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EclecticGrafix

Two color letter question

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Ok I feel like I should know this but I don’t so here it goes. I want to make two color letters. I have the “Contour” tool method down pretty well but there seems like there should be another way. I would like to do a red and silver letter. Is there a way to cut the red letter first and then create a smaller version of the silver letter to layer over the red? That way I can have a red “Contour” on the edge. If I just change the font size it changes the letter spacing. I'm using Corel Draw x5 Home & Student  

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If you know how to use the contour tool, then you're already 90% of the way there.

 

For what you asked above,  you want to start with silver text and add a single red contour to that text.  If you want your red outlines to be physically separate from one another, make sure to increase the inter-character spacing (tracking) so there is room between each letter for the expanded outline.

 

After adding a contour to your text, select "Break Contour Curve Apart" from the Arrange menu (I'm doing this from memory, it may not be exactly that, but that should steer you where you need to be).

 

That will separate the contoured curve from the original text and give you a separate curve that when cut will form a perfect background layer for your text.  Obviously if you make any changes to the original text after this point you will need to re-do the contour or it will no longer match.

 

If you're only going to cut a single letter, then you can cut a smaller letter in silver and a larger letter in red and layer them - if you're planning to do multiple letters and words, the contour method described here is superior as your spacing will already be perfect, otherwise you'll need to manually place each letter in the top layer to ensure they are centered properly.

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reviving a bit of an old topic here looking for some direction. I use this same method when creating a 2 color text for vinyl cutting. Now here is the problem I have recently run into and am trying to solve with Corel X6. If I were to do the contour in black and the letter in yellow and lay the yellow on top of the black it would discolor the yellow due to a black background. I hope this is making sense and I wished I took pictures to better illustrate my problem. It would be solved if I could figure out how to use the top layer as a punch or mask to delete from the bottom layer. That way when I stacked them on top of one another it would not be one sticker on top of another but more witching the other. Is there a tool I may not be using or using improperly in Corel to accomplish this? When working with raster images in Photoshop I was able to use an object to create a mask and use that mask to delete an area with. I have not found something that works this way with vector images. Any advice?

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1. Type your text and add your contour using the contour tool.

2. Break contour group apart using the menu or control+k.

3. Copy your text to clipboard with control+c.

4. Select your text and your contour.

5. select "back minus front" from the shaping menu.

6. Press control+v to paste the text back.

This will be a very tight fit with no gap. If you want a small gap you can add a smaller contour first and break that contour group apart and then add a second larger contour on the first contour. Then you would use back minus front on the two contours. You can also do this using an inner contour. I hope this makes sense, my internet cable got dug up yesterday so I'm on mobile.

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