Glossary of terms used in Computer Drawing

Glossary Page 2

M

marquee select

To select objects or nodes by dragging the Pick tool or Shape tool diagonally and enclosing objects in a marquee box with a dotted outline.

master object

An object that has been cloned. Most changes you make to the master object are automatically applied to the clone.

master layer

A layer on a master page whose objects appear on every page of a multipage drawing. A master page can have more than one master layer.

master page

A page that controls the master settings for the Grid, Guideline, and Desktop layers plus one initial active layer.

mesh fill

A type of fill that lets you add patches of color to the inside of a selected object.

metadata

Information about objects. Examples of metadata are names, comments, and cost assigned to objects.

micro nudge

To move an object in small increments.

See also nudge and super nudge.

midpoint

The point of a Bézier line that divides it into two parts of equal length.

miter limit

A value that determines when two lines that meet at a sharp angle switch from a pointed (mitered) joint to a squared-off (beveled) joint.

moiré pattern

The visual effect of radiating curves created by superimposing two regular patterns. For example, a moiré pattern can result by overlapping two halftone screens of different angles, dot spacing, and dot size. Moiré patterns are the undesirable result of rescreening an image with a different halftone screen or with the same halftone screen on an angle different from the original.

multiple select

To select multiple objects using the Pick tool or multiple nodes using the Shape tool.

N

nested group

A group of two or more groups that behaves as one object.

nested PowerClip objects

Containers that hold other containers to form complex PowerClip objects.

nodes

The square points at each end of a line or curve segment. You can change the shape of a line or curve by dragging one or more of its nodes.

noise

In bitmap editing, random pixels on the surface of a bitmap, resembling static on a television screen.

nonprinting characters

Items that appear on the screen but do not print. They include the rulers, guidelines, table gridlines, hidden text, and formatting symbols, such as spaces, hard returns, tabs, and indents.

nudge

To move an object in increments.

See also micro nudge and super nudge.

O

object

A generic term for any item you create or place in a drawing. Objects include lines, shapes, graphics, and text.

one-point perspective

An effect created by lengthening or shortening one side of an object to create the impression that the object is receding from view in one direction.

onion skinning

Displaying multiple frames on the stage at once. Objects in the current frame appear in full color while objects in other frames display in wireframe view.

opacity

The quality of an object that makes it difficult to see through. If an object is 100% opaque, you cannot see through it. Opacity levels under 100% increase the ability to see through objects.

See also transparency.

open object

An object defined by a path whose start point and end point are not connected.

origin

The point in the drawing window at which the rulers intersect.

output resolution

The number of dots per inch (dpi) that an output device, such as an imagesetter or laser printer, produces.

outline

The line that defines the shape of an object.

overexposure

Excessive light in an image that gives it a washed-out appearance.

P

paletted color mode

An 8-bit color mode that displays images using up to 256 colors. You can convert a complex image to the paletted color mode to reduce file size and to control the colors used throughout the conversion process more precisely.

pan

To move the drawing page around in the drawing window. Panning changes the page view in the same way that scrolling moves the drawing up, down, to the left, or to the right in the drawing window. When working at high magnification levels where not all of the drawing is displayed, you can quickly pan to see parts of the drawing that were previously hidden.

PANOSE font matching

A feature that lets you choose a substitute font if you open a file that contains a font not installed on your computer. You can make a substitution for the current working session only, or you can permanently make a substitution so that when you save and reopen the file, the new font automatically displays.

PANTONE process colors

The colors that are available through the PANTONE Process Color System, which is based on the CMYK color model.

paragraph text

A text type that allows you to apply formatting options and directly edit large blocks of text.

parent color

An original color style that you can save and apply to objects in a drawing. You can create child colors from the parent color.

See also child color.

path

The basic component from which objects are constructed. A path can be open (for example, a line) or closed (for example, a circle), and it can be made up of a single line or curve segment or many joined segments.

pattern fill

A fill consisting of a series of repeating vector objects or images.

Perfect Shapes

Predefined shapes, such as basic shapes, arrows, stars, and callouts. Perfect Shapes often have glyphs, which let you modify their appearance.

perpendicular line

A line that intersects another line at a right angle.

pixel

A colored dot that is the smallest part of a bitmap.

See also resolution.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

A graphic file format designed for use in online viewing. This format can import 24-bit color graphics.

point

A unit of measure used primarily in typesetting to define type sizes. There are approximately 72 points to an inch and 12 points to a pica.

PostScript fill

A type of texture fill designed using the PostScript language

PowerClip effect

A way of arranging objects that lets you contain one object inside another

PowerClip object

An object created by placing objects (contents objects) inside other objects (container objects). If the contents object is larger than the container object, the contents object is automatically cropped. Only the contents that fit inside the container object are visible.

process color

In commercial printing, colors that are produced from a blend of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is different from a spot color, which is a solid ink color printed individually (one printing plate is required for each spot color).

progressive

In JPEG images, a method of having the image appear on screen in its entirety, at a low, blocky resolution. As the image data loads, the image quality progressively improves.

Q

QuickCorrect

A feature that automatically displays the fully worded form for abbreviations or the correct form for errors as you type. You can use QuickCorrect to capitalize words or to correct common spelling and typographic errors automatically; for example, QuickCorrect can replace "asap" with "as soon as possible" and "hte" with "the."

R

radius

As applied to the Dust & Scratch filter, sets the number of pixels surrounding the damaged area that are used to apply the filter.

range sensitivity

A paletted color mode option that lets you specify a focus color for the paletted conversion. You can adjust the color and specify its importance to guide converting.

rasterized image

An image that has been rendered into pixels. When you convert vector graphics files to bitmap files, you create rasterized images.

render

To capture a two-dimensional image from a three-dimensional model.

resample

To change the resolution and dimensions of a bitmap. Upsampling increases the size of the image; downsampling decreases the size of the image. Resampling with fixed resolution lets you maintain the resolution of the image by adding or subtracting pixels while varying the image size. Resampling with variable resolution keeps the number of pixels unchanged while changing the image size, resulting in lower or higher resolution than that of the original image.

resolution

The amount of detail that an image file contains, or that an input, output, or display device is capable of producing. Resolution is measured in dpi (dots per inch) or ppi (pixels per inch). Low resolutions can result in a grainy appearance; high resolutions can produce higher quality images but result in larger file sizes.

RGB

A color mode in which the three colors of light (red, green, and blue) are combined in varying intensities to produce all other colors. A value between 0 and 255 is assigned to each channel of red, green and blue. Monitors, scanners, and the human eye use RGB to produce or detect color.

rollover

An interactive object or group of objects that changes its appearance when you click or point to it.

rotate

To reposition and reorient an object by turning it around its center of rotation.

ruler

A horizontal or vertical bar marked off in units that is used to determine the size and position of objects. By default, the rulers display on the left side and along the top of the application window, but they can be hidden or moved.

S

saturation

The purity or vividness of a color, expressed as the absence of white. A color that has 100% saturation contains no white. A color with 0% saturation is a shade of gray.

scale

To change an object's horizontal and vertical dimensions proportionally by a specified percentage. For example, a rectangle with a height of 1" and a width of 2" that is scaled by 150% results in a height of 1.5" and a width of 3". The aspect ratio of 1:2 (height to width) is maintained.

segment

The line or curve between nodes in a curve object.

selection box

An invisible rectangle with eight visible handles that appears around any object you select using the Pick tool.

shape recognition

The ability to recognize and convert hand-drawn shapes into perfect forms. To take advantage of shape recognition, you must use the Smart drawing tool. For example, you can draw four pen strokes to sketch a rectangle, and the application will convert your hand-drawn lines into a perfect rectangle.

simple wireframe view

An outline view of a drawing that hides fills, extrusions, contours, and intermediate blend shapes. Bitmaps are displayed in monochrome.

See also wireframe view.

size

To change an object's horizontal and vertical dimensions proportionally by changing one of the dimension's values. For example, a rectangle with a height of 1" and a width of 2" can be sized by changing the value of the height to 1.5". A width of 3" automatically results from the new height value. The aspect ratio of 1:2 (height to width) is maintained.

skew

To slant an object vertically, horizontally, or both.

snap

To force an object that is being drawn or moved to align automatically to a point on the grid, a guideline, or another object.

source object

The object you use to perform a shaping action on another object, such as welding, trimming, or intersecting. The source object receives the fill and outline attributes of the target object.

See also target object.

splash screen

The screen that appears when CorelDRAW starts. It monitors the progress of the startup process and provides information about copyright and registration.

split blend

A single blend that is broken into two or more components to create a compound blend. The object where the blend is split becomes the end object for one component of the blend and start object for the other.

spot color

In commercial printing, a solid ink color that prints individually, one plate per spot color.

spread

In commercial printing, a type of trap that is created by extending the foreground object into the background object.

style

A set of attributes that controls the appearance of a specific type of object. There are three style types: graphic styles, text styles (artistic and paragraph), and color styles.

subpaths

Paths that are part of one object.

subscript

Text characters that are positioned below the baseline of the other characters in a line of text.

subtractive color model

A color model, such as CMYK, that creates color by subtracting wavelengths of light reflected from an object. For example, a colored ink appears blue if it absorbs all colors except blue.

super nudge

To move an object in large increments by pressing Shift and an Arrow key. The super nudge value is multiplied by the nudge value to obtain the distance by which the object is moved.

See also nudge and micro nudge.

superscript

Text characters that are positioned above the baseline of the other characters in a line of text.

swap disk

Hard drive space used by applications to artificially increase the amount of memory available in your computer.

swatch

One of a series of solid-colored patches used as a sample when selecting color. A printed booklet of swatches is called a swatchbook. Swatch also refers to the colors contained in the color palette.

symbol

A reusable object or group of objects. A symbol is defined once and can be referenced many times in a drawing.

symbol instance

An occurrence of a symbol in a drawing. A symbol instance automatically inherits any changes made to the symbol. You can also apply unique properties to each instance, including size, position, and uniform transparency.

T

tangent

A straight line that touches a curve or an ellipse at a point, but does not cross the curve or ellipse at that point.

target object

The object you perform a shaping action on, such as welding, trimming, or intersecting with another object. The target object retains its fill and outline attributes while copying these attributes to the source objects used to perform the action.

See also source object.

template

A predefined set of information that sets the page size, orientation, ruler position, and grid and guideline information. A template may also include graphics and text that can be modified.

text baseline

The imaginary horizontal line that text characters appear to be placed on.

text frame

The rectangle that appears as a series of dashed lines around a block of paragraph text created using the Text tool.

text style

A set of attributes that controls the appearance of text. There are two text style types: artistic text styles and paragraph text styles.

texture fill

A fractally generated fill that, by default, fills an object or image area with one image instead of with a series of repeating images.

threshold

A level of tolerance for tonal variation in a bitmap.

thumbnail

A miniature, low-resolution version of an image or illustration.

tiling

The technique of repeating a small image across a large surface. Tiling is often used to create a patterned background for World Wide Web pages.

tint

The lighter shade of a spot color.

tone

The variations in a color or the range of grays between black and white.

transparency

The quality of an object that makes it easy to see through. Setting lower levels of transparency causes higher levels of opacity and less visibility of the underlying items or image.

See also opacity.

TrueType fonts

A font specification developed by Apple. TrueType fonts print the way they appear on the screen and can be resized to any height.

two-point perspective

An effect created by lengthening or shortening two sides of an object to create the impression that the object is receding from view in two directions.

U

underexposure

The lack of light in an image that makes it too dark.

uniform fill

A type of fill used to apply one solid color to your image.

See also fill.

Unicode

A character encoding standard that defines character sets for all written languages in the world by using a 16-bit code set and more than 65, 000 characters. Unicode lets you handle text effectively regardless of the language of the text, your operating system, or the application you are using.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

A unique address that defines where a Web page is located on the Internet.

V

vanishing point

A marker that appears when you select an extrusion or an object to which perspective has been added. With an extrusion, the vanishing point marker indicates the depth (parallel extrusion) or the point at which the extruded surfaces would meet if extended (perspective extrusion). In both cases, the vanishing point is indicated by an X.

vector graphic

An image generated from mathematical descriptions that determine the position, length, and direction in which lines are drawn. Vector graphics are created as collections of lines rather than as patterns of individual dots or pixels.

See also bitmap.

vector object

A specific object within a drawing that is created as a collection of lines rather than as patterns of individual dots or pixels. Vector objects are generated from mathematical descriptions that determine the position, length, and direction in which lines are drawn.

W

watermark

A small amount of random noise added to the luminance component of the image pixels which carries information about the image. This information survives normal editing, printing, and scanning.

weld

To combine two objects into a single curve object with a single outline. A source object is welded to a target object to create a new object that takes on the fill and outline attributes of the target object.

white point

The measurement of white on a color monitor that influences how highlights and contrast display.

wireframe view

An outline view of a drawing that hides fills but displays extrusions, contour lines, and intermediate blend shapes. Bitmaps are displayed in monochrome.

See also simple wireframe view.

workspace

A configuration of settings that specifies how the various command bars, commands, and buttons are arranged when you open the application.

Z

zoom

To reduce or magnify the view of a drawing. You can zoom in to see details or zoom out for a broader view.

ZIP

A lossless file compression technique that results in smaller file size and faster processing time.