Coupla quick questions about Designer Pro 11...

[WillBellJr]

Hi folks, I've been working with Designer recently to generate some color texture maps for my 3D game models (I love working with vectors over bitmaps since I can go back and make changes etc.)

One requirement I have is when I export, I expect the resultant image dimensions to always be equal to the set page size - in my case 2048 x 2048 pixels.

One annoyance I run across is when I say, "Export PNG" and I have an image that only partially fills up the full page size. In the export dialog, even though I select "Page", Designer always exports the size that encompasses the objects being exported, say for example 820 x 250.

What am I doing wrong with I perform my exports where Designer refuses to export the full page??

I find that for each layer in my document (which sometimes I export individually), I have to create a transparent 2048 x 2048 rectangle set to visible and locked at the bottom, then Xara picks up the size that I want and then exports at the correct dimension.

Is there a way I can avoid that??


Finally, I notice that when I select a layer name, and add flat transparency, when adjusting the slider, the layer opacity doesn't change requiring me to add transparency to all the individual objects or groups within the layer??

How can I avoid having do that as well? If layer transparency is not possible, why does Designer even allow me to add the flat transparency to the layer and attempt to change its value?

I'm not interested in trying to be compatible with Photoshop etc., at this point I just want to be able to select a layer, and make it partially transparent so I can use it above other layers as a guide (typically the UV map of my 3D object which shows me the placement of the polygon layout).


If I can get beyond these two issues, using Xara would be totally heavenly for me.

Hopefully I'm just missing something with the export dialog and in my attempts to make a whole layer partially transparent.


Any pointers are appreciated!


-Will

[handrawn]

you cannot add transparency to a layer - you can only add transparency to objects [but you can select them all in one layer and make them all transparent at the same time]

similarly when you export, xara is exporting objects, not the page as canvas/artboard - so if you want them at a size you need to make them at that size

edit - there is an option in the export dialog. to export 'page' on the bitmap size tab, which you may find useful, but it cannot be made default so you need to set it each time

[pauland]

WillBellJr I was quite surprised to read what your "problem" was. In my experience, most designers would not want to export a page of "nothing" in this way, but would only export a PNG that fitted exactly to the shape. This is the most versatile image asset.

I'm curious why you want to export these whole page pngs!

[WillBellJr]

WillBellJr I was quite surprised to read what your "problem" was. In my experience, most designers would not want to export a page of "nothing" in this way, but would only export a PNG that fitted exactly to the shape. This is the most versatile image asset.

I'm curious why you want to export these whole page pngs!

Thanks folks for responding. I guess when thinking about it, it's not so much different to just select everything in my layer and add the flat transparency. Coming from my original love, Fireworks, (and other image apps), it was always just a matter of selecting the layer (without the need to even expand it revealing its contents) and simply dragging an opacity slider etc.

With Designer, I have to expose the objects in my layers and select stuff just to apply global transparency - I just wish I could add it directly to the layer - please reconsider this, Xara...

As far as my exports not being the full page size I think I've discovered a simple refresh bug in the dialog - let me explain my process since it's not clear as to why I may only export small sections of a page but still need the full page to export...

Here's an example of a model being textured:



These are the raw "UVs" for this model:


By looking at all the polygons laid out flat, I can see where I need to place the coloring for the model's surfaces

I copy the UV image into Designer and use that as my reference for object placement:


I place the "UV" layer above everything else, make it semi transparent, and use that as my guide to texturing. When I export, I simply turn off the UV layer (in addition to making it non-printable).

As you can see, I've only partially textured the model, but I still need that full 2048 x 2048 texture to export otherwise the coloring will not fall in the proper position on the model back in my 3D app.

As mentioned, the full page isn't selected by default when I go to export my images (would be nice if that was a preference somewhere):



My confusion and where I feel the bug exists is when I click the "Page" option, the width, height values, nor the preview changes:


So this had me clicking back in forth to no avail to get the values at the expected page size of 2048 x 2048. (This is what led me to add transparent 2048 x 2048 rectangles at the bottom of all my layers.)

Only during snapping the images for this post did I realize if I switch to a different tab and then switch back does the fields properly UPDATE to the values I expect - the export size is then correct when I export, so I have since removed all of the transparent "page border" rectangles in my artwork.


It would save folks a lot of head scratching if those values would correctly update when clicking the desired export size options, it lead to a lot of confusion for me, hence my posting here of my problem.


Thanks for taking the time to respond and your consideration.


-Will

PS - I will add that a transparent background is mandatory for this kind of work, so I always prefer to see a transparency checker grid where possible when working with transparent layers...

[pauland]

Thanks for explaining Will.

I'd just put a transparent square on a locked background layer.

Good luck with your texture maps, will!

[handrawn]

the values update for me if I hit the preview button - which version of the program are you using?

[WillBellJr]

Thanks Pauland, I agree, I may still do that just so the dialog looks right every time I go to export...

Hi Handrawn, I just recently upgraded to Pro v11.

I may have pressed that preview button during my frantic clicking session I initially experienced, but may not have noticed the values update for the preview - let me try again now...

...Okay yes when clicking the preview, it does update the preview (requiring me to fit all each time) and the width/height updates as well.

I will say, the first times though, I didn't notice that my DPI was something like 94.7 or some such, which also contributed as to why the values weren't the 2048 x 2048 I expected. Again while collecting the images for my post, I realized the DPI was off and corrected it, I also checked the page options as well...

After changing that, I then noticed some of my rectangles had offsets of 3.7px for X and Y etc. I cleaned up all of those errors, and in addition to everyone's suggestions, I'm getting the results I need.


Thanks again, everyone!


-Will

[handrawn]

.... and in any case even if you do not choose to preview the new values it should still export them ok - if it does not, that may be a bug [edit you replied whilst I typed this ]

the base unit of a vector editor like xara is the object not the layer - that is all the objects are independent of each other - whilst it may not impossible to do [I don't actually know], applying attributes to objects that are not selected, globally, is not the way the program is designed to work, so a layer transparency is unlikely I think...

[handrawn]

....ok I read you post again - maybe some of it did not click the first time..

you know about 'page' option in export - ok

if you try and give transparency with no object selected then xara will assume you want to set it as default for creating new objects - this is probably what you are doing when you try to set transparency for a layer, as clicking on the layer in the gallery will automatically de-select objects

[angelize]

Actually you can export the page background First as handrawn said you must select page in the bitmap size tab of the export settings dialogue and if you wish to maintain the exact page size set your dpi to 96 but while this will export to the page size it will export your objects with a transparent background. To have the page background colour exported you must go to the pallet options tab and set it to true colour only not true colour plus alpha. Also it's important to make sure nothing on your page is selected when you export.

And now the layers unfortunately as handrawn said Xara does not have a layer opacity control but you can work around it. On the right side of the Page and Layer gallery you will see each layer (and each object within each layer) has 3 icons an s, an eye, and a lock. you can click the s icon for the layer to work on just that layer in solo mode now you can hit ctrl +a to select all objects on the layer and apply your transparency to all at once. Click the s icon again to leave solo mode and work on your document as a whole.