Old graphic styles don't die, they just fade away.
Transparency is all the rage nowadays. We've been using simple transparency in CorelDRAW
for a long time. When I finally broke down and downloaded Jeff Harrison's great video,
How to Export PNG's with Transparency From CorelDRAW,
I got inspired. It answered some questions I had been using some complicated workarounds to deal with.
So why is it important to export with transparency? One of the biggest drawbacks of CorelDRAW
is that its file formats are not widely supported. To get a vector graphic from CorelDRAW to my
icon editor, to make a desktop icon, is no easy matter. To make a custom shape for a splash
screen in one of my Visual Basic programs gave me headaches. And of course Web graphics, on
anything but an unchanging solid background, require transparency. Especially now that IE-7 has
freed us from ugly gray rectangle syndrome.
Our title graphic illustrates some of the modern uses of transparency. To construct it:
Start with a rectangle 6" × 1.75"
Fill it with a medium color. (I used R: 64, G: 160, B: 255.)
Using the Interactive Transparency Tool, drag from the upper right corner to about a half inch
in from the lower left. (Figure 1 below)
It still looks a bit clunky. So what I did was to take the Interactive Fill Tool and drag
straight down from the top to the bottom. This automatically takes the object color for its
starting color and blends it to white (CMYK). Make sure you drag an RGB white to the end
color box. This approach only works because I know the shape will be placed on a white
background. (Figure 2 below)
Now for the text:
I have 72 pt text, using Abbey-Medium. The font is available from the free font sites on
the Internet, but feel free to use your favorite font. Dom Casual BT makes a good substitute.
The color is orange. (R: 255, G: 160, B: 64)
Duplicate the text using the + key.
Grab the top center handle of the text, hold the Control key, and pull down to invert the
text. (Figure 3 below)
Keep the inverted copy selected and in Zoom Levels, choose To Selected.
Now take the Interactive Transparency Tool again. Drag from the upper edge of the inverted
text to about halfway down the text. Then drag a 70% Black to the upper color box. This is the
reflection.
Finally, use the Interactive Drop Shadow Tool to drag a short shadow from the bottom of the
main text. I'm using a Drop Shadow Angle of 34° and a Drop Shadow Stretch of 50.
Switch back to a normal Zoom level. Group the text and reflection together and align them
with the bottom left of the rectangle. (Figure 4 below)
For the top line of the title graphic:
Make sure Dynamic Guides are on (if you're using CorelDRAW 12 or X3), and drag a rectangle
that aligns with the top of the text and the top and width of the original rectangle. OR
For older versions, make a 6" × 0.5" rectangle at the top of the original rectangle. Make a
horizontal line the width of the rectangle. Align the line to the top of the text. Align the
bottom of the narrow rectangle with the line. Delete the line and drag the top sizing handle
of the rectangle down to the top of the original rectangle.
Fill the rectangle with a soft color. (I'm using R: 247, G: 230, B: 238.)
With the new rectangle still selected, take the Interactive Transparency Tool and in the Property Bar, select Copy Transparency Properties. (Figure 5 at right) Then click the original rectangle to copy the same transparency.
Add your text at 24 pt, aligned to the bottom left of the new rectangle. (I'm using
Junicode, an excellent Unicode font available under the GNU public license,
from http://junicode.sourceforge.net/.)
Gel Stripe
I'm including "Gel Stripe.cdr" with the tutorial to use in
illustrating other transparency techniques. So open that file now, or import it into your
current document. (Figure 6 at right) One thing you might like to do, if you want to use a
graphic like this for a desktop icon, is add a glow that will allow the desktop background
to show through.
Make a 2" square with 50% rounded corners to match the shape of the graphic.
Give it a solid fill and no outline. (I'm using orange: R: 255, G: 160, B: 64)
Use the Interactive Drop Shadow Tool to drag a shadow straight down 0.25".
Change the Drop Shadow Color to R: 255, G: 128, B: 0. (Figure 7 below)
Under the Arrange menu, point to Order, and select To Back.
Now select Gel Stripe, shift-select the orange rectangle, and press C, E, to place
the glow beneath the graphic. (Figure 8 below)
Another possibility is to make your graphic appear to be set into the background.
Start with a 2.5" square with 60% rounded corners.
Fill it with Black and no outline. (Figure 10 below)
Now make a 2" square with 50% rounded corners, centered in the first square, also Black with
no outline.
Select the large square and take the Interactive Transparency Tool. In the Property Bar,
set the transparency to Uniform, 100%.
Then select the inner square and apply a Uniform 90% transparency.
Now use the Interactive Blend Tool to blend the two squares. (Figure 11 below)
Under the Arrange menu, point to Order and select To Back.
Then center Gel Stripe in the inset. (Figure 12 below)
Again, if you export it as a transparent PNG, it will appear set into the background.
(See Figure 13 below)
One final idea:
Take another copy of Gel Stripe and ungroup it.
Select the inner orange rectangle. (Figure 14 below)
Take the Interactive Transparency Tool, and in the Property Bar, set the transparency to Linear.
Now drag the white color box to the bottom of the orange rectangle and the black color box to
the top. (Figure 15 below)
This gives a more subtle blend in the Gel graphic. (Figure 16 below) And that finishes our
survey of transparency techniques. Now make something great. And feel free to take
apart Gel Stripe and see how I did that!
With the new rectangle still selected, take the Interactive Transparency Tool and in the Property Bar, select Copy Transparency Properties. (Figure 5 at right) Then click the original rectangle to copy the same transparency.
