Re: CorelDRAW /WordArt conversion
My question is: Is there any way to convert CorelDRAW or WordART files to
Visio files? (I tried opening in Visio, and that doesn't work - I get one
massive graphic that seems to include the background, too.)
Secondary question: is there any way to convert GIF files to an editable
format?
Jane,
Forgive me if this brief review is covering material you already know.
Graphics come in two basic flavors--vector and raster. In vector art you are dealing with objects--lines, shapes, characters--that can be manipuated individually. In raster images you are dealing with a regular array of dots (pixels) that carry no information aside from their color.
GIFs are raster images. There are utility programs (one ships with CorelDRAW) that algorithmically attempt to divine edges in raster images and convert them to draft vector art, but this generally requires a lot of manual cleanup). It is easier to start with vector art and maintain it in that format, then export GIFs when needed. (This is an answer to your second question, maybe not the answer you want.)
Vector programs (CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, and I assume Visio) can accept a raster image as a single uneditable object to incorporate along with other vector objects). Adding further confusion, Adobe Photoshop now has fairly extensive vector object manipulation capabilities, even though its ultimate purpose is to output raster images. And native MS Office art (PowerPoint, Word Art, etc.) are metafiles (WMF, EMF) that can include both vector and raster components.
Screen shots are, of course, raster images. So your workflow has to accommodate them. (GIF is a suitable format for most purposes, and a GIF can be converted to a TIFF, if necessary, without loss.) But it sounds as if you also need to accommodate vector objects so that you can draw flow charts, add callouts to screen shots, etc.
It sounds, from all this, as if your best bet is to use EMF as your source file format. (I don't have Visio at home, so I can't check easily whether Visio can open an EMF. But it is now at least somewhat integrated with Office, so I think it probably can.)
HTH,
Dick
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References:
CorelDRAW /WordArt conversion: From: Jane Carnall
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