Clipart

[ashwinjain]

These guys who make these clipart collections. Which software do they use to make their vector cliparts? Which formats do they generally use for vector art?

I am having trouble outputting my xar files in 32bit cmx format. The fills, shadows etc don't get exported properly. Is their any other format I should be using for sharing clipart?

Q

[ashwinjain]

These guys who make these clipart collections. Which software do they use to make their vector cliparts? Which formats do they generally use for vector art?

I am having trouble outputting my xar files in 32bit cmx format. The fills, shadows etc don't get exported properly. Is their any other format I should be using for sharing clipart?

Q

[gwpriester]

Quaker

Are you referring to sharing clip art created by someone other than yourself with someone else?

If this is the case then you may be violating the copyrights of the creator of the clip art.

If you are talking about images you have created, then you might try Xara's EPS or if a bitmap is OK, TIFF file format.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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


XaraXone

[ashwinjain]

Ho Gary,
By sharing I actually meant that I would create the clipart images in Xara and share them with others "for a fee" ... errr

:-)
My clipart collection ought to be properly importable in most design applications like draw, freehand, illustrator etc.

Is there some site that will give me info on making my own clipart collection gary?

Q

[noticies]

Quaker,

For vector art-->
Adobe Illustrator format (AI) seems to be one of the most widely used formats. You could preferably save it in a version you can open/import it in almost any paint or vector application (for example, version 5 is very safe.)

The EPS format is almost equivalent to AI and also universally accepted.

Keep in mind, though, that some special effects in a given program can't make it to this (rather limited) vector format.

Other popular option is WMF (windows metafile).

If your clipart is b/w, you could also consider putting the pictures inside a dingbat or symbol font. You can use specialized software or use corel draw (from version 3 onwards.)


For bitmap images-->
It depends on the type of graphic, but for simple clipart GIF, PNG or TIFF could be good.

Hope this helps a little.

-------------------------
Joan M. Mas
TypePhases: Dingbats and Fonts for yer computor!
http://inicia.es/de/jmas
-------------------------

[Ross Macintosh]

You could keep it simple and stick with Xara's own vector formats. That way your clipart could take advantage of all Xara's hybrid effects like bevels, blends, shadows, brushes and its fantastic transparency effects. The users of your clipart would of course have to have Xara or download the trial version. If you would be distributing your clipart over the internet, then join the XaraClub and make some referal income by providing a link to the Xara X download. Xara Ltd.'s affiliate program is very generous. You could help make others aware of Xara.

Clipart could likely be saved in Xara's .web format. It is good for such things because you can minimize file sizes by choosing to leave out of the file various optional info. (Try the .web export and see what I mean).

I've given a fair amount of thought to Xara clipart and have some in the works for my own site (although I haven't spent much time at it lately). I think the xara clipart with a trial download of Xara X makes sense. (Most people who already have Freehand and Illustrator aren't the people who rely on clipart). Those who are looking for clipart probably don't know the difference between a bitmap and a vector image. A xara clipart collection has the potential to educate them on the advantages of vector clipart - and the advantages of Xara X.

Regards, Ross

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

[Clements]

Quacker, the 32 bit CMX export filter has always been limited in what it can export. Special effects (drops shadows, elliptical transparencies, etc.) are just that, special. CMX is a format issued by Corel for people to exchange files and it was made to protect their native format from being reversed engineered so they have not enabled CMX to do even some of their special effects (that is leave them as "live" but rather convert them to "dead" bitmaps, if at all). Also, things like elliptical transparencies or fills for vector objects are unique properties for XARA ... CorelDRAW does not even know what the word "Elliptical" means for vector objects.

[ashwinjain]

I guess it is very unfortunate that all xara options are not entirely importable in other vector programs.

Maybe xara ought to make an exclusive viewer which can allow users to print from it like flash player and I am not just talking about a web plugin.

However *.ai or *.eps and tif file formats sound good. I guess I should try these out.

Thanks a lot guys.
:-)
Q

[gwpriester]

that many of Xara's features, such as gradient transparency and bevels, are not supported by other applications. So when you try to open a file containing some of these functions, some applications do not know what to do with the infomation.

The best thing to do is to give thought to who will be viewing your clip art images and then to "dumb down" your image to that level.

Also, converting things like shadows and bevels to editable shapes before you export may help too as this will reduce these things to simple bitmap shapes.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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


XaraXone

[ashwinjain]

Ahh, you just reminded me about web-safe colors and designing for 640X480 screens and also briefly text=only sites !

But I guess that's a neat trick you gave me Gary

Q