Contours in X5

[Colin]

effects -> create boundary after you do the rounded stroke

I see no such command.

 

[Colin]

Simply apply a fillet to your lettering or shape. It can even be a super small radius. THEN do your contour work. Presto rounded contours.

But what if you don't want to add any radius to the corners of your lettering/graphic?

 

[Joe Diaz]

OR... you could apply the desired contour, break apart, then apply the fillet to the contour, leaving the text intact.

Yup, you sure could. Different strokes for different folks. Literally, if we were talking illustrator. :Big Laugh

 

[J Hill Designs]

copy/paste fillet, contour, delete, repaste original

 

[GAC05]

Thanks Wayne, but on a complex contour, this is even more time consuming than the "Outline" method. I fail to see why Corel couldn't add this option to the "Contour" command (which hasn't changed in a decade).

What do they do all year?

Colin I tend to think that most of the tools in Draw are set up for artwork that will be printed or stay digital.
Rounded overlapping strokes are fine for this.
Inspire on the other hand had a focus on cut vinyl, making these tools a little less useful.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[oldgoatroper]

Create boundary doesn't take into account inside shapes.

But, boy does that work slick -- I sure know how I'm going to use that in the future.

 

[Joe Diaz]

But what if you don't want to add any radius to the corners of your lettering/graphic?

Then take oldgoatroper's advice, it would work for you. But just for clarification when I say add a fillet to your lettering, it could be .00001" if you wanted. You wouldn't see it with your naked eye on the lettering but your contours corners would be rounded.

I personally love the fillet tool. We use it a lot here for our vinyl and printed graphics. A rounded corner will hold up better than a sharp point.

 

[Colin]

Colin I tend to think that most of the tools in Draw are set up for artwork that will be printed or stay digital.
Rounded overlapping strokes are fine for this.

For sure. Although I often don't want an outline going to the inside as well (making a letter skinnier and goofy lookin').

 

[oldgoatroper]

For sure. Although I often don't want an outline going to the inside as well (making a letter skinnier and goofy lookin').

That's why you copy/paste your original shape (lettering) and then weld it to to newly formed vector contour/outline...

 

[GAC05]

For sure. Although I often don't want an outline going to the inside as well (making a letter skinnier and goofy lookin').

Make sure the option to place your stroke behind the object fill is checked in the outline pen dialog box.

wayne k
guam usa

you shouldn't be doing 2 color lettering in cut vinyl now that you have that Roland.

 

[Colin]

Then take oldgoatroper's advice, it would work for you.

Again, I see no command called "Create Boundary" under the Effects menu. I don't see it in V 12 either.

But just for clarification when I say add a fillet to your lettering, it could be .00001" if you wanted. You wouldn't see it with your naked eye on the lettering but your contours corners would be rounded.

Cool, I'll try that.

A rounded corner will hold up better than a sharp point.

Oh yes, I usually try to do that on all boat lettering.

 

[Joe Diaz]

Again, I see no command called "Create Boundary" under the Effects menu. I don't see it in V 12 either.

I was talking about when he said this.

OR... you could apply the desired contour, break apart, then apply the fillet to the contour, leaving the text intact.

This would work too:

copy/paste fillet, contour, delete, repaste original

 

[Colin]

Make sure the option to place your stroke behind the object fill is checked in the outline pen dialog box.

See? I wasn't aware of that one little detail. Thanks.

You shouldn't be doing 2 color lettering in cut vinyl now that you have that Roland.

Heh heh. Ya, but I still find that there are certain jobs that are best done in vinyl, and what I'm trying to do ween myself off of Inspire (which is on my old XP machine) and start cutting all vinyl in X5, which is on my new Win7 machine. It has been like stopping using Heroin though (not that I really know what that's like).

 

[oldgoatroper]

Again, I see no command called "Create Boundary" under the Effects menu. I don't see it in V 12 either.

You mean you don't see this? Are you using a workspace other than the default Corel workspace?

 

[Colin]

You mean you don't see this? Are you using a workspace other than the default Corel workspace?

No, and, no.

 

[J Hill Designs]

its there in X3

 

[J Hill Designs]

Arrange>Shaping>Boundary

It's also in the shaping docker now.

 

[Joe Diaz]

In newer versions of Draw, "Create Boundary" also appears in your tool bar when you have more than one shape selected, next to "weld", "trim" etc. etc.. (oops Jhill beat me to it)

The thing to know about Create Boundary is that, as it's name implies, it only creates a boundary around your shape, it will not create a path on lets say the inside part of your "A" example.

 

[Colin]

The thing to know about Create Boundary is that, as it's name implies, it only creates a boundary around your shape, it will not create a path on lets say the inside part of your "A" example.

Ahh, well that's good to know. I would very rarely use that then.

 

[2NinerNiner2]

Thought that I woud see if I can still remember how to do this Here is what I did in X5:

- used 160pt solid fill Franklin Gothic "SAMPLE" just so I could see what I was doing

1) with text selected:

- Outline Pen = 8pt, set color to whatever
- Mitre Limit = 5.0
- Line Cap = outside square (top one)
- Behind Fill = checked

2) while selected:

- Arrange > Convert Outline to Object

3) select the outer-most outline, right-click and set to your "cut line" color/width

Contour cut ready to go, including the insides of the "A" and "P".