Lines offset from each other

Pyrenees said:

I would like to draw an undulating single line, and have CorelDRAW X3 automatically draw a matching line that is a constant distance away from the line that I am actually drawing.

Hi Pyrenees

Try using the transform function in CorelDRAW. Use F10 to access the transform docker. See the picture attached. You can draw an object. While selected, enter the values for transforming it (Object position in this case) & press apply to duplicate to get new object or just click apply to get the selected object transformed.

You can use CTRL + R to duplicate the last action in CorelDRAW. Also try using it.

Anand 

I think I've seen what you are looking for with some CAD packages: "Double Line" where you basically draw a double line ;) Used for drawing walls and things like that. Normally there is a setting to say where the center of the line is (ie are you drawing the center, outside or inside of the lines)

Draw does not have this implicitly, but there are ways to re-create the effect (duplicating won't work for curves):

1. Using the pen thickness.
   Simply draw your line, change the pen thickness to whatever you need the line offset to be and convert the outline to a shape. This will only draw the line centered on your original and you may need to remove the "ends" of the line to get two seperate lines.
2. Using the contour.
   Again draw the line, then apply a contour to it. If it's a true "line" then you will have to make the contour thickness half the thickness of the double line spacing (since it draws inside and out), If it's a closed shape, then you can specify internal or external offset of whatever double line spacing. If it's a segment (created by non-joined bounding lines) then you may have to create a shape from this using the "smart fill" tool and then use this for your contour.
3. Draw boxes.
   If you are using regular shapes, then you can draw boxes of the same width as your double line and weld them together. Draw a square of the same width/depth as your double line offset and use this to stretch circles and move duplicates to the correct offset. This seems easiest if you only know how to use the normal drawing tools, but it is convoluted and takes a lot longer than the other methods.

In most cases the end result will be an enclosed shape rather than two individual lines: if that's a problem you can either cheat (draw a white box over the ends) or node-edit, select the nodes at the end, break curve. Do the same at the other end. Select the object and break it appart. delete the two end lines. Tidier file and image, but longer to do.

If you are looking to draw double lines from an edge rather than the center, you may have to use one of the methods above to get the center line, then use the same technique again on this line. Depends on what you are drawing and what you want to use it for.

The easiest way is to set the required offset by going to
Tools>Options>Document, expand Document>General, then set the values in the dialog box.
Select the object  and press ctlr d for as many lines as you require.