how do you make a custom mold?

[Clear80]

im reading tony roberts mold tutorial but i don't think i understand what i need to do. what i want to do is make a really weird shape then make my grouped object conform to that shape. how is this done? meanwhile ill keep on reading the tutorial.

[Soquili]

You must remember that a mould in Xara requires no more or less than four nodes and four sides. The sides can be curved or very short but there must always be four of them.

[Clear80]

this is what i do, i take the pen tool, and draw 4 points with the pen tool, either straight lines or curves. then i select the desired envelope shape, click mold tool, then click on my grouped objects, then... ill stop here cause man i dunno what im doing

[Clear80]

hmm, must you actually start your custom mold from a default shape like a square oval or something and then tweak it to your desired shape. i was trying to draw the the with the pen tool. if so, still don't understand the copy and paste method used to create the mold.

:edit: it was just a matter of moving the curve handles to create weird shapes. however is there a way to draw a shape from scratch and then make my group of objects conform to my created shape?

[steve.ledger]

See the Xara Help section on 'Enveloping' .

To help you understand better, you are 'moulding' a shape using an 'envelope'.
You select the starting 'envelope' shape using SHIFT+F6 (The Mould Tool).

however is there a way to draw a shape from scratch and then make my group of objects conform to my created shape?

No - you cannot draw any old shape with the pen tool for a mould envelope.

[Clear80]

i understand now.

[tonylondon]

Any closed shape with exactly four points.