Mold Tool and Lost Transparency after save & open.

[geekgrrl]

Hello,

I'm trying to create a 3d mirrored box shot, similar to what is discussed in this link, basically I need the same effect.

http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...ghlight=moulds

We had "boxhots" already created in XARA, and I have tried to create the mirrored effect as follows:

1. Box shot consists of front panel & side panel, a non-moulded copy and a copy of each moulded to make the box.
2. Clone & copy front panel, flip, move down and apply transparency
3. Clone and copy side panel, flip, copy front panel and apply attributes to get same transparency.
4. Copy mould and apply to both front panel and flipped from panel, adjust as needed.
5. Repeat for side bar.

At this point, it looked pretty good ( for my skill level anyway!), but if I save the file and re-open it, the transparency is gone.

I am running XARA 3.2.4.3017 CD on Vista 64, running in XP SP2 compatibility mode.

Any ideas? A better way to create this effect?

Thanks!
Geekgrrl.

[geekgrrl]

As usual, I fixed my problem right after I posted the question. After I applied the mould, I then needed to convert the moulded shapes to editable shapes.

Once they were editable shapes, I could then group the "mirror" and apply the transparency to that object as a whole.

Final result is attached.

Geekgrrl

[amoore]

Looking good, geekgrrl.

I'm a little bit bothered by the loss of the red in the circle image on the spine. To those with more experienced eyes, would the red drop out that way in an actual reflection of that box?

[geekgrrl]

Hmmm... good catch on that red color... I'll have to see what I can do.

[steve.ledger]

would the red drop out that way in an actual reflection of that box?

Of course the colour of the surface the box is being reflected would account for some colour change.
If it were a regular mirror, then yes, the red would not wash out in my opinion.

[amoore]

Sorry, I should have phrased my question more clearly. Of course, it would drop out some. Would it drop out that much?

[steve.ledger]

Just experimenting a little shows that what geekgrrl has done is a fair result based on the amount of transparency applied and the colour of the background that mixes with the colours of the box.

You could I suppose clone the reflection, intersect an ellipse over the red badge to give that portion a little more saturation.

A few examples with different colours used for the background.

[amoore]

I'll take door number 2.

(That is, the version most similar to the original.) Even if geekgrrl's original is technically correct, it seems off to me. As a result, the absence of the red in the reflection grabs my attention and takes it away from the box itself.

Thanks, Steve.

[geekgrrl]

Thanks for all the ideas - how did you get the ellipse to match the moulded shape?

I tried drawing freehand and quickly tried using the mould but without much success so far....

[steve.ledger]

I'm not sure what you are referring too geekgrrl? Would you elaborate pls