Creating a Dial in CorelDraw

First we need to draw an Ellipse or a circle. We will use the circle as a guide for this lesson. Typically I would not use the circle but visually it helps people see what I am doing.

Hold down the ctrl key as you draw the ellipse as this will create a concentric circle

With the ctrl key held down we can draw a concentric circle

With the circle selected make sure that the lock button is unchecked (1). Enter in 2 inches for both the width (2) and height (3)

For this lesson I am going to be locating my circle at the 6 by 9 inch location. I have place the circle at x = 6 (1) and y = 9 (2)

We need to create our first gradation. We do this by selecting our Freehand tool (1) from the tool box.

With my freehand tool selected click at the top of the circle (1)

Now hold down the ctrl key (1)

With the ctrl key held down drag down

With the line that I have created make sure that it is selected. In the line height make it .5 inches tall (1).

I want my line to be at the top of the circle so I have activated my transformation docker (Alt F7). With the positioning tab open Uncheck Relative Position (1). Make your origin point the top center handle. My H position needs to be 6 (3) and my Vertical position needs to be 10 (4).

After I click on Ok in the Transform Docker my line will be at the 6 inch mark on the Horizontal and 10 on the Vertical.

If I drag out my guidelines I am at 6 inches on the Horizontal (1) and 10 inches on the Vertical (2)

Select the rotation tab from the Docker (1)

First we need to establish the center of our rotation. In this can it is 6 and 9 (1).

This screen shot is for X5. With the Line select (1) Make your center position 6 (2) and 9 (3). Our angle is going to be 30 degrees (4) as I want to make the next line at 30 degrees from the previous. Click the Apply button (5). Now for X5 I can actually place in the number of copies that I want to create. I will leave it at 1 so that we can do one at a time. In previous versions we would have clicked on “Apply to Duplicate”.

You can see that i have created a second line that is 30 degrees away from the original.

I have continued to click the “Apply” button or “Apply to Duplicate” to fill up my circle.

For this example I want to create smaller lines or gradations at 15 degree increments. To do this means that I first have to create my first line. I am going to start at the same o mark as I did previously. So select the original line that we created. Next press the + key that is located on your keyboard in the num pad (1). This creates a duplicate on top of the original

I am going to make my gradation .25 inches for the 15 degree lines. In the Transform Docker select the Size tab (1). In my Vertical input window place in .25 inches as this is half of the .5 original.

It is hard to see the line but it is .25 inches long. Select the Rotation Tab from the Transformation Docker (1)

With the .25 inch line still selected make its center 6 (1) and 9 (2). The rotation angle is to be 15 degrees. Click Apply or Apply to Duplicate.Note: One of the problems is that if you un select the .25 inch line you can not select it. If you press the TAB button on the keyboard it will tab through all your objects on your desktop. Once you have the line selected you can stop tabbing. In this example I made my line green so you can see it.

Now we want to go in between the 30 degree marks so make you angle 30 (1) and click Apply until you fill up the circle.

With the circle filled up the dial is now ready.