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CorelDraw/Creating a JPG from a Corel file

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Expert: Ran - 7/31/2009


Question

Box JPG
Hi, I am fairly new at this but have found Corel a great tool in helping me with my web design projects. My brother has Corel X3 and I am having a little difficulty when creating a JPG from a file. First I design the graphic, a box with filleted corners. It has a hairline border and a fill color, but when I go to export it to a JPG file the areas outside the filleted areas are still showing up in the JPG as a white area and when you use them in a web page with a colored background you get an image that looks like a square with the object I created inside it. Is there a way of removing that background and just having the object I created in my JPG's ?? I have attached an image for you to see. Thank you in advance for your help

Answer
Hi Ron, thanks for your question.

This is a common issue faced by all web designers and you will be pleased to hear there is a nice simple answer to it.

To start with, it is important to point out that image files are *always* rectangular (or square). An image that looks like, say, a circle, will actually be a square image where the bits outside the circle are either 1)the same color as the background or 2)transparent.

So to get rid of your white bits you have two choices:
1) Change the background color of your image to the same as the background color where you want the image to sit (this might be a challenge with a .jpg because colors aren't always accurate at higher .jpg compressions)
2) Make the white bits transparent. The .jpg file format does not support transparency, so you'll need to use .gif instead (or .png but I've never used them myself), and note that a .gif file can only contain a maximum of 256 colors in its palette (so it's not ideal for continuous tone images such as photos). As you export the .gif from CorelDraw you'll find the transparency option in the final dialog box. Choose which of the palette colors you want to make transparent using the eyedropper.

Good luck and have fun!

PS There's a page on my company website with plenty to read on the subject:
http://www.newhorizons.co.uk/press/jargon.htm

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Ran

Expertise

My main area of continuous expertise with CorelDraw involves setting press advertisements and I have rarely used it to produce complex drawings. However as director of a small company I have amassed a good deal of background knowledge of computers, various printers and networks over the years. When it comes to problem-solving, I have a long history of having nobody to ask but myself and, lately, the internet!

Experience

About 20 years' experience in daily use, from version 1

Education/Credentials
University educated and over 2 decades of hands-on experience

My first printer was a Star LC10 Colour and I once paid £1745 for an HP Laserjet III.

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