What's happeing here? 63kb

[Judi A]

I was playing around and accidentally did something neat and actually did it twice but now I can't do it.

1. I created a beveled object. Converted it to editable shape. Ungrouped it and selected the bevel part. Copied it to the clipboard.

2. I created a rectangle and pasted the attibutes of the bevel. Next I applied a bitmap fill. My fill now has a neat embossed surface.

If I click on the paint bucked it shows I have a bitmap fill. Checking the transparency it shows transparceny method as NONE

So I try it again with another bevel shape this time my transparency is Mixed there is no option of None for a method.

I placed an object behind both rectangles so you can see the 1st one is opaque and the second one is transparent.

Judi

[Judi A]

I was playing around and accidentally did something neat and actually did it twice but now I can't do it.

1. I created a beveled object. Converted it to editable shape. Ungrouped it and selected the bevel part. Copied it to the clipboard.

2. I created a rectangle and pasted the attibutes of the bevel. Next I applied a bitmap fill. My fill now has a neat embossed surface.

If I click on the paint bucked it shows I have a bitmap fill. Checking the transparency it shows transparceny method as NONE

So I try it again with another bevel shape this time my transparency is Mixed there is no option of None for a method.

I placed an object behind both rectangles so you can see the 1st one is opaque and the second one is transparent.

Judi

[Judi A]

For some reason it doesn't work if the object you are going to apply a bevel to has a solid fill.

Fill it with a 3 point fill or a bitmap fill, then applied the bevel/ convert to editable shapes/ungroup and select the bevel part/ copy and paste attributes.

Attached are two samples. The on the left was made with a bitmap fill on a quick shape beveled etc. I thought it looked neat so didn't add another fill.

The one on the right I used a chiselled inner bevel on a quick shape that had 3 colored fill of red,yellow cyan which for some reason gave a light imprint, which makes it look cut into the background. Using black or a very dark color makes it protrude.

(The fills are ones I created in Painter)

Judi

[gwpriester]

Judi

The colorful round example on the lower left reminds me of a stained glass Rose Window found in the European cathedrals.

Xara is so incredibly deep with undocumented features. I never cease to be amazed. I bet there are features that even Mark's team are not aware of.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Sever So Humble...

[Judi A]

Thanks Gary.

I don't understand why this effect can only be reproduced with a bitmap created by a bevel. It doesn't work with the bitmap created by a shadow.
Or a bitmap created out of a shape transparent or not.

What is so different about the bevel bitmap?
Judi

[Ross Macintosh]

Neat effects Judi! I've been playing with it and from your instructions have been able to reproduce the effects you found.

I started by beveling a small bitmap-filled shape, converted to editable shapes, and then ungrouped it. Upon copying the "bevel" part to the clipboard and then pasting it back to another shape as a 'past attribute' I noticed the following: the bitmap gallery has the "bevel" and identifies it as a 'standard bitmap'. I think what that really means is that it is a png with alpha transparency.

I noted that if the shape you paste the bevel attributes to already has a bitmap fill you can see the effect upon pasting. In one instance that I can't now reproduce I saw nothing upon pasting - until I changed the transparency 'type' setting to something other than 'mix'.

I played with starting with a beveled shape with a non-bitmap fill and confirm that things are different from when a bitmap-filled shape is used. I suspect xara handles creating bevels differently depending on if there is a bitmap fill to the shape or not. That's just a guess.

I created the attached optical illusion using the effects.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Judi A]

I'm sorry Ross, I didn't realize you had posted a reply.


I <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I noted that if the shape you paste the bevel attributes to already has a bitmap fill you can see the effect upon pasting. In one instance that I can't now reproduce I saw nothing upon pasting - until I changed the transparency 'type' setting to something other than 'mix'.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The bitmap fill has to be done after the bevel attributes are pasted. The transparency default for this is none, which is what you need to get the 3-d effect.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I played with starting with a beveled shape with a non-bitmap fill and confirm that things are different from when a bitmap-filled shape is used. I suspect xara handles creating bevels differently depending on if there is a bitmap fill to the shape or not. That's just a guess <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As far as I can see the result is the same as long as you have at least a 2 color fill.

I tried using a PNG bitmap as the transparency source and it didn't work.

Judi

[Ross Macintosh]

Judi - Nothing to be sorry for my friend.

You note: "I tried using a PNG bitmap as the transparency source and it didn't work".

One thing that does work is put a large bevel on a bitmap-filled shape. Now select only the bevel. Give the bevel a different bitmap fill - use a png file with alpha transparency. The result is effectively one object with two fills. In the case of text, it remains fully editable even though it has the bevel and two fills! Here's a thread that features examples of the technique.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Judi A]

Ross, I will admit your post re: the PNG fills went over my head at the first reading and intended to go back and study it.

This time I printed it out and of course it was not hard at all.

Thanks for pointing me back to it again.

Sometimes this forum gets so intense if you don't stop and try something NOW it will soon be lost.

Judi

I may be getting forgetful and loose my cqr keys, but I still know what they are for.! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]