Biology
Biology Photo-Graphics
Corel Draw X6, for poster design - 2013
Biology Photo-Graphics
www.york.ac.uk/biology/graphics
Office Location/contact:
Department of Biology
Room: K145
T:
01904 328729
E:
biol-graphics@lists.york.ac.uk
Bitmaps
S
Vector shapes
Check your instructions,
& consider your audience
Our standard measurements 1060 x 750mm same proportions as:
1060 mm
A0=118x84cm, A1=84x59.4cm
1060 mm
Landscape
or
Portrait
standard menus
Corel Draw X6 Work Space
context sensitive menu
dockers
rulers /
click & drag
for guides
paste board
drawn
objects
drawing tools
document
pagination
Swatch
/ click to
expand
Pick (select, move, resize objects)
Shape (modify the shape of objects)
Crop (crop images)
Zoom (zoom in and out of the workspace)
Freehand / line (draw lines or freehand shapes)
Smart fill ()
Rectangle (use ‘Ctrl’ on keyboard will constrain a square, ‘Shift’ to expand from centre)
Elipse (use keyboard short cuts as above for Circles and other effects)
Polygon
Basic shapes
Text
Table
Interactive effects (Drop shadows, transparency and more…)
Colour picker and fill
Outline (also known as ‘stroke’, control weight and colour)
Fill (flat colour, gradients and textures)
Interactive fill (fill effects)
Scheme and content
Layout: structure, colour, readability
how should this enhance your message/data?
Structure
• Grids are used by most designers to divide the page into rows and
columns and provide clarity through a recognisable flow of
information.
• Break the poster content into Sections e.g. Introduction, Methods,
Results, Discussion, References. Use these sections with a grid to
layout your poster.
• Use titles, sub titles and other graphic devices effectively to capture
your audiences attention, helping them to skim your poster, so that
they can get a quick overview and then read the detail.
Various
options to
split a
landscape
format
(apply same
principles to
portrait format)
Rulers and Guides
• Rulers appear on the left and top of the paste board.
You can set the units of measurement from the drop down list on the
main tool (property) bar.
• Guides are used to align objects, Corel supports horizontal and
vertical guides, as well as a rotating feature.
• when using Text Boxes, tab guides and indent options appear
embedded within the rulers.
Colour
• The colour you see on the screen generally does not match the
colour that is printed
• Each printer can have variation of colour
• A Printer Swatch for the CorelDRAW CMYK Palette (default) is
available to view in the Photo-Graphics office, showing CMYK
colours printed from the HP Poster printer
• Colour should be used to enhance the structure, highlight titles,
subtitles, and can be used effectively to harmonise the whole poster
• 2 or 3 colour schemes are enough to create an eye catching design
• A key colour could be chosen from an important image or chart
used in the poster
Colour
Background Colour can be applied to your poster by either:
• Drawing a rectangle over the whole page using the Rectangle Tool,
add a colour by selecting the rectangle edge with the Pick Tool and
selecting the colour of your choice from the swatch on the right of
the work space. Possibly use a separate new layer
or
• Select Layout | Page background, a dialogue box
will open. Select Solid and pick a colour from the drop down swatch.
Colour
Alternative colour application
• A flat colour within a shape is called a Fill
• Gradient Fills and Textured Fills are available from the Fill
Tool (Bucket icon)……However
• Using complex Fills adds greatly to your overall file size and
adds complexity and unreliability to the print process itself.
• Where possible try not to detract from the readability of the
poster by using too many G.E.Ds. (Graphic Emphasis Devices!)
Readability: Posters with a Dark Background and Light Text are
more difficult to read than Dark Text and Light Background.
Poster text Poster text Poster text Poster text
Poster text Poster text Poster text Poster text
Text can be coloured by selecting the text with the ‘A’ tool, see left
Tool Box. Then choose a colour of your choice from the colour
palette.
Aligning Objects
• All assets on the page and paste board can be aligned in
relation to the page and / or each other using the Align option.
• This is one of the most useful tools within Corel, especially when
working with large scale print work.
Drawing
• On the left of the workspace are all the tools available for drawing. If the tool
has a black arrow head pointing bottom right, this means that if you click and
hold the mouse button for a few seconds, further tools in that series will
become visible. This is called a ‘Flyout’.
• Draw basic shapes and lines with the tools available.
There are two types of drawn assets:
A ‘Curve’ or an ‘Object’.
• all vector illustrations are combinations of manipulated / geometric shapes
and freehand drawn shapes.
Drawing
CURVES
• If a shape is a ‘curve’, the context sensitive tool bar at the top of the
workspace allows you to change line thickness, add arrow heads etc.
This will appear if you have the Pick Tool selected and not the drawing
tool.
• NOTE: Line thickness should not be below 1pt Hairlines can be ignored
by some printers
• When using Drawn objects, you may need to alter the stacking order,
so that the object of your choice is visible in front of another.
Drawing
Objects
• Right click on the object for a list of options. Select Properties
from the docker that opens you can alter line thickness etc.
• NOTE: Line thickness should not be below 1pt
• Use the Outline Tool to add or remove outlines from an object
or curve.
• To colour an object or curve, select it with the Pick Tool, and then select
a colour from the colour swatch.
• Drawn objects are useful for background shapes for posters
(columns etc.) as well as diagrams.
Layers
Layers are visible in the Object Manager
• Layers are useful for separating Backgrounds, Diagrams, Labels
and Text. This can simplify selecting objects on a complex poster.
• Create a new layer using the icons in the top of the Object Manager window.
• You can also Lock individual layers to prevent accidental alterations.
• Click on the Eye icon to hide other obscuring layers while working on a
specific layer.
• NOTE: If you ‘Group’ objects which are on different layers, they will all be
moved and grouped on to the top most layer.
• You can still use the normal stacking order options on individual layers.
Screen Views
• Setting the screen view (drop menu) allows you to find hidden objects, it also
allows you to work easily in a lower resolution.
• Wire frame
• This option will show traced outlines of all objects on the page. This helps you
to find an object obscured by something above it in the stacking order.
• Draft / Normal / Enhanced
• These options allow you to view the page at differing resolutions.
Use the Normal option as default. Use Enhanced to preview final artwork and
EPS embedded objects.
Text
Break the content into a clear title and sub-sections.
Type the text in Word for ease, but formatting can be done in Corel Draw.
• Choose a clear, readable font. (Arial etc.)
• Check any scientific symbols in Corel Draw as they
may alter when imported.
• Font sizes e.g.:
Titles
Sub Titles
Text
48 – 200pt
30 - 44pt
20 - 24pt
If the bulk of page is covered in text that is below 20pt
there is too much
Text
Importing text from Word (or other source)
• There are many ways to add text from an external document to
your poster.
If the text is prepared in Word - Copy & Paste. Copy the text from
source file, then in Corel, use the Text tool, draw a text box and
click into it to see a cursor, then paste.
Text
Using Text Symbols - e.g.
b µ
• Corel Draw has an ‘insert character’ docker available from:
Text | Insert Symbol Character
this will appear on the right of the workspace, select the font of your
choice from the drop down menu, a list of symbols will appear.
• If you have a text box selected, double click on the symbol of your
choice in the docker window. the symbol will appear where your
cursor is in the text box.
• If you do not have a text box selected, you can ‘Drag and Drop’ a
symbol from the docker onto the document as an independent
Artistic Text object.
Text
Using Text Symbols cont…
• Occasionally the Corel Draw symbols insertion method can
prove unreliable. The alternative is:
Select
Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Character Map
choose a font of your choice, click on a character to view it larger,
choose the character you want, click select then copy
The character is then in the clip board, and ready to paste into
a Corel Draw text box or as an artistic text object.
• You may then need to set the font size and colour.
• The Character Map is useful for finding symbols and special bullets.
Importing Photos / Bitmaps
• Corel Draw is not a bitmap editor, but has some functionality to aid the use of
bitmaps within its workspace
• GIF files, generally found on the Internet are low resolution and are
unsuitable for use in a large poster. The size of the final print stresses
the low quality of the Gif image.
• Copying images from Word or PowerPoint to Corel Draw. This process
is unreliable. Images that are copied from these two programs can
easily become corrupted in the process.
Always allow time for an A4 proof print and corrections.
Images
• Some logos are available from the Photo Unit file store(ask for copies).
These include good quality copies of the University logo.
• Important considerations for bitmap images are:
Resolution - the lowest resolution you should use is 150dpi to 100% of print
size, the largest is 300dpi.
Colour Mode - The printer uses Cyan Magenta Yellow blacK Inks.
Your photo files may be in Red Green Blue (screen colours).
Charts
Excel or other.
• if possible export from originating software, as either high res
bitmap (Tiff, JPG, PNG) or vector file (EMF, WMF, EPS), then
import into Corel Draw
• Alternatively, ‘copy’ the chart, and use the Paste Special option
in Corel Draw, and select a vector format
• (this is trial and error as neither of these options will always
work effectively)
PowerPoint for Posters
• PowerPoint can be used for poster design.
• Page setup can be found under the Design tab on the menu ribbon.
Add custom page dimensions here. – 1060 x 750mm
• To create shapes use the features on the Home tab on the menu
ribbon. The Format tab is also a key area to find extra layout tools.
• Use the Insert tab for options to insert images etc.
Aligning Objects in PowerPoint
• Zooming in and out of a poster in PowerPoint is not as easy as Corel Draw.
this makes it more difficult to precisely arrange text boxes, images or drawn
shapes.
• Select the objects you wish to align, then select the Format Tab from the
menu ribbon - you can select a variety of alignment styles from the Align or
distribution options.
• You will also find other useful options, such as arrange, cropping and
grouping.