two questions on corel

[Craig Hogarth]

I'm wondering if these are possible to do on Corel X3.

1) Using the pick tool, can you select objects by drawing around them like when selecting nodes using the shape tool?
2) Is there a way to make changes to the curve on a node and have the exact same changes happen to another node automatically?

[Scott Shepherd]

Not sure if I understand correctly, but I'll try for #1.

Yes. If you drag a box around an object or number of objects, it will select all objects inside that box you dragged.

If you have something that's tricky and you only want part of it, you can hold the "ALT" key down while dragging and it'll select only the items that touch the box, rather than all items inside the box. That's really handy when trying to select piece of parts of things and you can't draw a box around it all because it selects too much, or not enough.

[Richard Rumancik]

. . .2) Is there a way to make changes to the curve on a node and have the exact same changes happen to another node automatically?

Not quite sure what you mean by "changing the curve on a node" . . . or did you mean changing the node on a curve? What kind of edit are you doing to the node? Such as changing it from cusp to smooth for example? There may be some way to "record" a series of instructions using some kind of script but I don't know off-hand how to do this or whether it would be time-effective.

However, if you wanted to change a group of nodes from say cusp to smooth, or break apart 10 nodes all at the same time, you could do this by selecting multiple nodes using the "window" selection (dragging a box around them) and then editing all the selected nodes simultaneously. You just have to make sure you are on one of the nodes when right clicking or it will cancel your command. When you right click, then you can change node type, break apart, etc for ALL the selected nodes. Some edit options won't apply to multiple nodes.

[Craig Hogarth]

I'm having a hard time wording it.

1) Let say you have a square with 1000 little squares inside of it. If I want to select all the squares in the center of the big one, I can't because it selects the big square. Basically, I want to do a group select like I normally do, but without selecting the big square. Normally, if it's one object, such as the big square, i'll lock it, but sometimes, it's more than one object and I have to pick each on individually.

2) Now let's say I want to draw an hourglass shape. I'll draw a rectangle and sides inwards. Very rarely do I ever get both sides exact without some additional work. Is there a way that I could, for instance, set the two top nodes so that changes to one will do changes to the other? So I can take the top left node of the rectangle and curve it inwards, and corel would automatically make the top right node do the exact same curve in the opposite direction so that everything is symeticcal? I'm just trying to find an easier and quicker way of doing it.

[Larry Bratton]

I'm having a hard time wording it.

1) Let say you have a square with 1000 little squares inside of it. If I want to select all the squares in the center of the big one, I can't because it selects the big square. Basically, I want to do a group select like I normally do, but without selecting the big square. Normally, if it's one object, such as the big square, i'll lock it, but sometimes, it's more than one object and I have to pick each on individually.

2) Now let's say I want to draw an hourglass shape. I'll draw a rectangle and sides inwards. Very rarely do I ever get both sides exact without some additional work. Is there a way that I could, for instance, set the two top nodes so that changes to one will do changes to the other? So I can take the top left node of the rectangle and curve it inwards, and corel would automatically make the top right node do the exact same curve in the opposite direction so that everything is symeticcal? I'm just trying to find an easier and quicker way of doing it.

Craig:
On number (1). Be sure you have the Object Manager open. Then select the whole thing. Identify the big rectangle in the OM, then hold down the CTRL key and click on it in the OM window. Corel will de-select each object as you click on them, whilst holding down CTRL. Hope this helps.

[Darren Null]

For (2), I'd draw 1/4 of the hourglass then duplicate and flip until you have all 4 quarters. Using the "Scale and mirror" bit in the "Transformations" docker. Guaranteed to be symmetrical.

EDIT: For more complicated shapes that require symmetry, I'd probably do myself a rough overview shape to give me points to click onto.

[Carl Sewell]

For #1, first select what you do NOT want to select, then hold down SHIFT and marquee select everything. What was initially selected will be removed from the selection and that which was not initially selected will be added to the selection set.

[Richard Rumancik]

1) Let say you have a square with 1000 little squares inside of it. If I want to select all the squares in the center of the big one, I can't because it selects the big square. Basically, I want to do a group select like I normally do, but without selecting the big square.

There are probably several strategies that could be applied. Some members have suggested how to add/subtract from the selection set.

You can of course group the inside squares so they all get selected together. But Corel gets confused when you try to select one item in a collection of nested or overlapping objects. It may appear to only find the "outer" object. One thing to try sometimes is pressing ALT and then clicking an object to select it. Hold the ALT and keep clicking until it "finds" the item you want in rotation. Might work in some situations.

2) Now let's say I want to draw an hourglass shape. I'll draw a rectangle and sides inwards. Very rarely do I ever get both sides exact without some additional work. Is there a way that I could, for instance, set the two top nodes so that changes to one will do changes to the other?

It would be difficult to make it look symmetrical doing it by eye. I don't think you will find any automated method to do this.

First off, rectangles, circles etc. behave a bit differently than curves so usually I would convert to curves when node editing. But regardless, you can take a node and move it an exact distance by setting the nudge offset to a desired amount, selecting a single node, and then using the arrow key to move the node the exact nudge distance.

If you don't know the total distance you want, set the nudge to say .010". Then select the node, and press the arrow key(s) repeatedly till you have the appearance you want. Remember to count the clicks (eg 6 clicks = .060"). You can use a combination of x and y moves on the node. Then do the same thing to the corresponding node, but move in the opposite direction where appropriate. Then it will be symmetrical.

Take a simple example. Draw a circle. It will have one node. Let's say we want to make it wider in the center. Convert to curves, so now it has 4 nodes 90 degrees apart. Select the right node and nudge (move) it right one arrow click. Then select the left node and nudge it left one arrow click. Now your shape bulged in the center but symmetrical. Experiment with combinations of x and y nudges.

If you drag a node by eye, you won't know how much displacement you applied so it will be hard to duplicate it for the second opposite node. By using a nudge command, you can duplicate the exact moves.

For other cases, you could set up a few symmetrical guidelines around your object and set the "snap to guidelines". Then you can drag the nodes to the intersection of the guidelines.