I am writing to ask if anyone knows if Xara Designer Pro or other Xara products have the ability to do mockups similar to how photoshop does mockups. Thank you. Harry
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I am writing to ask if anyone knows if Xara Designer Pro or other Xara products have the ability to do mockups similar to how photoshop does mockups. Thank you. Harry
My guess is yes. Can you show us an example or two?
Attached are a few examples of the type of the type of mockups I have been referring to. I hope this will provide you with a few good examples of mockups used today in the industry of graphic designs.
Harry :-O
At the level of providing images with text that has been added to reflect the client's brand text - yes.
Ditto, to include the client's logo, brand colours, presentation size, different (social) media formats - yes.
Xara Cloud+ & Xara Designer Pro+ and the other Xara Desktop applications (XDA) all have the concept of Thematic content - change a colour base and its shades and tints follow.
Provide a representative client image and the Xara prodcuts can produce a Colour Palette.
Provide a number and create an associated colour scheme for each and your mockups can be adjusted to that theme by dropping the file onto the design.
The same products and recent versions of XDAs have SmartFields so designing a mockup that covers all client wording could be down to a colour change and a brand name altered, the work of seconds.
At the next level you can mockup an entire website to provide interaction.
At the next level you could add the Client as a Guest in Xara Cloud /Xara Cloud+ and allow them to change and tweak colours and download their efforts.
Run a Zoom/Teams/Skype/WhatsApp session and Cloud+ and you could alter, augment and annotate a client engagement session and evidence off your design brief.
What are you needs?
Acorn
Hello Acorn, Thanks for your interest in my question regarding mockups. I was encouraged by your email. Let me say first of all, I am not learning to do mockups for clients just yet, I want to learn the techniques first. I know Photoshop has this ability and was writing to ask if Xara also had that ability. To give you a better idea of what I would like to do, I've taken the liberty of enclosing a link to a photoshop tutorial showing exactly what I would like to do. I have enclosed the image of a coffee cup and the logo I would like to mock up on that cup. If you are inclined to give try to place the logo on the cup such that the logo wraps to the contours of the cup that would fine. However, without you having to do any work, if you could direct me to a video tutorial available illlustrating that technique, that would be a wonderful assistance. I am however, open to any guidance you could provide.
Here is the link to the utube video of the technique in Photoshop [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5FRcbfHKck&feature=youtu.be"]
Logo and cup also attached.
Eventually I would like to learn how to do mockups for tshirts, pillows, and many other items.
Your assistance is appreciated.
Harry
Nope. I doubt I can help you much.
Xara is a vector package first off and so Photoshop techniques won't go far.
What you are asking for is basic. Adding moulded text to a shape.
There are tutorials abound out there.
Attachment 127314
You need to choose your product then learn the techniques it offers.
Mocking-up anything that a client would be encouraged by requires a lot of practice.
Does your video demonstrate changing the text, the shadow, the colours to the whim of a client all in real-time?
If not, it is the wrong product.
Acorn
Thanks Acorn. I didn't know about the moulded text.
Sorry you arn't able to help me. Maybe someone else may have some thoughts.
Gary's original comment was that he thought Xara may be able to do mockups.
In my original I was simply asking if Xara could do mockups similar to Photoshop.
I only sent the video as an example of the type of thing I would like to do.
I know Photoshop has it's way of doing mockups and I thought Xara might also be able to do similar things using Xara techniques.
If Xara can't do those types of things that is fine, I was just asking the question.
So from your comments "I doubt I can help you much" sounds like you are saying Xara doesn't do the mockups I have been asking about - no problem. Thanks anyways for your interest.
I will however, check out the moulded text you mentioned- that's a great tip.
Harry
Most mockups you refer to are made in Photoshop's using Smart Objects, which (can) include images, vectors (such as text) and effects. In order to edit such files outside Photoshop, you need an editor that is capable of importing and manipulating these smart objects as intended by the designer. Xara Designer Pro is able to import .psd files but does not recognize Smart Objects as such. There are other apps that do, such as Affinity Photo.
I have a lot of Photoshop mockups from my Adobe time.
Many work with smartshapes and actions. Xara does not know any actions or macro programming.
I create mockups in Xara manually using all the tools Xara provides me with.
The need for some training and knowledge is necessary.
Attachment 127320
Xara Designer Pro has Live Copies so a Text Object can have a Mould applied and the external copy changed, similar to what you demonstrated.
The original Text can be SmartText as well so there are a couple of levels of abstraction.
No quite the concept of meta-data though.
Acorn
Thought I'd have a go following Ernies example. Named colours & Vectors are excellent for this type of thing :
Hello Mr Bramhill,
First of all let me say it is a pleasure to meet you. Over the past number of years I have watched so many of your tutorials online. Nice to finally make contact. You have done a wonderful job at mocking up the image I sent along. And Ernie also did a great job. This is just the task I was trying to figure out how to do in Xara. Well done. I am sure there were many steps involved in doing this task. It would not be fair to ask you to detail it all, but I am grateful to see it accomplished and to know it can be done. I appreciate what you have been able to accomplish. Thanks for taking an interest in this project. Sincerely, Harry Soper
I did like the application of the Blend to profile a shape.Quote:
Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill
Acorn
@ gratitude: Thanks for your comments.
@ Acorn: Yes, I find doing it by eye to easy to make mistakes. I place everything I want to mould inside a no fill/no stroke rectangle which also helps keep everything resized/positioned in the same manner. Xara's mould tool is very long in the tooth now and in desperate need of updating.
Egg, I just re-"discovered" that you can nest Moulds and keep everything editable:Quote:
Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill
Attachment 127348
Acorn
Not sure if this can be achieved in Xara, but let's say I have a cylindrical shape, can I flex an image to wrap around that shape?
It can be done in PS, but I was curious whether it could be done in Xara; even more curious how I could do it with CSS. May be there is a plug-in?
Gary
Gary, GIMP does Map .. Map to Object, Cylinder for free.Quote:
Originally Posted by Initiostar
CSS involves slicing and 3D transforms.
In Xara you could manually slice an image. Possibly set up Live Copies so to be able to drop another in place...
Acorn
Thanks Acorn, interesting.