Celebrate 35 years of Xara

[csehz]

Gare thanks very much for these tiles, great looking ones

[angelize]

Thanks Gary, Your contributions to the Xara Xone are very much missed, these are a nice treat!

Here is a quick example of the wood tile molded and layed over an extrusion using the new overlay blending mode (transparency) to create a wood plank. Then I used another layer of the molded tile and some text to create the carved message background (this time using a multiply transparency. some shading created by clipping off parts of a duplicate of this layer added a bit of depth.

[stygg2003]

Thanks for the tiles Gary, much appreciated.

@Frances - nicely done.

Stygg.

[Boy]

It came from the ØzONE, not just any zone.

Attachment 114136

He is back, stronger than ever and created the ØzONE!

Thanks for the new set, Gare, great stuff again!

[iamtheblues]

I truly hope that nobody takes any unwarranted offence at a classic comedy quote.

It's not just the freebies, Gare, I'm sure I speak for many when I say that we miss all the fun and learning since your departure from the Xone.

Font used, Ayita Pro Fat.
Bob.

[Gare]

Well, I thank you all for thanking me, how about that?

You might notice that the link to Exclamat!ons is no longer in my signature. It just didn't happen this year, and it would be far too negative to say it's on my Bucket List.

I just had to seize an opportunity to write a new book, which takes not only a lot of time, but a lot of time with very few breaks to meet marketing schedules and printing.

I'm not being coquettish in telling you I can't say a lot about my future plans. Honestly? I don't see me teaching as I used to do, and to be dis-invited begs the corollary that any unapproved attempt to revive the Xone here is similarly not welcome.

However, once I'm done teaching via a book, I intend to go back to video education, or whatever it is you'd consider that I do in videos. Some called it stand-up comedy that's not awfully funny.

Whenever I cxreate neat stuff in the future that I can share, I'll do so right here...or wherever.

My Best,

Gary

[stygg2003]

+1 for your book and video education Gary, look forward to both, please keep us updated about the book.

Stygg

[Gare]

+1 for your book and video education Gary, look forward to both, please keep us updated about the book.

Stygg

Bouton's Books on amazon

This is where it will be turning up in late October, Stygg. I'll drop a note as soon as I get my own free copy.

My Best,

Gary

[csehz]

I knew it but scrolling through that list saying - Gare you wrote really a lot of books!

[Gare]

I knew it but scrolling through that list saying - Gare you wrote really a lot of books!

Hey, Csehz!

Well, it's what I've been primarily doing to earn a living for 24 years! I moved from creating artwork as a primary source of income, to teaching what I do. It's worked out okay until Lynda.com, YouTube, and other entrepreneurs turned the web into a tutorial store.

That's why the timing was perfect ot bring videos to the Xara Xone. You know, I used to write almost 2 books a year, and the books were priced at about $25 US. Today, I write about one book every 2 years. Paper prices went through the roof when Third World nations got into Desktop Publishing, which put a severe squeeze on Europe and the US for paper. People get a break on Amazon and the eBook version of my work are a little cheaper than the Dead Tree version.

But I will not fight a trend. After this book is out which I'm finishing, I'm going back to video tutorials and downloadable tutorial files...more or less like I did on Xone, but my subjects will be more inclusive of other popular software in addition to Xara. And this is why the site for my future work will be independent of tg. No hard feelings on my part. I'm just trying to survive using my head...because my back and other body parts are good for writing, but not for paving highways or building building for a living!

If you want a cheap laugh when you are bored, got back to Amazon, and do the "Look Inside" thing to see examples of my writing about other software.

Hopefully, you'll find that the "Author's Voice" is the same for all types of creative software.

And that was something that took quite a while to learn how to do!

Oh, stay tuned here. Bob gave me an idea; I'll post some shapes you can fill with these textures, and point you to a tutorial (as a refresher) on how to skew and shade pieces of these textures to create easy 3D shapes. Frances did a great job with the textures, as well as Bob with his Monty Python flying rodent urine piece.




Agreed folks?

ØZONE...it's Ø the Zone.

Gare