corel help pls

[Craig Hogarth]

I have an anchor that's been killing me. I've done several versions, but I can't find all the open spots. What I'm looking to do is color fill the anchor, leaving the ropes and outlines around the USN alone. I've moved nodes and added lines, but never get any difference.

If anyone can help me on this, I'd greatly appreciate it. TIA.

[Frank Corker]

See if this works for you Craig

[Stephen Beckham]

Nice Frank....

Pls - wondering how you did it versus how I'd try... Did you select the pieces individually and combine them - then join all the edges using the shape tool? I recall something about and autoclose function...?!?!

Still learning Corel beyond spelling my name...

Steve

[Joni Campbell]

I have the same problem at times and auto close will close it so it can be filled with color but the nodes close in odd places to distort the whole graphics :(

[Frank Corker]

Sorry, I should have said how it was done. I exported the picture as a bitmap. Must be exported and not converted to bitmap. Imported it back and then ungrouped all, removed the excess and colour filled the desired. Pretty straight forward really.

[Craig Hogarth]

That's perfect Frank. I've been trying this for months, but have never been able to figure it out. Thanks much.

[Gary Hair]

Sorry, I should have said how it was done. I exported the picture as a bitmap. Must be exported and not converted to bitmap. Imported it back and then ungrouped all, removed the excess and colour filled the desired. Pretty straight forward really.

Frank,
How do you ungroup a bitmap?

[Frank Corker]

You have to send it through the Trace facility first. Should have mentioned that too. (Message to self, tell them everything!)

[Darryl Hazen]

Joni,

Instead of using the auto close for connecting nodes, use the node selection tool, select the nodes you wish to close and then go to Arrange, scroll down to Close Path and then select one of the choices listed. That way you decide which nodes are closed. Auto close almost never gets it right.

[Roy Brewer]

What I'm looking to do is color fill the anchor, leaving the ropes and outlines around the USN alone.Craig,
You are working too hard. Just use X3's new Smart Fill tool.

[Mike Null]

Roy

Would you mind doing a step by step. I've gone to the help file for smart fill and can't seem to solve this issue.


The rope and the background of USN all fill with the anchor.

Thanks,

[Joseph B. Chritz]

Why doesn’t Smart Fill work with this graphic?

Let’s start with a bigger graphic. With the picker tool place a
window around the entire graphic, then drag a corner to make it larger.

Zoom in and notice the gap at the ends of some lines and curves.

Select the Shape Tool, click on the line that is too short and drag the end node to the intersecting line. Repeat for all gaps.

In this example I needed to fix three areas.

Is it worth the work it takes to fix the gaps? Sometimes, I just like to know what's happening.

[Chris McDonald]

Nice. I find a lot of converted images are not clean like the anchor. I use AutoCAD alot for my Laser cutter and filling the gaps or joining the polylines sometimes can be a pain but its best to correct the errors

Chris

[Mike Null]

Joseph

Here's what's confusing. This is from the CD help file:

"You can apply fills to any enclosed area by using the Smart fill tool. Unlike other fill tools, which fill only objects, the Smart fill tool detects the edges of an area and creates a closed path so that the area can be filled. For example, if you draw a freehand line that crosses over itself to create loops, the Smart fill tool can detect the edges of the loops and fill them. As long as the paths of one or more objects completely enclose an area, it can be filled."

It says it will create a closed path which I think is what was Roy was referring to. I just can't seem to make that happen.

[Craig Hogarth]

Craig,
You are working too hard. Just use X3's new Smart Fill tool.


That what I was trying to do, but it wouldn't do it. I tried closing gaps by moving nodes and adding lines. but it just didn't work.

[Joseph B. Chritz]

HI Mike,

The smart fill needs an area to fill without any openings or gaps.

In the first picture I used the shape tool to lengthen the short lines so they overlapped the other lines. Most often you would want to stop on the line, not go beyond it. I went too far to make it more noticable. There were three areas that needed to be fixed.

In the second picture I used the Smart Fill tool, notice I should have removed my red circles first.

In the third picture I dragged the Smart Fill off to the side.

In the forth picture I turned off the fill, what's left is the closed object mentioned in the Corel Draw help file, it's created by the Smart Fill tool.

[Mark Koenig]

I'm still puzzled about the Smart Fill Tool too... :mad:

Help please for the "Corel Challenged" :confused:

That looks like a very useful tool... Mark.

[Mike Null]

Joseph

Your solution and explanation were very good. I was confused by the help file saying Smart Fill would close the curve. It seems not to do that in every instance.

[Joni Campbell]

Ok I will give the smart fill tool a try...Thanks for so much info on this...

[Joni Campbell]

Ok, Dumb question but I cannot find a smart fill tool in corel 12. I went through the search and still nothing. Where is it?

[Roy Brewer]

That what I was trying to do, but it wouldn't do it. Craig,
My appologies to you and the group; I took only a quick look at the drawing. Joseph's detail correct. Doesn't have to be closed, but lines must be "closing off" an area so that the fill doesn't "leak" into unwanted areas.