LESSON 12
SCANNING DESIGNS
STRUCTURE 12.0
OBJECTIVES
12.1
INTRODUCTION
12.2
SCANNING OF PAINTED DESIGN IMAGE INTO VECTOR FILE 12.2.1
CONVERTING BITMAP IMAGE INTO VECTOR IMAGE
12.3
SCAN EXERCISES
12.4
ASSIGNMENTS 12.4.1 CLASS ASSIGNMENT 12.4.2 HOME ASSIGNMENT
12.5
SUMMING UP
12.6
POSSIBLE ANSWERS TO SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS
12.7
TERMINAL QUESTIONS
12.8
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED FURTHER READING
12.9
GLOSSARY
12. SCANNING DESIGNS We have learnt to create beautiful drawings and designs with varying effects of colour and textures applied on them using different tools and a number of options in the menu bar and the property bar of CorelDraw, up to lesson 11. But in this lesson, we will see that a hand made design of your own or may be printed on some book or a magazine can also be fed into the computer and can be copied or traced with the help of another application Corel trace. Let us see how! ________________________________________________________________
12.0 Objectives After going through this lesson, you will be able to •
Understand the importance and need for scanning in designing.
•
Scan your designs in a scanner and work upon them in CorelDraw.
•
Understand the meanings of Bitmap and Vector images.
12.1 Introduction Scanning is the process of translating handmade sketches, photographs etc., into digital form that can be recognized by a computer. The device used for this purpose is called scanner. A scanner converts designs into a computer format, allowing the designer or the artist to use even the most primitive artwork without recreating the design. Even a rough sketch of an art or image can be scanned for rework using computer. The basic structure of art work involves six main steps viz., sketching, scanning, outline, colours, shades and shines. It is probably faster to ink an image by hand and then transfer it to the computer. However the usage of computer along with software can result in significant refinement of the art work. The process of digital art work starts with sketching. It is advisable to sketch the design with a pencil on a sheet of paper first, since it is difficult to draw elementary design on the computer screen using a mouse or a digitizer pen. If required, the design or image can be coloured or painted too.
12.2 Scanning a Painted Design / Image, Converting into a Vector File and using it with Corel Art Work The design or image can now be scanned into computer with the help of a flat bed scanner. The scanned image can be saved in any format viz., bitmap (.bmp), GIF (.gif) or JPEG (.jpg). Now the image is ready for editing or reworking.
3
12.2.1 Converting Bitmap Image to Vector Image in Corel DRAW At times while working with a bitmap image in Corel DRAW it is not possible to apply desired transformations. However, Corel DRAW provides a utility that makes it possible to apply transformations to a converted bitmap by using an associated program called Corel TRACE. For example, considering the bitmap image given below, the steps to be followed are:
• Load the bitmap onto the canvas in Corel DRAW. •
Go to Bitmaps Trace Bitmap.
The Corel TRACE program will open the bitmap in a left pane and a blank image in the right pane.
4
For this tutorial go to Trace By Advanced Outline. There are many other options available.
Corel TRACE will now convert the bitmap into a vector image. When it is done, the trace can be saved or Corel TRACE can be simply closed. The vector image will now replace the bitmap in Corel DRAW automatically.
The vector image will look like the one below.
Now, in order to apply transformations or other effects to the vector image, it can be ungrouped by selecting Arrange Ungroup All.
5
After ungrouping, the nodes representing all the objects in the new vector image can be seen, that can be manipulated.
Corel TRACE does a wonderful job at conversion. Below is the screenshot of the vector image and below that is a screenshot of the original bitmap image.
Vector Image
Original Bitmap Image
6
After scanning the image and converting it into the required format, desired transformations can be applied by outlining, colouring, shading and applying shines using various tools and techniques in Corel DRAW that have been discussed in the previous lessons.
Self-check Questions 1. What is a Scanner? 2. What do you mean by a Bitmap Image? 3. What do you understand by vector graphics? 4. What function does the Corel Trace perform?
12.3 Scan Exercise i)
Sketch a drawing on a sheet of paper using a colour pen.
ii)
Now scan the sketch. Save it to any file format such as bitmap (.bmp) or JPEG (.jpg). Alternatively, a sketch can be generated on computer screen using a using Digitizer Pen. Care should be taken that the lines are not black or grey.
iii)
Import the scanned picture into Corel DRAW.
12.4 Assignments 12.4.1 Class assignments i)
Sketch a design or take a photo, scan it and import it in Corel DRAW as an object.
12.4.2 Home assignments i)
Apply different transformations to the scanned image.
12.5 Summing Up In this lesson, we learnt about the process of scanning in detail. Then we studied that the scanned image can be stored in various formats as ‘tiff’, ‘gif’, or ‘jpeg’, etc. We learnt how bitmap image gets converted into vector image and then can be manipulated by importing it in Corel by the application Corel Trace. After that we took up some scan exercises and assignments.
7
12.6 Possible Answers to Self-check Questions 1. A scanner converts designs into a computer format, allowing the designer or the artist to use even the most primitive artwork without recreating the design. 2. A Bitmap Image is in the format, tiff, gif or jpeg etc. 3. Vector graphics is in the CorelDraw, ‘cdr’ format. 4. Corel TRACE does a wonderful job of conversion of a bitmap image into vector image, that could be worked upon or manipulated by using various tools in Corel Draw toolbox.
12.7 Terminal Questions 1.
Explain the steps involved in scanning an image into computer.
2.
Discuss how a bitmap image can be converted to a vector image in Corel DRAW.
12.8 References and Suggested Further Reading 1.
Help Menu & Tutorials of Corel DRAW
2.
http://www.graphicssoft.about.com
3.
http://www.textiledesigning.org
4.
http://www.textilesource.com
12.9 Glossary 1.
Refinement Improvement, Elaboration
2.
Bitmap image image
3.
Vector image A digitized composite stored in computer image format
4.
Canvas drawing
5.
Screenshot Photographed computer screen
8
Any Scanned photographic
image
Plain white area on the screen for