Slicing in Photo-Paint?

[snobba]

Hi,

I am trying to slice a website image that I have made in coreldraw in photo-paint. I have saved it as a photo-paint file in CD and open it in PP. But there the top slice buttons are not active?! Do I have to do something to the image to be able to start slicing? It works great when I open a normal image! And I have also tried to export-import as a tiff without success..

Please help! I have a great website on the way but I can't finish it! (

Thanks for any help or hints...

Greetings from Snobba

 

[javabearSTL]

there are a few ways to go about it, but we first need to know what version you're using.

 

[snobba]

Hi, JavabearSTL!

Forgot to mention that the version.

I am using Coreldraw Graphic Suite 12.

Thanks,

Snobba

 

[javabearSTL]

heh,I had this all written out and my browser crashed - how fun.

There are two ways you can do slicing.

Old school: this requires vesion 9~11 and frankly I like it better as I find it easier to be more precise from the very beginning. Create guidelines where you want the slices to cut. Save the file with a new filename (CYA you know) and flatten the file. There is a script called imagecutter that came with v9 and 10 that will cut up the file (and either one can be modified to work with v11). It works a treat, but the CorelScript scripting engine is somewhat broken in v12 and is not too likely to be fixed as they are moving to a purely VBA model.

New school: the Image Slicer. This does not require you to flatten your image. Choose the image slicer tool and create the slice pattern that you want. For god's sake never use the "autoslice" feature in any graphics app - it will make it look like something from a Mondrian nightmare and make absolutely no sense from an HTML layout point of view. On your property bar choose either the vertical or horizontal slicing tool and slice away - if you're wanting a slice to go across another slice, you will have to drag the line across it (if you know what i mean). Now, it is very difficult to get pinpoint accurate with this tool when you make your initial slices. If it doesn't matter to you, don't worry about it. If it does matter, you will want to zoom in, possibly up to 1600%, choose the slice selector tool, and manually move the slice to the position you want.

When you're ready to slice, choose the Export For Web option from the File menu.

Now since you're doing some vector work, you do know that creating items from PP initially will usually give you your best quality. That's difficult to do when you're wanting to work with logos and other curvy vector objects, isn't it? You are using PP's hidden vector abilities aren't you?

 

[snobba]

Thanks Javabear!!!

2xthanks since your browser crashed. I bet you are not using firefox ha. )

I am normaly used to working in fireworks and Illustrator where export/import is working great. But since I have to cut my software budget I tried different solutions, so I tried Corel, and I loved it! Love CorelDraw more than Illustrator.

So I am not really sure how to create the best workflow at the moment. Currently I am doing everything in CD, I kind of like the idee to see the whole creation at the same time kind of.

You say that the best way is to slice i PP, but I have a major problem with that - I can't slice! Normal photo no problem but exported PP from CD I just can't get the slice buttons(top once) to get to active stage! What I do is:

1. Create something in CD
2. Export as a PP doc
3. Open the doc in PP
4. Select slice tool - no active buttons!!

Do I have to do something before I can slice? I really want to see how a Mondrian nightmare looks like! ) And I am sure that I am going to zoom alot to 1600% because I like details details details!

Thanks for your support Javabear!

Greetings from a rainy Sweden

 

[javabearSTL]

well, if you're exporting out of Draw as a PP file, even if you export with a transparent background it will flatten everything to a single layer... and that's correct. Because Draw can have multiple objects on a single layer that you can still move in front of/behind of each other. Photopaint can only have a single object on a layer. If you're wanting to keep each of these items as an individual object in Photopaint, you will have to move each one of those objects to its own layer in Draw and then when you export it out make sure you have Maintain Layers checked. (or you can use the trick/tip I'll mention next)

Now if you just want to play with some vector object individually here's the hidden vector trick:

Select your vector object in Draw and copy it to the clipboard. Go over to Photopaint and select the Text tool. Yes. The Text Tool. Click somewhere in an open file in PP with the Text Tool and then *don't type.* Paste your copied vector bit from the clipboard and then select the Pick Tool (the Arrow). The item probably looks OK, but it's also probably way too small for you. Grab one of the handles with the Pick tool and drag it to resize it - resize it a helluva lot. When you let go, you'll notice that it looks really pixelated/crappy and that if your mouse cursor strays off of the image, it turns into a "universal no symbol".

Look up on the Property Bar and you'll see what looks like a Push Button. Hold your mouse over it and it should bring up the Help text of "Apply Transformation". Click on the button and watch it resample your crappy resized image to a perfectly resampled image. This can save you a lot of time in PP because you now don't have to keep re-importing a vector (or re-exporting from Draw) if you didn't get the size right the first time. Now you can keep resizing as you need and it will resample the vector every time

If you use a regular newsreader, you may want to check out the "official" Corel newsgroups, too. Point your newsreader to cnews.corel.com.

 

[snobba]

That is great!!!! The hidden vector tips! Copy paste was useless because it was hard to tell how big it was going to end up like.

Thanks!!!

But I still can't slice though ( I just can't figure it out...In PP open a new doc. Then I do this vector trick..Still no slicing tools present(not active)..I even tried to combine the layers without result...??? Do not get it..

Thanks for all your help Kaffebjörn(Javabear in Swedish)

 

[javabearSTL]

hehe so björn is bear is swedish? On the left side of your screen is the "Toolbox" toolbar. the very last icon before the color swatches is the Slicing tool. Click on that and your entire image should then look green as it's all one "slice." Go up to the Property bar, select the Horizontal or Vertical slice tool and click once in your file just to see it slice in half. Then choose the other tool (whichever one you didn't choose first) and click once in one of the two slices, you'll see it only slices in the one "column"... click again some where in that column, but drag to the other column and you'll see the slice extends across the image now... does that help?

 

[snobba]

Thanks Björn,

Haha, it is not that I do not find the slice button but the 'sub'-slice buttons are not active. When I press the main slice button I do not get a green overlay as for normal photos. Maybe I should refrace my question - How do I create an slice overlay when there's none present?

The 'import vector in text' works extremely well!! So great to have been told about it!!! Helps a lot!

Greetings

 

[javabearSTL]

d'oh! just had a thought... are you importing things with a TRANSPARENT background? I.e., no background layer? You must have a background layer for the slicing tool to work.

 

[snobba]

Hi again Björn!

I export with no transperancy from CD and what I can see in my PP is that I have a backgroundlayer(it says 'background' and active and so on). It is the same if you open a new document in PP and then just draw a cirkle. Then I can't slice either. It must be the same stuff going on, that I have to do something in PP to make it work. Flatten or something?! I mean I get a perfect overlay when I open a photo or something.

God it is irritation to have something ready but still some small thing is messing things up!

Aha!! When I was writing this I tried some other things and I think I know what my problem was! I was exporting(open new doc) in CMYK mode and not RGB!!! Finally now it works!

Thanks for all your help and tips and trixs Javabear!

Greetings from a much happier place then before!

 

[javabearSTL]

Ah, you never said you were working in CMYK, Snobba Since people are slicing for web use and the web is RGB, it's always presumed that you will be in RGB Just remember in the future to always give as much detail about what you're doing and the file structure you're using when asking for help - it makes things go much quicker. Glad it's all working for you now.

 

[snobba]

I have been working a lot with printwork lately therefore the CMYK setting. But on the other hand, if I would have told you this directly I maybe wouldn't found out about the hidden vector tool! So I am very happy that I didn't )

Greetings from Snobba