Ok, i may have found something that corel products cannot do, at least version 8 of the suite. i''m trying to do a gradiated transparency.. in other words, i have a box, and on the left i want it 100% opaque, and on the right i want it totally transparent. What i''m trying to do is make it fade between opaque and transparent in-between.. is there an easy way to do this with any programs out there? or maybe someone knows how to do it with corel products.. i dunno. No More Clones! Stop The Madness!

Dunno about Corel. In photoshop it''s as easy as 1, 2, 3. I think I remember doing that in paintshop pro too. Maybe you should give it a try.

If you can create multiple layers in corel and if it is possible to set their transparency/opacity, you could create some layers, starting with opacity set at, say, 10%, then add more and more layers and increase their opacity until you reach 100%. Add some gaussian blur and you should be started.

ah.. yeah.. i guess i could do it that way..
just with 10 layers each going 10% less transparency..
i''ll see if it''s worth it for what i''ll get out of it
hehe.


No More Clones!
Stop The Madness!

hmm I forgot one thing : remember that the transparent layer should be as wide as the surface you want to apply the gradient to and that it should be beneath all the other layers.

Now, the next layer (10% opacity) should cover only 90% of the width of the surface, and the next 80% etc. This will give a very "sharp" gradient. Then only, apply the gaussian blur.

In whatever paintprogram( if it worth having ) you shall be able to make a transparency 2 background layer( blend with background ). If you can''t manage it your program, get photoshop or PSP.

in corel, just add a new channel, paint a black to white gradient, and load that channel as a mask, select the layer you want to have a gradient trasnparency and use the eraser tool or press delete.

I assume that tip applies to Photo-Paint and not Draw. I''ve always found it to be a pain doing gradients in draw, but have come up with a trick for gradiented transparencies:

Select your object.
1) Duplicate it.
2) Re-select so you only have one of the two identical objects.
3) Using Transform, shrink the object to 1/100th of it''s dimensions [horizontally, vertically, or proportionately.]
4) With the shrunken object selected Shidt-Click the other object.
5) Bring up the Align dialog and select the sides (or corner) you want to fade to.
6) Select just the larger of the two objects.
7) Set its transparency to the lower threshold.
8) Select the smaller one and set its transparency to 1 percent.
9) Select both [by shift-clicking] starting with the larger object.
10) Use the Blend dialog to create the gradient, making sure to only put in as many steps as there are percentiles between the two transparency levels. (That is if the upper was 75 and the lower was 33 there should be 41 steps.)

I may have the order of selection goofed up in step 9, as Corel has certain quirks about it. Be forewarned that this requires *LOTS* of processor power and can easily drag down a 500 mhz system.