Glass BeadCreating virtually any kind of glass-like effect is by far a favorite of most Web graphic or interface designers. Theres nothing more satisfying than having the ability to create simulated lighting effects in a virtual, dust-free environment. Thanks to CorelDRAWs interactive effects, many of the objects you need to achieve these effects can be created automatically.To be successful with the effect, you can use any recent version of CorelDRAW as far back as version 9. Although the interface and command names may have changed since then, the basic steps are the same. To create the effect, follow these steps: Create a 2.0-inch circular ellipse using the Ellipse Tool (F7). Hold Ctrl to constrain the width and height to equal measures. Fill the circle with a dark Orange color using the CMYK color model: C:30, M:100, Y:100, K:0. Remove any outline colors (as shown next). Using the Interactive Contour Tool, apply a 7-step Inside contour with the Offset value set to 0.01 inches. Set the contour fill color to Orange using the CMYK color model: C:0, M:60, Y:100, K:0 (as shown next). Right-click the effect portion of the contour and choose Break Contour Group Apart (Ctrl+K) to separate the contour effect. Using the Pick Tool, click to select the resulting group of objects and Ungroup them (Ctrl+U). Click to select only the ungrouped innermost contour and press the + key on your numeric keypad to create copy in situ. With the copy still selected, press Ctrl+C to copy it to your clipboard for a later step. Scale the copy to 0.25 inches wide by 0.75 inches high and position as shown. Adjust the scaled copy fill color to a lighter orange using the CMYK color model: C:5, M:25, Y:65, K:0 (as shown next). Be sure the scaled copy is centered vertically and horizontally with the other objects. To do this quickly, select all the objects (Ctrl+A) and press C and E. Choose the Interactive Blend Tool and click-drag from the new lighter ellipse to the original innermost ungrouped contour ellipse to apply a default blend effect between the objects. Set the Blend Steps value to 30 steps and press Enter. This blend effect will serve as the backlight effect (as shown next). Paste (Ctrl+V) the ellipse you copied in an earlier step into the arrangement and set its fill color to white. Using the Pick Tool, scale the white ellipse to 1.5 inches wide by 1.0 inch high, and position it near the top and centered (as shown next). Choose the Interactive Transparency Tool, click the white ellipse, and click-drag from the top edge to the bottom edge to apply a default linear transparency effect (as shown next). This will serve to simulate overhead lighting on the shiny surface of the glass. To add interest, I applied a symbol of a happy face (shown next). I started with a group of three objects filled with white and copied this group to the clipboard (Ctrl+C). I Grouped (Ctrl+G) the happy face objects together with a rectangle filled with brown using the CMYK model: C:25, M:65, Y:65, K:30 and removed any outline colors from the objects (as shown next). I pasted (Ctrl+V) a copy from the clipboard into the arrangement and used a PowerClip effect to place the rectangle group inside the new copy. I edited the Powerclip effect by offsetting the rectangle group slightly downwards and to the right using the nudge keys (as shown next). After editing, the final Powerclip simulates a recessed effect with a slight shadow to match the darkest color in the glass bead effect (as shown next). Finally, I positioned the final happy face Powerclip effect in front of the bead arrangement and brought the transparent ellipse to the front (Shift+PageUp) for the final effect