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Hi All - I've attached an example of some buttons I'd like to be able to do on Xara Photo & Graphic Designer. You'll see there's a very narrow black outline around the letters. I've tried shadows, but can't get it to look like that. Does anyone know how this could be done on Xara? Thanks for your help!
Hey Kathleen,
Are you trying to create the effect on the picture you uploaded, or are you trying to get an outline around the letters?
all three of these can done easily, not sure what effect you are after.
Attachment 104817
Hi Goto. Thanks for the reply. I have the button itself - the border and background fade, etc. I want to be able to recreate the lettering to make a new button. So, for example, I want to type About Us and then do whatever it is that makes the lettering pop - looks to me like its a slightly smudged outline around the letters?
Does that make sense?
It looks like a glow shadow. Shadow tool, third shadow type. Then experiment with the settings until you get what you want.
Drag a black swatch from the color line onto the shadow to change the shadow color.
Drag the black dot in the upper left corner of the text to shrink and position the shadow.
Adjust the Blur and Transparency values as desired.
You beat me to it lol. I would do exactly what amoore recommended! A very quick and rough idea of it is shown in my example above, the furthers on the left of the 3 button samples.
Thanks Amoore and GoTo!! That was exactly what I needed. What I didn't know about was that pesky little black dot in the upper left corner! It's the simple things that get ya! Have a great weekend.
You're very welcome. :)
Kathleen you could try a thin outline around the font and a glow shadow both. Select the text and apply a very thin outline in the color you desire and make the glow shadow the same. If you have trouble changing the shadow color try dragging it out fairly large and ctrl click on it and then you can easily change it's color, then drag it back to the size you need. I don't know if that would make any difference but using the two might be worth a try. Here is an example using both and the shadow blur and transparency changed.
Attachment 104874
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Hi Larry. I'm embarrassed to say, but I didn't know how to put an outline around text, but I found it in the Help info. That's very cool and I think it does certainly add to the effect of the glow and will look good by itself too! Thanks so much. Wish I had more time to learn everything that Xara can do, but it's great to have so many people here willing to share their expertise.
The best way to add an outline around text without destroying the integrity of the text is to make a clone of the text and add an outline around the clone then send the clone behind the regular text. Xara splits the line width, one half inside the text and one half outside of the text. So with small text especially, this does not look very good.
For some of us learning the program came from a long time use and experimenting, and of course being here. Gare B and Gary P may be exceptions, both are supremely talented.Quote:
Originally Posted by MktgGeek
I suggest you take part in the challenges, I have found doing those very beneficial. They kind of force you to perhaps experiment and maybe get out of your comfort zone, and you will learn a lot by doing it.
Hello, I've been going through old TG posts and found this one which is very timely for me. The point about cloning the text, outlining the clone (then applying the shadow to it) worked very well, but I didn't like the type style I had chosen. So by selecting both the text and the clone, switching to the text tool, then scrolling through the type choices in the dropdown, I could find the "right" one. Thanks GP!
-Maggie
My pleasure, Maggie.