Expert: Ran - 3/10/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi Experts!  I'm learning how to master DRAWX3.  How do you duplicate an object along a path? I've created a motif and want to fit small duplicates of it along the shape of an oval.  Can I do that? I've done some of this manually, but there must be some automation in the program to accomodate this...I hope... I know I can do it with text....

ANSWER: A nice, simple question which should have a straightforward answer. But I don't think there is any way to do what you want, apart from manually.

CorelDraw seems to ignore the width of any outline when it aligns objects: it takes an object's edge to be the centre of any outline, ignoring the width of any outline. This is something I have learned to account for. This behaviour might make it tricky to align objects to a path without everything overlapping slightly.

When I am drawing a row of objects I draw the first, then move it to the second location but click the right-button before dropping it. This leaves the original behind, making a copy. Then press Ctrl+R to repeat that. In fact you can hold Ctrl+R down and make a lot of repeat copies quickly, but it only works in a line or a curve, depending on where you dropped the first copy.

My other idea is that you could perhaps try to do something by creating your own brush pattern and applying it to your oval.

Please let me know if you find a better way through your own research.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the information.  I will keep trying and see what I come up with.  Meanwhile then can you tell me how to create a brush pattern?  Many thanks again!

Answer
I don't have X3 but hopefully the process will be similar.

To create a custom brushstroke in CorelDraw X4:

1.   Select an object or a set of grouped objects.
2.   In the toolbox, click the Artistic media tool. (It's under the line tool, the 4th tool down)
3.   Click the Brush button on the property bar.
4.   Click the object or grouped objects.
5.   Click the Save artistic media stroke button on the property bar. 6.   Type a filename for the brushstroke.
7.   Click Save.

These steps were taken from the CorelDraw help file "To create a custom brushstroke"

I have just been playing around with it and I'm sorry to say I don't think this will help you, because the shapes distort depending on the length of the stroke.

When positioning objects manually and precisely, I set my nudge values much lower than the default with Ctrl+J/Document/Rulers.
Mine are set to Nudge:0.01; Super nudge:10; Micro nudge:10.
This lets me move an object with the arrow keys by 1/100mm which is quite precise, and 1/1000mm with Ctrl+Arrow which is very fine. (Also 1/10mm with Shift+Arrow).

Don't waste time with the magnifying glass tool, I haven't used it for over a decade. Press F2 then marquee to zoom in and F3 to zoom back out. Less important is F4 (zoom to all) and Shift+F4 (zoom to page).