My mindset doesn't work properly with shapes - more with lines and curves from point A to point B.
My normal usage of Xara is for banners and posters etc. not art or technical drawing. Anyway, I wanted to create a specific shape in Xara - it's not that I can't create it otherwise (it's very simple to create in CAD and export as PDF - import into Xara), it's that I can't create it in Xara - No matter what I try I cannot create this exact shape. I say exact specifically because I can close to fudge it, that's not the point. How would I go about creating this shape exactly.
What is the easiest way to create a triangle shape in DP7? I'm creating a diagram of button mapping for a PS2/PS3 controller. I'm hoping I don't have to draw one free hand.
I've been using Xara Photo and Graphic designer for about a week now to design some characters for a game I'm working on and in general find it great to use as a freehand authoring tool.
In order to develop a cartoon style, I'm building my characters out of free hand coloured objects with black outlines with cel shading made from partial masked clones of the objects. This works a treat until I come to put two of the objects together and want to erase part of the outline on the topmost object where it meets the underlying one.
I thought I'd found a solution with a tip on the Xara site (at the top of the page here) where you draw the outline portion you want and combine with a second object then break the objects again. This pretty much achieves what I want, I get a filled object with the outline broken where I originally left it, however, things start to go wrong when you attempt to mask clone a part of the object you've created (for example, to produce a shaded portion of the underlying object) as it's still a line and not a shape, so the mask clone gets confused and doesn't cut out the intended area.
This must be a pretty regular requirement, particularly for people creating flash animations, so I'm sure I must be missing something or going about the construction of the image in the wrong way.
I am trying to export some artwork as a PDF so I can get it printed, but every time I try to export it I get the attached message. I have tried various times always after a reboot but with no luck.
The file is only just under 7mb in size so I can't figure out why it is doing it.
It is important that I export with layers as I have a cutter guide included so the printer can see where he needs to position the print on the sheet and it is printed on both sides.
For some reason I am unable to create text to follow a curved path. For example, I created a simple curved line using the shape editor tool. After selecting the completed line I select the main text tool (the other text tool, fit text to curve, is grayed out and not selectable). However, wherever I insert the cursor along the curved line I still end up with a straight line of text. After much experimentation I still cannot figure it out. I know I am leaving out a simple step.
I need to create a series of "trays" that are in the shape of letters. I am having some success with certain letters, but zero success with others.
I am creating these letters using a curve brought in from illustrator, and sweeping the profile that I want to use around the curve to create the outside.I am then using presspull to create the base of the tray.
However, sometimes the sweep command will simply say "unable to sweep 1 selected object" with no explanation as to why.
Sometimes I will get the shape that I want, but it is facing the wrong way, and I cannot fix it. Other times it will simply stall and then delete both the curve and the profile.
I just read the thread the thread "...plus ask about erasers" but it doesn't answer my question about combining shapes to remove unwanted portions - or at least I didn't quite understand it. Here's my issue. I've created a nice "background" image with ripples and live effects, but it has gaps, and isn'tthe right shape. I need to erase parts of it and clip it to the right shape, but every time I try to do this using the slice tool, it puts the gaps back into the image! Attached is my image and the shape I want to clip it to.
I just tried converting the ripple shape to a bitmap copy and then slicing the shape - that doesn't get me the rippled effect I want - just the shape I already have. Then, I tried just creating the water ripples in my shape - but again that leaves gaps and when I try to "slice" them away it does all kinds of weird things to the shape..
In Photoshop CS6, when you have a shape layer with a layer mask, and the two are not linked together, and the layer mask is selected, you should be able to scale the layer mask independently of the shape. What actually happens is the shape gets scaled and the layer mask stays untouched. In fact, even if you option-click on the layer mask to show the mask by itself, and then try to scale it, you still end up scaling the shape instead of the mask. Even if you go as far as to make a pixel selection of the layer mask and attempt to scale the pixels, the shape still gets scaled and the layer mask still stays put! Unbelievable!
This works correctly in CS4, but not in CS6 (don't know about CS5).
Since the release of Photoshop CC the "Live Shape Properties" has basically chosen when it does and does not want to show up.... sometimes I even create a new shape to replace the old one and it STILL does not show the live shape properties... how hard is it to make sure the options are available at all times? I opt for a discount since this is a half working application and the features you highlighted barely function...
i use the Photo Grafic designer 2013, how do I cut out a shape. For example I want to cut out a car and get rid of the backgound so that I can use the image of the car somewhere else.
1. Is it possible to add more than one fill to the same shape i.e two elliptical fills to a shape.
2. When you add the shapes together how do you maintain the fills in each shape - I have 3 shapes that i have 'played with' all with one fill (so far !) when i add the shapes together they combine to form a single shape but with only one fill
If I type in something like "Book" then highlight it with the selector tool. Then go to Arrange> Convert to Editable Shapes and go back and unclick/click it has not changed into an editable shape.
URL....i dropped it into xdpx ungrouped everything extracted the france shape and tried to fill it.i check and it is definitely a closed shape.i can manipulate the outline as normal but nothing i do fills it it's definitely not transparent to remedy this i draw a square under it, select both and subtract shapes this gives me a square with france cut out of it then i draw another square inside the former square but outside the france outline i move the square underneath, select both and once again subtract shapes finally i have my shape filled as i require.
under Photo Clone Tool, there are a few comments, which I'm not sure if they're conflicting or I'm not reading them correctly, but I cannot seem to be able to change the clone shape...:
"After you've drawn your freehand clone shape, you can adjust the smoothness of the line. This is exactly equivalent to the Freehand tool smoothness control. This is only active immediately after you've drawn the clone shape. If you edit the clone outline using the other tools such as the Shape Editor, this control become disabled."
and
"Clone shapes are normal vector editable shapes, and once selected you can switch into any of the normal line or shape editing tool to make further adjustments of the outline."
and
"A photo with clone edits, is stored as a new 'Photo Group' structure. This acts like a normal photo for many purposes (you can resize it, rotate it, enhance it etc, and it will act as a single photo object). But using 'select inside' (Ctrl+click) or using the Page & Layer Gallery to view the group structure, you can select and edit the individual clone objects within the Photo Group."
I created this video to achieve this using Xara P&GD. The video is here and the .xar file you need is attached.
This video shows how to create an angle based object for visual presentation, any object created with this method should not be used in manufacturers drawings where precision is paramount.
I have a shape (an Open Book) that I would like to Fill the two Open (showing) Pages with Text -I thought of just making a smaller than the page text box under page shape for each page; but, then I thought I'd check with You Pros here and see if a Shape could have a 'Text' Fill...?
I'm trying to add text on both sides of the diagonal line. I want the text to be screen filling, so what I'm trying to achieve is two triangular shaped text boxes.
1) Import a photo. 2) Freehand draw a shape to surround an interesting part of the image. 3) Intersect the two. 4) Use the Photo tool to crop one edge of the Clipped Photo
Now I want to refine the clipping shape, so I switch to the Shape tool, but there are no longer any nodes to edit!
Switching to Wireframe shows that the clipping shape is still there, and the mouse pointer indicates that I can reshape the lines, but the behaviour is erratic to say the least!
How do I arrange a shape within a group forwards or backwards? I can select the shape in the Page & Layer Gallery, but I cannot drag it higher or lower in the hierarchy. I simply want to move a shape within a group so that it is behind another shape.
I have shape with a 'single tile' bitmap fill and the bitmap is smaller than the shape (which is what I need) but I want the fill of the shape not taken up with the bitmap to be white, however this is defaulting to transparent. I've gotten around this by cloning the shape, setting the fill to flat white and placing it behind the original (bitmap filled) shape. This works fine but is there a way to do this without resorting to this second copy?
Often I have a group of lines that visually bound a closed shape, but aren't shapes as considered by Xara. For instance, in the image attached, the top group is a bunch of lines, and thus can't be filled. To color the interior, I've been duplicating those lines, and then manually joining them at appropriate points, to yield a shape (bottom) that can be filled. This takes some time, especially for complex drawings.
My question is if there is a shortcut by which Xara will determine the bounding shape for a group of overlapping lines?
I have been working on a book cover for a client and was asked to modify a capital letter in the chosen font. The letter "S" had a curly q at the top that needed to be removed. I converted the letter to an editable shape and deleted the offending nodes. Along the way I had to break the points and then reconnect. When I broke the points, Xara split the shape into 2 layers for some reason so I could not rejoin the points later. I ended up combining the layers and was able to rejoin the nodes that way.
The problem I had was that when everything was reconnected, I could only color the outline, the shape would not fill. I ended up having to export as a PNG to Photoshop, created an adjustment layer and painted it in. Everything looks great BUT I would have preferred to just reconnect the nodes and fill the letter in Xara.
I have this crest thing here that I need to cut out so there is no background to it. I have managed to get the background transparent, but when I print there is a square of incorrectly printed colour around the image. I have tried converting it to an editable shape but still get this problem.
I have trouble manually tracing around an irregular shape, such as a pitcher winding up to pitch a ball. I use the shape editor to outline the figure. When I finish I find that there's two outlines, and they're not connected. Is there some way to get them connected as one complete outline?
see attached picture, is it possible to trim the parts of the curve that go beyond the shape? In a CAD programme you can just trim these away and join whats left to form your shape.
By the way i am trying out the trial of Autodesk sketch book designer, (not to be confused with sketchbook pro). it has vector graphics in it and has some neat ideas xara could benefit from. Check out the video, i like the direct transformable fills. also the way lines are handled.
