Intersect and Destroy?

I was asked to design the programme cover for a local football team the other day, and ended up with the the attached file (exported at low resolution for download considerations.)

As you can see, the cover contains "plaque" shots of players. These are produced by importing the JPG from a digital camera, then intersecting an oval shape, applying a bevel and the rest is easy.

My question concerns the "non destructive" nature of using the intersect tool to produce a fill. Each of the digital camera images was around 2.5 MB when imported and I imported 6 of them, so the .xar file saved as a 14 MB file (or thereabouts.)

To reduce the file size and maintain quality, I created a 300 dpi bitmap copy of each "plaque", which then reduced the file size down to around 6 MB.

So the question is: Is there a way to lose the excess data in the digital camera images, once you have taken out what you want? In other words, to make it destructive intersection ... if you see what I mean.

Very well done and I like the inset like frame look on the pictures. :)

I think you have answered you own question. :)

Xara generally retains the full bitmap image in the file, even if you only use a fraction of the image. So creating a new bitmap from the plaque or other use of the image is how to reduce the file size.

However, keeping the image with the file is often helpful even if it results in a larger file size. For example, if you decide you don't like how the image is cropped, if you have created a bitmap copy, you are out of luck. But with the original image in the file you can easily modify the cropping with the Fill Tool fill path arrows.

Gary

Thanks Gary ... I didn't think it was possible, but you never know until you ask :)