I'm taking an online course thru Lynda.com and the instructor is using Adobe Illustrator.
So far, I've been able to duplicate everything he is doing using my copy of Corel 17, until now. I want to know if anyone can figure this out:
He wanted to create a guitar string with the appearance of shading and highlight. He created a simple curved line using the Bezier curve pen tool. Then in the "Appearance" tab, he assigned a color and width. So far, so good.
THEN, with this line still selected, he assigned a second stroke with a lighter color and narrower width and a third stroke with an even lighter color and narrower stroke. He said in case he had to go back and edit it, this method was easier than duplicating the curve two more times, adjusting their attributes, and then grouping them.
I agree, but can CorelDRAW assign three different appearances in just one object, in this case a single line?
I've boasted for over 20 years that Corel can do anything Adobe can do. Please, help me prove it!
Thanx!
Cap10
The size of the problem is equal to the complexity of the art which you are creating. Saying that it's not a real problem means that you are making a very simple object. Sometimes in Illustrator I still use 2 objects to do two outlines on a simple object. But if I'm doing something a little more complex, I'll use the Appearance palette because it makes complicated work simple.
Keep in mind, the Appearance palette can do a lot more than add a couple of outlines. You can add outlines, envelopes (multiple envelopes), drop shadows, texture effects, rounded corners, roughen, dashed lines, etc, etc. All on a single object. And when it's all done, you can apply the whole thing to another object. In fact, you can apply the whole thing to a layer, then anything you create or place on that layer will get have that whole set of effects, instantly. The power of this feature shouldn't t be diminished by talking about making an object with two outlines. This feature is truly powerful. You can also turn effects on and off like turning layers on and off.
There usually is a way, such as creating an "Artistic Brush" and using it repetitively.
you can use Blend for this design
The reality of the requested effect is I need to know where it's going. CD does not allow multiple attributes to a single stroke. But not only can you can create the effect another way. The effect is only good for art, if you actually make things this is a really bad idea.
David Milisock said:The effect is only good for art, if you actually make things this is a really bad idea.
Of course this is incorrect. Let me explain it this way. Corel recently gained a new feature for making patterns. The problem with it though is that Corel did not include a way to simplify the patterns, or what Adobe calls "Expanding". In this case, it is only good for art, but not good if you make things. A cutter can't read that. However, you can take that pattern made in CorelDraw and expand it in Illustrator, or probably just by saving it out as an eps, or ai it'll expand automatically. Then bring it back into CorelDraw where it is now just simple vectors that can be used for cutting and perfectly fine if you "make things".
The same is true of the appearance palette in Illustrator. You create a stack of effects. If you need to make things with this art, then you "expand" it and you get simplified art that can be used to drive cutters or whatever else needs to be done with it. The art gets simplified and becomes ordinary vectors, like anything else.
This is why the take home message here is about the process and not the finished art. You look at the finished art and say, "Oh you can do that in CorelDraw". That's true. But how much time will it take, and how much effort? That's the money question. Illustrator has answered it in both of the examples I used in this post. Corel doesn't have a feature like this, and Corel didn't go far enough with it's pattern system. Which surprised me. Within seconds of seeing that system, I was trying to expand it. Not being able to expand the pattern made almost worthless to me. I actually make things.