How To Make Neon Looking Text In Corel Draw

Past Steve Bain

The ability to create objects to announced as if they have been fashioned into Neon tube lighting is a pop technique sought later by many illustrators. In this tutorial, you'll learn to select the most ideal font for achieving the all-time results and embellish your type with color lighting to add together realism. Although this tutorial refers to interface control locations and interface illustrations specific to CorelDRAW X3, the basic technique tin be used with whatsoever version of CorelDRAW equally far dorsum as version 5.

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Click to enlarge

Footstep ane: Create an Artistic Text Object

Using the Text Tool (F8), enter a cord of artistic text characters. For demonstration purposes, I'll utilize the discussion Neon entered as a uppercase N followed by a lowercase eon every bit shown below.

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Footstep ii: Apply Formatting and Convert it to Curves

Choose the Pick Tool and select your text object past clicking on it one time. Using Belongings Bar options, gear up the font to a script-style font such equally Castor Script BT using the Font List drop-downwardly card. Mitt-written-mode fonts such as Brush Script piece of work best for neon blazon since the get-go and endpoints of the characters are inherently designed to connect with each other. Resize the text to roughly 150 points past entering 150 in the Property Bar Font Size List box and pressing Enter. The text is now formatted (encounter below).

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Temporarily change your view mode to Wireframe past choosing View > Wireframe and then that you can see the characters paths. Notice when viewed in Wireframe the characters overlap each other. In order to successfully achieve the neon consequence, you will need to recreate the text every bit a single compound path. Press the Convert to Curves button on the Holding Bar (Ctrl+Q) while your text is selected. The text is at present converted to a single chemical compound path equanimous of curves.

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Footstep three: Repair the Grapheme Shapes

With the object on your page still selected, break the individual curves apart by choosing Accommodate > Intermission Autonomously (Ctrl+K). In my example, the result is half dozen individual curves. For certain characters that characteristic multiple paths (unremarkably representing the negative and positive spaces), yous'll need to exercise a little repair work. If this is the instance, you'll need to recombine the private letter shapes as is the case with the lowercase east and o characters in my example text. Using the Pick Tool, select each pair of paths, right-click on the pick, and choose Combine (Ctrl+L) from the popup carte (see beneath). In one case all of your graphic symbol shapes have been repaired go along to the side by side step.

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Step 4: Weld the Shapes Together

Since your character shapes all the same remain split, you'll need to combine the curves representing the private letters into a single continuous path using a Weld shaping command. To do this, select all of the letter shapes and click the Weld button in the Property Bar (run into below). Your letter of the alphabet shapes are now welded into a unmarried curve.

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Step five: Edit the Tubing Shape

Edit the shape of the curve to simulate neon tubing. In reality, every neon calorie-free has a start and end point to which two electrodes are fastened to provide current. These are often fashioned at one end and appear at a lower corner. To create these commencement and end points, use the Shape Tool (F10) to edit at the node level. Increase your view magnification level using the Ane-Shot Zoom control by pressing F2 marquee-selecting the lower, left corner of the first graphic symbol – in my instance the uppercase N. Click a bespeak on the path and click the Interruption Curve push button in the Property Bar to break the path.

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The event is two unconnected nodes. Drag each of these nodes away from their electric current position and reshape the curves using the curve handles to simulate the ends of the neon light tubing (see below). Your neon lite path shape is complete.

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Footstep 6: Utilize Outline Path Backdrop

The side by side footstep is to plow on the lite. Zoom out to view the entire shape and choose the Pick Tool once once again to select the object. Arrange your view magnification to view the consummate shape – pressing F3 will enable you to zoom out in increments. With your shape nevertheless selected, use Property Bar options to ready the Outline Width to 8.0 pt from the Outline Width menu. Prepare the outline color to a bright neon-type color (such as Magenta). To do this quickly, right-click the color in the onscreen color palette.

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With your object still selected, open the Outline Pen dialog by pressing F12. In the lower-left corner of the dialog gear up the Corners to Rounded and the End Caps to Rounded Overlap (as shown beneath). This will eliminate any strange corner effects practical to the path shapes.

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To see the results, choose View > Enhanced (see below). If your object currently includes a make full colour, left-click the None color well on your onscreen color palette using the left mouse button to eliminate information technology. Your object should appear as an 8.0 pt outline path practical with an outline color and no fill.

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Footstep seven: Create a Copy

With your object yet selected, press your numeric keypad "+" key to create an exact copy in forepart of the arrangement. With the re-create nonetheless selected, cull 0.v pt from the Outline Width menu in the Holding Bar (run across below).

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Gear up the copy outline color to White by right-clicking the White color well in the onscreen palette (come across below). This will represent the highlight of your neon light.

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Step viii: Create a Alloy Effect

Now to create a smooth blend layered betwixt the two objects. Select both of the objects using the Pick Tool. Switch tools by choosing the Interactive Blend Tool. Enter x in the Number of Steps box and press Enter. Agree your cursor over the white outline path and click-drag slightly onto the colored path. A 10-step blend will be applied (see below)

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Step ix: Create a Glow Effect

To create a glow effect behind the objects, we'll apply a colored drop shadow. Select all objects in your organization (Ctrl+A) and Grouping (Ctrl+G) them together. Cull the Interactive Drop Shadow Tool and click-drag from the centre to the lower-left of the grouping until the shadow preview appears and release the mouse push button. Using Property Bar options, set the Opacity to 80 percent and apply the Drop Shadow Color selector to apply the same color you practical to the original path – in my example magenta (see beneath).

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Step 10: Add a Dark Background

The result is best viewed over a night background, so choose the Rectangle Tool and create a rectangle to serve as the background object. Send it to the back of the arrangement by choosing Accommodate > Send to Dorsum (Shift+PageDn). Fill the rectangle with a dark fill color (see beneath) by left-clicking a dark color well in the onscreen colour palette. To increase the visibility of your shadow over the blackness background, accommodate your drib shadow properties past choosing the Interactive Drop Shadow Tool, selecting the shadow for editing, and setting the Transparency Performance to Lightness in the Property Bar. Your effect is consummate.

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When selecting the font to use for your Neon low-cal text effect, you'll find that using extremely detailed fonts tin be very difficult (if not impossible) to work with. Exist certain that the type way you select for your neon result reflects this limitation.

To view, examine, or dismantle the finished result of the images shown, download this zipped Neon Sample CorelDRAW document (version 12).

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