3d confused

[jimctb]

I recently purchased xara 3d to make a logo extruded and spin 3d object, I am having trouble importing the 2d gif file into xara 3d, Do I need xara extreme to do this and then copy and paste into xara 3d???

[Soquili]

Hi Jimctb,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

This question comes up very often.

A .gif file is a raster (also known as bitmapped) image. Xara3D can use it as a background image or as a texture for a 3D object. Other raster image formats are: .jpg, .tif, png; to name a few. To further confuse the issue some files that are customarily known as vector images can contain raster only data. Two of these types of files are .wmf and .emf.

Xara3D requires vector images for import. If you attempt to import a raster image you will see and error. If you try to import a .wmf or .emf that contains no vector data, only raster; you will receive an error saying no outlines were found.

If you do not have a vector file of the logo, one would have to be created before you can import into Xara3D.

Xara Xtreme is the best (and least expensive) vector program you can you to create the vector file.

You would need to actually draw the shapes for the logo. Some people have tried using automatic bitmap trace functions of Xara and Corel Draw but the results are usually too many shapes to produce a satisfactory logo. Trace functions have to try and determine a precise outline for the many colours within a bitmapped (raster) image. This is often more difficult than most new uses expect it to be.

[jimctb]

Thanks, for the advice, I will be attempting to re-create the image with the xara extreme software package, Thanks for all of your help.

Jim

[Doug]

Thanks, for the advice, I will be attempting to re-create the image with the xara extreme software package, Thanks for all of your help.

Jim

For a howto, check out this video:

http://xara.com/products/xtreme/demos/default.asp

"Xara Xtreme and Xara3D 6-Creating 3D shapes using Xara 3D.

Check out this new movie showing the great effects you can achieve by combining Xara Xtreme and Xara3D. "