Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Here it is everyone! The first Xara Plus Filter Forge video. In this introductory tutorial I show how to create a plastic type text effect and a diamond gem stone while demonstrating some of the basics of both programs. You will see the basic interface in Filter Forge and some of the ways that you can adjust even a very simple filter to get many custom effects. And for anyone who is new to Xara you will get a look at some of Xara's basic tools and how intuitive it is to work with fills and transparency in Xara.
And there is a special bonus! The kind folks at Filter Forge have offered a coupon code that will allow you to purchase filter forge at 50% off cHsnrmawFtd
Just enter the code on the purchase page after you click "buy Filter Forge now" at filterforge.com
And now on with the show!
17 September 2012, 12:15 PM
zaphodeist
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Hi Frances! Yes, exciting news! Attachment 92212 But couldn't you do tutorials on cheaper programs? Any trials so as I can judge whether I don't have other filters to do the same jobs already?
17 September 2012, 06:05 PM
angelize
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Hi John, as mentioned in the video Filter Forge has a full 30 day trial just like Xara :)
The folks at Filter Forge have also generously offered a 50% discount if you use the coupon code in my opening post. Filter Forge also has a great reward system and it is possible that you could earn enough reward points with your free trial to get the Full version for free!
17 September 2012, 06:26 PM
Barbara B
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Fantastic!!!
17 September 2012, 07:08 PM
zaphodeist
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Yeah ... not comfortable with affiliate selling - Xara being the exception of course as it is such a stand-out program :) - don't want to make money out of passing on gems of information [damn this hippy heritage! :D ] From what I can see it's not really worth me paying out for as many effects are achievable in Xara and free / less expensive / more frequently cited tools and ps plug-ins working with Xara, like Akvis and Cybia.
17 September 2012, 08:05 PM
angelize
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
I do not currently have an affiliate account at Filter Forge, I volunteered to do these videos. :) This first video is mostly just an introduction. If you continue to follow the series you will see that the Filter Forge has a library of over 9000 effects and textures, and that library is always growing. I'm going to also show some photo editing techniques that Gary Bouton didn't touch on in his photo retouching tutorials in the Xara Xone and how to combine them with a filter forge filter for some really creative results. And I will be getting into editing and creating your own filters with filter forge, combining filter forge textures and effects with extrusions, and generating procedural textures, and how to use them in Xara to give a website some wow factor :)
This video series is also very much about showing the users of filter forge how Xara works and how they can use it with the Filter Forge product. :)
17 September 2012, 08:28 PM
mwenz
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
May I also add something... (oh, and a thank you Frances, btw)?
Regardless of the exact company's product, the series has utility with other low-cost, free, or other higher-cost plug-ins. The learning just isn't specifically limited to FF's plug-in. I can "translate" it to products I already own. It's the "doing" that may well rattle the brain into being a bit more creative.
Take care, Mike
17 September 2012, 09:03 PM
Gare
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Quote:
Originally Posted by zaphodeist
From what I can see it's not really worth me paying out for as many effects are achievable in Xara and free / less expensive / more frequently cited tools...
John, both Akvis and Cybia are plug-ins that filter photos...bitmaps. Filter Forge, from a first look of about a hour, generates images, it doesn't[I] filter existing ones, which makes the comparison like comparing apples and avocados.
And if you only value a program that is frequently cited, you'd be on the slow-track for new innovative software. Um, like I discovered Xara after using CorelDRAW for 5 years? :)
I challenge anyone on this forum to create something like this—using Xara alone, or with any plug-in that retails for less than the Basic Filter Factory at $89. You have the same 30 seconds that it took me. :) The closest thing is Genetica Studio at $149 for the Basic Edition.This image seamlessly tiles, and I used the free 30 day trial version.
"Filter" is a misnomer—the filters modify a pattern internal to a Filter Factory design.
Frances did the community a favor by bringing these developers to our attention, and us to them. I think that's what "community" represents, in "online community". There was no affiliate program involved, and the Administrator brokered the deal very carefully, especially to avoid suspicions as you've posted that it's anything other than a really good, affordable, easy-to-learn deal.
I've kicked the tires of filter Factory, I consider myself to be pretty handy around software and also create tutorials for beginners so I'm not unsympathetic to all skill levels when I strongly suggest that members see this as a deal presented in good faith as anything other than its face value.
—Gary
17 September 2012, 09:21 PM
zaphodeist
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Whoa! Slow down there! Just can't get my head round the need for it ... your image is lovely but would I need it? :D Times are hard ;) I shall follow the tutorials with interest for any Xara techniques :)
Oh and for the record I mentioned the affiliate program because Frances suggested I could possibly cover the program's cost with it. I didn't suggest Frances was on the affiliate program ;)
17 September 2012, 09:29 PM
Gare
Re: Add a little bling! Xara Plus Filter Forge video 1
Okay...this...is...me...slowing...down, John. :)
I have no idea if you'd specifically need a specific image.
That's hardly the point and I'm completely sympathetic to troubled economic times. I had to borrow a bag of consonants from my next door neighbor (who is a wealthy IT) just to write this.
The point is that it's new and affordable and offers greater possibilities for fills that Xara does without the plug-in.
The point of this thread and this post, too (probably) is that it's very easy to say, "Oh, not for me. Pooh-pooh to things I have no time for and are too expensive. What a load of rubbish, probably. All it can do is argyle patterns."
The point of Filter Factory, is that it can be used to speed up work in Xara: that's why the video tutorial, that's why some interest among members has been generated.
Don't hold your breath until there's a tutorial on how Xara all by itself can produce photorealistic textures such as the ones that take seconds to render in FF. The steps would be an exercise in futility; yes, you can indeed cut a Giant Sequoia in half using a nail file.