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Hi again!
Ok Luciano, i'd like you to try this please and see what happens with you. I now have version 1aa, and i can still produce the same effect as shown before. But, now i know how to fix it. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
I think i've figured out why my textures and bevels got messed up upon export before - and i don't suspect it's to do with what version i used. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
1) Create a shape, then apply a bevel effect to it. Any type.
2) Now fill the bevel with an imported texture of some kind.
3) And now, while the bevel is still selected, click the FILL icon and grab the sizing handles of the texture fill and resize the texture either up or down; either way, won't matter.
NOTE: now take a peak at the dpi of that texture. It will have changed since you have resized it. Leave it at the dpi setting it's at.
4) Now Export the image. You should now be getting the same results i was earlier. You bevel effect will be messed up something awful. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
I discovered that by resizing a BMP texture fill AFTER i've used/applied it, it causes some kind of problem with the bevel filter. So i'm now thinking it's either not the bevel filter to blame, or only partially it's to blame, for my previous messed up results upon Exporting.
Note: My original textures when imported were 1600x1200 pixels in size. So, i had to scale them down after i applied them as a fill.
I'm now also thinking that XaraX is having some kind of problem with refiguring an image's/photo's DPI when it is scaled in any way within the program. I love how clean Xara keeps an imported image when you scale it, that's great. But somewhere along the line it's also messing with the bevel functionality.
Your textures MUST be set to their original DPI to avoid this whole problem. But mine got changed because of the excessive original size, when i scaled them down to suit my immediate purpose.
At least, that's my simple laymen's thinking. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
Here's my solution:
1) Open the Bitmap Gallery and drag your texture to your canvas.
2) Resize it to a workable size; according to how large you need or want it to be to fill your shape(s).
3) Create a "Bitmap Copy" of the image; without the Alpha.
4) Once this is done, you delete the texture from the canvas, and now can apply it as a fill, at the appropriate size for your desired shapes/objects.
Exporting now will show no corruption of the bevel effects.
Mark G... i hope you see this. I think it could be important.
Talk soon,
Mark (aka theKeeper)...
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I repeated your steps, and yes you are right.
Both your instructions how to generate the error and the solution are right.
I enclose a screen capture which shows the original image(1), a bitmap copy(2) with a small offset error and the exported jpeg(3).
Anyway, at present your solution never failed in all the test I did.
ciao
Luciano
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Since I usually export at 300 dpi, I tested the same file at that resolution and the output was correct.
I exported again the bevelled object and set back the resolution to 96 dpi.
To my surprise the export remained correct.
I think that programmers can solve these " unwanted features" quite easily, since it might depend on a single variable which is not updated correctly.
I am sure that after all of these tests, XaraX is becoming not only the best, but also the most reliable of all drawing packages.
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Good to hear there Luciano. Glad it's NOT just me! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
I agree about the testing of this app and it's steadfast development to becoming a very heavy-weight program in the graphics arena.
I can't wait until it's completely working! hehee
NOW... if Xara could only fix my OTHER 2 irritations!?
1) Upon opening the program, Xara is STILL adding a new white swatch to the left of my colour bar. And that's even if i create a new template from a blank document within XaraX.
2) The program, unlike Xara2, is simply not remembering the last place on my screen that i left my layers palette opened at. I always move it to the right middle beside the scroll bar. But Xara always opens with it being placed somewhere near the top left of my screen.
This one "bugs" my a lot! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
Thanks again for the help Luciano.
Mark...
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This is indeed a problem.
When we EXPORT or CREATE bitmaps, and the objects that are being converted into a bitmap, have bitmap textures, we use a sophisticated algorithm to render any scaled bitmaps to ensure maximum fidelity of the output bitmap image.
This is not used for screen rendering because it is processor intensive.
Bevels use bitmaps as a transparency type and when these are scaled the algorithm has a problem.
The upshot is that your problem will go away if you tick the "Never Smooth Bitmaps" option in the options view dialogue.
A proper fix to this problem will be supplied as a download patch, or some such.
Mark Goodall
Xara Ltd
[This message was edited by Mark Goodall on January 22, 2001 at 05:15 AM.]
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Mark wrote: "The upshot is that your problem will go away if you tick the "Never Smooth Bitmaps" option in the options view dialogue."
The "Never Smooth Bitmaps" function is WAY too important to hide it away in the Options. A regular UI button/shortcut for this function should be added.
K