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As always, we will be using Pixels as our units of measure. Right click on the screen and select Page Options... from the pop up menu. In the Units tabbed section, select Pixels for the Units and 0-255 for the Color Units. In the Grid and Ruler tabbed section set the Major Spacing to 100pix (key it in exactly like this please) and the Number of Subdivisions to 10. Press OK to close the dialog and apply the changes. To see a tutorial on Xara Basics visit Workbook 20. NOTE: You will notice from time to time I apply arbitrary colors to objects. I do this to make the objects easier to see. If I do not specify a fill for an object, you do not have to apply a fill or outline color. When I show an ellipse or rectangle that has just been created, that has no fill, it is because I have set the fill to none before I exported the illustration. By default, all ellipses, rectangles and Quick Shapes have a black outline and a black fill. There is nothing wrong with your copy of Xara. Naming Conventions. I use bold face to indicate the names of tools, galleries, keyboard shortcuts, and dialogs. Items such as unnamed icons and drop down lists, which have names when you let your cursor rest over them for a moment, are displayed in italics. The Infobar is the context sensitive menu at the top of the screen and changes to reflect the options for the selected tool. New Users? I have created some quick start mini-tutorials to get you though the basics. Workbook 20, Workbook 30, and Workbook 31 cover the main things you need to know to get started. While you should be able to create all the steps in previous versions of Xara, some of the tool icons have changed, and this may cause some confusion for new users. If you are using an older version of Xara, click here to see my Rosetta Stone for translating the old buttons into the new. |
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Select the Ellipse Tool (L). Hold down the Ctrl key and draw a circle 150 pixels in diameter. Clone the circle (Ctrl k) and reduce the diameter to 115 pixels. Hold down the Shift key, to select multiple objects, and click on each circle to select both. From the Arrange menu, select Combine Shapes > Subtract Shapes or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl 2 . This produces an O-shape.
Drag a horizontal and vertical guideline from the screen rulers (Ctrl L to display rulers) through the center of the O-shape. Switch to the Shape Editor Tool (F4). Drag a vertical line from the intersection of the two guidelines that extends beyond the O-shape. Selecting and editing a line that is on a guideline in Xara is one of life's more vexing challenges. So here is how I do it. Drag a selection rectangle around the line with the Selector Tool (the arrow pointer). Click the bottom center square in the Set Origin Point icon on the Infobar (shown above left). Next press the Show Rotation Handles icon. This enables rotate/skew mode and sets the rotation point at the bottom of the line. Drag the top right or left rotation arrow handle with the RIGHT mouse button and rotate the line about 15 degrees. When you release the right mouse button, a duplicate of the line will be created. Repeat this until you have created a series of randomly rotated lines as shown above on the right. Select all the lines, but not the O-shape, and group them. The easiest way to do this is to marquee select (drag a selection rectangle with the Selector Tool) around all the lines and circle to select all, then Shift click on the O-shape to deselect it. Arrange > Group or Ctrl g.
Select the group of lines and the O-shape and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Subtract Shapes (or press Ctrl 2). This produces a grouped series of arc shapes. Make 3 duplicates. (You can drag with the right mouse button held down to create the duplicates). One by one, click twice on each group to enable rotate/skew mode, and rotate each group in a random manner.
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©2008 Gary W. Priester - All rights reserved
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