Title Graphic Problem

[Grunt]

Hi,

Seems everytime I post I'm bitching about something. Anyway, here's a poser for all you Xara gurus. I'm trying to do a title graphic for a DVD. I want the border to be static and a number of pages of text to rotate. As there is no such option in "Design Options", I copied the border and merged it with the background graphic. The idea was that I would then simply add the text over the background "texture". Unfortunately, I can find no way of opting for text only. Surely there must be a way of doing this without having a stroke! I'm sure one or more of you guys must know how to accomplish this; you seem to get around almost every problem presented here.

I've attached a little file to give you some idea of the background, the real thing is about 8 megs as I need as much resolution as I can muster.

Art

[simsmj]

Hi, Grunt,
If I understand correctly, it sounds as if you simply need to select Text from the Design menu, to make your text stand alone in front of your background.

Another possibility is to make your border shape, and text as separate shapes, then with the text highlighted, apply the rotate animation. The animation will not affect the border shape unless you apply it globally. If you want multiple pages of text, you will need to duplicate the border shape for each page.

Mike

[Grunt]

Hi Mike,

Brilliant! Believe me, I tried everything that I could I think of. I guess it's just a matter getting the hours in the driving seat. Xara is very intuitive, up to a point, but then you have to learn the ways around the houses. This forum is an absolute Godsend, especially for a beginner and everyone is sooooo... helpful.

Thanks again
Art.

[Grunt]

Ok, I've been away for a while. I got the text rotating on its own over the background as Simsmj suggested. Ideally I think it would look better if I had the border stationary but over the background as a 3D image so that the rotating lights play on it as well as the text. I think Simsmj addressed a method of doing this but I have failed miserably in accomplishing it. Perhaps I need somewhat more detailed instructions.

Art

[simsmj]

Hello, Art, it should be straightforward if you have the border shape imported as a separate shape from the text. The text and the border should be on separate lines. If the text is on multiple lines itself, that can be a bit trickier to centre within the border shape, but it just takes a little manipulation of line sizes.

First enable the cursor (the a|b icon), type your text first, then press Return. With the cursor still on-screen, import your border shape. Hold shift, and hit the left arrow key to highlight the border shape, this means it is selected. Give it a size of 200%, then hit right arrow key, then up arrow key, hold shift and hit left arrow again as often as needed to highlight the text, and make that 50% in size. Disable the cursor, and adjust the line spacing to centre the text in the border.

Now enable the cursor and select your text, and in the animation dialogue, select Rotate1 and enter the frame details etc. The animation will only affect the text, not the border. If you don't select a shape first, then any animation you apply will affect every shape in the file. If you do accidentally make the border rotate, just select the border, and untick the text box in the animation dialogue. Tick the lights box to have the lights move, too.

Mike

[Grunt]

Thanks a lot Mike. I'll have a crack at it this weekend. I'm beginning to think it looks a bit too fussy, but I'll finally decide whether to use it or not when I've managed to finish it. Thanks again.

Art