Corel Corel Draw Graphics Suite - X6 Instruction Manual
GUIDEBOOK
Copyright © 2012 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved.
CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Product specifications, pricing, packaging, technical support and information (“specifications”)
refer to the retail English version only. The specifications for all other versions (including other
language versions) may vary.
Information is provided by Corel on an "as is" basis, without any other warranties or conditions,
express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantable quality, satisfactory
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of trade, course of dealing or otherwise. The entire risk as to the results of the information provided
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any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages whatsoever, including, but not limited
to, loss of revenue or profit, lost or damaged data or other commercial or economic loss, even if
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exceed the costs paid by you to purchase the materials. Some states/countries do not allow
exclusions or limitations of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above
limitations may not apply to you.
Corel, the Corel logo, the Corel balloon, Corel CAPTURE, Corel CONNECT, Corel DESIGNER, Corel
Digital Studio, CorelDRAW, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, Corel VideoStudio, Corel WinDVD, Painter,
PaintShop Pro, PowerClip, PowerTRACE, Smart Carver, WinZip, and WordPerfect are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Corel Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in Canada, the U.S., and/or other
countries. Other product, font, and company names and logos may be trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective companies.
All images included in this publication are attributed to the artists who created them. Some images
may have been cropped and/or resized, backgrounds may have been added, and images may have
been combined with other images on the same page. In the Gallery section, the artists' names have
been added to the images, and image elements that contain brand names and logos have been
removed.
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Contents
Part One: Introduction
Chapter 1: Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2: Installation and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 3: What’s New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Part Two: Getting Started
Chapter 4: CorelDRAW Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 5: Corel PHOTO-PAINT Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Part Three: Color, Type, and Styles
Chapter 6: Color Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 7: Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 8: Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Chapter 9: Styles and Style Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Part Four: Guide to Digital Content
Chapter 10: Finding and Managing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter 11: Content Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Chapter 12: Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Part Five: Tips and Techniques
Chapter 13: Sign Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Chapter 14: Illustration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Chapter 15: Page Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Part Six: Insights from the Experts
Chapter 16: Design of a Soccer Club Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Chapter 17: The Story of a Reader Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Chapter 18: Concept Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Contents | i
Part Seven: Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
ii | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Image created by
Joseph Diaz
USA
Part One
Introduction
Chapter 1: Welcome
What’s included in
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 4
About this guidebook 4
Guidebook conventions 5
Other learning resources 6
Chapter 1: Welcome | 3
Chapter 1: Welcome
Welcome to CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X6, a
comprehensive software solution for graphic
design, page layout, and photo editing.
What’s included in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 includes the
following applications:
•CorelDRAW®
•Corel® PHOTO-PAINT™
•Corel CAPTURE™
• Corel® CONNECT™
• Bitstream® Font Navigator®
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is an intuitive and versatile
graphics application for creating high-quality
vector illustrations, logo designs, and page
layouts.
Corel PHOTO-PAINT
Corel CONNECT
Corel CONNECT is an application that provides
easy access to content such as clipart, photos,
fonts, and more.
Bitstream Font Navigator
Bitstream Font Navigator is an application for
browsing, organizing, and managing fonts.
About this guidebook
This guidebook is designed to enrich your
experience of working with CorelDRAW and
Corel PHOTO-PAINT and to inspire you to do
more than you ever thought possible.
Individual chapters introduce you to the
workspace of each application and provide tips
and techniques that can help you, regardless of
your skill level.
This guidebook is divided into seven parts.
Part One: Introduction
Corel PHOTO-PAINT is a complete imageediting application that lets you retouch and
enhance photos as well as create original
bitmap illustrations and paintings. You can
easily correct red-eye or exposure problems,
retouch RAW camera files, and prepare images
for the Web.
Corel CAPTURE
Corel CAPTURE is an easy-to-use application
for capturing images from your computer
screen.
4 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Chapters 1 through 3 describe the new
features of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 as
well as the learning resources that are available
online and within each application.
Part Two: Getting Started
Chapters 4 and 5 present basic information
about CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT,
including workspace tours that describe the
main tools in each application.
To access this guidebook in PDF format,
click Help ` Guidebook.
Part Three: Color, Type, and Styles
Chapters 6 through 9 provide a review of
fundamental color concepts and show you
how to work with color and text as well as
format objects by using styles and style sets.
Part Four: Guide to Digital Content
Chapters 10 through 12 provide information
about working with Corel CONNECT and
introduce the available content, such as clipart,
photos, and fonts.
Part Five: Tips and Techniques
Chapters 13 through 15 give you useful tips
about the specific workflows for sign making,
illustration, and page layout.
Part Six: Insights from the Experts
Chapters 16 through 18 present tutorials by
graphic design professionals from diverse
industries who use CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
in their everyday work. In these chapters, the
authors share how the software helps them
express their creativity and artistic freedom as
they create a sports team logo, furniture
design, and concept painting.
To access the tutorials as individual PDFs,
click Help ` Insights from the experts.
Part Seven: Gallery
A stunning collection of artwork, created in
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite by professional
designers and illustrators, is included in this
last part of the guidebook.
Guidebook conventions
The following conventions make it easy to
locate information in the guidebook.
References to the application interface
References to elements of the application
interface, such as menu commands, are
indicated by bold formatting. For example,
“Click File ` Open” refers to clicking File on
the menu bar and then clicking the Open
command.
Tips
The guidebook contains brief tips, which may
highlight portions of your workflow, offer
creative ideas that you can try out, or provide
information about performing a task. These
tips are indented and marked by a special icon
for easy reference.
Color-coded pages
Each part of the guidebook is coded for easy
reference with a distinctive band of color in the
upper-left or upper-right area of the page.
Cross-references
If you want to learn more about a specific
subject, you can use the cross-references. Two
types of cross-references are used in this
guidebook:
• cross-references to the Help in an
application
• cross-references to a specific page in the
Guidebook
If a cross-reference points to the Help, you can
access the information by starting the specific
Chapter 1: Welcome | 5
application, clicking Help ` Help topics, and
then browsing or searching for the relevant
topic.
Other learning resources
In addition to this guidebook, various other
learning resources can help you get started
with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6. For
example, you can use the Help to learn about
basic tools and techniques, visit the
CorelDRAW.com community to ask questions
and receive help and suggestions from other
users, or watch video tutorials to see graphic
design in action.
Help
The Help is accessible from within the
application and provides comprehensive
information about product features. You can
browse through a list of topics, look up tools
and topics in the index, or search for specific
words.
Example of a tooltip
Hints
Hints provide instant information about tools
in the toolbox. When you click a tool, a hint
appears, telling you how to use the tool. Hints
are displayed by default in the Hints docker on
the right side of the application window, but
you can hide them when you no longer need
them.
To access the Help, click Help ` Help
topics. The application displays the Webbased Help if an Internet connection is
available, or local Help if there is no
Internet connection.
Tooltips
Tooltips provide helpful information about
application controls when you position the
pointer over icons, buttons, and other interface
elements.
6 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Hints docker in CorelDRAW
To display or hide Hints, click Help ` Hints.
To find additional information about a
tool, you can access a relevant Help topic
by clicking the Help button in the
upper-right corner of the Hints docker.
Welcome screen
The Welcome screen gives you easy access to
resources in the applications and lets you
quickly complete common tasks, such as
opening files and starting files from templates.
You can also find out about the new features
in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 and get
inspired by graphic designs that are featured
on the Gallery pages. In addition, you can find
tutorials and tips, and get the latest product
updates.
You can access the Welcome screen by
clicking Help ` Welcome screen.
Videos
Short videos are available to show you how to
complete basic tasks such as drawing, shaping,
and coloring objects in CorelDRAW, or masking
and cropping in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. In
addition, longer video tutorials introduce you
to the working environment of CorelDRAW
and Corel PHOTO-PAINT and guide you
through specific tasks and techniques.
To access the short videos, click the Videos
tab in the Hints docker.
To access the video tutorials, click Help `
Video tutorials.
Welcome screen in CorelDRAW
Chapter 1: Welcome | 7
Web-based resources
The following resources are available on the
Corel Web site (www.corel.com) to help you
get the most out of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
X6:
• Corel Knowledge Base — The articles in
this searchable database were written by
members of the Corel Technical Support
team in response to questions by users of
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite.
• CorelDRAW.com community — In this
online environment, you can share your
experience with the product, ask
questions, and receive help and
suggestions from other users.
• Tips and tricks — This valuable
information is provided by the Corel
Documentation team to help you take full
advantage of product features.
• Tutorials — In-depth tutorials let you
share the knowledge and techniques of
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite experts.
• Third-party resources — For additional
information about the tools in the suite,
you can access third-party print and online
resources that cover various areas of
graphic design.
If your installation of CorelDRAW Graphics
Suite X6 includes VBA or VSTA, you can
access the macro programming guide by
clicking Start ` All programs `
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 `
Documentation.
Network deployment guide
The CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Deployment
Guide is a step-by-step resource for deploying
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 to a network.
This guide is provided to customers who
purchase a volume (“multi-seat”) license of
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 for their
organizations.
To purc ha se a v olume license of
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 and obtain
the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6
Deployment Guide, contact Corel Support
Services (www.corel.com/support).
Customized training and integration
resources
Corel Corporation has training partnerships
with other firms and provides resources for
developers and consultants.
Corel customized training
Macro programming guide
The CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Macro
Programming Guide provides a streamlined
instructional approach to programming
macros for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6. By
creating macros with CorelDRAW and
Corel PHOTO-PAINT, you can automate tasks
and provide customized solutions. You can use
either Microsoft® Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) or Microsoft® Visual Studio® Tools for
Applications (VSTA) to create macros.
8 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Corel Training Specialists can provide you with
customized training, tailored to your work
environment, to help you get the most out of
the Corel software that you have installed.
These experts can help you develop a
curriculum that is practical and relevant to the
needs of your organization. For more
information, visit www.corel.com/
customizedtraining.
Corel Training Partners
A Corel Training Partner (CTP) is an
independent, officially accredited local
organization that provides training and
training resources for Corel products. CTPs are
located worldwide for your convenience. To
find a partner near you, visit www.corel.com.
Corel Technology Partners
Corel Technology Partners are businesses that
embed Corel technology within their products,
develop plug-in applications for Corel
software, or integrate standalone applications
into Corel technology solutions. This
comprehensive program is designed especially
for developers and consultants, and it includes
the necessary components for designing,
developing, testing, and marketing custom
solutions that are related to Corel products.
For more information about Corel Technology
Partners, please e-mail Corel Corporation at
techpartner@corel.com.
Chapter 1: Welcome | 9
Chapter 2: Installation and Support
Installing CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
applications 12
Changing languages 12
Updating Corel products 12
Corel Support Services 13
About Corel Corporation 13
Chapter 2: Installation and Support | 11
Chapter 2: Installation and Support
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 is easy to install,
register, and customize.
Installing CorelDRAW Graphics Suite applications
The installation wizard makes it easy to install
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite applications and
components. You can install the applications
with the default settings, or you can customize
the installation by choosing different options.
When you insert the installation disc in the
DVD drive, the installation wizard starts
automatically. Follow the instructions on the
screen to complete the installation.
(Windows® 7 and Windows Vista®) If the
installation wizard does not start
automatically, click Start on the Windows
taskbar, and type X:\autorun.exe in the
search box, where X is the letter that
corresponds to the DVD drive.
(Windows® XP) If the installation wizard
does not start automatically, click Start on
the Windows taskbar, and click Run. Type
X:\autorun.exe, where X is the letter that
corresponds to the DVD drive.
After you install the applications, you can also
use the installation wizard to do the following:
• add and delete components in the current
installation
• repair the current installation by
reinstalling all application features
• uninstall CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Before repairing an installation, try
resetting the current workspace to the
default settings by holding down F8 while
starting the application.
For more information, see “Installing
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite applications” in the
Help.
Changing languages
If an application has been installed in more
than one language, you can change the
language of the user interface and Help at any
time.
To change the language of the application,
click To ol s ` Options. In the list of
categories, click Global, and choose a
language from the Select the language
for the user interface list box. Restart the
application to apply the new language
settings.
If you did not install a specific language when
you first installed the product, you can do so
later. For more information, see “Changing
languages” in the Help.
Updating Corel products
During product installation, you can choose
the option to download product updates.
To check for product updates at any time,
click Help ` Updates.
12 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Corel Support Services
Corel Support Services can provide you with
prompt and accurate information about
product features, specifications, pricing,
availability, services, and technical support.
For the most current information on support
services available for your Corel product, visit
www.corel.com/support.
About Corel Corporation
Corel is one of the world's top software
companies, with more than 100 million active
users in over 75 countries. We develop
software that helps people express their ideas
and share their stories in more exciting,
creative, and persuasive ways. Through the
years, we've built a reputation for delivering
innovative, trusted products that are easy to
learn and use, helping people achieve new
levels of productivity. The industry has
responded with hundreds of awards for
software innovation, design, and value.
Our award-winning product portfolio includes
some of the world's most widely recognized
and popular software brands, including
CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite, Corel® Painter™,
Corel DESIGNER® Technical Suite, Corel®
PaintShop™ Pro, Corel® VideoStudio®,
Corel® WinDVD®, Corel® WordPerfect®
Office, and WinZip®. Our global headquarters
are in Ottawa, Canada, with major offices in
the United States, United Kingdom, Germany,
China, Taiwan, and Japan.
Chapter 2: Installation and Support | 13
Chapter 3: What’s New
Work faster and more efficiently 16
Create layouts with ease 19
Design with style and creativity 22
Chapter 3: What’s New | 15
Chapter 3: What’s New
The new and enhanced features of CorelDRAW
Graphics Suite can help you express your
creative ideas compellingly.
To access the list of new features from the
application, click Help ` What’s new.
To learn what was new in previous versions
of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, click Help `
Highlight what’s new, and choose a
version. Menu commands and tools for
features introduced or improved in that
version are highlighted.
Work faster and more efficiently
From organizing project assets and accessing
the suite’s vast collection of content, to quickly
identifying available formatting options and
removing unwanted areas in photos,
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 offers several
workflow innovations that help you be more
efficient and productive.
Multiple trays in Corel CONNECT (New!)
Corel CONNECT now lets you work with several
trays at the same time, which gives you
increased flexibility in organizing assets for
multiple projects. Trays help you gather
content from various folders or online sources,
and are shared among CorelDRAW,
Corel PHOTO-PAINT, and Corel CONNECT.
You can use and maintain separate trays for
different types of content. For example, you
might be working on a project that requires
photos, vector graphics, and bitmap icons.
Keeping these types of content in separate
trays provides a way to find assets quickly and
easily. As an added convenience, you can open
files from the tray to get a full-size preview. You
can also rename trays or change the default
folder to which trays are saved.
Multiple trays help you find assets quickly and easily.
Search capability in Corel CONNECT
(New!)
The new Corel CONNECT search toolbar lets
you instantly extract images from a web site.
Simply type a web address in the Search and
address box, and Corel CONNECT
immediately gathers all images defined with an
HTML <img> tag from the Web site, making
it quick and easy to leverage content assets
from online sources. You can also type search
terms or a folder path to have Corel CONNECT
search your computer, network, or other online
resources for content.
Content (New and enhanced!)
The improved Corel CONNECT provides quick
access to all CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6
16 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
content, while also helping you acquire
additional content from online vendors.
Corel CONNECT lets you access a wealth of content.
The suite’s content library includes:
• 10,000 high quality clipart and digital
images
• 1,000 professional, high-resolution digital
photos
• 1,000 OpenType® fonts, including
premium fonts such as Helvetica®
• 350 professionally designed templates
• 2,000 vehicle templates
• 800 frames and patterns, and more.
Object Properties docker (New!)
In CorelDRAW X6, the redesigned Object
properties docker now presents only object-
dependent formatting options and properties.
By grouping all object settings in one location,
this docker helps you fine-tune your designs
faster than ever before.
For example, if you create a rectangle, the
Object properties docker automatically
presents outline, fill, and corner formatting
options, as well as the rectangle’s properties. If
you create a text frame, the docker instantly
displays character, paragraph, and frame
formatting options, as well as the text frame’s
properties.
The redesigned Object properties docker groups all
object settings in one location.
Smart Carver (New!)
In Corel PHOTO-PAINT X6, the new
Smart Carver™ tool makes it easy to remove
unwanted areas from a photo and
simultaneously adjust the photo’s aspect ratio.
For example, you might want to define an area
of a photo that you would like to keep or
remove, such as a person in the photo. The
versatile Object removal brush lets you
choose to paint either the area of the photo
that you want to preserve or the area that you
want to remove.
Chapter 3: What’s New | 17
The Smart Carver makes it easy to remove unwanted areas and adjust the photo’s aspect ratio.
You can also use the Smart Carver to change a
photo’s aspect ratio without distorting
anything in the photo. For example, if you
want to resize a photo to print at a certain size,
you can paint the photo’s subjects and then
use the Smart Carver presets to contract or
expand the photo’s background vertically and
horizontally.
Shape tools (New!)
CorelDRAW X6 introduces four additional
shaping tools that provide new creative
options for refining vector objects. The new
Smear tool lets you shape an object by pulling
extensions or making indents along its outline.
The size of the brush nib and the Pressure
setting let you control the intensity of the
effect, and you can choose between smooth
curves or curves with sharp corners.
Alternatively, you can use the pressure of your
digital pen to determine the intensity of the
smear effect.
The new Twir l tool lets you apply twirl effects
to objects. The size of the brush nib lets you
determine the size of the twirls, and the Rate
setting lets you control the speed of the effect.
You can also choose either a counterclockwise
or a clockwise twirl.
In addition, you can use the new Attract and
Repel tools to shape curves by attracting
nodes or by pushing nodes away from other
nodes in close proximity. To control the shaping
effect, you can vary the size of the brush nib
and the speed at which the nodes are attracted
or repelled.
The new shaping tools provide creative options for
refining vector objects.
Clip masks for groups of objects (New!)
With Corel PHOTO-PAINT X6, you can now
apply a clip mask to a group of objects without
modifying the individual objects within the
18 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
group. For example, you can adjust
transparency levels for the whole group
without altering the pixels of the individual
objects.
You can apply a clip mask to a group of objects.
Pass Through merge mode (New!)
Corel PHOTO-PAINT X6 introduces a new Pass
Through merge mode that you can apply to
groups, which gives you more control when
applying a lens or special effect. If you choose
Pass Through, the lens or effect will apply to all
objects, including those layered below the
group.
Native 64-bit support (New!)
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 provides
support for 64-bit processors, which allows
you to work faster than ever before with large
files in CorelDRAW and large images in
Corel PHOTO-PAINT.
Adobe CS5 and Microsoft Publisher
2010 support (Enhanced!)
The enhanced import and export support for
Adobe® Illustrator® CS5 and Adobe®
Photoshop® CS5, as well as import support for
Adobe® Acrobat® X and Microsoft®
Publisher 2010, ensures that you can exchange
files with colleagues and clients.
Multi-core processor support (New!)
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 has been
optimized for the latest multi-core processors.
The increased support lets you continue
working while the suite performs resourceintensive tasks in the background. The result is
fast and responsive performance, which means
less waiting when you export files, print
multiple documents, or copy and paste large
objects.
Enhanced support for Adobe CS5, Adobe Acrobat, and
Microsoft Publisher files facilitates file exchange with
colleagues and clients.
Create layouts with ease
With new and improved master layer
functionality, new temporary alignment
guides, new advanced OpenType support, and
enhanced complex script support for working
with foreign language text, CorelDRAW
Graphics Suite X6 makes it easier than ever
before to lay out your project.
Chapter 3: What’s New | 19
Master layers (New and enhanced!)
Alignment guides (New!)
With CorelDRAW X6, the new and improved
odd-page, even-page, and all-page master
layers make it easier to create page-specific
designs for multipage documents. If you are
laying out multipage documents, such as
brochures and flyers, it’s now easy to
incorporate page-specific headers, footers,
and page numbers. For example, you might
want to have different headers on even and
odd pages.
Examples of CorelDRAW X6 page layouts with different
odd-page and even-page master layers
The new alignment guides help you position
objects more quickly, appearing on the fly with
suggested alignment to existing objects on the
page. These temporary guidelines appear
when you create, resize, or move objects in
relation to other nearby objects. Alignment
guides interactively connect the centers and
the edges of objects, and you also can choose
to display alignment guides from the edges of
one object to the center of another object.
You can modify the default settings for
alignment guides to suit your needs. For
example, if you are working with a group of
objects, you can display alignment guides for
individual objects within the group, or for the
bounding box of the group as a whole. In
addition, you can specify margins for
alignment guides to help you align objects at a
set distance from the edge of another object.
You can also specify whether the alignment
guides follow only the margins or the actual
edges of the object as well.
Page numbering (New!)
With CorelDRAW X6, the new Insert page
number command helps you instantly add
page numbers on all pages of a document,
starting on a specific page, or at a particular
number. This flexibility is ideal for working with
multiple CorelDRAW files that will eventually
become a single publication.
You can choose from alphabetic, numeric, or
roman formats, and you can display page
numbers in lower-case or upper-case letters. In
addition, page numbers are automatically
updated when you add or delete pages in your
document. You can also insert a page number
inside existing artistic or paragraph text.
20 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Using alignment guides to position objects quickly
Interactive frames (New!)
CorelDRAW X6 provides interactive frames that
help you efficiently generate mock-ups of
design ideas. The new empty PowerClip™ and
text frame functionality lets you populate your
designs with placeholder PowerClip and text
frames, which makes it easier to preview a
layout before finalizing its individual content
components.
You can now drag content over a PowerClip
frame, and then choose either to add the
content to the frame or to replace any existing
frame content. PowerClip frames also now give
you the option of centering content within the
frame or scaling content to fit proportionally
within the frame. In addition, you can easily
create text frames from any closed curve
object, and then edit the frames to take on any
shape imaginable.
The interactive frame functionality has also
been implemented in a collection of predesigned picture frames included with the
suite, giving you stylish, content-ready design
assets that you can customize with ease.
For convenience and flexibility, you can also use
custom placeholder text in any language
supported by CorelDRAW. You simply create an
RTF file containing the text that you want to
use, save it to the default placeholder text
folder, and CorelDRAW X6 will use that text
whenever you invoke the Insert placeholder
text command. For more information about
creating a custom placeholder text file,
“Placeholder text” on page 210.
Choose from a collection of pre-designed interactive
frames to frame your image.
Placeholder text (New!)
With CorelDRAW X6, the new Insert
placeholder text command lets you right-
click any text frame and immediately populate
it with placeholder text. This makes it easier to
assess the appearance of your document prior
to finalizing its content.
You can create custom placeholder text for your
documents.
Advanced OpenType support (New!)
The reengineered text engine lets you take
greater advantage of advanced OpenType
typography features, such as contextual and
stylistic alternates, fractions, ligatures, ordinals,
ornaments, small caps, swashes, and more.
OpenType fonts are based on Unicode, which
makes them ideal for cross-platform design
work. In addition, the extended character sets
offer outstanding language support.
Accessible from the Object properties
docker, the OpenType features let you choose
alternative appearances for individual
characters, or glyphs, to suit your stylistic
Chapter 3: What’s New | 21
preference, provided that the font supports
advanced OpenType. For example, you can
apply a different number, fraction, or ligature
glyph to achieve a certain look for your text. In
addition, you can let CorelDRAW prompt you
when an OpenType feature is available for the
selected text by enabling the Interactive
OpenType option.
OpenType fonts let you choose alternate appearances
for selected characters.
Complex script support (Enhanced!)
Design with style and creativity
With its rebuilt styles engine, new Object
styles docker, new color styles
implementation, new color harmony
functionality, and content-ready picture
frames, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 helps
you focus on bringing your unique sense of
style and creativity to your designs.
Styles engine and docker (New!)
In CorelDRAW X6, the revamped styles engine
introduces a new Object styles docker that
simplifies the creation, application, and
management of styles. A style is a set of
properties that governs the appearance of
objects. CorelDRAW X6 also introduces new
style sets, which are groups of styles that make
it easier to have consistent formatting across
multiple objects, produce iterative versions,
and apply formatting with speed and
consistency.
With CorelDRAW X6, the complex script
support built into the overhauled text engine
ensures proper typesetting for glyphs used by
Asian and Middle Eastern languages.
Text engine improvements ensure that multilingual
glyphs display correctly in your documents.
22 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
You can quickly change the look of an object by
applying a style set.
You can create and apply styles and style sets to
graphic objects, artistic and paragraph text,
callout and dimension objects, and objects
created with the Artistic media tool. For
example, you can define an outline style by
specifying attributes such as outline width,
color, and line type. For text objects, you can
define a character style by specifying font type,
font style and size, text color, background
color, character position, caps and more.
With style sets, you can group multiple styles,
which lets you combine properties from
different types of styles. For example, you can
use a style set to define fill and outline
properties for a graphic object, or you can
define character and paragraph styles to set
the appearance of paragraph text. This makes
it faster and easier to later adjust those
properties, which is especially convenient for
creating iterative designs. You can also create
child styles or style sets that retain some but
not all properties of the parent style or style set.
This is particularly useful when working with
long documents. For example, you can assign
a parent character style for headings and a
child character style for subheadings.
Managing document colors by using the Color styles
docker
Color harmonies (New!)
The new color harmony functionality lets you
group color styles so you can quickly and easily
produce iterative designs with varying color
schemes.
Color styles (New!)
The new Color styles docker lets you add the
colors used in a document as color styles,
which makes it easier than ever before to
implement a color change throughout a
project. To create a color style from an object,
simply drag the object to the Color styles
docker. If you apply that color style to other
objects, you can quickly change the color style
and all objects that have this style are instantly
updated.
In addition, you can break the link between an
object and a color style at any time, so you can
edit the object independently. You can also
convert color styles to different color modes or
to spot colors to prepare your document for
production printing.
Color harmonies let you change combinations of colors
easily.
By combining two or more color styles into a
harmony, you are linking the colors into a hue-
Chapter 3: What’s New | 23
based relationship. This lets you modify all
colors simultaneously, altering the color
composition of your artwork in one step, and
quickly prepare a variety of alternate color
schemes. You can also edit the individual color
styles in a harmony.
In addition, you can create a special type of
color harmony called a gradient, which
consists of one master color style and a
number of varying shades of that color. When
you alter the master color, the gradient colors
automatically adjust to the same degree that
the master color was altered. This is especially
useful when outputting multiple color
variations of the same design.
Content-ready pre-designed frames
(New!)
With CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6, the
collection of frames included in the content
library has been enhanced to support the new
empty PowerClip functionality. This lets you
instantly populate the frames with photos or
graphics, saving you time and effort. In
addition, some of the included frames are textready, so you can immediately add your own
custom text message.
Adding an image to an empty PowerClip frame
24 | CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Guidebook
Image created by
Gabriel González Díaz
Mexico
Part Two
Getting Started
