Newbie Looking for help with a template

[Wayne Grecco]

Hello All...

I have a question.... Say I find an item that I would like to engrave and I want to use a template for Corel to engrave these types of items in the future.. How do you make a template for the item especially if it is of a wierd shaped item that is not easily recreated in Corel? Is there a way to scan the item and make an outline of it somehow?

Thanks!
Wayne

[Dee Gallo]

Wayne,

Welcome to the Creek, and yes, you can make a template from a scan using CorelDraw basic tools.

1. Import your scan to CorelDraw and lock it
2. Use the Freehand Drawing tool. Click on a starting point right on top of your scan and then double click wherever there is a key direction change. Use as few points as possible, you can always add more later. Don't worry about getting it too perfect or following curves, you will adjust next. Close the shape by clicking on the first point.
3. Use the Bezier or Shape tool next. Select All, then convert to curves using the button at the top of the page.
4. Move the lines by grabbing them with your pointer. You can also select a point (node) and pull the arrows. Try to center the nodes and lines on your scan lines to maintain the original shape.
5. To add or remove a node, double click where you want the change.
6. When you think you are finished, group the lines and move them away from the scan to see if it's right. If not, UNDO move and UNGROUP so you can do more work. If you don't group, you stand a chance of messing up your stuff.
7. If you want to raster your template, change the line to .5 or 1 point instead of hairline (which will cut)

This is a basic skill that you will use all the time once you get used to it, for templates, designs, silhouetting photos, and also for editing text, traces or clipart converted to paths.

Take heart, this sounds worse than it is!

cheers, dee

[Gerd Spatz]

Dee!
I use the same method ;-)
Some samples of wineboxes with local historical buildings:

[Dan Hintz]

Wayne,

If you're looking strictly for an outline, convert the image to pure B&W, then tweak the contrast until the image you care about is all black. Then run the Outline tool. Done.

[Chuck Stone]

Dee.. your explanation made more sense than the tutorial I just bought explaining
the same things. Often those tutorials don't tell you WHY you do something, or
they do other things in the background that they're not telling you about. Or
they do it so fast that you can't tell what they did. (or WHY)
I'm one of those people who, if I understand the WHY, you won't have to
explain the WHAT to me again. Thanks!

[Dee Gallo]

Dee.. your explanation made more sense than the tutorial I just bought explaining
the same things. Often those tutorials don't tell you WHY you do something, or
they do other things in the background that they're not telling you about. Or
they do it so fast that you can't tell what they did. (or WHY)
I'm one of those people who, if I understand the WHY, you won't have to
explain the WHAT to me again. Thanks!

Thanks, Chuck. 30 years of teaching & explaining procedures to crackheads makes you get to the essentials as simply as possible.

dee

[Belinda Barfield]

Laserheads . . . crackheads . . . yeah, we're all addicted to something.

Great tutorial Dee!

[Chuck Stone]

so ... what?? Dee's calling me a crackhead now?
I'm taking my marbles and going home!

[Dee Gallo]

so ... what?? Dee's calling me a crackhead now?
I'm taking my marbles and going home!

No, Chuck, I didn't say you ARE a crackhead, only LIKE a crackhead... hahaha But you might have left some of your marbles at my house so it's not really your fault. Come on back over and we'll have a nice cup of coffee and some cake!

[Neil Pabia]

No, Chuck, I didn't say you ARE a crackhead, only LIKE a crackhead... hahaha But you might have left some of your marbles at my house so it's not really your fault. Come on back over and we'll have a nice cup of coffee and some cake!

Poor Chuck lost his marbles a long time ago.

[Chuck Stone]

and Neil will try to sell them back to me.

Dee.. if you were a few hundred miles closer *I'd* be your apprentice.

Hey .. look at that.. three posts in a row by the three people who owned the
same Compucarve..

[Dan Hintz]

I have first dibs on Dee if she ever decides to move closer to our nation's capitol... sorry, Dee, you've been spoken for (whether you like it or not... your husband will just have to deal with it).

[Dee Gallo]

I'll be in DC for a family reunion at the end of June...tell your wife, Dan!

[Belinda Barfield]

I'll be in DC for a family reunion at the end of June...tell your wife, Dan!

And You Tube it when you do . . . I want to watch!

[Chuck Stone]

What happens in YouTube STAYS in YouTube