Hi DCAHall—

There is the Shape tool (used to be called the Shape Editor Tool) which is common to all versions of Xara, and what Frances is referring to is the Shapebuilder tool, which is not a feature in Photo & Graphic Designer. You have to pop for the "grownup" version to get that tool, sad to say.

Okay, if I'm wrong here and you're honestly asking the difference between the Shape and the Pen tools, I'd refer you to last October's video tutorial and also check out September. These tutorials show exactly how to use each tool, so you can see the difference—and decide which one is easier for you to use.

I don't believe I mentioned using the Shift key while drawing the outline around the Polynesian face, but I did mention pressing the Spacebar—doing this temporarily toggles you to the Hand tool, so you can pan your view, no need to use the scroll bars on the document window. This is a viewing option thing and has nothing to do with your creative work and the tools.

Here's how to get to the line gallery and its options:

Click image for larger version.  Name: line gallery.jpg  Views: 170  Size: 15.8 KB  ID: 94645

And you did pretty darned good for someone who insists on calling themselves a non-artist, DCAHall!



My Best,

Gary