CorelDRAW is a powerful and comprehensive software package, featuring a variety of functions such as graphic drawing, image processing, web page creation, printing layout, and cartoon animation.
One of the most widely used applications of CorelDRAW in China is in the early stage of printing and typesetting for publications, commonly known as pre-press operations. Although this is only a part of the functions of CorelDRAW, when we handle other tasks, we also habitually call on other software accordingly. For instance, when processing images, we immediately use Photoshop; when making web pages, we use Dreamweaver; when handling animations, we use Flash, and so on. So here, I will take a small card as an example to give a brief introduction from the layout of the graphic to the drawing of the knife mold.
Layout work
Before carrying out printing and typesetting, we need to conduct some analysis on the work object first, such as what kind of paper to use, what kind of printing machine to prepare, what process to adopt, whether to carry out any artistic processing or special techniques, etc. To save space, I'll omit these.
When you open the CorelDRAW software, the system will automatically create a "Graphic 1" file.
2. From the toolbox on the left, select the fifth position - the Rectangle Tool. Draw a rectangle on the blank space beside the system-specified paper, with no limit on its size. Then, in the properties toolbar, change its size to 125x185mm (the finished product size will be 120x175mm after being folded in half)
3. Use the selection tool to select the rectangle you just drew. Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the rectangle to the left with the mouse. When a rectangle box identical to the original one appears on the screen, hold down the left mouse button and press the right mouse button. Then, another rectangle identical to the original one will appear to its left.
4. Place a processed image in the box on the right and add the company information text to the lower half of the box on the left. Form a card style.
5. Select all the objects on the card and press Ctrl+G or the "Group" item under the "Arrange" menu. Group each object and make them one object. So as to facilitate the operation of subsequent projects.
6. Select the picking tool, draw a rectangle in a blank area, and adjust its size to 546x787mm (the size of a regular double-sided paper to represent the paper).
7. Draw another rectangle in the frame of the double-sided paper, with dimensions of 526x777mm (leaving 5mm bleed space at the top and bottom, 15mm bite space on the left, and 5mm bleed space on the right, to indicate that this is the printing core, that is, the effective printing area). Select both rectangles, choose "Alignment and Distribution" from the "Arrangement" menu, and in the pop-up dialog box, check "Right" for the horizontal item and "Center" for the vertical item to align the positions of the two rectangles.
8. Since the right sides of the two rectangles were close to each other after the previous operation step, but we require a distance of 5mm between them, adjustments need to be made. If adjusted manually, its position is not accurate enough. Select the "Pick" tool. When no object is selected, adjust the fine-tuning distance on the properties toolbar to 5mm. Then select the 526x777mm rectangular box and click the left arrow. This rectangular box will be separated by 5mm from the other rectangular box, thus creating a 5mm bleed on the right side of the paper as well.
9. As the finished size of the card is 120x175mm after folding, including the bleed position, the fully unfolded size of the design draft is 250x185mm. Now our next step is to paste the cards onto the paper. Select the grouped cards, then select the inner box on the paper, choose "Align and Distribute" from the "Arrange" menu, check "Left" for the horizontal item and "Up" for the vertical item, and align the cards with the upper left corner of the inner box. Select the card, copy and paste it, then adjust the rotation value to 180 in the property bar to flip it so that the pattern parts of the two cards are opposite. Adjust the fine-tuning distance to 250mm, select and paste the card on it, then press the right arrow. The two cards will then be arranged in a pattern to pattern. This method is called the "head-to-head" layout.
Due to the temperature and humidity during printing, the paper often undergoes expansion and contraction deformation. To minimize the occurrence of inaccurate registration caused by this reason, we should try to place the parts with complex patterns or colors as close as possible to the bite position. After the first row above is arranged, call the "Transform" option in the "Arrange" menu. In the pop-up dialog box, set the vertical distance to the height value of the card, 185mm. Since we need to shift it downward, set it to -185mm. Then select two cards and click "Apply to Remade Object". Each time you click, a pair of cards will be copied downward. And the location is also very accurate. After pressing three times in a row, four pairs of eight cards appeared on the page, and there was no more space left on the paper.
At this point, the layout is complete. The specification is to be made of eight-sided paper or regular double-sided paper. Although there is some waste of paper, this situation is inevitable. If you want to reduce the waste of paper, you can make a budget with pen and paper before making the plate. For example, in this example plate, the size of the printed surface of the card after making the eight-sided paper is 500x740mm, while the double-sided size of the regular paper is 546x787mm. The double-page size of large-sized paper is 597x889mm, and that of Tedu paper is 444x634mm. Clearly, the waste of using other types of paper seems even greater, so it is still more appropriate to use standard-sized paper.
Drawing of die-cutting diagrams
The completion of the layout does not mean the end of the typesetting work. We still have another very important task - the drawing of the die-cutting pattern.
After the printing process of each printed matter is completed, it needs to be divided into individual finished products. For example, in the above imposition example, after the printing is completed, it needs to be divided into eight finished cards. When dividing, it is impossible to use scissors to cut. We need to make another plate - the knife template plate. Of course, in a regular printing factory, there is no need to make the die-cutting mold yourself. Just draw the die-cutting mold line, then send it to the die-cutting mold factory. The die-cutting mold factory will make the die-cutting plate, then take it back to the die-cutting machine for die-cutting and pressing. After that, remove the paper edges and stack them neatly, and it can be delivered to the customer.
The drawing of the die-cutting line is completed on the basis of the printed plate. In fact, it is just drawing the actual size of the finished product on a plate with bleed positions (no need to fill in the color). Now let's start drawing the die-cutting line:
The finished size of the card we set above is 120x175mm when folded in half and 250x185mm when unfolded (including bleed).
2. Use the Rectangle tool to draw a rectangle with dimensions of 239x175mm. Select the rectangle and then the card in the upper left corner of the printing plate. Press the "C" key to align vertically and the "E" key to align horizontally. The rectangle will be right in the center of the card. Set the fine-tuning distance value to 0.5mm, select the rectangle just drawn, and press the right arrow to move it to the right by 0.5mm (since the rectangle has undergone a reduction action, if it is not moved to the right by 0.5mm, there will be a bleed of 5.5mm on each side, but our goal is to have a bleed of 5mm on the right and 6mm on the left). Select the Bezier Curve Tool, draw a line with a vertical height of 175mm, and center it vertically to the right side of the rectangle. Adjust the fine-tuning value to 120mm, select the vertical line, and press the left arrow. This vertical line will divide the rectangle into 120mm on the right and 119mm on the left. Here, the front side is set at 120mm and the back side at 119mm. This is because there is a concern that the back side might extend beyond the front due to inaccurate plate registration after being fed into the die-cutting machine. After a reduction of 1-2mm, there is no need to worry about the defect of exposed back (i.e., the paper on the back can be seen from the front side of the card) in the finished product.
3. Select the rectangle (set the border to a solid line, indicating that it needs to be cut) and the vertical line (set the border to a dashed line, indicating that it only needs to be creased without cutting), and group them into one object. Call the "Transform" dialog box in "Arrangement", set the vertical value to -185mm and the horizontal value to 0 in the "Position" item, and then click "Apply to Remade Object" three times. The card die-cutting line on the left is basically completed. Select the four newly created rectangles, set the horizontal value to 249mm and the vertical value to 0 in the "Transform" dialog box, and then click "Apply to Remade Object" to copy the other four die-cutting lines. The eight card patterns and the previously set positioning rectangular boxes for the bite and bleed positions were removed, leaving only eight rectangular boxes on the paper.
At this point, both the printing plate and the die-cutting plate have been completed. The next step is to produce the film. Normally, four color films of cyan, magenta, yellow and black are printed, and an additional die-cutting plate is added. If any other processes need to be printed, additional films can be produced as required. Since both film production and plate making fall under the purview of the plate-making room, the prepress operation is thus concluded. The bleed set here is 5mm at the top and bottom respectively, totaling 10mm. This is because when printing on large sheets of paper, it is necessary to take into account that the paper may expand and contract due to temperature and humidity, which could cause inaccurate registration or cutting positioning. 3mm bleeding is only used when there is no other way out. Generally, 5mm is better. Generally, when we do design work, we usually use a 3mm bleed. However, if the paper is relatively thick or it's packaging, I suggest using a 5mm bleed. But it's best to make the bleed cutting line yourself, as the output company usually adds a 3mm cutting line for you. This plate making is to minimize paper waste. For printing on regular 8-page paper, we provide such film to the other party. If no plate making is done, several copies of film need to be output for the printing factory to make the plate."
Discussion on the Order of layout Pages
First, let's introduce some commonly used formats: The size is in large 16mo (210?) Take 285mm as an example. The size after the layout is a large four-page format. Due to time constraints, the corner lines and cutting lines are not specified here. Only the page format of the layout is provided.
Let's start with the simplest single-sided introduction of the promotional leaflet: The large 16-page format of a single page is usually 216mmx291mm (including bleed), and the size of the four-page format after layout is 432mm x582mm (including bleed)
Large 16-page single-page double-sided layout: dimensions 216mmx291mm (including bleed), layout dimensions 432x582mm (including bleed)
Four pages, in the order of cover, second cover, third cover and back cover. The dimensions are: 213mmx291mm (including bleed), and the panel size is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed)
Eight pages, in the order of cover, cover two, 1, 2, 3, 4, cover three, and back cover. The size is: 213mmx291mm (including bleed), the layout size is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed), and the binding method is: saddle stitch.
Twelve pages, in the order of cover, back cover 2, 1,...... 8. Cover three and back cover. The dimensions are: 213mmx291mm (including bleed). The size of the layout is 426mmx582mm (including bleed), and the binding method is saddle stitch.
Sixteen pages, in the order of cover, back cover 2, 1,...... 12. Back cover, third cover and back cover. The size is: 213mmx291mm (including bleed), the layout size is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed), and the binding method is: saddle stitch.
Twenty pages, in the order of cover, back cover 2, 1,...... 16. The third cover and the back cover. The dimensions are: 213mmx291mm (including bleed). The size of the layout is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed). The binding method is saddle stitch.
Twenty-four pages, in the order of cover, back cover 2, 1,...... 20. Back cover three and back cover. The dimensions are: 213mmx291mm (including bleed). The size of the layout is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed). The binding method is saddle stitch.
Twenty-eight pages, in the order of cover, back cover 2, 1,...... 24. The third cover and the back cover. The dimensions are: 213mmx291mm (including bleed). The size of the layout is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed). The binding method is saddle stitch.
Thirty-two pages, in the order of cover, back cover 2, 1,...... 28. The third cover and the back cover.
Thirty-six pages, in the order of cover, back cover 2, 1,...... 32. The third cover and the back cover. The cover layout should have a spine added accordingly. The inner page layout size is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed). The binding method is: shrink thread adhesive binding.
Forty pages, in the order of cover, back cover, 1,...... 36. The third cover and the back cover. The cover layout should have a spine added accordingly. The inner page layout size is: 426mmx582mm (including bleed). The binding method is: shrink thread adhesive binding.
Forty pages in broadsheet format, forty pages in sequence: cover page, second cover page, 1,...... 36. The third cover and the back cover. The cover layout should have a spine added accordingly. The size of the layout is: 852mmx582mm.
Forty pages in broadsheet format. The first four folded pages are large turns, and the last one is small turns. Except for the size difference, the layout style of the standard 16K is exactly the same as that of the large 16K.
The method of folding: When folding, it depends on whether you need 8P or 16P per page. Generally speaking, 8P per page is often bound without stitching, while 16P per page is usually bound with thread stitching (for large picture albums). The P number of picture albums and books is usually a multiple of 4. Therefore, when we make folding patterns, it is often sufficient to make only one type (main pasting) to two types (special pasting). I once saw a Guangzhou company making a picture album with over 100 pages. They used a lot of A4 paper and folded out all the page numbers, which was very wasteful and unnecessary. When folding pages normally, remember one thing: no matter how you fold, the bottom right corner is the first page.
Binding. It is generally divided into saddle stitching, flat stitching, lock-stitch adhesive binding and wireless adhesive binding. The magazines we commonly see all adopt saddle stitching. Thread-bound books and wire-bound books belong to paperback binding. Locking thread adhesive binding is often used for large picture albums. It is firm, but the binding speed is slow. Wireless adhesive binding is often used for high-end small picture albums. Books that are too thick tend to come apart after being folded many times.
