Size

You will usually want to keep this option at its 1:1 default. But for those times you want to change the dimensions of the image disproportionately, this is where you’d do it. We were glad to see the outdated FAX resolutions finally removed. But now we’re equally perplexed with the preset monitor resolutions, since choosing one would almost certainly distort the image unless your drawing was created at precisely one of those sizes (in which case, 1:1 would achieve the same results).

Resolution

Choose the size of the export image, in pixels, here. For a detailed discussion on bitmap resolution, consult Chapters 21 and 22.

	TIP In-place bitmap exporting is a new feature for DRAW 9. To see this in action, right-click a bitmap on the page and choose Save Bitmap As from the pop-up menu for a quick jump to the Export dialog.

By Popular Demand

All bitmap exports begin the same way, with specialty options available from the secondary dialog that appears after you name the file. We discuss the most popular formats here; more notes on each format can be found by clicking on the Help buttons in those secondary export dialogs. We’re happy to report that DRAW 9’s bitmap exports will not discard the corner pixels, as DRAW 8 was prone to do. In fact, with version 9 we have seen some of the cleanest bitmap exports ever.

FlashPix

When exporting to FPX, a secondary dialog will open, as shown below. This format is gaining in popularity, having been designed from the ground up with the Web in mind. FlashPix avoids the long downloads associated with previous generations of imaging technology. Since only the portion of an image needed for the viewing area is downloaded, images appear immediately, and you can quickly zoom in to examine high-resolution details, and zoom out to get the big picture.

TIFF

TIFF files produce surprisingly credible results—in fact, better than some vector exports, as the page will look exactly the same. (We’d show you the result of our test file exported to TIFF, but it looks just like the original.) The difference is that the image is no longer individual objects but instead a file full of pixels, which limits the amount of editing or resizing options. TIFF offers a number of compression methods with the most popular being the lossless LZW. If you’re unsure of compression compatibility with the receiving application, we recommend no compression. TIFF offers true CMYK output and is an all-around good choice if appearance and cross-platform compatibility are important and editability is not.

PNG

PNG is a great bitmap format waiting for wider Web acceptance. It offers excellent compression, true colors, and transparency. But unless you are sure your viewers are using browsers that support PNG, you should limit your exports to other non-Web uses, such as PowerPoint bitmaps with transparency.

BMP

BMP is another good all-purpose format. However, because CMYK colors are not supported, we recommend that you use this format only when preparing files for business-related applications, such as word processors and presentation software, and desktop printer and screen output. If you are creating an image for your desktop wallpaper, this is the obvious choice you would use, and you would want to export the file to the WINDOWS directory, so you could easily apply it.

CPT

Last but certainly not least is Corel’s native CPT format. You’ll notice in the Files of Type list that there are two choices. One is for compatibility with PHOTO-PAINT 7 and 8; the other strictly for PHOTO-PAINT 9, because of the updated format’s ability to embed an ICC color profile. Choose this format only if your export will be for PHOTO-PAINT, as this proprietary TIFF-based Corel format is not supported elsewhere.

The Clipboard and Other OLE Matters

In a word, don’t. DRAW has many reliable methods of transferring your work to other applications, and the Clipboard is not one of them. This is especially true if you choose to create a hot-link back to DRAW instead of a static paste. This is not DRAW’s fault, but the limitations of the Clipboard itself. Transferring files via the Clipboard is essentially the same as a WMF or EMF export, except that text and other vector objects are usually converted to bitmaps, powerclip containers are dropped, and many other unwanted conversions occur. Save yourself a headache and actually export to WMF (or a more appropriate format) instead.

As for OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), if you paste your DRAW file as a link into another application, that link will be broken as soon as you transfer that application’s file to a system without DRAW 9. Even if that system does have DRAW 9 installed, chances are the link will still be unreliable and may even corrupt the container document. OLE is just not a reliable enough feature to trust with safekeeping all of the hard work and time you’ve put into creating your DRAW documents.

We can’t end on such a downer note when the prevailing theme of this chapter should be one of triumph. DRAW’s export capabilities have never been more robust and more clean. When Corel’s engineers said that their focus for DRAW 9 was on clean output, they meant it, and the proof is in the exporting.