How to create a backgound-independent transition?

[Contours]

I've been trying to create a fade-style edge transition that works regardless of the background the object is placed on. I've tried the blend tool and the shadow tool.

The blend tool gave a good result on a colored background, but it was terrible when the object is moved over anything lighter. The shadow tool was better at handling differences, but I can't find a way to make the shadow the proper color. I need the object's color to just edge-fade into whatever background it is on.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[gwpriester]

Ctrl click on the shadow and then edit the color.

The reason the shadow works is it is a transparent bitmap and so it darkens the area below it.

[Contours]

Ctrl click on the shadow and then edit the color.

Thanks for your response.

Well, that's certainly closer ... but the shadow algorithm must apply some of its own color offsets. In RGB, I couldn't match very well. In CMYK, I can get closer ... but not exact. The color picker tool seems useless for setting shadow fill color to match the object. My current result has a purplish cast to it that I can't eliminate. Yet, I can easily change to a bluish, reddish, or greenish cast.

Any suggestions? Or is this a case of 99% match is a good as it gets?

[James Allen]

Have you tried just feathering the edge, Contours?

[Contours]

No. But I just did ... and it works perfectly. When the object spans both light and dark background objects, the effect is even better than with shadows.

I now see that I just got onto the wrong track with what I was trying (and was getting closer and closer), so I didn't go back and look for the obvious better way.

Thanks very much.

[James Allen]

Heh - there are so many ways to do things in Xara that it’s a little like a maze of corridors in a castle; very easy to go in one door, then another, and then forget about others, and I do it all the time myself.

[JimToal]

A handy lesson. Thanks for the xar file too, James

Jim