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Not only can you apply unlimited color and textures to objects, but there is a unique fill type called GenetX colors. These are randomly generated color blends, patterns, and textures that can be applied to any object. In this dialog box you can generate textures at random or start from any of the predefined libraries, and click away to mutate new patterns and color combinations. When you find a GenetX combination you like, you can save it in a library or apply it to your object.
Since GenetX colors can't be applied to bitmaps or packages, its button in the Color & Texture property box does double duty when a bitmap or package is selected. It brings up the bitmap effects, a menu of 27 different adjustable effects you can use to make color alterations and unusual effects like the one in the WMF sailboat example above.
These buttons were created by making a single button. Then the
button was packaged and duplicated. The Color Shift and Color
Boost effects were applied to the duplicates to make these vartiations.
These variations were achived by adjusting the texture and lighting
for each object. This image was saved in the special e-JPEG
format, so if you have Real-DRAW you can save and open this
image to see how it was created and it will be fully editable.
This
is an interesting text treatment created with textures, outlines,
the backlight bevel effect and lights. The sparkle is another
one of Real-DRAW's standard effects.
I could go on to show you every effect in every property box, but these are all very well-explained in the help document which I found to be quite clear and comprehensive. Many example images are included throughout the help document and on the product pages. The Web site also offers tutorials, a gallery, and additional export plug-ins to download.
Now, I should also tell you a bit about what Real-DRAW can't do. It is not a layout program by any means. Real-DRAW can give you a huge amount of freedom in creating your own graphics and illustrations, but you wouldn't want to use it to create text documents, greeting cards, brochures, and the like. It can generate code for rollover buttons, but it does not have any animation capabilities. You can only work in pixels... however, using the Mega Render feature, you can create a drawing at a small size and render it large when it is exported. Mega Render can be slow for complex drawings, but it works quite well. It allows you to preserve the texture detail and still output an image up to 10 times the original size. I'd say that's pretty remarkable. Note that while texture detail can be preserved when mega-rendering, bitmap objects will become pixelated.
In addition to the native RDW files, the other export formats included are JPG, BMP, PNG, Transparent PNG, Mega Render JPG, E-JPG, SVG and Adobe Photoshop PSD. e-JPG is a JPEG compatible format that can be opened in Real-DRAW and edited as if it were a standard Real-DRAW file but it also functions just like any ordinary JPEG file so you can put it on the Web and open it in any other graphics program. And, yes, Real-DRAW exports fully layered PSD files that can be imported into Adobe Photoshop for further editing. Each object is placed on its own layer and shadows are separated into individual layers as well. Note also that SVG is the only true vector format that is supported for export. Currently there are downloadable export plug-ins for TGA, TIFF and GIF formats on the Real-DRAW Web site.
Those of you who have worked with other illustration software may be surprised to hear that there is no blend tool in Real-DRAW, but with the lighting and paint-on-object capabilities, it is hardly necessary. I would have liked to have seen better node editing capabilities. For example, you cannot select a group of nodes and align them or nudge them with the keyboard. But considering that this is only the 2.x release, I'd like to think this is something that will be improved in future versions.
Even with these minor limitations, this software is loads of fun for those who like to play with graphics, and it's a bargain powerhouse for anyone who creates graphics for the Web or multimedia. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface in showing you all it can do. If you like what you've seen here so far, do yourself a favor... go download the trial and work through the very thorough help file. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!
Page Four: Real-DRAW Pro Screen Shots -->
Sue Chastain
Your Guide to Graphics Software
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