text (see Entering text on p. 93), you can retype it and/or format its character attributes (font, point size, bold/italic/underline, etc.), paragraph properties, and text flow.
96 Working with Text Retyping text You can either retype artistic, frame or shape text directly on the page, or use the Edit Text window—great for managing large amounts of text (overflowed shape text or otherwise) in a simple word processing environment. To retype text on the page: 1. Artistic Text (from the Drawing Select the object and then select toolbar's Text flyout), in either order. 2. Type new text at the selection point or drag to select text, then type to replace it.
Working with Text The text. 97 Node Tool can be used for special adjustments on artistic For greater control over the shape of the artistic text characters, try converting the artistic text to curves. As curves, you can position every character individually and even edit the character shapes, exactly as if you had drawn the character shapes by hand using the line tools. For details, see Converting a shape to editable curves on p. 72.
98 Working with Text For incremental scaling, use the on the same toolbar. Enlarge Text or Shrink Text buttons Positioning • Vertical alignment (right-click Text>Text Flow...) moves existing text to the Top, Bottom, or Centre of the container (alternatively you can justify text vertically).
Working with Text 99 To flow text along a curve: Either: 1. If you want to use an existing text object, select the object first. Otherwise, you can enter text in the wizard. 2. Go to Tools>Curve Text Wizard. 3. After the first screen, enter text to be placed on the curve. This is not shown if text has already been selected on the page. 4. In the second screen, if an object or outline has already been selected the Use Current Selection option will be checked.
100 Working with Text You’ll find dimension lines indispensable for planning garden designs (e.g., a garden gazebo plan above), technical diagrams, floor plans, or any drawing where exact measurements and scale are important. Although they can be drawn anywhere on the page, dimension lines are at their most accurate when attached to connection points on objects (see p. 77). When you choose one of the Dimension tools, connection points on page objects become visible on hover over, i.e.
Working with Text 101 Click where you want to start the dimension line (e.g., on a connection point), then drag and release the mouse button where you want to end the line (maybe on another connection point). The illustrations below show the result of dragging between connection points A and B. A pair of parallel extension lines appears from the two points. Between the two extension lines, the dimension line and its label "float.
102 Working with Text To complete the dimension line, move the mouse again to position the floating line or arc and its label—note that they respond independently— and click when they are where you want them. (You can always change the positions later.) The dimension line appears. Node Tool to freely Once you've added a dimension line, you can use the adjust node and label positions if necessary. Use Format>Character to change the font, font size, colour and style of the label text.
Working with Text 103 To enhance the power of spell checking, you can add words to the current dictionary that spell checking doesn't yet know about. These could include uncommon words, technical words, or even acronyms and abbreviations. To check spelling: 1. (Optional) To check specific text, select the artistic, frame or shape text in advance. 2. Choose Check Spelling... from the Tools menu. 3. (Optional) In the dialog, click Options...
104 Working with Text To check the spelling of a single word: 1. With Underline mistakes as you type checked and a language selected (in Tools>Options>Spell Checker), select in a marked word, then right-click. You'll see alternative spellings on the context menu. 2. To replace the word, choose an alternative spelling from the menu. 3. To tell DrawPlus to ignore (leave unmarked) all instances of the marked word in the document, choose Ignore All. 4.
Working with Objects 7
106 Working with Objects
Working with Objects 107 Copying, pasting, cutting, and deleting objects To copy one or more objects to the Windows Clipboard: 1. Select the object(s). 2. Click the Copy button on the Standard toolbar. If you're using another Windows application, you can usually copy and paste objects via the Clipboard. To paste an object from the Clipboard: • Click the Paste button on the Standard toolbar. The standard Paste command inserts a clipboard object onto the page.
108 Working with Objects Making duplicates • Select the object while holding down the Ctrl key, then drag the copied object to a new position. Use duplication when rotating or shearing an object—the result is a new copy at a new angle, possibly overlapping the original object. Making multiple copies in a grid If you need to clone single or multiple objects, you can use the Replicate feature to avoid repetitive copy and paste operations.
Working with Objects 109 3. In the dialog, set the Grid size by choosing number of columns or rows. Objects are cloned into this grid arrangement (but can be moved subsequently into any position). 4. Set an X and Y spacing (horizontal and vertical gap) between objects if necessary. The feature comes in handy for creating repetitive patterns or producing artwork for label sheets. 5. Click OK. For replicating multiple objects on different layers, enable the Edit All Layers button on the Layers tab.
110 Working with Objects Making "in-between" copies of two objects Blending is yet another useful way of making multiple copies by in-betweening two different objects for a "morphing" effect. For details, see Creating blends on p. 188. Cropping an object DrawPlus includes the Crop Tool for cropping objects (and images) on the page. Cropping discards unwanted "outer" regions of an object while keeping the remainder visible. To crop an object: Crop 1.
Working with Objects 111 To apply the Rule of Thirds: 1. Select your object and click the Crop Tool. 2. On the Crop context toolbar, click 3. A 3 x 3 grid is superimposed on top of the object. 4. Drag a corner or edge grid handle to crop the image. As you do so, the grid repositions itself. 5. Manipulate the image to improve its framing. .
112 Working with Objects • Click and drag on the cropped photo to pan the image. For best results, aim to position your main subject of interest at a point where any two gridlines intersect. • To rotate or zoom into or out of the object, use the adjacent control bar. • Alternatively use equivalent button pairings on the context toolbar. Zoom In/Out Rotate anti-clockwise/clockwise • To select the crop window. • To select cropped objects. • Uncrop a cropped area. Click window selected.
Working with Objects • To reshape a cropped area. 113 With the crop window selected... • Choose Convert to Curves on the Arrange tab. • Select the Node Tool, then drag the object's nodes. For details, see Editing lines and shapes. Copying an object's formatting Format Painter is used to copy one object’s line and fill properties directly to another object, including between line/shape and text objects. To apply one object's formatting to another: 1.
114 Working with Objects 5. To cancel Format Painter mode, press Esc, click on a blank area, or choose any tool button. For copy formatting from one text object to another, a number of other text properties (font, style, and so on) besides line and fill are passed along at the same time. Moving objects You can move any selected object anywhere you want and drop it back onto the page or pasteboard by releasing the mouse button. To move one or more objects: 1. Select the object(s). 2.
Working with Objects 115 Cutting up objects It is possible to cut any object (or image for that matter) by using the Knife Tool (Drawing toolbar). You can cut along a freeform or straight line drawn across your object(s), leaving you with separate fragments of the original.
116 Working with Objects To cut selected objects (freeform or straight line): Ensure Edit All Layers button on the Layers tab is enabled if you want to cut through selected objects on multiple layers. Knife Tool on the Drawing toolbar's Vector 1. Select the Edit flyout. 2. (Optional) Use Smoothness on the tool's context toolbar to set how regular the freeform cutting line is—click the right arrow and drag the slider right for increasing smoothness. 3.
Working with Objects 5. 117 Hover over, then click to remove the unwanted cut area(s). - or With the Pointer Tool, drag the newly split fragments apart instead. Instead of performing a freeform (or straight) cut, you can cut using preset cutter shapes. The cutting shape can be resized or "morphed" to fit your object design, just as for QuickShapes (see p. 68). To cut out selected objects using cookie cutters: 1. From the Knife Tool's context toolbar, click to expand the Preset Knife Path flyout. 2.
118 Working with Objects 4. Click the Cut button in the lower-right corner, then click the unwanted area under the cursor to create your new cutout shape. Erasing and adding to objects DrawPlus lets you take a "virtual" eraser to your drawing, letting you remove portions of your selected object(s) on an individual layer or across multiple layers. The extent of erasing can be controlled depending on the tool's currently set erasing nib width and pressure setting (if using a graphics tablet).
Working with Objects 119 The flipside of erasing is "adding to" (i.e., augmenting), a technique to add or "grow" a vector objects' boundaries— great for reshaping an existing object or to grow a vector shape from scratch. This may be especially useful when creating an unusual filled shape. To erase portions of a selected object: Erase Tool on the Drawing toolbar's Vector 1. Select the Edit flyout. 2.
120 Working with Objects added. (You can use the Ctrl key to redefine the painted area while holding down the mouse button). 5. Release the mouse button to reshape the object to include the newly drawn area. If you add to or erase from a bitmap, QuickShape, or artistic text, they will be converted to curves, preventing further editing in their original form. For Stopframe animation, consider using either tool as a quick way to modify object shapes frame-by-frame.
Working with Objects 121 To allow free resizing of an object to any aspect ratio: With the Shift key depressed, drag from an object's corner handle. This resizes in two directions. If you drag an object’s side handles, you’ll stretch or squash the object in one direction. You can also make fine resizing adjustments via the keyboard or from the Transform tab. Rotating and shearing objects The Rotate Tool lets you both rotate and shear (slant) one or more objects.
122 Working with Objects You'll notice the angle of rotation displayed around the object's centre of rotation . Note that when rotating objects, dimensions will be temporarily displayed during the operation. To change the centre point of rotation: 1. Move the centre of rotation away from its original position to any position on the page. The marker can also be moved to be outside the object—ideal for rotating grouped objects around a central point. 2.
Working with Objects 123 DrawPlus also provides the following methods for controlling rotation. (These don't apply to shear.) Flipping objects You can flip objects horizontally (left to right; top and bottom stay the same) or vertically (top to bottom; left and right stay the same). To flip an object: • Select the object(s) with one of the selection tools (Pointer, Rotate, or Node). • To flip the selection left to right, click Flip Horizontal on the Arrange tab. (Top and bottom stay the same.
124 Working with Objects DrawPlus lets you search for your named objects (or groups) to allow resizing, rotating, transforming, or any other operation by using the Find Objects dialog; it can locate the object or group on the current layer, page or the entire document (shown). Objects or groups that have not been named manually will never be included in the search. To change an object's or group's name, see Managing objects on layers. To find an object or group: 1. Select Find Object...
Working with Objects 125 5. Click the Find Next button to perform your search. The first matching object is shown selected and zoomed to selection (ready for editing!). 6. (Optional) For more than one object located, click the Find Next button again to jump to the next matching object. Locking/unlocking an object So you may have moved or resized a few objects and don’t want to risk moving, resizing or deleting them. The solution is to lock them to prevent accidental changes from occurring.
126 Working with Objects To create a group from a multiple selection: • Click below the selection. To ungroup (turn a group back into a multiple selection): • Click below the selection. To ungroup multiple groups within a group: • Select Ungroup All from the Arrange menu. Once grouped, simply clicking on any member of a group selects the group object. In general, any operation you carry out on the group affects each member of the group.
Working with Objects Combine Merges two or more objects into a composite object, with a clear “hole” where their filled regions overlap. The composite takes the line and fill of the bottom object. Click button again to Break Apart. Provides four cropping or Crop clipping functions as follows: and Clip flyout • Crop to Top Object The bottom object is cropped to the outline of the top object.
128 Working with Objects • Crop to Bottom Object The top object is cropped to the outline of the bottom object. • Clip to Top Object The bottom object is clipped to the outline of the top object. • Clip to Bottom Object The top object is clipped to the outline of the bottom object.
Working with Objects Creates one new object that’s Join/Add the sum of any two selected objects, whether or not they overlap. The objects need not be overlapping. Join/Subtract Discards the overlap between the top and bottom object. The top object is also discarded. Useful as a quick way of truncating shapes and pictures with another object.
130 Working with Objects Join/Intersect like Subtract, requires overlapping objects—it retains the overlap and discards the rest. Aligning and distributing objects Alignment involves taking a group of selected objects and aligning them all in one operation—the operation is applied to all of the objects selected. You can also distribute objects, so that your objects (as a multiple selection) are spread evenly between the endmost objects on your page.
Working with Objects 131 To align two or more objects: 1. Using the Pointer Tool, Shift-click on all the objects you want to align, or draw a marquee box around them (or use Edit>Select All), to create a multiple selection. 2. From context toolbar, Align tab, or Arrange>Align Objects, select an option for vertical alignment (Align Top, Centre Vertically, or Align Bottom) or horizontal alignment (Align Left, Centre Horizontally, Align Right) of an object.
132 Working with Objects Ordering objects Think of the objects on a page as being stacked or piled on top of each other. The front-most object is the one on top of the stack. Each time you create a new object, it goes in front of the objects already there. But you can move any object to any level in the ordering sequence, and obtain sophisticated drawing effects by learning how to manipulate the front/back relationship of objects. As an example, we've used a camera lens to illustrate ordering.
Working with Objects 133 • To shift the object's position one step toward the back, choose Back One. • To shift the selected object's position behind other objects (on the bottom), choose Send to Back. Working with layers If you are drawing something simple, you don’t really need to make use of layers—you can do all your work on the single layer that every new document has.
134 Working with Objects Each layer is situated along with other layers (if present) within a stack on the Layers tab—the uppermost layer is applied over any lower layer on the page. You can also expand each layer entry for a tree view of objects associated with that layer (see the "Sky" layer opposite). Each object entry can be clicked to select the object in your workspace, and you can name your objects at any time. The tab allows layers to be created, renamed, deleted, reordered, frozen, and merged.
Working with Objects 135 To delete a layer: • In the Layers tab, select the layer’s name and click the Layer button. Delete If you delete a layer, all of the objects on it are lost! So if you want to keep any of them, move them to another layer first. You can move layers up or down in the stacking order to place their objects in front or behind those on other layers, move objects to specific layers, and even merge layers.
136 Working with Objects To merge a layer: 1. Activate the layer you want to merge to by clicking its entry. The layer is highlighted in blue. (Note that the active layer becomes uppermost in the workspace.) 2. With the Ctrl key pressed, select a single or multiple layers that you want to merge into the activated layer (the layers are framed with a blue border). 3. Merge button. The contents of the merged layer(s) Click the appear on the active layer and the previously selected layers disappear.
Working with Objects • Click/unclick the Locked column to allow/prevent objects on the layer from being moved, deleted, or resized. (Clicking Layer's entry locks the layer, which will then shown as • 137 on the ). To set a Selection colour, double-click the layer's name. From the dialog, click the colour swatch (e.g., ) and choose a colour from the dialog. Assigning different colours to layers means that you can quickly verify that a pasted object has gone to the correct layer, i.e.
138 Working with Objects This tree view greatly improves the ability to select and manage nested objects in more complex drawings. It's also great for visualizing your object order. To help you locate objects more easily in the future, they can be renamed (click and type on the name) to something more meaningful, and can be further identified by their thumbnail previews. Objects can also be searched for via Find Objects... on the Edit menu.
Working with Objects 139 Enabling this button lets you select any object on any visible layer. You can press the Tab key repeatedly to cycle between objects in order. • If Auto-Select Layer is enabled (available only if Edit All Layers is enabled), you'll automatically select an object's layer and the object entry in the Layers tab as you select it on the page. This stops you from having to jump back to the Layers tab to set the layer to be active after object selection.
140 Working with Objects
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 8
142 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 143 Setting fill properties Any closed shape, such as a closed curve or QuickShape, or text has an interior region that can be filled. The fill type can be solid, gradient, bitmap or plasma. Those that use a single colour are solid fills. Let’s take a moment to run through them. Fill types fall into several basic categories, illustrated above: • Solid fills, as their name implies, use a single colour.
144 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Solid colours Applying a fill is easy, whether you’re selecting a custom colour from the Colour tab or a preset colour from a whole range of colour swatches in the Swatch tab. The Colour tab can operate in several modes available from a drop-down menu—HSL Colour Wheel (shown), HSL Colour Box, HSL Sliders, RGB Sliders, CMYK Sliders and Tinting. We’ll concentrate on the HSL Colour Wheel which is very popular amongst drawing professionals.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 145 By comparison, the Swatch tab hosts a vast array of colour swatches for solid, gradient, plasma, and bitmap fills. You may notice a registration colour in the swatch palette. You can use this for professional colour separation printing. To apply a solid fill colour via the Colour tab: 1. Select the object(s) and display the Studio's Colour tab. 2. Set the Line/Fill Swatch at the top-left of the tab so the Fill Swatch appears in front of the Line swatch.
146 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 3. Pick a thumbnail from either the Document Palette or from another palette shown in the Palettes drop-down list (drag from the thumbnail onto the object as an alternative). To change a fill's shade/tint (lightness): 1. Select the object and set the Line/Fill Swatch as described for the Colour tab above. 2. From the tab's drop-down menu, select Tinting. 3.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 4. 147 Click anywhere in the colour space window then drag the marker around to fine-tune your colour selection. An Opacity level can be applied at the same time that a colour is applied; this leads to powerful colour/opacity combinations on solid fills, or on gradient and plasma fill paths. (See Setting opacity on p. 162.) For gradient or bitmap transparency effects (see p. 164), use the Transparency Tool or Transparency tab.
148 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Using the Studio's Line tab, you can adjust plain line properties for any freeform, straight, or curved line, as well as for the edge of a shape, image or artistic text. To change line colour, see Setting fill properties on p. 143. If needed, any custom line can be saved for future use (see the Line Styles tab). The tab also offers an extensive range of decorative chain lines.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 149 The last Edge Effect style applies fringed edges to images and text with specially designed Edge brushes. To change line style: • Simply click a button to set the line style—only one style can be set any one time. Pick another button to jump to that style. Once a style is selected you can choose line ends for most styles (except Brush Stroke and Edge Effect). For some styles, variations are also available.
150 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Two styles called Brush Stroke and Edge Effect let you apply a brush, chosen from the Brushes tab, to your line or your object's edge. You'll see your current brush shown in the Line tab. Both effects look great when applied to artistic text titles or to picture edges (see below). In the above example, a white brush is used around the title text and a stylish "painted" edge has been applied (remember to pick an Edge brush category from the Brushes tab).
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Rounded Line Cap Extended Line Cap Flat Line Cap Bevelled Join Sharp Join Rounded Join 151 The check box controls line width relative to object size—useful with very small objects or when resizing text. When checked, the inner half of the object’s line appears behind its fill; otherwise, the whole line appears in front of the line.
152 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Defining solid line and fill colours When you're applying a solid fill or line colour using the Studio's Swatch tab, you choose a colour from one of several colour palettes, arranged as a gallery of colour swatch thumbnails. Different palettes can be loaded but only one palette is displayed at any one time. Several of the colour palettes are based on "themed" colours while the remaining palettes are based on industry-standard colour models, i.e.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 153 If the colour doesn't already exist in the Swatch tab's Document Palette, a new thumbnail appears for it. To add a new gallery colour: 1. Display the Document Palette from the Swatch tab. 2. Right-click anywhere in the tab and choose Add.... 3. From the Colour Selector dialog, click on a new position in the colour space window to set a new colour. Alternatively, enter values in the adjacent input boxes. 4. Click OK.
154 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Using the Colour Selector The Colour Selector is a complementary dialog to the Colour and Swatch tabs and is accessible by double-clicking one of the Colour tab's swatch or from Format>Fill. It lets you choose a colour to apply from a range of different palettes and allows you to mix custom colours.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 155 The loaded palette's colours appear as swatches in the Swatch tab, replacing the swatches previously visible. To create a new custom palette: 1. With Palettes selected in the Swatch tab, click the Tab Menu button in the tab's top right-hand corner and choose Add New Palette.... 2. Enter a name for the new palette and click OK. The new empty palette is displayed and its name will appear in the Palettes drop-down menu. To delete a new custom palette: 1.
156 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Applying a gradient fill There are several ways to apply a gradient fill as a line colour or object fill: using the Fill Tool or via the Swatch tab . Using the Fill Tool, you can vary the fill's path on an object for different effects. To apply a gradient fill (Fill Tool): 1. Select a coloured object. 2. Click 3. Click and drag on the object to define the fill path (a solid line).
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 4. 157 Click the thumbnail for the fill you want to apply. - or Drag from the gallery swatch onto any object. Editing the fill path If an object using a gradient fill is selected, you'll see the fill path displayed as one or more lines, with circular nodes marking where the spectrum between each key colour begins and ends. Adjusting the node positions determines the actual spread of colours between nodes.
158 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Radial Fill Ellipse Fill Experiment to discover new effects! For example, you can widen or narrow the gradient’s extent, even drag either node completely outside the object. Or, for a Radial fill on a round shape, try placing the start node near the figure’s upper edge, off-centre, to create a reflection highlight. For details of how to edit and manage gradient fills, see online Help.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 159 The editing of gradient fills is a complex operation and is covered in greater detail in the online Help. Working with bitmap and plasma fills A bitmap fill uses a named bitmap—often a material, pattern, or background image. DrawPlus supplies an impressive selection of preset bitmap fills on the Swatch tab, and you can import your own.
160 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency Editing the fill path If an object using a bitmap fill is selected, you'll see the fill path displayed as two lines joined at a centre handle. Nodes, shown as small filled circles, mark the fill's centre and edges. To reposition the fill’s centre, drag the centre handle. To create a skewed or tilted fill region, drag one or both edge nodes sideways. Unlike the other fill types, bitmap and plasma fills don't simply "end" at the edges of their fill path.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 161 Working with mesh fills A mesh fill works like a gradient fill but uses a more complex fill path, with a grid or "mesh" of many nodes representing separate key colours. The overall effect, especially useful for multifaceted highlighting, arises from the colour gradients that spread between each of these nodes. As an example, the Mesh Fill Tool (applied below right) can be used to dramatic effect on a sports car's bodywork.
162 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency For details of how to edit and manage mesh fills, see online Help. Setting opacity Key point! In DrawPlus, opacity is a property of colour; both can be set in the Colour tab in combination. Transparency refers to objectbased gradient or bitmap transparency effects, set via the Transparency tab or Transparency Tool. Opacity is great for highlights, shading and shadows, and simulating "rendered" realism.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 163 The Opacity slider (Colour tab) can be used to alter the opacity of a specific colour, whether that colour is a solid fill (in an object or on a line), or a node's colour on a gradient fill path. Opacity can be applied locally to each object; the default is 100% opacity, i.e. the object is fully opaque. For solid fills, the opacity change will be made uniformly across the object's interior (see below).
164 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency To apply solid opacity: 1. Select the object(s) and display the Studio's Colour tab. 2. Drag the slider to the left for a reduced opacity setting (e.g., 20%); drag right to increase opacity. This makes objects appear semi-transparent, or if set to 0%, fully transparent. To apply solid opacity (to a fill path): 1. Select the object(s) and display the Studio's Colour tab. 2. Click 3. Click on any displayed node along the fill path.
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 165 Transparency can also be applied along a custom drawn transparency path using the Transparency Tool, in the same way as the equivalent fill path (see p. 156). Transparency paths are easily editable. Transparency effects are applied locally to each object. Applying different transparency effects won't alter the object's fill settings as such, but may significantly alter a fill's actual appearance.
166 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency category. To apply gradient or bitmap transparency effects: 1. With your object selected, go to the Transparency tab. 2. For gradient or bitmap transparency, click the drop down arrow on the Gradient or Bitmap button, respectively. Select a category from the flyout, then click a thumbnail in that category. - or Drag the desired thumbnail from the gallery to an object. 3. The transparency is applied to the object(s).
Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency 167 Editing gradient transparency Once you've applied a transparency, you can adjust its path on the object, and the level of transparency along the path. You can even create more complex transparency effects by adding extra nodes to the path and assigning different levels to each node. You cannot alter the values in a bitmap transparency.
168 Fill, Lines, Colours, and Transparency
Working with Pictures 9
170 Working with Pictures
Working with Pictures 171 Importing pictures Pictures that can be imported into DrawPlus can belong to one of two groups: • Bitmapped pictures, also known as bitmaps or raster images, are built from a matrix of dots ("pixels"), rather like the squares on a sheet of graph paper. They may originate as digital camera photos or scanned images, or be created (or enhanced) with a "paint" program or photo editor.
172 Working with Pictures • To set the size of the inserted picture, drag out a region and release the mouse button. By default, the picture's aspect ratio is preserved. To allow free dragging to any aspect ratio, hold down the Shift key. To constrain the aspect ratio while scaling from the picture's centre as you drag, hold down the Ctrl key. Notes: • For importing from an inserted Kodak PhotoCD, choose Picture>Photo CD... from the Insert menu.
Working with Pictures 173 To set up your digital device for image acquisition: • Follow the instructions supplied with the device. When acquiring images from a camera that appears in Windows as a Removable Disk, ensure that you follow recommended procedures for connecting and disconnecting the device. To import pictures from a digital camera or TWAIN device (scanner): 1.
174 Working with Pictures The white initial background is discarded, leaving interim checkerboard transparency, from which another image can be used as a more attractive background. A red tint on the second image's background is used to indicate areas to be discarded. To launch Image Cutout Studio: 1. Select an image to be cut out. 2. from the displayed Picture context toolbar. Select Image Cutout Studio is launched. Your original image, if linked, is unaffected in Image Cutout Studio.
Working with Pictures 175 Use when cutting out objects with poorly defined edges. Transparency and pixel blending are used at the outline edge to produce professional results with negligible interference from background colours. The term "alpha" refers to a 32-bit image's alpha transparency channel. Use on more well-defined edges. A cropped image with crop outline is created which can be later manipulated with the crop tools.
176 Working with Pictures To create a vector-cropped bitmap: 1. Select Vector-cropped Bitmap from the Output Type drop-down menu. 2. Drag the Feather slider to apply a soft or blurry edge inside the cutout edge. 3. Drag the Smoothness slider to smooth out the cutout edge. 4. The Inflate slider acts as an positive or negative offset from the cutout edge. Selecting areas to keep or discard A pair of brushes for keeping and discarding is used to enable parts of the image to be selected.
Working with Pictures 177 For Show tinted, a red tint indicates areas to be discarded; a green tint shows areas to be kept. For Show transparent mode, a different Background colour can be set (at the bottom of the Studio) while Show Transparent is enabled; this may help give better contrast at cut edges while fine tuning. To select image areas for keeping/discarding: 1. Keep brush or In Image Cutout Studio, click either Discard brush from the left of the Studio workspace. 2.
178 Working with Pictures You'll see your image on the poster page in its original location, but with the selected areas cut away (made transparent). Refining your cutout area (alpha-edged bitmaps only) If a vector-cropped image is created via Image Cutout Studio it's possible to subsequently manipulate the crop outline using the Crop Tool. However, for alpha-edged bitmaps, Erase and Restore touch-up tools can be used to refine the cutout area within the Studio before completing your cutout.
Working with Pictures 179 Autotracing Instead of manually tracing a design, it's possible to automatically convert bitmaps back into vector objects by using autotracing. Its main function is for speedily reworking bitmapped logos (for further design modification), but its use is not confined to this. In fact, both greyscale and colour photos can equally be autotraced for eye-catching artistic effects.
180 Working with Pictures • Photo Image Trace. For colour photos. The autotracing process is performed in a studio environment, which makes use of the above profiles. The studio gives the opportunity to preview before tracing, and customize chosen profile settings further to your liking. Most profile settings are unique to the profile. To autotrace a selected image: 1. button Click the drop-down arrow on the (Standard toolbar) and select a profile from the menu. - or Click selection screen. 2.
Working with Pictures 181 3. (Optional) Adjust the sliders at the right of the workspace (each unique to the profile used); your profile settings will be modified. If you want to save these modified settings you must save the changed profile to a new custom name. 4. to trace your logo, photo, or other Click bitmapped artwork. It's best to keep clicking this button to update your main window after any adjustment. 5.
182 Working with Pictures 6. • You can add a new colour or replace an existing colour by dragging the Colour Selector to any colour on your computer screen. A respective empty or occupied colour swatch must be selected first. Remember to click Trace to refresh the view. • to access Merge, Fill, and Node tools for Click fine-tuning your vector output. When you're happy with your traced output, click add it to the page.
Working with Pictures 183 Creating custom profiles Adjusting any slider means that you've modified your chosen preset profile. If you want to keep the settings for future autotracing you can save the profile to a new name and reuse it from the drop-down menu (on the profile selection screen or within AutoTrace studio). To save a custom autotrace profile: Save Current Profile. 1. Click 2. From the dialog, enter a custom profile name.
184 Working with Pictures
Applying Special Effects 10
186 Applying Special Effects
Applying Special Effects 187 Creating borders The Border Wizard lets you create a border around the whole page or a selected object, or within a specific page region. It's possible to create your own border from a current object selection or from a preset border style. To create a border: 1. (If creating a border around an object) Select the object first. 2. Select Border Wizard... from the Insert menu. 3.
188 Applying Special Effects If you chose a whole-page or object border, it appears immediately. With the "custom" option, use the cursor to drag out a region to be bordered. You can create a border on individual pages but not on all pages simultaneously. Creating blends Blends enable you to “morph” any shape into any other shape via the Blend Tool.
Applying Special Effects 189 To create a blend with the Blend Tool: Blend Tool button on the Drawing toolbar. 1. Select the 2. (Optional) From the displayed Context toolbar, choose: 3. • the number of “morph” Blend Steps to be taken between both points. • a Position or Attribute Profile for non-uniform blends. (See DrawPlus help). • a Colour blend type which defines how colour distribution occurs between the originating and destination object.
190 Applying Special Effects Any blend can be modified at a later date via the context toolbar. Creating rough edges The Roughen Tool lets you selectively distort an object's outline, turning smooth-line edges into jagged outlines. The effect can lend cartoon-like flair to ordinary text or give QuickShapes an irregular appearance ...in fact apply it whenever it seems to suit the mood of the design. To apply roughening: Roughen Tool on the Drawing toolbar. 1. Select an object and click 2.
Applying Special Effects 191 Adding drop shadows You can apply commonly used drop shadows by using the Shadow Tool. When applied, the selected object is given a sense of depth (see rightmost moon). The Shadow Tool offers freeform control of the drop shadow effect. With its onthe-page control nodes and supporting Shadow context toolbar, the tool offers various adjustments such as Opacity, Blur, and X (or Y) Shear.
192 Applying Special Effects Offset shadow (showing control nodes) Skewed offset shadow (adjusted X Shear) Once you’ve created a basic shadow, you can further edit it as needed using the Filter Effects dialog. Applying drop shadows 1. Click the Shadow Tool on the Drawing toolbar. You'll notice control nodes appear which allow adjustment as described in the annotated illustration above. 2. Drag across the object to create a drop shadow (note additional nodes being created). 3.
Applying Special Effects 193 To change a shadow's colour: • Select the object, choose the Shadow Tool, then select a colour from the Studio's Colour tab. To remove the shadow from an object: • Double-click the object while the Shadow Tool is selected. Applying 2D filter effects You can apply some depth to your objects by applying an embossing effect. • From the Effects tab, adjust the Material Thickness setting on your selected object. The greater the value, the greater the embossed effect.
194 Applying Special Effects The Feathering option in the Filter Effects dialog, offers independent control of Opacity and Blur, which can also be used in conjunction with other 2D filter effects. For more advanced control of filter effects, DrawPlus provides a variety of filter effects that you can use to transform any object. The following examples show each filter effect when applied to the letter "A.
Applying Special Effects 195 To apply 2D filter effects: 1. Click Filter Effects from the Drawing toolbar. The Filter Effects dialog appears. 2. To apply a particular effect, check its box in the list at left. 3. To adjust the properties of a specific effect, select its name and vary the dialog controls. Adjust the sliders or enter specific values to vary the combined effect. (You can also select a slider and use the keyboard arrows.) Options differ from one effect to another. 4.
196 Applying Special Effects Blur Various blur effects can be applied to DrawPlus objects. The types of blur include: • Gaussian: the effect smooths by averaging pixels using a weighted curve. • Zoom: applies converging streaks to the image to simulate a zoom lens. • Radial: applies concentric streaks to the object to simulate a rotating camera or subject. • Motion: applies straight streaks to the object to simulate the effect of camera or subject movement.
Applying Special Effects 197 There you’ll see a variety of remarkable 3D surface and texture presets in various categories (Glass, Metal, Wood, etc.). Click any thumbnail to apply it to the selected object. Assuming the object has some colour on it to start with, you’ll see an instant result! Note that none of these effects will work on objects using the “Instant 3D” effect as described in the next section.
198 Applying Special Effects You can also store an object's customized effect on the Studio's Effects tab to use later. For more information about creating and storing 3D filter effects, see online Help. Applying paper textures Use paper textures for a natural "paper-like" appearance on your design. Simulate textures of varying roughness and "feel" by selection of various real media textures such as Canvas, Cartridge, Embossed, Parchment, and Watercolour.
Applying Special Effects 199 Applying dimensionality (Instant 3D) Using the Instant 3D feature, you can easily transform flat shapes (shown) and text into three-dimensional objects. DrawPlus provides control over 3D effect settings such as: • bevelling: use several rounded and chiseled presets or create your own. • lighting: up to eight editable and separately coloured lights can be positioned to produce dramatic lighting effects. • lathe effects: create contoured objects (e.g.
200 Applying Special Effects X rotation Y rotation Z rotation X and Y rotation Remember to take advantage of the hover-over cursor text or hintline which indicate the object's rotation currently or rotation while the operation is in progress, respectively. Transform about your 3D objects' axes instead of your pages' axes by holding the Ctrl key down as you transform.
Applying Special Effects 201 To revert your Instant 3D transform: • Click on the context toolbar. To switch off 3D effects: • Click on the context toolbar. You can always select the object again then click the Drawing toolbar's Instant 3D button to reinstate the effect. The Bevel and Lathe categories offer several presets that you can apply as your profile. You can also define your own custom profiles for both bevel and lathe effects from the Instant 3D context toolbar.
202 Applying Special Effects applied; you can also design your own Custom projection. All projections represent a different object position about the X, Y and Z axes. Here's some simple cubes to illustrate a simple isometric projection compared to some more advanced projections. Isometric (30,90,30) Dimetric1 (37,90,37) Trimetric 1 (12,90,23) Notice how the displayed angles on each of the above projections are shown after each name.
Applying Special Effects 203 To apply a Pseudo 3D projection: 1. , then select Top From the Standard toolbar, click Plane, Front Plane, or Right Plane to set the plane to work on. (You'll see the snapping grid appear which reflects the currently set plane.) 2. Click a drawing tool and drag out the object (e.g., a Quick Rectangle) on the plane (an isometric projection is created by default). 3.
204 Applying Special Effects Using Advanced Pseudo 3D Up to now we've assumed that you've applied a default isometric projection. However, DrawPlus can create other axonometric projections by changing the current projection properties. To apply an advanced Pseudo 3D projection: 1. Select the object. 2. Click Projection Properties on the menu. 3. From the dialog, select a projection type from the drop-down list.
Creating Animations 11
206 Creating Animations
Creating Animations 207 Getting started with animation What is animation? Like flip books, Disney movies and TV, it’s a way of creating the illusion of motion by displaying a series of still images, rapidly enough to fool the eye—or more accurately, the brain. Professional animators have developed a whole arsenal of techniques for character animation—rendering human (and animal) movement in a convincing way.
208 Creating Animations optimized for the animation type. For custom sized pages, choose the Custom Page Setup button at the bottom of the dialog. 4. Select a document type thumbnail from the right-hand pane and click Open. The new document opens. To begin a new Stopframe or Keyframe animation from scratch: • Either: • Select New>New Stopframe Animation from the File menu. - or - • Select New>New Keyframe Animation from the File menu. A new document window opens in the respective Animation mode.
Creating Animations 209 To save an animation: • Choose File>Save.... DrawPlus saves animation documents in the proprietary .DPA format (Drawings are saved as .DPPs). Working with Stopframe animation The most important difference in Stopframe animation mode to the usual Drawing mode is that you'll be working predominantly with the Frames tab, ideally suited for animation because of its width and easy control of individual frames (stopframes are spread along the tab for easier management).
210 Creating Animations cartoon flick-book). Once you've finished creating frames you can preview or export your animation, just as you would play the frames of a movie. To view the Frames tab: • Unless the tab is already displayed, click the bottom of your workspace to reveal the tab. handle at the To clone the current frame to a new frame: • Select a frame in the Frames tab, and choose . The frame is added after the selected frame.
Creating Animations 211 two frames than usual, release the mouse button to place the frame to be moved. To delete a selected frame: • Click from the Frames tab. Onion Skinning Onion skinning is a standard animation technique derived from cel animation, where transparent sheets enable the artist to see through to the preceding frame(s). It's useful for enabling precise registration and controlling object movement from frame to frame.
212 Creating Animations To preview in a web browser: • For stopframe animation, select Preview in Browser from the File menu. The animation loads your default web browser and begins playing. This actually exports a temporary copy of the animation, using the current export settings and displays it in your web browser. You can leave the browser open and DrawPlus will find it again next time you issue the command.
Creating Animations 213 To make the current frame an Overlay frame: • In the Frames tab, click on the icon at the bottom of your chosen frame. Click again to revert back to a normal frame. You can make background and overlay frames by right-clicking a frame, and from Properties, enable Background or Overlay. Check the Normal radio button to revert the frame to a normal frame again. Working with Keyframe animation When compared with Stopframe animation (see Getting started with animation on p.
214 Creating Animations you create subsequent keyframes. This in itself doesn't affect animation, but it's the repositioning of a run forward object (such as the bee) in later keyframes that creates "movement." Once keyframes are created, the animator has a great deal of control over how objects are run forward (or even backwards).
Creating Animations • 215 Add and manage sound and movies to enhance your animation. Manage files from one central location with the Media tab, which also allows viewing and direct replacement of media. Getting started You can enter Keyframe animation mode via File>New>New Keyframe Animation or by converting your existing drawing by using File>Convert to Keyframe Animation. Basic keyframe animations are created in a specific order: 1.
216 Creating Animations swatch. The dialog lets you pick up a colour from a range of dropdown colour modes, your Document Palette or via a colour selector (drag and click anywhere on your computer screen to set). If you check the Export transparent background to SWF option, then any exported Flash SWF file will possess a transparent background (even if a background colour is set). 4. (Optional) Animation Options lets you increase/decrease the Frame Rate by dragging the slider left/right, respectively.
Creating Animations 217 3. Choose to add keyframe(s) at a Location before or after the currently selected keyframe or before/after the first or last keyframe. 4. (Optional) Check Insert blank keyframes if you don't want to include run forward objects in your keyframes. Blank frames are useful "filler" frames that add breaks in your animation for messages, logos, etc. 5. Click OK.
218 Creating Animations Keyframe duration Keyframe duration represents the amount of time in between each individual keyframe. The value is set according to how the keyframe was created, i.e. • Inserting keyframes (blank or otherwise) lets you set the keyframe duration in an Insert Keyframes dialog (default 1 second). • A splitting operation will create new keyframes whose duration will be a division of the selected keyframe's duration (by the number of keyframes to be split).
Creating Animations 219 Storyboard control Storyboard control is possible by using a selection of buttons grouped together on the Storyboard tab (equivalent options are on the Storyboard menu). They operate across the entire storyboard, as opposed to on an individual keyframe or key object. Break storyboard Breaks the animation run that transects through a selected keyframe into two separate runs.
220 Creating Animations Adding movies As well as using sound in your keyframe animation, you can introduce movie clips. The movie is inserted into your chosen keyframe as an object which like any other object (QuickShape, Text, etc.) will need to be run forward for the movie to play throughout the animation. DrawPlus supports various video formats including Flash Video (FLV), Flash SWF, AVI, WMV and MPG (MPEG1 and MPEG2), and QuickTime. To add a movie: 1.
Creating Animations 221 Previewing keyframe animations You can preview your animation at any time either in a web browser or in Flash Player (Version 8.x is a DrawPlus install option). This is a quick way of checking it prior to export. To preview: • Click the down arrow on the then choose to either: button on the Storyboard tab, • Preview In Browser....
222 Creating Animations Keyframe object control We've just looked at storyboard control. However, a whole series of important object control tools are also available in keyframe animation. They are available on an object toolbar, displayed in-context under any selected object. Initial grouped objects show run forward, and grouped object buttons Objects along the animation run show buttons for conversion to key objects, object placement and attributes.
Creating Animations 223 called tweened objects, and show as transparent square nodes (see below) which are automatically created between any two key objects. If you move any of these interim tweened objects you change your animation to follow a non-linear path (see below)—as a result, the tweened object becomes a key object.
224 Creating Animations The Object toolbar also offers two commands for repositioning objects along the storyboard. Update placement backward updates a previous object's position to match the selected key or tweened object's current position. Conversely, Update placement forward updates later object's position accordingly. To change object placement: 1. Select the object whose positional information you want to apply forward or backward. 2.
Creating Animations 225 To change object attributes 1. Select the object whose attributes you want to apply forward or backward. 2. From the object's toolbar, click either: • The Update attributes backward button to apply attributes to previous objects. - or - • The Update attributes forward button to apply attributes to later objects. 3.
226 Creating Animations To configure a "segment", select the first Key object ( ) then configure settings in the Easing tab (with Apply to Whole Run unchecked). Clockwise Rotation When checked, any rotation between objects is performed clockwise. Uncheck to rotate in an anticlockwise direction. Temporal Tween Check to tween evenly between keyframes or over the whole storyboard (ignoring individual keyframe's time durations). Uncheck to honour any keyframe time durations.
Creating Animations 227 Autorun Although switched off by default, this advanced feature speeds up the animation process by automatically creating objects, their placement and attributes along the length of the storyboard, from a specific keyframe onwards. Even when editing an object, the changes are reflected throughout. Without Autorun enabled, objects are presented across keyframes by using the Insert button or clicking the object toolbar's Run forward or Run backward buttons.
228 Creating Animations Applying actions (keyframe animation) Selected objects can be assigned an event and corresponding action. The use of actions provides an interactive experience in response to a user's mouse up/down/press/release, key press/up/down, roll over, etc. As a typical example, an event such as a mouse press on an object can initiate an action such as a jump to a particular keyframe, e.g. an important point in your animation that could indicate contact details, important messages, etc.
Creating Animations 229 • Effect: named object control (hide, show, recolour). • Position: move objects by pixel or to screen areas. • Pre-loader: rewind animation, object stretch. • Sound: increase/decrease volume, play/stop sound, set volume. • Timeline: go to marker, animation frame, animation playback control (stop, play, rewind).
230 Creating Animations The applied action can be edited by double-clicking the tab's bold event entry and, from the dialog, clicking the Params button (with object selected). To delete an action, use the Delete button to remove it. We've looked at actions assigned to objects, but a keyframe can equally have an action associated with it.
Creating Animations 231 Click the Flatten button to rationalize several listed actions into one. A combined action named "Flattened Code" is created instead. Each code snippet will be run consecutively. ActionScript Version 2 is supported in DrawPlus. Creating markers Working in a similar manner to bookmarks, markers work along with actions, allowing jumps to particular keyframes on the storyboard. Markers are positioned between keyframes along the storyboard and need to be activated for use.
232 Creating Animations Affecting change over time (keyframe animation) DrawPlus uses the term envelopes to describe editable motion paths (or profiles) intended to define the rate of change (acceleration/deceleration) to an object's transformation or physical attributes (colour or transparency) in your animation run. Envelopes are applied, created, modified and saved in the Easing tab. A series of envelope types can be applied between key objects in your animation or throughout the entire animation run.
Creating Animations 233 To apply an envelope: 1. Display the Easing tab. 2. Select an object from the Storyboard tab to which you want to apply the envelope. 3. Select a profile from the Envelope type drop-down menu (Easing tab). The displayed profile will be linear by default (see above), unless you've applied the envelope previously. 4. Pick a preset profile from the drop-down menu below the profile window.
234 Creating Animations To delete a profile preset: Tab Menu. 1. Select Manage Easing Profiles... from the 2. From the dialog, select the preset entry, click the Delete button, then click OK. Keyframe animation tips and tricks So far the emphasis has been on creating simple animations from scratch, keyframe/object control, and how change over time is affected.
Creating Animations 4. 235 (Optional) Set the bounding box in other keyframes, according to the desired effect. Otherwise a full screen view will be used in the remaining keyframes. With the camera enabled, select on the object's toolbar to revert the display area back to the default. For specific objects that are to ignore pan, zoom and rotation (think of a company logo which needs to remain static throughout the animation), with the object selected, uncheck Obey Camera on the Easing tab.
236 Creating Animations 5. Click the Mask button to the right of the new mask layer's name (it then shows as 6. ). To enable masking, click the adjacent locks the mask objects in place). Locked button (this also State behaviour By default, any object drawn in DrawPlus is considered to be a non-state object (i.e., one that has a single set of attributes).
Creating Animations 237 Use the Convert to non-state object from the same menu if you want convert back. To change a sub-object's attributes: • Click the state buttons to toggle between the different modes. • Once in a chosen mode, modify the sub-object attributes (colour, transparency, effects, etc.) that will show for that mode (i.e., as Normal, on mouse Hover, or when the mouse is Pressed).
238 Creating Animations Flash SWF The Flash SWF (ShockWave Flash) format has fast become the format of choice for interactive vector-based graphic animation for the web. Great for creating a simple or sophisticated animated toolbar for web page navigation, it is universally supported on web browsers. The files can be easily manipulated further (scaled, etc.) within Adobe® Flash®. To export your animation as a Flash file: 1. Choose Export>Export as Flash SWF... from the File menu. 2.
Creating Animations 239 • Windows Media audio and Video. The WMV format is best supported on PCs running Windows Media Player, although some other software even on other platforms can play WMV video. WMVs are Advanced Systems Format (.ASF) files that include audio, video, or both compressed with Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Windows Media Video (WMV) codecs. • The .
240 Creating Animations 6. (Optional) Set an export Quality. 7. Click the Export button. Your project will then be composed and converted into the specified format and you will be shown a progress bar during this process. Image Within Stopframe animation, this option lets you create an animated GIF by default, which we'll focus on here. For keyframe animation, you can export a single keyframe as any type of image format. To export as an animated GIF: from the Frames tab. 1. Choose 2.
Creating Animations 241 used on your computer (as for any screensaver file) or for distribution to friends and family equally. To create a screensaver: 1. Choose Export>Export as Screensaver... from the File menu. 2. From the Save As dialog, enter a screensaver file name and save to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ for the screensaver to be viewable and enabled. 3. In the next dialog, provide a title and contents for your screensaver's About box, then click the OK button. 4. Click the Save button.
242 Creating Animations
Publishing and Sharing 12
244 Publishing and Sharing
Publishing and Sharing 245 Previewing the printed page Print Preview changes the screen view to display your layout without guides, rulers, and other screen items. Special options, such as tiled output or crop marks, are displayed. Depending on your currently set printer's capabilities, your preview will show in either greyscale or colour. To preview the printed page: • Choose Print Preview from the File menu.
246 Publishing and Sharing To set up your printer or begin printing: • Click Print on the Standard toolbar. The Print dialog appears. To print: 1. On the General tab, select a printer from the list. If necessary, click the Properties button to set up the printer for the correct page size, etc. Set the page size from the Advanced button. Depending on your printer driver, to print text with shading or custom settings, enable the "Send True Type as Bitmap" option. 2.
Publishing and Sharing 247 Printing special formats In Normal drawing mode, using Page Setup and printing options, you can set up pages for a variety of document types, such as Special Folded documents (greetings cards), Large documents (posters and banners), and Small documents (business cards, labels, tags). The Print dialog's Layout tab lets you specify other printing options, including scaling, thumbnails, multiple pages, and tiling.
248 Publishing and Sharing To print a poster or banner from a standard size page: 1. First create your standard sized page (e.g., A4). 2. On the Print dialog's Layout tab, check Print tiled pages for overlapped multiple sheets. 3. Set the As in document "% Scale factor" to print at a larger size (e.g. 300%).
Publishing and Sharing 249 Publishing as PDF PDF (short for Portable Document Format) is a cross-platform WYSIWYG file format developed by Adobe to handle documents in a device- and platformindependent manner. The format has evolved into a worldwide standard for document distribution which works equally well for electronic or paper publishing.
250 Publishing and Sharing If you checked Preview PDF file in Acrobat, the resulting PDF file appears in the version of Acrobat Reader installed on your system. Exporting objects and drawings When you save a drawing, DrawPlus uses its own proprietary formats (.DPP for drawings, .DPX for templates and .DPA for animations) to store the information. From these formats it is possible to export your drawing as a graphic in order to read the drawing into another application or use it on a web page.
Publishing and Sharing 251 Exporting as image Especially if you're exporting web bitmap images, you can take advantage of the Export Optimizer, which will greatly help you in reducing file sizes and download times as far as possible while maintaining image quality. The Export Optimizer lets you export the whole page, just a selected object(s) or a userdefined region.
252 Publishing and Sharing display different options depending on your chosen graphics format. Change settings as appropriate to the file format selected (see DrawPlus help for more information). 4. 5. (Optional) From the Web Options section, you can control web elements in your image. • You can uncheck Image Slices or Hotspots if you've create these elements but don't want them exported. • Click the Estimate Download Time...
Publishing and Sharing 253 To define an export region: 1. and select Export From the Standard toolbar, click Overlay from the drop-down menu. A bounding box is overlaid over your page. 2. Drag a corner (or edge) handle to resize the box (use the Ctrl key as you drag to resize the box about its centre); reposition the box over the export area. 3.
254 Publishing and Sharing To change export settings: 1. and choose From the Standard toolbar, click Preview Settings.... The option launches a dialog, which closely resembles the Export Optimizer dialog (see above). 2. Change settings on the Format and Settings tab. Settings on the Format tab change according to file type (see DrawPlus help for more information). 3. Click OK. To export via Dynamic Preview: 1. From the Standard toolbar, click Export Preview As.... 2.
Publishing and Sharing 255 Sharing via website You can share your design by print, as a distributable electronic PDF, or via the www.drawplus.com website. Publishing your design to website means you can share your design and ideas with a community of like-minded designers! The www.drawplus.com website is designed specifically as a design community. By uploading your completed design to the website, just like other DrawPlus users do, you add to the collection of published designs in the community.
256 Publishing and Sharing view published designs in a chosen group, which can be private, public or "friends only." Post to group forums restricted to just group members. • Search Find designs, groups, or other designers throughout the website. • Make new friends! Social networking meets designing! Use email or user discussion forums to build friendships with other DrawPlus designers, especially those you add to your friends list.
Publishing and Sharing 257 If you've already registered but not added your account details, click Login. This takes you to your account details where you can enter details as described in the next section. So you don't forget to set your user account details, you'll get a reminder to register every eight days if there are no details set. You can register on the website, then transfer your username and password over, or cancel to register later. Setting up account details in DrawPlus 1. Select Options...
258 Publishing and Sharing Uploading Once you've successfully created your account you can upload your design, with the option of including only specific or all pages. To upload your design: 1. On the Standard toolbar, click 2. In the Share dialog, uncheck pages you don't want to upload (use the scroll bar for more than three pages). 3. (Optional) For the upload you can choose a different account to upload to—enter a different Username and Password.
Index 13
2D filter effects, 193 3D, 199, 201 filter effects, 196 Instant, 199 Lighting, 196 planes, 201 Pseudo, 201 3D Lighting, 197 actions (Keyframe animation), 228 Actions tab, 214 ActionScript, 228 Add (Join), 129 Add/Delete Pages, 39, 41 Adobe Acrobat (pdf files), 249 opening, 25 publishing, 249 Adobe Illustrator (ai files) opening, 25 aesthetic proportioning, 45 airbrushes, 81 Align tab, 131 alignment, 96 of objects, 131 of text, 96 Alpha-edged bitmap, 175 animation, 207 exporting, 237 Keyframe, 213 actions in
Bevel effects, 194 Bézier curves, 58, 65 editing, 65 bitmap brushes, 81 bitmap fills, 143, 159 bitmap transparency, 165 bitmaps (see pictures), 171 bleed limit, 249 in printing, 249 Blend Tool, 188 blending, 188 blur effects, 194, 196 Border Wizard, 187 borders, 187 creating, 187 Break Apart, 127 Bring to Front, 132 brush strokes applying, 83 editing, 84 brushes altering opacity with pressure, 87 altering width with pressure, 87 natural, 81 photo, 81 spray, 81 textured, 81 business cards, 248 camera, 234 di
Convert to Stopframe Animation, 208 Create Keyframe Animation, 207 Stopframe Animation, 207 crop marks (printing), 249 Crop to Bottom, 128 Crop to Top, 127 Crop Tool, 110 cropping, 127 Curve Text Wizard, 99 curved lines, 58 curved text, 98 curves filling unclosed, 59, 60 flow text on, 99 redrawing, 61 reshape, 62 cutting objects, 107, 115 cutting out pictures, 173 output for, 174 refining areas when, 178 selecting areas for, 176 defaults manually setting, 49 resetting, 49 synchronize, 47 updating, 47 deleti
edge effects, 150 Edit All Layers, 138 Edit Text window, 96 editing, 95 brush strokes, 84 brushes, 82 connectors, 75 curves, 61 dimension lines, 99 lines and shapes, 61, 72 QuickShapes, 69 text, 95 effects, 187, 188, 196, 199, 201 2D, 193 blends, 188 blur, 196 borders, 187 curved text, 99 envelopes, 74 feathering, 195 filter, 193 filters, 196 Instant 3D, 199 outline, 195 perspective, 73 Pseudo 3D, 201 roughening edges, 190 shadows, 191 Effects tab, 196 ellipse fills, 155 Emboss effect, 193, 194 Envelope Too
folded documents printing, 247 setup, 31 fonts, 95 embedding in PDF files, 249 Format Painter, 113 formatting, 95 of text, 96 Forward One, 132 four colour fills, 155 frame text, 93, 95 Frame Text Tool, 94 frames (Stopframe animation), 209 Frames tab, 209 Freeform Paint Tool, 119 freezing, 136 layers, 136 objects, 139 gallery, 70 Gallery tab, 70 Gaussian blur, 194 GIF, 237 for animation, 237 Glow effects, 194 gradient fills, 143, 155 gradient transparency, 165 graphics tablet, 85 greetings cards, 247 groupin
merging, 136 paper textures on, 136, 198 properties of, 136 rearranging, 135 renaming, 134 selecting, 134 Layers tab, 134 layout tools, 33, 37 guides, 35 page and pasteboard, 32 rulers, 33 snapping grid, 37 levels (object order), 132 lighting, 197 3D Effect, 197 Line Styles tab, 148 Line tab, 148 linear fills, 155 linear transparency, 165 lines adding line styles, 148 applying settings, 147 closed (shapes), 59 closing, 60 connectors, 75 curved, 58 defining colours, 152 dimension lines, 99 drawing, 56 editin
copying, cutting, and pasting, 107 cutting, 115 deleting, 107 distributing, 130 editing bitmap and plasma fills on, 159 editing gradient fills on, 155 editing mesh fills on, 161 erasing, 118 exporting, 250 fills, 143 finding, 123 flipping, 123 grouping and ungrouping, 125 isolating, 46 key (Keyframe animation ), 213 line settings, 147 locking/unlocking, 125 measuring, 33, 99 moving, 114 naming, 139 obstructive, 77 on layers, 138 ordering, 132 outlines brush effects, 150 edge effects, 148 QuickShapes, 68 rep
adding, 41 deleting, 41 duplicating, 41 Pages tab, 39 Paintbrush Tool, 81, 83 palettes, colour changing, 154 paper textures, 136, 198 pasteboard area, 32 PDF files, 249 opening, 25 publishing, 249 pen tablet, 85 Pen Tool, 56, 58 Pencil Tool, 56 perspective drawing, 73 Perspective Tool, 73 photo brushes, 81 pictures as bitmap fills, 159 converting to vector format, 180 importing, 171 importing PhotoCD images, 172 importing TWAIN images, 173 in PDF files, 249 Media tab (Keyframe animation), 219 open picture a
raster (bitmap) images, 171 changing raster to vector, 180 rasterization settings for printing, 249 registration, 3 Replicate, 108 reshaping curves, 62 resizing objects, 120 Rotate Tool, 53, 121 rotating canvas, 42 objects, 121 Roughen Tool, 190 Rule of Thirds, 44 Rule.of.
Stopframe Animation, 205, See animation, Stopframe stopframes onion skinning, 211 reordering, 210 Straight Line Tool, 56, 57 straight lines, 57 Studio Actions tab, 228 Align tab, 131 Brushes tab, 82 Colour tab, 144, 152 Easing tab, 233 Effects tab, 196 Frames tab, 209 Gallery tab, 70 Layers tab, 134 Line Styles tab, 148 Line tab, 148 Pages tab, 39 Pressure tab, 85 Storyboard tab, 213 Swatches tab, 144, 152, 156, 159 Transform tab, 114, 120, 122 Transparency tab, 164 STV format, 238 Subtract (Join), 129 Swat
textures, 198 paper, 198 three colour fills, 155 tiling bitmap and plasma fills, 160 printing, 247 tint, 146 adjusting, 146 tinting, 144 tips, 234 for Keyframe animation, 234 Tool Artistic Text, 93 Blend, 188 Connection Point, 77 Connector, 76 Dimension, 100 Envelope, 74 Erase, 119 Fill, 155, 158 Frame Text, 94 Freeform Paint, 119 Knife, 115 Mesh Fill, 161 Node, 53 Paintbrush, 81, 83 Pen, 56, 58 Pencil, 56 Perspective, 73 Pointer, 53 QuickShape, 68 Rotate, 53, 121 Roughen, 190 Shadow, 191 Straight Line, 56,
workspace choosing, 20 zero point, 33 Zoom blur, 194 zooming, 40
