Tutorial Tuesday: Custom Nibs in Corel PHOTO-PAINT

Everyone on the CorelDRAW Unleashed Boot Camp Cruise really enjoyed our day in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico yesterday. In a few hours we will dock in Mazatlan for a day of fun followed by some Corel PHOTO-PAINT Secrets in the late afternoon. While we will cover a number of great tools in Corel PHOTO-PAINT, we won't be talking about custom nibs.

That's where today's tutorial comes into play. Shawn Olson has put together a great video showing you how to create Custom Nibs in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. Nibs are the tip of the brushes you use for painting and there are infinite possibilities for the shapes you can create.

Share

Tutorial Tuesday: 50+ Body Enhancement Tutorials

No matter the subject of the photograph, there is always something that someone feels needs to be fixed. This can include fixing red eyes, weight loss, a virtual boob or nose job, teeth whitening and much more. In total, there are over 50 separate tutorials on body enhancement techniques.

For those of you who use Photoshop, these tutorials will be very straightforward. That doesn't mean that we Corel PHOTO-PAINT users can't follow the tutorials as well. Features in the two programs are nearly identical with the main difference being the name of the feature. You can download The Terms of Adobe Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT to get a cheat sheet on translating the tutorials.

Share

Tutorial Tuesday: Fire and Ice

For today's tutorial I'm going to go down under to the Visionary Voyager site. David Mutch has created some great tutorials for Corel PHOTO-PAINT. For me, the Fire and Ice tutorials create the most stunning effects.

While the tutorials are a few years old, they work in Corel PHOTO-PAINT 9 and up. I'm sure there are a few commands that have slight differences, but you should be able to easily adjust for the newer versions. With a few variations on the steps provided, you should be able to create all kinds of cool effects with fire and ice!

Share

Macro Monday: PP Macro Collection

Typically I provide you information about a single macro each Monday. Today I'm going to link to a whole collection of macros for Corel PHOTO-PAINT X3 and X4.

James Aswell is one of the most prolific writers of macros for Corel PHOTO-PAINT. He has put together a collection of some of the most useful macros in a single GMS file. It is appropriately titled PP Macro Collection and can be downloaded for free.

It includes useful effects, utilities and workarounds for some of the most common problems in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. If you aren't familiar with how to install a GMS file, there are instructions on the page for setup and usage of the macro.

Share

Site Updates, Blog Updates and More

Today I spent most of the day updating the home page of the CorelDRAW Unleashed site. Not only did I want the page to be visually appealing, I wanted to make sure it was easy to find the training product that best met your needs for learning how to use CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT. I'll be doing similar updates to the Graphics Unleashed site in the near future that are much more extensive. If you have suggestions for ways we can make either of the sites better meet your needs, please leave your suggestion in a comment.

There will also be changes coming to this blog in the near future. I haven't always been good at posting every day and I want to change that. I want to make sure to get you new information on a daily basis and possible to have multiple posts on a given day. One example would be to suggest a free font every Friday in a post. I'm making a list of other categories where I can provide you with examples on a regular basis. Again, I'd like your input. Post any of your suggestions in a comment. Not only do I want to provide information more regularly, I want to make sure it is the information that is most useful to you.

Share

A Few Oldies But Goodies

Over the past few days I've been doing some updates on some of the older tutorials on the Web site. In case you haven't read them recently, I wanted to highlight them. This will probably be the first of several blog posts highlighting older tutorials as I still have quite a few to update.

Back when David Karlins wrote Creating Web Page Background JPEG Files, it was common to use a small tile able bitmaps for the the background of Web pages. I don't think the technique is used very often these days, but there is still some valuable information you can pick up from the tutorial.

Mike Bresciani showed how you could take an old grayscale photo and give it color in his Adding Color to Black and White Photos with Corel PHOTO-PAINT. Certainly a few of the features have changed in Corel PHOTO-PAINT, but these techniques will still work today. Find an old grayscale image and give it a try!

Everyone loves t-shirts that are personalized. Ron McIntyre shows you how to create your own in Creating Stencils to Paint on T-Shirts. I certainly would have preferred that he create shirts heralding the National Champion Kansas Jayhawks instead of our rival, but the techniques are still something you can use to make stencils for your designs.

As I get more pages updated, I'll post the tutorials here so you can refresh your memory or even see these for the first time.

Share

Photoshop Web Design Book Available For Free Download

I'm certainly not a Photoshop user, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy getting a free book. The folks at Sitepoint are giving away the book The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks and Techniques. This is a book that sells at Amazon for $26. Of course, the free copy is a download so it is a bit different than the printed version. The giveaway is also sponsored by an advertiser so you find one line of text at the very bottom of each page promoting the advertiser. Honestly, this wasn't a distraction at all to me.

There is a running clock on the site that says the offer will expire in a little over 27 days. So expect the offer to be gone by mid-June.

For those of you who use Corel PHOTO-PAINT to do your Web graphics, you might want to get our tutorial The Terms of Adobe Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT. It will help you translate some of the Photoshop terms used in the book so you can do the same projects in Corel PHOTO-PAINT.

Share

Taxes and Training

If you are in the US, hopefully you got your tax return filed a few weeks ago. Those of you getting a refund have probably already received it. Even better, your "stimulus check" should be coming any day now. These stimulus checks are being sent to help stimulate the economy and can be as much as $600 for a single person and $1200 for a married couple.

I'd like you to consider using your stimulus check to invest in the future of your business. Wouldn't it be great if you could double or triple your investment within a year's time? That's exactly what you can get if you can improve your skills on tasks important to your business. Even better, your investment is most likely tax deductible so you can save money on next year's taxes.

You use CorelDRAW in your business, right? Most of you do and that's why you're here. No matter your current knowledge level of CorelDRAW, you don't know everything. Nobody does, not even the experts. Which means that you can certainly learn something new that will save you time every day. That's why I'm going to encourage you to "invest" in your future and join us at the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference!

We will have something for all levels of users. If you are just getting started, we have crash courses on the first day to get you up-to-speed quickly. Industry specific sessions will be taught on screen printing, sublimation, embroidery, engraving, sign making, digital photography and much more. There will be something on CorelDRAW and something on Corel PHOTO-PAINT in every timeframe. So no matter what you do with CorelDRAW, you will find sessions that give you valuable information for boosting your productivity and creativity.

The instructors leading the sessions have been carefully chosen for their expertise with the software and most of them make their living doing production work with the software and thus you will get lots of practical information. We brought them in from all over the world to share their expertise with you. And when they aren't leading sessions, they will be in the 1:1 Expert Bar. This is the area where you can sit down in front of a computer with one of the experts and ask questions. Or have them help you with a tricky design problem. Where else will you have then chance to work one-on-one with one of the top CorelDRAW experts in the world?

You might ask how Corel Corporation is involved. The man behind the development of CorelDRAW, Tony Severenuk, will be giving our opening keynote and sharing with you the top new features in CorelDRAW X4. He'll also be leading sessions later in the conference where he will share tons of great tips for boosting your productivity. Of course you'll always find him carrying a notebook so he can write down your concerns, your wishlist of new features and anything else that will help shape future versions of CorelDRAW. John Falsetto will also be joining us from Corel and giving a keynote address on the Wide World of CorelDRAW. If you want to talk directly with the people behind the software, this is your opportunity.

Some users have told me that it is too far to travel. Tell that to the attendee who is joining us from New Zealand. There is no other event like this anywhere else in the world and we truly will have the world getting together to join us in learning to get the most out of CorelDRAW. I want to encourage you to invest in your future and join us for four days of incredible training!

Share

Creating Icons with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

Users frequently ask how to create icons with the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. While the ICO file format is listed as one of the file types you can create with CorelDRAW and/or Corel PHOTO-PAINT, it is not the best way to create icon files.

Icons are bitmap files. So even if you create the base graphics in CorelDRAW, it is best for you to bring the graphic into Corel PHOTO-PAINT to create an optimized bitmap. Make sure to size the bitmap to the exact pixel size of the icon you wish to create. When the bitmap is just right, save it to either BMP or PNG format. PNG would support transparency if you want transparency in your icon.

Now you need another application to take your graphic and convert it to a proper icon file. This really can be as simple as opening the graphic you created in Corel PHOTO-PAINT and resaving to ICO format. All you need is the proper application. A very good tool for this is @icon sushi. Best of all, it is a free download. If you have a PNG file with a mask, @icon sushi will save the icon file with transparency.

You've got a really powerful tool for creating graphics with CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT. Combine it with @icon sushi and you can easily create all kinds of cool icons.

Share

Twisting Pixels Releases Classico Plug-In

The folks at Twisting Pixels have some really cool plug-ins that work with Adobe Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT. Recently they added a new plug-in that can make your photos look like a painting by one of the masters.

ArtStudioPro Classico gives you filters like Aged Paint, Artistic Edges, Cracked Paint, DaVinci, Graphite Sketch, Sketch, Painted Background and Vintage Sketch. With each filter, there are a number of settings you can adjust to get the exact look you want.

You can download a free trial version of this and other Twisting Pixels plug-ins as well as purchasing full versions at the Twisting Pixels Web site.

Share

Unleashed FX X4 Now Available

The Unleashed FX add-on for Corel PHOTO-PAINT has been updated to work with Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4. As Unleashed FX works with the macro language inside PHOTO-PAINT, it is very version specific. Both a full version and an upgrade are available.

If you aren't already familiar with Unleashed FX, it puts 300 special effects available at the push of a button. Those effects can be applied to any existing object in Corel PHOTO-PAINT or they can be automatically applied to a new piece of text in the font and size of your choice. Now you can create really cool effects with minimal effort.

Check out the Web page for Unleashed FX. You can find information about how it works, tips, samples and more. Give it a try by downloading a trial version including the full documentation.

Share

Corel PHOTO-PAINT Training/CorelDRAW Add-On Special Offer

By now I hope you are all familiar with the training videos produced by Tom Knight. If you aren't familiar with them, there are a number of free videos available.

Today I wanted to tell you about a special package that Tom put together. He has bundled his PHOTO-PAINT Power Training Videos along with the Advanced Artist Distress Generator plug-in for CorelDRAW. The Distress Generator alone cost $39.95 and the PHOTO-PAINT Power Training videos have a list price of $99. With this special offer, you get all of it for only $39.95. Basically you are getting the videos free when you buy Distress Generator.

There is one difference from buying the more expensive products. This offer is only for Web access to the products. So you'll need to have a broadband connection to download the add-on and the videos. It is same content, you just won't receive a physical CD or DVD. This also means you get access to it much sooner than waiting for a disc to arrive.

Check out the bundle now and get your order in!

Share

Three New Free Video Tutorials

Tom Knight has created three new video tutorials to help teach you how to get more out of CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT.

The first tutorial is two parts and teaches you how to create spot color flame effects in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. You'll also see a number of different ways to adjust your brush settings. Next up is a five part tutorial creating a skull and flames design. You'll start with a stock photo of a skull and convert it into a monochrome bitmap that can be recolored easily in CorelDRAW. The newest tutorial walks your through a project using the new PowerTRACE that comes with CorelDRAW X4. This is a good way to see some of the cool new features.

All of these free videos and many more can be found in Tom Knight's section of the Graphics Unleashed Web site.

Share

Big Sale on AutoFX Plug-ins

Were you wondering what present you could give your creativity for a holiday present? How about one of the AutoFX plug-ins? I'll tell you about all the great choices in a minute, but what you really need to know is that they are all on sale for 30% off through the end of the year. There are also some discounted bundles also on sale.

Let me give you a quick overview of the products involved:

Photo/Graphic Edges 6.0 gives you the ability to do cool stuff with edges on your images. It includes a total of 14 effects: Acid Edge, Ambient Brush, Burned Edge, Distort Edge, Edge Brush, Edges, Frames, Montage, Photo Border, Photo Tabs, Putty Edges, Smudged Edge, Transfer and Vignette.

Mystical Lighting allows you to do some amazing things with lighting in your images. Effects include Edge Highlights, Ethereal, FairyDust, Flare, Light Brush, Light Caster, Mist, Mottled Background, Radial Light Caster, Rainbow, Shader, Shading Brush, ShadowPlay, Spotlight, Surface Light and Wispy Mist.

Mystical Tint Tone and Color has effects for color and tonal changes in your images. Effects include Antique Photo, Black and White, Blue Sky, Color Bleach, Color Contrast, Color Mixer, Cool, Dark Contrast, Darken Colors, Deepen Tones, Enriched Black, Gradient Tinting, Green Foliage, Hand Tint, Hard Posterize, Harden Details, HSB Adjust, Image Brush, Levels, Multiply Darks, Over Exposed, Restore Details, RGB Adjust, Saturate Colors, Sepia Soft Posterize, Soft Saturation, Soften Details, Tonal Contrast, Tonal Detail, Tonal Sharpen, Tonal Smooth, Tonal Soften, Under Color, Under Exposed, Vitality, Warm and Washed Out.

DreamSuite Series One has eighteen filters that do a variety of cool stuff. They include 35mm Frame, Chisel, Crackle, Crease, Cubism, Deckle, Dimension X, Focus, Hot Stamp, Instamatic, Liquid Metal, Metal Mixer, PhotoBorder, PhotoDepth, PhotoTone, Putty, Ripple and Tape.

DreamSuite Series Two has fourteen more filters in a variety of areas. Filters include 2 1/4 Frame, 4 x 5 Frame, Dreamy Photo, FilmGrain, FilmStrip, Film Frame Art, Mesh, Mosaic, PhotoPress, PhotoStrips, PlasticWrap, Puzzle Pieces, Tile and Wrinkle.

DreamSuite Gel Series allows you to give your graphics a gel look. This works on both graphics and text.

Also under the AutoFX banner are Xtivity, a Flash authoring program and Pixtivity, a multimedia slideshow generator.

If you give these products a look, you're sure to find one or more that will help boost your productivity.

Share