Sketching naturally with intelligent stroke adjustment

The LiveSketch tool offers the simplicity and speed of freehand sketching combined with intelligent stroke adjustment and vector drawing. As you sketch, CorelDRAW analyses the properties, temporal order, and spacial proximity of your input strokes, adjusts them, and converts them into Bézier curves.

Perfect for quick sketches and drawings, the LiveSketch tool speeds up your workflow and allows you to focus on the creation process. Instead of being preoccupied with nodes and handles and switching between tools, you can let your creativity flow and achieve the desired result quickly and effectively. There is no need to scan your sketches and trace them any more. You can sketch out your design concepts and ideas using vector curves right from the get-go.

Whether you have great sketching skills or you are just learning to sketch, CorelDRAW can adjust your strokes and help you quickly move your ideas from imagination to reality. Artwork by Andrew Stacey.

CorelDRAW supports the most common drawing styles: discrete overlapping strokes, folded strokes (scribbling back and forth across the surface, with lines doubling back on each other), chicken scratch (drawing short lines rapidly one after the other to build long lines and large forms).

Strokes before (top) and after (bottom) stroke adjustment: discrete overlapping strokes (left), folded strokes (middle), chicken scratch (right)

To make the most of the LiveSketch tool, use a stylus and customize CorelDRAW to fit your sketching style.

You can specify the time it takes to activate stroke adjustment after you draw one or more strokes. For example, if you set the timer to one second and make a few strokes, stroke enhancement will take effect one second after you finish drawing the strokes. The timer creates a temporal window within which the discrete strokes that you make are analysed and converted into curves. Experiment with the timer to find a setting that best matches your sketching speed and style. If you use multiple small strokes to build up a bigger line, set a short delay time to create your curves right away and develop a sketching cadence. Alternatively, increase the delay time to 5 seconds and take advantage of the live preview to see your input strokes and build upon them. Setting a longer delay period also gives you more time to manipulate your lines.

With the timer set to 0 milliseconds (left), successive strokes are converted into discrete curves. With the timer set to 1 second (right), successive strokes are joined into a single curve.

You can reset the timer and adjust the strokes before the specified time has elapsed. You can also delete strokes before they have been adjusted.

As your composition progresses, you may want to re-draw existing lines to change their position and shape or simply to refine them. CorelDRAW lets you modify existing curves by including them into your sketch as new input strokes. You can specify the width of the editable area around previously drawn curves. When you sketch within this area, the existing curves are processed along with the other input strokes and are readjusted; when you sketch outside the specified distance, your input strokes are added as new objects.

An existing stroke (left); A new stroke (in blue) is created close to the existing curve (middle); The existing stroke is extended and readjusted (right.)

When you move the pointer inside the editable area of an existing curve, the curve is highlighted to indicate that you can modify it.

If you need to sketch very close to existing lines or draw over strokes to reinforce them, you can disable proximity-based stroke adjustment temporarily or permanently so that strokes are added as separate objects.

Disable proximity-based stroke grouping to keep your strokes as separate objects.

When you include an existing curve into a sketch, the resulting curve inherits the properties of the existing curve.

A curve created with the Artistic Media tool (left); The new stroke drawn with the LiveSketch tool is within the proximity threshold of the existing stroke (middle); The resulting stroke takes on the properties of the existing curve (right.)

At times, you may need to define the entire extent of a shape or an object with a single curve. It can be difficult, however, to maintain smooth lines for a long distance or over a long curve without lifting the stylus off the tablet or releasing the mouse button. CorelDRAW can help you work with continuous lines by creating a seamless curve from strokes that you draw within the specified time interval.

An example of an object created from strokes joined into a single curve.

Note that CorelDRAW processes only the input strokes that are within the specified delay time, so you may have to adjust the timer depending on your sketching speed.

As more and more of your sketch is laid down, and you start to improve the accuracy and appearance of the lines, you may need to erase existing curves or portions of curves. You can easily switch to erase mode by flipping the stylus (provided your stylus or pen has an eraser end) and then switch back to sketching mode by flipping the stylus again. Note that if a curve is selected, you erase only portions of that curve. If you want to erase any part of your drawing, make sure you deselect all objects before you use the stylus eraser. For information about deselecting objects, see To deselect objects. When your stylus doesn't have an eraser end or you work with a mouse, you can erase curves with the Eraser tool. For more information about erasing Bézier curves, see To erase an image area.

By default, CorelDRAW shows a representation of the adjusted stroke while you are drawing. If you find the live preview too distracting, you can hide it.

In preview mode, CorelDRAW displays the adjusted stroke (in black) before the delay time has elapsed and the input strokes (in blue) have been processed.

You can control the amount of smoothing applied to curves.

To sketch with the LiveSketch tool

1 .	In the toolbox, click the LiveSketch tool.

You can also access the LiveSketch tool by pressing S on your keyboard.

To set a delay before input strokes are adjusted

By default, the delay is 1000 milliseconds or 1 second. The minimum delay is 0 milliseconds; the maximum is 5 seconds.

Clicking a different tool before the specified delay time has elapsed implements stroke adjustment.

Press Enter to reset the timer and adjust the strokes before the delay time has elapsed.

Press Esc to delete an input stroke before it has been adjusted.

Setting a longer delay period gives you more time to manipulate your lines.

To readjust an existing curve

1 .	Click the Include curves toggle button on the property bar to enable it.

To disable proximity-based stroke adjustment temporarily, hold down Shift and make one or more strokes.

To disable proximity-based stroke enhancement permanently, click the Include curves toggle button on the property bar.

By default, the distance threshold is 5 pixels. The minimum value is 0 pixels; the maximum is 40 pixels.

To create a single curve from strokes

1 .	Click the Create single curve button on the property bar to allow input strokes to be converted into one continuous line.

For best results, set a longer delay time. CorelDRAW processes only strokes that are within the specified delay time.

To erase a curve

To erase a curve or portions of a curve when your stylus doesn't have an eraser end or when using a mouse, select the curve, click the Eraser tool in the toolbox, and drag where you want to erase.

You can change the size and shape of the eraser nib. For information, see To erase an image area.

To show or hide a preview of the resulting curve

•	Click the Preview mode button on the property bar.

To control curve smoothness

Higher values produce smoother curves.

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