Hello, I'm new to corel draw. I watched some videos, and I really like it. Currently I'm using Xara Xtreme (now called Xara Designer), Fireworks, and Photoshop.
Now, what I miss from Xara and Fireworks, is how ps plugins behave when applied to vectors. There you could easily apply them to any vector object, and edit the vector later to get the effect you are looking for.
However, as I see, in Corel Draw you are not able to do that, since you can only apply them to bitmap objects. And not even that: there doesnt seem to be any empty canvas around those objects for plugins that create effects around the objects, such as Alien Skin fire effect for example.
Is there a workaround?? This is the only thing that stops me from buying and switching to Draw without second guessing myself. I realize it is a much more powerful tool then Xara and FW, but I really don't see how come Corel never made it possible to handle bitmap plugins like those apps do.
So is there anything that can be done about it? Thanks!
dv986 said:Now, what I miss from Xara and Fireworks, is how ps plugins behave when applied to vectors. There you could easily apply them to any vector object, and edit the vector later to get the effect you are looking for.
Currently this is not possible, I agree it would be nice to have "live" layer style effects in Draw. The closest thing is Draw's Bevel Effect, but it's simplistic.
dv986 said:However, as I see, in Corel Draw you are not able to do that, since you can only apply them to bitmap objects.
True.
dv986 said:And not even that: there doesn't seem to be any empty canvas around those objects for plugins that create effects around the objects, such as Alien Skin fire effect for example.
Simply create a bounding box around the shape with extra space, set no fill or outline color to the rectangle, and convert the box and the interior shape to a bitmap. In the video below, I moved a copy of the vector version away first for a backup. ;-)
dv986 said: I realize it is a much more powerful tool then Xara and FW, but I really don't see how come Corel never made it possible to handle bitmap plugins like those apps do.
CorelDRAW is a popular tool for many different industries, it's difficult to keep everyone happy. But, Corel staff watches the forums for ideas.
dv986 said:So is there anything that can be done about it? Thanks!
IMO, likely the closest thing is using the rastercontrol workflow: (rastercontrol is a commercial add-on)
Thanks for the elaborate reply! I tried the bounding box suggestion, but it appears that alien skins dont work right from inside DRAW: fire for example is still applying to the bounding box instead to the object inside, even though I set the bounding box to transparent.
Or am I missing something?
If not, this means the only reasonable solution I have is this cool macro program of yours that connects corel with photoshop and apply those plugins from there. Is there a trial version? I'd like to see how it works for me and my workflow.
dv986 said:I tried the bounding box suggestion, but it appears that alien skins dont work right from inside DRAW: fire for example is still applying to the bounding box instead to the object inside, even though I set the bounding box to transparent.
You need to convert the bounding box and the object inside to one new single bitmap. Then that plug should work, try it
dv986 said:If not, this means the only reasonable solution I have is this cool macro program of yours that connects corel with photoshop and apply those plugins from there.
just keep a copy of the your vector shapes inside coreldraw, in case you need to edit them. Perhaps on a new page or something.
dv986 said:Is there a trial version? I'd like to see how it works for me and my workflow.
No trial, it's only 20.00 USD.
The other thing: if you use PS layer styles, you need to flatten them inside PS, since CorelDRAW doesn't recognize "live" PS layer styles (that's Adobe technology). I'd made a PS action to flatten and pressed one button I assigned to run that action.
For plugins like alien skin, you can run that in PS, or directly in Draw without rastercontrol. That was once the case, anyway... ;-)
Maybe alien skin uses the new PS plugin architecture that started with PS ver 7. Not sure...
Yes, i did convert both the box and the object inside together to one single bitmap. I tried a couple of times, even without the transparency option selected. It appears that DRAW ignores the transparency when it comes to plugins.
Well, I guess I'll have to buy that macro then as well :)