Creating a sine wave in Xara Xtreme

[bconner]

Hi,

I need to create a sign wave in Xara Extreme or Web Designer. I've played around with some of the tools but it isn't obvious that it can be done.

I can generate it with another system I have and export that to a Graphics Stream File (GSF) or png image. Not sure if I can import either of those, though.

What I want to do once I get it into Xara is apply a color to the sine wave and fade from left to right (or vice versa).

Suggestions?

Thanks!

--Ben

[Gamerprinter]

You can import PNG no problem. Sometimes I'll import an image (say a PNG) then redraw the outline in Xara tracing over the line of the PNG file. Once the line is drawn you should be able to select the control points and move it more precisely to match your image. Once it matches, delete the PNG. If you have Xtreme, I would do this in that. Perhaps post your PNG file here, so we could see what you're trying to achieve exactly - and we can each offer a different solution.

[bconner]

Thanks much! Will do that later this evening. This is something I haven't explored before.

--Ben

You can import PNG no problem. Sometimes I'll import an image (say a PNG) then redraw the outline in Xara tracing over the line of the PNG file. Once the line is drawn you should be able to select the control points and move it more precisely to match your image. Once it matches, delete the PNG. If you have Xtreme, I would do this in that. Perhaps post your PNG file here, so we could see what you're trying to achieve exactly - and we can each offer a different solution.

[gwpriester]

If Mike is around he'll tell you this is not a real sine wave but it is a technique for creating a simulated sine wave.

[bconner]

Well, that's rather slick. I'll present that as an option to the client as well. Sweet!

--Ben

[gwpriester]

Math for the mathematically challenged.

[Acorn]

Ben, this should work for all Xara applications: Sine Wave.web

Blast - I've found Tony London's approach here: http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...4615-Sine-Wave.
Tony uses Guides but the principle is identical. At least mine has an explanation (no slight to Tony!).

Acorn

[bconner]

Very nice, Acorn! Why yes, you did pay attention in trigonometry.

My end goal is to have an attenuating sine wave which goes from red to blue and fades from right to left. I've linked the re-sized png file here. The problem with the png file is eventually I want to overlay it on top of another graphic, and for that I'll need to turn the wave into a true xar image, not just a png tweak. BTW, the link is actually sine.zip as the web server didn't know what to do with a xar file. Just rename it to sine.xar.

Is there anything in Extreme or Web designer that can trace something like this? Or another approach? I would imagine I could take the web file and strip the sine wave out of it and start to build something similar to the png file.

Thanks!

--Ben

[Acorn]

Ben, have I missed your upload?

Acorn

[PhilM]

Here's a pretty good approximation of a sine wave using simple bezier paths:


Bezier sine wave.xar

Phil