Tell me you can teach an old dog new tricks...

[Ronda B.]

Hi There!

Well since I've read all of the messages in this forum and some of the messages in the other forums, I feel like I know a little bit about some of you... so I'll tell you a little bit about me...

In the early '80's I took some programming courses. We key punched our programs and fed them into a mega-saurus computer and flipped coins for who would use the "cutting edge" Tandys and IBM's that used BASIC. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] I took a technology haitus for nearly two decades before I retired my Tandy and bought a PC to do a monthly newsletter and a little writing and bookkeeping. I was so infatuated with the new system's abilities, I had to upgrade less than two years later. (And BTW, I have forgotten more than I ever learned about key punch programming.)

What I know, I've learned mostly through error and trial and purchasing manuals. Recently, I decided to try my hand at web-publishing for the little group I do the newsletter for. I came across XARA 3D's demo while looking for software to make headings and buttons. I enjoyed the demo so much after 3 days, I had to order it. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Now I have it, and frankly, I don't know what the heck to do with it... Hence, the old dog and new trick title.

Two glitches, of equal frustration.

1)When I attempt to import (or open a file) made in XARA3D and saved as both a .xar and a .gif file I get one of two error messages. The first being something like "Can't open file, unsupported bitmap..." The other a less wordy "Can't open, unsupported file..." message. Why is that? I read the explanation (and partially understand) that Xara3d does not like PSP and other Bitmap files, so I quit trying to import those files, but why can't open the 3D text files I created in Xara3d?

2)I tried following the "Pushing the Envelope" tutorial, but since I do not have XaraX, Webster or another vector based drawing programming, I couldn't actually "do" the tutorial. (Sidebar... can I use a PSP image that is made as a vector layer with Xara3D?) I also attempted the football logo tutorial -- sort of. I used the steps importing random shapes from the Xara3D sample file. It was an ugly little creation that didn't turn out at all as it should have.

I didn't give up though. For a little over two hours, I've been fooling around with this little face that now has me stumped.

This is what I did, using the shapes found in the sample/examples files in Xara3d.

1 - Started with basic circle, changing bevel, color, extrusion to taste. Clicked on the cursor icon, hit enter and

2 - Imported a heart shape - resized, baseline shifted, colored, beveled, extruded, left aligned for an ear. Clicked on the cursor icon, hit enter and

3 - Imported a second heart shape, repeated process. Clicked on the cursor icon, hit enter and

4 - Imported an eye shape -- spent a lot of time making adjustments... then after it disappeared several times while I was using the base line feature, I finally realized if I amped up the extrusion, the little eyes would stick out of the face... Huge triumph giggle... and then...

5 -- Attempted to import a curved line from a font to edit as a mouth and ... the whole thing flaked out on me... ears and eyes moved to strange places... So, I saved that image as both a static .gif and a .xar file, thinking if they were a saved image, I could continue with the building process.

6 -- The error messages continued. Now, I'm shrieking. I am so impressed with the examples on this board. While I don't know if I'll aspire to that level of greatness, I'd really like to just stick a mouth on this stupid little guy so I can feel somewhat accomplished.

Sorry for the length, but thought you might be able to direct me to the right help source if you had a clear idea of my problem and my lack of skill.

I'm really enjoying learning how to do web pages (although they are simple)and simple graphics. I would love to be able to use more of my own graphics and have them look more professional.

You can view my web page attempt at www.trax.to/wphog While I did make the 3D text headings and a few of the backgrounds, I'd like to be able to make my own graphics one day too, rather than using the work of talented folks generous enough to share their creations.

Here's a view of my little self-esteem demon. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

Thanks in advance,

Ronda

[Ronda B.]

Hi There!

Well since I've read all of the messages in this forum and some of the messages in the other forums, I feel like I know a little bit about some of you... so I'll tell you a little bit about me...

In the early '80's I took some programming courses. We key punched our programs and fed them into a mega-saurus computer and flipped coins for who would use the "cutting edge" Tandys and IBM's that used BASIC. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] I took a technology haitus for nearly two decades before I retired my Tandy and bought a PC to do a monthly newsletter and a little writing and bookkeeping. I was so infatuated with the new system's abilities, I had to upgrade less than two years later. (And BTW, I have forgotten more than I ever learned about key punch programming.)

What I know, I've learned mostly through error and trial and purchasing manuals. Recently, I decided to try my hand at web-publishing for the little group I do the newsletter for. I came across XARA 3D's demo while looking for software to make headings and buttons. I enjoyed the demo so much after 3 days, I had to order it. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Now I have it, and frankly, I don't know what the heck to do with it... Hence, the old dog and new trick title.

Two glitches, of equal frustration.

1)When I attempt to import (or open a file) made in XARA3D and saved as both a .xar and a .gif file I get one of two error messages. The first being something like "Can't open file, unsupported bitmap..." The other a less wordy "Can't open, unsupported file..." message. Why is that? I read the explanation (and partially understand) that Xara3d does not like PSP and other Bitmap files, so I quit trying to import those files, but why can't open the 3D text files I created in Xara3d?

2)I tried following the "Pushing the Envelope" tutorial, but since I do not have XaraX, Webster or another vector based drawing programming, I couldn't actually "do" the tutorial. (Sidebar... can I use a PSP image that is made as a vector layer with Xara3D?) I also attempted the football logo tutorial -- sort of. I used the steps importing random shapes from the Xara3D sample file. It was an ugly little creation that didn't turn out at all as it should have.

I didn't give up though. For a little over two hours, I've been fooling around with this little face that now has me stumped.

This is what I did, using the shapes found in the sample/examples files in Xara3d.

1 - Started with basic circle, changing bevel, color, extrusion to taste. Clicked on the cursor icon, hit enter and

2 - Imported a heart shape - resized, baseline shifted, colored, beveled, extruded, left aligned for an ear. Clicked on the cursor icon, hit enter and

3 - Imported a second heart shape, repeated process. Clicked on the cursor icon, hit enter and

4 - Imported an eye shape -- spent a lot of time making adjustments... then after it disappeared several times while I was using the base line feature, I finally realized if I amped up the extrusion, the little eyes would stick out of the face... Huge triumph giggle... and then...

5 -- Attempted to import a curved line from a font to edit as a mouth and ... the whole thing flaked out on me... ears and eyes moved to strange places... So, I saved that image as both a static .gif and a .xar file, thinking if they were a saved image, I could continue with the building process.

6 -- The error messages continued. Now, I'm shrieking. I am so impressed with the examples on this board. While I don't know if I'll aspire to that level of greatness, I'd really like to just stick a mouth on this stupid little guy so I can feel somewhat accomplished.

Sorry for the length, but thought you might be able to direct me to the right help source if you had a clear idea of my problem and my lack of skill.

I'm really enjoying learning how to do web pages (although they are simple)and simple graphics. I would love to be able to use more of my own graphics and have them look more professional.

You can view my web page attempt at www.trax.to/wphog While I did make the 3D text headings and a few of the backgrounds, I'd like to be able to make my own graphics one day too, rather than using the work of talented folks generous enough to share their creations.

Here's a view of my little self-esteem demon. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

Thanks in advance,

Ronda

[Ronda B.]

A partial face

[Ronda B.]

And this is the saved .xar file of same face

[Ronda B.]

Oopps... this is the .xar file. My apologies for the mulitude of posts

[pduggan]

Hi Ronda

Took a look at your home page and was, shall we say, rather struck by the number of bytes (about 750K!)...

Animated graphics are very nice, but that's really way too much! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

Hope this is helpful. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]



Peter</p>



Peat Stack or Pete's Tack?</p>

[Ronda B.]

I'm still working daily on the site. I do agree, it is too large of a homepage to open and I've been working on possible changes.

I do appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,

Ronda

[Ronda B.]

Guess there's not much that a lot of strong coffee and insomnia can't remedy. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

It's far from great, but think I'm getting the hang of this. I wonder if by next week I'll be able to do the graphics in only minutes instead of hours?

I achieved this through several saved files, copy paste and adjusts.

If there's a more direct route that I missed, that someone wants to share, I'm all ears (or eyes maybe?)

Thanks,

Ronda

[Egg Bramhill]

Ronda,

I find if you place a bounding box or circle outside the shapes you are exporting, copy and pasting it to each shape, it keeps all shapes the same size and aligned to each other. Then all you need to do is increment the base line shift by 100 % steps.

Egg

[Ronda B.]

for the suggestion.