Real-DRAW Advanced

Packages

Package is in fact one of the most important features of Real-DRAW. Understanding it will not only multiply your productivity, but will allow you to create more detailed illustrations, new effects, and much more.

Generally speaking, Package is the ability to divide a large project into segments, where you can edit each segment (called Package) and its objects separately, in a different view.

The Package itself shows in your main document as a single object which you can transform any way you like - resize, rotate or add any effects to it such as drop shadow, bevel or lights. These transformations will never change the objects inside, and the objects keep their own transformations and effects.

Because you can resize the package, it also means that you have the ability to design the contents of a package in a larger view than it appears in your document and create many more details.

Packaging has many obvious benefits - the system needs less memory and you don't get lost in hundreds of objects, but it has also many hidden benefits. 

The ability to apply additional effects on a package, plus easy transformation, with non-destructive sharpening and the ability to Clone Package and to create more details.

It can be used for much more than saving some space, and making editing easier !

Packages are a higher form of Groups, and provide you with the ability to create large projects, divide project into logical segments and then apply effects globally to a whole group of objects.

Working with Packages is very transparent to the user. 

You can easily create a Package from any group of objects, and even from a single one, with edit Package, update, and Unpack the Package, whenever you need. 

Because the Packages open in a separate document you can easily add, copy, or remove objects in-or-out of the package.

Create a Package

It is very easy to create a Package, just select all the objects that you want to be packaged and press the,

Create package button    or from the menu: Object - Package - Create Package

You also have the ability to freely transform a package, and can also add any of the effects to it. 

Adding bevel, shadow or lights, will apply to the whole package, but the objects inside will be never be touched, and they'll keep their own effects!

Above, we added some lights and a drop shadow to the whole Package.

Edit a Package

Another great feature in Real-Draw is the ability to edit objects inside a Package without the need to unpack it.

This is simply done. Just double-click on a package, or click the Edit Package Button.

The package will open in a separate view where you can edit all the packaged objects.

When you finish you just need to close the Package window. You may want to keep the Package window open and just update the Package on a main view. Simply hit the Save button and the package in the main document will be updated.

Package Document size

You don't have to worry about the document size of the package. When you edit the package it will always appear in a document large enough to encapsulate all of the objects.

You can freely add (or move) any object outside the Package document, and when you close the Package, all will be smartly updated the right way. You don't have to worry about moving, or resizing the result, or the package document.

Package Document Color

In most cases you don't have to worry about the background color of the package document either. However in some cases a very little fringe may appear due to the antialiasing. For example if you create a Package of black objects on a white Package background and then place this package on a black background in the main document, you'll probably see a very thin light fringe around the package objects.

It's easy to fix. When you're editing the Package, just set the background color (In the Project-Size and Color) to approximate the background on which the package will be placed, in main document. 

Note: It doesn't have to be a perfect match.

The multi-documented interface gives you a lot of freedom and you can open, and edit any number of packages you want at the same time. You can edit a package and the main document at the same time. You may even open the same package more than once, make different changes and then, whichever package you save, it will be updated in a main document. 

It's also easy to copy objects between packages, or between the main document and packages.

In our example, we added lights to each small element in the package and then closed the Package View, after answering yes to the Real-DRAW question about saving changes to the main document.

The lights applied to the whole package will be mixed with the lights applied on each element. 

The whole project can be found here.

Working with packages have other benefits. You can actually design the Package in a larger view than it will be used in in the main document. 

This enables you to create a lot of small details.

Tip: You can eventually treat the package as a bitmap that you can apply normal bitmap effects to, or paint on it. 

You should remember that these effects will be removed every time you update the Package from its data. 

While it's fine to paint on a Package, in the long run it would be better, if you opened the package, created a new paint object and painted whatever you needed there, and then closed the package. 

Same effect, but more flexibility!

Copy a Package

When you copy and paste a package, you also copy and paste the embedded objects. If you create three copies of the Package object, then you can edit each Package separately, and change the objects in each copy of the package differently.

Above, we resized the package and created 3 copies of it, simply by using Copy and Paste. 

We then opened each package and changed the colors of few objects.

Sometimes you won't need to keep all of the objects embedded in the copy. You may for example decide to copy an image 20 times, and it would be just a waste of space and memory, if each image included all of the objects embedded inside.

Create a Bitmap Object from package

We can do it in two ways:

• Copy the Package, and then, instead of the normal Paste, use Paste as Bitmap from the menu: Edit
• Select the package, and then from the menu: Bitmap - Create use New Bitmap from Selected Object(s)

The new Bitmap Object will look exactly the same as the package, and you can add effects to it as well, but you obviously can't  edit the objects inside.

Note: The Bitmap will be created in exactly the same way as the object looks on screen. If you have a drop shadow, bevel or lights applied on the object, then the bitmap will have it as well, and it will be non-removable. If you're planning to adjust these parameters, then it would be better to create a bitmap from the object, without any effects applied and then apply the effects to the newly created bitmap.

  Reload a Package

Nothing that you do to the Package from the outside (except deleting it), such as resizing, applying effects, rotating etc. will change the original data inside.

Some times it may happen that you want to reload a package from these original data. It is usually in these cases:

• You applied permanent bitmap effects to a package, such as Oil painting, and you don't want them any more, so instead of opening and closing the package you can just reload it.
• You resized the Package, and now you would like to have it the same size as the objects inside.

The first case is obvious - you can apply bitmap effects to package, such as "Aged Photo", or you can paint on the package. 

Reloading Package will remove these effects. See tip, in the "Edit a Package" section.

The second case. If you resize a package, then the data inside will remain at the original size. You may want to make the Package the same size as the original without unpacking.

To reload a Package: Select it in menu: View - and press the Reload Package button.   A window with options will appear:

It just depends on how the Packaged object should change its size

Reload and set the Package aspect ratio (default)
The aspect ratio of the Package in the main document will become the same as the aspect ratio of the objects inside the Package. This means that the Package will look same as when editing, except that it may be a different size, depending on how you resized it. 

This is in most cases best choice.

Reload, keep the current aspect ratio
The size and aspect ratio of the Package will remain the same as before using Reload. Because the Package inside has changed its size, in most cases the result will look shrunken or expanded in one direction, but the total size of the image will remain the same..

Reload and Resize to the original
The size and aspect ratio of the Package will be set to the same size as the data inside. If the Package was rotated, this will be reset as well.

In the example above we resized the package and shrank it in a horizontal direction, and then applied a bitmap effect (colorize from Tweak set).

Note: Keep the Current ratio. It has the same effect as simply opening and saving the package.

Texture Transformation
This will reset any texture transformation done with Texture Size and Rotation to the package.

Unpack Package

You can Unpack a package, anytime. 

The package object will be deleted and all the objects from inside will be returned to the main document at their original size.

Non-Destructive Sharpen

Package, as well as Bitmaps, has a special property - Interactive Sharpen, and you can access it from the bounding box.

Interactive Sharpen is a great way to sharpen a Package especially after downsizing it. It is a non-destructive effect and you can increase or decrease the sharpness, any time you want, and as many times you want. 

It is easy to use, just click on the second top handle of any bitmap or package, and move the slider up or down.

Clone Packages

Menu Object - Package - Create Clone

Another interesting feature of package is that it can be cloned. Create Clone will create a new object which will be a clone of the Source Package. Anytime you update the Source Package (by opening and closing) all the clones will be updated as well.
Clones and Sources are clearly marked when you select them.
If you double click on Clone, you will automatically go inside the Source package.

Clones have however some independency on the Source Package:

• They can be created in different sizes, rotated, or transformed
• They can have their own effects: Non-Destructive Sharpen level and Color Correction.

The Restrictions:

• Related Clones and Sources must be in the same logical document.
• Related Clones and Sources must all be in the same Package or outside Package, they can't be across different packages or package and main document.
• Clone Relations can't be copied with Copy/Paste, except when you copy a Clone to a document where the Source also exists.

If you break the restrictions, you will break the relationship between the source and the clone, but both objects will remain intact - the Source as a Package and the Clone as a normal Bitmap Object.

In the above example we created a package with 3 objects. Next we created a Clone object from the menu: Object-package-Create Clone. 

Then we resized the new object, copied it to the clipboard and pasted it 3 times back into document.

Now we can transform each Clone, as we want - Vertical/Horizontal Flip, Rotation, or even add more complex effects to them.

You can change the source by double clicking on either the source, or any of the clones, adding a new object or changing the color of another.

All 4 clones will update accordingly, preserving their own effects.

Note: You can actually have nested clones (Similar to nested Packages), and you can select all the objects, the source and the clones, and package them  creating one clone from that package.

Cloning is a very powerful tool in the right hands.

To explore more, please load the example, packclone.rdw

In the  example above we have one source and a few clones. Each of the clones has a different properties set, and sometimes a drop shadow, a bevel or a healthy glow.

Also, each clone has  set different Color Correction so each clone has a slightly different color shade. All of the clones are also horizontally flipped.

Then we opened the Source, by double-clicking on it, (actually double clicking on any clone will open the source anyway) and changed the color of the original sheep.

We then closed the open package, and all the clones were updated accordingly, preserving their own settings.

Compact Packages

Menu Object - Package - Compact package

This command was added for easier Internet distribution. It basically removes any pre-build Package data and sets a Package or Clone to a preview mode showing a light transparent cyan image. Then you can save the file. Compacting packages may reduce the size of the saved *.rdw file by more than a 50% per package.

The next time the compacted file is loaded, Real-DRAW will automatically rebuild the missing packages from the data and also any of the missing Clones from Packages. 

It reduces the file size, but the drawback is that it takes longer during loading, due to the rebuilding time. 

This is however only a one time process for any end user because once the file has done its rebuilding, it will be automatically updated.

Other things to know

There are few tips and rules for packages

• Packages are great if you use Multimedia Extension and then you can design a complex button, package it, and then add a Highlighted and Pushed frame. In each frame you can change the data inside the Package and the whole package will be exported as one button.
• You can have as many nested Packages as you want and can for example, select 2 Packages and create a new package from them. It will have the same logic - if you edit the master package, it will open a Package Window with your 2 nested packages, and double clicking on each will open another Package Window etc. You are not limited to how deep the recursion can be, and you can have packages inside packages inside packages.
• You can pack just a single object. For example you can apply one effect on the object, Package it and then apply another effect.
  
  
  
• Above, we created simple text with a bevel and applied a Bevel feature Halo to it. Then we Packaged it and applied a 3D Extrude and a Drop Shadow to the Package.
• You can't Package a single Package.
• You can't use the Lens effect across documents. That means, it is fine if the Lens effect works inside a package, but you won't get the Lens effect from an Object inside a package, on objects which are outside the package. Of course, you can apply a lens effect to the whole package and that's fine.
• You can use the Texture Size and Rotation tool on the Package and the clones as well. While the best way to rotate a Package is to use the  normal Rotation tool, and to resize the Package to a normal object by, resizing, you can also use the Texture Size and Rotation tool to adjust the Package appearance in more advance way. You can change the perspective for example, perform a crop or stretch it in various directions. And as with other effects, Clones can each have different Texture Size & Rotation settings. 
• To reset the rotation settings use either Reload Package or Texture Size & Rotation - Reset.
  
  

When resizing a package, remember that to obtain the best quality you need to resize down and not up from the original package size. 

The same goes if you change perspective.