Cropping, splitting, and erasing objects

You can crop, split, and erase portions of objects.

Cropping objects

Cropping lets you quickly remove unwanted areas in objects and imported graphics, eliminating the need to ungroup objects, break linked groups apart, or convert objects to curves. You can crop vector objects and bitmaps.

Cropping objects

When cropping objects, you define a rectangular area (cropping area) that you want to keep. Object portions outside the cropping area are removed. You can specify the exact position and size of the cropping area, and you can rotate and resize it. You can also remove the cropping area.

You can crop only selected objects without affecting other objects in a drawing, or you can crop all objects on the drawing page. In either case, the affected text and shape objects are automatically converted to curves.

Splitting objects

You can split a bitmap or vector object in two and reshape it by redrawing its path. You can split a closed object along a straight or jagged line. CorelDRAW lets you choose between splitting an object into two objects, or leaving it as one object composed of two or more subpaths. You can specify whether you want to close paths automatically or keep them open.

From left to right: The Knife tool creates two separate objects from the green rectangle. Then, the two objects are moved into an unfilled black object to create an envelope.

Erasing portions of objects

CorelDRAW lets you erase unwanted portions of bitmaps and vector objects. The Eraser tool works just like a pencil eraser, removing any part of the image over which you click and drag. Erasing automatically closes any affected paths and converts the object to curves. If you erase connecting lines, CorelDRAW creates subpaths rather than individual objects.

You can also delete virtual line segments, which are portions of objects that overlap each other. For example, you can delete a loop in a line that crosses over itself, or loops in line segments in which two or more objects overlap.

To crop objects

2 .	In the toolbox, click the Crop tool .

Objects on locked, hidden, Grid, or Guides layers cannot be cropped. Also, you cannot crop OLE and Internet objects, rollovers, or the content of PowerClip objects.

During cropping, affected linked groups, such as contours, blends, and extrusions, are automatically broken apart.

You can move, rotate, and size the cropping area interactively as you would any object. To move the cropping area, drag it to a new position. To size the cropping area, drag any of its handles . To rotate the cropping area, click inside, and drag a rotation handle .

You can remove the cropping area by pressing Esc.

To split an object

1 .	In the toolbox, click the Knife tool .

You can also
Split an object along a freehand line	Point to where you want to start the cut, and drag to where you want it to end.
Split an object along a Bézier line	Hold down Shift, click where you want to start cutting an object, drag the control handle to where you want to position the next node, and click. Continue clicking to add more straight segments to the line. If you want to add a curved segment, point to where you want to place the node and drag to shape the curve. If you want to constrain the line by 15-degree increments, hold down Shift + Ctrl.
Split an object into two subpaths	Click the Keep as one object button on the property bar.
Split an object while keeping only one of its parts	Click the object’s outline where you want to start the cut, and point to where you want the cut to end. Press Tab once or twice until only the part of the object that you want to keep is selected, and then click.

By default, objects are split into two objects and paths are automatically closed.

When you use the Knife tool on a selected object, the object becomes a curve object.

To erase portions of an object

2 .	In the toolbox, click the Eraser tool .

When you erase portions of objects, any affected paths are automatically closed.

You can erase straight lines by clicking where you want to start erasing, and then clicking where you want to finish erasing. Press Ctrl if you want to constrain the line’s angle.

You can also erase an area of a selected object by double-clicking the area with the Eraser tool.

To delete a virtual line segment

1 .	In the toolbox, click the Virtual segment delete tool .

The Virtual segment delete tool does not work on linked groups such as drop shadows, text, or images.

Deleting virtual line segments

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