Smackdown: Illustrator vs. CorelDraw [Round 2]

We’ve started the fight with a little graphic of the word “Hero.” Round 2 will pit the two draw programs against an extrude attack using that same graphic. Which will fare better? Let’s find out...

DingDing!

In CorelDraw, choose the Extrude Tool. When you do this, an Extrude tool bar appears at the top of your screen.

These are all the shortcuts you’ll need to render any extrusion the way you see fit. After selecting the Extrude Tool, click [C] on the the object and drag in whatever direction you want the extrusion to go. You’ll see a wireframe box mimicking the extrusion as you drag, so you can get an idea of what it will look like. Along with this box is a line. This line shows the direction [A] the extrusion is currently going in. You can alter this on-screen anytime -- even after deselecting it or moving it. Moving the slider [B] along the line changes the depth of the extrusion. Again, all on-screen and all very wysiwyg. Let up on the mouse and the extrusion will draw.
Extrusions will always default to the fill of the object or text that your extruding, so in this case, it mimics the blue-to-black gradient. But I don’t like how the “O” disappears in the blackness of the extrusion, so I’m going to change it. I simply go up to the top Extrude tool bar, select the Color icon and change the colors of the gradient in the drop-down menu. For my purposes here, I’m going to simply swap the the blue and black so the gradient reverses itself.
There. Much easier to read.

Now, to finish it up, I add a nice thick comic-book outline to the whole thing and I’m done.

In Illustrator, I go to the Effects menu and select 3D. The Extrude & Bevel palette appears. This is where the alterations occur. I put a check in the “Preview” box so I can see how my changes in the palette are reflected in the actual graphic.

The extrude depth is changed here on this palette (again with the numbers!) as well as the position. For the position, you have either the option to plug in numbers, or click and drag the 3D box that appears on the palette. It’s simple, but by no means exacting. If you want a specific angle to match something else on the drawing, you’ll find it very difficult without a lot of practice. You can also change what Illustrator calls “perspective”. CorelDraw calls this “vanishing points,” but it’s essentially the same thing. It allows you to give an angled perspective look to the extrusion. However, I couldn’t get Illustrator to make it work right. For some reason, the extrusion went all wonky on me. (Again, I’m not faulting Illustrator for this -- I may well have done something wrong.)
Also, Illustrator doesn’t allow for gradients within the extrusion, so you’re stuck with a straight color. If you’re desperate for a gradient you’ll have to add several steps that include selecting “Expand Appearance” (whatever that means) from the Object menu, ungrouping a minimum of four to five times, selecting all of the extrude paths that you want to have gradient in, welding them by sides, filling them with a gradient, then regrouping them with the object. (Whew! that’s a lot of work. And time.)

But back to our drawing. Once everything looks the way you want it, click OK. It’s officially set in stone. You can’t go back and continue to edit this. Unlike CorelDraw where the extruded object can be re-edited, the Illustrator object is unchangeable. When you attempt to go back into the 3D editing tools, Illustrator warns you that you’re adding another layer of extrusion to an already extruded object.

After I OK the extrusion, I add my outline and I’m done. Not much like the graphic that was done in CorelDraw. And it took a lot more work.
And also, I noticed some weirdness in the graphic after extruding it. Some odd artifacts in the letters that I couldn’t get rid of. Clearly a bug of some sort.
Oh, excuse me -- my phones ringing. I better take this. It’s the client. Hello? ... Uh huh ... Okay ... Sure, no problem.

Damn. Apparently I misunderstood -- the graphic wasn’t supposed to be HERO, it was supposed to be HIRO. Well, I guess the Illustrator graphic is a bust. I’ll have to start that one over since very little of it is still editable. But not the CorelDraw one. Everything is still live and active.
All I do is select the Text Tool, click on the text and retype it via the pop-up window -- and it’s done. Client happy. Me happy.
Next up: Illustrator vs. CorelDraw -- Interactive Transparencies!