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how do i get coreldraw12 outlines into vectors?
Morning all,
I’m doing a lwb interstar van this morning and I have an outline on a lot of the lettering, red letters and black all around them, but does anyone know how to convert the outline to a line/vector?
In the design I have thickened the outline pen on a duplicated copy of the wording and laid it behind the red wording with no outline, creating the thick outline effect (this mightn’t be the right way about this, but I’m self taught so it’s my way! looks well on screen anyway!)
I’ve tried saving the outline copy to a tif, then doing an outline trace on corel trace, then saving as a .wmf and importing back in to draw, but the lines aren’t the smoothest… is this the right way about things or am I taking the scenic route?! cheers in advance!
Darren
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10 Replies
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Dont do it as an outline – what works for me is:
Create a contour around the text, then break it apart, then re-group.
Clear as mud?
I just hope that makes sense to you
Phil
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pure genius….thanks a million phil, ye learn summat new every day! 😛
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In V12 the trouble with contour is that although it creates a cuttable outline it is made of hundreds of straight lines which is not always satisfactory. If you have an outline it is not cuttable but under the ‘arrange’ menu there is a ‘convert outline to object’ option, not only will this make your outline cuttable but it will be smooth bezier curves as well. When you have done this always view in wireframe mode as some lines may need deleting or welding.
In X3 the contour does produce smooth bezier curves and some feel this alone is worth the upgrade.
Alan D -
quote Alan Drury:In V12 the trouble with contour is that although it creates a cuttable outline it is made of hundreds of straight lines which is not always satisfactory..
Alan Dnever noticed any problems before, Alan, i use contour almost daily, is it a common prob ?
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cheers alan, got it done eventually, curves look smooth enough to me anyway! I think I may have underestimated the amount of time to do it mind… should you charge much mure for adding outlines, shadows etc? takes a good bit longer, but afraid customer might back off if they think the job sounds pricey, when they got their old van done for 300 euro with just the normal text….
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I don’t think you can charge more just because corel 12 is poo at outlines. I always did the ‘convert outline to object’ (or is it the other way round?) method in ver 12, but now I have X3 and the outline tool is perfect and much more reliable than older versions.
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Hugh, I think some plotters may well compensate for the curves (guess) the real issue would be on a curved shape with a contour that was then resized up considerably, you may get curves which were a bit like a 50p – X3 avoids this as curves are bezier.
Alan D -
misunderstood a bit there, I meant it took longer to apply to the van- layering the vinyl! the curves themselves were sweet the cx24 is meant to smooth out curves as far I can recall, the computer time took fcek all time to do!
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Sorry, my misunderstanding.
The more elements a job has, the more time consuming and therefore more expensive. You are applying twice as much vinyl, after all. Text with an outline in a second colour should be twice the cost of a single colour.
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Cheers andy, thought as much… live and learn I suppose… impressed myself with the van in the end, so might get more work out of it as consolation! Put a few leaflets into a local nissan and ford dealer on wed, doing 3rd van from nissan garage this wed…amazing what a friendly chat with the salesmen and a few leaflets does!
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