Custom Splash Screens

[steve.ledger]

All I do is create a rectangle corresponding to the size of image I want to export and set it to the back. Then, with it still selected, I click export.

You can in fact skip the 'set it to the back' step entirely. If the rectangle has no fill but has a line then (while still selected) exporting will only export the area 'covered' by the rectangle, rather like a cropping tool.

[Big Frank]

No, the rectangle will be exported with a border, which is sometimes not desired. That's why I send it to the back unless I want a border around my image.

[steve.ledger]

Well, it's an option is my point.

[Big Frank]

It also adds to the dimensions of the exported image. If you create a 600 x 400 transparent rectangle, then add a 1px border so you can actually see it in order to position it over your drawing, when you export that rectangle it will export as 601 x 401 px, which kind of defeats the object of the exercise. If you have Scale Line width unchecked (and let's face it, most newcomers to the program don't know this) the rectangle still shows as 600 x 400 in Xara.

[BONES]

But you can, and always have been as far as I recall.
In your bitmap export settings>>bitmap size, select Area to save as 'page' And the export will be clipped to the page size.

PERFECT! I never noticed that but, as you say, it has probably always been there. OK, this should allow me to use Xara at work. Steve, if you watch Today on Channel 9 next weekend, all the on-air graphics (still frames, anyway) you see will be made in Xara, barring some huge news story that forces me to work on the stupid MacPros. (I can't put my laptop on the network so I will have to transfer everything via USB Flash drive.) Just for shits and giggles I might try to incorporate the Xara "X" into the background of as many as possible.

All I do is create a rectangle corresponding to the size of image I want to export and set it to the back. Then, with it still selected, I click export. I use it all the time and, frankly, nothing could be easier.

I don't see how that is easy at all, in that you still need to frame everything so just plonking down a rectangle is not ideal. Using the export dialogue is definitely the way to go.

P.S. My boss just changed my shift so I'm on tonight. I think I will give it a go for tomorrow's show. I'll start a new thread tomorrow and post a few things, it should be fun.

[steve.ledger]

Steve, if you watch Today on Channel 9 next weekend, all the on-air graphics (still frames, anyway) you see will be made in Xara, barring some huge news story that forces me to work on the stupid MacPros.

Congrats! Unfortunately I won't see it owning to not watching any broadcast TV for well over a decade now (a choice I made).
Maybe you can post some screen shots?

[Big Frank]

I don't see how that is easy at all.

Oh well. Whatever. One man's really simple is another man's really insurmountable, gut-busting problem. Go figure.

[BONES]

Congrats! Unfortunately I won't see it owning to not watching any broadcast TV for well over a decade now (a choice I made).
Maybe you can post some screen shots?

Bugger! I was going to use it the other night. I made some templates and took everything into the office, only to discover that the 64 bit edition doesn't support plugins. Oh well, my CD arrived a couple of weeks ago so I will uninstall the 64 bit version, put the 32 bit on when I get a chance and try again. You can't make TV graphics without blurred backgrounds!

Why on Earth don't you watch TV? It's one of my favourite things, more important to me than going to the movies or watching DVDs. I think if I had to choose, I'd take it over the internet.

Oh well. Whatever. One man's really simple is another man's really insurmountable, gut-busting problem. Go figure.

It's broadcast TV, if I'm lucky I sometimes have 10 minutes to produce a nice still graphic. In 20 minutes I can make you an animated satellite map of a whole country, zooming in to the location of a fire or a plane crash or an earthquake or a shooting spree or whatever. I use your method quite a lot when I'm doing other stuff but fiddly little things like that will always trip you up when you're under the pump at 3am and you have a director's assistant screaming down the intercom, waiting for the file to appear on her server.

[Big Frank]

I will uninstall the 64 bit version, put the 32 bit on when I get a chance and try again.

Don't uninstall the 64 bit version. You can have both installed side by side - you just can't run them both at the same time.

Why on Earth don't you watch TV? It's one of my favourite things, more important to me than going to the movies or watching DVDs. I think if I had to choose, I'd take it over the internet.

I'm with Steve on this. I can't prevent my family from watching TV although I'd like to, and they can't prevent me from not watching. I found it to be an infectious, insidious marketing machine whose programming has been consistently dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, that being ego-manic, reality-TV stupidity. I stress that it's only my opinion and I don't intend to defend or justify it and I accept that it's horses for courses, but I can barely stand it. There are a few wonderful natural history programmes and documentaries that I miss but can download, and as for the rest, I get what I need on the net, in the manner of my choosing, without advertising (or extremely little). I always thought it would be great if a television manufacturer could invent a TV that would automatically blank out the adverts or temporarily switch to another channel of your choiosing while the adverts are on. I'm sure it would be technically possible. But that wouldn't, of course, increase the quality of programming.

I use your method quite a lot when I'm doing other stuff but fiddly little things like that will always trip you up when you're under the pump at 3am and you have a director's assistant screaming down the intercom, waiting for the file to appear on her server.

I appreciate deadlines (not to your extend though) but I can't see how any other method would be quicker. But I've probably missed something. Are you thinking of having something like the crop tool in the export dialog? That would certainly not be a bad feature and would obviate my workaround.

[BONES]

[QUOTE=Big Frank;487437]Don't uninstall the 64 bit version. You can have both installed side by side - you just can't run them both at the same time.[QUOTE]
Why bother? I only have a 128Gb SSD so every Mb is precious and, TBH, I've not found the 64 bit version noticeably faster at any point.

I found it [TV] to be an infectious, insidious marketing machine whose programming has been consistently dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, that being ego-manic, reality-TV stupidity.

That's like saying you don't drive because Daewoo make terrible cars. It is completely true that far too much TV these days is hideous but that's why there is an off switch. You switch it on when there is something worth watching and switch it off when it's over. But the best TV is like the best of any artform, transcendent. What I like best about it is that the writers have a lot more opportunity to develop characters than in film so you get to a point where you knwo the characters as well as you know the people you work with or your neighbours, which allows you to anticipate their reactions. Law & Order was on for so long I felt like I knew Lenny Briscoe and Jack McCoy better than I know many of my friends.

I appreciate deadlines (not to your extend though) but I can't see how any other method would be quicker. But I've probably missed something. Are you thinking of having something like the crop tool in the export dialog? That would certainly not be a bad feature and would obviate my workaround.

I thought Steve's solution would be the best but, unlike most export dialogue settings, you do have to remember to set it to "page size" every time, so it's not really much of an improvement. It might work in the long run but I've gone cold on the idea of giving it a bash at work, there is enough time pressure without adding more.