Make the text visible only by its shadow. This is a very simple trick that involves adding a drop shadow on a No Fill web-to-print text frame. Here’s what you need to know to achieve this effect in our web-to-print software.

Before you start

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• Import the image that you will use as the background in your CorelDRAW template file.
• Input the dummy text, set its horizontal alignment and turn it into a variable web-to-print field called Text.

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In a nutshell, we’ll place a copy of the background image inside the text frame as a PowerClip, assign a No Fill to the dummy text PowerClip container and drop a shadow from it.

PowerClip

The reason that we need to PowerClip a background copy inside the text frame instead of just assigning a No Fill to the dummy text is the drop shadow. To drop a shadow from an object there has to be something that drops the shadow. Since empty transparent objects don’t drop shadows, we’ll make the object a transparent PowerClip container.

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Duplicate the background image and place the copy inside the dummy text frame as a PowerClip (Effects/PowerClip/Place Inside Container).

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Since we are going for a see-thru effect, both copies of the background image must be perfectly aligned on top of each other. To achieve this you can either:

• Center them both on the page (Select a copy and press P on the keyboard) or
• Assign the same position coordinates (Top left corner of the top settings bar) to them both

After you’ve placed the image inside the dummy text, select the text frame and assign a No Fill to it.

Drop Shadow

Select the dummy text PowerClip container and activate the CorelDRAW Drop Shadow tool from the toolbox menu on the left.

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Select the Small glow preset from the presets drop-down list.

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You can add any kind of shadow depending on the design preferences. Here are the drop shadow settings that we used in this example.

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The result should be similar to this.

All done!

Our web-to-print software can handle this effect easily! Upload the template into your catalog and test it.

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Try this web-to-print template.

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Download the FREE CorelDRAW template file.

Useful links

• See-through text Paint Shop Pro tutorial at brovik.com
• Add Transparent Type To An Image in Photoshop from photoshopessentials.com
• Transparent Text in Fireworks Tutorial at voidix.com
• Glossy Glass Text with Photoshop at showandtell-graphics.com
• Glass text Photoshop tutorial at photoshopcafe.com