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The WebXealot Workbook Page 2

Rubber Stamp Effect

Here is my technique for creating an old rubber stamp effect. It is really easy and you can apply it to text, symbols, logos, anything that can be filled. For this tutorial we'll create a design with circles and stars and text.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 1 Using the Rectangle and Ellipse Tools create two circles and a rectangle to the sizes shown. Select the rectangle and then click the Curved Corners icon (the arc icon) on the Infobar. (The rectangle should be drawn as close to the actual size as shown so that the corners are round).

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 2 Select the two circles (Shift click on each to select both). From the Arrange menu, select Convert Line to Shapes. With the two circles still selected, select Join Shapes from the Arrange menu. Add a fill to the rectangle. The color is not important.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 3 Make a Clone duplicate of the rectangle (Ctrl k). Select the clone and the joined circles and Arrange > Combine Shapes... Subtract Shapes. This deletes the area of the two circles that is directly below the rectangle but leaves the rectangle.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 4 Select the rectangle and Arrange > Convert Line to Shape. The fill will go away. That is OK. Select the rectangle and the circles and Combine Shapes... Add Shapes. The rectangle and circles are now one object.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 5 Drag two guidelines from the screen rulers (Ctrl L to display screen rulers if they are not on the screen) through the center of the shape. Using the Text Tool, key in a capital H . Set the size to 24pt and the font to Zapf Dingbats. Position the star (the letter H in Zapf Dingbats is a star symbol) between the vertical line at the 12:00 O'clock position. Click again on the star to enable rotate/skew mode. Drag the rotation bulls eye down to the intersection of the two guidelines. Hold down the Ctrl key and rotate the star 30 degrees. (The Angle of Rotation text entry box on the Infobar will show the rotation in degrees). Before you release the left mouse button, click the right mouse button to drop a duplicate. Continue this drag and duplicate until you have 10 rotated stars as shown.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 6 Select all the objects and Arrange > Combine Shapes... Add Shapes.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 7 Add text. I have used Cooper Black 48pt. You can use Coolsville which is in the Fonts folder of the Xara X CD. You can use a similar font if you wish. Highlight the text and increase the Tracking until the characters are spread out as shown.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 8 Create a rectangle that is larger than the text. With the rectangle selected, open the Fill Galley and from the Stones folder, select Stone 10 and press Fill.

If you don't have any fills in your Fill Gallery: place the Xara CD in your CD drive. Open the Fill Gallery and press Disc Fills... Xara will look for the Xara CD and should display the contents. Find the Fills folder and double click the folder to select it. Then press Add. Xara will create folders and thumbnail images of each fill. (The actual fills remain on the CD and so to apply a fill the Xara CD needs to be in your drive).

Right click on the rectangle and from the pop up menu, select Create Bitmap Copy... Select True Color for the Color Depth and press Create to create the bitmap. Delete the non-bitmap.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 9 Right click on the bitmap and from the pop up menu, select Bitmap Effects and Plug-ins... Bitmap Effects > Color Depth. From the list of options, select Grayscale.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 10 Right click on the bitmap again and select Bitmap Effects and Plug-ins... Bitmap Effects > Brightness and Contrast. Move the Contrast slider to about the where the 75% mark would be if there were a 75% mark. This makes the dark colors darker and the light colors lighter.

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 11 Select the bitmap and right click on the deep red square on the screen palette. Bring the bitmap to the top (Ctrl f). I'm not sure why this next step is necessary, but it is. Convert the bitmap to bitmap (Create Bitmap Copy). Delete the black and white bitmap. Send the red bitmap to the back (Ctrl b).

© 2002 Gary W. Priester

Step 12 Select the bitmap and the stamp image and Arrange > Combine Shapes... Intersect Shapes. The red bitmap background is now masked inside the art and the effect looks like an old used rubber stamp (at least it does to me).

I rotated the shape, added a Paper 14 fill from the Background Fills folder in the Fill Gallery, and then applied a Stained Glass transparency to get rid of the white portion of the bitmap. That is all there is to it.