Cropping images

[Riftvalley]

Hi,

I was recently asked to produce a small logo for a local company, they wanted a spinning globe that featured the SW of the UK.

I encountered a number of problems and wondered if there are shorter ways to acheive what I wanted.

Firstly I produced a vector map of the SW and put it on a small globe there were two issues here.

Firstly I could not get rid of a relatively large border around my image - the clients specifically wanted a 71 by 70 pixel image to fit their current website.

And secondly my globe was not circular, this second issue I solved by realising that in the extrusion options (apologises by mistake I originally said design options!!!) it says use size = 150, I found that using 158 gives a much better look (suspiciously like pi/2?).

The most important issue, for me, was how to remove the large border so that the logo would fit efficiently on the page. What I did was to open the file in Xara Extreme and then draw a 71X70pix rectangle and by trial and error keep adjusting my exported file until the main image just fitted my rectangle (actually a little bit of algebra solved this issue). I then had to frame-by-frame paste in place my rectangle and then arrange -> combine shapes -> intersect for every frame. I then re-exported from Xara.

This is all a bit tedious, is there a simpler way to crop exported animations from Xara3D?

Apologises for long winded question.

Also, for interest, I found that the flat vector image did not produce good results so I projected it onto a circle using the shape tool which distorted it prior to wrapping it around the sphere - which gave a much better 'look' to the image.

Martin

[Riftvalley]

I have scanned the forum a little more and assume that the only way to crop a .gif animation is frame by frame.

Unless it is possible to define the X3D image to completely fill the design frame and then export at the required size.

M

[handrawn]

Hi,

This is all a bit tedious, is there a simpler way to crop exported animations from Xara3D?

you can crop a gif all in one go if you import into xara xtreme

you need to make all frames visible first if I remmeber right and then you can select everything at once with a boundary box select and crop

[-=Drifter=-]

Am I misunderstanding the situation here or is the answer simply this?

[Soquili]

Would it not be easier to make the frame size in Xara3D the 71 x 70 pixel size?

Window Menu > Frame size...
or use Alt+R

The animation would not need to be cropped after export.

[Egg Bramhill]

I think Martins problem is creating a 70 x 70 pixel animation with no border. i.e. The globe touches the sides of the window. Setting the frame size to 70x70 doesn't work as X3D leaves a generous border.

My work around would be to create a 70 x 70 square in XXP, then a second square behind the first 72 x 72. Export this as backgroundTexture.gif

Import it into X3D as a background texture. It tiles. Now you can see the size that you want the globe to be. With font size set to fit to width, reduce the window down until the globe fits into the grid. (You might need to drag the background texture around a bit.

Now go to export animation. Choose current window size and Crop. It should be 70 x70. If not cancel and readjust window. Repeat. Once you've got the 70 x 70 you can cancel, delete the background texture, and export.

It sounds long winded but it's not.

[Soquili]

Ahhh....I did not comprehend his question

Egg your method is quicker than the alternate method of adjusting font size by trial an error.

[Egg Bramhill]

Yes Bill but yours creates the 70 x 71 pixel animation. My method can only create a 70 x 70 as it's a globe.

[simsmj]

The number of cat skins is building up

A possible option if all the elements in the image are the same default size of 100%, is, with the cursor bar off, to select a particular font size, eg 64pt, instead of the default fit-to-width. The image becomes a fixed size, and then you can adjust the frame size to fit around the image with as much or as little margin as you want, and if you have used sizing pixels, you can adjust the frame to hide those while leaving the desired image in the centre.

In the export dialogue you tick the Current Window Size option, but leave Cropped option unticked, then export will do all your cropping for you.

If the max of 288pt is still too small, you can also select everything with Ctrl-A, and then in the fontsize field you can type a % value, up to a max of 400%. This will make your image objects all 4 times larger, but only in the X- and Y-axes. You will need to re-adjust the extrusions and bevels to restore the image's original appearance, but your image will now be the equivalent of over a 1000pt in size, and bigger than most screens can show.

Mike

[Riftvalley]

Hi all,

Thank you for your interest and help.

The issue is that I needed to crop very tightly to an exact size and have my image fit closely into the space. The reason is that I am replacing an existing icon on an existing webpage for a friend and therefore space has to be used exactly.

I will try handrawn's suggestion of using xara extreme and cropping in one go - I solved the problem by cropping each frame individually. You will see on the orginal post how close I had to get it. The problem is I cannot see how to select all the frames - I can only find one at a time.

Also, I thought it worth noting that using 158 in extrusion options (approx pi/2X100) gives a much better circular shape than the default value of 150.

Martin