It is at the same time fascinating and frustrating to see the Xarans who come from Corelxara play and find those fascinating things. Because, even though some very- and some less important things still have to be looked after, Xara does have awe-inspiring possibilities.
Still, the new users are left outside in the cold, and I can well imagine that, when you download the trial without having some basic insight in one of the dinosaurs (CorelDRAW, Illustrator, Freehand), you may well never buy because Xara has a quite personal approach, quite probably even a streak of geniality.What can be done?
First of all, you can visit the Xaraxone and look at, or download the Xealots, starting with nr 16. In there you find a very good manual made by upperXaran (though very humble) Gary Priester. Some details have been changed or are overlooked, but these are never vital and the Help files get you out most often. Then, on the same site, and starting from August 2000, you find very elaborate tutorials by the same gentleman.
And last but not least: this being our forum too, let's not sit down, and do it ourselves! I hope the old timers will comment on this initiative and show shorter , better or simply different approaches to our attempts and findings. So new users from all over this blue planet, and even from other Galaxies: unite!
To give the good example, I'll start myself wiyh a basic version of the wonderful Eschering you find elsewhere on the forum. Here we go: (I use Xara 1.0a)
1/ Draw a long, thin, vertical rectangle with the...rectangle tool on the left side of your work space.
2/ Fill it by selecting it, and with the same selector tool by left clicking on a colour at the base of your
workspace.
3/ Now put the selector tool on the edge of the rectangle and left click. You can see the contour
change. Push the Ctrl button (no fear of launching H-bombs) and drag your mouse to the right
while holding the left button down. You can only drag horizontally. When you've arrived halfway,
while holding the left button and the Ctrl down, right click and continue dragging towards the
right. And rightclick once again when you've arrived at te right side. You now see three identical
rectangles, perfectly aligned.
4/ Select the middle one and give another colour (see2/)
5/ Now choose the blend tool and left click/drag from the left rectangle to the center one, and from there to the right one. You now see five blends between each rectangle. Up left, you see that Xara knows this too. Change the number up there from five to, lets say, 25 or 40, and press return. Wow, this is fascinating! Change the number until no white space is left between the individual rectangles.
6/ Somewhere else on your workspace, you now draw a circle: ellips tool together with Ctrl.
7/ On the bottomleft of the colour bar, you see a white square with a grid on it, the no-fill colour.
Select the circle and left-, and then right click on the no fill button. If it weren't for the handles, the
circle would be invisible (good idea to play with...). There is now a shape, but it is transparant.
8/ Keep this circle selected or reselect it (if you can still find it), push shift and select the blend you've
made earlier too. And now, with the sweat dripping on your keyboard, select the blend tool and
click with a shaking hand on the "blend to curve" button on the infobar, which is located above
your workspace. If you don't find it: Xara shows the names of the items when you hold the mouse
over them without clicking. Et bonjour Monsieur Escher, comment allez-vous?
Try this out if you're interested, and PLAY. You love when you play, and you learn more from your mistakes than from your hits. Enjoy.
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks