The Xara Xone Workbook
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A Popcorn String

NEW USERS - These tutorials, as well as the Xara X tutorials, have certain basic requirements including Pixels as the Units of Measure, and 0-255 (RGB) Color Units. If you are a new user, you might want to visit last month's Workbook 20, which covers most of these set up issues. If you have not used Xara for a while you might want to take a moment to brush up as well.

One of the more traditional ways to decorate a Christmas Tree is with a string of popped corn. It's easy to recreate this in Xara.

String of popcorn - Xara Xone step-by-step tutorial

Create three sets of circles. Each set should contain one larger circle. Arrange the circles more or less as shown with some of the smaller circles in back of the the larger circles.

 

String of popcorn - Xara Xone step-by-step tutorial

Apply a Circular fill to one of the larger circles using pale yellow and white. (Select Circular from the Fill Type drop down list on the Infobar). Open the Profile dialog by pressing the Arrow icon on the Infobar. Apply a Profile 2 preset. Copy the circle to the clipboard (Ctrl c).

New Users: Refer to Workbook 20 for how to apply a fill and how to edit the colors.

 

String of popcorn - Xara Xone step-by-step tutorial

Marquee select the three sets of circles by dragging a selection rectangle (a Marquee) around the circles with the Selector Tool (the Arrow pointer).

From the Edit menu. select Paste Attributes. This applies the fill from the first circle that you copied to the clipboard to the selected circles.

 

String of popcorn - Xara Xone step-by-step tutorial

Create a few small ellipses and apply an Elliptical fill using the two colors shown. Place these in the centers and bring one or two of the smaller circles to the front (Ctrl f ). Group each of the three sets making 3 groups.

 

String of popcorn - Xara Xone step-by-step tutorial

Resize the three groups smaller. The actual size is not important.

Select the three groups and then select the Freehand and Brush Tool. Press the Create Brush button on the Infobar. In the Create New Brush dialog, key in Popcorn Brush and press OK to create the brush. With the Freehand and Brush Tool, draw a wavy line with the new popcorn brush.

 

String of popcorn - Xara Xone step-by-step tutorial

With the Freehand and Brush Tool and the new popcorn brush stroked line selected, open the Select an Existing Stroke Shape drop down list. Scroll to the very bottom and click the Intestine stroke shape. This causes the pop corn to become thicker and thinner. I have also added a Floor Shadow to the popcorn.

Press the Edit Brush button on the Infobar and adjust the Spacing reducing the amount a little. Open the Rotation tabbed section and modifying the setting to Adding 3 Degrees.

Making the line width larger or smaller effects the size of the popcorn.

 

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