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Hello i am a veteran xara user and it is my favourite program.
I am a bit ticked off though because i only upgraded from v2 to x because of the swf exporter.
Trouble is it exports anything fancy as bitmaps, which is pretty jug really. If you try doing a bevel or a frop shadow it converts the bevel into a bitmap. I know flash is capable of displaying these things using shading and vectors.
Go on Xara team sort out the exporter (if you read this that is, otherwise this has been a waste of time)
Joe
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Hello i am a veteran xara user and it is my favourite program.
I am a bit ticked off though because i only upgraded from v2 to x because of the swf exporter.
Trouble is it exports anything fancy as bitmaps, which is pretty jug really. If you try doing a bevel or a frop shadow it converts the bevel into a bitmap. I know flash is capable of displaying these things using shading and vectors.
Go on Xara team sort out the exporter (if you read this that is, otherwise this has been a waste of time)
Joe
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it's because i am a bit inbred you know
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I dunno Joe, I understoof yuor mesage :-)
Xara ultimately creates bitmaps for shadows and bevels. I know this is a pain in applications like Flash, but the alternatives are not that good. CorelDRAW has a vector bevel and extrusion tool but the resulting bevels and extrusions are made from hundreds of facets which never look smooth to me.
You can use third party vector effects with Illustrator with the same facetted appearance.
FreeHand creates a vector shadow using a blend, which we have been able to do in Xara since day one. DRAW's shadow is a bitmap as well.
Of the three I prefer Xara's bevel and shadow tool.
The trick to working with Flash is to design to Flash's limitations. If you do this then there is nothing wrong with Xara's SWF export capabilities.
If you find an application that is better than Xara, please let us know :-)
Gary
Gary Priester
Moderator Person
Be It Early So Humble...
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Don't use bitmap creating tools such as Bevel and Shadow and simulate these efects using simple transparencies and blends. Also use simple fills.
Roman
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Hi joe,
I agree with you to the extent that, in a perfect world, Flash can import 100% stuff created in Xara X. But, as Gary had mentioned, and as great as Flash is, there are shortcomings in Flash's vector import. I also agree with Roman as well in terms of creating vector versions of bevel and drop shadow effects. This is why I've posted.
For vector shadows in Flash, make a duplicate of the "base" shape you want to raise, and send it behind the object and offset it slightly. Select it and go to Modify/Curves/Soften edges. You can inset or outset the shape and it works with alpha as shown here. It's convincing enough from afar, but up close, it is quite apparent.
I'd also like to mention a cool site called Vectorkid.com. The link was posted here on the boards awhile back. He has tutorials on drawing in flash with Flash's tools. I've found it handy and useful for drawing practice inside flash. Just a suggestion ...
Wayne
