Corel
Draw 12, the basics
You
can download the Corel Draw 12 tutorial as a PDF file here.
First
a few definitions:
*The "Tool Bar" runs
across the top of the page and contains the "Property Bar".
*The "Property Bar" tells
you about the document and objects, text, etc on the page.
**The "Property
Bar" changes depending on what is selected on the page.
*The "Tool Box" runs
down the left side of the screen, it contains the actual tools used to construct
your document.
How-tos:
Setting
up page size and orientation
Importing
images into Corel Draw
Editing
images that have been imported
Guidelines,
how to get 'em, how to use 'em
Text
Arrows
and lines
Using
special characters (symbols)
Basic
shapes: Rectangles, Circles, Polygons & Pies
How to fill
(and outline) objects, or not
Scale
bars and confocal images
How
to change page size and orientation
Use
the property bar which runs across the top of the Corel Draw
screen:
With nothing selected, the property bar automatically displays the page properties.
From the property bar you can select horizontal or vertical page orientation.
You can either select a page size from the “Paper
Type/Size” drop-down menu, (the default is “Letter”) or simply type in the size you want
the page to be in the “Paper Width and Height” dialogue box (the default is 8.5"x11").
*Note, you can always right click on any object and select “Properties”
from the menu. Right clicking allows you to find out about, or make changes
in, an objects properties.
Importing
images into Corel Draw (*.tif, *.jpg etc.)
Under
“File” select “Import” or use the import button up on the tool bar: 
From the pop up menu choose the file or files you want to import and click
“Import”.
The curser now changes to a right angle that represents the top left corner
of the file to be imported, the file name is also shown. Click where you want
the file to be placed on your Corel Draw document and it appears. Once on the
page, an imported image can be repositioned, edited, cropped etc. But, it is best to have an imported image about the size you want it in your document prior
to importing.
*When
importing more than one file, note the name of the file as they
do not always import in order.
Editing
images that have been imported
Images
that are imported into a Corel Draw document can be edited using
the Edit Bitmap buttons:
The
five buttons are:
Edit
Bitmap, This button will open the image in Photo Paint for editing. When you close
Photo Paint the changes you made will be saved to the image
in your Corel Draw document only, not to the original file
you imported from your hard drive.
Crop
Bitmap, Cropping removes unwanted areas of a bitmap, the stuff you don't want to see.
Trace
Bitmap, Opens the bitmap in Corel Trace & you’ll just have to play around with this to see if it’s anything you find useful.
Resamples
the Bitmap, Resampling allows you to change the image size, the resolution or both.
Bitmap
Color Mask Docker Window, Hiding colors in a bitmap lets objects or backgrounds show through the image.
Rotating
and flipping images
Images can be rotated and flipped by using the Mirror
Buttons: 
Sizing
images
Images can be sized by dragging a corner of the image to the size you want.
Drag only
by the corners as not to distort the image!
Images
can also be sized by using the tool bar: 
Sizing
can be done by either measurement or percent. Make sure that the proportions
lock box is NOT selected to keep the correct proportions.
Guidelines
Guidelines
are very useful in setting up plates or figures and for quickly
lining up pictures and text.
Guidelines are “pulled” from the rulers located above and to the left of the
drawing area. Left click on the ruler, hold down the left mouse button, and
drag a guideline into the drawing area. Vertical guidelines are pulled from
the left ruler, horizontal guides come from the top ruler.
To move a guideline, click on it, hold down on the left mouse button and drag
it were you want it. If you want the guideline at a specific location (ig.
centimeters, inches), double click on the guideline to get the "Options" dialog
box. Guidelines can be nudged into position as well. Select the guideline,
it will change from blue to red, and use the arrow keys to nudge it slightly.
You
can use the guidelines to align objects by selecting the Snap to Guidelines button: 
With
the Snap to Guidelines button selected simply move an object toward one of the guidelines and it will
suddenly "snap" into place.
Deactivating Snap
to Guidelines. To do this, click on the Snap to Guidelines button so that it is not highlighted.
To
get rid of a guideline, select it (so that it is red) and then
hit the Delete key.
Adding
Text
The Text
Tool is located in the Tool Box that runs down the left hand side of the screen: 
When
the Text Tool is selected the Text Tool Property Bar will show up at the top of the screen:
The
Text Tool Property Bar shows the font, font size, style, alignment,
etc.
Simply
click where you want text in your document and type. For paragraph
text it is best to make a text box by selecting the Text Tool, hold down the left mouse button & drag the mouse to form a box. Text typed into a text box will flow and wrap
automatically just as it would in a word processing program.
Text boxes are easily reshaped with the handles, the text will
automatically wrap to fit the new shape.
To
change the color of text, highlight the text and click on the
color of choice with the left mouse button.
Arrows
and Lines
Lines
The
two basic tools used for making lines are the Freehand Tool:  and the Bezier Tool: 
Either tool will work for making a straight line. Simply click the left mouse
button where you want the line to start and click it again where the line should
end.
The Freehand
Tool allows you to make free formed shapes and lines by clicking the left mouse button
and holding it down as you draw with the mouse. Release the
mouse button to end the line.
The Bezier
Tool will also allow free formed lines, and provides a bit more control but takes
some getting used to!
Click where you want a line to start. At the point where you want the line
to change direction, click and hold the left mouse button. Slowly drag the
mouse and you will see a control point emerge, moving the mouse causes the
line to bend. Shape the line with the left mouse button down. Release the button
and move on to the next point where you click & drag
again until the line is finished.
You
can go back and adjust the control points with the Shape Tool:  and the Shape Tools Property Bar:
to
fine tune the lines shape. 
This all sounds a little weird, I know, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll
find that it works very well to make shapes.
Arrows
There
are three ways in which arrows can be added. The first is by
making a line with an arrowhead. The second is by coping an arrow
from Special Characters . The third is via the Basic Shapes fly-out.
Adding arrows using lines
1. Select either the Freehand Tool or
the Bezier Tool drawing tool, the property bar for the drawing tool will show up at the top
of the screen:
To
select the thickness of the line click the 'Hairline' drop down
menu. To select the type of line click down on the middle of
the 3 lines. If you click on the two end lines you get a choice
of arrowheads and 'arrow-tails'. The one on the left is the beginning
of the line and the one on the right is the end of the line you
draw.
Adding
arrows and special characters
Open the special characters docker, select Text > Insert
Character
The
“Insert Character” docker appears on the right side of the screen. Select
the font you want to insert the special
character/symbol from (the symbol may well be in the font you
are using rather than in a special “symbol” file) Place the
curser into the body of text were you want the symbol, browse
to the symbol you want and double-click the symbol in the docker .... Or, drag it into the line of text while holding the left mouse button,
let go of the mouse button and it magically appears! If you
miss the line of text, your symbol will appear on the page
as a large, lone graphic outline.
Adding
Arrows via the Basic Shapes fly-out
Basic
Shapes
Basic
shapes can be created by using the various tools located on the
tool box along the left side of the screen. These are:
 |
The
Rectangle Tool |
| The
Ellipse Tool |
| The
Graph Paper Tool |
| The
Basic Shapes Tool |
Rectangles & Squares
To
use the Rectangle Tool, hold down the left mouse button and drag out a rectangle.
To
make a perfect square, hold down the Ctrl key as you drag with the left mouse button.
Use
the Rectangle Property Bar to modify the rectangle:
To
change the fill color of the rectangle, left click on the color
of choice on the right side of the screen.
To change the outline color, right click on the color of choice on the right
side of the screen.
Ellipse
Tool, Circles and pies
To
use the Ellipse Tool, hold down the left mouse button and drag out an ellipse.
To
make a perfect circle, hold down the Ctrl key as you drag with
the left mouse button.
To make pies (open or closed) use the buttons on the property bar:
you
can select an open or closed pie.
To
change the fill color of the ellipse, left click on the color
of choice on the right side of the screen.
To change the outline color, right click on the color of choice on the right
side of the screen.
Basic
Shapes Fly-out Menu: 
contains Basic Shapes, Arrow Shapes, Flow
Chart Shapes, Star Shapes and Callout Shapes:
Basic
shapes contains useful shapes like triangles, parallelograms,.. hearts and uh, smiley
faces!?
Arrow Shapes contains
a selection of arrows:
Flow Chart Shapes helps
you create flow charts:
Star Shapes  
Callout Shapes 
How
to fill (and outline) objects
Outline
color
1. select the object
2. using the right mouse button select the color that you want on the color
palate (right hand side of screen).
Fill
color (uniform color)
1. Select the object.
2. using the left mouse button click on the color that you want on the color
palate (right hand side of screen)
Fill
color (fountain, pattern, or texture fill)
1. Select the object
2. select the Fill Tool fly-out  via
the little black triangle in the corner of the Fill Tool Button.
and
choose what type of fill you want from the fly-out: 
The first selection is Uniform Fill.
It fills in objects with solid color: 
The
fountain fill does things like...
Linear
fills radial fills  Conical Fills  or Square Fills 
The Pattern
Fill dialog box allows you to select from a variety of patterns.
You can change the color etc. within the dialog box as well:
The Texture
Fill dialog box allows you to select from a variety of textures.
You can change the color etc within the dialog box as well:
The Post
Script Fill dialog box allows you to select from a variety of Post Script textures:
No
Fill, Just like it says, No Fill
Color
Docker Window, sliders allow you to modify the fill color.
How
to add scalebars
1. Make a straight line (any length).
2. Change the thickness using the pen property bar.
3. Change the length of the line by typing in the correct length for your scale
bar in the horizontal length box on the property bar.
4.
Change the color of the scalebar by selecting the scale bar and
right clicking the mouse button on the desired color.
Determining
the size of a scale bar for a confocal image
1.
BioRad image at 40x - To add a scale bar for a confocal picture,
one needs to know the magnification, the zoom, and width of the
original file. The following proportion is the one that I use.
total width of a printed (black and white printer on the confocal) confocal
pict = 182mm
length of 50mm at 40x, no zoom = 29mm
__29mm__ = _________z ____________ z = length of scale bar in mm
182mm total width of pict imported
2.
Nikon image - Use the table in SimplePCI/Simple32 Calibration
files & Measurements
This table give the length of the image at various magnifications and zooms
in microns. If your image was 40x with a 1.2 zoom, the length of the image
is 258.1mm. A 50mm scale bar should be 19.37% (258.1/50 or total length divided
by the size of the scale bar) of the size of the image. If the imported image
(before cropping) is 13cm, a 50 mm scale bar would be 25.2 mm in length.
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