Corel question_ how do you fade edge of photo?

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey all you Corel Gurus. Just did a wedding photo on black marble and it came out nice but I wanted to try to fade the edge, about 3/4", of the photo from 100% to 0% and could not find the simple answer. I tried doing it using the mask but was unable to accomplish it clicking through the pull down effects menu. So does anyone have a sure fire simple but accurate way of doing this with X3 or X4?

The customer was really excited when they saw this one and want to order 4-5 more. Their relative is a photo-shop aficionado and may send me some almost ready to go photos but I want to take it to the next level with the faded edge/border. I appreciate your help and thanks in advance...

[Steve Clarkson]

Mike,

In PhotoPaint, once you have created the mask, on the Menu Bar go to Mask|Mask Outline|Feather and you can change the % and direction.

[Anthony Welch]

Mike,

I Corel Photo Paint, go to Effects, Creative, Vignette. From there you can choose shape, amount of fading etc.

Anthony

[Stephen Beckham]

Epilog also had a training tip that showed you how you could use power clip to create your own shapes for edge fading (beyond circle, oval, and rectangle vinettes). I believe it's still up on their website.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Awesome Guys. 3 different ways to kinda achieve the same results.
I did get the mask/feather to work but it was not 100% of what I wanted. I will try the other 2 methods and see how the results are. I am also ordering the AdvancedArtistic dot com advanced training to see how it fairs against the Corel unleashed X4 DVD training. Probably a lot of duplication but as witnessed here there is almost always more than one way to do something.

Thanks again and ...

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Well here is a quick test run of the Epilog method

[Anthony Welch]

Mike,

If this the photo to be engraved I'd try and use the clone tool to remove the foreground rod and if I did any good for the photo, so much the better.

Anthony

[Mike Null]

here it is as a vignette.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Thanks Anthony.
No that is not the photo I used just used it for the test but she is my pride and joy. That's Anne, my daughter who is actually taking a linguist test (I forgot the actual name of the test) right now for the Army. She has already qualified for an Animal Specialist. They are also in BIG need of translators, so she has this as an option if she qualifies other wise an Animal Specialist is still good. She loves animals and languages so she is happy with either one. When done serving 4 years she will be a Vet assistant when she gets out and can use the GI bill to go for a full vet if she wants. That is of coarse if there is any $$$$ left for her when she gets out.

Sorry it's hard to stop those rabbit trails when we start talking about our kids.:D

Maybe I should put her picture next to Brian's post in the thread about "Showing your Best!"

Thanks Mike. That was quick. The one I did kind of dulls the actual photo a bit because the transparency covers the whole photo so you loose the brilliance or sharpness of the original photo. I will try yours next and see how it looks.

These are close but is there any other software that does it better with complete control? Does Photoshop, Photograve, or some other plug in work better?

Thanks again and ...

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Mike,
This was really easy to do. You know how sometimes things are right in front of you but until you have a need they are invisible. Well that's where this has been hiding all this time :confused:. Thanks for pointing it out 4 me.

[Mike Null]

We'll try again. Here is our grandaughter at one. Black vignette

[Steve Clarkson]

Mike, what a cutie......but if you have a granddaughter, you must be almost as old as Frank!

[Frank Corker]

Mike, what a cutie......but if you have a granddaughter, you must be almost as old as Frank! Oi back of lady! But she is a cutie Mike

[Mike Null]

I don't know about Frank but I just hit six dozen.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Excellent one Mike! And the vignette is really nice also.
What are your settings for that one?

[Mike Null]

Mike

Those settings are: 1. open the picture in PhotoPaint, 2. crop and re-size it, 3. click on vignette and save.

In other words I didn't do anything. It was a pretty good picture to begin with.