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Download
the thin template
Start your CompactDraw
program and open the templeatethin.idr
template. The "idr" extension is the
programs default extension.
We will now
pull this book apart so you can see how it is
pout together.
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Elements
of the Book
Now click on the blue
front element and drag it to the right. Do the same
with the other elements as seen in the graphic
below. As you can see the book is made up of 5 main
elements. Once you have the book in pieces you can
now practice putting all the elements back together.
By leaving a little gap on the left hand side of the
main blue cover element you can create the effect of
the binder a little better. Remember to adjust the
elements in fine mode using your arrows on your
keyboard.
Changing
Colour
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If
you click on each of the elements of the
book you can change the colour of the cover.
Click on the large blue section and go to
the top of the program to the right and you
will see a colour chart. The top section is
blue. Click on the blue box and pick red as
the colour. Do the same with each of the
blue elements and you now have a red book
cover. Add some text and graphic onto the
book and you can see you have a totally
different feel. |
Remember just click
on the mouse and drag or use the arrow keys.
Adding
Text
On the left of the
screen you will see "Aa" symbol. Click on
this and move your cursor over the book and click.
Your text screen will open. You can type in here and
create some text. Type Special and make it 30
points and bold. Click the OK button.
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In
the effects box choose the drop shadow
effect and move the buttons on the sliding
scale you can see to get the desired effect.
Change the
text to red. To do this click on the text
and you will notice some little boxes
appear. This means the object or text is
selected. Go to the colour selector again
and choose red. On the menu at the top of
the page choose Object and then rotate and
highlight the "0" and type 45.
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Try changing the text
colour to yellow. You can see how powerful playing
with the elements can be. By adding shadows,
changing colors and generally manipulating all the
elements you can get a lot of great effects.
Alternative Video
Site
As you can see we can
achieve all sorts of exciting effects without the
need to be some great graphic artist. This is why it
is sometimes better to buy a good program than to
persist with free poorer quality ones.
You will find a whole
range of unique effects and tutorials on the Compact
Draw homepage. There are a lot of techniques in
their manual that comes with the program.
and try
