One of the things I like the most about CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT is the wide array of fills that are available to use. Unfortunately, some of the fill types seem to be underutilized by users. I’m not sure if they aren’t aware of the fill type and/or how to use it or if the fills supplied with CorelDRAW just don’t excite users. If I had to guess, I think it is a little bit of both. Hopefully I can help you overcome both hurdles.

If you aren’t aware of the possibility of bitmap fills, I have free tutorials showing you how to use them in both CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT. The CorelDRAW tutorials are available as both a PDF file and a video tutorial. They were created using CorelDRAW X4, but the information is valid for CorelDRAW 11 and higher (probably earlier versions as well but I haven’t used them in so long I can’t remember). There is also a video tutorial showing how to use them in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. These tutorials will teach you everything you need to know to take advantage of bitmap fills and specifically seamless textures. The videos are CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT are embedded below.

With CorelDRAW X4 and lower, the variety and quality of seamless textures included was pretty bad. CorelDRAW X5 replaced the earlier seamless textures with new choices and higher quality. There are over 1000 seamless textures available. Each of them was carefully handcrafted and is supplied in 256×256, 512×512, 1024×1024 and 2048×2048 pixels so that you have just the size you need whether you are designing for the Web or a billboard. There are also collections of textures available from Textures Unleashed if you want to build your library quickly. Currently there are five collections and more are on the way. You can download a free PDF catalog of each collection to see exactly what is included.

Now that you have the information you need to use bitmap fills in your projects and a library of quality fills to use, I’m hoping more users will take advantage of this great fill type!