Creating Soft Drop Shadows in CorelDRAW 7.

Either draw the shape of you’re shadow using the one of the tools in the Toolbox or make a copy of the object you want to create a shadow from. If you’re using groups of objects like Clipart for the shadow (shown below), change all the fills and outlines to the color you want for the shadow (usually Black). If the shadow is a just a single shape or Text, fill it with a shadow color.

Using the Rectangle tool, draw a rectangle around the shadow shape. Select the shadow shape and the new rectangle. With to two shapes selected, right click on the X at the top of the Color palette to remove the outline from the rectangle. With the two object still selected, click on the Group button on the Property Bar.

Select the new group and click on Bitmaps | Convert to Bitmap. The Convert to Bitmap dialog box will appear. Select 32 bit 6.8 billion colors from the color parameters box if you’re using CMYK colors. Enter the desired resolution in the resolution parameters box and click on the OK button. The group of two objects will now become a single bitmap object. There will be a white background surrounding the shape. Now click on Bitmaps | Blur | Gaussian to reveal the Gaussian Blur dialog box. Move the Radius slider control to a number between 10 and 50. Click the Preview button to see the result. Continue to adjust the slider until you’re satisfied with effect. When satisfied, click on the OK button. Place the shadow under the original object.

With the shadow shape still selected, click on the Transparency tool in the Toolbox. Click on the down arrow of the Transparency Type parameters box on the Property Bar and choose uniform. Move the Starting Transparency slider on the Property Bar until you’re satisfied with the amount of transparency applied to the shadow. Now click on the Transparency Operation down arrow on the Property Bar and choose Subtract. The white background will now be removed. If you want to make the black show more or less transparent adjust the transparency slider on the Property Bar.

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