Selecting Nodes in CorelDRAW


Coreldraw: Question from a Student:

I am using Corel Draw 9, and I am not able to find
the "all nodes select-icon".

Please , give me a hand!!

In Version 10

The Select All Nodes button is new to version 10. The way it works is this: When you choose the Shape tool, the property bar changes to display the icons appropriate for working with nodes. If you also have an object selected, one of them will be the Select All Nodes icon.


Click the Shape Tool icon, or press the shortcut key.
 


You will have the Shape Tool cursor.
 


Three icons: Elastic Mode, Select all Nodes, and Curve Smoothness

The icon for Select All Nodes is kind of a silly squiggle, but if you put the point of your mouse on it for a second, the name will appear.

I wnt to remind everybody that what worked in earlier versions is likely to continue to work. Upgrades tend to add features and buttons, or to move them around. They rarely get rid of old features. So everybody can do this next bit.
 

In Earlier Versions

In earlier versions of Coreldraw, you don't have the Select All Nodes icon. But you can use the Shape Tool cursor to select the nodes you want to edit.


This is a Pink Elephant (in case you thought it was an aardvark.)

Drag, with the shape tool, around the nodes you want to select. If you want to select all the nodes in the object, drag around the entire object.

In earlier versions, the next difference to note  is, you won't find that Curve Smoothness lever (see figure above). Instead, in earlier versions, you will find a button named Auto Reduce. (Sorry, I don't have a picture of it to insert for you. But it's hard to miss if you have your shape tool selected and the object selected.) Click Auto Reduce a few times to get rid of extra nodes. Nodes that are needed to define where you changed directions when you drew the image will not be deleted. You may have to edit these individually. Another trick is to click the button labeled Smooth. This sometimes helps to smooth the shape.

In all versions, you can shift-click on nodes to select them one at a time. Hold down the shift key and use the shape tool to click each of the nodes, or to drag around any of the nodes, you want to select.

Here, I have selected some of the nodes by shift-clicking them, and now I'm moving only the selected nodes. Notice that the unselected nodes stay stuck in place.

Try this:

1. Use the Freehand tool to draw a shape something like this one.

2. Use the shape tool to select some of the nodes on the top of the shape.

3. Drag the selected nodes upward.

4. Click the Smooth button (In CD10, it's the  "Make Node Smooth" button - the center one shown here.) Remember you have to have the Shape tool selected to see it.

5. Manipulate the nodes until you have a row of hills. Or a crown, or waves, or whatever else it suggests to you.

6. Double-click a node you want to delete. Double-click on the curve to add a node where you need one.

7. Create a shape for the next-nearest holiday, using the Freehand took, the Shape tool, and by selecting nodes by shift-clicking on them.

Christine Frey