The Polygon Tool might not seem like it has features to automatically create a gear shape
and
this is partially true. The Polygon Tool produces symmetrical shapes that can
be
dynamically
edited; they can be dramatically modified and still keep a special base
property.
Creating and Modifying a Polygon
2. On the Property Bar, set the number of sides to 16.
This will produce a polygon with
16
control points and control points in-between.
3. Hold CTRL (this constrains the shape to equal width and
height), and then click-drag
on
the page until the width and height fields on the Property Bar (the
second-from-left
fields)
tell you the shape you’re creating is about 5½ inches. At this point, release
CTRL
and your mouse button. Your polygon should look like the illustration here.
ٍ4. Choose the Shape Tool; hold CTRL, click on one of the
control points along the path
of
the polygon, and then drag until the result is a star shape, shown here. The
reason
for
holding CTRL as you drag is that it keeps the control point from drifting to
the
left
or right as you move it. Otherwise this would produce a radial saw blade shape
and
not a star whose path segments mirror each other.
5. With the Shape Tool still active, click a point on the
path, as shown in Figure 4-2.
Then
click the Add Node(s) button on the Property Bar. You’ve created a change in
the
property of the path, although it doesn’t look like a change yet. The polygon
can
still
be dynamically reshaped. Look closely at the polygon path—you added a
control
node, but there are actually 16 added control nodes, because you made a
change
to a dynamic object.
When
you add a node to a polygon object, additional nodes are created
symmetrically
around the shape.
6. Take your time on this step: with the Shape Tool, drag
the top control node a little to
the
left and then a little down. Stop when you have the shape shown here. The
polygon
looks very much like a 16-tooth gear now, doesn’t it?
Using Shaping Operations to Massage the Design
At
present, no one is going to want this drawing of a gear to go into any piece
of machinery:
there’s
no hole for a shaft, and those teeth need a deeper groove in-between them.
These two
minor
manufacturing defects are easily solved through the use of CorelDRAW’s Shaping
operations,
available from the Arrange menu but also from the Property Bar when two or
more
objects are selected. In the following steps, you’ll use two Shaping
operations—Weld
and
Trim—that you’ll definitely use in future assignments of your own.
Shaping the Polygon
1. Choose the Ellipse Tool from the Toolbox.
2. Try to position the cursor in the center of the polygon
object; you’ll see how to
perfectly
align the new shape to the polygon in a moment, so don’t sweat precision.
3. Hold SHIFT+CTRL and then drag away from the polygon
until the circle intersects the
teeth
of the polygon, as shown here. Pressing CTRL in this step constrains the
ellipse
to
a circle, and using SHIFT creates the circle from the center outward.
Hold CTRL+SHIFT Ellipse Tool and drag
4. Press CTRL+A to Select All (in this case, “all”
consists of two objects).
5. Press P. This command is the keyboard shortcut to
Arrange | Align And Distribute |
Center
To Page. Your objects are aligned to each other’s centers, and if you enjoy
digging
through application menus as much as you enjoy root canal work,
remembering
this keyboard shortcut is a good idea.
6. Choose the Pick Tool from the Toolbox. With both
objects selected, click the Weld
button
on the Property Bar, as shown here. You have a single shape now, and the
teeth
on the gear look more pronounced and don’t need root canal work.
7. Let’s put a hole in the gear now; a circular hole would
make the gear work best.
With
the Ellipse Tool and nothing selected on the page, hold SHIFT+CTRL and then
drag,
starting at the center of the gear shape, and then stop when you feel this new
circle
is large enough to serve as a hole in the gear. If you designed the gear as
recommended
earlier to about 5½ inches, a 2½-inch circle will work.
8. Press CTRL+A and then press P; the gear and the circle
are now centered relative to
each
other, and both are centered on the page.
9. While both objects are selected, it might be a good
idea to give the objects a fill so
you
can see them better. On the Color Palette, left-click on a light color swatch:
these
are called color wells in CorelDRAW. Your objects are now filled with
the
same
color.
10. On the Property Bar, click the Trim button, as shown in
the following illustration.
The
Trim Shaping operation removes sections of an object that is underneath/behind
another
object on the page, and leaves the circle, commonly called the Source
Object.
With the Pick Tool, select the shape you no longer need and then press
CTRL+X
to delete it. This means you can use Trim to remove only parts of an
underlying
object by arranging a top object to only slightly overlap it; however, in
this
example, because the new circle is completely on top of the polygon, it’s
completely
“drilled through” the polygon.
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Nice Tutorial Bro it"s very helpful
ReplyDeleteNice Tutorial Bro it"s very helpful
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