I had a user ask me a question about a week ago and the answer is something that may benefit many of you. He was wondering if there was a way to type text in a script font and somehow turn it into something that only had the outlines of the characters and not the overlap.
You know, I don’t think that describes it very well so I want you to try something. Type the word “Script” and use a font like Brush Script. You’ll notice that the lowercase letters all connect with each other as if you had written the word in cursive yourself. Switch to Wireframe view in CorelDRAW and you will see that the characters actually have a small amount of overlap. For those cutting vinyl or engraving, that overlap is a huge problem.
This user was exporting the text to a bitmap and then re-importing the bitmap and tracing the result. I told him I could solve the problem with one keystroke. The solution is to select the text and Weld it. You can do this by selecting Arrange | Shaping | Weld. I take that one step further by assigning the letter W as a custom shortcut key for the Weld command. So if I need the text to be welded, I simply press the W key and I’m done. That tip saved the user asking the question an enormous amount of time and gives higher quality results.
The video below from CorelDRAW X6 Unleashed shows the process in action.
Hi Foster, you are a gem! but don’t think the same about that person.
You shouldn’t think any less of the person asking the question. They didn’t know the quickest way to accomplish the task and thus the ask if there was a better way.
Too many users are afraid to get quality training because they don’t think it would benefit them. The person asking the question has been using CorelDRAW for nearly 15 years. It just shows that every user can learn ways to be more efficient with CorelDRAW.