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ISO 9000 | ISO 14000 |
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What Happens When You Import?Importing (or pasting) graphics is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, although in all cases DRAW uses a filter to perform the task. Filters act as translators. They enable DRAW to convert vector information from other file formats into its own internal object format and to translate bitmap art into printable images. The key word here is translate, and it has implications for you: if DRAW has to translate graphic information from a format you can’t read, how do you know whether DRAW got the translation right? Until the last few years, the answer to this question might have been, “Cross your fingers, don’t forget your mantra, and only import on Tuesday nights, when atmospheric conditions seem to be more favorable.” Before today’s file format standards were adopted and implemented, exchanging graphics information was all too often one big crapshoot. It required both parties (the exporting program and the importing program) to be on the same wavelength, and even then, elements such as hairlines, typeface names, and color mixes carried long odds of being interpreted correctly. Today your prospects of accurate graphics exchange are much brighter. Corel is now writing many of the import and export filters itself and working very closely with the third parties that write the others. The Windows Metafile (WMF) format, and its older sister, Enhanced Metafile (EMF), have taken hold and are recognized as accurate and reliable formats for translating graphical information. This bodes well for users of non-PostScript devices, as well as for those who have had to resort to the often treacherous waters of OLE.
Adobe, Corel’s closest competitor in the graphics field, has also been making big strides with the Portable Document Format (PDF), and Corel has not ignored these important developments. Beginning with the Rev B patch to DRAW 8, and in cooperation with Adobe itself, DRAW includes both placeable and interpreted PDF filters. With DRAW 9’s improved filters and Publish to PDF feature, cross-platform file transport has never been easier or more reliable. Some graphics formats tax DRAW’s filtering to the max. The CGM and GEM file types are notorious for being unruly with fills and outlines, and AI files often get typeface names wrong, although Corel has made improvements to many filters since earlier versions of DRAW. Other formats, such as CDR and CMX, need very little translation. The clipart from Figure 29.2 was stored in Corel’s own CMX format.
Imported art always arrives on the page as one group of objects. We’re not sure whether this is an engineering requirement or just a decision on the part of the developers, but we like it. Generally, the first thing you want to do with imported art is to move it and resize it, and these two operations are eminently easier to do with a group. Although, as we explain later, you can now place and resize the incoming art before it lands on your page, you’ll probably end up moving and resizing anyway. Remember that you can get to objects without ungrouping them; just hold Ctrl when you click on them. Wash and Wax: Importing DetailsIn DRAW 9, the Import, Open, and Export dialogs received an overhaul. We’ll cover the first two in this chapter, and discuss exporting in Chapter 30. Was the overhaul worth the effort? Unequivocally, yes. Extension sorting options that previously required a trip to Options are now accessible directly from the Import and Open dialogs. And in usual Corel fashion, more options were added to the import and open functions themselves. We start this section with a few general rules of thumb concerning bringing files into DRAW, then follow with dialog specifics, the Scrapbook, and one or two other details we affectionately refer to as Other Ways to Get Stuff into DRAW That Don’t Fit into a Specific Category, but we’ll call Miscellaneous here to keep the editors happy.
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