Overlayed bevel

Design techniques,
12/11/2009

Although CorelDRAW does not allow Beveled shapes to be PowerClip containers, there is a way of working around this limitation! This simple technique explains how to add a complex fill (ex. image) to a variable web-to-print text that has a Bevel effect assigned to it.

Web-to-print overlayed bevel

Before you start

Web-to-print before you start

  • Add a page frame in the web-to-print template (double click on the rectangle tool). This will create a rectangular background shape with the exact same size as the paper size of your template and place it as a bottom layer.
  • Input the dummy text and turn it into variable web-to-print field.

In a nutshell, we’re going to layer two copies of the same variable web-to-print text frame on top of each other. The bottom one will have a Bevel effect assigned to it while the top one will hold a PowerCliped semi-transparent image.

Bevel

Select the dummy text and press Ctrl+C on your keyboard to copy it. Don’t paste it yet, leave it in your clipboard for now.

CorelDRAW bevel settings

Open the Bevel docker (Window/Dockers/Bevel) and assign the desired bevel to the dummy text. We used the following Bevel settings in this example.
Web-to-print beveled text

The result should be similar to this.

PowerClip

Once you’ve added the bevel effect to the dummy text frame you can paste the original on top of it (Ctrl+V).

Web-to-print place inside container

Next, import the image that you want to use as a text fill in your CorelDRAW document and place it inside the top dummy text frame as a PowerClip (Effects/PowerClip/Place Inside Container…).

Transparency

Go inside the PowerClip (Right click on the dummy text/ Edit content) and select the image.

Assign a 50% Uniform Subtract transparency to it.

CorelDRAW transparency settings

Note. Feel free to try other transparency operations too see what works best for your design.

CorelDRAW exit PowerClip

When you’re finished, leave the PowerClip (Right click on the image/ Finish editing this level), select the top text frame and assign No Fill to it by clicking the blank box at the top of the color palette.
Web-to-print transparent PowerClip

The result should be similar to this.

Note. The image inside the PowerClip cannot be a variable web-to-print image field at the moment since it has transparency assigned to it. We will add this feature soon and you’ll be able to use transparency effects on PowerClip’d variable web-to-print fields.

All done!

Our web-to-print software can handle this effect easily! Upload the template into your catalog and test it.

Download the FREE CorelDRAW template file.

See also: