Xchanges : Expression 3 to Xara X

[ivan louette]

One of the multiple qualities of Xara X - and that's why I use it so much - is its ability to manage and integrate elements coming from so many different applications. Sometimes these elements need some kind of conversion or some manipulation after importing them inside Xara X, but these manipulations can add new and very rich effects.

On the other hand, I have tested all the vector applications on the market, and the only one which has given me true fun is Expression. I have bought its first version while it wasn't allready available in Europe (a member of my family has sent me the boxed product from the USA). At this time I had allready Xara and despite all its qualities, I have allways considered it as a complementary tool, but what a nice tool it has become now! I was very frustrated by the version 2 which had the ability to create famous bitmap brushes but was unable to

export them with a correct alpha channel. Before importing the bitmap results into Xara X, you had to invert the alpha in a bitmap program like Photoshop, or import a PSD bitmap into Fireworks and convert the image into PNG. These steps are now suppressed and you can export splendid PNG files with alphas immediately useable in Xara X. You can also import PNG with alphas created in Xara X and convert them to bitmap brushes ; and there are even different manners to create these bitmap brushes!

Nevertheless, I will tell you here about another funny thing : you can export these bitmap brushes as vector ones and re-import them into Xara X as vector objects. No absurdity there ; the power of Xara X can add extremely interesting effects and uses to these objects !

Now, this is allways an avantage to work with a pair of programs which can be very complementary. And don't forget that the full versions of Xara X + Expression (which are approximatively at the same price) cost less than the full version of Illustrator 10 alone (and only a little bit more than Illustrator's competitive upgrade version).

kindly,
ivan

Below : image made in Xara X from objects made of bitmap brushes in Expression 3 and exported to .png files. A shadow is added to each one in xara X.

[ivan louette]

1. In Expression 3, Open the "File/Preferences" panel and select "Print, save and export" in the above slider ;

2. select 16 levels in the vectorise bitmap brushes slider and close the panel ;

3. in the new document, use one of the bitmap brushes in the "Water" or the "Dry" folders and draw a line with it ;

4. export your document to "Illustrator" and chose the Illustrator "5" format ; this choice is very important because Illustrator 5 had no brushes and thus Expression will compensate that and convert its own brush graphics to simple vector graphics (otherwise it will export your drawings as Illustrator brushes which cannot be open in Xara X) ;

5. import your document into Xara X, checking the generic Illustrator option (not the Illustrator 7 and 8 ones) ; you will see a very pale object with an uniform color. That's because at this stage the transparency is lost, but we will see it is very easy to get back ;

Now you have two different options :

6a. apply a stained glass transparency to your object ; instantly it will have a vivid color. Despite that, if you open the "Color editor" (and ungroup your object), you will see that the used color is very pale ; the different levels are due to the overlaying of a lot of transparent shapes. If you move the pointer in the color editor you see that the changes are very sensitive. But don't forget that stained glass transparency is the true transparency and don't show the same result as the transparency in ZBrush which is closer to Xara X "Mix" transparency (in the real world, this "Mix" transparency should be called "translucency"). You can allready use your objects but remember that all objects behind will remain visible ;

6b. keep your initial object selected and chose a color ; then apply a 85 to 95 % mix transparency. The more colored parts of your object will also have the strongest level of opacity.

[ivan louette]

... nothing could be compared to Xara X transparency effects ...!

One objects creating like above was used for this drawing. Two versions of the object were overlaid :

- one with a white fill and a 65 % mix transparency which adds the semi-opacity (a shadow was also applied to this object) ;

- a second one in front of the first one with a stained glass transparency applied and no shadow.

kindly,
ivan

[Klaus Nordby]

Ivan, you keep trying interesting things! :-)

Yes, Xpression and Xara - a powerful combo, and both "underdog" programs, very sadly. I wrote a short review of Expression 3 for my Xmas column at www.graphics.com: http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?...ticle&artid=35

It got pretty good marks. :-)

K
www.klausnordby.com/xara (big how-to article)
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/ (I was the first-ever featured artist in the Xone)
www.graphics.com (columnist, "The I of The Perceiver")

[ivan louette]

Thanks Klaus,

import/export between vector programs is one of my favorite brain gymnastic !

Kindly,
ivan