Anodized aluminium surface (texture)

[mokusbajusz]

WOW!
That is unexpected! I mean I'm just very surprised how fast and how many of you replied immediately to a question from a newbie!

Thank you!

I picked up the hint in the first post and found exactly the same article what gwpriester later linked. I tried to follow the steps and here is my first draft:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Q5j0oJhpX6o/SV...rank_admin.jpg

I'm not sure yet.
I want the text to look like it was pressed (stamped?) in the metal and then painted.

Edit: Now I realized, that what I wanted to search for is the brushed metal surface...

[Regular]

You can use the plug-in 3D Bump map to get some depth or rises of your art. The coloring and texture would of course be to your liking. I would suggest using a layer for the 3D bump map to preserve the original artwork.

[mokusbajusz]

...and as soon as I found it out, I googled for it and voila: a lot of results.

I like this one

Unfortunately although the style is downloadable it is for Photoshop, not for Xara.

[gwpriester]

Easy in Xtreme.

[iamtheblues]

A different approach for stage 3 using a 3D extrusion with fancy incut bevel .
Saludos,
Bob.

[PixelDust]

I've attached a Xara file with a mini-tutorial on how to use the fractal fill to make a brushed metal look.

[Soquili]

I've been playing around with the idea of having many colours and raised text.

[AndFarr]

I guess the "teach , don't do it for them" mandate really went on the wayside in this thread. Oh well, Happy New Year!
- Andy