In CDraw X5 I can choose line styles. But I would like to add some more styles (and to remove some that I never use).
I only found a possibility to create new styles based on a kind of a pixel approach: A one-by-many array of single squares can be marked to be coloured of white, producing dashed lines with any kind of dash length.Also, the dash "frequency" seems to be dictated by the line width only; I do not manage to make thin dashed lines with a reasonably visible dash frequency.
However, I would like to make line consisting of other shapes, like circles, triangles, diamonds, etc., either filled or "open". Or make thin dashed lines with user-specifiec dash and space lengths that do not change when changing the line width. Is this possible?
Also, multi-colour dashes – with e.g. odd-numbered dashes in one colour and even-numbered ones in another color – might be useful.
In the current version, however, the number of dash schemes available is big enough to be confusing. Especially when the line is made relatively wide – say, 0,5 .. 1 mm or so – and I want to make more lines with the same shape, than it is difficult to find again the same shape the list of standard shapes. Is it possible to add names (or numbers, but not just running numbers!) to the shapes, so that a shape can be found again easily?
FosterCoburn said: The line styles available are very simplistic as you’ve discovered. You may want to investigate using the Artistic Media Tool to get some of the more complex line styles you desire. I cover it in detail in Lesson 6 of CorelDRAW X5 Unleashed. http://www.unleash.com/mediasales/webapp/CorelDRAW_X5_Unleashed__Lesson_6___Drawing_Freehand_Shapes_and_Lines-details.aspx
Thanks for your reaction. I wasn't aware of these features.
However, they don't include the effect actually desired. I needed a border consisting of filled circles of 0,5 mm diameter and spaced at 0,5 mm (i.e. 1,0 mm centre-to-centre). The box shape was to be rectangular with rounded corners.
I did however find a workaround to realise this effect. I made the desired box, with a temporary hairline border and rounded corners as required. Then, using the text tool, I made ten full stop dots (just the ordinary ASCII 0046 (2E hex) ones!). I had to select a font where these dots were actually circle-shaped (in the default Arial they are not). I then fine-tuned the point size until the single dots' diameter was 0,5 mm. Then I fine-tuned the character separation (in the paragraph tool) until the spacing between the dots was 0,5 mm. I treated these ten dots as "text", and positioned them on the box' border as a contour. I then selected the text consisting of the ten dots, and in text mode copy-and-pasted it until the line was closed. I had to remove a few single dots because the ends overlapped. The distance between the first and the last dot was slightly less than 0,5 mm, but is was acceptable acceptable. Otherwise I might have had to fine-tune either the point size or the character spacing.
The result is very much what I wanted.
I am only wondering if a similar procedure is possible with non-text "character", i.e. self-made shapes. In other words, can I transform any shaped (object) to "text", in order that it can be used as described here?
Addition:
I just remember that long ago, with an old version of Corel Draw (I don't remember what version) I could save shapes as characters, thus creating a "font". I never tried that again, an I cannot find such a facility in the CDraw X5 help files. If anyone can tell me if this is still possible, and how, I would thank him or her beforehand.
Steve Bain has a tutorial on creating your own fonts/symbol fonts on his blog:
Create Your own Font Designs Part I
Create Your own Font Designs Part II
Patti