Superman opening credits

Design techniques, , , , ,
03/03/2010

Remember how the opening credits at the beginning of the classic Superman movies look like? Here’s a neat trick on how you can create a web-to-print or dynamic imaging template with the same effect.

Web-to-print superman opening credits

Let’s make a cool web-to-print or dynamic imaging template that can let users feel like they were part of the cast of a Superman movie.

Before you start

Web-to-print before you start

  • Import the background image (photo of a night sky) in your CorelDRAW template document;
  • Input the dummy text and turn it into variable web-to-print field.

Dummy text

Select the variable web-to-print dummy text frame assign a No Fill to it and open the Object Properties docker (Alt+Enter).

Web-to-print outline settings

In the Outline tab of the properties docker, select an outline width that best suits your design, choose a color (the original Superman opening credits use some light blue-cyan color) and check the Scale with image check-box.
Web-to-print outlined text

The result should be similar to this.

Duplicate the text frame placing the copy under the original in the Object Manager (Window/Dockers/Object Manager).

Move the duplicate text frame above the original and make it a lot smaller.

Web-to-print text frames

The result should be similar to this.

Blending

The next step is to simulate an extrusion effect by blending the two text frames.

Activate CorelDRAW Blending tool from the toolbox menu on the left, click on one of the dummy text frames and drag towards the other one. You can use these blending settings as reference.

CorelDRAW blending settings

CorelDRAW blended text frames

The result should be similar to this.

Transparency

Select the blending group by clicking on it, activate CorelDRAW’s Transparency Tool and assign a 90% uniform transparency to it with the Normal transparency operation.

Web-to-print transparent blending

The result should be similar to this.

The only thing left to do now is to make the foreground text outline more visible and readable. Select the front text frame (without the blending group), duplicate it and remove its transparency effect. The text frame fill is already transparent so we’re only left with a visible outline.

Web-to-print front text frame outline

The result should be similar to this.

Additional text frames

If you want to add another text field on top of the original Sci-Fi text frame, the procedure is the same except for one small issue you need to take care of.

Web-to-print top text

Since the text frames are transparent, the top text will not be readable as much because of the first text frame’s extrusion in the background.

To make the new variable web-to-print text readable, we just need to select its top (outline) copy dummy text frame, set its fill color to black and assign a 70% Uniform transparency to its Fill with the Normal transparency operation. Use these Transparency settings as reference.

Web-to-print top text transparency settings

Web-to-print top text transparency

This way, the black fill of the top text frame helps make it more readable while still letting through just enough of the background.

All done!

Our web-to-print software can handle this effect easily! Upload the template into your catalog and test it. This is a dynamic imaging template but the technique can be applied to web-to-print templates as well.

Download the FREE CorelDRAW template file.

See also: