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Some interesting things about the presets/filters. While they are designed to be drag and drop effects they are editable in different ways and even better yet you can create your own. There is more than one way to create your own presets I have prepped some tutorials that show how to edit presets and also my favourite way to create my own : https://www.xaramarketplace.com/cate...a-tips-tricks/
Wonderful, thanks!
Very powerful!
yes this feature is quite powerful. A lot of people stopped looking at the collection of drag and drop effects Xara provided but two things caught my attention 1) that the effects were a stack of layers added in as a photo group, which automatically had me thinking that these were likely .xar files and 2) that if you download all on a folder from the content catalogue that content is stored on your computer somewhere. Once I found where that content is located and found the preset files I simply started dissecting them :)
Interesting Frances. It also helps if you use named colours in your video example. It makes it very quick to change the colours without the need to edit the filter.
I attach a couple I reversed engineered files using the supplied presets (no named colours).
Another couple:
And a final two:
Really is the last one, I promise ;)
Some nice effects there Egg :) The named colours suggestion is a great one. Presets can be a great starting point, for example you can set up layers with textures photo settings layers etc then once applied to your photo you can do what you want to the layers to create your masterpiece.
A quick example using Egg's cracked preset. After applying the preset I set the transparency of the cracked overlay layer down to 0 then used the eraser tool to brush it out where I didn't want it such as the eye, nostril, lips and eyebrow. Then a quick ctrl +k to clone the cracked overlay and this new layer I set to softlight and adjusted to suit a voila a cracked skin effect in just a few mins.
Frances,
I am trying to wrap my head around the way these files are saved.
When you first make the file, you setup the presets on a photo. Now when you save the file as a preset does the orignal photo get removed?
I did not understand what the need was to make a bit map copy of the photo with the preset applied, could you explain that a little more?
Thank you,
Ray
Hi Ray,
Ok first, when you save your preset the photo is saved in the preset file. If you double click a preset file to open it the file will open and you will see your original photogroup containing the original photo and any extra layers you set up just as you saved it. If you drag and drop the preset onto another photo the program sees the _xaraphotopreset part of the file name and it applies the settings and any other layers contained within the photo group to the new photo so basically only the photo is replaced. Some of the presets I have published on the Xara Marketplace have multiple layers of settings and textures and all come across just fine.
Second, as I explained in the video when you make a preset it works best to use a square photo and I use the same size as Xara uses for the presets supplied with the program, 800 x800 pixels. In the video I was using a clipview to keep my size exact and that clipview needs to be flattened before creating the photo preset, which is what the bitmap copy is about :)
Since making the video I discovered that you can use the photo clipping tool to clip your photo to a square and eliminate the need for the bitmap copy.
Hi Ray,
Frances has answered whilst I was making this. Perhaps between hers and my reply this will help.
Hi Egg The add enhancements layer does do something and I have found it is best to leave it if you are trying to create a basic preset. If you look at the add enhancements layer when you have the Xara made preset open and with it selected use the selector tool click the name tag icon on the infobar and you will see they have given the layer a special name photo:preset Now I have been trying to get some clarification from Xara on this layer and it's importance but from my own experimentations I have noticed that when trying out different presets on the same photo that without this layer your preset doesn't get removed so basically I think this layer is what makes the difference between a basic preset and an overlay preset. I have noticed that the new overlay presets don't have this layer.
So for the copyright notice you created in your video you created an overlay :) The copyright is quite a useful idea BTW.
Hi Frances, Like yourself I don't fully understand the add enhancements Layer. In my attached xar file it seems to make no difference if this layer is retained or deleted.
Thanks. I was only trying to think of a serious use of presets and this was one of the only ones I could think of that could be of serious use. Adding a grainy texture was another. But in the main most are just eye-candy.Quote:
So for the copyright notice you created in your video you created an overlay :) The copyright is quite a useful idea BTW.
True, but eye candy isn't necessarily a bad thing :) Another use for presets is batch processing. Say you have a batch of photos that were all taken at the same time and all are slightly underexposed you could use one to create a preset, save that preset to the folder where all your photos are then add the folder to the designs gallery. Drop all your photos into a document and select them all. Select the preset and click import. the preset is then applied to all at once.
These photo presets aren't available in Xara 9, are they? I was watching the YouTube and the option on the side doesn't match what I see. Is this Pro only? Would love to use photo overlays for my books covers But I don't see it in my Designs Gallery.
Hi Emmeric, photo presets are a feature of versions 12 (365) as far as I'm aware.
View this comparison table.
Excellent, thank you for that link. Looks like I need to upgrade from 9. :p