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Serif DrawPlus X3

1. Click the Whe default button The profile reverts to be linear To save your custom profile l Modify the profile shape from an existing preset or create from scratch Select Add Easing Profile from the Easing tab s Tab Menu button to save it The new profile will appear at the bottom of the drop down menu below the profile window 234 Creating Animations To delete a profile preset 1 Select Manage Easing Profiles from the Tab Menu 2 From the dialog select the preset entry click the Delete button then click OK Keyframe animation tips and tricks So far the emphasis has been on creating simple animations from scratch keyframe object control and how change over time is affected In order to go one step further and create more complex animations you may want to explore more advanced features ranging from using Keyframe camera effects applying masking effects and changing an object s state Using the Keyframe camera The camera effect lets you pan zoom or rotate areas of your animation to create a more interesting visual appeal Especially useful if you want to focus on parts of your animation e g a main cartoon character or a company logo telephone number or web address the feature is very powerful and should be used without making too many dramatic transformations try zooming by small amounts over the animation duration To enable the Keyframe camera 1 Select a keyframe to wh
2. DRAWPLUS X3 Graphics Studio User Guide How to Contact Us Our main office The Software Centre UK Europe PO Box 2000 Nottingham NG11 7GW UK Main 0115 914 2000 Registration UK only 0800 376 1989 Sales UK only 0800 376 7070 Customer Service Technical Support http www serif com support General Fax 0115 914 2020 North American office The Software Center USA Canada 13 Columbia Drive Suite 5 Amherst NH 03031 USA Main 603 889 8650 Registration 800 794 6876 Sales 800 55 SERIF or 557 3743 Customer Service Technical Support http www serif com support General Fax 603 889 1127 Online Visit us on the web at http www serif com International Please contact your local distributor dealer For further details please contact us at one of our phone numbers above This User Guide and the software described in it is furnished under an end user License Agreement which is included with the product The agreement specifies the permitted and prohibited uses 2009 Serif Europe Ltd All rights reserved No part of this User Guide may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Serif Europe Ltd All Serif product names are trademarks of Serif Europe Ltd Microsoft Windows and the Windows logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation All other trademarks acknowledged Windows Vista and the Windows Vista Start button are trademarks
3. Creating Animations 241 used on your computer as for any screensaver file or for distribution to friends and family equally To create a screensaver i 2 Choose Export gt Export as Screensaver from the File menu From the Save As dialog enter a screensaver file name and save to C WINDOWS SYSTEM32 for the screensaver to be viewable and enabled In the next dialog provide a title and contents for your screensaver s About box then click the OK button Click the Save button You ll see an export progress dialog appear until the screensaver file is created To enable the Screensaver k Right click on your Windows Desktop background and select Properties From the dialog select the Screen Saver tab Select your screensaver from the Screen Saver drop down list Optional Use the Wait input box to set an idle duration before your screensaver will be displayed Flash Lite i Mode Use if you re intending to export a keyframe animation for mobile users operating mobile phones personal organizers and more The format is optimized for viewing on smaller screen displays The outputted file type is the same as that for Flash export with a SWF file extension To export to Flash Lite i Mode l 2 Choose Export gt Export as Flash Lite i Mode from the File menu From the dialog provide a ShockWave Flash file name and folder location and click the Save button You ll see an export progress
4. To select any object on any layer Initially objects which are on layers that are not selected are also visible but you may find that you can t select an object as it is on a different layer This can be slightly confusing at first as you frantically click on an object to no effect But of course you can change this state of affairs e mn appear in the edit window regardless of which layer you re currently View All Layers is enabled the default all layers set as visible working on Disabling this button lets you see only objects on the current layer as long as it s visible If both Visible and View All Layers are unchecked you won t see anything fa e f Edit All Layers available only if View All Layers is enabled is disabled the default you can only select objects in the current layer Working with Objects 139 Enabling this button lets you select any object on any visible layer You can press the Tab key repeatedly to cycle between objects in order If Le Auto Select Layer is enabled available only if Edit All Layers is enabled you ll automatically select an object s layer and the object entry in the Layers tab as you select it on the page This stops you from having to jump back to the Layers tab to set the layer to be active after object selection To change an object s or group s name R In the Layers tab expand the layer entry to which an object or group belongs Select the object group then
5. 2 Select the object then click bb K Run backward if on a later keyframe located on the object toolbar directly under the Run forward or selected object 3 From the dialog choose to Run Length either To end of storyboard or by N Keyframes enter a number of keyframes to copy to You can optionally run objects to the start or end of the storyboard or by a set number of keyframes Once run forward or backward you can move an object on any keyframe normally the last to make animation work Objects that are not moved are Creating Animations 223 called tweened objects and show as transparent square nodes see below which are automatically created between any two key objects If you move any of these interim tweened objects you change your animation to follow a non linear path see below as a result the tweened object becomes a key object Key Objects Be E Tweened Objects This takes care of repositioning objects but what about changing an object s transform morph scale rotation and shear or attribute colour or transparency Simply a selected tweened object can be modified just like any other object it will be converted to a key object automatically as a transform or attribute change is applied amp A Use Convert to key object to lock a tweened object into place by making it a key object Use the opposite command Convert to tweened object to convert back to a tweened object removing any re
6. The option displays a dialog which lets you preview in your web browser either standalone or by loading a target HTML page and associated SWF file the target SWF file e g a WebPlus banner will be replaced by the animation to be previewed Check Preview using existing HTML file for the latter then navigate to and select HTML and SWF files or Preview in Flash Player default Use the navigation controls to review your animation as it would appear as an exported Flash SWF file The animation loads Flash Player if installed and begins playing in a Flash Preview window 222 Creating Animations Keyframe object control We ve just looked at storyboard control However a whole series of important object control tools are also available in keyframe animation They are available on an object toolbar displayed in context under any selected object DD Ungroup al fe lt lt gt 0 Initial grouped objects Objects along the animation run show run forward and show buttons for conversion to grouped object buttons key objects object placement and attributes The insertion of keyframes when you begin your animation will automatically run objects forward or backward However Run Forward and Run Backward commands let you introduce new objects in your animation which run across a limited number of keyframes or the entire storyboard To run object s forward backward 1 Select the keyframe which contains your chosen object
7. Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 147 4 Click anywhere in the colour space window then drag the marker around to fine tune your colour selection an Opacity level can be applied at the same time that a colour is applied this leads to powerful colour opacity combinations on solid fills or on gradient and plasma fill paths See Setting opacity on p 162 For gradient or bitmap transparency effects see p 164 use the Transparency Tool or Transparency tab To apply no fill Set an empty interior for objects by using the Colour tab Click k No Fill in the bottom left corner of the Line Fill Swatch Colour tab which represents either None an empty interior for objects with line fill properties or Original for pictures only to reset the object to its original colours Or x x Swatch tab Choose the first swatch None from any gallery Setting line properties All lines including those that properties including colour N F enclose shapes have numerous I yi koani style line ends weight join corner and cap end 148 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Using the Studio s Line tab you can adjust plain line properties for any freeform straight or curved line as well as for the edge of a shape image or artistic text To change line colour see Setting fill properties on p 143 If needed any custom line can be saved for future use see the Line Style
8. For precision drawing you need techniques that allow you to position and draw accurately without effort which will also be of use at any scaled size Such techniques make use of rulers and guides for actual size or scaled drawings Rulers The DrawPlus rulers mimic the paste up artist s T square and acts as a measuring tool and guide creator The rulers that surround the page allow you to measure the exact position of an object Ruler units used by DrawPlus determine the units displayed on the rulers and the reported units shown when positioning and scaling objects either around the object or on the Hintline You can change the ruler units without altering the document s dimensions Unit settings are saved with your DrawPlus document as a result loading different documents templates etc may change your working measurement units To change the page unit e Choose Options from the Tools menu and click Layout then make a selection in the Ruler Units box Ruler Units are equivalent to Page Units unless you re working ona g y g scale drawing For example at 100 zoom one ruler centimetre equals one centimetre on the printed page Moving rulers By default the horizontal ruler lies along the top of the DrawPlus window and the vertical ruler along the left edge The default ruler intersection is the top left corner of the pasteboard area The default zero point marked as 0 on each ruler is the top left corner of the page are
9. Frame Text or Shape Text all directly on the page Morbi nisl eros dignissim nec malesuada et convallis quis augue Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Gurae Proin Artistic Text Frame Text Shape Text It s easy to edit the text once it s created by retyping it or altering properties like font style and point size In general artistic text as an independent object is better suited to decorative or fancy typographic design frame text is intended for presenting text passages in more traditional square or rectangular shaped blocks shape text lends itself so well to blocks of body text where shape and flow contribute to the overall layout Artistic text behaves more independently than Shape and Frame Text and its individual letters can be stretched rotated sheared enveloped and combined with other objects Shape text lacks a line property but it conforms to the containing shape and you can achieve unique text flow effects by varying the container s properties See Fitting text to frames and shapes for details Default settings p 47 are stored separately for artistic text and frame text To enter new artistic text 1 Select A Artistic Text on the Drawing toolbar s Text flyout 2 To create artistic text at the current default point size click where you want to start the text or 94 Working with Text For artistic text that will be automa
10. Mesh Fill 161 Node 53 Paintbrush 81 83 Pen 56 58 Pencil 56 Perspective 73 Pointer 53 QuickShape 68 Rotate 53 121 Roughen 190 Shadow 191 Straight Line 56 57 Transparency 164 tracing 179 colour bitmaps 179 creating custom profiles for 183 greyscale bitmaps 179 logos 179 tracing profiles 179 Transform 109 Transform tab for precise repositioning 114 for precise resizing 120 for precise rotation and shearing 122 transparency path 167 pictures with 172 transparency effects 164 Transparency tab 164 Transparency Tool 164 TWAIN images importing 173 tweened objects 213 ungrouping objects 125 Unicode text 94 vector graphics 171 vector objects 179 Vector cropped bitmap 175 Video export Keyframe animation 238 View All Layers 138 Web 207 animations 207 export settings 250 previewing in browser 211 221 Weight of line width 151 Welcome to DrawPlus 3 Wizard 187 Border 187 Curve Text 99 Registration 3 Startup 19 workspace Zoom blur 194 choosing 20 zooming 40 zero point 33
11. SEIN GING POPEO Se T 147 Defining solid line and fill COlOUTrS ssessesseessesseessesseessesssesseesseesseoseessesss 152 Working with gradient fills esssesesecsssssssesesscsssssesssscssssseseesescsseseees 155 Working with bitmap and plasma fillS ss ssessesssessesssessesssesseesssessesss 159 Working with mesh fills ssosssesseessesseessesseessessseessesseesseoseesseoseesseoseessesss 161 Setn Opay EEEE menue 162 Using transparency effectS ssesssesseessesseessesseessessseesseoseesseoseesseosersseess 164 Contents 9 Working with Pictures 169 TV DOP UI OI CHUN cerea A 171 Importing camera ANC scanner IMAGES scsssssssssssssssssssssssssessseeeceees 172 Using Image Cutout Studio esssessessessessessessesseosesssesseoseoseoseeseeseeseessees 173 AUMAIA E EE O EEEE 179 10 Applying Special Effects cceeeeseeeeeee 185 CHEATING DOCSIS ereere aeaea EE 187 Creating DlenaS ai E 188 Creating rough edges e ssessessessessessessessesseessesseoseoseeseeseessessensesseoseosesse 190 Adding drop Shadows hcciiiininnnnnsennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnce 191 APPNO 2D TITER SIMGCIS oeenn R 193 USING SD TITEG efet nrnna a EN 196 Applying paper textures ssessesseessessessessessessessesssessesseosesseoseoseoseesseseesees 198 Applying dimensionality Instant 3D ssessessessessesseeseeseessesseeseeseesees 199 Applying Pseudo 3D ssessessesseeseessessessessessesseossessessesseoseosee
12. The preview window shows what the border will look like in both instances Click Finish 188 Applying Special Effects If you chose a whole page or object border it appears immediately With the T custom option use the LJ cursor to drag out a region to be bordered amp You can create a border on individual pages but not on all pages simultaneously Creating blends 7a Blends enable you to morph any shape into any other shape via the Blend Tool If the two shapes are separated in space each step creates an intermediate shape to create a kind of morphing effect where the colour transparency and line properties all change along with the object shape during the blend process The Context toolbar shown when the Blend Tool is selected also lets you adjust a number of blend settings before or after blending i e e the number of steps between the blend to increase decrease the smoothness of the blend e rate of transform via a set Position Profile e rate of blend via Attribute Profile e the Colour Blend Type For more complex blending possibilities objects can be multiply blended to from other blends to create truly stunning illustrations It is possible to leap frog between separate shaped objects to create daisy chained blends by click and drag on each object consecutively Applying Special Effects 189 To create a blend with the Blend Tool L De Select the a Blend Tool button on t
13. When you lock the object the cursor changes to a lock symbol amp You can still alter a locked object s fill line or transparency properties Grouping objects The advantage of converting a set of objects into a group is that it is easier to select and edit the objects all at the same time The only requirement for grouping is that multiple objects are selected in advance see p 125 Ungroup q 126 Working with Objects To create a group from a multiple selection Click ERR To ungroup turn a group back into a multiple selection below the selection e Click Ungroup a below the selection To ungroup multiple groups within a group e Select Ungroup All from the Arrange menu Once grouped simply clicking on any member of a group selects the group object In general any operation you carry out on the group affects each member of the group Property changes applied to a group such as changing line or fill will alter all the objects that make up the group e Objects within groups can be selected with the Ctrl key and edited without having to ungroup your grouped objects Combining cropping and joining objects DrawPlus includes some powerful tools to carve new shapes out of old shapes the Combine Crop Clip Add Subtract and Intersect buttons on the Arrange tab Combine Crop and Clip work a bit differently from Add Subtract and Intersect considered as Join commands It s worth ke
14. along with the drawing s current defaults That is the colours don t automatically carry over to new drawings However changes to the other palettes are saved globally in that colour changes will carry over to new documents automatically To load a named palette 1 Inthe Swatch tab click the down arrow on the w F Palettes button 2 From the resulting drop down menu select an Standard RGB Standard CMYK or themed palette or a palette that you ve created yourself Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 155 The loaded palette s colours appear as swatches in the Swatch tab replacing the swatches previously visible To create a new custom palette 1 With Palettes selected in the Swatch tab click the Tab Menu button in the tab s top right hand corner and choose Add New Palette 2 Enter a name for the new palette and click OK The new empty palette is displayed and its name will appear in the Palettes drop down menu To delete a new custom palette 1 Inthe Swatch tab select the palette for deletion from the Palettes drop down list 2 Click the Tab Menu button in the top right hand corner and choose Delete Palette After confirmation the palette is removed from the list To save the current Document Palette 1 Right click anywhere in the Document Palette and choose Palette Manager 2 Inthe dialog choose the Options button pick Save Palette As and save the palette to a ne
15. to set how smooth your stroke is applied via a slider 84 Using Brushes T Select on Create Optional Enable to leave the brush stroke selected on the page or if disabled leaves it deselected aD Fill on Create Optional Enable to fill the unclosed curve produced with the brush stroke with a default fill colour oS i With the brush cursor drag a brush stroke across your page After this first brush stroke there are two ways in which you are likely to paint subsequently depending on the extent to which you plan to edit brush strokes as you go To assist you the Select on Create button on the Brushes context toolbar can be used Edit then Paint With the button disabled the brush stroke is laid down and is immediately deselected The stroke needs to be reselected to perform any editing Use when you re happy to set all the brush properties colour brush type width etc before painting as above especially if you intend to paint repeatedly with the same brush stroke Paint and Edit With the button enabled a painted brush stroke will remain selected meaning that the brush stroke can be fine tuned via the context toolbar immediately Use when changing your brush properties frequently e g when adjusting a brush stroke s colour width opacity or shape The ESC key deselects the current brush stroke Trouble applying colour to brush strokes Remember to select the line swatch on the Colour
16. which you can choose a texture from a selection of texture thumbnails Click unclick the Visible icon to show hide the layer and any objects on it Click unclick the 3 Printable icon to include exclude the layer in PDF output or hardcopy printouts Non printing layers are handy for information only Note Hidden layers will still print as long as they are checked as printable Working with Objects 137 e Click unclick the Locked column to allow prevent objects on the layer from being moved deleted or resized Clicking on the Layer s entry locks the layer which will then shown as e To set a Selection colour double click the layer s name From the dialog click the colour swatch e g B and choose a colour from the dialog Assigning different colours to layers means that you can quickly verify that a pasted object has gone to the correct layer i e the box surrounding the object on a layer always adopts the Selection colour assigned to the layer The layer shows its current selection colour as a thin colour strip under the layer property icons Managing objects on layers A useful feature of the Layers tab is that you can see objects or even groups of objects under the layer on which they were created This gives you the option of selecting an object or group from the tab as opposed to from the page itself Either group or object can be named and once named located on your page To add objects to a part
17. DrawPlus or if DrawPlus is already running choose New gt New from Startup Wizard from the File menu to display the Startup Wizard The Startup Wizard offers different routes into the program for you to explore DRAWPLUS X3 Graphics Studio What do you want to do Create Open View Start New Drawing Open Saved Work D Sampie Designs Keyframe Anemation E Design Template ki Browse Tutorials 9 Stoptrame Animation er import POF E Online Videos lt Cusert Workspace gt The above options are described as follows Create Start New Drawing Keyframe Animation Stopframe Animation Allows you to create a drawing from scratch create a Keyframe animation in Keyframe animation mode create a Stopframe animation in Stopframe animation mode 20 Getting Started Use the Choose Workspace drop down menu to choose your workspace appearance i e Studio tab positions tab sizes and show hide tab status You can adopt the default workspace profile lt Default Profile gt the last used profile lt Current Profile gt a range of profile presets or a workspace profile you ve previously saved The Startup Wizard is displayed by default when you launch DrawPlus If you don t want to use the Startup Wizard again check the Don t show this wizard again box You can switch it on again via Startup Wizard in Tools gt Options use Ease of Use menu option You can also access the Startup Wizard
18. Drawing toolbar s F M Vector Edit flyout 2 Optional Use Smoothness on the tool s context toolbar to set how regular the freeform cutting line is click the right arrow and drag the slider right for increasing smoothness 3 Optional By default you ll get a straight cutting profile but for regular shaped cuts pick a Cutting Profile from the context toolbar 2 Pinking Straight F rL Square AS Wavy ee Pinking Mowe Double Zigzag eve ple Agag LL Diagonal Lo Saw ii Spike auae Fence Woo Spacer If required adjust the Wavelength and or Amplitude for your shaped cut 4 Using the cursor drag a freeform line across any object s you would like to split unselected objects on which the line traverses will not be split Instead press the Ctrl key as you drag for a straight line Working with Objects 117 5 Hover over then click to remove the unwanted cut area s Or With the Pointer Tool drag the newly split fragments apart instead Instead of performing a freeform or straight cut you can cut using preset cutter shapes The cutting shape can be resized or morphed to fit your object design just as for QuickShapes see p 68 To cut out selected objects using cookie cutters 1 From the Knife Tool s context toolbar click to expand the Preset Knife Path flyout 2 Click a preset shape to apply it to your object as a cutout The first and second options offer an easy way to jump be
19. E Use Margins E Merge Layers On file open a DXF DWG Options dialog provides options to scale the imported file objects position the artwork on the page and merge objects onto one layer To open an AutoCAD file L otic all 2 Change the file type drop down menu to display AutoCAD files dwg dxf locate and select the file and click Open Open on the Standard toolbar 3 Inthe dialog specify scaling and positioning options Uncheck Merge Layers to retain the layer structure of the original AutoCAD file layers will automatically be shown in the Layers tab 4 Click OK The AutoCAD drawing is imported Getting Started 27 Saving your work DrawPlus saves its documents as dpp Drawing dpx Template or dpa Animation files for Stopframe and Keyframe animation modes To save your work e Click A Save on the Standard toolbar sors To save the document under its current name choose Save from the File menu _or To save under a different name choose Save As from the File menu Saving templates If you ve decided that a particular design might be useful in future you can save the layout as a template You can save any DrawPlus drawing as a template dpx file When opening a saved template file DrawPlus automatically opens an untitled copy leaving the original template intact To save a drawing as a template 1 Choose Save As from the File menu Under Save as type select the D
20. Shrink Text buttons on the same toolbar Positioning Vertical alignment right click Text gt Text Flow moves existing text to the Top Bottom or Centre of the container alternatively you can justify text vertically The setting anchors a particular part of the object for example a Top setting anchors the top line and forces new text to come in below while a Bottom setting anchors the bottom most recent line and pushes previous lines up as you type new lines e To add white space around your text you can indent text from the frame or shape edge via right click Text gt Text Flow Values can be set to indent from Left Right Top and or Bottom Resizing You can resize frame or shape text change its point size automatically when resizing frame and shapes First make sure the Scale text with object box is checked in the Text flow dialog right click Text gt Text Flow then drag a corner of the selected text object Fitting text to a path a Use the Curve Text Wizard or text context ey toolbar s Curve Text flyout to make artistic aps m dolor siy yet wy text conform to a curved baseline such as a circle spiral arc or a drawn curve Working with Text 99 To flow text along a curve Either l Or If you want to use an existing text object select the object first Otherwise you can enter text in the wizard Go to Tools gt Curve Text Wizard After the fi
21. Swatch tab and ensure the Fill swatch is placed in front of Line swatch 3 Select the m Gradient button s drop down menu and pick a gradient category Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 157 4 Click the thumbnail for the fill you want to apply or m Drag from the gallery swatch onto any object Editing the fill path If an object using a gradient fill is selected you ll see the fill path displayed as one or more lines with circular nodes marking where the spectrum between each key colour begins and ends Adjusting the node positions determines the actual spread of colours between nodes You can also edit the fill by adding deleting or changing key colours To adjust the gradient fill path on a selected object 1 Select an object with a gradient fill 2 Click ed Fill Tool on the Drawing toolbar The object s fill path appears 3 Use the Fill Tool to drag the start and end circular path nodes or drag on or outside the object for a new start node creating a new fill path as you drag The gradient starts where you place the start node and ends where you place the end node 4 To constrain the fill path in 15 degree increments hold down the Shift key while dragging On Ellipse fills Ctrl constraining also forces the gradient s aspect ratio to match the object s bounding box Each gradient fill type has a characteristic path For example Radial fills have single line paths with the gradient initially starting
22. a e To make a line segment straight click Straighten Line on the straight line S or e To make a line segment curved click one of the node buttons on the context toolbar Sharp Corner Smooth Corner Symmetric Corner or Smart Corner You can then adjust the curvature of the newly created curved segment To convert to straight lines 1 With the Node Tool select the curve 2 From the context toolbar choose Convert to Straight Lines The curve segments are replaced by straight line segments throughout the line Adjusting a shape As described on p 59 you can easily turn a curve into a shape by connecting its end nodes You can go the other way too break open a shape in order to add one or more line segments To break open a line or shape L With the Node Tool select the node on the closed curve where you want the break to occur al Click lll Break Curve on the context toolbar so that the line will separate A shape will become a line with the selected node split into two nodes one at each end of the new line You can now use the Node Tool to reposition the nodes and reshape the line by dragging on the handles 68 Lines Curves and Shapes amp when you first break a curve the two nodes are in exactly the same location and so the curve may still look as if it is connected If you drag one of the red node ends away you will quickly see the separation Joining lines together You can co
23. a rectangular marquee on the page to define a region to zoom in to The zoom percentage adjusts accordingly fitting the designated region into the window To zoom out hold down the Shift key when dragging or just right click on the page You can also pan around a zoomed in page while the Ctrl key is pressed To zoom to the current selection choose Selection from the View menu e Click E7 Pan Tool to use a hand cursor to click anywhere on the page and drag to reposition the page in the window e Click EJ Fit Page to adjust the zoom percentage so the entire page area is displayed in the window If you re using a wheel mouse you can scroll the wheel forward or back to move up or down the page or move horizontally left or right by using the Shift key and scrolling together Try combining the Ctrl key and scrolling up or down for immediate in out zoom control Working with Pages 41 Adding and deleting pages DrawPlus uses the Page Manager to add one or more pages before or after a currently selected page you can even make use of an object cloning feature which copies objects from a chosen page To add one or more new pages 1 Select a page from which to add page s before after gt Choose Ae Pointer or Rotate Tool selected from the context toolbar shown with 3 On the Page Manager s Insert Page tab specify the following e The number of pages to add e The page before or after the new pages should be added e W
24. across the page drawing a line as you go The line appears immediately and follows your mouse movements 3 To end the line release the mouse button The line will automatically smooth out using a minimal number of nodes Note the dots indicating its nodes at the two ends and at each point where two line segments come together Lines Curves and Shapes 57 4 optional To set the degree of smoothing to be applied to the line and subsequent lines set the Smoothness value on the context toolbar above your workspace Smoothness 225 A A Click its right arrow to display a slider drag right then left You ll see your drawn line still selected smooth out with fewer nodes as you drag right and become more jagged with more nodes as you drag left For the smoothest curves the next time you draw a freeform line leave the sliding arrow towards the right of the slider To draw a straight line 1 Click the N Straight Line Tool from the Drawing toolbar s Line Tools flyout 2 Click where you want the line to start and drag to another point while holding down the mouse button then release the mouse button The straight line appears immediately amp To constrain the angle of the straight line to 15 increments hold down the Shift key down as you drag This is an easy way to make exactly vertical or horizontal lines Any kind of open line that is one that hasn t been closed to create a shape can be extended a
25. and duplicate multiple copies of any object For duplication a copy is displayed at the new location and the original object is still kept at the same position your new copy also possesses the formatting of the original copied object 108 Working with Objects Making duplicates e Select the object while holding down the Ctrl key then drag the copied object to a new position amp Use duplication when rotating or shearing an object the result is a new copy at a new angle possibly overlapping the original object Making multiple copies in a grid If you need to clone single or multiple objects you can use the Replicate feature to avoid repetitive copy and paste operations For example you can specify three columns and three rows for nine identical copies opposite To replicate an object 1 Select an object Remember to size the object to be cloned and place it in a convenient starting position usually the top left of the page 2 Choose Replicate from the Tools menu Working with Objects 109 In the dialog set the Grid size by choosing number of columns or rows Objects are cloned into this grid arrangement but can be moved subsequently into any position Set an X and Y spacing horizontal and vertical gap between objects if necessary The feature comes in handy for creating repetitive patterns or producing artwork for label sheets Click OK For replicating multiple objects on different la
26. as blocks instead remember to apply a Unicode font such as Arial Unicode MS to fix the formatting Editing text Once you ve entered either artistic frame or shape text see Entering text on p 93 you can retype it and or format its character attributes font point size bold italic underline etc paragraph properties and text flow Text objects have graphic properties too artistic text behaves like an independent graphic object it can be scaled while shape or frame text conforms to its container or frame Artistic text text frames and shapes containing text can all be rotated skewed moved and copied You can also apply line and fill colour independently brush strokes edges or apply opacity and transparency effects for interesting text effects Colour can be applied to selected text as a solid gradient or bitmap fill for a solid fill simply select one or more characters and apply a solid colour from the Studio s Colour tab ensuring the fill swatch is set or the Character dialog See Setting fill properties on p 143 For a gradient or bitmap fill use the Studio s Swatch tab See p 155 or p 159 respectively Similarly opacity is applied from the Colour tab see p 162 gradient and bitmap transparency from the Transparency tab 96 Working with Text Retyping text You can either retype artistic frame or shape text directly on the page or use the Edit Text window great for managing large amounts
27. at any time from New gt New from Startup Wizard on the File menu Getting Started 21 Starting with a design template It s so much easier creating drawings with a little bit of help DrawPlus can utilize a whole range of design templates which will speed you through the creation of all types of drawings and animations Templates can be thought of as object factories They let you pick a design and leave you with one or more new objects on the page GreenFields COLOUKME If the design is exactly what you want then all that is left is for you to print it or export it If you want to personalize the design or add to it then you need to know how to work with objects see p 105 An impressive range of templates categories are at you disposal Choose from categories such as Arts amp Crafts Logos Posters Web Banners and Greeting Cards To create a drawing from a Design Template 1 Launch DrawPlus or choose New gt New from Startup Wizard from the File menu You ll see the Startup Wizard 2 Select Open gt Design Template 22 Getting Started 3 From the dialog select a drawing category on the left and examine the designs on the right Click the thumbnail that s closest to the one you want then click Open The design is loaded and forms the basis of your new unsaved drawing or animation When you make any changes you ll be prompted to save the drawing or animation to a file name You can save any
28. at the object s centre Ellipse fills likewise begin at the centre but their paths have two lines so you can adjust the fill s extent in two directions away from the centre Radial fills are always evenly circular while Ellipse fills can be skewed in one direction or another 158 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency a Radial Fill Ellipse Fill Experiment to discover new effects For example you can widen or narrow the gradient s extent even drag either node completely outside the object Or for a Radial fill on a round shape try placing the start node near the figure s upper edge off centre to create a reflection highlight For details of how to edit and manage gradient fills see online Help Editing the fill spectrum Whether you re editing a fill that s been already been applied to an object or redefining one of the gallery fills the basic concepts are the same Whereas solid fills use a single colour all gradient fills utilize at least two key colours with a spread of hues in between each key colour creating a spectrum effect You can either edit the fill spectrum directly using the Fill Tool or use Format gt Fill to access the Gradient Fill Editor dialog With the Fill Tool selected colours can be selected from the Studio s Colour or Swatch tab to replace a selected node s colour or dragged from the Swatch tab to create new nodes on the fill path Both methods let you define key colours The Fil
29. core The secondary object orange is located under the opposite intersecting line to offer some balance to the design By aligning objects to intersecting horizontal and vertical lines rather than just centring objects on the page you can create designs with greater visual interest When a grid is applied to your page the displayed context toolbar lets you alter the grid s colour and opacity and reset or delete the grid See online Help the grid is actually an overlay which appears as an Overlay Layer in the Layers tab As such you can use the Visible layer control to temporarily show hide the grid To apply a Rule of Thirds grid Comin 1 From the Standard toolbar click and select Rule of Thirds from the drop down menu A coloured grid is overlaid over your page 2 Optional For selected objects drag a corner or edge handle to resize the grid reposition the grid by dragging rotate by dragging a corner handle The grid can be manipulated just like an object 3 Place pictures frames or vector objects under any of the intersecting blue lines Working with Pages 45 Once applied the grid stays selected Clicking away from the grid will deselect it but it can be reselected at any time e g for repositioning later To select the grid e From the Standard toolbar click land choose Select Rule of Thirds Using divine proportions oa Divine proportions in DrawPlus
30. drawing or animation as a template see Saving templates p 27 at any time Starting with a new drawing The first time you launch DrawPlus you ll see the Startup Wizard with a menu of choices The Start New Drawing option offers an easy way to create your new drawing and takes care of the initial setup for the particular type of document youll be producing Choose from a wide range of preset document types including booklets and folded documents Work on pages right side up automatic imposition assures correct order and orientation of your output To start a new drawing from scratch using the Startup Wizard 1 Start DrawPlus or choose File gt New gt New from Startup Wizard if it s already running 2 Select Start New Drawing from the Startup Wizard 3 Select adocument category from the Documents pane and a sub category if applicable Categories contain preset document types or if you select Regular you can choose from standard document sizes presented in Portrait or Landscape sub categories For custom sized pages choose the Custom Page Setup button at the bottom of the dialog 4 Select a document type thumbnail from the right hand pane and click Open The new document opens amp The My Templates category lets you base your new drawing ona previously saved template Getting Started 23 To start a new drawing during your DrawPlus session e Click k New Drawing on the Standard toolbar if Start
31. ensure Select on from the context toolbar and select a Create is enabled on the context toolbar Freehand and Paintbrush tools only e Drawa freeform line pen line or brush stroke into a curve The resulting curve is closed automatically and filled with the current fill colour Lines Curves and Shapes 61 Editing lines and shapes To edit lines or shapes you can manipulate their segments and or nodes allowing you to e Redraw part of a curve e Reshape a line or curve e Simplify a line remove nodes e Enhance a line add nodes e Change the type of node or line segment e Convert to straight line segments e Adjust a shape e Join two lines together Redrawing part of a curve With the Pencil Tool it s easy to redraw any portion of a curve To redraw part of a selected curve ve tren o Bpa 1 Select the line then the Pencil Tool Hover the displayed cursor on the line where you want to begin redrawing The cursor changes to indicate you can begin drawing 62 Lines Curves and Shapes 2 Click on the line and a new node appears 3 Keep the mouse button down and drag to draw a new line section connecting it back to another point on the original line Again the cursor changes to include a curve when you re close enough to the line to make a connection When you release the mouse button the original portion is replaced by the newly drawn portion ONT Reshaping a line The main tool
32. gradient fills but with a more complex fill path e Bitmap and Plasma fills apply bitmapped images or patterns to the object each with unique properties Think of bitmap fills as named pictures that fill shapes Plasma or fractal fills use randomized patterns useful for simulating cloud or shadow effects 144 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Solid colours Applying a fill is easy whether you re selecting a custom colour from the Colour tab or a preset colour from a whole range of colour swatches in the Swatch tab Colour G D HSL Colour Wheel The Colour tab can operate in several modes available from a drop down menu HSL Colour Wheel shown HSL Colour Box HSL Sliders RGB Sliders CMYK Sliders and Tinting We ll concentrate on the HSL Colour H 0 Wheel which is very popular cp amongst drawing professionals L100 Opacity o oom m E 100 The HSL Colour Wheel is made up of four key components the line fill swatches the outer Hue wheel Saturation Lightness triangle and an Opacity slider The Line Fill swatches govern whether the selected colour is applied as a line colour solid fill or both simultaneously The small circles shown in the wheel and triangle indicate the current setting for hue and saturation lightness respectively Drag either circle around to adjust the overall HSL value A Tinting option in the Colour tab s drop down menu not shown above allows a percentage
33. involve overlaying a grid over your design for aesthetic proportioning of design elements The grid uses the classic golden ratio principle commonly encountered in e classic drawings e g da Vinci s Vitruvian Man e musical instruments opposite e buildings Athen s Parthenon e modern iconic design Apple iPod amp The golden ratio can be understood using a cello PON as an example the ratio o 0 618 is that between the instrument s neck and its body Golden Spirals Rectangles and Tangents make up the grid each differently coloured for easy distinction Their colours can be changed and each grid component can be hidden from the context toolbar 46 Working with Pages To apply a Divine Proportions grid 1 From the Standard toolbar click land select Divine Proportions from the drop down menu The grid is overlaid over your page 2 Optional Resize rotate or reposition the grid over your design or planned design area by dragging corner or edge handles 3 Begin drawing using the guide lines to draw objects proportionately To select the grid once deselected _ and choose Select e From the Standard toolbar click Divine Proportions Isolating an object For focused editing DrawPlus X3 provides the Solo mode This allows you to temporarily isolate selected object s on the page that you are currently designing all unselected objects disappear In doing s
34. of shade tint to be applied to your colour Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 145 By comparison the Swatch tab hosts a vast array of colour swatches for solid gradient plasma and bitmap fills You may notice a registration colour swatch Ea in the palette You can use this for professional colour separation printing To apply a solid fill colour via the Colour tab 1 Select the object s and display the Studio s Colour tab cr 2 u Set the Line Fill Swatch at the top left of the tab so the Fill Swatch appears in front of the Line swatch This defines where the colour will be applied Alternatively apply colour to both line and fill simultaneously by clicking Al Link on the swatch 3 Choose a colour display mode HSL Colour Wheel HSL Colour Box HSL Sliders RGB Sliders or CMYK Sliders from the drop down menu 4 Select a colour from the display Exact colour values can be set in a Colour Selector dialog available by either double clicking the swatch or from Format gt Fill To apply a solid fill colour via the Swatch tab 1 Select the object s and display the Studio s Swatch tab 2 E Set the Line Fill Swatch at the top left of the tab so the Fill Swatch appears in front of the Line Swatch 146 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency J kf Pick a thumbnail from either the Document Palette or from another palette shown in the Palettes drop down list drag from the thumbnail onto the ob
35. of text overflowed shape text or otherwise in a simple word processing environment To retype text on the page 1 Select the object and then select A Artistic Text from the Drawing toolbar s Text flyout in either order 2 Type new text at the selection point or drag to select text then type to replace it To cut copy and paste use the toolbar buttons or standard Windows keyboard shortcuts To create a new line e At the position you want to start a new line press the Enter key Formatting text You can change text formatting character paragraph bullets numbering and text flow properties either directly on the page or via the Edit Text window In addition artistic text characters have line properties expanding their creative possibilities To format selected text on the page 1 Use the as M Pointer Tool to select the text you want to change Alternatively drag select on any text with A Artistic Text from the Drawing toolbar s Text flyout 2 Use the Text context toolbar to change text properties font point size bold italic underline text alignment bullets and numbering levels and text fitting or Choose Character Paragraph Tabs Bullets and Numbering or Text Flow from the Format menu or the right click menu Working with Text 97 the _ Node Tool can be used for special adjustments on artistic text amp For greater control over the shape of the artis
36. on the Envelope context toolbar lets you reshape the envelope by dragging its corner nodes and attractor nodes as when editing curved lines To review these concepts see Editing lines and shapes on p 61 The only difference is that you cannot add or delete corner nodes to an envelope Envelopes always have exactly four line segments one on each side Connectors Connectors are special lines that you can anchor to objects where they remain attached even if one or both objects are moved or resized Using connectors you can easily create dynamic diagrams and charts that show relationships such as family trees organization charts and flow charts If you need to rearrange the elements the connections are preserved Mr John Doe Jr ae A z F ail on en te x D a Each DrawPlus object has default connection points displayed whenever you select one of the connector tools and hover over the object These default points which can t be moved or deleted are called Auto Select points 76 Lines Curves and Shapes To create a connection 7A 1 Select Connector Tool on the Line Tools flyout Drawing toolbar Hover over an object so that default Auto Select connection points become visible e g as on the left Quick Rectangle Pa 2 From the context toolbar select Direct Connector Tool 3 Click the connection point on the right edge midpoint of the left shape Drag to the right and release the mouse button w
37. or Full sheet of each page in the Print gt Layout tab You can tell DrawPlus to skip a certain number of regions on the first sheet of paper useful if for example you ve already peeled off several labels from a label sheet and don t want to print on the peeled off sections If you haven t set up the drawing as a Small Drawing but still want to print multiple pages per sheet try using the Fit Many option Printing thumbnails e Under Special Printing on the Print dialog s Layout tab set the Print as thumbnails option to print multiple pages at a reduced size on each printed sheet taking printer margins into account Specify the number of thumbnails per sheet in the value box DrawPlus will print each page of the document at a reduced size with the specified number of small pages or thumbnails neatly positioned on each printed sheet Publishing and Sharing 249 Publishing as PDF PDF short for Portable Document Format is a cross platform WYSIWYG file format developed by Adobe to handle documents in a device and platform independent manner The format has evolved into a worldwide standard for document distribution which works equally well for electronic or paper publishing Although PDF excels as an electronic distribution medium it is also an excellent format for delivering a drawing file to a professional printer using PDF X formats targeted for graphic arts and high quality reproduction Your print partner can tell
38. or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and or other countries Adobe Flash is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and or other countries TrueType font samples from Serif FontPacks Serif Europe Ltd Digital Images 2008 Hemera Technologies Inc All Rights Reserved Digital Images 2008 Jupiterimages Corporation All Rights Reserved Digital Images 2008 Jupiterimages France SAS All Rights Reserved Bitstream Font content 1981 2005 Bitstream Inc All rights reserved The Sentry Spelling Checker Engine 2000 Wintertree Software Inc Panose Typeface Matching System 1991 1992 1995 1997 Hewlett Packard Corporation Portions graphics import export technology LEAD Technologies Inc amp Eastman Kodak Company Anti Grain Geometry Version 2 4 2002 2005 Maxim Shemanarev McSeem PANTONE Colors displayed in the software application or in the user documentation may not match PANTONE identified standards Consult current PANTONE Color Publications for accurate color PANTONE and other Pantone Inc trademarks are the property of Pantone Inc Pantone Inc 2005 Pantone Inc is the copyright owner of color data and or software which are licensed to Serif Europe Ltd to distribute for use only in combination with DrawPlus PANTONE Color Data and or Software shall not be copied onto another disk or into memory unless as part of the execution o
39. reorder frames and access individual frame properties DrawPlus s Hintline toolbar navigation buttons let you jump to the first previous next and last frames as you would for pages in normal documents The tab also lets you preview the animation and enable onion skinning directly exporting as a standalone animated GIF or video is carried out via the File menu The Frames tab is designed for Stopframe animation only and only shows while in this mode Don t get this tab confused with the Storyboard tab used in the other type of animation supported by DrawPlus Keyframe animation see p 213 Each tab hosts distinctly different tools suited to the respective animation type In most cases your new Stopframe animation will have a single initial frame e g Frame 1 To create new frames you can either clone the current frame or insert a blank frame after the current frame Choose to clone if you will be reusing the current frame s contents with a transformation of some kind the most common way of simulating change or movement Try to think of your frame arrangement as a chronological sequence of static images which when animated will create the illusion of movement like a 210 Creating Animations cartoon flick book Once you ve finished creating frames you can preview or export your animation just as you would play the frames of a movie To view the Frames tab e Unless the tab is already displayed click the IEE handle at th
40. setup account information in DrawPlus and then upload your chosen design to the website Registering for the first time poe 2 Ifyou ve not registered before click the Join Now button You ll be Click on the Standard toolbar taken directly to www drawplus com registration 3 From the website s registration form enter your personal information including an email address to which an activation message will be sent Use the Help button if needed 4 Click Create Account For account activation you ll need to check your email and click on the activation message sent to you This may take time depending on your ISP and connection Remember your Username and Password You ll need to re enter this information into DrawPlus 5 Registration is complete after activation All that s now required is to enter your account details into your DrawPlus program see below Publishing and Sharing 257 If you ve already registered but not added your account details click Login This takes you to your account details where you can enter details as described in the next section So you don t forget to set your user account details you ll get a reminder to register every eight days if there are no details set You can register on the website then transfer your username and password over or cancel to register later Setting up account details in DrawPlus l 2 Select Options on the Tools menu In the Upload p
41. shown a progress bar during this process Within Stopframe animation this option lets you create an animated GIF by default which we ll focus on here For keyframe animation you can export a single keyframe as any type of image format To export as an animated GIF Choose from the Frames tab The Animated GIF format is pre selected on the Format drop down menu by default if not select it If you choose another format only the current frame will be exported For full details on GIF export options consult Exporting objects and drawings on p 250 Set a size for the GIF animation and whether it is based on the whole Page Selected Area or Selected Objects Leave the dpi setting at 96 for standard screen resolution On the Animation tab which only appears in Stopframe Animation Mode you can preview single frames or run the animation sequence and make some final playback adjustments to the animation properties Click the Export button or Close to simply record the settings if you plan to preview in a browser first Provide a file name and folder location and click Save Don t worry if you have extra white space around your image Any unused border area will be cropped automatically just as you saw in the Preview window Screensaver Windows XP users only If you re working with keyframe animations you also have the option of creating a screensaver file SCR Your Windows XP compatible exported file can be
42. snapping grid 37 levels object order 132 lighting 197 3D Effect 197 Line Styles tab 148 Line tab 148 linear fills 155 linear transparency 165 lines adding line styles 148 applying settings 147 closed shapes 59 closing 60 connectors 75 curved 58 defining colours 152 dimension lines 99 drawing 56 editing 61 extending 58 filling unclosed 59 joining 68 reshaping 62 setting defaults 47 147 smoothing 57 straight 57 styles for 148 Lock Position 125 margins of page 31 markers Keyframe animation 231 marquee selection 53 masking Keyframe animation 235 Material Thickness 193 measurement units 33 media 219 220 Mesh Fill Tool 161 mesh fills 143 161 metafiles 171 morphing blends 188 Motion blur 194 movies Keyframe animation 220 moving objects 114 multiple pages 247 multiple selections 53 54 naming objects 123 natural brushes 81 New Drawing 22 new features 12 Node Tool 53 62 68 nodes editing 62 Nudge Distance arrow keys 114 objects adding to 118 aligning with each other 130 aligning with snapping grid 37 cloning 107 combining cropping and joining 126 converting shapes to editable curves 72 copying formatting 113 copying cutting and pasting 107 cutting 115 deleting 107 distributing 130 editing bitmap and plasma fills on 159 editing gradient fills on 155 editing mesh fills on 161 erasing 118 exporting 250 fills 143 findin
43. tab s bold event entry and from the dialog clicking the Params button with object selected To delete an action use the Delete button to remove it We ve looked at actions assigned to objects but a keyframe can equally have an action associated with it Especially useful on a starting keyframe an Effect Action can be used to hide one or more selected objects before having them displayed on the second and subsequent keyframe great for text introductions Actions are applied to keyframes via the Frame Actions dialog which offers the same actions as those that can be applied to objects To apply action s to a keyframe e Click on the icon under the keyframe s thumbnail The dialog displayed is identical to that used for actions applied to objects Follow the above object actions procedure to apply actions to keyframes ActionScript the underlying scripting language for actions is normally hidden from the user in the above easy to use dialogs you can view actions their settings as parameters and select the action but generally not the underlying code driving it However the more experienced and or adventurous can make use of a simple text entry system for developing ActionScript code from the same dialog To create custom ActionScript 1 Fora selected object double click an event from the Actions tab Si or For a keyframe right click the keyframe and choose Frame Actions 2 Click the New button to add a New Action ent
44. the Estimate Download Time button to see how long the image will take to download using various connections In the dialog select a modem type from 14 4 Kbps to 1 5 Mbps in the list and the value updates immediately You may want to keep track of the cumulative values for multiple images on a given page Click Epot If you click e DrawPlus remembers your preferred format and settings particularly useful for adjusting the setting which are used if you preview the image in a browser using File gt Preview in Browser When exporting Stopframe animations an Animation tab is shown in the dialog for frame export control Defining a region for export DrawPlus lets you export a specific region in your design The region shown as a bounding box is actually a layer overlay which can be resized repositioned over the export area and shown hidden The Export TN Optimizer is used for the Ye actual export process Publishing and Sharing 253 To define an export region 1 From the Standard toolbar click _ and select Export Overlay from the drop down menu A bounding box is overlaid over your page 2 Drag a corner or edge handle to resize the box use the Ctrl key as you drag to resize the box about its centre reposition the box over the export area 3 Optional Name the Export Overlay layer in the Export Name box on the context toolbar this labels the export overlay in the Layers tab and pro
45. the crop window selected e Choose Lo Convert to Curves on the Arrange tab e Select the va Node Tool then drag the object s nodes For details see Editing lines and shapes Copying an object s formatting Format Painter is used to copy one object s line and fill properties directly to another object including between line shape and text objects To apply one object s formatting to another 1 Select the object whose formatting you wish to copy pA Click Format Painter on the Standard toolbar When you click the button the selected object s formatting is picked up 3 Click another object to apply the first object s formatting to it The second object becomes selected 4 To select another object without pasting the formatting click it with the Shift key down 114 Working with Objects 5 To cancel Format Painter mode press Esc click on a blank area or choose any tool button For copy formatting from one text object to another a number of other text properties font style and so on besides line and fill are passed along at the same time Moving objects You can move any selected object anywhere you want and drop it back onto the page or pasteboard by releasing the mouse button To move one or more objects 1 Select the object s 2 Click and drag the Ml Move button The object moves or Click within the selection and drag Note that the Pointer cursor changed
46. to become a i Move cursor E Use the keyboard arrows to move in increments To set exact horizontal and vertical positions use the Transform tab Working with Objects 115 Cutting up objects a It is possible to cut any object or image for that matter by using the Knife Tool Drawing toolbar You can cut along a freeform or straight line drawn across your object s leaving you with separate fragments of the original ee Da av Btr straight line cut freeform cut using Bump profile Cutting with a freeform or straight line is possible by drawing the line across the object or by sweeping the knife cut in and out of the object multiple times in a zig zag pattern By hovering over resulting split fragments you can click an unwanted fragment to delete Alternatively you can deselect the Knife Tool to move the cut fragments apart see carrot above Up to now you may have only performed straight cuts but you can use the Knife Tool s context toolbar to cut with more sophisticated shaped cutting profiles e g Wavy Shark Fin Bump plus many more or preset knife paths cookie cutters based on QuickShapes The context toolbar is also used to modify any applied cutting profile 116 Working with Objects To cut selected objects freeform or straight line Ensure Edit All Layers button on the Layers tab is enabled if you want to cut through selected objects on multiple layers 1 Select the a Knife Tool on the
47. upload a progress bar indicates upload status On completion click OK to close the dialog or click View to immediately see your uploaded design on the website 2D filter effects 193 3D 199 201 filter effects 196 Instant 199 Lighting 196 planes 201 Pseudo 201 3D Lighting 197 actions Keyframe animation 228 Actions tab 214 ActionScript 228 Add Join 129 Add Delete Pages 39 41 Adobe Acrobat pdf files 249 opening 25 publishing 249 Adobe Illustrator ai files opening 25 aesthetic proportioning 45 airbrushes 81 Align tab 131 alignment 96 of objects 131 of text 96 Alpha edged bitmap 175 animation 207 exporting 237 Keyframe 213 actions in 228 adding movies to 220 adding sound to 219 Autorun in 227 exporting 237 markers in 231 masking in 235 non linear change over time 232 object attributes in 225 object control in 222 object placement in 224 previewing 221 state objects for 236 tips and tricks 234 using camera in 234 Stopframe 207 209 background frames in 212 exporting 237 onion skinning in 211 overlay frames in 212 previewing 211 Animation Mode 207 Arrange tab 132 artistic text 93 95 Artistic Text Tool 93 audio clips Keyframe animation 219 Auto Connectors 75 AutoCAD exporting 250 opening 26 Auto Select Layer 139 autotracing 179 AVI format 237 for animation 238 Back One 133 background frames 212 backgrounds in Stopframe animation 2
48. 12 banners 247 printing 247 setup 31 Bevel effects 194 B zier curves 58 65 editing 65 bitmap brushes 81 bitmap fills 143 159 bitmap transparency 165 bitmaps see pictures 171 bleed limit 249 in printing 249 Blend Tool 188 blending 188 blur effects 194 196 Border Wizard 187 borders 187 creating 187 Break Apart 127 Bring to Front 132 brush strokes applying 83 editing 84 brushes altering opacity with pressure 87 altering width with pressure 87 natural 81 photo 81 spray 81 textured 81 business cards 248 camera 234 digital 172 Keyframe 234 canvas resetting 43 rotating 42 cards business 248 greetings 247 printing 247 setup 31 chain lines 148 changing views 39 Choose Workspace 20 Clean Curves 72 Clip to Bottom 128 Clip to Top 128 Clipboard operations 107 clipping 127 Clone Frame 210 cloning 107 closed lines shapes0 59 closing documents 28 DrawPlus 28 Colour Selector 154 Colour Fill 194 colour models 152 Colour tab 144 152 colours 155 colour contour gradient fills 155 defining 152 key colours gradient fills 155 solid for lines and fills 152 Combine 127 conical fills 155 Connection Point Tool 77 connection points 75 Connector Tool 76 connectors 75 types of 77 control handles line editing 65 Convert to Curves 72 Convert to Keyframe Animation 208 Convert to Stopframe Animation 208 Create Keyframe Animation 207 Stop
49. 2D filter effects 1 Click W Filter Effects from the Drawing toolbar The Filter Effects dialog appears 2 To apply a particular effect check its box in the list at left 3 To adjust the properties of a specific effect select its name and vary the dialog controls Adjust the sliders or enter specific values to vary the combined effect You can also select a slider and use the keyboard arrows Options differ from one effect to another 4 Click OK to apply the effect or Cancel to abandon changes Creating outlines DrawPlus lets you create a coloured outline around objects especially text and shapes as a filter effect For any outline you can set the outline width colour fill transparency and blend mode The outline can also take a gradient fill a unique contour fill fill runs from the inner to outer edge of the outline width or pattern fill and can also sit inside outside or be centred on the object edge As with all effects you can switch the outline effect on and off You ll be able to apply a combination of 2D or 3D filter effects along with your outline by checking other options in the Filter Effects dialog Colour Fill The Colour Fill effect applies a colour over any existing fill and lets you achieve some effects that are not possible with other controls For example you can use Colour Fill to force everything in a complex group to a single colour or recolour a bitmap in a solid colour effectively ignoring e
50. 90 23 Trimetric 2 5 90 30 Trimetric 3 45 90 7 Trimetric 4 54 90 17 Custom Creating a custom projection e From the Projection Properties dialog pick a preset projection and modify Angle and or Scale values for one or more axes The projection s name changes to Custom Saving a custom projection 1 Click ual Save 2 Inthe dialog enter a name for the new projection and click OK The entry will appear at the end of the drop down menu Creating Animations 11 206 Creating Animations Creating Animations 207 Getting started with animation What is animation Like flip books Disney movies and TV it s a way of creating the illusion of motion by displaying a series of still images rapidly enough to fool the eye or more accurately the brain Professional animators have developed a whole arsenal of techniques for character animation rendering human and animal movement in a convincing way A clear distinction has to be made between two types of animation techniques both possible from within DrawPlus i e Stopframe animation also known as Stop motion animation involves the animation of static objects frame by frame In the film industry Stopframe animation is used within widely known productions based on figures made of clay or other bendable material think King Kong and more recently Wallace amp Gromit films Aardman Wallace and Gromit Ltd Keyframe animation performs movemen
51. 94 frames Stopframe animation 209 Frames tab 209 Freeform Paint Tool 119 freezing 136 layers 136 objects 139 gallery 70 Gallery tab 70 Gaussian blur 194 GIF 237 for animation 237 Glow effects 194 gradient fills 143 155 gradient transparency 165 graphics tablet 85 greetings cards 247 grouping objects 125 guides ruler 35 Hintline toolbar 39 Image Cutout Studio 173 images see pictures 171 i Mode export 241 importing PhotoCDs 172 photos digital camera 172 pictures 171 scanned images 173 Serif Metafiles smf 171 imposition 249 in PDF publications 249 of folded documents 247 Inner Bevel effect 194 Inner Glow effect 194 Inner Shadow effect 194 Insert Frame 210 installation 15 Instant 3D 199 interface changing views 39 guides 35 page and pasteboard 32 rulers 33 35 snapping grid 37 Intersect 130 Join Curves 68 joining 129 key colours gradient fills 155 key objects Keyframe animation 207 213 Keyframe Animation 207 213 Keyframe camera 234 keyframes 207 213 changing duration of 218 inserting 216 object control in 222 splitting 217 Knife Tool 115 lasso selection 55 layers 133 adding 134 deleting 135 freezing 136 locking 137 managing objects on 137 merging 136 paper textures on 136 198 properties of 136 rearranging 135 renaming 134 selecting 134 Layers tab 134 layout tools 33 37 guides 35 page and pasteboard 32 rulers 33
52. Auto Connectors intelligently display bridges at line crossings and even route themselves around obstructive objects Natural Curve Editing Simply click and drag to break and redraw a curve at any node Apply smoothing selectively to freeform curves to eliminate that shaky hand appearance Intelligent Curve Tracing Simply connect the dots to trace around curved objects and pictures the Pen Tool features Smart segments that use automatic curve fitting to connect each node 8 Welcome Text Effects Brushes Unleash the painter within you with DrawPlus s powerful Paintbrush Tool and the supporting Brush tab s galleries Pick from natural media brush types such as acrylic charcoal dry paint pastel pen and watercolour or create your own Using a pressure sensitive pen tablet Pressure sensitivity is supported via a Pressure tab with preset or custom pressure profiles and control over the maximum and minimum pressure applied QuickShapes QuickShapes work like intelligent clipart or the most powerful set of drawing tools you ve ever envisaged Even extremely complex shapes like spirals stars and webs are simple to draw and customize using QuickShapes Type text directly into any shape Working with Text Apply and edit artistic frame or shape text right on the page apply basic formatting from the always at hand Text context toolbar Control advanced properties like text flow wrap kerning leading
53. Colour tab 144 152 Easing tab 233 Effects tab 196 Frames tab 209 Gallery tab 70 Layers tab 134 Line Styles tab 148 Line tab 148 Pages tab 39 Pressure tab 85 Storyboard tab 213 Swatches tab 144 152 156 159 Transform tab 114 120 122 Transparency tab 164 STV format 238 Subtract Join 129 Swatches tab 144 152 156 159 SWF export 238 Synchronize Defaults 47 system requirements 15 tab Actions 214 228 Align 131 Arrange 132 Brushes 82 Colour 144 152 Easing 214 233 Effects 196 Frames 209 Gallery 70 Layers 134 Line 148 Pages 39 Pressure 85 Storyboard 213 Swatches 144 152 156 159 Transform 114 120 122 Transparency 164 tablet 85 templates 21 saving 27 text artistic 93 entering 93 blending 188 defaults 47 editing 95 entering 93 fitting to path 98 flow on a curve 99 formatting 96 frame 93 entering 94 overflow 97 positioning in frames and shapes 98 resizing 98 retyping 96 setting defaults 47 shape 93 entering 94 spell checking 102 Unicode 94 text objects converting to editable curves 72 textures 198 paper 198 three colour fills 155 tiling bitmap and plasma fills 160 printing 247 tint 146 adjusting 146 tinting 144 tips 234 for Keyframe animation 234 Tool Artistic Text 93 Blend 188 Connection Point 77 Connector 76 Dimension 100 Envelope 74 Erase 119 Fill 155 158 Frame Text 94 Freeform Paint 119 Knife 115
54. Create gt Keyframe Animation or Open gt Design Template options to choose preset page setups or Web Banner animation templates respectively To view the Storyboard tab e Unless the tab is already displayed click the EIN handle at the bottom of your workspace to reveal the tab We ll assume that you ve drawn objects on the first keyframe You can run forward these automatically throughout you animation by creation of additional keyframes this builds up your animation story quickly Other methods exist to run objects forward and backwards but let s concentrate on the insertion of keyframes to do this To insert keyframes T 2 From the dialog choose the Number of keyframes to add to the 1 From the Storyboard tab select a keyframe and click Storyboard tab Set a default Keyframe duration for each created keyframe 5 Creating Animations 217 Choose to add keyframe s at a Location before or after the currently selected keyframe or before after the first or last keyframe Optional Check Insert blank keyframes if you don t want to include run forward objects in your keyframes Blank frames are useful filler frames that add breaks in your animation for messages logos etc Click OK An inserted frame will honour any animation runs that may transect it if the Insert blank keyframes setting remains unchecked by creating an additional tweened object If checked the blank frame will break any transecting ani
55. MPEG Serif Transparent Video The STV format is a useful proprietary format which can export animated text and logos with transparent backgrounds The export benefits Serif MoviePlus users who would like to use their keyframe animation as an overlay of titles animated characters etc Video for Windows The Windows Audio Video Interleave file AVI is ideal for playback on a Windows computer Defined by Microsoft it supports different types of video audio and image sequences in sync with a mono or stereo sound track along with compression via a wide variety of codecs AVIs are mainly for viewing on a computer Appropriate codecs have to be installed on the computer Creating Animations 239 Windows Media audio and Video The WMV format is best supported on PCs running Windows Media Player although some other software even on other platforms can play WMV video WMVs are Advanced Systems Format ASF files that include audio video or both compressed with Windows Media Audio WMA and Windows Media Video WMV codecs The GIF format is ideal for web as it s universally supported by web browsers and as it s a multi part format it s capable of encoding not just one image but multiple images in the same file A GIF animation player or web browser can display these images in sequence in accordance with certain settings looping frame delay etc included in the file The result it moves As with single frame GIFs if you opt t
56. a To move either ruler to a different position click and drag on the ruler intersection button showing the type of measurement unit 34 Working with Pages 0 2 ee ee re ee 9 2 t The small tab J that is shown on the intersection button can be used to set a new ruler origin simply drag the tab onto the page and release to set the position of your new origin cross hair guides and the Hintline toolbar help this positioning Double click on the intersection to reset the origin back to its default position All guide positions are recalculated as the origin changes position Double click on the ruler intersection to make the rulers zero point jump to the top left hand corner of the selected object nra Pe rtitlits Mics Paths MESS 2 This comes in handy for measuring page objects If the rulers have already been moved or the object is deselected double clicking on the intersection will send the rulers back to the default position Working with Pages 35 Rulers as a measuring tool The most obvious role for rulers is as a measuring tool As you move the mouse pointer a small line marker along each ruler displays the current horizontal and vertical cursor position When you select an object the rulers not only show its position but also its extent by a lighter coloured area also showing the object s dimensions 2 PU a eo rns rw Dr c Creating guides If you want to posit
57. age in view you can use the scrollbars at the right and bottom of the main window to move the page and pasteboard with respect to the main window As you drag objects to the edge of the screen the scroll bars adjust automatically as the object is kept in view To go to a specific page 1 Choose Add Delete Pages ges Pointer or Rotate Tool selected from the context toolbar shown with 2 On the Page Manager s Go to Page tab type the page number to go to and click OK or 1 Display the Pages tab docked at the bottom of your DrawPlus workspace by clicking the EINE button 2 Click on a thumbnail to jump directly to that page To navigate pages cri M Previous Page Next Page 4 First Page or M Last Page on the HintLine toolbar 40 Working with Pages Zooming The Hintline toolbar also allows the user to view and or edit the page at different levels of detail You can zoom in out step by step or by a user defined preset amount Panning is also possible 13 The Current Zoom setting on the toolbar displays the current zoom percentage with 100 representing an actual size page Click over the value then type to enter any zoom percentage up to 5000 or select a preset zoom from the flyout list includes fit to Full Page or Page Width To zoom to a particular view H e Click Zoom Out or Zoom In to decrease increase the current zoom percentage with each click e Click a Zoom Tool and drag out
58. al For fine tuning your traced output several options are possible s For removing colours in traced logo output select a detected palette colour and then Remove Colour 182 Working with Pictures _ You can add a new colour or replace an existing colour by dragging the Colour Selector to any colour on your computer screen A respective empty or occupied colour swatch must be selected first Remember to click Trace to refresh the view e Click fine tuning your vector output to access Merge Fill and Node tools for 6 When you re happy with your traced output click add it to the page Allslider settings are described in full in the Help pane which accompanies the AutoTrace studio Also covered are procedures for tracing greyscale and colour photos The autotracing procedure above differs slightly when applied to greyscale or colour photos i e instead of comprehensive palette control you have a photo preview e Using photos in autotracing is covered in the tutorial Cutting Out and Tracing Use the upper View toolbar for side by side previews and different outline views The zoom controls at the bottom of the studio offer magnification and panning control Working with Pictures 183 Creating custom profiles Adjusting any slider means that you ve modified your chosen preset profile If you want to keep the settings for future autotracing you can save the pr
59. always change the positions the dimension line and its label later Click away to reveal the float Click the blue line box to dimension line position the floating line and label drag the red circle within Or For an angular dimension click the Angular Dimension tool then click on a point along one side of the desired angle then drag and release the mouse button at a point along the other side of the angle points A and B in the illustration below Click again at the vertex of the angle point C below These three points define the starting and ending sides of the angle Between the two sides the angle s arc and its label float awaiting final positioning Click again to position the floating elements amp Angles are measured anti clockwise from the starting to the ending side so choose your three nodes accordingly 102 Working with Text To complete the dimension line move the mouse again to position the floating line or arc and its label note that they respond independently and click when they are where you want them You can always change the positions later The dimension line appears Once you ve added a dimension line you can use the id Node Tool to freely adjust node and label positions if necessary Use Format gt Character to change the font font size colour and style of the label text You can also format the line including line colour width style or adjust the level of precision wi
60. ane enter your remembered Username and Password Optional click the ie details are correct If successful a Username and password valid l button to verify that the account message is produced If you ve forgotten your password or you ve not already registered use the accompanying Reset Password and Register buttons For the latter you ll be directed to the Registration page on the website Complete the registration details and click Create Account Optional Reduce the upload Quality to 96dpi to speed up file transfer if your Internet connection is 56k dial up modem at the expense of zoom quality Otherwise use the default 300 dpi for broadband and all other faster Internet connections If you change your account details on the website at a later date you ll also need to make these account changes in DrawPlus 258 Publishing and Sharing Uploading Once you ve successfully created your account you can upload your design with the option of including only specific or all pages Page 1 W Page To upload your design Ga 2 Inthe Share dialog uncheck pages you don t want to upload use the 1 On the Standard toolbar click scroll bar for more than three pages 3 Optional For the upload you can choose a different account to upload to enter a different Username and Password Otherwise any previously used account will be remembered 4 Click __Upload to transfer your selected pages 5 On
61. anipulate the image s outline i e convert to curves apply line properties effects etc 54 Lines Curves and Shapes Selecting multiple objects It is also possible to select more than one object making a multiple selection that you can manipulate as if it were one object or turn into a grouped object To select more than one object multiple selection 1 Choose the Pointer Rotate or Node Tool 2 Click in a blank area of the page and drag a marquee box around the objects you want to select Release the mouse button All of the objects within the marquee box are selected and one selection box with handles appears around the objects To deselect click in a blank area of the page or 1 Click on the first object for selection 2 Press the Shift key down then click on a second object 3 Continue selecting other objects to build up your multiple selection Handles or a bounding box depending on the tool appear around the multiple selection To select all objects on the page e Choose Select All from the Edit menu To add or remove an object from a multiple selection e Hold down the Shift key and click the object to be added or removed Lines Curves and Shapes 55 Selection using a lasso For more detailed multiple object selection using a fixed marquee or Shift select may be too inflexible Instead you can draw an irregular shaped lasso around one or more objects in a complex design To selec
62. applications Share your designs online p 255 Upload your DrawPlus design to the community website www drawplus com View designs using powerful zoom technology give a star rating comment on or search for any design by tag Create public or private groups for like minded designers great for making new friends Take part in design forum discussions and some other enhancements you ve requested The new Arrange tab consolidates all your tools for object ordering flipping cropping combining and joining Export Optimizer now shows all export settings Create and scale objects from their centres The Knife Tool has been sharpened up with different cutting types square zig zag wave and more and preset cookie cutter shapes ellipses rectangles stars and more Easily apply Material Thickness and a Feather Edge directly via the Effects tab Brushes now include photo based stitches laces zippers and spray effects Now manipulate transparent bitmap outlines instead of the bitmap s bounding box Welcome 15 Installation System Requirements Minimum Windows based PC with DVD CD drive and mouse Microsoft Windows XP or Vista operating system 512MB RAM 438MB recommended full install free hard disk space 1024x768 monitor resolution Additional disk resources and memory are required when editing large or complex documents amp To enjoy the full benefit of brushes and their textures you must be using a comp
63. b Settings on the Format tab change according to file type see DrawPlus help for more information Click OK To export via Dynamic Preview TD From the Standard toolbar click and choose Export Preview As From the dialog you ll be prompted for a file name to which you can save your graphic Choose a folder location and enter a file name To toggle between Normal and Preview Mode Overlays bil Click Dynamic Preview from the _ L button on the Standard toolbar If you ve multiple documents loaded you ll notice the current document s tab at the top of your workspace indicate the change to preview mode e g d Drawing To revert to Normal mode click Dynamic Preview again While in this mode any object can be manipulated or modified as if you are working in normal drawing mode but what you re seeing is an accurate portrayal of your graphic to be exported Publishing and Sharing 255 Sharing via website You can share your design by print as a distributable electronic PDF or via the www drawplus com website Publishing your design to website means you can share your design and ideas with a community of like minded designers DRAWPLUS COM elcome to OrawPius com New Drawings hoe ign up for e e mente e coal gt e wes and te yt wee the hat tet 630 The www drawplus com website is designed specifically as a design community By uploading your completed de
64. bey camera When checked any rotation between objects is performed clockwise Uncheck to rotate in an anti clockwise direction Check to tween evenly between keyframes or over the whole storyboard ignoring individual keyframe s time durations Uncheck to honour any keyframe time durations This is kept checked in most instances When checked animation occurs along a smoothed curving path through objects Uncheck to animate along straight paths with distinct cornering along the object s motion path Check to allow an object e g an arrow to automatically rotate with changes of direction along an animation path Uncheck for the object to follow the path but not to re align to it If using the Keyframe camera feature when the option is checked then a selected object will be panned or zoomed into When unchecked the object remains static ignoring the camera Use when text company logo a message etc is to be permanently presented while panning and zooming is performed in the background Creating Animations 227 Autorun Although switched off by default this advanced feature speeds up the animation process by automatically creating objects their placement and attributes along the length of the storyboard from a specific keyframe onwards Even when editing an object the changes are reflected throughout Without Autorun enabled objects are presented across keyframes by using the Insert button or clicking the object t
65. bjects Gradient and solid fills combine to simulate three dimensional objects with reflections highlights and shading Don t confuse the concept of object ordering with that of layers in the document Layers are created by the artist to logically separate sections of a design for better drawing management To change the object s order from the Arrange tab Ly To shift the selected object s position to the front of other objects on top choose the Bring to Front button r e To shift the object s position one step toward the front choose Forward One Working with Objects 133 a To shift the object s position one step toward the back choose Back One e To shift the selected object s position behind other objects on the bottom choose Send to Back Working with layers If you are drawing something simple you don t really need to make use of layers you can do all your work on the single layer that every new document has However if you re creating something a little more tricky then layers can be a vital aid in separating objects into independent sets You can think of layers as transparent sheets of paper upon which you can draw your objects Layers are useful when you re working on a complex design where it makes sense to separate one cluster of objects from another The whole drawing is produced by piling up the layers and viewing all of the objects on all of the layers you can choose which lay
66. chosen pickup colour with the pickup cursor if needed hold down the mouse button for magnification The colour is picked up in the adjacent swatch 2 Click this swatch to transfer the colour to the Fill swatch Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 153 If the colour doesn t already exist in the Swatch tab s Document Palette a new thumbnail appears for it To add a new gallery colour E 2 Display the Document Palette from the Swatch tab Right click anywhere in the tab and choose Add From the Colour Selector dialog click on a new position in the colour space window to set a new colour Alternatively enter values in the adjacent input boxes Click OK You can also define a new gallery colour while editing an object s line or fill as described below Click the Colour Selector s Options button then choose Add to Palette To redefine an existing gallery colour l 2 oF Right click a sample in any palette Swatch tab and choose Edit Choose a different colour from the colour spectrum in the Colour Selector dialog Click OK The colour and its thumbnail are permanently updated To delete a gallery colour Right click its solid colour thumbnail in any palette Swatch tab and choose Delete If any existing objects use a colour if you delete it the objects will retain it but only as a local object fill You can also change the definition of any preset colour or fill that appears in
67. ckground e g sky studio backdrop In both instances the resulting cutout image creates an eye catching look for your publication The latter background removal method is illustrated in the following multi image example 174 Working with Pictures The white initial background is discarded leaving interim checkerboard transparency from which another image can be used as a more attractive background A red tint on the second image s background is used to indicate areas to be discarded To launch Image Cutout Studio 1 Select an image to be cut out 2 Select a 7 2 Image Cutout Studio is launched from the displayed Picture context toolbar amp Your original image if linked is unaffected in Image Cutout Studio However embedded images when cut out are altered permanently in the project Choose an output It s essential that you choose an output type prior to selecting areas for keeping discarding Either an alpha edged or vector cropped bitmap can be chosen as your output type prior to selection The choice you make really depends on the image in particular how well defined image edges are Let s look at the output types and explain the difference between each Working with Pictures 175 Use when cutting out objects with poorly defined edges Transparency and pixel blending are used at the outline edge to produce professional results with negligible interference from background colours The te
68. click on its name At the insertion point type a new name then either press Enter or click away from the tab To move an object to another layer Select the object right click and choose Move Object to Layer From the dialog select the specific destination layer or Select the object right click and choose Move Object to Active Layer The object moves to whichever layer was previously active To freeze any object on any layer Select an object or multiple objects with the Ctrl key right click and select Freeze To unfreeze click the snowflake displayed at the end of its object entry Like frozen layers frozen objects are not editable 140 Working with Objects Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 142 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 143 Setting fill properties Any closed shape such as a closed curve or QuickShape or text has an interior region that can be filled The fill type can be solid gradient bitmap or plasma Those that use a single colour are solid fills Let s take a moment to run through them a f j 4 I ba l F r i J 4 z T i Fad d j i a j ph i s i 5 Fill types fall into several basic categories illustrated above e Solid fills as their name implies use a single colour e Gradient fills provide a gradation or spectrum of colours between two or more key colours Mesh fills work like
69. cted 2 Either e Foracustom document size enter a Width and Height in pixels and set the orientation Tall for portrait Wide for Landscape Ensure the Custom is set from the Size drop down menu or e For commonly used document sizes select from the Size drop down menu Any document size can be changed for another via the supporting context toolbar 3 Optional Under the Background Colour section change the animation s background colour by clicking on the dialog wide colour 216 Creating Animations swatch The dialog lets you pick up a colour from a range of drop down colour modes your Document Palette or via a colour selector drag and click anywhere on your computer screen to set If you check the Export transparent background to SWF option then any exported Flash SWF file will possess a transparent background even if a background colour is set 4 Optional Animation Options lets you increase decrease the Frame Rate by dragging the slider left right respectively 5 Optional To make your animation backward compatible to a specific version of Flash Player set the Flash Version via the drop down menu Newer versions offer greater compression in exported Flash files 6 Optional To reduce Flash file sizes set the Flash Bitmap Quality to a lower percentage setting this drops the resolution of placed bitmaps and any filter effects applied to objects 7 Click OK Make use of the Startup Wizard s
70. d return to your original default settings Dr Select Reset Object Defaults from the Defaults flyout Standard toolbar With no objects selected this acts globally i e it resets all objects back to their default settings With an object s selected it resets only those object types back to their default 50 Working with Pages Lines Curves and Shapes 52 Lines Curves and Shapes Lines Curves and Shapes 53 Selecting one or more objects Before you can change any object you need to select it using one of several tools available from the top of the Drawing toolbar 4 Pointer Tool Click to use the Pointer Tool to select move copy resize or rotate objects Rotate Tool Click to use the Rotate Tool to exclusively rotate an object around a centre of rotation You can also use the Rotate Tool to move or copy objects Node Tool Click to use the Node Tool to manipulate the shape of objects or move or copy objects To select an object Click on the object using one of the tools shown above For the Pointer and Rotate Tools small handles appear around the object indicating selection For the Node Tool editable nodes are displayed for lines sliding handles are additionally shown for adjustment of QuickShapes and text If objects overlap click repeatedly without double clicking until the desired object is selected If you select an image with areas of transparency you ll be able to m
71. defined region You can also see how your image will look and how much space it will take up before you save it For visual comparison its multi window display provides side by side WYSIWYG previews to compare different image formats or the same format at differing bit depths Options Microsoft HD Photo 179 6 KB Export Area 1123 x 794 Page Properties Format Bit Depth 32 24 8 Palette Web safe Optimized Dithering None V Anti Aliased To export via the Export Optimizer 1 Choose Export gt Export as Image from the File menu 2 Optional From the Export Area section you can scale the image to a new size if desired change pixels or adjust the dpi dots per inch setting For graphics to be used on screen it s best to leave these values intact The export can be based on the whole Page Selected Area see Defining a region for export or Selected Objects 3 From the Properties section select the intended graphics file format from the Format drop down menu The remaining box area will 252 Publishing and Sharing display different options depending on your chosen graphics format Change settings as appropriate to the file format selected see DrawPlus help for more information Optional From the Web Options section you can control web elements in your image e You can uncheck Image Slices or Hotspots if you ve create these elements but don t want them exported e Click
72. des are revealed A mesh fill is applied to an object via the Swatch tab s Gradient gallery see Setting fill properties on p 143 You can edit the mesh itself with the Mesh Fill Tool and the accompanying context toolbar to achieve unique results The path lines that connect nodes in a mesh fill are actually curves so editing the mesh is similar to the method for Editing lines and shapes Simple warping effects colour spread changes and path line curvature can all be affected The tool lets you reshape curved path lines by adjusting one or more nodes and their control handles In addition the areas between four nodes called mesh patches can be recoloured or moved individually or in multiples As for curved lines you can add delete and move one or more nodes at any time 162 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency For details of how to edit and manage mesh fills see online Help Setting opacity e Key point In DrawPlus opacity is a property of colour both can be set in the Colour tab in combination Transparency refers to object based gradient or bitmap transparency effects set via the Transparency tab or Transparency Tool Opacity is great for highlights shading and shadows and simulating rendered realism It can make the difference between flat ordinary visuals and sparkling realism Opacity in the inverse of transparency fully opaque 100 is no transparency 0 and vice versa It works rather like fills tha
73. dialog appear until the file is created 242 Creating Animations Publishing and Sharing 12 244 Publishing and Sharing Publishing and Sharing 245 Previewing the printed page Print Preview changes the screen view to display your layout without guides rulers and other screen items Special options such as tiled output or crop marks are displayed Depending on your currently set printer s capabilities your preview will show in either greyscale or colour To preview the printed page e Choose Print Preview from the File menu In Print Preview mode the lower toolbar provides a variety of view options from left to right Zoom percent Zoom Out Zoom slider Zoom In the Zoom region Tool Actual Size and Fit Page Close 79 q fe Gs amp gt R E Zoom View Controls Print To print e Click the Print button To cancel Print Preview mode e Click the Close button Basic printing DrawPlus supports printing directly to a physical printer e g All in ones Inkjet and Laser printers or to an electronic file such as Adobe Acrobat PDF The printing feature allows scaling tiling and many other useful printing options for either method For the moment we ll look at basic printing to real printers However if you re working with a service bureau or commercial printer and need to provide PDF output or colour separations see Publishing as PDF on p 249 246 Publishing and Sharing To set up your printer o
74. e and enter a Width and Height if a custom setup You can change this later via the Pages context toolbar 32 Working with Pages 4 Adjust the document Margins to your specifications You can set the left right top and bottom margins individually or click the From Printer button to derive the page margin settings from the current printer settings The dialog also provides options for Balanced margins left matching right top matching bottom or for two Mirrored margins on facing pages where the left margin setting becomes the inside and the right margin becomes the outside Using the page and pasteboard Most of the DrawPlus display is taken up by a page or artwork area and a surrounding pasteboard area This arrangement is an electronic equivalent of the system used by traditional graphic designers They kept design tools and bits of text and graphics on a large pasteboard and then carefully pasted final arrangements of text and graphics onto a page sized artwork sheet pinned down in the middle of the board 2 6 0 8 j Mi AAT steletelstelstclststitsl a A E depen Page Pasteboard it The page area is where you put the text and graphic elements that you want to be part of the final output The pasteboard area is where you generally keep any elements that are being prepared or waiting to be positioned on the page area Working with Pages 33 Setting measurement units and drawing scale
75. e bottom of your workspace to reveal the tab To clone the current frame to a new frame e Select a frame in the Frames tab and choose The frame is added after the selected frame amp Alternatively use the Blend Tool to automatically create intermediate stopframes in steps between objects To generate a new blank frame e from the Frames tab Any new frame appears on the Frames tab to the right of existing frames and then becomes the current frame If you use the Frame Manager accessible via right click you can choose to add frames before after any existing frame To navigate between frames e Click on any visible frame to display its objects on screen objects can then be edited Or Click the First Previous Next or Last navigation button on the Hintline toolbar to jump to start end frame and navigate frame by frame To rename a frame e Right click a frame and choose Properties In the Name field type in a new frame name The new name is shown on the Hintline toolbar To change frame sequence e Drag the selected frame to a new position in the frame order When the dragged frame s thumbnail creates a slightly wider space between Creating Animations 211 two frames than usual release the mouse button to place the frame to be moved To delete a selected frame e Click J elele Frame from the Frames tab Onion Skinning Onion skinning is a standard animation technique derived f
76. e advantage of the hover over cursor text or hintline which indicate the object s rotation currently or rotation while the operation is in progress respectively Transform about your 3D objects axes instead of your pages axes by holding the Ctrl key down as you transform You can also adjust the angle and elevation of each active light on the page by dragging the light pointer to a position which simulates a light source To add dimensionality 1 Select an object and click Instant 3D on the Drawing toolbar The object immediately adopts 3D characteristics with an orbit circle displayed in the object s foreground You ll also notice a 3D specific context toolbar appear above your drawing 2 Click a 3D effect category from the first drop down menu on the 3D context toolbar from Bevel Lights Lathe Texture Viewport Material the other toolbars options change dynamically according to the category currently selected See online Help for more details 3 Set each drop down menu or input box for each category in turn A little experimentation is advisable 4 Hover over the object s orbit circle and rotate about the X Y or Z axis or X and Y axes together by dragging about the circle s periphery depending on the currently displayed cursor Applying Special Effects 201 To revert your Instant 3D transform Click B Reset Defaults Besebbieiau as on the context toolbar To switch off 3D effects ne Remo
77. e bee is animated while the sun and Buzzzz text remain static objects By adding objects bee and sun to a starting keyframe it s possible to automatically copy or more correctly run forward those objects forward when 214 Creating Animations you create subsequent keyframes This in itself doesn t affect animation but it s the repositioning of a run forward object such as the bee in later keyframes that creates movement Once keyframes are created the animator has a great deal of control over how objects are run forward or even backwards You can introduce objects anywhere on the storyboard so they appear for a limited time and either run them forward or backwards by a specific number of keyframes or right to the start or end of the storyboard The Buzzzz text in the above example will only show from keyframes 3 onwards i e from 6 seconds Supporting tabs Other tabs supporting the Storyboard tab are exclusively used within Keyframe animation i e e The Easing tab is used for applying linear or non linear changes between key objects with use of editable envelopes e g to change object position morph scale rotation skew colour and transparency e The Actions tab allows objects and keyframes to be attributed actions which will run e g go to a URL or designated marker when an event is triggered e g MouseOver Rollovers etc amp Toset up your DrawPlus tabs for Keyframe animation mode try one
78. e current item selection and apply until they are manually updated again Normally fill and line colours line styles and transparency will adopt the former approach Brush strokes take a line colour so they also synchronize to the currently set colour Brush transparency text attributes and filter effect defaults adopt the latter approach 48 Working with Pages To see what the current defaults are for a particular object type simply create a new object of that type Although you can switch Synchronize Defaults on or off globally it is also possible to independently switch on or off attributes which synchronize with or update to the currently selected object To change which attributes synchronize ep 1 Choose Synchronization Settings from the D Defaults flyout Standard toolbar to optionally select attributes e g fill colour Line colour Transparency etc from which new defaults will be made Synchronize Defaults Synchronize Defaults allows you to determine which attributes of selected items will become the defaults for new items Transparency W Brush Transparency E Text Ld Text Fill Colour Advanced iE Filter Effects In the above example only the last selected object s line and fill colour line style and transparency is used as the future default If you subsequently change these attributes then the defaults will be updated synchronized automatically 2 Check
79. e line set shown with red line When used in conjunction with the Timeline Actions Goto marker X or Goto marker X and stop the exported animation can jump to different section according to a chosen object s event or the display of a keyframe 232 Creating Animations Affecting change over time keyframe animation DrawPlus uses the term envelopes to describe editable motion paths or profiles intended to define the rate of change acceleration deceleration to an object s transformation or physical attributes colour or transparency in your animation run Envelopes are applied created modified and saved in the Easing tab A series of envelope types can be applied between key objects in your animation or throughout the entire animation run Typically a non linear Position envelope would alter how an object speeds up or slows down over the animation run Other envelope types can alter the rate of transformation such as Rotate Morph Scale and Skew You can manually edit any profile independently of each other such that you may have a mix of edited profiles and default linear ones The Easing tab s Envelope type drop down ment lets you select your envelope type allowing you to then define a profile shape for that envelope in the pane In most instances an All Envelopes option can be used to affect a variable rate of change for all envelopes simultaneously The process or editing an envelope is identical irrespective of envelop
80. e nodes sideways Unlike the other fill types bitmap and plasma fills don t simply end at the edges of their fill path Rather they tile repeat so you can fill indefinitely large regions at any scale By dragging the edge nodes in or out with the Fill Tool you can zoom in or out on the fill pattern For details of how to edit and manage bitmap and plasma fills see DrawPlus help Changing bitmap gallery fills The bitmap gallery on the Swatch tab provides a large selection of bitmaps grouped into categories like Abstract Material Patterns and so on The existing categories are already populated with preset swatches but initially there s one category My Bitmaps that s empty and reserved for your own bitmaps You can add more categories and add bitmaps to them either by importing directly from a file or by adopting the bitmap fill of an object on the DrawPlus page See online Help for more information Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 161 Working with mesh fills A mesh fill works like a gradient fill but uses a more complex fill path with a grid or mesh of many nodes representing separate key colours The overall effect especially useful for multifaceted highlighting arises from the colour gradients that spread between each of these nodes As an example the Mesh Fill Tool applied below right can be used to dramatic effect on a sports car s bodywork With the tool enabled a mesh of editable patches and no
81. e placed anywhere on an object 78 Lines Curves and Shapes Using Brushes 80 Using Brushes Using Brushes 81 Selecting brushes DrawPlus supports a wide range of brushes all capable of producing J natural brush effects natural media charcoal pastel pen pencil paint watercolour or photo brushes stitching F photo brush spray and effects airbrushes grunge special effects glitter smoke snowflakes and more rope chain zippers 72 drawing freedom of the Pencil Tool is adapted for brushwork using the Painting inherits the principles of Drawing lines and shapes see p 55 The dedicated Paintbrush Tool You can pick up colour for your brushes as you would for other object by simply selecting the Paintbrush Tool choosing your brush type from the Brushes tab and picking a brush colour from the Colour or Swatch tab Brushes based on bitmaps cannot be recoloured 82 Using Brushes The Brushes tab lets you Brushes select a brush type from Natural Media a range of natural opposite spray or photo based categories You can also view brushes currently being used in your document and edit brushes or create your own brushes see online Help Natural and spray brush types are indicated by J and g symbols respectively To make sense of all the brush types available to the user the preset brushes are stored under a series of pre defined categories
82. e type By default any envelope is applied linearly i e they change at a uniform rate over time so you have to manually edit the envelope to apply a non linear rate of change The differing rates of change of can be illustrated with a Morph Envelope between two simple QuickShapes linear non linear default manual editing of profile shape Creating Animations 233 To apply an envelope l 2 Display the Easing tab Select an object from the Storyboard tab to which you want to apply the envelope Select a profile from the Envelope type drop down menu Easing tab The displayed profile will be linear by default see above unless you ve applied the envelope previously Pick a preset profile from the drop down menu below the profile window or For a custom profile hover over the turquoise line the cursor changes k to and drag in any direction to position a newly created red node Repeat the process for the number of nodes that you want to add to make up the profile You can then fine tune the profile shape by adjusting node positions accordingly Edit an existing profile from the preset drop down menu to create profiles quickly DrawPlus will keep the applied profile unless you modify it or you reset the profile manually If you ll be using the profile shape in the future you can save the current settings to your own saved profile To reset a selected envelope
83. ebo plan above technical diagrams floor plans or any drawing where exact measurements and scale are important Although they can be drawn anywhere on the page dimension lines are at their most accurate when attached to connection points on objects see p 77 When you choose one of the Dimension tools connection points on page objects become visible on hover over i e when you move the mouse pointer directly over a connection point a small box appears around it when a connection can be made For more information on connection points see Working with connectors on p 75 To draw a dimension 1 Select the Dimension Tool from the Drawing toolbar s Line flyout The flyout shows the icon of the most recently selected tool 2 Either for a linear dimension vertical horizontal or slanted click the respective tool from the Dimension context toolbar H Vertical Dimension Tool wi Horizontal Dimension Tool e Slanted Dimension Tool Working with Text 101 Click where you want to start the dimension line e g on a connection point then drag and release the mouse button where you want to end the line maybe on another connection point The illustrations below show the result of dragging between connection points A and B 2 29m A pair of parallel extension lines Release when the line and label appears from the two points are where you want them You Between the two extension lines can
84. ect e g a button change colour on hover over then jump to a URL ona subsequent mouse press Exporting animations Exporting your stopframe or keyframe animation outputs your animation to a file which can be shared or viewed either standalone or when included as part of a web page DrawPlus lets you export to a variety of formats as indicated below Flash SWE xX v Video V V Image V v CAD CAM V x Screensaver x vA x v Flash Lite i Mode 238 Creating Animations Flash SWF The Flash SWF ShockWave Flash format has fast become the format of choice for interactive vector based graphic animation for the web Great for creating a simple or sophisticated animated toolbar for web page navigation it is universally supported on web browsers The files can be easily manipulated further scaled etc within Adobe Flash To export your animation as a Flash file l a Video Choose Export gt Export as Flash SWE from the File menu From the dialog provide a ShockWave Flash file name and folder location and click the Save button You ll see an export progress dialog appear until the Flash file is created Exported video formats include QuickTime The QuickTime video and animation format MOV developed by Apple Computer It can be read on many platforms including Microsoft Windows needs QuickTime Player and of course on Apple computers QuickTime supports most encoding formats including Cinepak JPEG and
85. ected objects only or Check all text radio buttons depending on if you want to spell check text selected previously or all text 5 Click Start to begin the spelling check When a problem is found DrawPlus highlights the problem word on the page The dialog offers alternative suggestions and you can choose to Change or Ignore this instance or all instances with Change All or Ignore All of the problem word with the option of using Add to add the problem word to your dictionary DrawPlus will also let you Suggest an alternative 6 Spell checking continues until you click the Close button or the spell check is completed To change to a different spelling language 1 Goto Options from the Tools menu and select Spell Checker 2 Choose a different Language from the drop down menu and click OK e Spell checking can be turned off by selecting None as a language type this could be useful when working with text containing an unmanageable number of unusual terms perhaps scientific or proprietary terminology 104 Working with Text To check the spelling of a single word 1 With Underline mistakes as you type checked and a language selected in Tools gt Options gt Spell Checker select in a marked word then right click You ll see alternative spellings on the context menu 2 To replace the word choose an alternative spelling from the menu 3 To tell DrawPlus to ignore leave unmarked all instances of the marked word i
86. ed off or you cancel the setup dialog a new document defaults to A4 Europe or Letter size US in Drawing Mode You can adjust the document layout at any time but as a general rule it s best to make page setup one of your first creative tasks For scale drawings you can set the ruler units independently of the page measurement units See Setting measurement units and drawing scale To adjust the basic layout of the document Drawing mode Choose Page _ Pointer or Rotate Tool selected from the context toolbar shown with 2 Select a document category Regular Large for example banners or posters Small for example business cards Booklet or Special Folded greetings cards e Where applicable click in the document list to preview available formats for the selected category Watch the preview window for an example of each type e Ifyou select Large or Small you can define a custom document format by clicking Create Custom and entering the desired settings e If you select Regular or Booklet you can check Facing Pages to set up the document using paired side by side pages This is appropriate if you re creating a document where you need to see both the left hand verso and right hand recto pages or one that employs double page spreads where a headline or other element needs to run from the left hand page to the right hand page 3 Select a Document Size set the orientation Portrait or Landscap
87. edge that your single composite print ready PDF drawing includes all fonts and colour information for spot or process colour separation Select file information crop marks registration targets and densitometer colour calibration bars for inclusion in your PDF Spot or process colour CMYK separations for full colour printing are possible You have full control over prepress settings for output 12 Welcome New features in DrawPlus X3 Images AutoTrace p 179 Convert bitmaps to vector art with AutoTrace studio Adopt preset profiles for optimum tracing of bitmapped logos as well as colour and black and white photos Create your own custom profiles for tracing files with similar characteristics Use adjustment tools for fine tuning traced output add remove colours merge areas smooth curves or erase nodes Quick and easy image cutouts p 173 Image Cutout Studio makes light work of cutting out your placed images directly within DrawPlus Use brushes to discard uniform backgrounds sky walls etc or keep subjects of interest people objects etc Two output types Alpha edged Bitmap or Vector cropped Bitmap offer transparency blending or feathering techniques at the cutout edge to seamlessly merge your image with your page Ease of Use Opacity control in Colour tab p 162 For improved productivity any colour chosen in DrawPlus can now have an associated Opacity applied at the same time Great for setting col
88. een runs Printing posters and banners Posters and banners are large format documents where the page size extends across multiple sheets of paper To have DrawPlus take care of the poster printing set up your document beforehand using File gt Page Setup with the Large document type option to preview and select a particular preset arrangement e g choose orientation Even if the document isn t set up as a poster or banner you can use tiling and scaling settings see below to print onto multiple sheets from a standard size page Each section or tile is printed on a single sheet of paper and the various tiles can then be joined to form the complete page 248 Publishing and Sharing To print a poster or banner from a standard size page 1 First create your standard sized page e g A4 2 On the Print dialog s Layout tab check Print tiled pages for overlapped multiple sheets 3 Set the As in document Scale factor to print at a larger size e g 300 Printing business cards and labels While DrawPlus can deal with large format documents it is equally suited to documents where the design can be repeated multiple times on the same page during printing Set up your drawing beforehand using File gt Page Setup with the Small document type option to preview and select a particular preset arrangement At print time you can set the Multiple pages per sheet option to Repeat pages to fill sheet Each page N times
89. en applied to artistic text titles or to picture edges see below a 4 kad AA Scarlet In the above example a white brush is used around the title text and a stylish painted edge has been applied remember to pick an Edge brush category from the Brushes tab Changing line caps and joins The Line tab also lets you vary a line s Cap end and the Join corner where two lines intersect Both properties tend to be more conspicuous on thicker lines joins are more apparent with more acute angles The respective button icons clearly communicate each setting Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 151 E z Rounded Extended Flat Line Cap Line Cap Line Cap Me es Ms Bevelled Sharp Rounded Join Join Join The Behind check box controls line width relative to object size useful with very small objects or when resizing text When checked the inner half of the object s line appears behind its fill otherwise the whole line appears in front of the line Check the 4 Scale check box to automatically expand and contract the line thickness in proportion to the object size or uncheck to make the line s thickness remain unchanged When scaling text for example you might either want the border to remain the same width or change in proportion to the overall characters Changing line width On a selected line curve or shape opposite drag the Weight slider in the Line tab To turn off the line set the bo
90. ent You can add and delete your items within each category with the option of naming elements to facilitate rapid retrieval New design categories can be added to any design folder which exists under the user s My Designs category but not under any read only pre defined category You can rename or delete any design by right clicking on the design thumbnail To use a design from the Gallery e Drag any preset design directly onto the page The Gallery retains a copy of the design until you expressly delete it You can modify then drag the design back into your own custom category Lines Curves and Shapes 71 To view your Gallery e Click the Studio s Gallery tab e Select a folder or category from the drop down menu The items from the folder s first listed category are displayed by default To add delete or rename design folder or category 1 Right click in the drop down menu and choose Add Folder or Add Category Delete Category Folder or Rename Category Folder 2 For adding and renaming use the dialog to enter and or confirm your change To add delete or rename design categories 1 Right click in the Categories list and choose Add Category Delete Category Folder or Rename Category Folder 2 For adding and renaming use the dialog to enter and or confirm your change To copy an object into the Gallery 1 Display the Gallery tab s My Designs category or sub category of that where yo
91. epeatedly click and drag until your selection area is made you can t lose your selection unless you click the Reset button The Undo button reverts to the last made selection 5 If you re outputting an alpha edged bitmap you can refine the area to be kept discarded within Image Cutout Studio only after previewing with Erase and Restore touch up tools Vector cropped images can be cropped using standard DrawPlus crop tools outside of the Studio Make your outline edge as exact as possible by using brush and touch up tools before committing your work to abort the operation 178 Working with Pictures Youll see your image on the poster page in its original location but with the selected areas cut away made transparent Refining your cutout area alpha edged bitmaps only If a vector cropped image is created via Image Cutout Studio it s possible to subsequently manipulate the crop outline using the Crop Tool However for alpha edged bitmaps Erase and Restore touch up tools can be used to refine the cutout area within the Studio before completing your cutout The latter can t be edited with crop tools T The touch up tools are brush based and are only to be used to fine tune your almost complete cutout use your Keep and Discard brush tools for the bulk of your work To restore or remove portions of your cutout Output settings tab You can use the button to check your cutout as you 1 With your c
92. eping the distinctions in mind e With Combine Crop and Clip you re creating a temporary composite object where two or more component objects used to overlap This combination like a group can be broken apart later with Crop gt Uncrop on the Arrange menu e With the Join commands you actually produce a permanent new object out of any selected objects The action can t be reversed except by using the Undo command A Joined object can be edited with the Node Tool while a combined cropped or clipped object cannot Combine and Clip flyout Crop e Crop to Top Object The bottom object is cropped to the outline of the top object Working with Objects 127 Merges two or more objects into a composite object with a clear hole where their filled regions overlap The composite takes the line and fill of the bottom object 4 Click button again to Break Provides four cropping or clipping functions as follows 4 128 Working with Objects e Crop to Bottom Object The top object is cropped to the outline of the bottom object e Clip to Top Object The bottom object is clipped to the outline of the top object e Clip to Bottom Object The top object is clipped to the outline of the bottom object Bonnas Join Subtract Working with Objects 129 Creates one new object that s the sum of any two selected objects whether or not they overlap The objects need not be ov
93. er you can press the Alt key while drawing the segment to define a cusp or sharp corner 5 This locks the control handle on the last created node For more on line corners see Changing nodes and line segments 7 Toend the line press Esc or choose a different tool Drawing shapes You can make a shape by closing a curve extending a freeform line or a segmented straight line back to its starting point Shapes have an interior which is filled with the current default fill see Setting fill properties on p 143 when the shape is closed To close an existing curve with a straight line 1 Select the curve with the Node Tool Pencil or Pen Tool k 2 Click am Close Curve on the context toolbar A Straight segment appears closing the curve 60 Lines Curves and Shapes To close a curve without new segment e Select the curve with the Node Tool and drag from an end node note the Node cursor moving the line onto the other end node a Close cursor will show releasing the mouse button will create a shape If you re trying to draw a cartoon outline made up of many independent curves e g a cartoon ear rose etc you may want to fill each curve without closing it This is made easy by using the Fill on Create feature To fill an unclosed curve automatically e Select the Pencil Tool Pen Tool or Paintbrush Tool e Enable QD Filton Create suitable fill from the Colour tab You ll also need to
94. er you are editing and thus make changes without fear of modifying anything on another layer In essence by building up your drawing from multiple layers you make it much easier to edit 134 Working with Objects Each layer is situated along with other Layers gt layers if present within a stack on Main Brush 67 Obie the Layers tab the uppermost layer a Sy 7 Qutline 678 Objects is applied over any lower layer on the j Helmet 103 Objects page You can also expand each layer entry for a tree view of objects E Face 82 Object associated with that layer see the Base Colour 86 Obj Sky layer opposite Each object E Shadow 6 Objects entry can be clicked to select the object in your workspace and you can name your objects at any time The tab allows layers to be created renamed deleted reordered frozen and merged Thumbnail previews of each layer or object show before each entry hover your cursor over the thumbnail for a larger preview In order to create a new object on a particular layer you ll first need to activate select that layer To select a particular layer e Clicka layer name in the Layers tab To add a new layer e In the Layers tab click the Add Layer button to add a new layer above the currently selected layer To rename a layer e To rename a layer to something more meaningful click on the selected layer s name and type to add your new name you can als
95. erlapping Discards the overlap between the top and bottom object The top object is also discarded Useful as a quick way of truncating shapes and pictures with another object Be sure the objects are overlapping D P P P 130 Working with Objects like Subtract requires overlapping objects it Join Intersect retains the overlap and discards the rest Aligning and distributing objects Alignment involves taking a group of selected objects and aligning them all in one operation the operation is applied to all of the objects selected L Group K E Group You can also distribute objects so that your objects as a multiple selection are spread evenly between the endmost objects on your page Alternatively check the Spaced option and corresponding measurement value to set a specific distance between each object Working with Objects 131 To align two or more objects 1 Using the Pointer Tool Shift click on all the objects you want to align or draw a marquee box around them or use Edit gt Select All to create a multiple selection 2 From context toolbar Align tab or Arrange gt Align Objects select an option for vertical alignment Align Top Centre Vertically or Align Bottom or horizontal alignment Align Left Centre Horizontally Align Right of an object Object means the last selected object for Shift click multiple selection or the farthest back in Z order for marquee mu
96. essesseoseoseessessessesseosesseoseesses 98 Adding dimension lines and labelsS ssessessessessessessesseeseeseessesseeseeseesses 99 SDEIECIECKING aoia 102 Contents 7 Working with Objects ccccseeeeeeseeeeeeeeees 105 Copying pasting cutting and deleting objects s ssessessesseseesses 107 Cloning r a Re lave sae mereeere emer neneme en ene nN Cara tee Oe ee reece cree ererererrri 107 Cropping an ODOC reac cnnuucnniial aoe 110 COPYING an object s formatting s ssesssesseessesssessesssessersssesseessesseesseose 113 MOVING00 GES ree nunnuuuncunnnas eee O 114 CUNT UE OD GIS saoi oeren eene 115 Erasing and adding to objects sseseessessessessessessessesseessessesseoseesseseeseess 118 RESIA OID CUS Zavas a A 120 Rotating and shearing objects seeeeseessessessessessessesseoseessesseoseeseeseeseess 121 FINN OLD CUS vrro emus 123 FRANO ODOC sanan N 123 Locking unlocking an Obj ct s ssesseessessessessessessesseessessessesseoseesseseessess 125 MUPONIN 125 Combining cropping and joining objects sessessesseeseessessessessessees 126 Aligning and distributing objects ssessessessessessessessesseeseessesseeseeseessess 130 oraering OD eC aaa O 132 Working with layefS eeseessessessessessessessesseosesssessesseoseoseoseeseesseosessesseoseossess 133 8 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 141 setting properes e555 ess sesso as scasa eacs dee iN 143
97. f DrawPlus Companies and names used in samples are fictitious Serif DrawPlus X3 1991 2009 Serif Europe Ltd All rights reserved Contents Contents Te WECOME roinaa 1 Key features ssesseessesseessesseessesssesseesssesseosseoseesseoseeoseossroseossroseesseesseossrsseessessees 4 New features in DrawPlus X3 ssessesssesseessesseessesssesseesseesseossesseessesseesseosee 12 NUNS CAA Oese inss ase REAA 15 2 Getting Stated nana 17 AUD a A 19 Starting with a design template ssessessessessessessessesseoseesseoseoseoseeseeseesse 21 Starting with a new drawing essesssessessessessessessessessesssessesseoseoseoseeseeseesse 22 Opening a saved dOoCUMent s ssessessesssessessessessessessessesssessessesseoseoseoseeseeseese 23 Opening other THe TV DOS nrs naon nA E 24 Saving Your WOFK eeesseessessessessessessessesseoseoseesseosesseoseoseoseeseeseeseessessesseoseeseessese 27 Savin CSF Pel Saa AAS 27 Closing DrawPlUS sisisi kesesa 28 3 Working with Pages ccccccseccseeceeeeeeeseeeees 29 Setting up a COCUMENL s ssessessessesseseeseessessessessesseessesseoseoseoseoseoseoseeseeseeseese 31 Using the page anapasteboard ss 32 Setting measurement units ANd drawing Scale s ssessessessessesserseesses 33 Usina SIVA NN Gaass E AA 37 Viewing pago Sasss AA IAEE 39 Adding and deleting Page ssesssessessessessessessessesseoseessessesseoseoseoseeseeseesses 41 Ek aake Ee 10 R 1e E EAN E 42 Updating detaul ts
98. ffect Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 165 Path Linear Transparency Effect on Object Transparency can also be applied along a custom drawn transparency path using the Transparency Tool in the same way as the equivalent fill path see p 156 Transparency paths are easily editable Transparency effects are applied locally to each object Applying different transparency effects won t alter the object s fill settings as such but may significantly alter a fill s actual appearance Applying transparency effects There are two ways to apply transparency effects i e via the e Transparency tab e Transparency Tool Let s check out the Transparency tab As with the Swatch tab there are galleries for both gradient and bitmap transparencies Gradient transparency galleries include Linear opposite Radial Ellipse Conical Plasma Square Three Points and Four Points ranging from clear to opaque The Bitmap transparency gallery hosts texture maps based on the Swatch tab s selection of bitmaps Each preset s tooltip identifies its 166 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency category To apply gradient or bitmap transparency effects l 2 With your object selected go to the Transparency tab For gradient or bitmap transparency click the drop down arrow on the m Gradient or Bitmap button respectively Select a category from the flyout then click a thumbnail in that categ
99. ffects 198 Applying Special Effects You can also store an object s customized effect on the Studio s Effects tab to use later For more information about creating and storing 3D filter effects see online Help Applying paper textures Use paper textures for a natural paper like appearance on your design Simulate textures of varying roughness and feel by selection of various real media textures such as Canvas Cartridge Embossed Parchment and Watercolour As a paper texture is applied to all objects on a specific layer you can apply different paper textures on a layer by layer basis To apply a paper texture 1 Inthe Layers tab decide on which layer you wish to apply a paper texture to its objects 2 Click the Paper Texture button shown after that chosen layer s name and from the dialog select the Paper Textures category A gallery of texture thumbnails is displayed 3 Choose one of the thumbnails and adjust percentage Scale and Opacity if needed 4 Click OK The button will change to indicate that a paper texture has been applied e g Existing or any subsequently new objects will adopt the paper texture once applied To remove a paper texture 1 Click the E button on the layer from which you want to remove a paper texture 2 From the dialog simply click the Remove button The paper texture is removed from all objects on the layer You can also swap or remove paper textures from within the Layer P
100. for editing lines and shapes is the Node Tool In general you first use the Node Tool to select one or more nodes on the object then use the buttons on the tool s supporting context toolbar To reshape a curved line 1 Click the Kia Node Tool on the Drawing toolbar 2 Select any curved line on your page The line s nodes appear and the context toolbar also pops up 3 Hover over a segment and drag the segment to form a new curve shape Lines Curves and Shapes 63 Or Select nodes and drag Selection can be by one of the following methods Hover over a single drag out a marquee drag outa lasso node and click to to select multiple with Alt key select the node neighbouring pressed to select Shift click for nodes multiple nodes multiple nodes otherwise difficult to select viaa marquee Once selected a node becomes highlighted and control handles for the adjacent line segment s will appear Note that each segment in the line has a control handle at either end so when you select an end node or interior node indicated below you ll see either a control handle on each selected end node one segment or a pair of handles at a selected interior node two segments respectively i e 64 Lines Curves and Shapes 4 Drag any selected node to reshape adjacent segment s All selected nodes move in the same direction so you can reshape the curve in complex ways by selecting specific nodes Shift drag to c
101. frame e Inthe Frames tab click on the icon at the bottom of your chosen frame Click again to revert back to a normal frame amp You can make background and overlay frames by right clicking a frame and from Properties enable Background or Overlay Check the Normal radio button to revert the frame to a normal frame again Working with Keyframe animation When compared with Stopframe animation see Getting started with animation on p 207 Keyframe animation offers a more powerful and efficient animation technology it s a valuable time saver as it saves having to declare every frame letting your computer do the hard work Essentially the technique lets you create only user defined keyframes through which objects animate with each keyframe containing Key objects which can be assigned a position rotation attributes etc Intermediate steps between Key objects are created automatically and produce a smooth professional looking inter object transition this is called Tweening Tweened objects are created as a result You won t see these intermediate steps showing tweened objects by default but they exist transparently between key objects throughout your animation The Storyboard tab is the workspace for laying out your animation story in a chronological keyframe by keyframe sequence from left to right On export your animation will play in this direction Using the above bee animation in the tab illustration as an example th
102. frame Animation 207 crop marks printing 249 Crop to Bottom 128 Crop to Top 127 Crop Tool 110 cropping 127 Curve Text Wizard 99 curved lines 58 curved text 98 curves filling unclosed 59 60 flow text on 99 redrawing 61 reshape 62 cutting objects 107 115 cutting out pictures 173 output for 174 refining areas when 178 selecting areas for 176 defaults manually setting 49 resetting 49 synchronize 47 updating 47 deleting pages 41 design aids 42 divine proportions 45 rotating canvas 42 rule of thirds 44 solo mode 46 design templates 21 27 dimension lines 99 Dimension Tool 100 dimensionality Instant 3D 199 dimensions 33 setting units and scale 31 36 distribution of objects 131 divine proportions 45 Document Palette 152 saving 155 documents closing 28 creating with design templates 21 exporting 250 opening saved 23 saving 27 starting new 22 types 31 working with layers 133 download time estimator 251 dpa format 27 dpp format 27 dpx format 27 drawing scale 33 setting 36 drawings closing 28 creating with design templates 21 exporting 250 opening saved 23 perspective 73 saving 27 starting new 22 drop shadows 191 194 Duration animation frames 237 DWG DXF files opening 26 Dynamic Preview 253 Easing tab 214 edge effects 150 Edit All Layers 138 Edit Text window 96 editing 95 brush strokes 84 brushes 82 connecto
103. g 123 flipping 123 grouping and ungrouping 125 isolating 46 key Keyframe animation 213 line settings 147 locking unlocking 125 measuring 33 99 moving 114 naming 139 obstructive 77 on layers 138 ordering 132 outlines brush effects 150 edge effects 148 QuickShapes 68 replicating 108 resizing 120 rotating and shearing 121 scale 33 selecting complex objects 55 selecting one or more 53 126 selecting in groups 126 setting defaults 47 splitting 115 storing in Gallery 70 transparency effects on 164 tweened Keyframe animation 213 obstructive objects 77 onion skinning Stopframe animation 211 opacity 162 Open Saved Work 23 opening Adobe Illustrator files 25 AutoCAD files 26 PDF files 25 picture as a document 24 opening saved documents 23 optimizing exported graphics 250 ordering objects 132 Outer Bevel effect 194 Outer Glow effect 194 Outline effect 194 outlines 195 brushes as 150 edge effects for 150 overflow of text 97 overlay frames 212 overlays as design aids 42 in Stopframe animation 212 page area 32 page composition 42 Page Manager 41 page marks printing 249 page numbers and navigation 39 Page Setup 31 208 for Keyframe animation 215 page size 31 page units 31 33 pages 41 adding 41 deleting 41 duplicating 41 Pages tab 39 Paintbrush Tool 81 83 palettes colour changing 154 paper textures 136 198 pasteboard area 32 PDF fi
104. gn templates to create designs quickly Import PDF Unlock the contents of third party PDF drawings using DrawPlus s impressive open PDF feature objects can be brought into a new drawing with a single click for immediate editing Layers Each page can have multiple layers so you can assign elements to different layers for modular design Each layer entry hosts a hierarchical tree view of associated thumbnailed objects Rotate Canvas Let your canvas rotate through any angle just like an artist would do in real life Great for artists with tablets for drawing freeform curves at any orientation and for getting a different perspective of your drawing Pseudo 3D Projections Project objects isometrically onto Top Front or Right planes via a Standard toolbar For more advanced projections take advantage of editable Dimetric Trimetric Oblique projections or even create your own Custom projection View Quality Draw in one of several drawing modes to view objects at optimum quality Normal mode unsmoothed Draft or as single pixel outlines Wireframe Design Welcome 5 Professional Standard Drawing Features Features like converting text to curves defining custom envelopes fully customizable drop shadows layers and scalable vector graphics give complete creative power Combine two shapes into one Subtract for cropping and masking Intersect to carve out unique shapes and regions Cropping Any object ca
105. hat in each state the object can have a different appearance in response to a user event such as a mouse press or mouse hover over This lets you creates interactive intelligent objects which change with your mouse movement actions Think of a Play button on your computer s music video player having different appearance when clicked In DrawPlus an object s state is indicated by its adjacent state buttons shown next to the object only two states will be shown at any time the third state is the current object s state For example an object in Normal state shows adjacent Hover and amp Pressed buttons i e Company News If you click either button you ll jump to that state s sub object If in Hover or Pressed state you ll see the u Normal button To convert to a state object 1 Select the object 2 Choose State gt Convert to state object from the Object menu Creating Animations 237 Use the Convert to non state object from the same menu if you want convert back To change a sub object s attributes e Click the state buttons to toggle between the different modes e Once ina chosen mode modify the sub object attributes colour transparency effects etc that will show for that mode i e as Normal on mouse Hover or when the mouse is Pressed The use of state behaviours does not prevent you from assigning your own Actions to the different sub objects In fact it s likely that you may want to show an obj
106. he Drawing toolbar Optional From the displayed Context toolbar choose e the number of morph Blend Steps to be taken between both points e a Position or Attribute Profile for non uniform blends See DrawPlus help e a Colour blend type which defines how colour distribution occurs between the originating and destination object You can Fade between colours by default apply a Clockwise Anti Clockwise colour spread around the HSL Colour Wheel from the Colour tab or use the Shortest or Longest route between colours on the HSL Colour Wheel Hover over the object to display the Blend cursor If blending to multiple objects remember to group them in advance Click and drag the cursor drawing a dashed line as you go to your destination point this must be on an object and release Your blend is created Optional Click the Convert Blend Object into a Group Object button on the context toolbar to group all blended objects 190 Applying Special Effects Any blend can be modified at a later date via the context toolbar Creating rough edges The Roughen Tool lets you selectively distort an object s outline turning smooth line edges into jagged outlines The effect can lend cartoon like flair to ordinary text or give QuickShapes an irregular appearance in fact apply it whenever it seems to suit the mood of the design To apply roughening ial 1 Select an object and click if Roughen Tool on the Dra
107. he mouse button to erase the area drawn To add to a selected object al Select the Freeform Paint Tool on the Drawing toolbar s l Vector Edit flyout Optional From the context toolbar set a Width to define the nib width which will be drawn Optional Disable Select on Create if you want to create new objects every time you use the tool you might want to create a series of shapes without switching tools Position the Q cursor over the object and drag over an object boundary You ll see blue shading which represents the area to be 120 Working with Objects added You can use the Ctrl key to redefine the painted area while holding down the mouse button Release the mouse button to reshape the object to include the newly drawn area If you add to or erase from a bitmap QuickShape or artistic text they will be converted to curves preventing further editing in their Original form For Stopframe animation consider using either tool as a quick way to modify object shapes frame by frame Resizing objects It s fairly likely that you may want to resize an object to fit into your current design DrawPlus offers a range of resizing options directly on the object as well as more precise resizing via keyboard arrows or the Transform tab To resize an object to a fixed aspect ratio l 2 has Select the object s with the xX Pointer Tool Position the cursor over one of the object s handles y
108. hen apply one or more adjustments Click a Save to save the document as a DrawPlus dpp project or File gt Export gt Export as Image to export it to the same or a different file format the original image s name dpi colour depth and transparency settings are maintained for export Opening PDF and Adobe Illustrator files It is possible to open PDF and Adobe Illustrator files once opened you can save the either file format as a DrawPlus Drawing DPP The character formatting layout and images in the original document are preserved to allow for editing of the imported content To open a PDF or Adobe Illustrator file L w Open on the Standard toolbar amp For PDF files you can also select Import PDF from the Startup Wizard From the dialog navigate to then select the file and click Open The document is loaded and the drawing will repaginate to the number of pages of the original document if multi page PDF only 26 Getting Started Opening AutoCAD files DrawPlus opens AutoCAD dwg and dxf files quickly and easily Using the same process as that for PDF files this creates an opportunity to not only view engineering layouts and designs up to AutoCAD 2006 in DrawPlus but to edit the drawn objects and to save the drawing as a DrawPlus Drawing DPP DXF DWG Options Scale Original Size C Scale to Fit Page lze Wlar cr C Scale By Options V Centre Artwork on Page
109. hen the pointer is over the connection point on the left edge midpoint of the right shape You ll see a box appear around the point when a connection is imminent A direct connector will appear between the two connection points 4 Select the right hand shape and drag to a new position with the Pointer Tool the connection points vanish but the connector remains The connector follows Lines Curves and Shapes 77 Connector types The 2 Connector Tool when selected offers various types of connector tool on the Connectors context toolbar situated above the workspace 5s Ty Choose the Direct Connector Tool to draw a single straight line connector between any two connection points Choose the Right Angle Connector Tool for a connector with only vertical and horizontal segments the connector shape is made up of right angles for example if you re creating a flow chart organization chart or tree diagram Choose the Auto Connector Tool for an adaptable connector that intelligently adjusts its shape to route around obstructive objects Unlike the other connectors Auto connectors automatically form bridges when crossing each other so they re perfect for complex diagrams with interwoven pathways The context toolbar is also used to adjust a connector s line weight line end colour and style bas You can create your own additional custom connection points created with the Connection Point Tool which can b
110. hether to duplicate a particular page by copying objects from it 4 Click OK The document format as determined in File gt Page Setup will determine whether or not you can add or delete pages For example Folded documents have a fixed number of pages To delete one or more pages 1 Choose Add Delete Pages naan Pointer or Rotate Tool selected from the context toolbar shown with 2 On Page Manager s Delete Page tab specify the following e The number of pages to delete e The page after which pages should be deleted 3 Click OK To duplicate a page e On the Insert Page tab you can specify how many pages to add and where to add them Check Copy objects from page if you want to duplicate a particular page 42 Working with Pages To make a page a background for other pages e From the Pages tab right click the intended background page and choose Set as Background to undo choose Unset as background Using design aids DrawPlus provides a number of tools to assist you as you design Each is designed to improve stroking lines brushes page composition and focused design on specific areas on the page e Rotating your canvas e Applying the Rule of Thirds e Using divine proportions e Isolating an object Typically the tools can be switched on or off Rotating your canvas Rotating your canvas helps you to maintain natural flow when drawing freeform lines curves or brush strokes where the art
111. humbnail and when selected type a new value then click away amp The total duration of your animation is shown on your last keyframe e g 5 0s Creating Animations 219 Storyboard control Storyboard control is possible by using a selection of buttons grouped together on the Storyboard tab equivalent options are on the Storyboard menu They operate across the entire storyboard as opposed to on an individual keyframe or key object Breaks the animation run that transects through a Break selected keyframe into two separate runs storyboard CE A tool for tidying up your storyboard any keyframes a 7 containing only tweened objects are removed from the E storyboard N Expands or shrinks the whole storyboard All keyframe Scale l durations are automatically adjusted to fit storyboard proportionately to the new Scale duration Adding sound and movies Adding sound To complement the visual effect of your keyframe animation it s possible to add audio Sounds can be added either for the duration of a specific keyframe or when an action is applied to an object event see Applying actions on p 228 for details on actions and events To add an audio clip 1 On the Storyboard tab click on the keyframe s ad Sound icon located below the frame s thumbnail 2 From the dialog navigate to your audio file select it and click the Open button To remove a selected keyframe s audio clip right click and select C
112. ich width and opacity changes either independently or in combination Let s look at some examples based on a Default brush called Circle The example doesn t use a natural media texture so the concept is illustrated more clearly We ll use a pressure profile available from the preset drop down menu for all examples Here s how the degree of width opacity changes the brush stroke appearance qlee coo G The first example shows the default behaviour when brush pressure is applied These settings are adjusted independently and are not stored with the pressure profiles Using Brushes 89 To adjust brush width or opacity with pressure 1 Select a previously drawn brush 2 Inthe Pressure tab pick a pressure profile from the drop down menu 3 Entera Width or x Opacity value by setting a percentage value in the input box using the slider or using the up down arrows The lower the value the less the pressure effects the brush width or opacity i e a value of 50 will apply half the brush width or opacity under pressure You can set the pressure variance i e the degree to which you apply brush pressure via the Pressure tab by increasing decreasing the lower or upper limits of the pressure chart See online Help for more information 90 Using Brushes Working with Text 92 Working with Text Working with Text 93 Entering text You can create different types of text in DrawPlus i e Artistic Text
113. ich you want to apply a pan zoom or rotate operation 2 To enable click the RAMEE button on the Storyboard tab A single rectangular bounding box shown with a solid blue border is shown around the page which defines the visible area to be displayed Youll notice a camera appear as a layer entry under the current layer in the Layers tab 3 Reposition and or resize the bounding box to set an initial view level that the animation can display Creating Animations 235 4 Optional Set the bounding box in other keyframes according to the desired effect Otherwise a full screen view will be used in the remaining keyframes With the camera enabled select a Reset Camera on the object s toolbar to revert the display area back to the default For specific objects that are to ignore pan zoom and rotation think of a company logo which needs to remain static throughout the animation with the object selected uncheck Obey Camera on the Easing tab Masking The option lets you mask one or more layers immediately below a purposely created mask layer Mask layer objects cut away to reveal only underlying layer s objects showing under the mask object the remainder is masked from view great for creating circular spotlights keyhole shapes or any other conceivable object shape QuickShapes are ideal for this but don t discount using Artistic Text for interesting cutouts Try experimenting with a stationary mask layer with ani
114. icular layer e When drawn objects are added to the selected layer automatically This is why it is a good idea to check which layer you are currently working on To select objects on a particular layer e In the Layers tab if the Z Edit All Layers button is disabled click the chosen layer and either e Click the layer s object on the page or e In the Layers tab click the l Expand icon on the chosen layer entry to reveal all associated objects You ll see objects named automatically e g Curve 2 Nodes Closed Curve 5 Nodes Quick Rectangle etc each with their own preview The front most object in your drawing always appears at the top of the layer s listed objects the order reflects the Z order 138 Working with Objects Shadow 6 Objects Curve 4 Nodes Curve 3 Nodes Cure 4 Nodes Curve 2 Nodes Curve 7 Nodes Curve 2 Nodes This tree view greatly improves the ability to select and manage nested objects in more complex drawings It s also great for visualizing your object order To help you locate objects more easily in the future they can be renamed click and type on the name to something more meaningful and can be further identified by their thumbnail previews Objects can also be searched for via Find Objects on the Edit menu The object on the page is selected when selection handles appear on the object and the displayed bounding box reflects the selected layer s colour
115. iew before tracing and customize chosen profile settings further to your liking Most profile settings are unique to the profile To autotrace a selected image 1 Click the drop down arrow on the tease i button Standard toolbar and select a profile from the menu Or Click ie Suto Trace selection screen and choose a profile from the profile 2 The AutoTrace studio appears with the original artwork displayed along with adjustable sliders a colour palette logo profile only or a collapsible preview window photo profiles only showing how your output will look once traced Working with Pictures 181 Trading logos Use thes profile to trace an image pakhea claan edger wing up lo 16 drabet retulle saih i and accurate colours To trare a lage i Beladi the Loge Image Trace profile 2 Toe trace your image using the orofile s default settings proceed to step 4 p er a Drag the Smoothing Filter ib Detection ard Colour Tolerance siders ra Smoothing Filter Removes noise im the age by smo Optional Adjust the sliders at the right of the workspace each unique to the profile used your profile settings will be modified If you want to save these modified settings you must save the changed profile to a new custom name Click ne bitmapped artwork It s best to keep clicking this button to update to trace your logo photo or other your main window after any adjustment Option
116. in the Storyboard tab The Easing tab defines editable envelope profiles for defining the rate of change of an object s transformation and attributes The Actions tab can assign events mouse click hover over and many more and an associated action e g jump to a named URL or animation marker develop directly in ActionScript for the more adventurous Use the Keyframe Camera to pan zoom or rotate around your animation s keyframes Add sound and movies to any Keyframe animation Export to Flash Flash Lite i Mode screensaver or a choice of video formats Export and Print Image Export Optimizer The Export Optimizer lets you see how your image will look and how much space it will take up before you save it Its multi window display provides side by side WYSIWYG previews of image quality at various output settings so you can make the best choice every time Use Dynamic Preview to work in an edit and preview mode at a given DPI file format and number of colours PDF Export Step up to the worldwide standard for cross platform WYSIWYG electronic information delivery Your PDF output will look just like your DrawPlus document in one compact package with embeddable fonts easily printable or viewable in a Web browser Welcome 11 Professional Print Output PDF publishing to the PDF X 1 or PDF X 1a file format is a great choice for professional output from DrawPlus Deliver with confidence to your print partner safe in the knowl
117. inal position to any position on the page The marker can also be moved to be outside the object ideal for rotating grouped objects around a central point Drag the rotate pointer to a new rotation angle the object will rotate about the new pivot Besides being able to rotate an object the Rotate Tool allows you to skew or shear it To shear or copy shear an object tC Select KA Rotate Tool on the Drawing toolbar s Selection flyout Click to select the object s hover over any side handle not a corner handle until you see the Shear cursor Hold the mouse down and drag the pointer in the direction in which you want to shear the object then release Ungroup Or Select the object go to the Transform tab and enter a Shear value To copy shear use the Ctrl key while dragging this preserves the original object while shearing the new copied object as you drag To undo the rotation or shear restore the original object Double click the object Working with Objects 123 DrawPlus also provides the following methods for controlling rotation These don t apply to shear Flipping objects You can flip objects horizontally left to right top and bottom stay the same or vertically top to bottom left and right stay the same To flip an object e Select the object s with one of the selection tools Pointer Rotate or Node e To flip the selection left to right click aA Flip Horizo
118. ing pane check or uncheck the Snapping box Snapping Change snapping preferences Grid Spacing Horizontal 8 00 gt fines per in Subdivisions 9 Vertical 8 00 gt fines per in Subdivisions 5 J Snapping Options i Display Guides Guide Colour a i W Snap to Guides F Snap to Grid Display Grid Grid Colour ki Lock Guides Grid Style Lines Draw Grid Behind Alternatively switch Snapping on or off via the Arrange menu To snap to guides and or grid e With the Snapping option checked check the Snap to Guides and or Snap to Grid option in Tools gt Options gt Snapping If you find snapping bothersome it may be that you have the grid spacing set too coarsely to allow you the freedom you need in your design Go to Tools gt Options gt Snapping to set a finer horizontal and or vertical grid spacing you can also change grid colour and style To show or hide the snapping grid e Choose Layout Tools from the View menu and check or uncheck Snapping Grid on the submenu or Choose Options from the Tools menu and click Snapping then check or uncheck the Display Grid box Working with Pages 39 Viewing pages The HintLine toolbar at the bottom of the screen displays the current page number and provides a number of controls to let you navigate around your pages As an alternative the Pages tab shows your pages as thumbnails which when selected will display that page in your workspace Once you ve got a p
119. ion objects repeatedly on the same horizontal or vertical boundary then guides can be used DrawPlus lets you set up horizontal and vertical guides non printing red lines you can use to align one object with another Guides are sticky as long as you have Snap to Guides turned on via Tools gt Options gt Snapping i e a moved object will behave as if it is attracted to a guide as you move it close to the line Guides also attract the object when you are changing its size 2 3 4 5 Rie co core rch eet es Sa Con el Gece So opm RA 36 Working with Pages To create a guide For a horizontal or vertical guide click on the horizontal or vertical ruler respectively and drag onto the page while fine tuning the guide into its position Hold down the Alt key before guide creation to produce a horizontal guide from a vertical ruler and vice versa To move delete and lock guides To move a guide click and drag it into position with the Pointer Tool To remove a guide drag and drop it onto the respective ruler To lock the guides and prevent them from being moved choose Options from the Tools menu click Snapping and check the Lock Guides box or right click on a ruler To show or hide guides check or uncheck Layout Tools gt Guides from the View menu Drawing scale You can create scale drawings such as a house plan or model diagram by setting a ratio other than 1 1 between page units and ruler units For exa
120. ist uses the wrist as a pivot especially when using a pen tablet If you rotate the canvas by a chosen angle then the drawing becomes easier taking advantage of the natural arc of the drawing hand E Working with Pages 43 The above example illustrates how grass like brush strokes can be added more easily to a canvas once it has been rotated 30 To rotate your canvas Either Or Click ai Rotate Canvas on the Hintline toolbar don t click the down arrow Hover over your workspace until you see the cursor then click and drag to rotate the canvas clockwise or anti clockwise Once you re happy with the degree of rotation release the mouse button to reposition the canvas Tle Click the down arrow on the aig Rotate Canvas button Hintline toolbar and choose a preset angle from the drop down list You can also select an object and then choose To Object from the Rotate Canvas drop down list The canvas adjusts so that the object is positioned square to the X and Y axes To reset your Canvas With the button enabled double click anywhere on the canvas to reset 44 Working with Pages Applying the Rule of Thirds Traditionally a technique used in photography the Rule of Thirds grid can also be applied to your design to help with its composition For example note the way the primary object pear is vertically aligned between the top and bottom left intersecting points i e under the stalk and
121. itmap and plasma transparencies the path determines the centre and two edges of the effect To edit transparency levels via dialog For more advanced path editing the Gradient Transparency Editor dialog can be used exclusively this is similar to the Gradient Fill Editor The dialog lets you fine tune the actual spread of transparency between pairs of key values and displays the transparency gradient with pointers marking the nodes corresponding to nodes on the path that define specific transparency values Black represents 100 opacity and white represents 0 opacity with greyscale values in between A sample window at the lower right shows the overall transparency effect For details of how to edit and manage transparency see online Help 168 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Working with Pictures 170 Working with Pictures Working with Pictures 171 Importing pictures Pictures that can be imported into DrawPlus can belong to one of two groups e Bitmapped pictures also known as bitmaps or raster images are built from a matrix of dots pixels rather like the squares on a sheet of graph paper They may originate as digital camera photos or scanned images or be created or enhanced with a paint program or photo editor As with other object fills you can add these bitmaps to the Bitmap fill gallery to be used as fills for other objects For details see Changing bitmap gallery fills
122. ject as an alternative To change a fill s shade tint lightness E Select the object and set the Line Fill Swatch as described for the Colour tab above 2 From the tab s drop down menu select Tinting 3 Drag the Shade Tint slider to the left or right to darken or lighten your starting colour respectively the original colour is set at 0 You can also enter a percentage value in the box entering 0 or dragging the pointer back to its original position reverts to the original colour To apply a gradient bitmap or plasma fill to one or more objects As for applying a solid colour fill with the Swatch tab but category from the Gradient or Bitmap galleries and pick your e Instead of using a solid colour palette pick a relevant required thumbnail from the displayed presets drag from the thumbnail onto the object as an alternative For solid gradient or Plasma fills you can then edit colour s and shade tint lightness For gradient and plasma fills the fill path coverage can also be edited see Working with gradient fills on p 155 To edit an object s fill colour s and tint 1 Right click the object and choose Format gt Fill 2 From the Colour Selector dialog s Models tab optionally choose a different colour model such as RGB or CMYK from the Model drop down menu 3 Use the vertical slider to the immediate right of the colour space window to set your colour value or use the input box
123. kes editing a little easier Lines Curves and Shapes 73 Applying perspective The Perspective Tool like the adjacent Envelope Tool produces an overall shape distortion But while the Envelope effect stretches the object as if it were printed on a rubber sheet perspective gives you the visual impression of a flat surface being tilted or skewed in space with an exaggerated front back size differential To apply a perspective effect 1 Select an object and click Perspective Tool on the Drawing toolbar The Node Tool becomes the active tool and an adjustment slider appears above the object 2 Drag the ee 3D cursor over the selected object or drag the special adjustment slider handle left or right to see it respond by tilting in all sorts of orientations Use Undo if you re not happy with a particular adjustment or From the context toolbar select an item from the E Perspective Presets flyout closest to the effect you re after The first item User Defined perspective retrieves the last drawn custom perspective shape used in your current DrawPlus session You can still use the cursor and handles for adjusting perspective 74 Lines Curves and Shapes Applying envelopes An envelope distortion is one that you can apply to any object to change its shape without having to edit its nodes You can use envelopes to bend text into a wave arch trapezoid or just about any other shape You can edit envelopes i
124. l Tool method is more convenient for this but with the dialog you can also fine tune the actual spread of colour between pairs of key colours Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 159 The editing of gradient fills is a complex operation and is covered in greater detail in the online Help Working with bitmap and plasma fills A bitmap fill uses a named bitmap often a material pattern or background image DrawPlus supplies an impressive selection of preset bitmap fills on the Swatch tab and you can import your own A plasma fill sometimes called a fractal fill is a bitmapped pattern with dark and light regions useful for simulating cloud or shadow effects Again the Swatch tab hosts a selection of these fills Once you ve applied either type of fill to an object using the Swatch tab see Setting fill properties on p 143 you can adjust the fill s tint with the Shade Tint slider in the Colour tab use Display mode drop down menu and use the Fill Tool to edit the object s fill path defining the placement of the fill across the object 160 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Editing the fill path If an object using a bitmap fill is selected you ll see the fill path displayed as two lines joined at a centre handle Nodes shown as small filled circles mark the fill s centre and edges To reposition the fill s centre drag the centre handle To create a skewed or tilted fill region drag one or both edg
125. l printer may prefer you to leave the imposition page sequencing to them 4 Click OK to proceed to export 250 Publishing and Sharing If you checked Preview PDF file in Acrobat the resulting PDF file appears in the version of Acrobat Reader installed on your system Exporting objects and drawings When you save a drawing DrawPlus uses its own proprietary formats DPP for drawings DPX for templates and DPA for animations to store the information From these formats it is possible to export your drawing as a graphic in order to read the drawing into another application or use it on a web page MS d EXPORT J LA WD You can export at any time by using Export as Image or Dynamic Preview the latter option allows editing during preview great for pixel accurate editing of your intended output You can even compare side by side views using different export settings T For converting DrawPlus objects into pictures on the page use Tools gt Convert to Bitmap For export as AutoCAD drawings use Export gt Export for CAD CAM on the File menu Publishing and Sharing 251 Exporting as image Especially if you re exporting web bitmap images you can take advantage of the Export Optimizer which will greatly help you in reducing file sizes and download times as far as possible while maintaining image quality The Export Optimizer lets you export the whole page just a selected object s or a user
126. layed slider left to increase the number of nodes you can also add absolute values into the input box To make the curve less complex i e smoother drag the slider right to decrease the number of nodes To add or delete a node To add a node click along a line segment with the Node Tool or Pen Tool to add a new node at that point The new node will be created and will be selected complete with attractor nodes as necessary To delete a node select the line with the Node Tool then the node itself and click the Delete Node button on the context toolbar or press the Delete key The node will be deleted along with any associated attractor nodes and the line or shape will jump to its new shape With the Pen Tool selected you can also delete a node by clicking on it You can also use the Node Tool to reposition the nodes and reshape the line or shape by dragging on the new handles Changing nodes and line segments Each segment in a line has a control handle at either end so at each interior or corner node where two segments join you ll see a pair of handles The behaviour of these handles and thus the curvature of the segments to either side depends on whether the node is set to be sharp smooth symmetric or smart You can quickly identify a node s type by selecting it and seeing which button is selected in the displayed context toolbar Each type s control handles behave differently as illustra
127. lcome 3 Welcome to DRAWPLUS X3 Graphics Studio Welcome to DrawPlus X3 the design and illustration solution from Serif fully certified for Windows Vista and packed with all the features expected of award winning design software From decorative page elements and logos to full page illustrations scale drawings multi page publications and Stopframe or Keyframe animations DrawPlus X3 does it all With the power of scalable vector graphics at your command you ll see the creative possibilities open up right before your eyes Whether you re a beginner or an expert you ll find easy to use tools you can use right away With this version DrawPlus has broken the price performance barrier once again If you ve upgraded from a previous version this new edition of DrawPlus includes a host of exciting new features see p 12 which complement the key features listed overleaf Don t forget to register your new copy using the Registration Wizard on the Help menu That way we can keep you informed of new developments and future upgrades 4 Welcome Key features Document Multipage Document Support From startup to printout the versatile DrawPlus engine sustains your creativity Choose from a wide range of preset document types including booklets and folded documents Work on pages right side up automatic imposition assures correct order and orientation of your output Use DrawPlus s always at hand collection of popular desi
128. le towards the centre of the object Applying the Rule of Thirds grid helps the composition of your design during cropping Working with Objects 111 To apply the Rule of Thirds 1 Select your object and click the Crop Tool 2 On the Crop context toolbar click 3 A3x3 grid is superimposed on top of the object r r Lee ee es tw 9 ae aR ee bas meee sy iy ty a 4 Drag a corner or edge grid handle to crop the image As you do so the grid repositions itself 5 Manipulate the image to improve its framing 112 Working with Objects e Click and drag on the cropped photo to pan the image For best results aim to position your main subject of interest at a point where any two gridlines intersect e To rotate or zoom into or E out of the object use the adjacent control bar e Alternatively use equivalent button pairings on the ia oy context toolbar L ILI Zoom In Out lel ID Rotate anti clockwise clockwise e To select the crop window Select oes HA from the control bar e To select cropped objects Select Cropped Object s k Click from the control bar The original uncropped object is selected Click 5 Uncrop window selected e Uncrop a cropped area with the crop e Crop an object using a preset With the crop window selected shape choose a QuickShape from the C cop shape drop down menu Working with Objects 113 e To reshape a cropped area With
129. lear Background Sound 220 Creating Animations Adding movies As well as using sound in your keyframe animation you can introduce movie clips The movie is inserted into your chosen keyframe as an object which like any other object QuickShape Text etc will need to be run forward for the movie to play throughout the animation DrawPlus supports various video formats including Flash Video FLV Flash SWF AVI WMV and MPG MPEGI and MPEG2 and QuickTime To add a movie l Select the keyframe to which the movie is to be added Click Insert Movie Clip on the Drawing toolbar From the dialog navigate to your movie file and select it Click Open Position the displayed cursor where you want the movie to appear Either e To insert the movie at the movie s original size simply click the mouse or e To set the size of the inserted movie drag out a region and release the mouse button Optional Use the object toolbar controls to run forward backward to the end start of the storyboard or by a set number of keyframes Creating Animations 221 Previewing keyframe animations You can preview your animation at any time either in a web browser or in Flash Player Version 8 x is a DrawPlus install option This is a quick way of checking it prior to export To preview e Click the down arrow on the j button on the Storyboard tab then choose to either Preview In Browser
130. les 249 opening 25 publishing 249 pen tablet 85 Pen Tool 56 58 Pencil Tool 56 perspective drawing 73 Perspective Tool 73 photo brushes 81 pictures as bitmap fills 159 converting to vector format 180 importing 171 importing PhotoCD images 172 importing TWAIN images 173 in PDF files 249 Media tab Keyframe animation 219 open picture as a document 24 tracing 179 with transparent regions 172 Pillow Emboss effect 194 plasma fills 143 159 Pointer Tool 53 posters 31 247 printing 247 setup 31 PostScript 249 prepress print options 249 pressure sensitivity 85 Pressure tab 85 previewing 237 245 graphics dynamically 253 Keyframe animations 221 printed pages 245 Stopframe animations 211 printing 245 249 commercial 249 folded documents 247 multiple pages 247 of banners posters cards thumbnails 247 PDF files 249 previewing the page 245 profiles for 246 rasterization settings 249 special formats 247 professional printing 249 profiles 86 188 199 blend 188 envelope Keyframe animation 232 Instant 3D 199 pressure 86 printing 246 tracing 179 creating custom 183 workspace 20 projections 201 Pseudo 3D 201 Publish as PDF 249 QuickShapes 68 adjusting 69 converting to editable curves 72 creating 68 radial fills 155 Radian blur 194 raster bitmap images 171 changing raster to vector 180 rasterization settings for printing 249 registration 3 Replica
131. llows the default brush size to be set before you select areas for keeping discarding You can set your own custom size or use a small medium or large preset brush size Choose from the top of the Studio workspace To aid the selection operation several display modes are available to show selection dA Show Original Show Tinted and Show Transparent buttons respectively display the image with e selection areas only e various coloured tints aiding complex selection operations e checkerboard transparency areas marked for discarding Working with Pictures 177 For Show tinted a red tint indicates areas to be discarded a green tint shows areas to be kept For Show transparent mode a different Background colour can be set at the bottom of the Studio while Show Transparent is enabled this may help give better contrast at cut edges while fine tuning To select image areas for keeping discarding 1 In Image Cutout Studio click either I Keep brush or A Discard brush from the left of the Studio workspace 2 Optional Pick a Brush size suitable for the area to be worked on oe Sear 3 Optional Set a Grow tolerance value to automatically expand the selected area under the cursor by detecting colours similar to those within the current selection The greater the value the more the selected area will grow 4 Using the circular cursor click and drag across the area to be retained It s OK to r
132. ltiple selection To align one or more objects with a page edge e Follow the steps above but check the Include Page option If selected the page is added to the set of objects included in the alignment e g selecting Align Top aligns all of the objects in the selection to the top of the page If only one object is selected page edge alignment is automatic To distribute two or more objects 1 Using the Pointer Tool Shift click on all the objects you want to distribute or draw a marquee box around them to create a multiple selection a 2 In the Align tab select Distribute Horizontally or Sas Distribute Vertically to distribute objects vertically or horizontally respectively 3 Check the Spaced option to set a fixed distance between vertically or horizontally distributed objects otherwise the objects distribute evenly between endmost items 132 Working with Objects Ordering objects Think of the objects on a page as being stacked or piled on top of each other The front most object is the one on top of the stack Each time you create a new object it goes in front of the objects already there But you can move any object to any level in the ordering sequence and obtain sophisticated drawing effects by learning how to manipulate the front back relationship of objects As an example we ve used a camera lens to illustrate ordering Notice how the lens possesses a realistic look by blending overlapped composite o
133. mation being performed on lower layers animation on both mask and non mask layers or you could just animate the mask itself To create a mask 1 With the Layers tab displayed create a layer intended purposely for masking object s then place it directly above the layer s you want to mask 2 Draw one or more objects on this mask layer You can overlap objects but you won t need to combine the objects or worry about object fills DrawPlus will work it out However you might like to group multiple objects together 3 Optional To mask multiple layers double click the mask layer and set the number of layers in the dialog s Attributes box 4 Optional Run your selected mask objects forward and reposition them either at the end of the animation run or on a selected prior keyframe This will allow the masked objects to animate 236 Creating Animations 5 Click the Mask button to the right of the new mask layer s name it then shows as w J 6 To enable masking click the adjacent Locked button this also locks the mask objects in place State behaviour By default any object drawn in DrawPlus is considered to be a non state object i e one that has a single set of attributes Within Keyframe animation it s possible to convert such a non state object to a state object by assigning it one or more states such as Normal Hover or Pressed with each state possessing its own object attributes The advantage here is t
134. mation path s and not add tweened objects Once you ve created a keyframe sequence you can sub divide or split any selected keyframe further To split a selected keyframe Click the Split keyframe button on the Storyboard tab From the dialog enter the number of divisions that the keyframe is to be split into then click OK Each new keyframe s duration is an equal division of the original keyframe s duration To view or edit a particular keyframe Select a keyframe in the Storyboard tab or Click an object in an animation run that you know is associated with a specific keyframe the keyframe will then be selected Use your keyboard s Page Up and Page Down keys to navigate along your animation storyboard To delete a keyframe Select the keyframe and choose amp 218 Creating Animations Keyframe duration Keyframe duration represents the amount of time in between each individual keyframe The value is set according to how the keyframe was created i e e Inserting keyframes blank or otherwise lets you set the keyframe duration in an Insert Keyframes dialog default 1 second e A splitting operation will create new keyframes whose duration will be a division of the selected keyframe s duration by the number of keyframes to be split A keyframe s duration can be altered manually at any time To set the duration of an individual keyframe e Click the keyframe s duration e g 1500ms under its t
135. more subtle effect In DrawPlus s world we apply pressure by using a pressure sensitive device a tablet and pen and control how that pressure affects your brush stroke in DrawPlus s Pressure tab This tab is used to apply different pressure profile presets create your own profiles from scratch and adjusts how the brush s width and transparency changes as it responds to pressure The maximum and minimum pressure can also be controlled via the tab your brush strokes can appear more subtle or striking as a result 86 Using Brushes The pressure chart may appear a little daunting at first It becomes a lot clearer if you imagine the chart when it is superimposed over the brush itself it represents one half of a brush stroke along its entire length exactly Of course the same profile shape will be mirrored on the lower half of the stroke e g m m n te Oi FT i DES s To apply a pressure profile 1 Expand the Pressure tab at the bottom right of your screen and choose a pressure profile from the drop down menu 5 The pressure chart updates to reflect the chosen profile 2 Apply a brush stroke to the page This will adopt the chosen pressure profile The profile is maintained until you reset it or pick another profile from the preset list Using Brushes To create a new pressure profile 1 Click default l This sets the pressure chart back 2 A turquoise line runs along the maximum pressu
136. mple you might wish to set one page inch equivalent to ten ruler feet amp Right click anywhere on your rulers to quickly swap to a different unit of measurement the rulers and Transform tab are updated instantly Working with Pages 37 To change the drawing scale Choose 21 Drawing Scale Drawing Scale Pointer or Rotate Tool selected 1 from the context toolbar shown with 2 Check the Scale Drawing box iM Scale Drawing Page Distance Ruler Distance 2h 1 00 Inches 1000 Feet Printed page size 8 268in 11 693in Scaled page size O2 6 tts 116 929ft 3 Use the input boxes to set the drawing scale as a proportion between the Page Distance in page units that define the document s actual printing dimensions and the Ruler Distance in on screen ruler units that represent the real world objects you re depicting Units and object dimensions update and scale accordingly Using snapping With Snapping enabled objects you create move or resize will jump to align with nearby visible guides or a defined grid respectively For snapping to guides think of an object as being broken into four quadrants such that you drag from the object s upper right quadrant below towards the guides to produce the snapping effect 38 Working with Pages To turn snapping on and off 1 Choose LJ Snapping pring from the context toolbar shown with Pointer or Rotate Tool selected 2 Inthe Snapp
137. n named manually will never be included in the search To change an object s or group s name see Managing objects on layers To find an object or group 1 Select Find Object from the Edit menu 2 From the dialog enter the individual object or group name you want to search for in the Find What box As partial matching is supported by default you can also search for the beginning of objects names i e searching for frog would locate objects named frog frog2 frogs legs etc 3 In the Look In drop down menu restrict the search to the Current Layer or Current Page Alternatively search throughout the Whole Document 4 Optional Limit your search to Match Whole Word or Match Case by enabling the check boxes To search from the bottom of your layers upward check the Search Up check box Working with Objects 125 5 Click the Find Next button to perform your search The first matching object is shown selected and zoomed to selection ready for editing 6 Optional For more than one object located click the Find Next button again to jump to the next matching object Locking unlocking an object So you may have moved or resized a few objects and don t want to risk moving resizing or deleting them The solution is to lock them to prevent accidental changes from occurring To lock unlock an object 1 Select the single or grouped object 2 Choose Lock Position or Unlock Position from the Arrange menu
138. n serve as a cookie cutter for trimming one or more other objects into a single shape and the effect is reversible so you won t lose your originals Great for creating reflections of complex scenes Vector editing tools Tools such as Knife Tool cuts through objects leaving them in multiple parts still as vectors The Erase Tool removes areas under a brush line of variable nib width to redefine object boundaries The opposite of the Erase Tool the Freeform Paint Tool adds to current vector objects shapes text bitmaps Comprehensive Design Gallery The Gallery tab provides an impressive selection of instantly available Arts amp Crafts Cartoons ShapeArt Connecting Symbols family trees electronics computers and Layout Symbols garden and interior design and many more Use the Gallery to additionally store and organize your own favourite designs for future use Picture Import and Adjustments Import pictures from hard disk CD DVD PhotoCD digital camera or scanner Use image adjustments for quick fixes or special effects including Red Eye Tool Auto Levels Auto Contrast Brightness Contrast and many more Apply adjustments singularly or in combination 6 Welcome Object Default control Set your intended object s default line colour style fill and transparency before even drawing your object As a more powerful default control Synchronize Defaults lets you adopt a currently selected object s attrib
139. n the document choose Ignore All 4 To add the marked word as spelled to your personal dictionary choose Add to Dictionary This means DrawPlus will ignore the word in any drawing You can also run the Spell Checker from the context menu by choosing Check Spelling You can make your own custom dictionary via Tools gt Options gt Spelling Dictionary Working with Objects 106 Working with Objects Working with Objects 107 Copying pasting cutting and deleting objects To copy one or more objects to the Windows Clipboard 1 Select the object s mal 2 Click the J Copy button on the Standard toolbar If you re using another Windows application you can usually copy and paste objects via the Clipboard To paste an object from the Clipboard A e Click the Paste button on the Standard toolbar The standard Paste command inserts a clipboard object onto the page amp To select the type of object to be pasted from the Clipboard choose Paste Special from the Edit menu To cut one or more objects to the Clipboard 1 Select the object s 2 Click the had Cut button on the Standard toolbar The object is deleted from the page and a copy is placed on the Windows Clipboard To delete one or more objects e Select the object s with the Pointer Rotate or Node Tool and press the Delete key Cloning an object DrawPlus lets you clone or duplicate objects easily using drag and drop
140. nd you can use any of the three line tools to do so Use the Pointer Tool and then the line s drawing tool to resize or reshape lines once you ve drawn them 58 Lines Curves and Shapes To extend a line 1 Move the cursor over either of the end nodes a small cursor will appear Click at that location 2 The line that you drag out will be a continuation of the existing line as a new line segment To draw a curved line 1 Choose the Pen Tool from the Drawing toolbar hE e drawn segments in Smooth joins or Sharp joins creation mode By 2 From the displayed context toolbar choose to create your default you ll be in Smooth joins mode i e drawing B zier curves segment by segment Sharp joins would create a zig zag line without curving through nodes 3 Click where you want the line to start 1 4 Click again for a new node and drag out a pair of control handles which orbit the node 2 Control handles act like magnets pulling the curve into shape The distance between handles determines the depth of the resulting curved line Release the mouse button to create your curve segment 3 1 2 3 5 To extend an existing line click beyond the end of your current curve to create a new node thus creating another curve segment Normally curve segments end in a symmetric evenly rounded corner 4 with control handles locked together Lines Curves and Shapes 59 4 5 6 Howev
141. nnect any two straight or curved lines to form a new line To join two lines together 1 Select both lines by Shift clicking with any selection tool 2 Choose Join Curves from the Tools menu The end control node of one line is connected with the start control node of the other Using QuickShapes QuickShapes are pre designed objects that you can instantly add to your page then adjust and vary using control handles QuickShapes are g HH Lu i vas added from a flyout containing a ee CO amp of dG wide variety of commonly used shapes including boxes arrows lt S w hearts spirals and other useful symbols To create a QuickShape g _ 1 Click the down arrow on the Oh QuickShape button on the Drawing toolbar then select a shape from the flyout The button takes on the icon of the shape you selected 2 At your chosen cursor position either e Double click to place a default sized QuickShape or Lines Curves and Shapes 69 e Click and drag on the page to draw out your QuickShape to a chosen size use the Shift key to lock the aspect ratio the Ctrl key to scale from its centre point or both together New QuickShapes adopt the currently set line and fill in DrawPlus All QuickShapes can be positioned resized rotated and filled What s more you can morph their designs For example dragging the handles on a Quick Polygon will change the number of sides to make a triangle
142. nsparency control of non reflective reflective surfaces Multiple separately coloured lights are added for dramatic lighting effects All filter effects can now be applied in preview mode or to the object on the page Powerful object cropping p 110 The Crop Tool makes cropping your design or imported image more instinctive and intuitive An on document control bar lets you transform the crop window with respect to position rotation and shape Crop to preset Crop Shapes For better composition while cropping use a cropping Rule Thirds grid Importing and Exporting Open picture as document p 24 Pictures can now be opened in DrawPlus as a new document automatically sized to the picture dimensions Add design objects captions line or shapes and then export 14 Welcome Sharing Export selected regions p 252 Easily draw and size an overlay region around an area of your design then export it via Export Optimizer HD Photo and PostScript files p 171 Import and export as Microsoft s new HD Photo file format Import Encapsulated PostScript files eps as well Open Adobe Illustrator files p 25 Open and edit Adobe Illustrator files 9 0 and above directly into DrawPlus A new metafile format p 171 Import and export Serif Metafiles SMF a proprietary image format with improvements to the Windows Metafile format WMF Better line fill and text definitions make them ideal for sharing graphics between Serif
143. ntal on the Arrange tab Top and bottom stay the same e To flip the selection top to bottom click Flip Vertical on the Arrange tab Left and right stay the same Finding objects When you create any object in your DrawPlus drawing you re actually creating an object name for that drawing This serves several purposes to uniquely identify objects when using the Layers tab and to allow objects to be targeted by ActionScript in Keyframe animation Object names are visible in the Layers tab they are created on a selected layer automatically as you draw the object Many objects are given the same names wow such as Bitmap Quick Ellipse Curve 2 Nodes you may like to rename each object to make them distinct from each other making them clearly identifiable You can also name groups within DrawPlus using the same principle consider a garden project where you could name specific objects in your garden 124 Working with Objects Objects ian Decking 2 Ge Fumiture 4 Objects p fee Bedding Or 2 DrawPlus lets you search for your named objects sa Find What or groups to allow resizing rotating Maple transforming or any other operation by using the Find Objects dialog it can locate the object Look In or group on the current layer page or the entire Whole Document document shown F Match Whole Word Match Case Search Up Objects or groups that have not bee
144. nto custom shapes and apply them to other objects for corresponding effects With the Envelope Tool an object s nodes can be moved in order to create custom envelopes or to allow preset envelopes to be applied to the selected object The displayed context toolbar shown while the tool is active offers various options to customize the envelope envelope shape line colour weight and style can all be altered It also lets you pick from a range of pre defined envelopes of various shapes remove the selected object s envelope or apply curve adjustments on the envelope s boundary To apply an envelope 1 Select the object s you want to be enveloped 2 Click a Envelope Tool on the Drawing toolbar 3 From the context toolbar select a preset from the B4 Preset Envelopes v Preset Envelopes flyout The first item User Defined envelope retrieves the last drawn custom envelope shape used in your current DrawPlus session To remove an envelope 1 Select the envelope with the Envelope Tool 2 Click gl Remove Envelope from the Envelope context toolbar To create edit your own envelope You can create an envelope or edit any of the preset envelopes once they have been applied by dragging the nodes and handles accordingly Lines Curves and Shapes 75 e Select the object s with the Envelope Tool DrawPlus automatically selects the Node tool when an envelope is applied The Node Tool along with the displayed curve buttons
145. o you avoid having to move objects to other layers or lock object unnecessarily Working with Pages 47 e Select the object then click Solo Mode on the Hintline toolbar After editing click the button again to return to normal editing mode Updating defaults When you create new objects in DrawPlus the way they look depends on the current default settings for that particular type of object DrawPlus stores defaults separately for 1 lines shapes including QuickShapes 2 artistic text objects 3 connectors 4 dimension objects and 5 brushes Defaults for shape text as contained in shapes are distinct from those for artistic text and are defined along with other shape defaults they are subsumed under other shape properties For any object default means the properties of the object line fill attributes that will be applied to the next new object of the same type you create You can adopt two approaches to controlling your defaults according to your preferred way of working i e Np On Defaults are changed dynamically by al _ Synchronize synchronizing to the colour style Defaults from flyout transparency or effect of the currently on Standard toolbar selected item or tab setting For example when painting you might want to reuse the colour of a previously painted brush stroke This is the default mode of operation Synchronize Defaults Off Defaults are changed by manually updating to th
146. o export your animation with the Transparency setting turned on any unfilled regions of the graphic will become transparent in the GIF All other regions will become opaque Keyframe animation cannot export Animated GIFs For details on using transparency in GIFs see Using transparency effects on p 164 To export animation as video 1 2 Choose Export gt Export As Video from the File menu From the displayed dialog s Basic tab select your chosen export type from the File type and Template drop down list according to the type of output video format you require Optional Click Match project settings to set an approximate video frame size based on your animation project s Page size set in Page Setup Specify a name for file in the Filename box clicking Browse and selecting a new location if you first wish to choose an alternate drive or folder to store your file Optional From the dialog s Advanced tab make a new video template with the Copy button then alter more advanced settings such as video Frame size choose Custom then set a Width and Height Pixel aspect ratio Frame rate Interlacing Codec settings and more depending on the format to be exported See Exporting video Advanced in online Help for more details 240 Creating Animations 6 7 Image Optional Set an export Quality Click the Export button Your project will then be composed and converted into the specified format and you will be
147. o make an insertion point to edit the existing text A good example would be to rename the initial Layer 1 to be called Sky as above Working with Objects 135 To delete a layer e In the Layers tab select the layer s name and click the Delete Layer button amp If you delete a layer all of the objects on it are lost So if you want to keep any of them move them to another layer first You can move layers up or down in the stacking order to place their objects in front or behind those on other layers move objects to specific layers and even merge layers To move a layer in the stacking order A 2 e In the Layers tab select the layer s entry then click the Move Layer Up or Move Layer Down button to move the layer up or down in the list respectively or e Drag the selected layer to a new position in the layer stack Remember that objects on layers are drawn in the order in which the layers were initially added to the Layers tab Put another way the bottom layer in the Layers tab stack is drawn first then the second bottom third bottom etc A background layer should be the bottom layer in the Layers tab stack The standard object ordering commands Forward One Back One etc can be used on a layer affecting an object s level within the layer it currently occupies For more information see Ordering objects on p 132 At some point you may be confident that objects on separate layers can be managed
148. of the preset workspace profiles from the Startup Wizard Choose Workspace Advanced keyframe animation DrawPlus provides a range of features for the more experienced user i e e Apply actions in response to object events or at a specific keyframe either via an easy to use dialog or develop ActionScript code directly e Use the Keyframe camera for panning zooming and rotation effects over keyframes e Masking lets you produce cutaways i e punching through a layer s to reveal underlying objects Creating Animations 215 e Add and manage sound and movies to enhance your animation Manage files from one central location with the Media tab which also allows viewing and direct replacement of media Getting started amp You can enter Keyframe animation mode via File gt New gt New Keyframe Animation or by converting your existing drawing by using File gt Convert to Keyframe Animation Basic keyframe animations are created in a specific order 1 Select a Page Setup from the context toolbar specific to your keyframe animation 2 Create object s either static or for animation on the page 3 From the Storyboard tab insert the number of keyframes and their duration via a dialog 4 Reposition objects in subsequent keyframes to effect animation 5 Export your keyframe animation as Adobe Flash SWF Choosing a Page Setup Page Setup 1 Choose a _ from the context toolbar shown with Pointer or Rotate Tool sele
149. ofile to a new name and reuse it from the drop down menu on the profile selection screen or within AutoTrace studio To save a custom autotrace profile i 1 Click Save Current Profile 2 From the dialog enter a custom profile name The profile appears in the drop down menu in profile selection screen and studio To delete an autotrace profile 1 Select the existing custom profile from the drop down menu Delete Current Profile The profile is removed from the 184 Working with Pictures Applying Special Effects 10 186 Applying Special Effects Applying Special Effects 187 Creating borders The Border Wizard lets you J create a border around the whole page or a selected object or within a specific page region It s possible to create your own border from a current object selection or from a preset border style To create a border R Ze If creating a border around an object Select the object first Select Border Wizard from the Insert menu From the dialog choose to select a border from a library of pre designed borders From library or make your own border based on the Current selection Click Next gt Choose where you want the border to be placed e g Around the current selection and click Next For presets choose one of the pre defined border designs from the scrolling list and set the border s width If making your own border enable a different border style
150. on p 160 e Vector graphics are resolution independent and contain drawing commands such as draw a line from A to B These are like DrawPlus drawings made of many individual objects grouped together and you can edit them in the same sort of way You have the choice of ungrouping the objects in order to edit them further or leaving them as a group Vector graphics such as Windows MetaFiles wmf and Serif MetaFiles smf can be imported both combine raster and vector information the latter being Serif s proprietary metafile format great for sharing between Serif applications Any imported picture ends up as an object you can select move scale shear rotate and even cut or crop using the Knife or Crop Tool on the Drawing toolbar To import a picture from a file H 1 Click Insert Picture on the Drawing toolbar 2 From the dialog locate and select the file to import then click Open T The dialog disappears and the mouse pointer changes to the Picture Size cursor What you do next determines the initial size placement and aspect ratio proportions of the picture 3 Either e To insert the picture at a default size simply click the mouse or 172 Working with Pictures e To set the size of the inserted picture drag out a region and release the mouse button By default the picture s aspect ratio is preserved To allow free dragging to any aspect ratio hold down the Shift key To constrain
151. on the same layer without compromising layer control Merging layers enables this and will help to keep your layer management simpler This rationalization is possible via the Merge button 136 Working with Objects To merge a layer l Activate the layer you want to merge to by clicking its entry The layer is highlighted in blue Note that the active layer becomes uppermost in the workspace With the Ctrl key pressed select a single or multiple layers that you want to merge into the activated layer the layers are framed with a blue border Click the Merge button The contents of the merged layer s appear on the active layer and the previously selected layers disappear If you re working on an especially complex document you can temporarily freeze a layer and its objects via right click finished with to speed up performance The layer is rasterized to a user defined DPI 96 DPI by default and is not editable until it is unfrozen although it remains visible Layer Properties Layer properties allow you to assign paper textures make layers invisible non printable and or locked An object s selection handle colour can also be defined based on its current layer You can perform these operations directly from the Layers tab or by double clicking or right click on a layer entry Click the Paper textures icon to apply a texture to object s ona layer The displayed dialog offers a Paper Textures category from
152. onstrain the movement to horizontal or vertical 5 Drag one or more control handles to produce very precise changes in the curvature of the line on either side of a node You can shorten or lengthen the handles which changes the depth of the curve that is how far out the curve extends or alter the handle angle which changes the curve s slope amp When using the Pen Tool pressing the Ctrl key while clicking a node lets you edit the curve directly This saves having to jump back to the Node Tool You can t edit multiple nodes simultaneously has By changing the type of node you can change how the adjacent segments behave As a shortcut when selecting nodes you can press Tab or Shift Tab to select the next or previous node along the line following the order in which nodes were created Simplifying or enhancing a line The more nodes there are on a line or shape the more control over its shape you have The fewer nodes there are the simpler smoother the line or shape You can adjust the Smoothness to refine the curve most recently drawn as long as the line is still selected It is also possible to add or delete nodes to simplify or enhance curves and even clean curves removing unnecessary nodes automatically Lines Curves and Shapes 65 To adjust the smoothness of the most recent pencil line Choose the Pencil Tool and draw a freeform line Click the right arrow on the Smoothness option and drag the disp
153. oolbar s Run forward or Run backward buttons The Autorun feature does not autorun objects backwards but instead only runs objects forward To autorun objects 1 Click the Ibb AutoRun button on the Storyboard tab The button is highlighted when enabled Click again to disable 2 Create or modify an object on a keyframe to see the effect on the object in subsequent keyframes As well as switching the Autorun feature on and off you can also check one of the following options click the down arrow on the Autorun button to change how Autorun operates Creation By default an object will be created on every subsequent and keyframe and object placement is mirrored throughout Placement the subsequent keyframes of your storyboard Creation The object is created on every subsequent keyframe throughout your storyboard but the object s position on keyframes remains unaffected Placement The object s position is mirrored on subsequent keyframes on your storyboard Attributes The attributes colour transparency effects of an object are mirrored to the same object on subsequent keyframes on your storyboard 228 Creating Animations Applying actions keyframe animation Selected objects can be assigned an event and corresponding action The use of actions provides an interactive experience in response to a user s mouse up down press release key press up down roll over etc As a typical example an event such as a mouse pres
154. or uncheck the check boxes to switch on or off the synchronization of defaults for that attribute Working with Pages 49 To switch synchronize defaults off for manual default control Uncheck Synchronize Defaults on the Defaults flyout of the Standard toolbar To set object defaults manually l With Synchronize Defaults disabled create a sample object the object type matching the set of defaults you re updating line shape artistic text object connector or dimension object and alter it to use the specific properties you plan to use as defaults or Use an existing object that already has the right properties Right click the object and choose Update Defaults or choose Update Object Defaults from the Format menu When you update defaults from a shape all default shape properties including shape text attributes are reset at the same time Shape text properties are stored along with other shape defaults such as line and fill To avoid altering these settings when updating shape text defaults create a new sample shape and modify only its text Normally each time you close a document object default settings are recorded as master settings to be used in future documents To stop DrawPlus from recording the defaults as master settings choose Tools gt Save Settings and uncheck the Object Defaults box Resetting defaults A reset of defaults is useful if you feel the need to get back to basics an
155. ory Or Drag the desired thumbnail from the gallery to an object The transparency is applied to the object s Sometimes objects of a lighter colour will not display their transparency clearly ensure the transparency is applied correctly by temporarily placing the object over a strong solid colour To apply gradient transparency with Transparency Tool l Select an object Click Ea Transparency Tool on the Drawing toolbar Click and drag on the object to define the transparency path The object takes a simple linear transparency grading from 100 transparency to 0 transparency in the direction you drag You ve freeform control over where the path starts and ends and the direction in which the path will be drawn You can even click again to redraw the path Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 167 Editing gradient transparency Once you ve applied a transparency you can adjust its path on the object and the level of transparency along the path You can even create more complex transparency effects by adding extra nodes to the path and assigning different levels to each node You cannot alter the values in a bitmap transparency To adjust the transparency path directly e Use the Transparency Tool to drag individual nodes or click on the object for a new start node and drag out a new transparency path The effect starts where you place the start node and ends where you place the end node For b
156. ou will notice that the cursor changes to a double headed Size cursor Drag from a corner handle above to resize in two dimensions by moving two edges while maintaining the selection s aspect ratio proportions To resize about the object centre instead press the Ctrl key as you drag Working with Objects 121 To allow free resizing of an object to any aspect ratio With the Shift key depressed drag If you drag an object s side from an object s corner handle This handles you ll stretch or squash resizes in two directions the object in one direction You can also make fine resizing adjustments via the keyboard or from the Transform tab Rotating and shearing objects The Rotate Tool lets you both rotate and shear slant one or more objects To rotate one or more objects around a centre point E 1 Click EA Rotate Tool on the Drawing toolbar s Selection Tool flyout 2 Click to select the object then hover over a corner handle and when you see the cursor change drag in the direction in which you want to rotate the object then release the mouse Use Shift key for rotating in 15 degree intervals 122 Working with Objects Youll notice the angle of rotation displayed around the object s centre of rotation Note that when rotating objects dimensions will be temporarily displayed during the operation To change the centre point of rotation l Move the centre of rotation away from its orig
157. our opacity combinations on objects or nodes on fill paths Improved toolbars The Standard toolbar now sports large icons for better visual cues and hosts the now always at hand 3D Planes and Overlays options for perspective drawing and design aids Lasso selection p 55 Difficulty selecting complex objects For better control use the Alt key with your Pointer Tool and draw a lasso around objects Even lasso nodes while editing curves Design Welcome 13 Spray brush strokes p 81 Have some painting fun with spray brushes from categories such as Airbrushes Grunge and Special Effects change brush colours to suit your design or adjust brush nozzle control Brush and edge effects on object outlines p 147 Bored of solid line fills Try stroking a brush outline around artistic text image and shapes Alternatively use textured edge brushes for ripped painted smudged glowing or burnt edges Design aids p 42 Use Overlays such as Rule of Thirds grid for improved page composition and Divine Proportions for aesthetic proportioning For more focused design use Solo mode to work on an object in isolation New stunning 2D and 3D filter effects p 193 and p 196 Blur any object or create a coloured solid or gradient outline around object edges use the new Contour fill which applies gradient fill from the inner to outer outline width 3D effects are boosted with Reflection Maps which offer a realistic glass like tra
158. paragraph indents above below spacing Need foreign language support Simply paste text in Unicode format as either formatted RTF or unformatted plain text Font substitutions during the opening of DrawPlus or PDF files offers an interactive means of managing missing fonts Use Spell Checker to proof your output check any text against an editable user dictionary Perform Powerful Blends The Blend Tool allows adjustment of blend steps transform and attribute profiles rate of change Objects can be multiply blended to from other blends to create truly stunning illustrations Instant 3D with on screen transforms Transform 3D objects with in situ 3D rotational control and editing Apply awesome multi coloured lighting effects with directional control along with custom bevel and lathe effect profiles to create your very own unique contours Hardware accelerated rendering boosts redraw performance hardware dependent Welcome 9 Perspective Effects Get a new slant on things With a context toolbar flyout full of presets plus a built in tool for freeform adjustments the Perspective Tool lets you tilt and skew text or any other object for truly spatial results Roughen Tool For jagged jaunty edges on text lines or QuickShapes just drag the tool up or down for subtle or bold results Border Wizard Vastly flexible Border Wizard instantly adds borders to the page or to individual objects Choose a border from the exten
159. pentagon hexagon or other polygon To adjust the appearance of a QuickShape 1 Click on the QuickShape to reveal sliding handles around the shape These are distinct from the inner selection handles Different QuickShapes have different handles 2 Drag any handle to change the appearance of the QuickShape For example by dragging the top sliding handle to the right on the pentagon below will quickly produce an octagon 0 You can also use the Line tab and Swatch tab to alter any object s line fill properties after it has been drawn 70 Lines Curves and Shapes Using the Gallery The Studio s Gallery tab contains pre built design objects and elements you d like to reuse in different drawings Arts and Crafts Cartoons Connecting Symbols for family trees electronics and computers Layout Symbols for garden and home and ShapeArt are all folders under which various categories or further sub folders are stored When you install the DrawPlus X3 Resource CD the Gallery tab also includes further categories Curriculum and Business for your use The Gallery tab has two Gallery parts 1 an upper i Animals Folder Categories drop down menu and 2 a lower Designs window where you can select and drag a copy of the design onto your page The Gallery tab also lets you store your own designs in the My Designs section if you would like to reuse them the design is made available in any DrawPlus docum
160. positioning transforms or attributes local to the object Both options are on the object toolbar 224 Creating Animations The Object toolbar also offers two commands for repositioning objects along the storyboard Update placement backward updates a previous object s position to match the selected key or tweened object s current position Conversely Update placement forward updates later object s position accordingly To change object placement 4 Select the object whose positional information you want to apply forward or backward From the object s toolbar click either du Update placement backward to make a previous object s position match the selected object s position or Ub Update placement forward to do the same to later object positions From the dialog choose to Run Length either to the beginning end of the storyboard or to a set number of keyframes before after the currently selected object choose the Run length drop down menu pick N Keyframes and enter a number of keyframes Click OK Like DrawPlus s Format Painter you can also apply a specific object s attributes colour transparency filter effects shadows etc to previous or later objects Creating Animations 225 To change object attributes 1 Select the object whose attributes you want to apply forward or backward 2 From the object s toolbar click either E e The q Update attributes backward button to apply a
161. pplying 2D filter effects You can apply some depth to your objects by applying an embossing effect e From the Effects tab adjust the Material Thickness setting on your selected object The greater the Material Thickness value the greater the 24 pt embossed effect Making feathered edges VY Feathering applies a softer edge to your objects such as embellishments or cut materials The effect is especially useful for presenting a photo on the page Feather Edee e From the Effects tab pick a 7 pt Feather Edge setting This is the distance inside the object s outline from which feathering will be applied 194 Applying Special Effects The Feathering option in the Filter Effects dialog offers independent control of Opacity and Blur which can also be used in conjunction with other 2D filter effects For more advanced control of filter effects DrawPlus provides a variety of filter effects that you can use to transform any object The following examples show each filter effect when applied to the letter A Drop Shadow Inner Shadow Outer Glow Inner Glow Inner Bevel Outer Bevel Emboss Pillow Emboss Gaussian Blur Zoom Blur Radial Blur Motion Blur Colour Fill Feather Outline DrawPlus additionally provides the Shadow Tool for applying a shadow to an object directly on your page Control handles let you adjust shadow blur opacity and colour Applying Special Effects 195 To apply
162. r begin printing J e Click M Print on the Standard toolbar The Print dialog appears To print 1 On the General tab select a printer from the list If necessary click the Properties button to set up the printer for the correct page size etc Set the page size from the Advanced button Depending on your printer driver to print text with shading or custom settings enable the Send True Type as Bitmap option 2 If necessary click the Layout to set options for scaling thumbnails multiple pages or tiling For details see Printing special formats on p 247 3 Select the print range to be printed choose the whole document current page selected pages page ranges as options 4 Select the number of copies 5 Ifrequired save the current settings to a Print profile see below 6 Click OK The Preview window shows how your document maps to the selected paper size The pages will be printed in colour on a colour printer or in shades of grey on a black and white printer You can save the current combination of settings made in the Print dialog as a print profile with a unique name Note that the profile includes settings from all tabs except the Separations tab By the way don t confuse these DrawPlus print profiles with ICC device profiles To save current print settings as a print profile 1 On the Print dialog s General tab click the Save As button next to the Print Profile list 2 Type in ane
163. r projected objects to create a larger object which simulates 3D characteristics You can remove any Pseudo 3D projection by selecting No Projection from the peor drop down menu From the same drop down menu Switch Plane on Select can be disabled to stop automatically switching to the plane of a projected object when selected If you re creating a large number of objects all on different planes you can select all objects which project onto the same plane useful for changing the colour of object faces for instance Selecting objects on the same plane e From the Select All On Plane option on the Edit menu choose None Top Front or Right from the menu To project an object to a different plane e Select a previously projected object and with the Ctrl key depressed choose a different plane from the gienen drop down menu 204 Applying Special Effects Using Advanced Pseudo 3D Up to now we ve assumed that you ve applied a default isometric projection However DrawPlus can create other axonometric projections by changing the current projection properties To apply an advanced Pseudo 3D projection 1 Select the object TSH 3D Panes je 2 Click Projection Properties on the J drop down menu 3 From the dialog select a projection type from the drop down list Isometric TEN 30 Cabinet Oblique 0 90 60 Cavalier Oblique 0 90 45 Dimetric 1 37 90 37 Dimetric 2 15 90 rd Trimetric 1 12
164. rawPlus Template dpx option By default the template will be saved to a My Templates folder so that your templates will be accessible for future use see Starting with a new drawing on p 22 2 Enter a file name leaving the file extension intact and click Save To edit a template file directly 1 Choose Open from the File menu and select DrawPlus Templates dpx in the Files of type box 2 Navigate to the folder containing your saved template file and select it 3 To open the original template uncheck the Open as untitled option 4 Click the Open button You can then make edits to your template 28 Getting Started Closing DrawPlus To close the current document e Choose Close from the File menu or click the window s z Close button or If you have a middle mouse button wheel click it when you hover over the document tab at the top of your workspace If the document is still unsaved or there are unsaved changes you ll be prompted to save changes To close DrawPlus e Choose Exit from the File menu For each open window you ll be prompted to save any changes made since the last save Working with Pages 30 Working with Pages Working with Pages 31 Setting up a document A document s page size and orientation settings make a fundamental difference to its layout and are defined when the new document is first created see Starting with a new drawing on p 22 If the Startup Wizard is turn
165. re line at the top of 87 to the chart Click on this line the cursor changes and drag downwards moving the displayed red node into your chosen position You now have a blue curve which represents the pressure profile 3 Repeat the process for the number of nodes that you want to add to make up the profile Edit an existing pressure profile from the preset drop down menu create profiles quickly You can then save the current pressure settings to your own saved pressure profile this allows you to store and reapply your settings at any point in the future To save a new pressure profile e Click on the gt Tab Menu button and select Add Pressure Profile Your new profile is automatically added to the bottom of the pressure profile preset drop down list To delete a pressure profile 1 Clickon the Tab Menu button and select Manage Pressure Profiles 2 In the dialog select the pressure profile for deletion and click the Delete button Altering brush width and opacity with pressure For subtle brush pressure control DrawPlus can vary the extent to which pen pressure can alter a brush s original width and opacity This is expressed as a percentage of the original brush Width and Opacity values shown in the Brushes context toolbar Imagine the end of your brush stroke tapering off or getting fainter as it lifts off the page the concept is simple to 88 Using Brushes You can set the degree to wh
166. rkable 3D surface and texture presets in various categories Glass Metal Wood etc Click any thumbnail to apply it to the selected object Assuming the object has some colour on it to start with you ll see an instant result Note that none of these effects will work on objects using the Instant 3D effect as Material Thickness Feather Edge described in the next section Nor alk will they do anything to an unfilled object you ll need to have a fill there to see the difference they make Alternatively you can customize an Effects tab preset or apply one or more specific effects from scratch To apply 3D filter effects from scratch 1 Click we 2 Check the 3D Effects box at the left The 3D Lighting box is checked by default Filter Effects on the Drawing toolbar e 3D Effects is a master switch for this ae Effects group and its settings of Blur and 3D Bump Map l Depth make a great difference you can Function ae l click the button to unlink them for independent adjustment 2D Bump Map independent adjustment 3D Pattern Map e 3D Lighting provides a light source Function without which any depth information Advanced in the effect wouldn t be visible The 2D Pattern Map lighting settings let you illuminate your Reflection Map 3D landscape and vary its reflective Transparency properties 3D Lighting Check other 2D 3D Bump and Pattern Maps Reflection Maps and Transparency for mixed e
167. rm alpha refers to a 32 bit image s alpha transparency channel Use on more well defined edges A cropped image with crop outline is created which can be later manipulated with the crop tools You can optionally apply feathering and smoothness to the image edge the background colour will not be removed To create an alpha edged bitmap 1 Select Alpha edged Bitmap from the Output Type drop down menu 2 Drag the Width slider to set the extent to which the alpha blending is applied inside the cutout edge 3 Adjust the Blur slider to smooth out the cutout edge 176 Working with Pictures To create a vector cropped bitmap 1 Select Vector cropped Bitmap from the Output Type drop down menu 2 Drag the Feather slider to apply a soft or blurry edge inside the cutout edge 3 Drag the Smoothness slider to smooth out the cutout edge 4 The Inflate slider acts as an positive or negative offset from the cutout edge Selecting areas to keep or discard A pair of brushes for keeping and discarding is used to enable parts of the image to be selected The tools are called Keep Brush and Discard Brush and are either used independently or more typically in combination with each other When using either tool the brush paints an area contained by an outline which is considered to be discarded or retained depending on brush type A configurable number of pixels adjacent to the outline area are blended Either tool a
168. rom cel animation where transparent sheets enable the artist to see through to the preceding frame s It s useful for enabling precise registration and controlling object movement from frame to frame You can turn the feature on or off the default is off as needed and set the number of previous frames that will be visible normally one To turn onion skinning on or off 1 From the Frames tab click the l button to turn onion skinning on or off 2 To set previous frame to be visible click J then set the number of frames in the Onion Skinning input box The preceding frame s objects will show behind those of the currently selected frame Previewing Stopframe animations You can preview your animation prior to export at any time either directly from your Frames tab shown in a Preview window or from within your default web browser To preview in the Preview window e Click the button on the Frames tab The animation loads into the Preview window and begins playing at its actual size and speed Notice that you see only the drawn portion of the animation any extra surrounding white space is cropped away You can use the control buttons Play Stop etc to review individual frames 212 Creating Animations To preview in a web browser e For stopframe animation select Preview in Browser from the File menu The animation loads your default web browser and begins playing This actually export
169. roperties dialog right click on a layer entry and choose Layer Properties Applying Special Effects 199 Applying dimensionality Instant 3D Using the Instant 3D feature you can easily transform flat shapes shown and text into three dimensional objects oy DrawPlus provides control over 3D effect settings such as e _ bevelling use several rounded and chiseled presets or create your own e lighting up to eight editable and separately coloured lights can be positioned to produce dramatic lighting effects e lathe effects create contoured objects e g a bottle cork with user defined lathe profiles and extrusion control e texture control how texture is extruded on objects with non solid fills e viewing present your object in three dimensions e material controls the extent to which lighting has an effect on the object s surfaces great for 3D artistic text An always at hand 3D context toolbar hosted above your workspace lets you configure the above settings each setting contributes to the 3D effect applied to the selected object For on the page object control you can transform in 3D with use of an orbit circle which acts as an axis from which you can rotate around the X Y and Z axes in relation to your page Look for the cursor changing as you hover over either the circles nodes or periphery 200 Applying Special Effects X Y Z X and Y rotation rotation rotation rotation Remember to tak
170. rs 75 curves 61 dimension lines 99 lines and shapes 61 72 QuickShapes 69 text 95 effects 187 188 196 199 201 2D 193 blends 188 blur 196 borders 187 curved text 99 envelopes 74 feathering 195 filter 193 filters 196 Instant 3D 199 outline 195 perspective 73 Pseudo 3D 201 roughening edges 190 shadows 191 Effects tab 196 ellipse fills 155 Emboss effect 193 194 Envelope Tool 74 envelopes 74 applying 74 in Keyframe animation 232 Erase Tool 119 estimating download time 252 Export Optimizer 237 250 exporting 237 249 animations 237 drawings 250 HD photos 251 objects 250 overlays 252 PDF files 249 Serif Metafiles 251 via Live Export Preview 253 Feather Edge 193 Feather effect 194 feathering 195 features new 12 fill path bitmap and plasma fills 160 editing gradient 157 Mesh fills 161 Fill Tool 156 Fill on Create 59 84 fills 143 applying solid 145 bitmap and plasma 159 changing 155 changing bitmap 160 gradient 156 Mesh 161 setting defaults 47 solid 143 defining 152 filter effects 193 3D 196 finding objects groups 123 Flash Lite export 241 Flash SWF export 238 Flip Horizontal 123 Flip Vertical 123 focused design 46 folded documents printing 247 setup 31 fonts 95 embedding in PDF files 249 Format Painter 113 formatting 95 of text 96 Forward One 132 four colour fills 155 frame text 93 95 Frame Text Tool
171. rst screen enter text to be placed on the curve This is not shown if text has already been selected on the page In the second screen if an object or outline has already been selected the Use Current Selection option will be checked Uncheck if you want your text to flow along one of the available preset curves then pick a curve on which the text will be placed Click Finish to close the wizard If using an existing text object the text will be placed on the curve line or shape For text entered via the wizard you ll have to click to add text of a default size to the page or drag out the text on the page for a custom size Select your artistic text From the context toolbar click the down arrow on the 55 14t Paths 14 button and select a preset curve from the drop down menu on which the text will flow You can edit the baseline curve with the Node Tool Adding dimension lines and labels DrawPlus lets you add dimension lines with text labels showing the distance between two fixed points in a drawing or the angle formed by three points For example you can draw a dimension line along one side of a box measuring the distance between the two corner points If you resize the box the line automatically follows suit and its label text updates to reflect the new measurement 100 Working with Text O TS 2 N N You ll find dimension lines indispensable for planning garden designs e g a garden gaz
172. ry to the Applied Actions list 3 With the entry selected click the Edit button The Action Script Code Editor window is displayed 4 Enter your ActionScript code either by coding directly or by pasting existing code in the window 5 Click OK Creating Animations 231 Click the Flatten button to rationalize several listed actions into one A combined action named Flattened Code is created instead Each code snippet will be run consecutively ActionScript Version 2 is supported in DrawPlus Creating markers Working in a similar manner to bookmarks markers work along with actions allowing jumps to particular keyframes on the storyboard Markers are positioned between keyframes along the storyboard and need to be activated for use Each marker can be named which is especially useful for marker identification when you re using multiple markers along your storyboard Additionally a marker can be used to stop an animation preventing your animation from looping the Stops playhead marker setting will prevent the animation from continuing past that marker position To set a marker 1 Clicka marker icon after a chosen keyframe 2 From the dialog enter an easily identifiable Marker Name 3 Optional Check Stops playhead to prevent your animation from continuing 4 Click OK 5 The marker s appearance will change accordingly i e T T Marker not Marker set Marker set with set shown with Stops playhead blu
173. s a temporary copy of the animation using the current export settings and displays it in your web browser You can leave the browser open and DrawPlus will find it again next time you issue the command Using background and overlay frames DrawPlus supports two methods of reusing elements across multiple frames Background frames and Overlay frames Background frames You can designate any frame as a Background frame which remains visible while the following frames animate over it To create a Background frame e Inthe Frames tab click on the icon at the bottom of your chosen frame Youll see the objects on the background frame carried forward either to the end of the animation or to the next background frame Click again to revert back to a normal frame Overlay frames The main advantage of frame overlaying is to save you the time of having to copy or redraw objects in a series where each frame builds cumulatively on previous frames The white portions of Overlay frames become transparent so the contents of the preceding frame show through The effect is cumulative so overlays are most useful in a series where each frame builds on the contents of all the previous overlay frames amp The Overlay effect resembles that of onion skinning see Working with Stopframe animation on p 209 but it s actually a frame property that becomes part of the final animation Creating Animations 213 To make the current frame an Overlay
174. s on an object can initiate an action such as a jump to a particular keyframe e g an important point in your animation that could indicate contact details important messages etc The Actions tab is used to apply actions to a selected object By firstly Mouse Press selecting an event from Mouse Release the tab s Events scrolling Mouse Release Outside list you can then link Roll Out that event to an DAIN available action listed Tg Li Tear for selection within a single dialog i e Mouse Press Action Script Available Actions Applied Actions F I Advanced Actions Browser Actions D Navigate browser to URL Navigate named frame to URL Open new browser at URL fj Effect Actions Position Actions J Pretoader Actions one B Navigate browser to URL Mill Ul E Sound Actions E Timeline Actions Actions are grouped into a tree menu structure whose categories include e Advanced Begin End blocks apply conditions create variables variable control e Browser navigate browser to URL shown navigate frame to URL Open browser with URL Creating Animations 229 Effect named object control hide show recolour Position move objects by pixel or to screen areas Pre loader rewind animation object stretch Sound increase decrease volume play stop sound set volume Timeline go to marker animation frame animation playback control stop pla
175. s tab The tab also offers an extensive range of decorative chain lines Changing line style A series of buttons arranged along the top of the Line tab set the line style No line Solid Dash Double Calligraphic and Brush Stroke styles can be applied to freeform lines and outlines of shapes images and artistic text alike Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 149 The last ia Edge Effect style applies fringed edges to images and text with specially designed Edge brushes To change line style e Simply click a button to set the line style only one style can be set any one time Pick another button to jump to that style Once a style is selected you can choose line ends for most styles except Brush Stroke and Edge Effect For some styles variations are also available For example for a Dash or Double line style additional dash patterns below and double line options can be selected BGR REGGE EE PERSE R SSR REEE FEF F F F F ERI Em Ee EE a i Ba 2 E E ee O Custom To select a line end e From the Ir drop down menus pick a line start and end Other styles such as Dash and Calligraphic offer further customization of the chosen style 150 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Two styles called A Brush Stroke and ia Edge Effect let you apply a brush chosen from the Brushes tab to your line or your object s edge You ll see your current brush shown in the Line tab Both effects look great wh
176. sed to apply different levels of transparency along a transparency path instead of colour 164 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency To apply solid opacity 1 Select the object s and display the Studio s Colour tab 2 Drag the slider to the left for a reduced opacity setting e g 20 drag right to increase opacity This makes objects appear semi transparent or if set to 0 fully transparent To apply solid opacity to a fill path 1 Select the object s and display the Studio s Colour tab 2 Click di Fill Tool on the Drawing toolbar 3 Click on any displayed node along the fill path Use Shift select for selecting multiple nodes 4 From the Colour tab drag the slider to the left for a reduced opacity setting You ll notice the new opacity setting influencing the fill s appearance if placed in front of another coloured object Using transparency effects While uniform opacity can be applied along with colour via the Colour tab see Setting opacity on p 162 it s possible to apply gradient transparency via the Transparency tab or Transparency Tool independent of colour Bitmap transparency can also be applied exclusively via the Transparency tab Just as a gradient fill can vary from light to dark a gradient transparency varies from more to less transparency i e from clear to opaque Picking a linear transparency preset from the Transparency tab and applying it to a hexagonal shape shows the transparency e
177. seeseessessesesseosee 201 11 Creating Animations cccsseceesseeeeneeeeees 205 Getting started with ANIMATION sesseessessessessessessessesseoseeseesseoseoseeseeseesse 207 Working with Stopframe animation sseessesssessesssessesssesseessessseessessees 209 Using background and overlay frames ccssssssssesesscsesssssesessessseseees 212 Working with Keyframe animation cccsecscssssssesecscsssssssecssssseseesees 213 SEOMYVOaNC CON OL ie e S 219 Keyframe Object CONTI esessssssssesesecscsssssesesscsssesssscsesssssesessessssssseesees 222 Applying actions keyframe animation s sseessesssesseessesseessessseessesse 228 Affecting change over time keyframe animMatiOn ccsececseeeees 232 Keyframe animation tips and tricks ss sseessesssessesssessesssesseesssessesssessees 234 EXO LING AIT MALL ONS sioen inulin 237 Contents 12 Publishing and Sharing ccccsecceeeeeeees 243 Previewing the Printed page sessesseessessessessessessesseessessessesseoseeseeseeseess 245 Basi S A TALE ple Mareerreerererere tren er ere erer erty rere erence nian a eset n nn rnnCcr A err rent erent trees 245 Printing special formats sass nr E AARE 247 PUDNSAING aS PDEs OAN 249 Exporting objects and drawings e ssessessessessessessesseoseessesseoseesseseeseess 250 Sharing Via WEDS E aaa ROAA 255 EE 2 EENE ENTE ANE ee AE E EE TE 259 Contents Welcome 2 Welcome We
178. sign to the website just like other DrawPlus users do you add to the collection of published designs in the community The main website features include View published designs To aid your design skills or to browse for fun use the Wall design gallery which showcases public designs published by other DrawPlus users and yourself Take advantage of awesome zoom technology coupled with pan and zoom control Easily view your own the most recently uploaded and most popular designs Scrapbook rating Rate and comment on other people s designs and have your own design assessed by the community Award five stars to the very best Work in groups Create groups of users with similar interests great for schools clubs or maybe just your network designing friends Use the Group Wall to 256 Publishing and Sharing view published designs in a chosen group which can be private public or friends only Post to group forums restricted to just group members e Search Find designs groups or other designers throughout the website e Make new friends Social networking meets designing Use email or user discussion forums to build friendships with other DrawPlus designers especially those you add to your friends list Even upload photos of yourself e gt Profile management Manage your tagline password timezone language and email notifications To share three stages need to be carried out register on the website
179. sive library or be creative and let Border Wizard guide you through building a unique design Filter Effects Drop shadows starting to wear a bit thin Enliven your text with fully adjustable Inner Shadow Glow Bevel and Emboss filters easy to apply and sure to impress Apply soft edges with the Feathering filter effect great for blends montages vignetted photo borders and much more Astounding 3D Lighting and Surface Effects Advanced algorithms bring flat shapes to life Choose one or more effects then vary surface and source light properties Adjust parameters for incredible surface contours textures fills The Studio s Effects Tab offers preset 3D effects you can apply and customize as you wish Web and Animation Web Image Slices Image Maps Rollover States Beat the pros at their own game by using these techniques to add links to your Web graphics With a few clicks divide images into segments each with its own hyperlink and popup text or add hotspots to specific regions Even let DrawPlus create interactive rollover Web graphics that highlight or change state when users mouse over or click 10 Welcome Stopframe Animation Tap the power of QuickShapes to turn out Web stopframe animations in no time using advanced features like onion skinning backgrounds overlays and frame management Keyframe Animation Produce smooth professional and quick to design animations as Adobe Flash files all from with
180. sszzrenannanna naO 47 Contents 4 Lines Curves and Shapes ccc ceceeeees 51 Selecting ONE OF more objects sessesseeseessessessessessesseoseessesseoseoseoseeseessesse 53 Drawing lines ANd ShapeS ssessessessesseessessessessessesssessessessessesseoseoseeseeseesses 55 Editing lines ANd SHAPES esecscssecssscscscsescscscsesssssssssssessssssssseseseseseeeeees 61 USING QUICKSNAPES cesesesssssesssecsssccscscsesssssssssssssesesesseeesssesscescsesesesseeess 68 Using the Gallery uuu cesesssssssssscscscssscssscssssssssssssssssssesessseseseceeseeeeesesseeseees 70 Converting a shape to editable CUrVES ssessessessessessesseesseseessesseeseessese 72 AP PIVING SUSI CV Ceca case a evs csecenanasassessssasacucnsnsnsnsnenssTeiove 73 APPIYING ENVELOPO S irssi S acaccenesasasesaotastents 74 OVS CEOS Ana OAE E E OE 75 5 Using BruShes ccccccesecseseeceeeeceeeeeeeeenees 79 SS CUA DIUS NES acon aaa 81 Applying brush strokeS s sesseessessessessessessessesssessessesseoseoseeseessessessessesseosee 83 Pressure SCIIS I MIDY soccecscsecceccacscaccacsescsccucscccssencetceressaececcsccnerconsantercensticeareae 85 Bs VVORKING WIT TCX lotixt iacidanicantdastcneiesinenacipaaeanis 91 ETE UNCC IE A A A AAA 93 EGINO COX a OOOO OOOO 95 Fitting text to frames and shapeS ssesssesseessesssesseessesseesssessesssesseessesse 97 Fitting text to a path sessessessessessessessessessesssess
181. t of computer generated objects from basic shapes to cartoon characters used traditionally in Stopframe animation Using the power of computing smooth playback of animated objects is easily achieved between key moments in your animation defined by the user as keyframes DrawPlus lets you export stopframe or keyframe animations to a variety of different formats For more details see Exporting animations see p 237 For now we ll look at how to set up both Stopframe or Keyframe animation within DrawPlus To begin a new Stopframe or Keyframe animation from Startup Wizard l Start DrawPlus or choose File gt New gt New from Startup Wizard if it s already running Select Create gt Stopframe Animation or Create gt Keyframe Animation from the Startup Wizard From the Start From Scratch dialog select a document category from the Documents pane and a sub category if applicable categories are 208 Creating Animations optimized for the animation type For custom sized pages choose the Custom Page Setup button at the bottom of the dialog Select a document type thumbnail from the right hand pane and click Open The new document opens To begin a new Stopframe or Keyframe animation from scratch Either e Select New gt New Stopframe Animation from the File menu or e Select New gt New Keyframe Animation from the File menu A new document window opens in the respective Animation mode To convert an exis
182. t use disappearing ink instead of colour The less opacity in a particular spot the more disappearing takes place there and the more the object s underneath show through Fill Lines Colours and Transparency 163 Colour D The Opacity slider Colour tab C 8 HSL Colour Whee can be used to alter the opacity of a specific colour whether that colour is a solid fill in an object or ona line or a node s colour ona gradient fill path Opacity can be applied locally to each object the default is 100 opacity i e the object is fully opaque H 240 5 51 L 54 Opec For solid fills the opacity change will be made uniformly across the object s interior see below For gradient fill paths different opacity levels can be assigned with colour along the fill path The combination of different colours and semi transparency allow interesting colour blends to be made 100 50 100 0 100 Opacity Opacity 0 100 solid fill solid fill opacity gradient fill path Reducing the opacity on solid fills creates a blend between upper and lower object colours Similarly more complex colour blends occur along a gradient fill path when points along the path called nodes have reduced opacity settings amp Gradient fill paths are explained in detail in Working with gradient fills on p 155 amp Don t get confused between fill paths and transparency paths The former is referred to here but the latter is u
183. t using a lasso 1 Choose the Pointer or Rotate Tool 2 With the Alt key pressed draw a lasso around the objects you want to select 3 Release the mouse button All of the objects within the lasso region are selected 2 f attempting to lasso grouped objects remember to ungroup them first Drawing lines and shapes Lines can be either straight or curved They have properties like colour and weight thickness When a line or series of line segments forms a complete enclosed outline it becomes a new closed object called a shape Because shapes have an interior region that can be filled for example with a solid colour or a bitmap they have fill properties as well as line properties 56 Lines Curves and Shapes Choose one of the line tools shown below from the Drawing toolbar Ea The Pencil Tool is used to sketch freeform lines The Straight Line Tool is used to draw straight lines dy The Pen Tool is used for drawing complex combination curves and shapes ina highly controlled way by using a series of connect the dots mouse clicks As soon as you draw a line or choose one of the line tools when a line is selected youll see the line s nodes appear Nodes show the end points of each segment in the line Curved lines usually have many nodes straight lines have only two Drawing lines To draw a freeform line 1 Choose the Pencil Tool from the Drawing toolbar 2 Click once then drag
184. tab Setting Brush Defaults See Updating defaults on p 47 Editing brush strokes It s possible to alter any previously draw brush stroke with respect to its properties brush type and shape Using Brushes 85 To change brush stroke properties e Use the Brushes context toolbar to adjust the properties of a drawn brush stroke once applied to your page To change brush stroke type 1 Select the brush stroke 2 Goto the Brushes tab and select firstly a brush category then a brush type from the displayed gallery The brush stroke adopts the newly chosen brush Brush types currently applied to your brush strokes are handily listed in the Document folder of the Brushes tab To change the shape of your brush stroke Fa _ _ A brush stroke possesses very similar characteristics to a plain line Any brush stroke can therefore be edited extended or redrawn with the Node Tool Drawing toolbar just as for a straight or curved line see Editing lines and shapes on p 61 Use for fine tuning your brush strokes after application Pressure sensitivity Along with a brush s natural characteristics its bristles shape and size pressure sensitivity also plays a major part in how a brush is applied to your page The extent to which a brush is applied is at the heart of an artist s creative ability A heavily applied brush could help to convey strong imagery e g moods whereas a brush applied more lightly may indicate a
185. te 108 reshaping curves 62 resizing objects 120 Rotate Tool 53 121 rotating canvas 42 objects 121 Roughen Tool 190 Rule of Thirds 44 Rule of Thirds 110 rulers 33 moving 33 Run Forward Backward Keyframe Animation 222 saving 209 animations 209 documents 27 templates 27 scaling 33 of drawings 36 of line width 151 storyboard Keyframe animation 219 scanning 172 screensaver export Keyframe animation 240 Select on Create 84 selecting objects 53 multiple 54 with lasso 55 Send to Back 133 Serif Metafile Format 171 Serif Transparent Video STV 238 setup 31 animation 208 documents 31 Shadow Tool 191 shadows 191 194 applying 192 shape text 93 95 shapes breaking open 67 drawing 55 editing 61 using QuickShapes 68 sharing designs online 255 shearing objects 122 Size Objects 120 SMF 171 Smoothness slider 57 64 Snap to Grid 37 Snap to Guides 35 38 snapping 37 snapping grid show hide 38 solid colours 152 solid fills 143 Solo Mode 46 sound Keyframe animation 219 adding 219 Spell Checker 102 splitting objects 115 spray brushes 81 special effects 81 square fills 155 stacking ordering objects 132 Start New Drawing 22 Startup Wizard 19 21 22 Stopframe Animation 205 See animation Stopframe stopframes onion skinning 211 reordering 210 Straight Line Tool 56 57 straight lines 57 Studio Actions tab 228 Align tab 131 Brushes tab 82
186. ted below 66 Lines Curves and Shapes To change one or more nodes to a different type l Select the object with the Node Tool followed by the node s you want to change Click one of the node buttons described below on the displayed context toolbar Al side of the node are completely independent so that the A Sharp Corner means that the line segments to either corner can be quite pointed On A Smooth Corner means that the slope of the line is the same on both sides of the node but the depth of the two joined segments can be different hey At a Symmetric Corner nodes join line segments with the same slope and depth on both sides of the node Note Normally Custom segments you draw with the Pen Tool end in a symmetric corner LA depth for a rounded best fitting curve If you attempt to Smart Corner nodes automatically determine slope and adjust a smart corner s handles it reverts to a symmetric corner You can always reset the node to smart but to maintain smart nodes be careful what you click on You can also use the context toolbar to define a line segment as either straight or curved Lines Curves and Shapes 67 To change a line segment from straight to curved or vice versa 1 With the Node Tool select the leading node of the line segment the node nearer the start of the line 2 Then either context toolbar The selected segment immediately jumps to
187. th the Dimensions context toolbar Spell checking The Spell Checker lets you check the spelling of selected artistic frame or shape text as well as all text sequentially throughout your DrawPlus document Multilingual spell checking is supported by use of over 10 spelling dictionaries By default the spelling dictionary is set on program install according to Windows Control Panel s Regional and Language Options i e your dictionary is set to the operating system s language f Se S a Any detected spelling between the pair The mistakes or any word not elock struck midnight present in the language s h dictionary will appear T EARR go r underlined with a red forver into the mist zigzag line elad niaht Alternatively the Spell Checker can be launched to run through your document spell checking as it goes Working with Text 103 To enhance the power of spell checking you can add words to the current dictionary that spell checking doesn t yet know about These could include uncommon words technical words or even acronyms and abbreviations To check spelling 1 Optional To check specific text select the artistic frame or shape text in advance 2 Choose Check Spelling from the Tools menu 3 Optional In the dialog click Options to set preferences for ignoring words in certain categories such as words containing numbers or upper mixed case characters 4 Enable Check currently sel
188. the Swatch tab The process is comparable to adjusting an object s local fill but your change will be permanently available as an updated gallery thumbnail for future use 154 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Using the Colour Selector The Colour Selector is a complementary dialog to the Colour and Swatch tabs and is accessible by double clicking one of the Colour tab s swatch or from Format gt Fill It lets you choose a colour to apply from a range of different palettes and allows you to mix custom colours e The Models tab displays the colour space of several established colour models RGB red green blue HSL hue saturation lightness CMYK cyan magenta yellow black PANTONE colors or registration colour e The Palette tab displays the colours currently present in the Swatch tab s Document Palette i e your drawing s current palette The Document Palette can be saved as described in the sub topic Managing colour and palettes Managing colours and palettes DrawPlus ships with a varied selection of palettes stored separately as PLT files The RGB and CMYK palettes can be loaded along with other themed palettes including Earth Pastels and Soft Tones The themed palettes offer an alternative to using the RGB and CMYK palettes Palettes can also be created deleted and for the Document Palette saved Colours in the Document palette as shown in the Swatch tab are just saved locally
189. the Open button Displaying drawings 1 Drawing If you open multiple 2 Peppers drawings at the same time you can easily jump between 3 Bendz drawings by selecting a drawing name from the Window menu Unsaved drawings are indicated by an asterisk the currently active document is shown with a tick C Blend2 C Drawingi C Peppers Alternatively you can simply click on a open drawing s tab at the top of the workspace to make it active e g the unsaved drawing Peppers Drawings that are not active are greyed out Opening other file types Opening images as a new document DrawPlus allows a comprehensive range of image file formats to be opened each as a separate DrawPlus document From the document you can add your own text captions lines shapes or simply make image adjustments You can save your design changes as a new project or just export the image with or without adjustment while preserving its original properties Getting Started 25 To open an image Click Open on the Standard toolbar Change the file type drop down menu to display All Image Files locate and select the file and click Open The image occupies your workspace such that page dimensions are adjusted to match the image dimensions a Custom page size is adopted in pixels Optional You can modify the image modify the document as for any other document or double click the image to load the Image Adjustment dialog t
190. the aspect ratio while scaling from the picture s centre as you drag hold down the Ctrl key Notes e For importing from an inserted Kodak PhotoCD choose Picture gt Photo CD from the Insert menu e Once placed you can swap the picture with the EA Replace Picture button on the context toolbar e You can always resize a picture as required after it has been placed by dragging its handles For the finer points of resizing see Resizing objects on p 120 e For image adjustment a Picture context toolbar appears automatically when you select an image on the page You can adjust contrast brightness contrast Red Eye or apply Auto Level or Auto Contrast To fix image deficiencies select the toolbar s Image Adjustments button Image adjustments are made possible with a comprehensive mix of colour correction adjustment tools See DrawPlus help for further information e If you select an image with areas of transparency you ll be able to manipulate the image s outline i e convert to curves apply line properties effects etc Importing camera and scanner images In recent years the increasingly more sophisticated image management software supplied with such digital devices means that DrawPlus leaves the photo management aspect of importing photos and images to the manufacturer s software installed with the device on your computer However what DrawPlus will offer is the ability to choose between different TWAIN sources la
191. tic text characters try converting the artistic text to curves As curves you can position every character individually and even edit the character shapes exactly as if you had drawn the character shapes by hand using the line tools For details see Converting a shape to editable curves on p 72 Fitting text to frames and shapes Text overflow If there s too much text to fit into a text frame or shape Mor bi nisl eros dignissim nec malesuada Morbi ps dignissim adaet convallis the Overflow LAJ button appears beneath the shape DrawPlus stores the a fibus orci luctus S posuere cubilia Proin aliquam leo at luctus tempus overflowing text in an ero invisible overflow area Overflow Al To make all the text fit you might edit the story down to allow text to fit in the frame or shape However scaling the text to fit may be preferable where you can scale the shape or frame text size so it fits exactly into the available frame To scale the frame or shape text Overflow A e Click to autofit the frame or shape text to its container AutoFit first applies small point size changes then small leading changes then adjustments to the paragraph space below value until the text fits Other settings are not affected or e Use sl Autofit on the Text context toolbar 98 Working with Text For incremental scaling use the Lo Enlarge Text or KI
192. tically sized into an area click and drag out the area to the desired size 3 To set text attributes font size etc before you start typing make selections on the Text context toolbar For colour set the Line Fill swatches on the Studio s Colour or Swatch tab 4 Start typing To create frame text rm 1 Select Frame Text on the Drawing toolbar s Text flyout 2 From the positioned cursor either e Double click on the page or pasteboard to create a new frame at a default size or e e Drag out a frame to your desired frame dimension 3 Optional Set text and colour attributes as for artistic text before you start typing 4 Start typing within the frame To enter new shape text 1 Create a QuickShape either from the QuickShape flyout or by closing a drawn line 2 With a shape still selected just start typing For existing shapes without shape text select the shape then click in its centre then start typing Working with Unicode text On occasion you may wish to import text in a foreign language e g you may want to include a foreign quote in its original language To work outside the standard ASCII character set DrawPlus allows Unicode characters to be pasted using Edit gt Paste Special from the clipboard into your drawing Working with Text 95 To retain formatting use Formatted Text RTF or for plain text use Unformatted Unicode Text For the latter if your imported text appears
193. ting drawing to either animation mode L Choose Convert to Stopframe Animation or Convert to Keyframe Animation from the File menu You ll be prompted to save changes if any to your existing drawing Select Yes to save your work No to convert to an animation or Cancel to continue working on your current drawing To adjust the basic layout of your animation l Choose Page Setup from the context toolbar shown with Pointer or Rotate Tool selected Select a preset page type e g Banner Ad from the Size drop down menu or keep Custom selected then set units for page width and height Choose Wide or Tall as the page orientation Choose values for left right top and bottom Margins Click OK Your page dimensions are expressed in pixels You can modify page characteristics such as page size orientation number of pages and snapping from the Pages context toolbar Creating Animations 209 To save an animation e Choose File gt Save DrawPlus saves animation documents in the proprietary DPA format Drawings are saved as DPPs Working with Stopframe animation The most important difference in Stopframe animation mode to the usual Drawing mode is that you ll be working predominantly with the Frames tab ideally suited for animation because of its width and easy control of individual frames stopframes are spread along the tab for easier management Use the Frames tab exclusively to insert delete clone or
194. tom projection All projections represent a different object position about the X Y and Z axes Here s some simple cubes to illustrate a simple isometric projection compared to some more advanced projections vy amp Isometric Dimetric1 Trimetric 1 30 90 30 37 90 37 12 90 23 Notice how the displayed angles on each of the above projections are shown after each name Practically projection drawing can be challenging as it s sometimes difficult to visualize objects that appear three dimensional To aid drawing you can use the snapping grid which when enabled shows an alignment grid in the page background which intelligently switches to the current plane that you re working on Whichever plane is set drawn objects will then snap to the grid on the same plane Applying Special Effects 203 To apply a Pseudo 3D projection gf 30 Planes hy 1 From the Standard toolbar click L then select Top Plane Front Plane or Right Plane to set the plane to work on You ll see the snapping grid appear which reflects the currently set plane 2 Click a drawing tool and drag out the object e g a Quick Rectangle on the plane an isometric projection is created by default 3 All subsequently drawn objects are projected onto the currently set plane unless it is swapped to a different plane select a different button and draw a new object If this step by step process is followed it s possible to bring togethe
195. tte Even import your own bitmaps and use them as fills on DrawPlus objects Plus Mesh Fills for impressively varied gradients using a path node network Define new colour sets based on a base colour this linkage can transform the drawing s colour scheme instantly by simply modifying that base colour Welcome Transparency Effects Transparency can make the difference between flat ordinary visuals and sparkling realism And DrawPlus provides it all a full range of transparencies for shading shadows reflections depth effects and more Lines brushes and shapes Versatile Line Drawing Sketch using calligraphic lines with an adjustable pen angle Add rounded corners when and where you need them and choose different end caps and joins Create decorative chain lines for marching footprints themed borders and much more Dimension Lines and Scale Setting Click a couple of times to take linear or angular measurements of any object on the page DrawPlus displays the dimension using your 7 choice of ruler units at your specified scale say one inch to two feet Dimensions update when objects are moved or resized Design room layouts make maps draw scale models and more Connectors For drawing dynamic flow diagrams schematics family trees and organization charts connector objects let you link your boxes and symbols and then rearrange at will Connection points stay put on each object keeping connections intact
196. ttributes to previous objects or e The sb Update attributes forward button to apply attributes to later objects 3 From the dialog choose to Run Length either to the beginning end of the storyboard or to objects a set number of keyframes before after the currently selected object choose the Run length drop down menu pick N Keyframes and enter a number of keyframes to copy to 4 Click OK You ll also find some useful options on the Run menu which can also be used to manipulate objects between keyframes or along the whole animation run Some other settings affect how objects animate along the animation run These are hosted on the Easing tab and control object rotation temporal tweening natural motion and how keyframes obey a Keyframe camera The settings are applied between key object segments and will apply until the next key object or throughout the animation s run depending on the Apply to Whole Run check box setting unchecked or checked respectively When the option is unchecked objects can adopt different combinations of settings independently of each other i e 226 Creating Animations Key Object to Key Object Segments gt _ nn eee Whole Run To configure a segment select the first Key object a then configure settings in the Easing tab with Apply to Whole Run unchecked Clockwise Rotation Temporal Tween Natural Motion Rotate on path O
197. tween freehand and straight line cutting 3 The shape is applied to the object Adjust the size and shape using the surrounding square handles and round nodes respectively 118 Working with Objects 4 Click the Cut button in the lower right corner then click the unwanted area under the cursor to create your new cutout shape Erasing and adding to objects DrawPlus lets you take a virtual eraser to your drawing letting you remove portions of your selected object s on an individual layer or across multiple layers The extent of erasing can be controlled depending on the tool s currently set erasing nib width and pressure setting if using a graphics tablet Working with Objects 119 The flipside of erasing is adding to i e augmenting a technique to add or grow a vector objects boundaries great for reshaping an existing object or to grow a vector shape from scratch This may be especially useful when creating an unusual filled shape To erase portions of a selected object 4 Select the P Erase Tool on the Drawing toolbar s i Vector Edit flyout Optional From the context toolbar choose a Nib style circle square or diamond and or set a Width to define the erase width that will be cut Position the Q cursor and drag over an object s edge You ll see the area to be erased area being drawn temporarily use the Ctrl key to redefine the erase area while drawing Release t
198. u want to store the copy 2 Drag the object from the page and drop it onto the gallery 3 You ll be prompted to type a name for the design You can name or rename the design later if you wish By default unnamed designs are labeled as Untitled 4 A thumbnail of the design appears in the gallery labelled with its name To delete or rename a design e Right click its gallery thumbnail and choose Delete Design or Rename Design from the submenu 72 Lines Curves and Shapes Converting a shape to editable curves The conversion of QuickShapes to curves provides you with a starting point for your own shapes whereas converting text to curves is one way of incorporating editable letter based shapes into designs To convert an object into curves 1 Select your QuickShape or text object 2 Click Convert to Curves on the Arrange tab 3 Edit the curve outline using the Node Tool However they were created all converted objects behave in a similar manner For example you can create some text with the Artistic Text Tool convert it to curves then use the Node Tool to edit the curves that make up the letters just as if you had drawn the letter shapes by hand using the line tools amp The conversion process loses all of the special properties inherent in QuickShapes and text Check Clean Curves in Tools gt Options gt General to automatically reduce the number of nodes during convert to curve operations this ma
199. unch the manufacturer s software automatically and subsequently place any chosen photos images onto the DrawPlus page Working with Pictures 173 To set up your digital device for image acquisition Follow the instructions supplied with the device amp When acquiring images from a camera that appears in Windows as a Removable Disk ensure that you follow recommended procedures for connecting and disconnecting the device To import pictures from a digital camera or TWAIN device scanner L If you have multiple TWAIN compatible devices choose the device from which your image will be acquired Picture gt TWAIN gt Select Source from the Insert menu lets you select your device from a menu For scanning or photo import choose Picture gt TWAIN gt Acquire from the Insert menu to open the device s image management dialog Follow the device manufacturer s instructions and select the scanned image or photo for import a In DrawPlus the tt Picture Size cursor is displayed which allows image photo to be placed at default size by single click or sized by dragging across the page Using Image Cutout Studio Image Cutout Studio offers a powerful integrated solution for cutting objects out from their backgrounds Depending on the make up of your images you can separate subject of interests from their backgrounds either by retaining the subject of interest usually people objects etc or removing a simple uniform ba
200. under the name Global the brushes are available to all DrawPlus documents currently open The Document category shows the brush types currently in use in the DrawPlus drawing and is used to bookmark brushes for easy reuse in the future At some point you may want to edit copy or create your own natural stroke or spray brush type See online Help Brush strokes can be applied directly to the page by using your mouse or tablet the latter method is ideally suited for applying customizable pressure sensitive strokes to your drawing However painting with the mouse still provides a viable alternative to the tablet Pressure sensitivity is simulated by use of ready made customizable pressure profile presets Using Brushes 83 Applying brush strokes The va Paintbrush Tool is used exclusively to apply brush strokes to the page The tool is used in conjunction with the Brushes tab and a supporting context toolbar To apply a brush stroke k 2 re Select the v4 Paintbrush Tool from the Drawing toolbar Display the Brushes tab and choose a brush from a category use the drop down list for different categories Natural Media r f Dry Paint 01 Dry Paint 01 Dry Paint 02 et Select a Colour Width or Opacity from the Brush context toolbar Line Colour Width 21 32 pt Opacity 100 Brushes based on bitmaps cannot be recoloured Optional From the context toolbar adjust Smoothness
201. up Wizard is disabled or Choose New gt New Drawing from the File menu You ll get a new drawing in a new untitled window each time you choose this method the default page size is adopted Youcan always adjust the page size and document format later via File gt Page Setup To turn on off the Startup Wizard 1 Choose Options from the Tools menu 2 Click Ease of Use and check uncheck Startup Wizard amp To start with a new animation see Getting started with animation on p 207 Use Import PDF from the Startup Wizard to unlock the contents of third party PDF drawings Opening a saved document You can open an existing DrawPlus drawing from the Startup Wizard Standard toolbar or the File menu Once open drawings can be made currently active from a drawing tab or via the Window menu To open an existing document from the Startup Wizard 1 Select Open Saved Work option In the Documents pane of the Open Saved Work dialog you ll see either your computer s folder structure for navigation to your DrawPlus drawings Folders tab or a list of most recently used drawings History tab Preview thumbnails are shown in the adjacent pane 2 Select a thumbnail from the pane then click Open 24 Getting Started To open an existing document via toolbar or menu Bal 1 Click Open on the Standard toolbar or select File gt Open 2 Inthe Open dialog navigate to then select the file name and click
202. uter whose processor supports SSE most modern computers do On brush selection an on screen message will indicate if your computer is non SSE Recommended As above but e Multi processor PC technology Optional e Windows compatible printer e TWAIN compatible scanner and or digital camera e Pressure sensitive pen tablet Serif GraphicsPad or equivalent e 3D accelerated graphics card with DirectX 9 or above or OpenGL support Internet account and connection required for accessing online resources 16 Welcome First time install To install DrawPlus X3 simply insert the DrawPlus X3 Program CD into your DVD CD drive The AutoRun feature automatically starts the Setup process If it doesn t follow the manual install procedure described below Just answer the on screen questions to install the program Manual install re install To re install the software or to change the installation at a later date select Settings Control Panel from the Windows Start menu and then click on the Add Remove Programs icon Make sure the DrawPlus X3 Program CD is inserted into your CD DVD drive click the Install button and then simply follow the on screen instructions Getting Started 18 Getting Started Startup Wizard Getting Started 19 Once DrawPlus has been installed you re ready to start Setup adds a Serif DrawPlus X3 item to the All Programs submenu of the Windows Start menu e Use the Windows Start button to start
203. utes for future objects For example select a red brush stroke to subsequently paint in red then a green brush stroke to paint in green all or selected attributes can be affected Global and object specific defaults can be reset independently Resource Management Swap out your already placed bitmaps or text fragments in Drawing mode or any Animation mode from the new Media tab a Keyframe animation s movie or audio clip can also be replaced Colour and Transparency Design Power with Colour Gradient Fills The Gradient Fill Editor allows you to adjust gradient contour and tint any portion of the colour spread locate key colours precisely and select from RGB HSL CMYK PANTONE or Registration colours via a Colour Selector Advanced Fill Support Simply apply solid colours from the Studio s Colour tab or Swatches tab onto a fill path to add or replace colours for more subtle gradients Choose colours from different colour mixing modes in the Colour tab HSL Wheel HSL Square RGB Sliders CMYK Sliders or Tinting all offer different ways to mix colour Load RGB CMYK and coordinated themed palettes from within the Swatches tab Apply high end linear radial conical ellipse three colour four colour square and plasma fills to any text or shape for exciting professional results Use bitmap fills for textures and backgrounds Add view edit or delete colours used in your current drawing from within a saveable Document Pale
204. utout areas already defined click amp progress 2 Click the Restore Touch up Tool or Erase Touch up Tool button from the left of the Studio workspace 3 Paint the areas for restoring or erasing as you would with the brush tools If you ve touched up part of your image between each preview you ll be asked if you want to save or discard changes Working with Pictures 179 Autotracing Instead of manually tracing a design it s possible to automatically convert bitmaps back into vector objects by using autotracing Its main function is for speedily reworking bitmapped logos for further design modification but its use is not confined to this In fact both greyscale and colour photos can equally be autotraced for eye catching artistic effects For each of these uses DrawPlus offers a studio environment and a specific preset profile which will produce optimum results while autotracing artwork of your chosen type These profiles are called Logo Image Trace B W Image es E otherdesigns FutBavel FuitBavel ith ane Trace and Photo Image Trace e Logo Image Trace For vector bitmaps e g logos e B W Image Trace For black and white photos and hand drawings 180 Working with Pictures e Photo Image Trace For colour photos The autotracing process is performed in a studio environment which makes use of the above profiles The studio gives the opportunity to prev
205. ve Instant 3D e Click select the object again then click the Drawing toolbar s Instant 3D on the context toolbar You can always button to reinstate the effect The Bevel and Lathe categories offer several presets that you can apply as your profile You can also define your own custom profiles for both bevel and lathe effects from the Instant 3D context toolbar See online Help for more details Applying Pseudo 3D Pseudo 3D produces a object projection to follow one of three separate planes top front or right either by using an Isometric projection default or other more complex projection By bringing together transformed objects on each plane you produce the illusion of working in three dimensions from a simple cube below to more complex 3D shapes text etc Each projection from the same Quick Square object can be presented as follows with a combined multi object cube Top Plane Front Right Combined Plane Plane cube SA 3D Planes L In DrawPlus you can specify a plane Top Front or Right directly from the Standard toolbar s 3D Planes flyout While working with the toolbar all newly created objects will be drawn according to the currently set plane Only one plane can be set at any one time For more complicated projections DrawPlus also allows Cabinet Oblique Cavalier Oblique and various Dimetric and Trimetric projections to be 202 Applying Special Effects applied you can also design your own Cus
206. verything but the transparency Feathering Feathering is a filter effect that adds a soft or blurry edge to any object It s great for blending single objects into a composition vignetted borders on photos and much more You can apply feathering in conjunction with other filter effects For simple feathering use the Feather Edge setting on the Effects tab instead 196 Applying Special Effects Blur Various blur effects can be applied to DrawPlus objects The types of blur include e Gaussian the effect smooths by averaging pixels using a weighted curve e Zoom applies converging streaks to the image to simulate a zoom lens e Radial applies concentric streaks to the object to simulate a rotating camera or subject e Motion applies straight streaks to the object to simulate the effect of camera or subject movement Using 3D filter effects 3D filter effects go beyond 2D filter effects shadows bevel emboss etc to create the impression of a textured surface on the object itself Keep in mind is that none of these 3D effects will do anything to an unfilled object you ll need to have a fill there to see the difference they make The Studio s Effects tab is a good place to begin experimenting with 3D filter effects Its multiple categories each offer a gallery full of predefined effects using various settings Applying Special Effects 197 Hifects There you ll see a variety of s Edible rema
207. vides the default file name at export _ Export r er 4 Click shown under the box The Export Optimizer is displayed from which you can modify and choose an export file format described previously When the overlay is applied the bounding box is automatically selected it shows the selection colour of the overlay layer Clicking away from the box will deselect it showing the box Colour but it can be reselected at any time e g for repositioning To select the box Cj Oven e From the Standard toolbar click Overlay and click Export Dynamic preview Although the Export Optimizer s preview options lets you see how your export will look it s time consuming to repeatedly export your graphic until you get the output exactly as you want it Instead you can use Dynamic Preview which lets you swap to a preview and edit mode showing how your graphics will export directly on the page It also lets you edit that output while still previewing and set up the exported file s name format and other settings The ability to fine tune object positioning to pixel level gives an added advantage for web graphics developers 254 Publishing and Sharing To change export settings 3 6 Overlays 7 From the Standard toolbar click and choose Preview Settings The option launches a dialog which closely resembles the Export Optimizer dialog see above Change settings on the Format and Settings ta
208. w PLT file If you store the file in another folder to the initially prompted one then your saved palette will not appear in the Palettes drop down menu Working with gradient fills Gradient fills are those that use gradients small spectrums with colours spreading between at least two defined key values Specifically gradient fills include the Linear Radial Ellipse Conical Square Three Colour and Four Colour types Once you ve applied a gradient fill to an object using the Swatch tab see Setting fill properties on p 143 you can use the Fill Tool to edit the object s fill path defining the placement of the spectrum across the object 156 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Key colours Fill path o o E Linear fill Filled object Applying a gradient fill There are several ways to apply a gradient fill as a line colour or object fill using the Fill Tool or via the Swatch tab Using the Fill Tool you can vary the fill s path on an object for different effects To apply a gradient fill Fill Tool 1 Select a coloured object 2 Click gt Fill Tool on the Drawing toolbar 3 Click and drag on the object to define the fill path a solid line The object takes a simple Linear fill grading from the current colour of the object ending in white objects filled with white will grade from white to black to show contrast To apply a gradient fill Swatch tab 1 Select an object 2 Click the
209. w name and click OK The settings are saved as a file with the extension PPR You can restore the profile later on simply by choosing its name in the list Publishing and Sharing 247 Printing special formats In Normal drawing mode using Page Setup and printing options you can set up pages for a variety of document types such as Special Folded documents greetings cards Large documents posters and banners and Small documents business cards labels tags The Print dialog s Layout tab lets you specify other printing options including scaling thumbnails multiple pages and tiling Folded documents DrawPlus automatically performs imposition of folded documents cards menus etc for Special Folded document types The settings ensure that two three or four pages of the document are printed on each sheet of paper with pages printed following the document sequence This saves you from having to calculate how to position and collate pairs of pages on a single larger page and lets you use automatic page numbering for the various pages The types most appropriate to invitations and greeting cards include Tent Card and Side Top Fold Menu Top Fold Quarter size Tri Fold or Z Fold To produce double sided sheets check the Balanced option for balanced margins in Page Setup then your printer s double sided option or run sheets through twice printing first the front and then the back of the sheet reverse top and bottom betw
210. wing toolbar 2 Click on the object and drag up or down The further you drag the more pronounced the effect Applying Special Effects 191 Adding drop shadows a You can apply commonly used drop shadows by using the Shadow Tool When applied the selected object is given a sense of depth see rightmost moon The Shadow Tool offers freeform control of the drop shadow effect With its on the page control nodes and supporting Shadow context toolbar the tool offers various adjustments such as Opacity Blur and X or Y Shear Simple shadow drag from object centre 192 Applying Special Effects Offset shadow showing control nodes Skewed offset shadow adjusted X Shear Once you ve created a basic shadow you can further edit it as needed using the Filter Effects dialog Applying drop shadows 1 Click the 2 Shadow Tool on the Drawing toolbar You ll notice control nodes appear which allow adjustment as described in the annotated illustration above 2 Drag across the object to create a drop shadow note additional nodes being created 3 Change blur opacity or shear accordingly with nodes or via the displayed context toolbar Applying Special Effects 193 To change a shadow s colour e Select the object choose the Shadow Tool then select a colour from the Studio s Colour tab To remove the shadow from an object e Double click the object while the Shadow Tool is selected A
211. x to 0 0pt 152 Fill Lines Colours and Transparency Defining solid line and fill colours When youre applying a solid fill or line colour using the Studio s Swatch tab you choose a colour from one of several colour palettes arranged as a gallery of colour swatch thumbnails Different palettes can be loaded but only one palette is displayed at any one time Several of the colour palettes are based on themed colours while the remaining palettes are based on industry standard colour models i e e RGB Red Green and Blue default e CMYK Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black Palettes can be loaded created deleted and saved as discussed later in Managing colours and palettes on p 154 Changing the set of gallery colours h Colours are added manually or automatically from the Colour tab or taken directly from a drawing object s line fill into the user s Document Palette The palette also stores commonly used colours e g Red Green Blue etc Once a colour is stored in the Document Palette it can be edited with the Colour Selector dialog at any time Colours can be added edited deleted or renamed within the Document Palette as in any of the other Swatch tab s palettes To add a colour to the Document Palette e Select a colour mixed from the Colour tab or 1 Use the al E Colour Selector on the Colour tab to select any colour on your computer screen Click on the dropper icon move to the target area and select your
212. y rewind DrawPlus makes use of ActionScript a language specifically designed for Adobe Flash applications to allow a high level of interactivity between the exported Flash SWF and the user e g a web visitor When an action is applied from the menu you may be prompted for a parameter setting pixel width colour etc but you can alter parameters at any time without having to view underlying ActionScript code Optionally a new action can be created from scratch within the dialog Simply code directly or paste ActionScript into an Edit window To apply an action to selected object s l 2 Select an object on any keyframe Double click an event from the Actions tab From the dialog navigate the tree menu expanding the options if necessary and click on a chosen action e g Timeline Actions gt Go to marker X Click the el button to apply the selected action it moves across into the Applied Actions box then repeat for optional additional actions You may be presented with a dialog which prompts for object names or parameter values colours number of pixels marker names etc required for the underlying ActionScript code to act on Optional For multiple applied actions you can order the Applied Actions list with the Up or Down buttons Click OK You ll notice the selected event now shown in bold in the Actions tab 230 Creating Animations The applied action can be edited by double clicking the
213. yers enable the Edit All Layers button on the Layers tab Now instead of working with the layers one at a time we can include all objects once selected on all layers permitting perfect replication Applying a transform The Transform feature lets you make multiple copies of one or more selected objects with a transformation applied to each successive copy in the series For example a butterfly can be made to fly with a transform of 15 rotation 113 scaling 4 copies and an X offset of 2 2cm To create a transform l 2 Select an object then choose Transform from the Tools menu From the dialog specify the type of transformation rotation and or scaling the number of copies and a positional offset between copies Transforms are a quick way to generate elements for a stopframe animation sequence involving rotation or directional changes 110 Working with Objects Making in between copies of two objects Blending is yet another useful way of making multiple copies by in betweening two different objects for a morphing effect For details see Creating blends on p 188 Cropping an object DrawPlus includes the Crop Tool for cropping objects and images on the page Cropping discards unwanted outer regions of an object while keeping the remainder visible To crop an object 1 Select an object and then on the Drawing toolbar click the i Crop Tool 2 Click and drag an edge or corner hand
214. you whether to deliver PDF X 1 or PDF X 1a DrawPlus supports both but from the DrawPlus end of things you won t see a difference In either mode all your drawing s colours will be output in the CMYK colour space and fonts you ve used will be embedded A single PDF X file will contain all the necessary information fonts images graphics and text your print partner requires to generate either spot or process colour separations If professional printing is required you ll need to select Prepress options via the Print dialog s Prepress tab before choosing to output your drawing To export your document as a PDF file 1 Prepare the document following standard print publishing guidelines taking the distribution method into account 2 Choose Publish as PDF from the File menu and check your export settings To export the whole document using default settings you won t need to change any settings Make further last minute changes for example a custom setting required by your print bureau 3 Review General Prepress Compression Security and Advanced tab settings see online Help for more details When preparing a PDF X file for professional printing choose either PDF X 1 or PDF X 1a in the General tab s Compatibility drop down list as advised by your print partner Also inquire whether or not to Impose pages this option is fine for desktop printing of a folded drawing or one that uses facing pages but a professiona

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