Corel® PHOTO-PAINT™ X6

Why I use Corel PHOTO-PAINT

Stefan Lindblad

Illustrator, artist and graphic designer - Sweden

I use Corel PHOTO-PAINT and CorelDRAW® every day for all my digital work, including illustrations, graphic design and layout for book covers, brochures, vector logos, T-shirt prints and, of course, image editing. Sometimes I use just one program at a time and other times I use both programs together.

Bitmap editing

Even as an illustrator and graphic designer, image editing is important to me, whether I work with RAW, TIFF or JPEG images. Combining Corel PHOTO-PAINT with Corel® AfterShot™ Pro is simply a great workflow. With those two programs, you are prepared for any work that is thrown at you.

Illustration

I create all kinds of illustrations, from designing book covers to storyboarding for movies. Whether it is small- or large-scale imagery, my work requires bitmap drawing, painting and vector illustration. So having a great combination like Corel PHOTO-PAINT and CorelDRAW, makes it a pure joy.

Coloring drawings is a major part of illustration, of course, and Corel PHOTO-PAINT makes this process user friendly and efficient. For me, Merge Mode and Lens Objects in the Object Docker are a gift. And this is regardless of whether the illustration is a scanned drawing or drawn directly with a Wacom® tablet pen. For everyone who works with illustrations, I can not stress enough how great this combination of tools is—it is as if you are drawing underneath the outlines instead of on top of them, and it does not damage the outlines.

Batch Process in Corel PHOTO-PAINT is pure love. Picture a storyboard for a short movie with more than 80 illustrations/frames that have to be adjusted with resampled size and file formats and saved in the same folder before sending to the client, the movie director. To do that manually with each image would easily take half a day, while doing it with Batch Process in Corel PHOTO-PAINT takes a total of one minute. That is love for you.

Stefan Lindblad works full time as a self-employeed illustrator, graphic designer and artist for a wide variety of clients both in Sweden and internationally. Visit www.stefanlindblad.com to learn more about Stefan and see his work.

What’s New in Corel PHOTO-PAINT X6

The new Smart Carver makes it easy to remove unwanted areas and adjust the photo’s aspect ratio

The new Create Clip Mask option gives you greater control when applying effects to groups of objects

Smart Carver

Easily remove unwanted areas from a photo and simultaneously adjust the photo’s aspect ratio with Smart Carver.

• The versatile Object Removal brush lets you paint an area you want to keep or remove to quickly remove unwanted elements from your photo
• To resize a photo to print at a certain size without distortion, paint the photo’s subjects, then use Smart Carver presets to contract or expand the photo’s background vertically or horizontally

Create a Clip Mask

Adjust the properties of a group of objects in a way that is non-destructive to the individual objects within the group by creating a clip mask. For example, you can adjust transparency levels for the whole group without altering the pixels of the individual objects.

Pass Through Merge Mode

For more control when applying a lens or effect, apply Pass Through Merge Mode to groups so your changes will be applied to all objects, including those layered below the group.

Native 64-bit Support

Work faster than ever before with large files thanks to full support for 64-bit processors.

User favorites: Learn about the features Corel PHOTO-PAINT users love

RAW support for 300+ types of cameras

Import RAW camera files directly from your digital camera thanks to extensive RAW file support. Then view file properties and camera settings, adjust image color and tone, and improve image quality with interactive controls that provide real-time previews.

Interactive controls for straightening images

Quickly and easily straighten images that were scanned or photographed at an angle. The interactive controls, a grid with vertical and horizontal guidelines, and an integrated histogram that provides results in real time, make it easier than ever to straighten crooked images. You can also choose to have images automatically cropped.

Tone Curve adjustments

Users receive real-time feedback when adjusting the tone curve of an image

Adjust your images with more precision with an integrated histogram that provides real-time feedback as you make adjustments. The Eyedropper lets you pinpoint specific color locations on the tone curve of your image. You can also select, add, or delete nodes along the tone curve.

Photo effects

Experiment with exciting effects to enhance your photos.

• Use the Vibrance effect for balancing color saturation, adding richness to colors with low saturation while maintaining colors with high saturation
• To remove the saturation of an object, layer or region of a photo, use the Grayscale effect. It also lets you choose the colors used in the grayscale conversion
• With the Photo Filter effect, you can simulate the result of having a camera lens filter installed when a picture was taken

Objects docker

Achieve greater workflow efficiency by enabling hierarchical organization of design elements and by making commonly used features more accessible. Use nested grouping when organizing a complex image, to make round-tripping between multiple applications easier. Adjust thumbnails of objects and masks at any time. The reorganized docker also exposes many of the most commonly used operations. You can lock objects, which prevents them from being accidentally selected, edited or moved.

Document/Image palettes

Users receive real-time feedback when adjusting the tone curve of an image

Corel PHOTO-PAINT X6 automatically creates a custom color palette for each design project, which is saved with the file so you can access it quickly whenever you open your project.

Convert to Grayscale dialog box

Take control when converting images to grayscale by choosing the range of colors used in the conversion. This eliminates results that appear washed out because of predominant blues or reds in the original photo. The preview window in the dialog lets you adjust the colors for a more realistic conversion.

Brushes and nibs

Choose from a variety of brushes and nibs for interesting painting effects.

Export for Web dialog box

Prepare files for the web quickly with this dialog, which offers a single access point for common export controls. This dialog lets you:

• Compare the results of various filter settings before you commit to an output format, making it easier to achieve optimal results
• Specify object transparencies and matting colors for anti-aliased edges—all with real-time preview
• Select and edit color palettes for indexed formats

Color Proof Settings

You can proof colors as you go

All color proof settings are grouped in a single docker, which lets you save presets and prepare artwork for various output devices more efficiently. The docker helps you save time by providing a list of output devices which you can choose from to preview the output. When seeking approval from clients, you can easily export soft proofs and print hard proofs from the docker.

Image Adjustment Lab

Quickly correct common color balance and tone problems from a single dialog box.

Fit text to path

Add text along the path of an open object, like a line, or a closed object, like a circle. You can easily adjust the position of the text in relation to the path.

Transparency

Create interesting effects by applying transparency to an object so that all objects beneath it are partially visible.

Histogram feedback

Preview your image-editing changes in real time.

Wacom® tablets and pressure-sensitive brushes

Support for Wacom® tablets means you can take advantage of the power, precision and sensitivity of a tablet when editing or painting photos with pressure-sensitive brushes.