importing files into XaraX.....

[RAMWolff44]

Hi,

I am back at it, finally, to finish the Moms Angel project (she wrote me and told me I was not on her "s*it list". For me just to finish it the right way, not rushed, made me feel good that she is so patient!!)

So here is the question. I have Corel Draw/PhotoPaint9, if Mike Bailey is around then he may be able to help here.

I was looking for another way to import a transparent type of file from PhotoPaint or from PhotoPaint into Draw then saved as a compatible file format that would import, then, into XaraX.

I need it as an object not a transparent .gif so I can continue to work on it. The file exports/imports just fine as a transparent .gif, but if I want to continue to add things to the shape then I really need it as an object not an image file. I hope that's not too confusing for anyone?? I was looking to use maybe the .ai format but for some reason I get an error message when XaraX is attempting to open the file. So I am either doing something wrong in my exporting it or the Adobe version is not recognized by XaraX!!! The versions that Draw exports as an .ai format are from .88 to 7.0. I also tried the PSD and it imports but it's like a transparent .gif. Has the invisible box around it.

Anyone know of a way to get a file into XaraX as an object instead of an image type file (.gif or .png......ect....)???

I would be much obliged for any help!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Thanks so much!!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Richard [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

http://www.imira.com/Album/photo.asp...0810&ImgType=0

[molucca]

Some applications call mages and objects the same thing. I tend to think of objects as vector based.
GIFs are bitmaps. Sounds like everything your doing is bitmap based. If you need it as a vector based file, you could auto trace in Xara X, or in Corel. Depends on your preference. You can do a clipview of the image, and have the background cut away. Manually tracing to create objects would work. I usually plan my images for tracing. Eliminating the background makes the trace easier and sometimes more accurate. The trace doesn't have to deal with the background. I usulally add a border to force the trace color to the first layer. This helps removing the background and gets the colors you want. Xara X doesn't like Streamline AI files, but it does load them. These would be vector base AIs. Rich

[Peter Clifton]

Richard

A masked TIFF file with a single named alpha channel will import into Xara as an apparent object.

In Photo-Paint, try it out on a bitmap image as follows.

Load up a bitmap and give it a simple mask. With the mask still active save as a TIFF file (RGB 24 Bit), no need to create an object.

Import the TIFF file into Xara, any area outside the mask will be, well, masked ;-)

Peter

The style challenged Pete'sCrypt

[RAMWolff44]

Rich, I tried the bitmap tracer and the image is too large for it, crashed the program 2 times!!

Peter, tried exporting as a tiff with a background still selected and XaraX, on my system, won't even recognize the file as anything the filters will even try to open. The file is almost 10 MB so maybe that's got something to do with it!!!

So, I did it all by hand, imported as a Bitmap and hand cut away all the border stuff and I am quite happy with the results, just didn't want to spend that kind of time, but I guess for larger files you have to do things slowly to make sure there is no crashing involved. The bitmap file was also 10 MB, so there is something wonky between PP9 and XaraX, that's my guess!!!

Thanks for the help [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Richard [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

http://www.imira.com/Album/photo.asp...0810&ImgType=0

[molucca]

This has become one of my favorite tools to cut away the background. I am not sure if this is what you meant since there could be other ways of doing things. I draw around an image and get an object, and then color the object red and set some transparency. Then I can edit the nodes if there off. I find this easier than trying to clean a trace. Once the object matches the image I move it back and perform a clip view. The result is much easier to move about than a massive vector tracing.

You can adjust the accuracy of the trace and change some settings to reduce the nomber of vectors. I usually paint out unwanted areas first juust to reduce the initial trace. If not the trace can be unmanagable. My files are normally about 8 MB. It depends on the image content. You can reduce the number of colors. This can help significantly.

Some of my drawings were around 100,000 vectors, and just impossible. I finally manually drew the images, and reduced the number by a factor of ten.
Still difficult. So, the drawings were converted to bitmaps, and I used a clip view. Maybe 50 bectors and a bitmap. Eliminated the background, and had the image I wanted. Ric

[RAMWolff44]

is similar to yours, then make a bitmap copy of the "vectorized" image, then take the two images an add a clipview of to them both, then add in more vectors to keep the file lighter??

I did something like that using the manual trace/remove areas technique using the freehand tool, but didn't use clipview. Then I went in and, like you do, take the nodes inwards and "paint out" any remaining areas that are undesireable. It took me about an hour to do that, not too bad but I just wish that XaraX would incorporate a tool similar to the "magic wand" tool for use in the bitmap tools that it provides for us within the XaraX program, I doubt it would make it "bloat ware". It would make the whole process easier!!!

Thanks for the time to explain your technique to me, I am still getting used to the clipview tool, not sure I like all those little icons popping up telling me, when I click on the "clipped" image, that two images are locked together. Kinda strange. Just a silly thing with me I guess. I know what I do and yet there is this reminder always present, kinda gets in the way. Any way to turn those off that you know of???

Thanks

Richard [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

http://www.imira.com/Album/photo.asp...0810&ImgType=0

[molucca]

I only made a bitmap copy after developing an extensive vector image. I could only handle one copy at a time. Once it was a bitmap, I could handle several. For a bitmap itself, I use the shape editor tool. Much better than the other tool. Curve and straight lines. And, you can edit the shape. No sense in tracing. Just draw an object for creating a clipping mask. Since the object can have transparenct, you can see how to edit the shape. Just move it behind and apply the clip view. Group afterwards. I think this prevents those things from showing. It also keeps things together. I prefer this to filling an object with an image. I had significant difficulty aligning the image to the object. Mostly because you cannot see what is happening. Ric

[Mike Bailey]

Hi Richard, Not real sure but are you trying to import a bitmap into Xara and eliminate the background?

What I usually do if I am feeling lazy and don't want to draw, I will import the bitmap onto layer 1. Then I will add a new layer, Use the Xara bitmap tracer, add the trace results to the new layer. the bitmap trace usually has a pretty good outline of the object somewhere in there, I look for it and delete the rest of the garbage. then I use the outline to cut the background with the combine shapes subtract command.

Hope that helps.

[This message was edited by Mike Bailey on July 02, 2002 at 08:32.]

[gwpriester]

this might work for you.

If you can select just the background of your image, create a duplicate of the original.

Make the background white. Reverse the mask and make your image solid black.

Bring both images in to Xara.

Place the original image over your background.

Open the Bitmap Gallery. Select the black and white image and press Transp.

That ought to do it.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


XaraXone

[Peter Clifton]

Richard

I've put an example TIFF file (~350K) on my web site, if you load it into photopaint and activate the channel docker you will see the alpha channel (mask) required to make it have no background in Xara.

http://www.clifton89.freeserve.co.uk/cng/december.tif

PNG also works but the file size is larger. (note: Corel Photo-Paint cannot save PNG with a named Alpha channel, it has to be in the active mask channel when exported)

HTH

Peter

P.S. the example is my finished result from Gary's December tutorial.

The style challenged Pete'sCrypt