Inner Shadow

This is an easy one for you 'experienced' people!

I want to be able to create, what I would call, an inner shadow.

In the past, I have used various programmes to create what I want but obviously want to be able to do everything in Xara.

One programme I have used a lot is called Adobe Imagestyler. This programme has many easy to apply effects. These effects can then be controlled by you, if required. The attached drawing shows a circle that I drew and then simply applied a shadow effect, that gives the effect on the inner shadow. A quick effect in ImageStyler.

I need to be able to apply this effect to a 'circle' and the letter 'C' so that I can create a drawing that is also in the pic attached with this thread.

Rik.
:confused:

Rik,

If you want complete Xara with some tools you miss here are Inkscape 0.46 devel possibilities at the moment concerning shadows : http://fr.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/...OmbresEtLueurs

You will find links to the other possibilities here : http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...=34600&page=11

kindly,

ivan

Thanks for the quick reply Ivan.

The first link to the website: http://fr.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/...OmbresEtLueurs

It is in French. As I don't speak or read French, I don't know what the web site is saying? Is it that you can purchase these add-ons for Xara?

Rik.
:confused:

Here's how I did it.
Saludos,
Bob.

If you use the bevel tool you can do an inner shadow.

The .xar file is attached so you can pull it apart to see how the attached image was made.

See the end of my post here: http://www.talkgraphics.com/showpost...60&postcount=7

Thanks Bob and Soquili.

Bob: I can do everything as per your instructions, but I cannot get the same result with the Eliptical Transparency as you have. Your eliptical transparency gives a fabulous rounded effect to the circle.

Soquili: What I want to avoid is the shadow on the outside of the circle (to the bottom right in your image).

Rik.

Rik I added the drop shadow to the green ellipse using the Shadow Tool simply to make the image look more like a sphere.

Simply select the green ellipse and then using the Shadow Tool select No Shadow on the infobar.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rik

Thanks for the quick reply Ivan.

The first link to the website: http://fr.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/...OmbresEtLueurs

It is in French. As I don't speak or read French, I don't know what the web site is saying? Is it that you can purchase these add-ons for Xara?

Rik.
:confused:

---

Rik,

Inkscape is a free vector drawing and editing program which supports bitmaps like Xara : http://www.inkscape.org/

This is a work in progress already with many interesting features, but its approach is somewhat different from Xara and at the moment for example its rendering engine is far from being as quick as Xara's one is.

Exchanges between Inkscape and Xara are possible through pdf and svg, but if you apply some filters to vector objects in Inkscape it's better to export them in png and then import them into Xara.

And sorry for the link in french. At the moment I write my doc in my mother language and it will be translated when finished. The link to english doc is this one : http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/Inkscape/WebHome but the pictures only are there.

kindly,
ivan

Thanks Bill. (did not see your proper name earlier)

I could not open your .xar file earlier!
Don't know why but have done so now and can see that the shadow is only applied to the circle and can easily be removed.

The 'C' is however, is a bevel and does not quite give that cutout effect.

In the meantime, I have found Eyecandy 4000 that gives a cutout effect.
I also like what Bob did but could not replicate his eliptical transparency.

So far, many thanks guys and I'm sure there are many other ways!!!

Much appreciated.
Rik.
:)

Rik, adjust the transparency settings as shown below.
Saludos,
Bob.

another version using circular transparency and feathering.
- Andy

Hi All.

Thanks for your input and guidance.

I have done my best, so far, and ended up with this result.

Rik.
:)

It looks very good, Rik. Nice job.
Saludos,
Bob.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rik

I have done my best, so far, and ended up with this result.

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You did and it looks good. Took me a while, though, to figure out how you applied the 3D effects to the "C" and the dot: Eye Candy 4000's Cutout filter (for those who also want to know). Very useful plugin for such FX.

Thanks for your comments Boy!

I did use Eye Candy 4000 for the effects on the 'C' and the 'Dot'.

I did however learn something during this exercise. Bob used the 'Apply Quick View' (Q). Shows my inexperience because I had not used that before!

I still decided to use the cutout effect in Eye Candy 4000 because it gave me control during the rest of the design. Whereas the (Q) option seemed that once it was applied, that was that. I could not control how much shadow I wanted in the cutout afterwards. The cutout effect in Eye Candy 400 is almost like the effect in Adobe ImageStyler.

I look forward to more expert advice from the 'experts'.

Rik.
;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rik

...'Apply Quick View' (Q)...

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Let's call it 'Apply ClipView'... ;)

Nice ones, all. Rik, you are definitely making progress. Isn't this fun!

Here's my version. I used a C and a circle to make cutouts in the purple button, applied a shadow then used the underlying white->gray circle as my ClipView (;) :D) shape to get rid of the unwanted shadow.

L8r,
Harry
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