Making a bitmap logo spin in Xara3D Part 2

[simsmj]

In Part 2, instead of painting a bitmap logo onto a spinning box or disc, we rebuild the logo with multiple custom vector shapes, using a separate vector application, and import them into Xara3D, and learn how to manipulate them within Xara3d's own environment to create a fully 3D logo.

Mike

[DAL]

I did have one question about saving with X3D. When I save the image it seems to automatically save with blank space around it that is unwanted, as you can see in my sample. What I'd like to do is save to a specific size but only the image area without the extra blank space. Is there a way to do that? I've mucked with it a bit trying the frame box and such but nothing successful so far. Any thoughts?

[DAL]

Also meant to say I enjoyed your 2 tutorials. Nicely done.

[simsmj]

Hi, Dal, I'm glad you liked the tutorials. The best way to kkep the blank space to a minimum is to set the frame size to the dimensions you want, and turn off Fit-to-width in the Font size field on the top bar. The max pt size you can set is 288pt, which may not be large enough to fill your frame properly, so if you then type CTRL-A, every object will be selected, and the Font size box will now show either a percentage, usually 100%, or a blank, which would mean you had set a specific size on one or some objects in your image already.

You can set this to a max of 400%, or whatever you need to make the image fit the frame. The downside to this is that it applies only to the X- and Y-dimensions, not the Z-dimension, so while objects become much larger, their thickness stays the same, as that is set by the Extrusion depth. The objects will appear thinner. So you will almost certainly need to increase the extrusions used in the objects in your image, and also adjust any textures.

If you have used sizing pixels, you can ensure that they are outside the frame and so they will be cropped off automatically when you export the image.

When exporting, set the option tin the Export dialogue to Current window size, and untick Crop, then export.

Mike

[DAL]

Thanks so much Mike. I'm going to try that and I'll post back after.

[DAL]

I had a go at playing with the settings you mentioned and here is what I came up with. Thanks a lot for the help.

[Meester Willy]

Thanks. Great help!
What next?

[mdhawthorne]

Wow! I am a new member and found exactly what I was looking for when I did my first scroll through this section. You have two soinning orbs with a different message on eash side. How do you get that effect? I can easliy get one message on one side of an orb but I did not know there was a way to further engance that. Thanks for any and all info.