CorelDrawX3 Background

[Gregg Vaughn]

After several hours of trial and error, mostly error, I'm giving up and asking for help. The question: How do you get CorelPaint to export a photo with a black background?

I have:

Imported a BMP image to CorelDrawX3
Resampled image to 300 dpi and sized it
convereted the image to 8 bit gray scale
opened the cutout lab
traced photo
chosen black mate background
clicked on fill within the traceAt this point I have the image I want with a black background that I can play with the add/delete brushes and touch up as I need.

Everything is looking good ...

I save the image as a bitmap, I get a box telling me the background will be merged.

I then open the image in Photograv and there it is, but no black background!

Where did I go wrong? I also played with the background icon on the left-side tool bar, but got no results there either.

[Mike Null]

Gregg
Would inverting the image in PhotoPaint solve your problem?

[Mark Koenig]

I'm having the same problem trying to generate a "transparent" background... Want to superimpose an image over another picture...:mad:

I feel your pain... Mark.

[Mike Null]

Mark

In PhotoPaint there is a feature called "cut-out lab" under "image" which will allow you to remove all background from a picture. It's a fairly simple process but takes a little practice and patience. There is a tutorial on the corel cd for this feature.

[Mark Koenig]

I removed the image background but it creates a white square around the pic when I overlay it on the other pic... Will cutout lab fix that???

Mark.

P.S> Don't mean to hijack this thread...

[Mike Null]

Mark
Have a look at this tutorial. I have to keep referring to it as I do so little work on photos I don't remember from one to the next.

http://www.unleash.com/jeffh/whitebox/index.asp

[Gregg Vaughn]

Mark:

When I use the cut-out lab I can get no background without a problem. Just follow the steps up to choosing black mate background on my initial post.

[Mark Koenig]

Mark
Have a look at this tutorial. I have to keep referring to it as I do so little work on photos I don't remember from one to the next.

http://www.unleash.com/jeffh/whitebox/index.asp

They make it look so easy... Well, guess it is if you know what you are doing...

The tutorial answerd my question... :)

Mark...

(Sorry if it seemed like I hijacked this thread...)

[Brian Robison]

I've looked at the tutorial over and over also.
I have Corel 12 and I can't even get it to launch into Photo Paint like he does. When I cut and paste the picture I get a pink background. It's a real mess. I know it's me but sometimes this stuff can drive a person crazy!

[Roy Brewer]

The question: How do you get CorelPaint to export a photo with a black background?Gregg,
I couldn't tell if you figured this out or not. These are the steps I'd recommend. Not that it would matter much, but I'm assuming your preparing to invert this for something like black marble(?).

1. Acquire photo into DRAW (or import if you're starting with a file)
2. While selected, select Edit Bitmap from the Property bar and the graphic will open in CorelPhotoPAINT where you'll to the majority of the work.
3. Resample ***but do not resize*** you'll destroy your final ouput (although you'll see no degradation on the screen). Let me say this very important concept a different way: Do all your "resizing" with the Resample and crop tools. [ Do not change the aspect ratio or resize by dragging selection handles in either DRAW or PAINT]
4. Use Cutout Lab (Image Cut Out in Corel 11-12-- works but not as easy) to remove the background. The background color you select here is just to give you a view of how the edges will look on solid background and has nothing to final output.
5. Set your background color to Black. (one of the three color squares along the lower/left area of your toolbar)
6. Convert to grayscale and you'll be told that it will be combined with the background (good! that's what you wanted!)

7.) a. close the PhotoPAINT window and answer Yes to the "want to save" query and the changes will be dumped back into DRAW with the changes applied. Black Marble assumption(w/o photograv): Bitmap>Color Mode>B&W> Stucki 100%. Finally, Effects>Transform>Invert.

7.) b. If you are going to PhotoGraV, File>Save as a .BMP which is the only format PhotoGraV will accept. If you select the Black Marble parameter set, PhotoGraV will handle the inversion. Save Engrave file and import into DRAW for final output.

Sorry if I've missed your whole intention, but your bulleted steps and title , I couldn't tell when you were in PAINT and when you were in DRAW, but you can't do what you said you were doing without switching back and forth.

This does not respond to another post on transparent background

[Roy Brewer]

I have Corel 12 and I can't even get it to launch into Photo Paint like he does.Brian,
I supposed to be pretty good at DRAW and I had the same problem for several months when I used Corel12: i.e., double clicking on a bitmap did not automatically run PAINT with the bitmap ready for editing. I have no idea what I did to "fix" it, but after a while it started working again.
I think X3 removed that "feature" because too many of us would double click when we really didn't mean it(or else I've screwed up my version of X3?)

In all cases, Bitmaps>Edit bitmap will run PAINT and have the same result.

[Brian Robison]

Hi Roy,
I tried it and thought it worked for a minute, then I realized it just opened it in Corel Draw again in a new window.