TEN Magazine January 2019 TEN January 2019 | Page 24

SOFTWARE
Using Symmetry in Engraving
with CorelDRAW 2018
By Roger Wambolt, Senior Product Trainer, Corel
Symmetry is an essential element of design
and now with CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite
2018, it’s easier and faster than ever to
incorporate symmetrical drawings and
graphics into your projects.
2. Next, ungroup the 15 objects and then weld them together. Go to
Objects > Shaping and select Weld. This will create a single curve.
3. Now we’ll give the object a fill. With the object still selected,
double click on the fill swatch in the Status bar to open the Edit Fill
dialogue box. Select the PS fill (last option on the right). In the
dropdown, select ‘Crosshatching’, leave the Parameters as they are,
and click OK.
For this tutorial, we’ll explore how to use the new Symmetry Drawing
mode in CorelDRAW 2018 to create a laser engraved decorative
frame. This powerful new tool makes it simple to design identical
shapes and curves that are mirrored on a set of planes – it’s ideal for
creating something unique from scratch or repurposing an existing
graphic to create something new, like we are today.
Let’s get started! Launch CorelDRAW 2018 and create a new
document. In the new document dialog, set the Preset Destination to
RGB and the page size to A4. Click OK.
Now that the page is set up, it’s time to build the frame. We’ll begin
with a design that’s available right from CorelDRAW in the Content
Exchange.
1. From the Window menu go to Dockers > CONNECT
2. In the Libraries panel, ensure Content Exchange is selected
3. In the search bar type “borders” and hit enter
4. In the viewing panel, locate image CGS01328 and drag it onto
the CorelDRAW page
4. Since laser engravers do not support PostScript fills (and
Crosshatch is a PostScript fill), we’ll need to convert the image to a
bitmap and then trace it to vector.
From the Bitmap menu, select Convert to Bitmap and ensure it is set
to RGB and 300DPI. Click OK. Now we’ll use PowerTRACE (included
in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite) to convert the design back to vector.
With the image selected, click Trace Bitmap>OutlineTrace>Clipart.
Ensure the Detail slider is set to maximum, then from the Options
section, select Delete original image, Remove background, and
Remove color from entire image. Click OK.
5. Now that the image is vector, resize it to 90mm x 115mm.
As you can see, the design we selected is actually only a quarter of
the frame. To complete it, we’ll now use the mirroring capabilities of
the new Symmetry Drawing mode.
1. With the image selected, right click on a blank area and select
Create New Symmetry. You will see a red vertical guide line (called a
mirror line) and the image will be mirrored and appear to be in
wireframe (in red). Play with the guideline. See what happens as you
move it around.
Now that we have the file we’ll use as the basis of our design, there
are a few more steps to prepare it for an engraving workflow.
1. With the image selected, right click and select Ungroup. In the Object
Manager, select the group of 9 objects and tap Delete on the keyboard.
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JANUARY 2019
Here’s a helpful hint as you explore the Symmetry tool bar: from left
to right you’ll find Show full preview, Show symmetry lines, Mirror
lines, Symmetry center Angle of rotation, and Fuse open curves.
read online: www.trophex.com