How to do this in Xara?

[Peter P.]

Thanks Oscar, that really solved my problem. Now I have have a solution for not having more than one light source in Xara X (maybe there is another solution too, but nobody tells me) and I get to see the 3D effect that I wanted to achieve.

It's sad enough though, that you as maker of Real-Draw had to explain me in the Xara X forum how to get the job done...

[Ross Macintosh]

Peter P - In the time it's taken me to compose this message there have been four other posts [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] I must learn to type! I'm sorry if you haven't had a pleasant welcome to this forum. To try and answer your original question - The part of the illustration you highlight could be created in Xara X. Although I'm not inclined to try it myself right now I'd estimate there'd be five to ten minutes work to do so in Xara. If I had to draw it, I would most likely do so by creating one shape which I'd then clone repeatedly - each clone with a differently positioned elliptical transparency applied to it. I can imagine that other xarans might prefer to approach the task using xara's blend tool. You've probably seen some of the photorealism work done in xara. If so you know xara can be used to create very complex tonal images.

Oscar's camera is a beautiful illustration. (My office has the same camera - and it is a beautiful camera). I think what has bothered others in this thread is that if *you* are capable of producing such a high quality image in Real Draw, why would you bother with xara? Although a similarly high quality illustration can be created in Xara by a skilled user, such a project seems far too ambitious for any xara novice. I suspect that a Xara version could, in the hands of a xara expert, be made more photorealistic than Oscar's Real Draw original. (Oscar might even agree with that statement). I'm sure Oscar created his illustration to demonstrate the capabilities of Real Draw in the hands of an expert. It is a great demonstration! I doubt however that the average Real Draw user could create that image, any more than the average Xara user could. This, of course, is not to say *you* can't do it. Perhaps you can. I do hope you can understand why the earlier posters above had trouble with this thread. They are not bad people. They are not Xara fanatics either.

I hope you'll give us all a second chance, and continue to participate in this forum. In due course I hope you'll post your xara version of Oscar's camera. I'm sure we'd all like to see it - and don't worry, people won't jump all over you with criticism. Really - the focus here *is* on helping one another learn to use xara better.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[pduggan]

So what's all this about second chances, Ross? Of course we're not 'bad people', but IMHO the trouble started with that 'sore wound' stuff. If Peter P's prepared to take that back, perhaps we'll give him a second chance!



Peter</p>



Peat Stack or Pete's Tack?</p>

[jclements]

Peter,

I gave it a try. As a hacker, my efficiency in using Xara to render a shape like what you requested is NOT MY strength. I had to overlay 6 shapes to make this. The next posting is the actual Xara file if you want to see what I did.

I would be interested if it could be one "easier" with less grunt work.

[This message was edited by John Clements on July 25, 2001 at 19:23.]

[jclements]

This is for ANYONE to try and set me straight on how better to do this. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I probably spent 25 minutes fiddling with the transparencies, feathering, and bevels.

Peter - By-the-way, I tried to render a long pipe (see my previous postings in this forum) in RealDraw and could not do it, whereas it was extremely easy to do in Xara.

[dk_art]

If I attempted this , I'd definately be using the method Ross said (not blends). Doing it this way , you can get some really neat layers. So just have the one object ... clone and give a fill you want (like a darker for a shaded area) and give an elliptical transparence. Clone this object (it will be exactly on top of the previous objects) and adjust the fill and move and adjust the elliptical transparency as needed. Very simple and quite quick as you just clone the same shape and adjust its fill and elliptical transparency to show what you want.

Regarding another matter, I personally think if one believes a new board visitor to be actually a different person than they say, one should keep that opinion to oneself. It's just not really fair to assume that and post it for all to see.

A couple people have attempted this but it's often difficult to simulate what has been done in one program using another. In fact it's often difficult to make the same object using the same program if you don't know how they did it.


David K
www.dkingdesign.com

[Erik Heyninck]

You are Oscar, or at least you know him very well. It cannot be coincidence that someone who's been away from the forum for so long suddenly appears like a ghost out of a bottle when you need him, and just a few minutes later, exactly the time for writing a letter, but not enough to have read yours.

Hercule Poirot was Belgian too.

Thanks for wasting our time, and goodbye forever.

If you don't work against time, time often works for you.

[dk_art]

Oh my goodness [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] ... Eric has 666 posts .... he must be someone else too ....... sorry just kidding with ya

http://www.dkingdesign.com/stuff/xarax/devil.gif

David K

[pduggan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>At 14:04 I leave a post saying "disappointed". Only there I start talking about sore wounds. People already attacked me before I posted that message, so next time before you open your mouth, please try to read more carefully (a problem that most of the Xara users seem to have).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Piss off, Peter P! You're now on my blocked senders list! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]



Peter</p>



Peat Stack or Pete's Tack?</p>

[roman]

As I said before. If you are creative and work and create a lot of desingns sooner or later you will realise that you use less and less fancy things and stick to the basic tools. Ask matte graphician, game graphician or real painters.. the technique is not about software it's in your brain and hands.. your ability to imagine the things and put them on... whtever material.

Roman