Welcome to Xara 3D Maker 7

Purchasing and unlocking Xara 3D Maker

What's New in Xara 3D Maker Version 7

Other Xara products

Getting Help

Support

About Xara 3D Maker

Tooltips

Working with Xara 3D Maker

The Xara 3D Maker window

Getting started

How To ...

Quick overview

Open a new document

Change the text

Rotate and position the graphic

Status bar

Positioning options

Rotate options

Light the graphic

Color the graphic

Resize the graphic

Add bevels & extrude

Select characters

Add shadows

Shadow styles

Shadows and Flash vector format

Create animations

Animation options and file format

To preview an animation

Editing the text for multi-page animations

The time line

Applying animation effects to selected text

Tips for creating animations

Using the animation picker

Creating cursor (CUR & ANI) files

Importing 2D objects

For use as a board or border design

For use as a text character

Copying from Xara Designer Pro

Apply the style of an existing graphic

Copy the animation options

Copy selected options

Create buttons, boards, boards + holes and borders

Create screen savers

Previewing a screen saver file

Using a screen saver file

Tips

Create Flash files

Tips for creating Flash files

Save and export

Export options for GIF, PNG or BMP files

Export options for JPG

Export options for animated cursors (ANI)

Export options for animated GIFs

Export options for AVIs (movies and screen savers)

Export options for screen savers (SCR)

Export options for Flash bitmap format (SWF) files

Export options for Flash vector format (SWF) files

General info on AVI videos

Exporting transparent title animations for movies

Customize Xara 3D Maker

Changing the default document

Changing quality settings

Adding comments

Docking and undocking dialog boxes and toolbars

Moving toolbars

Option bars

Advanced customization

Reset settings

Reference Section

The toolbars

The standard toolbar

The options toolbar

The text toolbar

The time line

The status bar

The Option Bars

Animation options

Bevel options

Color options

Design options

Extrusion options

Shadow options

Text options

Texture options

View options

File Formats

Keyboard Shortcuts

Text Options Dialog Shortcuts

Accented characters and symbols

Legal

Xara Customer End User License Agreement

Copyright

Welcome to Xara 3D Maker 7

Traditional 3D programs are notoriously difficult to use and understand. Not so Xara 3D Maker 7. Unlike many 3D programs that take an age to learn and understand, Xara 3D Maker 7 has been created to perform one job, and performs that job with style, speed and simplicity.

Xara 3D Maker 7 is solely designed to create the highest quality 3D text and graphics, such as headings, logos, titles and buttons. It's the perfect way to add impact to your web pages, mailshots, movie titles and credits, and presentations (all images are fully anti-aliased for that smooth, professional quality). Xara 3D Maker 7 can also create awesome 3D animations in seconds - GIFs, AVIs and simple Flash movie sequences - and you can even enhance your desktop by saving any animation as a screensaver!

Getting started

These pages help you when you first install Xara 3D Maker 7.

The basics

Getting started

The design types

What's new in version 7

Customer support

How do I...?

Use this page if you want to find out how to do something in Xara 3D Maker 7.

Last changed: 2/16/2011

Purchasing and unlocking Xara 3D Maker

When you run the downloaded trial version of Xara 3D Maker, the start screen will present you with three options. Check the option you require and you will be presented with further instructions.

Activate with serial number

Select this option if you have already purchased your copy of Xara 3D Maker and enter the serial number that you were given in the email confirming your purchase. Enter your email address so your copy can be registered (if you have already registered this will be ignored). Then click Register Online and Activate.

Purchase online

Select this option if you would like to purchase a copy of Xara 3D Maker. You will be given a serial number when you purchase.

Continue using trial

Select this option if you would like to continue using the free trial. To the right of this option it will tell you how many days of the trial you have left. Then click Continue trial.

Important note: Please keep a record of the email address and password you used when purchasing Xara 3D Maker since you may need them in the future, for example if you wish to upgrade.

Other ways to purchase

If you do not have the trial you can order directly on our website www.xara.com/ordering and you will be given a serial number that can be used to unlock the trial later.

Xara titles are great value for the money, but we offer further generous discounts to academic establishments on all our products. You can find details on our website.

What's New in Xara 3D Maker Version 7

Xara 3D Maker now offers:

- Two new animation types, Scroll and Scroll In/Out, allow you to move letters, words and phrases across the screen in a choice of directions, also giving you control over entrance and exit speed and acceleration/deceleration.

- Seven new bevel styles add to the huge range of beveled types you can add to your 3D design. These include:

- Four new smoothed bevel types that give you a wider choice of rounded bevel types - Smoothed 1a and 1b, Smoothed 2a and 2b

Smoothed 1a

Smoothed 1b

Smoothed 2a

Smoothed 2b

- A stylish addition to the Fancy Incut bevel types

Fancy Incut 3

- Two new striking angled designs, Angle Faced and Angle Cornered

Angle Faced

Angle Cornered

- A new View Options dialog allows you to enter an X & Y position for your image, and you can also specify precise angles for its horizontal and vertical rotation.

View options let you rotate precisely around three axes and view your design as wireframe

- Easier insertion of line and page breaks in the Text Options dialog box enables faster text editing.

- Instant access to hundreds of pre-built Xara 3D Maker samples via the new Open Sample command in the File menu.

- The newautosave feature ensures you won't lose any of your 3D designs, even if you exit Xara 3D Maker without saving changes - your current view will be saved and will automatically open the next time you open the program.

- On Windows 7 by default Xara 3D Maker now excludes fonts that are marked as hidden, from its font list. However this can be turned off so that the hidden fonts do appear in the font list. Refer to your Windows documentation for more information on Windows 7 hidden fonts.

- You can now copy or cut and paste your 3D images to Microsoft Word and other programs.

Other Xara products

There are trial versions and demo movies for many of these products at http://www.xara.com/products.

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 6 (formerly Xtreme) is quite simply the best value and fastest all-in-one graphics package you'll find. For drawings or photo work, for print or web graphics, it's the perfect choice.

See http://www.xara.com/products/designer/ for more information.

Xara Designer Pro (formerly Xtreme Pro) is our top of the range product and includes all the features and templates of Web Designer and Photo & Graphic Designer. Plus it adds extra features that Pro designers need including support for PDF/X, PANTONE® and color separations, multi-core processor support for extra speed, enhanced import/export filters, a pro version of the photo panorama tool and more.

See http://www.xara.com/products/designer/ for more information.

Xara Web Designer is unlike any web editor you will have seen before; an easy template based solution that gives you total page design freedom, no HTML skills required. It offers comprehensive WYSIWYG web graphic, web page and website creation features.

See http://www.xara.com/products/webdesigner/ for more information.

Create professional graphical NavBars and DHTML menus in an instant with Xara Menu Maker - no technical or design skills required.

See http://www.xara.com/products/menumaker/ for more information.

Xara ScreenMaker 3D is a screensaver maker that's fast, fun and easy to use. Create animated 3D text or tumbling picture cube screensavers.

See http://www.xara.com/products/screenmaker3d/ for more information.

Getting Help

In this chapter

Support

About Xara 3D Maker

Tooltips

Support

http://support.xara .com

- The Xara support site above offers a comprehensive FAQ page (frequently asked questions) which is constantly updated and available 24 hours, 7 days a week; always the best source for instant answers. You can also contact our technical support staff using the form on the support page, if you cannot find the answer to your question!

- If you are an owner of a Xara product you can also submit a ticket to our support staff via the support site above, but please remember we can only respond during office hours! Please note TalkGraphics members cannot help with Xara account issues.

If you can't find the answer in this manual, we highly recommend viewing the Xara 3D Maker introduction movie. It is the ideal way to get to know Xara 3D Maker and get an overview of its features, allowing you to make the most of the program.

If you need some help using this program, here are some sources of information that may be of use:

- Program help - Choose Help topics from the Help menu to open Xara 3D Maker Help (containing hundreds of pages of information).

- Status bar - Try reading the text on the status bar at the bottom of the main Xara 3D Maker window. It always describes what actions are currently possible and what they will do (even during drags), and helps you learn to use the Xara 3D Maker tools. It also gives details of what buttons and controls do as you move the pointer over them. See Status Bar for more details.

- ToolTips - If you hold the mouse pointer over a button or control for a short while, then small message appears telling you what it does.

- Dialog boxes - If you want to know what a dialog box does or how to use it, click its help button (displayed as a "?" mark).

- Movies - Use menu "Help" > "Play Movie" or click here to watch the program introduction movie.

- The TalkGraphics forums - Post your question in the popular, dedicated Xara forums at TalkGraphics.com (www.talkgraphics.com), where you can ask other Xara 3D Maker users for advice or suggestions – available 24x7. You can share tips and ideas, ask questions or offer solutions to other users.

- Xara Xone - Visit the Xara Xone (www.xaraxone.com) for a host of excellent Xara 3D Maker support resources, including over ten years of Xara Designer tutorials, hints & tips, featured artists, and Xara shareware

- "The Outsider" newsletter (www.xara.com/outsider) Subscribe to our monthly newsletter "The Outsider" (with monthly tutorials and tips, offers, inspirational art, and more).

- Join the Xara community on Facebook or follow our news on Twitter.

About Xara 3D Maker

Choose "Help" > "About Xara 3D Maker 7". This displays general information about the program. If you contact Xara support, you may be asked for this information.

Tooltips

When you move over a button, the tooltip tells you the function of the button.

Working with Xara 3D Maker

This section describes the basics of using Xara 3D Maker. Later sections provide more details of the various dialog boxes and toolbars and how to perform particular actions.

In this chapter

The Xara 3D Maker window

Getting started

The Xara 3D Maker window

Display of the toolbars and Status Bar is optional. The Window menu lets you select which to display.

Standard toolbar: This provides common editing functions such as load and save. For more details see The standard toolbar.

Text toolbar:_This provides quick access to the main text editing options such as font and size. For more details see The text toolbar.

Time line: (Not displayed by default. Select Time line on the Window menu.) This provides greater control over animations. It lets you start, stop, pause and step through animations. For more details of the Time line see The time line. For more details of creating animations see Create animations.

Preview area: The main part of the window shows a preview of your graphic as you create it. You can edit the graphic by, for example, dragging on a shadow to move the shadow, or dragging on the graphic to change the extrude or bevel.

Options toolbar: This provides shortcuts to the different options available. These are:

- Animation options

- Bevel options

- Color options

- Design options

- Extrusion options

- Shadow options

- Text options

- Texture options

- View options

Option bars: Each bar contains settings for the options listed above. They can be accessed by clicking on the required bar or by clicking the required button on the options toolbar above. For more details see Option bars. You can move and dock the option bars, or remove completely.

Design toolbar: Offers shortcuts to the different design types of: text only, button, board, board with holes and border. For more details see Design options.

Status bar: This provides feedback on available editing options and also shows you the current size and rotation angles of the 3D graphic. For more details see The status bar.

Note: Right click anywhere in the preview area (main window) to bring up a menu with options relating to that item. For example, right-clicking the background gives you the opportunity to change the background color and texture.

Getting started

Traditional 3D programs are notoriously difficult to use and understand. This is not the case with Xara 3D Maker. Xara 3D Maker is so simple to use, literally anyone can produce high quality still and animated 3D graphics in minutes.

We highly recommend viewing the Xara 3D Maker introduction movie. It is the ideal way to get to know Xara 3D Maker and get an overview of its features, allowing you to make the most of the program. View the movie.

Creating a 3D heading is easy:

1. Start typing to enter the text you want. You can delete existing text using backspace.

- Typically the first step is to enter your own text which you can do by just deleting the default text with the regular Delete key and typing your own. You can position the image in three dimensions by simply dragging it on screen (as long as you don't have a background texture, in which case use the scroll bars).

2. Select a font of your choice from the drop-down list in the text toolbar.

- You will likely also want to customize it, which you can do by clicking any of the option bars on the right hand side of the window (the buttons on the options toolbar also open these). Any changes you make are reflected instantly on the image, making it easy and fun to experiment.

3. Change the bevel and extrude if you wish.

- Dragging on the graphic itself can change the extrude or bevel. You can also add a shadow and drag it to the required position, and

4. Drag the text to get the angle you want.

5. Change the color of the text or background.

6. Resize the Xara3D window to set the size of the text.

7. Select Export on the file menu to save the heading as a BMP, PNG, GIF, JPEG, Flash SWF, ICO (icon) or CUR (cursor).

Want an animated heading?

Creating animations is just as easy. The animation options offer a wide range of different animation types from simple rotation of the image to multi-page animations with alternating animation types per character.

Want to change the lighting angles or colors?

Simple. Click the light bulb button. This displays the three lights that color the text (and a special striped light that creates the shadow). Drag the lights to change the angles or double-click on a light to display the color picker.

Want to copy styles from an existing heading?

And if you don't want to create your own headings you can simply copy one that's already been created by using the design picker (under design options) to copy some or all of the attributes of an existing file to the current heading, or use the animation picker to copy animation settings.

Want to open one of the hundreds of samples that come with Xara 3D Maker?

Choose Open Sample from the File menu and choose from the huge selection of .x3d files arranged into folders depending on their design. A preview is displayed as you click on each file, so you can see the image before you open it.

Want to import your own 2D graphic?

You can import Windows metafiles (EMF or WMF) or Xara XAR/WEB files. Then you can convert them to extruded 3D graphics.

When you're happy with the results, you can export either a static image or an animation or movie in any of the most popular file formats. You can even create an animated screensaver either for use on your own computer or for distribution to other people.

Want to copy your 3D image into another application?

No problem, just copy your design (choose Copy from the Edit menu or press "Ctrl + C") and it's placed on your clipboard in 24bpp bitmap form, as well as in XAR format. This means that you can paste it into any other application that handles bitmaps, such as Microsoft Word or Outlook, or graphics programs, as well as other Xara products such as Xara Designer Pro and Xara Photo & Graphic Designer. The XAR format supports a bitmap with a transparent background, while the 24bpp bitmap has a solid background.

How To ...

This section describes using Xara 3D Maker to create quality 3D headings or buttons and then exporting static or animated files. In these descriptions we use 'graphic' as shorthand for the text or shape shown in the Xara 3D Maker window.

In this chapter

Quick overview

Open a new document

Change the text

Rotate and position the graphic

Light the graphic

Color the graphic

Resize the graphic

Add bevels & extrude

Select characters

Add shadows

Create animations

Creating cursor (CUR & ANI) files

Importing 2D objects

Apply the style of an existing graphic

Create buttons, boards, boards + holes and borders

Create screen savers

Create Flash files

Save and export

Customize Xara 3D Maker

Quick overview

Use these pages if you want to find out how to do something in Xara 3D Maker.

The basics

Text & 2D objects

Positioning & rotating

Changing the size

Changing the wording

Changing text spacing

Changing the font

Changing the color

Changing the bevel (edges)

Changing the 3D extrude (depth)

Changing the effects applied to selected characters

Changing the lighting

Creating hollow text

Shiny & matt surfaces

Selecting text

Typing international (accented) characters

Importing styles from an existing heading

Importing animation settings from an existing heading

Importing 2D objects

Creating 3D buttons, boards and border designs

Colors

Changing the text and background color

Changing the colors of the lights

Changing the shadow color

Changing the texture color (tint)

Creating and moving shadows

Changing the shadow color and type

Changing the shadow transparency and blur

Textures

and text

and the background

Changing the texture color (tint)

The lights

Changing their color and position

Buttons, boards and borders

Creating buttons, boards and border designs

Making the designs wider or narrower

Changing the curvature of the corners

Changing the size of buttons

Animation

Creating an animation/movie

Creating and editing a multipage animation

Previewing an AVI movie

Importing animation settings from an existing heading

The Time Line

Saving

Saving for reloading later

Saving a graphic

Saving screensavers

Correcting mistakes

Undo & Redo

Customizing Xara3D

Changing the default document

Displaying and moving toolbars

Docking dialog boxes

Making your own menu items and shortcuts

Returning to default settings

Open a new document

Click New on the File menu. This loads the default graphic. You can replace this default graphic with your own — see Customizing Xara 3D Maker.

Alternatively click Open Sample on the File menu to open one of the hundreds of sample files that come with Xara 3D Maker. A preview of the image is displayed so you can see what it looks like before you open it.

Change the text

The easiest way of changing the text is to delete the existing text (using Backspace) and then typing in the wording you want.

You can also display the text cursor. Select the show/hide cursor button on the standard toolbar.

You can then use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor in the text and to select part of the text — for more information on this, see select characters.

To change the font or apply effects such as increasing the space between characters, you can use the options in the text toolbar.

Alternatively you can use the Text options dialog box to select and change text and apply effects. This is often easier when you have several lines of text such as in multi-page animations.

Rotate and position the graphic

The easiest way to rotate the graphic is simply to drag on it in the Xara 3D Maker window or drag on the background if you don't have a background texture (don't drag on the shadow — this moves the shadow). This lets you rotate the graphic horizontally, vertically or around its center line. Alternatively, use the scroll bars.

Status bar

The Status bar shows the current angles (horizontal, vertical and rotation around the center line).

Positioning options

Normally the graphic is centered in the window. You can move the graphic to your preferred location using View options and changing the X and Y position values.

Alternatively you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Alt-drag allows you to move the graphic freely around the screen. To return the graphic to the center of the window press "Alt+Home" (this also cancels any rotation.)

"Ctrl + Alt-drag" allows you to move the graphic horizontally on the x axis.

"Alt + Shift-drag" allows you to move the graphic vertically on the y axis.

Rotate options

You can rotate your graphic by using the keyboard shortcuts below. Alternatively you can use View options to rotate your graphic horizontally, vertically and around its center line by precise increments in degrees.

To rotate around the horizontal (x) axis only:

- "Shift-drag" on the window

- or use the up/down arrow keys (1ş rotation)

- or use "Ctrl" and the up/down arrow keys (15ş rotation)

To rotate around the vertical (y) axis only:

- "Ctrl-drag" on the window

- or use the left/right arrow keys (1ş rotation)

- or use "Ctrl" and the left/right arrow keys (15ş rotation)

To rotate the graphic around its center line

- "Ctrl + Shift-drag" on the window

- or use "Shift" and the up/down arrow keys (1ş rotation)

- or use "Shift + Ctrl" and the up/down arrow keys (15ş rotation)

To cancel any rotation: (graphic is face-on) press "Alt + Home"

Note: If the text cursor is displayed, hold down "Alt" to rotate the text or click the show/hide cursor button to remove the cursor.

Light the graphic

Three colored lights create the highlights and shadows on the graphic. You can change the positions and colors of each light. The fourth light (shown striped) controls the position of the shadow — see shadows.

Shadow

Light

Light

Light

To display the lights:

- Click the 'light bulb' button

- or choose Display lighting on the View menu

To change the color of a light, display the color options dialog box by:

- Double-clicking on the light

- or choosing Light color 1, 2, 3 on the View menu.

To move a light just drag it. To move a light from in front of the object to behind it (or from behind to in front) keep dragging the light left or right.

Color the graphic

You can color the graphic either by changing the colors of the graphic or by changing the light colors or both.

If you are creating a graphic and you want two or more colors on the text, it is easier to use pale colored lights and to color the text. (The default text of Xara 3D Maker is an example of this: the X3D is pale gray, Version is light blue and version number is dark blue. The light shining on the face of the text is an orange cream color.)

The colors you see depend on the overlap of the lights, their colors and the graphic colors. The colors are also influenced by whether the graphic has a matt or gloss surface (selected in extrusion options).

The graphic can have different colors on the faces (front and back) and on the sides. You can change the color or texture on a per-character basis. See color options.

An example of an incut bevel with white face color and dark gray sides and bevel

Bevels display the color of the sides. Using square, round or triangular-faced or incut bevels can give the effect of two colors on the face of the graphic.

You can also use textures to color the sides or faces. You can import any BMP. GIF, ICO, JPEG or PNG file as a texture. Texture options let you scale, move or rotate the texture. Color options let you tint a texture (an effect similar to placing a colored film over the texture).

Resize the graphic

The easiest way to resize larger graphics is to resize the Xara 3D Maker window by dragging the corners or sides.

For smaller graphics this can make the Xara 3D Maker window too small and you cannot see all the buttons. To avoid this, choose Display frame on the Window menu or click the display frame button (Standard Tool Bar). This displays the graphic in a smaller frame which you can resize independently of the main Xara 3D Maker window.

Display frame

The frame

An advantage of the frame is that you can set it to a specific size. Use Frame size on the Window menu. When you save an X3D file when using the frame, Xara 3D Maker remembers the frame size and always opens the graphic at that size.

To make the exported image the same size as the frame area, select Current window size and uncheck Crop in the Export dialog box.

Alternatively you can fix the graphic size using the font size drop-down list on the text toolbar. Choose any value except Fit to width.

Add bevels & extrude

The bevel is the decorative transition between the faces and the sides of the graphic. The extrude is the depth of the sides.

The bevel

The extrude

Bevel designs range from a simple angled or rounded bevel on the corner to complex rippled bevels that run the length of the sides. Bevels are always applied to the sides of the graphic, not to the faces. The result is to make the graphic larger and, with larger bevel sizes, text characters can merge into each other. This also has an effect when the faces and sides are different colors — the bevel takes the side color. To alter the bevel, hover you mouse over the edge of the text while holding the shift key.

When the cursor changes to the bevel tool you can click and drag the bevel to the required size.

Bevel options let you have more advanced control, like choosing a bevel style. For small extrude values there may not be enough space to display the complete bevel (depending on the bevel design.)

To change the extrude depth, just click and drag on the side of the text.

You will see the cursor appear when altering the extrude.

Extrude options gives you more advanced control over the extrusion, and whether the graphic is matt or gloss.

You can also choose the surface, either Gloss (reflective) or Matt (non-reflective.) The surface affects the entire "feel" of the graphic. Gloss (shown below top) creates shiny, metallic effects; matt (shown below bottom) more subtle, toned-down graphics. When swapping between the two surfaces, you often need to move the lights to get the best results for that surface.

Select characters

Almost all Xara 3D Maker attributes (such as colors, bevels, textures, animation types) can be applied character-by-character. (The exceptions are the shadow, the lighting and some animation types.) Before you can apply an attribute to a character or block of characters, you must first select that character or block.

First step is to display the text cursor. Click the show/hide cursor button on the standard toolbar:

Then:

- Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor.

- "Shift + left/right arrow keys" selects the character on the left or right.

- "Ctrl + Shift + left/right arrow keys" selects all the characters from the cursor to the left or right of the line.

- "Ctrl + A" selects all characters.

- "Ctrl + P" selects all characters on the current page (for multi-page animations.)

When you have a selected character or block, any changes you make apply only to that character or block.

Add shadows

A shadow behind the graphic gives an impression of the graphic floating above the surface and adds realism.

To create a shadow, open the Shadow options dialog box and check Shadow.

To move the shadow, either drag the shadow — the cursor will look like this when you hover over the shadow and can drag:

Or display the lights. A fourth light (shown striped) controls the shadow position—drag that light.

To change the color of the shadow

- either double-click on the shadow or shadow light—this opens Color options ready to edit the shadow color

- or choose Shadow color on the View menu

- or click Color options and choose Shadow from the drop-down list.

To change the shadow transparency, use Transparency in Shadow options. Real shadows are usually semi-transparent and the shadow looks better when you can see some of the background behind the shadow.

To change the shadow blur, use Blur in shadow options. Real shadows do not have sharp edges (no blur) and you can use blur to soften the edges. Large blur values are useful for creating "halo" effects. Move the shadow directly behind the graphic and give the shadow a bright color to emphasize it.

Shadow styles

Shadow options have two styles of shadow:

Style 1 is a simple offset copy of the graphic. Artistically this is incorrect but looks 'right' for static images.

Style 2 is artistically correct and looks best with animations where the eye is more aware of the shadow shape.

Shadows and Flash vector format

Flash vector format does not support shadows. If you want your graphic to have a shadow, use a different export format such as GIF or bitmap Flash.

Create animations

You can easily create animated graphics using Xara 3D Maker. You have the option of either a single image (single page) or a sequence of images (multi-page).

- To create a single page animation, just create the image in the regular way then display Animation options and choose the required options.

- To create a multi-page animations, create the first image. Then press Enter to start a new page and create the image for that page.

Alternatively you can use Text options. Click Insert page break to start a new page.

Continue until you have created as many pages as you want. Then display Animation options and choose the required settings.

These options apply only to multi-page animations:

- Step animation

- Overlap pages for Pulsate animations

Animation options and file format

Xara 3D Maker can save animations in several different formats: AVI, ANI, Flash SWF and animated GIF. Some options in the Animation dialog box are not supported by all file formats. Pause is supported by all formats except AVI movies. Loop is supported only by animated GIF format (other formats play continuously.)

To preview an animation

Select the start/stop animation button on the standard toolbar.

To preview the animation in real-time, Xara 3D Maker displays a reduced-quality image. You have greater control over quality when exporting to disk.

Editing the text for multi-page animations

Unless you have the cursor displayed, new text is added to the page currently displayed in the Xara 3D Maker window. This can make editing slightly tricky. Either stop the animation and edit the text or use Text options.

The time line

Displaying the Time line lets you step through an animation, frame-by-frame, or pause, stop or run the animation.

You can export an individual frame by pausing the animation at the frame you want and using Export on the View menu.

Applying animation effects to selected text

The animation style applies to all characters (see notes below) but you can apply most attributes of the animation to just a selected character or block of characters. For example, for a Rotate animation, you could have some characters rotating in a different plane to the others.

Rotate, Swing and Pulsate animation styles have two versions, 1 animates all characters as a group and 2 animates each character individually. You can mix versions by selecting part of the text and selecting the other version (1 or 2.)

Fade, Step and Typewriter animation styles: you cannot apply different settings to a selected area.

Tips for creating animations

Animations can create large file sizes, which are slow to download over the Internet. To keep animations small we suggest:

- Make the image as small as possible by selecting the Crop option on export.

- Select Front face only for Rotate animations.

- Have no more than about 20 frames per animation. (The fewer the better for keeping the size down.)

- For multi-page animations avoid having too many pages.

- When exporting try selecting 16 colors (4-bit) with no dithering and optimized palette. When images are animating, the banding is far less obvious than with a static image.

- When exporting GIFs (animated or static) that have a complex background, try exporting them as transparent GIFs.

- Rotating the lights changes the file size only slightly.

- For Flash animations, Fade or Step animations create much smaller files than the other animation styles. For multi-page Pulsate animations, overlapping the pages creates smaller animations.

- Don't get carried away! For example using loads of textures can create very large animation files.

- Turning the shadow off can reduce file size.

- When exporting select to optimize Per frame.

- For tips when saving as a Flash SWF file see Tips for creating Flash files.

Using the animation picker

A quick way of creating an animation is to copy the settings from an existing X3D file.

Choose Import animation on the File menu. This opens the animations folder, which contains ready-made animations in a wide variety of styles. This short cuts the creation of animations. For each of the ready-made animations, the file name gives you information about the animation type.

The preview in the animation picker shows how the current graphic would look with the animation settings of the selected file.

Click Open to apply those settings to the current graphic.

Creating cursor (CUR & ANI) files

You can use Xara 3D Maker to create static cursors (CUR files) and animated cursors (ANI files) for use within other programs (please refer to Windows Help for using icons, we cannot help in the use of icon files).

Generally cursor files are small, standard sizes are 16x16, 32x32 and 48x48 pixels although you can create custom sizes. Some programs have a maximum size of 256x256 pixels.

A cursor shows you exactly where in the window you are clicking (for example which menu item). However, a cursor often covers two menu items. To determine which item to select, the cursor has a 'hotspot'. The item under the hotspot is the one you click on. Display hotspot on the view menu displays a cross showing you where the hotspot is for that graphic. Drag the cross to move the hotspot—by default the hotspot is in the center of the graphic.

Export options for ANI files

Importing 2D objects

For use as a board or border design

You can import a 2D object for use as a board, board with holes or border design (if you are in text only mode, you will automatically be switched to a button design type when importing). To do this, just click the design picker button under design options or select Import design from the File menu. Supported file formats are WMF, EMF and Xara's WEB and XAR files.

For use as a text character

You can also import 2D objects to use a character in your text. To do this, click Import on the File menu. Supported file formats are WMF, EMF and Xara's WEB and XAR files. Showing the text cursor (Ctrl+E) will allow you to choose the correct place to import the object. As it is then a text object, you can color and animate it as you would with normal text.

Copying from Xara Designer Pro

You can design your own shapes in Xara Designer Pro then easily import them into Xara 3D Maker. This is a quick and simple way of importing 2D shapes, and is a combination of both methods outlined above. If you are in text design mode, the shape will be used as a text character. If you are creating a board, board with holes or border design the object will be used as the design's overall shape.

In Xara Designer Pro copy the object you wish to use ("Ctrl + C"), or select Edit then Copy). Then switch to Xara 3D Maker and paste the object ("Ctrl + V"), or select Edit then Paste). If you wish, you can then copy your finished 3D design and easily paste it back into Xara Designer Pro for use in your Xara Designer Pro documents.

Apply the style of an existing graphic

Sometimes you want to create a graphic that is similar to an existing graphic (either one you created or one of the samples supplied with Xara 3D Maker.) For example, you might like the look of one of the samples but are not sure how to create the effect. Xara 3D Maker makes it easy to copy either the animation options or selected options from another graphic.

Copy the animation options

Use the animation picker (Import animation on the File menu.)

As you click on file names, the preview shows you how the current graphic looks with the animation settings of the selected file. When you find the animation effect you want, just click Open to update the current graphic.

This just changes the animation settings—it does not change options such as wording, bevel, extrusion, and so on. To copy these, see the following section.

Copy selected options

Use the style picker (Import style on the File menu.) Like the animation picker, you can browse through files and see how they affect the current graphic.

Unlike the animation picker, you can select which options to copy from the selected file. You could for example copy both the lighting and the position (angles) from the selected file. You can copy any combination of options from the file, including the animation settings.

Create buttons, boards, boards + holes and borders

There are four different design types:

Boards. Sit your heading on a solid board, so the text extrudes from a solid background.

Button. Creates a button with the text flat on its surface.

Borders. Adds a border around your heading, giving it more impact.

Board and holes. As if you'd taken a saw to your board, to give an impression of a cut-out image.

You can either use one of Xara 3D Maker's predefined design shapes or import a shape from another X3D file. The great thing is that one shape can be used with any of the design types above. One design—four totally different combinations.

A design takes its values (bevel, lighting and so on) from the current graphic but you can of course select new values if required.

Steps to creating a design:

1. Choose Open Sample from the File menu to choose a sample design provided with Xara 3D Maker or create your own text for the you design. Animated designs can show multi-page messages—see Creating animations for details.

2. Click one of the predefined shapes on the design toolbar on the bottom left of your screen, or open design options and choose a design type from there using the Design picker. By default this displays the designs folder (in the same folder where you installed Xara 3D Maker) but you can browse to and choose any X3D, XAR or WEB file. If the file contains text, the first letter is used as the design shape.

3. Change the value in Stretch to make the design wider or narrower.

4. For predefined design shapes you can control the corner radius. Uncheck Corners for the default radius.

5. If necessary, edit the design in the regular way, for example, by changing the bevel, extrusion or colors.

You can create interesting design shapes using symbolic fonts such as Geotype (supplied with Xara 3D Maker.) Create a graphic with just the character you want to use as the design shape. Save the graphic as an X3D file. You can then use that X3D file as an imported design shape in the future if you save it to the designs folder.

You can also use your own drawn design shapes. Import the shape as a metafile (or, if you are using Xara X1 or later, just copy the shape and paste it into Xara 3D Maker) and export in X3D format to the designs folder.

Create screen savers

Screen savers protect the monitor screen from being burnt by a static image when the computer is not being used and allow for a unique looking computer. Using Xara 3D Maker you can create a custom screen saver either for use on your own computer or for distribution to other people.

Screen savers are always animated (because they need to show a moving image to avoid burning the screen.) We suggest:

- Use a dark-colored background, not white or other light colors.

- Don't use light-colored text in areas that show little movement.

To create a screen saver:

1. Create the animation in the regular way (see tips) or select from one of the sample screensaver animations in the Sample, Screensavers folder (choose Open Sample from the File menu or use the style picker).

2. Choose Export screen saver on the File menu.

3. Xara 3D Maker screen savers are effectively movies within a screen saver. (See also Export options for AVIs (movies and screen savers) for AVI options). There are a number of preset options. Low is one third of your current screen resolution, medium is half, high is two thirds and full is your full screen resolution. You can also choose from a number of standard resolutions by choosing other. We recommend selecting a value half the screen area. (For example 512x384 for a 1024x769 screen area.) This should give a good quality image without creating a large file size.

4. Choose either:

- Install—this saves the screensaver and installs it as the default screen saver. The default folder is your Windows system folder—this is the best folder to use. We recommend this option as it is easier than manually installing a screen saver.

- Save—this saves the screen saver but does not install it as the default screen saver.

5. Enter a name for the screen saver file.

6. Click Save.

Because Xara 3D Maker has to generate each frame of the animation, this process can take a few minutes.

Previewing a screen saver file

1. Browse to the screen saver (SCR) file.

2. Right-click on the file. This pops-up a menu.

3. Click Test to preview.

Using a screen saver file

If, in step 4, you installed the new screen saver as the default, everything is already set up for you. No further action is necessary.

If you saved the screen saver to the Windows system folder:

1. Click Start on the Taskbar. If you are using Windows XP, go to step 3.

2. Choose Control Panel. Double-click Personalization.

3. Click Screen Saver.The Screen Saver Settings dialog lists all screen savers in the system folder.

4. Choose the screen saver you want.

5. Click OK to make the selected screen saver the default.

If you saved the screen saver to a different folder:

1. Browse to the screen saver file.

2. Right-click on the file. This pops-up a menu.

3. Click Install to select the screen saver. Then click OK to make the screen saver the default.

Tips

- To create a smooth screen saver animation it's recommended you create an animation with a fast animation speed (15–20 frames per second) and between 50 and 100 frames in each cycle.

- Windows stretches the animation to fill the screen. If you want the text to partially fill the screen, in Xara 3D Maker select a point size, such as 72pt from the text size drop down, instead of Fit to width.

- For ideas on creating screen savers, look in the screensavers folder (in samples). This folder contains a wide range of examples.

Create Flash files

Flash format is often used on web pages, especially for animations. There are two formats for Flash files:

- Bitmap format: the advantage of this is that you can use any Xara 3D Maker options, including shadows.

- Vector format: the advantage is that you can enlarge vector objects without losing quality. The disadvantage is that some Xara 3D Maker options are not supported by Flash. Select Display as Flash on the View menu to dim or hide unsupported options.

Alternatively you can export the Flash file with unsupported features converted to bitmaps. However this can create large files and loses the scalability of vector files. Note that you cannot export shadows in Flash vector format.

Tips for creating Flash files

Flash is not ideal for 3D graphics such as those created in Xara 3D Maker. You will often find that you can create smaller files using other formats such as GIF. This is especially true for animations. If you want to create Flash animations, we suggest:

- Step or Fade animations produce smaller files than other styles.

- Avoid bevels. Some bevels are better than others but typically bevels make files five to ten times larger.

- Use sans serif fonts such as Arial (serif fonts have small features at the end of strokes within letters).

Save and export

Xara 3D Maker has two basic save and exporting options:

- Save as an X3D format file. You can reload an X3D file for further editing in the future.

- Export in another format (see File Formats for a full list of supported formats.) You cannot reload exported files into Xara 3D Maker and edit them. (Although you can load BMP, GIF, ICO, JPEG and PNG format files as textures.)

Note: If you want to copy your design into another application, copy your design (choose Copy from the Edit menu or press "Ctrl + C") on to the clipboard. The image is saved in 24bpp bitmap form, as well as in XAR format, so that you can paste it into any other application that handles bitmaps, such as Microsoft Word and Outlook, and graphics applications, as well as other Xara products such as Xara Designer Pro and Xara Xtreme. The XAR format supports a bitmap with a transparent background, while the 24bpp bitmap has a solid background.

To save in X3D format—use Save or Save as on the File menu. (To reload an X3D file use Open on the File menu.)

To export a static image—use Export on the File menu.

To export an animation—use Export animation on the File menu.

To export a screensaver—use Export screensaver on the File menu. (More on screensavers.)

When exporting, a dialog box will appear with a variety of options. Most of the options in this dialog box are specific to the file format (GIF, AVI and so on.) Common to all formats are options to set the graphic size:

Current window size: Either export the current window or frame area (crop off) or the cropped area (crop on.)

Crop: Export just the area with the graphic. "Crop" ignores just the offset from the center caused by displacing the graphic by Alt + dragging it (see rotate and position the graphic).

User defined: Lets you specify (in pixels) the area to export. This area can be bigger or smaller than the window or frame size.

The above settings control exporting of BMP, CUR (cursor), static GIF, ICO (icons) JPEG and PNG format files. Not all options apply to all formats—for example Progressive applies only to JPEGs and is dimmed for other formats.

Note: To print Xara3D work, we suggest you use the JPEG format as this is the most compact. However you can also use BMP, GIF or PNG if preferred. Set the export size to be around 1000 pixels wide, and that will produce a file that prints perfectly well. If you want to create poster sized images you may want to increase the output size to say 2000 pixels maximum. It is NOT necessary to save images any larger. This should produce a JPEG file under 100 Kbytes large which you can them import into another program, such as Xara Designer Pro, for printing (just resize the image in your other program to the desired size).

Note: If you exit the program without saving, your current view is automatically saved as an X3D file and reopened when you next start Xara 3D Maker.

Export options for GIF, PNG or BMP files

GIF export is the most common and probably the best format for use on the web. GIF images can have no more than 256 colors, which you might think is a limitation. However, using Xara 3D Maker's advanced dithering and palette optimization features, you can get near perfect quality images using only 256 colors. Indeed you'll be surprised at how good GIFs with just 16 colors can be.

For all export formats you have control over not only the number of colors but also whether the image is dithered and has an optimized palette. These are techniques to improve the image quality while using a reduced number of colors. For example using only 16 color GIF nearly always produces the smallest file size, but with no dithering the shading can be poor. By using an optimized palette and diffusion dithering you can substantially increase the quality of the result.

There are no hard and fast rules as to which combination of export options is best—it depends on the image and your requirements. Therefore we recommend exporting in a number of different formats to see which is the best and has the smallest file size. Typical options to try include 16 color with diffusion dithering, or 256 color with no dithering.

When exporting as a GIF or PNG you have the option of making it interlaced (progressive rendering as it's downloaded) and whether the image is transparent.

To produce the best results when exporting transparent GIFs, set the background color to match your web page, then check the Transparent option in the export dialog (see Options below).

BMP export formats

Many other Windows programs can import BMP files but often they do not support the full range of color depths available in Xara 3D Maker. This is beyond the control of Xara 3D Maker. If you have problems importing BMPs, try a different color depth.

Other export options for BMP, Cursor, GIF, ICO, JPG and PNG

Dithering

Dithering is a technique of smoothing color transitions for 256 colors or less. None produces the smallest file size but can show 'banding' when two colors blend together. Ordered and Diffused use different algorithms to reduce banding. You may need to try the different options to decide which is the best for a particular graphic.

Ordered dithering is available only with 256 colors.

Palette

This is the range of colors used in the exported bitmap. Optimized selects the most commonly used colors and usually gives the best results. High-color and True-color depths contain the full range of colors and so Palette is dimmed for these options.

Options

Transparent - dimmed for BMP and JPEG as these formats do not support transparency. Transparency makes background areas not covered by the graphic or shadow, transparent so you see the web page background in these areas (see Note below). Transparency has two meanings:

- for True-color PNGs, transparency is graduated so you partly see the web page background through the shadow.

- all other formats (including PNGs of 256 or fewer colors) use simple on-off transparency. That is, the shadow is solid and the Xara3D background color shows through the shadow.

Note: Xara 3D Maker 'anti-aliases' the edge of a transparent bitmap to the Xara3D background color. For best results you need to make the background color the same or similar to the color of the page the graphic will appear on.

Interlaced - applies only to GIF and PNG. When displayed on a web page, interlaced bitmaps appear first as a low-resolution image. The quality increases as more of the bitmap downloads. This is particularly useful for large bitmaps as the viewer sees the basics of the bitmap more quickly.

Progressive - applies only to JPEG. This is similar to Interlaced in that a progressive JPEG displays with increasing detail as more of the file downloads.

Quality

JPEG only. JPEG format compresses files by discarding unnecessary information. Quality controls how much information is discarded. Default is 80%, which usually gives the best balance of quality and file size. Above 80% produces larger files with little improvement in quality.

Below 75% the quality loss may be noticeable and you may need to use a higher setting. Our advice for the best results is use the lowest quality setting that gives acceptable results.

File size

This tells you the size of the bitmap with the current settings. The smaller the file size, the faster it will download over the Internet.

Preview window

This shows you how the exported bitmap will look with the current settings. It is a useful check that you have selected the best settings for this particular graphic.

Export options for JPG

JPEG bitmaps are always 24-bit, true color, but the JPEG compression system means that the quality is often not as good as a GIF. The quality setting determines how small the resultant file is—the higher the quality, the larger the file. Quality settings less than 80% usually produce inferior images to those available from using palette optimized GIFs.

A progressive JPEG is similar to an interlaced GIF. The JPEG displays first as blurred (low resolution) image. As more of the file loads, the image comes into focus. Note that some older browsers do not support progressive JPEGs—the image displays when all the JPEG has loaded.

Export options for animated cursors (ANI)

To learn more about creating cursors see creating cursor (CUR & ANI) files.

Because animated cursors can be quite large, you may find that a 16 color, optimized palette per frame, produces the best results for the smallest file size. However you might need to experiment.

Dithering always makes cursors look better, but also makes them larger. When outputting at 256 colors you may find that there is no need to turn dithering on.

Current window size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off).

User defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap. With Fit to width (on the text toolbar) selected, the text and the background scales to suit the values you type in. If you specified a font size, the size of the text does not change but the background scales to the values you type in. This is useful if you want to create several headings, all the same height and width.

Export options for animated GIFs

To learn more about exporting animated GIFs see creating animations.

Because animated GIFs can be quite large, you may find that a 16 or 32 color, optimized palette per frame, produces the best results for the smallest file size. However you might need to experiment.

Dithering always makes GIFs look better, but also makes them larger. When outputting at 256 colors you may find that there is no need to turn dithering on.

Current window size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off).

User defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap. With Fit to width (on the text toolbar) selected, the text and the background scales to suit the values you type in. If you specified a font size, the size of the text does not change but the background scales to the values you type in. This is useful if you want to create several headings, all the same height and width.

Export options for AVIs (movies and screen savers)

You can also export your Xara 3D Maker design as an AVI video file. You can configure AVI options when exporting your file as an animation or screen saver.

Color depth. Choose between the different amount of colors in your video. True color will give more accurate results, but may create a large file. Try exporting at both color depths to se what results work best.

Current window size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off).

User defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap. With Fit to width (on the text toolbar) selected, the text and the background scales to suit the values you type in. If you specified a font size, the size of the text does not change but the background scales to the values you type in. This is useful if you want to create several headings, all the same height and width.

AVI options. Clicking this will allow you to choose from any of the AVI codecs on your computer. A movie codec is basically the system used to create the movie file itself, and some formats are better than others. Use the default, or select a codec of your choice. For some codecs you can also set the quality percentage and how often key frames are set, and you can click Configure for more options.

Export options for screen savers (SCR)

You can export Xara 3D Maker graphics as a Windows screensaver (SCR) file. See Create screen savers for more details.

Export options for Flash bitmap format (SWF) files

These options apply to both static and animated SWF files. More information on creating Flash files. To learn more about exporting movies see creating animations.

Current window size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off.)

User defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap. With Fit to width (on the text toolbar) selected, the text and the background scales to suit the values you type in. If you specified a font size, the size of the text does not change but the background scales to the values you type in. This is useful if you want to create several headings, all the same height and width.

Color depth: the more colors, the larger the file size. For animations where each image appears for only a short period you may find 256 colors gives satisfactory results.

Dithering (dimmed except for 256-colors). None creates the smallest files but you may see bands of colors instead of smooth color graduations.

Transparent (dimmed for High-color): select this for a transparent background to the animation. Deselect for a solid background.

Lossless and quality (dimmed except for true-color): quality values below 100% give smaller files but at a lower quality. Lossless is equivalent to 100% quality. You may need to experiment to get the best trade-off between quality and file size.

Export options for Flash vector format (SWF) files

These options apply to both static and animated SWF files. More information on creating Flash files.

Note that Flash vector format does not support some Xara 3D Maker features (such as shadows and textures). You can use Xara 3D Maker features not supported in vector format except shadows but these get exported as bitmaps within the Flash file and can make the file much larger. If you intend to output in SWF format, we suggest using the display as Flash option on the View menu.

Current window size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off.)

User defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap. With Fit to width (on the text toolbar) selected, the text and the background scales to suit the values you type in. If you specified a font size, the size of the text does not change but the background scales to the values you type in. This is useful if you want to create several headings, all the same height and width.

Quality: the higher the quality, the larger the file. You may need to experiment to get the best trade-off between quality and file size.

General info on AVI videos

The AVI format (Audio Video Interleaved) isn't actually a proper video format! It's rather a so-called container where very general conventions such as audio and video data can be specified and sent to a program. The exact memory format of the files is specified via the codec (coder/decoder). A codec compresses audio/video files into its own private format with which only that codec can work and decodes the files again on playback.

This means that an AVI file created on your computer can only be loaded/played on computer B if this computer has the same codec installed.

Many codecs (for example, Intel Indeo video) have now become standard components of the Windows installation. Others, such as the popular DivX codec, are not. If you create an AVI file with such a codec and you wish to use it on other computers, install the corresponding codec on them as well.

On older video editing cards certain codecs that function only with the hardware of the corresponding cards can be problematic. This type of AVI can only be used on the computer on which they were created. Avoid using this type of codec when possible.

Exporting transparent title animations for movies

If you plan to export a Xara 3D Maker animation to a MAGIX movie editing program, for example as a title or caption to play on top of a movie, your animation will need a transparent background.

The standard AVI export in exports an animation with a solid background, covering the movie behind it. To play it on top of a movie, you'll need a video effect (called chroma keying or blue screen) to remove the background.

In this case, export the animation as a CFX file. This is a special file format used in MAGIX movie editing and slide show programs. As well as containing a reference to the exported AVI file, the CFX file holds all the transparency information you need to allow you to blend your animation perfectly with the movie.

To export your animation as a .cfx file choose the file format "MAGIX CFX (*.cfx)" in the "Export Animation" dialog.

The transparent titles consist of the .cfx file and the associated AVI file which contains the animation movie. The .cfx file contains the background transparency information. All AVI files are stored in Documents and Settings\<User>\Local Settings\Application Data\Xara\Xara3D7\AVI_CFX (WIndows XP) or Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Xara\Xara3D7\AVI_CFX (Windows 7 and Windows Vista). The files must not be deleted or moved from there, otherwise the .cfx files will not work. However, the .cfx files can be stored in the video project folder or anywhere else.

Note: Substitute your own user name for <User> in the above file paths.

In the MAGIX slide show or video editing programs, the .cfx file has to be loaded via the Media Pool. The Timeline Mode has to be active. Then you can drag the files into the timeline and they will be placed on the title track automatically.

To use .cfx files in MAGIX programs, you need at least the following versions of the program: MAGIX Movies on CD & DVD 6, MAGIX Xtreme Photostory on CD & DVD 6, MAGIX Movies2Go Version 2, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 14.

Customize Xara 3D Maker

You can customize Xara 3D Maker by either changing the default graphic or by docking or undocking dialog boxes or toolbars.

With the Window menu item Customize you can add icons to a menu or the standard toolbar, customize the right-click menus available in the main working area and even create your own custom menu. You can also change the keyboard shortcuts there.

Note: if you experience a problem with your windows or toolbars at any time, or wish to return them to their standard layout, click the Window menu then select Reset user interface.

In this chapter

Changing the default document

Changing quality settings

Adding comments

Docking and undocking dialog boxes and toolbars

Moving toolbars

Option bars

Advanced customization

Reset settings

Changing the default document

If you want Xara 3D Maker to start up showing a different image:

1. Create the image you want to use as the starting (default) image.

2. Choose Save as default on the File menu.

This creates a file called Default.x3d, which appears in one of the following directories:

- C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Xara\Xara3D7 (if you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7)

- C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Local Settings\Application Data\xara\xara3D7 (if you are using Windows XP)

Note: Replace C in the above paths with the drive that Xara 3D Maker was installed on and <User> with your own user name.

To revert to the standard default document:

- Find the Default.x3d file that you previously saved as default in one of the above file paths and delete the Default.x3d file. This restores the original default document, so that the next time you open Xara 3D Maker, it reverts to displaying the standard new file image instead of the one you created.

Changing quality settings

Th Settings option on the Window menu lets you alter the quality settings for display and export (keyboard short cut Alt+Q). Usually the default settings give excellent results, but you may wish to try different settings to fine-tune Xara 3D Maker to your requirements.

Screen quality controls the quality of the on-screen display. Increasing the quality setting means that the preview takes longer to redraw on screen. Static and moving images have separate controls: animations can use a lower setting.

Anti-aliasing is a technique of blurring the edges between color transitions. Turning anti-aliasing on gives better results but takes longer to redraw.

True perspective displays the heading with slightly non-parallel sides (as if drawn from a distant vanishing point.) This gives better results for some images than displaying parallel sides. The drawback is the extra processing can slow down redraw. This may be noticeable when previewing animations.

Export quality controls images exported as static bitmaps. Increasing the quality may give better results for some graphics in shadow or highlight areas. The drawback is that graphics may take longer to display on screen.

Animation quality controls images exported as animated GIFs and AVIs. As the viewer sees each frame only briefly, the quality is less important than for static bitmaps. Note that increasing the quality too much can cause jerky animation on slow computers.

If you are using Windows 7, by default rarely used fonts are hidden. If you would like them to be displayed in 's font list, click Show hidden fonts.

Note: If you are a Windows 7 user and the Show hidden fonts option is grayed out, go to your Control Panel and choose Appearance and Personalization > Fonts. Exit and reopen Xara 3D Maker and reopen the Settings dialog. You should now be able to edit the Show hidden fonts option.

Adding comments

You can add comments to your own images or Xara 3D Maker sample files so that you and others can see extra information or helpful hints on a file before you open it.

To add a comment to an image:

1. Open the image and choose Edit Comment from the Edit menu, or press "Ctrl + M".

2. Add the comment to the pop-up dialog box and click OK.

3. Save the file to save your comment.

The next time you choose Open from the File menu, click the file in the Open dialog box. The file's comments are displayed below the preview window.

Docking and undocking dialog boxes and toolbars

To give you freedom in how you use the program, you can undock and move toolbars and windows and position them where you wish. This is particularly useful if you have two monitors, so you could for example put your windows on one screen and keep the other monitor dedicated to the Xara 3D Maker workspace.

Note: If you experience a problem with your windows or toolbars at any time, or wish to return them to their standard layout, click Reset user interface on the Window menu.

Moving toolbars

There are five toolbars: standard, design, options, text and time line. You can turn these on and off via the Window menu.

You can drag them around the screen by clicking and holding them (see the image above) and dragging. If you drag a toolbar to an edge of the program it will dock there. You can also just drag the toolbar out elsewhere on the screen, and it will undock entirely and become free-floating.

Note: If you experience a problem with your windows or toolbars at any time, or wish to return them to their standard layout, click Reset user interface on the Window menu.

Option bars

The option bars can be found to the right of the screen when you first start Xara 3D Maker. Rather than opening and closing endless windows, most of Xara 3D Maker's settings are contained here. You can easily switch between the tabs to access the different features.

You can turn this entire panel off or on via the Window menu. You can also tailor how you use the option bars as follows:

To undock an option bar. Just click and drag one of the options (where it says color options, extrusion options etc.) out of its current location. The window will undock, and you can position where you require. You can do this with as many of the windows as you wish.

If you find the window is redocking when you don't want to, hold the Ctrl key while moving it.

To redock an option bar. Just drag the window back to the panel options bar at the right of your screen, and the window will redock.

Pinning an option bar open. After undocking a window, by default it will minimize once you move your mouse away from it. As soon as you move your mouse back, it will expand. To get the window to remain open, just click the little pin icon at the top right of the window. Click again to return to the auto-hide format.

Removing or reopening an option bar. Once undocked, you can click the X icon in the top right hand corner of that window to close it.

Note: If you experience a problem with your windows or toolbars at any time, or wish to return them to their standard layout, click Reset user interface on the Window menu.

Advanced customization

's customization options are recommended only for advanced users. They can be accessed by clicking Customize from the Window menu, or by right clicking on a toolbar and selecting Customize.

Note: If you experience a problem with your windows or toolbars at any time, or wish to return them to their standard layout, click Reset user interface on the Window menu.

Customize options are broken down into five areas:

Commands

Here you can add icons to a menu or the standard toolbar, and even create you own custom menu.

Click a category to see related commands to its right. You can drag any of the commands to the standard toolbar where they will be added to allow easy access to that tool or feature in the future. To remove a button, just right click it and select delete.

Commands can also be dragged to any of the menus. Or you can create your own menu. Click the New Menu option then drag the New Menu command to the menu bar at the top of your screen. To give the menu a custom name just right click it and select Button Appearance. You can then drag icons to it as you would with a standard toolbar (described above).

If you right click an icon or menu option, and select Start Group, a divider will appear between it and the previous icon or option (grayed out for the first option in the list).

Right clicking an icon and selecting Image and Text will show a text label with the icon—useful if you forget what an icon does. To show all text labels, see the Toolbars option below.

Toolbars

Another way of choosing which toolbars and options to display. It is quicker to use the Window menu to achieve the same results.

If you select the standard toolbar, text options or time line, clicking Show text labels will show descriptive text below each button.

Note: The Design toolbar's text will only show if the toolbar is docked horizontally across the page or is undocked completely. The text will not display when it is in its default position at the bottom right of your screen.

Keyboard

Here you can set the keyboard shortcuts. Click the relevant category then the command for which you wish to assign or change a shortcut. Any present shortcut will be listed under Current Keys. You can click it and select Remove to remove that shortcut entirely.

To add a new shortcut, just click in the Press New Shortcut Key box and type the shortcut. Press the actual keys, do not type it, i.e., do not type the word "Alt", press the Alt button as if you were using the shortcut.

Menu

This allows you to customize the right click menus available in the main working area. These are currently set to be relevant to the work in progress., i.e., if you right click a shadow, you get options relating to shadow control.

If you wish to change these, select the relevant menu from the Context Menus list, then go back to the Commands screen and add or remove commands as described in the Commands section above.

Please note: The Application Frame menu is not used in this version of Xara 3D Maker.

Options

These options are mostly self explanatory.

Show ScreenTips on toolbars: These are the little informational tool tips that appear when you hover your mouse over an icon.

Show shortcut keys in ScreenTips: Grayed out if you turn off the Screentips option above.

Large icons: Icons lose quality, but are bigger to see. If using this option you will probably need to rearrange your toolbars (see Docking and undocking dialog boxes and toolbars).

Reset settings

To return all display settings to their default value (for example, windows, toolbars, time line and option bars):

1. Click the Window menu then select Reset user interface.

2. Exit and reopen Xara 3D Maker. Your display settings will have returned to their standard layout.

To return all settings to their default value:

1. Click the Window menu then select Reset all settings.

2. Exit and reopen Xara 3D Maker. Every setting that you have changed previously changed will have returned to its default value.

Note: If you have previously created your own default document that displays when you click New from the File menu, this default document will not be deleted by using Reset all settings, and will still be displayed when you create a new file. See Changing the default template for details on how to delete a default document that you have created.

Reference Section

This section provides details of the toolbars and windows in Xara 3D Maker in their default state, and describes the function of each option. It is possible to customize the toolbars, for example, by adding extra buttons. See Customize Xara 3D Maker for details on customizing. The previous section, How to..., describes how to use these options to create 3D graphics.

In this chapter

The toolbars

The Option Bars

File Formats

Keyboard Shortcuts

Text Options Dialog Shortcuts

Accented characters and symbols

The toolbars

The standard toolbar

Many of these are standard Windows options such as load and save.

To display or hide this toolbar, use Standard toolbar on the Window menu.

Options

New—open a new graphic, displaying the default Xara 3D Maker graphic ready for customizing.

Open—open an existing X3D file. Or import a drawn shape in EMF, WEB, WMF or XAR format and extrude the shape.

Save—save the graphic in X3D format. Xara 3D Maker can reload X3D files for future editing. (Xara 3D Maker cannot edit exported files.)

Export image (if Xara 3D Maker shows a static image) – export the graphic in BMP, CUR, Flash SWF, GIF, ICO, JPG or PNG format for use on the web or in another program.

Animation picker—opens the animation picker. An easy way to copy the animation settings from an existing X3D file to the current graphic.

Style picker—opens the style picker. An easy way to import selected settings (such as colors or bevels) from an existing X3D file.

Undo—if you make a mistake, click undo to correct that mistake. Xara 3D Maker has multi-level undo so you can discard a sequence of changes—great for experimenting.

Redo—if you click undo too many times, click redo to restore each change in sequence.

Show/hide cursor—display a cursor in the text. This lets you select and change characters in the middle of the text. (See select characters.)

Start/stop animation—preview the animation within Xara 3D Maker (and you can still edit the design while it's moving).

Show/hide lighting—display the three lights that shine on the faces of the graphic. You can then drag the lights to change the lighting.

Note: if the graphic has a shadow, a fourth, striped light that creates the shadow is also shown.

Display as Flash—Flash vector format does not support all Xara 3D Maker features (such as shadows and some bevel types). Selecting Display as Flash shows only options compatible with Flash vector format.

Show/Hide Frame—this displays the graphic in a small window (the Frame) within the main Xara 3D Maker window. The advantage of the Frame is that Xara 3D Maker remembers its size when you save the file. Opening the file in the future displays the frame at that same size. It is also useful for small graphics because you do not have to make the main window tiny.

The options toolbar

This gives short cuts for the main editing dialog boxes in Xara 3D Maker. The Option bars section describes these dialog boxes in detail.

To display or hide this toolbar, use Options toolbar on the Window menu.

The text toolbar

These options duplicate options in the Text options dialog box.

To display or hide this toolbar, use Text toolbar on the Window menu.

Note: If you are using Windows 7 and have previously hidden rarely-used fonts in your Control Panel, these fonts will not be displayed in the Xara 3D Maker text toolbar.

The time line

These options let you step through or play animations. You can also pause the animation at any intermediate frame and then export that frame as a static image.

To display or hide the time line, use Time line on the Window menu or press "Alt + L".

Options

Play—preview the animation in the Xara 3D Maker window. This is the same as clicking Start/Stop animation on the Standard Toolbar.

Pause—pause the animation at the current frame. Click again to restart the animation at the next frame.

Stop—halts the animation. This is the same as clicking Start/Stop animation on the standard Toolbar.

Rewind—display the first frame (frame 1) in the animation.

Back—display the previous frame in the animation.

Forward—display the next frame in the animation.

Fast forward—display the last frame in the animation

Time line—when the animation is playing, this displays progress through the animation.

Or you can drag the slider to move to a particular point in the animation.

Tip: You can display labels for the time line by choosing Customize from the Window menu, clicking the Toolbars tab and clicking the Time line button off then on. Click the Show Text Labels box and click Close.

The status bar

This gives you information about the graphic and currently available options. When the window isn't maximized you can click and drag the bottom right hand corner to resize the window.

To display or hide the status bar, use Status bar on the Window menu.

Options

The left-hand section gives you information about editing options (when the mouse is over the editing window) or button functions (when the mouse is over a button).

This section shows the size in pixels of the editing window.

This section shows the rotation angles (vertical window axis, horizontal window axis and horizontal text axis). For more information on rotation see Rotate and position the graphic.

(Only shown when the Xara 3D Maker isn't maximized.) Click and drag this to resize the Xara 3D Maker window.

The Option Bars

Choose Options toolbar from the Window menu to display or hide the option bars. These bars, which as standard are on the right hand side of the Xara 3D Maker window, provide the main editing functions (except rotating the graphic). Just click the relevant bar to bring up its options. You can also click the buttons on the Options toolbar or use keyboard short cuts to open and close these options (except Text options).

This section covers

Animation options

Bevel options

Color options

Design options

Extrusion options

Shadow options

Text options

Texture options

View options

Animation options

You can create Animated GIFs and Flash and AVI movies using Xara 3D Maker. See creating animations for more details.

You can also display animation options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

You can preview the effect of the current animation settings by clicking the start/stop animation button or pressing Ctrl-Space. Press again to stop the animation.

Frames per cycle

For single-page animations, this is the number of frames in the animation. For multi-page animations, this is the number of frames for which each page is displayed. Reducing the number of frames makes the file size smaller but can give jerky animations. Dimmed for step animations, typewriter animations and pulse animations.

Frames per second

This controls the speed of the animations. A low speed can give jerky animations. High speeds can also give jerky animation if the program displaying the animation cannot keep up with the animation speed. Dimmed for Step animations, Typewriter animations and Pulse animations.

Pause & Loop

These options apply only to animated GIFs, Flash animations and (pause only) screen savers. They do not apply to AVIs. Pause introduces a delay after the first frame. Loop gives you the option of running the animation once only (Loop=1), continuously (uncheck the option) or a specified number of times. Some browsers interpret values above 1 as 'play continuously'—this is a feature of the browser not Xara 3D Maker.

Style

This selects the type of animation. As you select different styles, this dialog box changes to show only options relevant to that animation type.

Note: Pulse and Typewriter animations do not work on the board with holes design

Rotate, Swing and Pulsate animations have two options: 1 animates the entire graphic as a single block, 2 animates each character separately.

Scroll and Scroll In/Out:

These two animations are similar in that they animate the text by scrolling it in either an X (horizontal), Y (vertical), or Z (into or out of the screen) direction. Scroll is simpler and best if you want the text to move continuously in one direction throughout the animation. While Scroll In/Out gives you more control and allows you to scroll text in different directions on approach and departure from the center.

Scroll: displays the text moving across the screen in one direction, with an optional pause in the middle.

Pause determines the time that the text stands still in the middle of the animation, in 100ths of a second. Normally for Scroll animations you'll want continuous scrolling with no pause, so just set this to 0.If you want a pause it's usually best to use the Scroll In/out animation type instead.

You can control the speed at which your text enters (Start speed) and exits (End speed) the screen, and the speed at which it moves in the middle (Mid speed). If your text moves in the Z direction (into or out of the screen), so it comes from or goes to a point in the distance, you'll often want much higher speed values because the text is seeming to move much longer distances.

Page gap allows you to control the distance between the contents of consecutive pages, with the default value of 100 giving a gap of around 3 times the text height. A lower value makes the pages appear closer together. As with speed, animations with text moving long distances in the Z direction will often need much larger page gap values. Experiment with different values to get the effect you want.

Scroll in/out: is similar to scroll, but allows you to choose different directions for the text as it approaches and departs from the centre of the animation. So for example you may choose to have the text approaching from the distance in the Z direction (moving towards you out of the screen) until it reaches the centre (its IN phase). And then, perhaps after a pause, moving horizontally to leave the screen (its OUT phase).

Pause sets the time in 100ths of a second that the text stands still between the IN and OUT phases of the animation.

The Speed controls allow you to set the average speed of your text during the separate IN and OUT phases. As with Scroll, text moving on the Z axis will probably need higher speed values.

Profile allows you to control how the speed of your text changes during the animation, but the overall average speed is unaffected. A Scroll In - Profile with a value of zero makes the text move to the center at constant speed. Increasing the profile figure slightly causes the text to start a little faster, but slow down as it approaches the center. The more you increase the profile, the more this effect is exaggerated, up to the maximum profile value of 99. The overall time the text takes to cover the distance to the center does not change as the profile figure is changed; only the speeds at the beginning and end of the sequence vary.

Similarly, a negative profile value has the opposite effect. A small negative value makes the text start slightly slower and speed up slightly as it approaches the center. A larger negative value amplifies this effect further. Scroll Out - Profile works just the same way for the out phase of the animation, but the sense is reversed so that specifying the same profile value for both in and out phases gives symmetrical results. So a zero value gives a constant speed. A small positive number makes the text start moving from the center slower and then speed up. A larger value increases this effect. For multi-page animations, Page gap is the same as with Scroll.

Rotate: lets you rotate either the text or the lights or both. You can select the rotation plane and direction. With Front face only checked you see only the front of the text; when unchecked you see both the front and back of the text. Checking Front face only produces smaller animations because you never see the back of the text. Select whether you want the text to rotate or the lights or both.

Swing: gives a pendulum effect with the text swinging to and fro. You can select amount of swing (the Angle—default 180ş) and the rotation plane and direction. Angle mainly applies to multipage animations.

With Angle selected, the animation moves to the next page after each complete rotation (a complete left & right or up & down cycle). With Angle unselected, the change to the next page is at the start of each swing (for example, as the heading starts to swing left and then again as it starts to swing right). This means you can create animations with half the number of frames as with Angle selected.

Pulsate: gives the effect of the text pulsating in the selected axis. Shrink+grow and Grow+shrink apply when either you have a pause in the animation or the animation does not loop continuously. For an animation that loops continuously, without a pause, these options have the same effect. Overlap pages applies to multi-page animations. The effect is that each page appears out of the previous page. With this option unchecked, you see each page separately. Apart from creating some great animation effects, overlapped animations create small file sizes. Minimum text size lets you define how far back to pulsate the text.

Ripple: This gives the effect of the text bobbing up and down character by character when in text mode. In other design modes (such as button) the entire design moves. You can select the amplitude (how far the characters or design go up and down) of the ripple, its axis and the direction in which the animation starts.

Fade: the size of the text does not change but the text fades in or out from the background. Fade is especially useful for Flash animations as it produces smaller file sizes than other animation styles.

Step: displays a series of static (non-rotation) headings in a multi-page animations. Displays each page in sequence. Frame duration sets how long each page in the animation will be displayed.

Typewriter: displays each character in sequence as if someone was typing the character on a keyboard. Frame duration sets the delay between characters.

Pulse: animates each character in sequence, making it either bigger (Size above 100%) or smaller (Size below 100%.). Frame duration sets how long to display each character for.

Wave: (for Rotate 2, Swing 1 and 2, Pulsate 1 and 2 animations only—only available for text.) Wave is particularly effective with pulsate and looks best with longer lines of text. Adds a rippling wave along the text. The animation effect moves in a horizontal only (for single line headings) or horizontal and vertical direction (for multiple line headings) across the text or down the lines. % lets you control the size of the wave.

Animation picker

Lets you import the animation properties from another Xara 3D Maker file. This imports only animation properties—it has no effect on the wording, colors or lighting.

If you can't work out how to recreate the animation you see in another example, you can just copy that animation using the animation picker.

Bevel options

The bevel is the join between the sides and face of the graphic or button.

You can also display bevel options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

For quick interactive bevels on your design just hover your cursor over the side of your object and hold the shift key so that your mouse pointer changes to the bevel tool (see left). You can then just click and drag the bevels on the object.

Apply to: If you are using a board, board + holes or border design then you can choose whether to apply these bevel settings to just the text, the board/border or both.

Bevel types: This lists the different bevel designs available to you.

Miter/Round: This has an effect on sharp corners or serifs on text. Miter squares off corners, Round creates smooth, rounded corners.

Depth: This is the size of the bevel.

Flash file format does not support some bevel types or round corners. Selecting Display as Flash on the View menu removes unsupported bevel types from the list and dims miter/round.

Note: We recommend that you don't set the bevel depth to 1 to remove a bevel. Instead set the bevel type to None. A small bevel renders much more slowly than no bevel, especially if the bevel contains curves.

Tips

Bevels go along the sides, not the face. So, for example, selecting the Curved bevel produces a bulge effect to the extruded part. This also means the bevel takes the color of the sides. (The color of the face can be different to the color of the sides.)

Square faced and Square cornered bevels are particularly effective when the sides are a different color to the face. This can give the effect of a two-colored face to the text.

Beveled objects are slower to display than objects with no bevel.

The Miter/Round options affect the corners of objects. Usually text has sharp mitered corners, but you can round the corners by selecting round. This is usually only obvious for fonts that have sharp corners or serifs. (Selecting display as flash dims these buttons as Flash vector format supports only miters—more on creating Flash files.)

You can apply a different bevel to just part of the text. Select the characters you want and then change the bevel.

Color options

Here you can alter the colors of the faces and sides of the graphic, the lights, the shadow and the background. If you use a texture, you can tint the texture. For more information see Color the graphic.

You can also display color options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

Color list

This drop-down lists which parts of the graphic you can recolor. Each item can be a separate color; the front and back faces of a graphic can be a different color to the sides, for example. the current color is displayed in the square on the right of the dialog box. This square shows hatching if the text uses multiple colors.

Texture

You can use a texture to pattern the faces of the text, the sides or as a background. If your web page uses a background texture, we recommend using the same texture in Xara 3D Maker—this helps the graphic to blend seamlessly into the web page, even if you intend to export as a transparent GIF. Use the Texture options dialog box to change the texture.

Tint (Dimmed unless Texture checked).

This lets you tint a face or sides texture; this is similar to laying a colored film on top of that texture. You cannot tint background textures as they need to be the same as they appear on the web page.

Color panels

These let you select the color to use. The lower strip selects the basic hue, the upper panel the shade.

To adjust the shade:

- Click or drag on the central area of the color picker. You'll see the exact color in the square to the right.

To alter the hue:

- Click or drag on the rainbow strip along the lower part of the dialog box.

HSV/RGB

This selects how to display the color values. You can define the same range of colors using either option—use the color system you prefer.

- HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) Hue is a color wheel with values in the range 0-360 degrees. Saturation and Value are percentages.

- RGB (Red, Green, Blue) Enter values in the range 0-255 or 0-FF (see Hex below.)

Hex

Web page colors are often defined as two hex digits (range 00–FF). Displaying the colors using hex digits can make it easier to match colors. Alternatively type six hex digits (range 000000–FFFFFF) into the # field—many Internet color charts show colors in this format.

Flash file format does not support textures or shadows. Selecting Display as Flash on the View menu dims the Texture checkbox and removes Shadow from the color list.

Design options

You can also display design options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

You can make a text message or shape into an instant design using these options. See Create buttons, boards, boards + holes and borders for more information on creating designs.

Design type (left drop-down list)

Choose from a number of different designs:

Text

Creates the text only.

Button

Creates a button with the text flat on its surface.

Board

Sit your text on a solid board, so the text extrudes from a solid background.

Board and holes

As if you'd taken a saw to your board, to give an impression of a cut-out image.

Border

Adds a border around your text, giving it more impact.

You can also easily switch between these design types using the design toolbar.

Shape (right drop-down list)

Lets you choose from a range of predefined button shapes.

Stretch: This controls the width to height ratio. 100% is equal width and height. Above 100% makes the button wider.

Corners: Buttons can have square or rounded corners. With the check box selected (for rounded corners) type in a value for the corner radius.

Size (dimmed for text only designs): Lets you resize the text in relation to the button, board or border.

X-Y (dimmed for text only designs): Lets you move the text in relation to the button, board or border.

Angle (dimmed for text only designs): Lets you change the angle of the text in relation to the button, board or border.

Design picker

You can import a design shape from any existing X3D file. This one design can then be used with any of the design types listed above. One design = four different combinations. For text graphics, you import the first character as the design shape. So, for the default graphic of X3D, you would import the X as the button shape. See Importing 2D objects.

Flash file format does not support buttons. Selecting Display as Flash on the View menu dims all button options.

Extrusion options

You can also display extrusion options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

The extrude is the depth of the sides - the more extrude, the deeper the object. An object with a high level of extrude will have a very large 3D effect. You can change the extrude by clicking and dragging on the side of the text or board/border.

For quick, interactive extrusion on your design just hover your cursor over the side of your text or board/border so that your cursor changes to the extrusion tool (see right). You can then just click and drag the extrusion of the object.

These extrusion options offer greater control over extrusion.

Apply to: If you are using a board, board + holes or border design then you can choose whether to apply these extrusion settings to just the text, the board/border or both.

Depth: Controls the size (depth) of the sides.

Outline: Creates a hollow graphic. The difference between outline and turning off the front/back face is that outlined graphics have thick sides and the bevel appears on both inside and outside edges of the side. Turning off display of the faces creates wafer-thin sides and the bevel appears on only the outer edge.

Matt/Gloss: Lets you give the graphic either a non-reflective or shiny surface.

Front face (Dimmed for buttons): Selecting this makes the face of the graphic transparent so you see inside the sides. For shallow angles (text almost face-on) you can see through to the back of the graphic.

Back face: Similar to Front face but makes the back of the graphic transparent.

All options in this dialog box are available in Flash vector format.

Shadow options

This gives you control over the optional shadow displayed behind the graphic. The position of the shadow is controlled by one of the arrows in the lighting control. The shadow blur and darkness is controlled from the shadow options. You can even control the color of the shadow for special effects. See Add shadows for more details on using shadows.

You can also display shadow options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

Shadow

Check this Shadow option if you want a shadow.

Style: Style 1 is a blurred copy of the graphic. Artistically this is not a true shadow but looks 'correct' for simple drop shadows (the most common type). Style 2 is a true shadow and looks best in animations where the eye is more aware of the shape of the shadow.

Transparency: Controls how much of the background shows through the shadow. Semitransparent shadows are more realistic than solid shadows.

Blur: Controls how sharp or blurred the shadow appears. This can give the effect of either a pin-point light source (little blur) or diffuse light source (greater blur). Shadows always look best with some blur (real-life shadows are never sharp-edged.)

The Flash vector file format does not support shadows and so you cannot export shadows in this format.

Tips

GIFs with shadows are usually larger than with no shadow. Also the further the shadow is away from the text, or the more blurred, the larger the file. To get the most realistic shadow effects on your web page, ensure the Xara 3D Maker background matches that of the web page.

Text options

This duplicates many of the controls on the text toolbar. If there is a selected area of text, any changes apply only to the selected characters.

You can also display text options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

Options at the top of this dialog box (left–right)

Bold: Make the text Bold.

Italic: Make the text Italic.

Outline: This duplicates outline in the Extrude options (described earlier.)

Font size: Dimmed unless there is a selected area of text. Lets you make the selected characters smaller (below 100%) or larger (above 100%) than other characters.

Aspect ratio: Lets you compress (below 100%) or expand (above 100%) character width. Values below 80% or above 120% can distort the text—this depends on the font used.

Justification: (also known as alignment.) Has no effect for a single line of text. For multiple lines you can align the left-hand edges, the centers or the right-hand edges of the lines.

Line spacing: Has no effect for a single line of text. For multiple lines this alters the spacing between the lines. Line spacing always applies to the entire line. If you have a selected area of text, any changes apply only to the line or lines containing the selection.

Tracking: This controls the spacing between characters. Negative values move the characters closer together, positive values move them apart.

Baseline shift: Dimmed unless there is a selected area of text. Positive values raise the selected characters above other characters. Negative values lower the selected characters.

Kerning: Dimmed when there is a selected area of text. This controls the spacing between the pair of characters either side of the cursor. This is similar to tracking except that kerning applies to a pair of characters. Tracking applies to either all characters or the characters in the selected area.

Line break: This puts any characters or words to the right of the cursor on a line below characters or words to the left. You can type a line break character from the keyboard using Shift + Enter. In the Text Options image above, there is a line break between 'X3D' and 'version 7'.

Tip: You can also insert a line break by clicking Insert Line Break on the Edit menu.

Page break: This is used when creating multi-page animations to separate each page. You can type a page break character from the keyboard using Enter. The preview window displays this symbol when you insert a page break, as shown after 'X3D version 7' in the Text Options image above.

Tip: You can also insert a page break by clicking Insert Page Break on the Edit menu.

Font list

This displays all the TrueType fonts installed on your computer, including those installed with Xara 3D Maker. Selecting a font name previews the text in that font.

Note: If you are using Windows 7 and have previously hidden rarely-used fonts in your Control Panel, these fonts will not be displayed in the Xara 3D Maker text toolbar.

Preview window - shows you the text. You can select text in this preview (by dragging or using the arrow keys) and then apply any of the options in this dialog box to just the selection.

More

Click this to display the character map and a list of available character sets.

Character map: This shows you the characters in the current character set. Most fonts do not include every possible character—missing characters appear as either a blank or a small rectangle. Click on a character for an enlarged view. Double-click on a character to inset it into the text.

Character sets: Windows has two types of font: Regular, which has 256 characters, and Unicode fonts, which have many more characters arranged into separate sets of 256 characters. A typical Unicode font might include several different versions of Latin characters (Regular, Central European, Baltic) plus Cyrillic and Greek alphabets.

The U button is dimmed for regular fonts.

For Unicode fonts, unchecking U lists the basic character sets. Not all fonts include every character set; available sets are shown with > to the left of the character set name. (The > depends on information contained in the font—this is not always accurate.)

Checking U lists the different types of character (such as Arrows) in the font. Again > shows available character types.

You can also add accented characters and symbols using a range of shortcuts.

Right-click menu

Right-clicking on the text preview pops-up a menu:

Zoom to fit—scale the text to fit in the window

Zoom in—enlarge your view of the text

Zoom out—show more of the text

These options change your view of the text. They have no effect on the actual text size.

You can also use a range of keyboard shortcuts in the Text Options dialog to perform the actions described above. See Text Options dialog shortcuts.

Note: All options in this dialog box are available in Flash vector format.

Texture options

You can also display texture options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

This dialog box lets you apply and change textures applied to any part of the graphic or used as a background behind the graphic. You can use textures to give an interesting effect to objects and/or the background. You can easily drag a bitmap on to the background, text face or text sides. You can use any BMP, ICO, PNG, JPEG or GIF file. Textures can also be set for buttons, boards and borders with the options below. You cannot resize or rotate background textures as they need to be identical to the texture used on your web page.

Drop-down list: This lets you select which parts of the graphic or the background you want to add a texture to or change the texture of.

Texture: Check this to add a texture to the selected part of the graphic or background. Uncheck to use plain color (no texture) on that area.

Tint (dimmed for Background): You can use the color editor to tint a texture; this is similar to laying a colored film on top of that texture.

Size (dimmed for Background): Lets you resize the texture. Increasing the size can make obvious the individual pixels that make up the texture although this can create some interesting effects.

X-Y: Lets you move the texture horizontally or vertically.

Angle (dimmed for Background): Lets you rotate the texture.

Load a texture: Opens a dialog box where you can preview and choose which texture to load from either your hard disk or other source.

Flash vector file format does not support textures. Selecting Display as Flash on the View menu dims all options.

View options

You can also display view options by clicking this button in the options toolbar.

These settings allow you to move and rotate your design in small increments. You can also make it seem closer or farther away, and display it in a simplified wireframe style.

Tip: You can move your design freely around the screen by holding down "Alt" and dragging across the screen. This can help you position your design so it starts exactly where you want it.

X position: Allows you to move the design horizontally across the screen. Type in a positive or negative value or move the slider up or down.

Tip: You can also do this by holding down "Ctrl + Alt" and dragging across the screen.

Y position: Allows you to move the design vertically across the screen. Type in a positive or negative value or move the slider up or down.

Tip: You can also do this by holding down "Alt + Shift" and dragging across the screen.

Rotation: Allows you to precisely adjust your design's rotation around its vertical axis (first rotation angle), the horizontal axis (second angle) and the graphic's horizontal axis (third angle). By specifying a positive or negative value here rather than rotating by dragging across the screen or using the scroll bars, you have greater control over the exact angle of your design.

Tip: You can also do this by holding down your keyboard's arrow keys. Holding down "Ctrl" while using your arrow keys adjusts the vertical and horizontal rotation value (first and second angle) in larger steps, while holding down "Ctrl + Shift" and using the arrow keys adjusts the vertical and horizontal rotation (first and third angle) in larger steps.

Note: If there is no rotation value for the first angle, then altering the second or third angle will both appear to have the same effect.

Tip: Press "Home" on your keyboard to reset position and rotation options to 0. Press "Alt + Home" if you have the text cursor displayed.

Viewpoint: This slightly distorts the design so that it appears as if the viewer has moved closer to or further away (although the text size stays the same size). Choose or type in a value from 0-200%.

Tip: You can also achieve this effect by pressing "Ctrl + Subtract (-)" or "Ctrl + Add (+)" on the numeric keypad. Pressing "Ctrl + Asterisk (*)" resets your design to the default value of 100%.

Wireframe: Select this to toggle your design into wireframe mode. This can help you to view your design or animation in a simplified way. The wireframe display can also be exported as both a static and animated image.

Tip: You can also press "Ctrl + Shift + W" to view your design in wireframe.

File Formats

Xara 3D Maker can load and save/export in a variety of formats. This section describes the different formats and where you would use them. See How To ... for details on loading and saving files.

ANI—Export only (animated cursors)

Animated cursors are usually 16x16, 32x32 or 48x48 pixels although custom sizes are allowed. Using ANI files requires some programming knowledge as they are used internally in programs.

AVI—Export only (animations)

A popular animation format but with fewer options than animated GIFs or Flash (SWF) animations.

BMP—Export only

You can export 3D graphics for use in other programs. Xara 3D Maker can export in a range of color depths. Some programs might not be able to load all variations.

CFX—Export only

This is a special file format used in MAGIX movie editing and slide show programs. It allows you to save an animation with a transparent background for the use as title overlay. See Exporting transparent title animations for movies.

CUR—Export only (animated cursor)

Cursors are usually 16x16, 32x32 or 48x48 pixels although custom sizes are allowed. Using CUR files requires some programming knowledge as they are used internally in programs.

EMF—Load only (metafile format)

You can load shapes in this format and extrude the shape.

GIF—Export only

(static) – GIF files are often used on web pages. This format has a maximum of 256 colors. All browsers can display GIF files.

(animations) – probably the most useful animation format.

ICO—Export only (icons)

Icons are usually 16x16, 32x32 or 48x48 pixels although custom sizes are allowed.

JPG—Export only (JPEG)

Originally developed for photographs, this format is useful for graphics with subtle color changes. All browsers can display JPG files.

PNG—Export only

Similar to GIF format but can produce smaller files and can display more colors. Modern browsers and many other programs can display PNG files.

SCR—Export only (Windows screen saver)

Lets you create your own custom screen saver. See Create screen savers for tips.

SWF—Export only

(Flash—bitmap format, static or animations) – Flash is often on web sites, especially for animations. Bitmap format lets you use all Xara 3D Maker features, including shadows.

(Flash—vector format, static or animations) – the advantage of vector format is that you can scale up a graphic without losing quality. However not all Xara 3D Maker features are supported by Flash vector format. For the smallest file size select Display as Flash on the View menu. This disables all unsupported features. Alternatively you can export unsupported features as bitmaps within the vector file. The drawback is that you may lose quality when enlarging the graphic. Flash vector files cannot include shadows.

WEB—Load only

These are files created in Xara Web Designer and is an alternative format to XAR files. See XAR format, below, for details.

WMF—Load only (Windows metafile)

This is an alternative to EMF (see above). We recommend using EMF format where possible.

X3D—Load/Save

Xara 3D Maker's native format. You can load X3D files for editing the source graphic. We suggest always saving your work in X3D format as this lets you edit the file in the future.

XAR—Load only

These are files created in Xara Photo & Graphic Designer, Designer Pro or Web Designer. You can load drawn shapes in this format and extrude them to create 3D shapes.

You can also import BMP, GIF, ICO, JPG/JPEG and PNG files for use as textures on the faces of the 3D graphic or as a background.

Keyboard Shortcuts

*—options disabled when Display as Flash selected

Up/down arrow keys

Rotates around the horizontal (x) axis in 1-second increments

Left/right arrow keys

Rotates around the vertical (y) axis in 1-second increments

Up/down/left/right arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Moves the text cursor in all 4 directions

Up/down arrow keys when cursor is in an edit box

Increase/decrease value by small amount

Back key

Deletes to the left of the text cursor

PageUp/Down

Moves to first/last page

Page Up/Page Down when cursor is in an edit box

Increase/decrease value by large amount

Page Up/Page Down when text cursor is displayed

Moves to last/next page

Enter

Insert new page

Home

If text cursor is not displayed, resets position and rotation to default (graphic is face-on and centered).

If text cursor is displayed, returns text cursor to start of line.

Delete

Deletes to the right of the text cursor.

End

Moves to the end of the line.

Shift-drag

Rotates around the horizontal (x) axis

Shift+Enter

Insert new line

Shift+Home

Same as Ctrl+Shift+Home.

Shift+Insert

Pastes text.

Shift+Delete

Cuts text.

Shift+End

Move cursor to end of line and select all characters in between.

Shift+up/down arrow keys

Rotates the graphic around its center line in 1-second increments

Shift+Up/down/left/right arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Selects text

Shift+Alt+up/down/left right arrow keys

Rotates the graphic in small increments

Shift+Alt+up/down arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Rotates the graphic around its center line in 1-second increments

Ctrl+A

Select entire heading

Ctrl+B

Bold text

Ctrl+C

Copy

Ctrl+E

Display/hide cursor

Ctrl+F

Display as Flash

Ctrl+H *

Display/hide hotspot (for cursors)

Ctrl+I

Italic

Ctrl+L

Select line

Ctrl+M

Edit comment-comments are saved in X3D files and let you add notes to files

Ctrl+N

New document

Ctrl+O

Open existing X3D file

Ctrl+P

Select entire page (for multi-page animations)

Ctrl+R

Display/hide frame

Ctrl+S

Save in X3D format

Ctrl+T

Display/hide text toolbar

Ctrl+U

(When cursor displayed) force character to right of cursor to upper-case

(When there is a selected character or characters) force all characters in the selection to upper-case

(Otherwise) no effect

Ctrl+V

Paste

Ctrl+W

(When cursor displayed) swap the case of the character to right of cursor

(When there is a selected character or characters) swap the case of all characters in the selection

(Otherwise) no effect

Ctrl+X

Cut

Ctrl+Y

Redo (undo the last Undo)

Ctrl+Z

Undo last action

Ctrl-drag

Rotates around the vertical (y) axis

Ctrl+Shift-drag

Rotates the graphic around its center line

Ctrl+Alt-drag

Moves the design left and right

Ctrl+Home

If text cursor is not displayed, resets position and rotation to default (graphic is face-on and centered).

If text cursor is displayed, returns text cursor to start of text.

Ctrl+Home when cursor is in an edit box

Set to maximum value

Ctrl+Insert

Copies text

Ctrl+End

Set to minimum value

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up/down/left/right arrow keys

Rotates the graphic around its center line in 15-second increments

Ctrl+Shift+Up/down/left/

right arrow keys

Rotates around the horizontal (x) axis in 15-second increments

Ctrl+Shift+Up/down/left/

right arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Selects text

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+up/down arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Rotates the graphic around its center line in 15-second increments

Ctrl+Alt+up/down arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Rotates around the horizontal (x) axis in 15-second increments

Ctrl+Alt+left/right arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Rotates around the vertical (y) axis in 15-second increments

Ctrl+up/down arrow keys when cursor is in an edit box

Increase/decrease value by large amount

Ctrl+up/down arrow keys

Rotates around the horizontal (x) axis in 15-second increments

Ctrl+left/right arrow keys

Rotates around the vertical (y) axis in 15-second increments

Ctrl+Shift+up/down arrow keys

Rotates the graphic around its center line in 15-second increments

Ctrl+Space

Start/stop animation

Ctrl+Tab

Display/hide lights

Ctrl+Add (+) on numeric keypad

Increase perspective

Ctrl+Subtract (-) on numeric keypad

Decrease perspective

Ctrl+Multiply (*) on numeric keypad

Reset perspective

Ctrl+Home

Move cursor to start of page

Ctrl+End

Move cursor to end of page

Ctrl+PageUp

Move to first page in a multi-page animation

Ctrl+PageDown

Move to last page in a multi-page animation

F5

Kern left 5/1000ths of an em

Ctrl+F5

Kern left 50/1000ths of an em

F6

Kern right 5/1000ths of an em

Ctrl+F6

Kern right 50/1000ths of an em

F8

Displays text cursor to enable editing

Ctrl+Shift+A

Open animation picker

Ctrl+Shift+B *

Open design picker

Ctrl+Shift+C *

Open texture picker to choose a text (faces & sides) texture

Ctrl+Shift+D *

Open texture picker to choose a side texture

Ctrl+Shift+E

Open export image dialog box

Ctrl+Shift+F

Open texture picker to choose a face texture

Ctrl+Shift+G *

Open texture picker dialog box to choose a background texture

Ctrl+Shift+I

Import EMF/WMF metafile or WEB/XAR format file

Ctrl+Shift+O

Select/deselect outline text

Ctrl+Shift+S *

Open color options to edit shadow color

Ctrl+Shift+U

(When cursor displayed) force character to right of cursor to lower-case

(When there is a selected character or characters) force all characters in the selection to lower-case

(Otherwise) no effect

Ctrl+Shift+V

Paste character

Ctrl+Shift+W

Display as wireframe

Ctrl+Shift+X

Export animation

Ctrl+Shift+Y

Import style

Ctrl+Shift+Home

Select to start of text

Ctrl+Shift+End

Select to end of text

Alt+1

Open color options to edit light 1 color

Alt+2

Open color options to edit light 2 color

Alt+3

Open color options to edit light 3 color

Alt+A

Open animation options

Alt+B

Open bevel options

Alt+C

Open color options to edit text color

Alt+D

Open color options to edit side color

Alt+E

Open extrude options

Alt+F

Open color options to edit face color

Alt+G

Open color options to edit background color

Alt+L

Display/hide time line

Alt+O

Display/hide option bars

Alt+Q

Open quality settings

Alt+R

Open Frame size dialog box

Alt+S

Open shadow options

Alt+T

Open text options

Alt+U

Open design options

Alt+V

Open view options

Alt+X

Open texture options

Alt-drag

Moves the design up, down, left and right

Alt+Home

Resets position and rotation to default (graphic is face-on and centered).

Alt+Shift+drag

Moves the design up and down

Alt+Insert

Redo.

Alt+Add (+) on numeric keypad

Moves shadow plane forwards

Alt+Subtract (-) on numeric keypad

Moves shadow plane backwards

Alt+Multiply (*) on numeric keypad

Reset shadow plane

Alt+Up/down/left/right arrow keys

Rotates the graphic in small increments

Alt+Up/down arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Rotates around the horizontal (x) axis in 1-second increments

Alt+Left/right arrow keys when text cursor is displayed

Rotates around the vertical (y) axis in 1-second increments

Alt+Back key

Undo

Text Options Dialog Shortcuts

There are also a selection of shortcuts that you can use to edit text in the Text Options dialog.

None

Ctrl

Ctrl+Shift

Alt

Shift

Zoom normal

1

Zoom x2

2

Zoom x3

3

Zoom x4

4

Zoom in

Add

Zoom out

Subtract

Zoom normal

Multiply

Select all

A

Bold

B

Copy

C

Italic

I

Select line

L

Outline

O

O

Select page

P

Swap case

S

Upper case

U

Lower case

U

Paste

V

Swap case

W

Cut

X

Redo

Y

Undo

Z

Redo

Z

Insert line break

Enter

Insert page break

Enter

Enter

Start of line

Home

Start of text

Home

Select to start of text

Home

Select to start of line

Home

End of line

End

End of text

End

Select to end of text

End

Select to end of line

End

Delete back

Back

Undo

Back

Delete

Delete

Cut

Delete

Copy

Insert

Redo

Insert

Paste

Insert

Small cursor move

Cursor

Large cursor move

Cursor

Text selection

Cursor

Cursor

Kerning

Cursor

Zoom in

Add

Zoom out

Subtract

Zoom reset

Multiply

Move to previous page

Page up

Move to first page

Page up

Move to next page

Page down

Move to last page

Page down

Kern left

F5

Large kern left

F5

Kern right

F6

Large kern right

F6

Kern up

F7

Large kern up

F7

Kern down

F8

Large kern down

F8

Accented characters and symbols

To produce the following characters and symbols in, press Ctrl and the keyboard key shown below, then type your character.

Pressing Ctrl and the accent key followed by a space gives the accent alone. Some accents can be combined by following one accent by another.

Accents

Ctrl key

Characters

Acute

'

aAâÂåÅæÆcCeEêÊGgiIkKlLmMnNoOôÔøØpPrRsSuUüÜwWyYzZ

áÁấẤǻǺǽǼćĆéÉếẾǴǵíÍḱḰĺĹḿḾńŃóÓốỐǿǾṕṔŕŔśŚúÚǘǗẃẂýÝźŹ

Double acute

' x2

oOuU

őŐűŰ

Breve

)

aAeEgGiIoOuU

ăĂĕĔğĞĭĬŏŎŭŬ

Breve below

) x2

HH

ḫḪ

Inverted breve

(

aAeEiIoOrRuU

ȃȂȇȆȋȊȏȎȓȒȗȖ

Caron

>

aAcCdDeEgGiIjkKlLnNoOrRsSt TuUüÜzZ

ǎǍčČďĎěĚǧǦǐǏǰǩǨľĽňŇǒǑřŘšŠťŤǔǓǚǙžŽ

Cedilla

,

cCdDgGhHkKlLnNrRsStT

çÇḑḐģĢḩḨķĶļĻņŅŗŖşŞţŢ

Circumflex

^ or <

aAcCeEgGhHiIjJoOsSuUwWyYzZ

âÂĉĈêÊĝĜĥĤîÎĵĴôÔŝŜûÛŵŴŷŶẑẐ

Circumflex below

^ or < x2

dDeElLnNtTuU

ḓḒḙḘḽḼṋṊṱṰṷṶ

Dieresis

:

aAeEhHiIoOtuUúÚùÙwWxXyY

äÄëËḧḦïÏöÖẗüÜǘǗǜǛẅẄẍẌÿŸ

Dieresis below

: x2

uU

ṳṲ

Dot

.

bBcCdDeEfFgGhHiIlLmMnNpPrRsStTwWxXyYzZ

ḃḂċĊḋḊėĖḟḞġĠḣḢıİŀĿṁṀṅṄṗṖṙṘṡṠṫṪẇẆẋẊẏẎżŻ

Dot below

. x2

aAbBdDeEhHiIkKlLmMnNoOrRsStTuUvVwWyYzZ

ạẠḅḄḍḌẹẸḥḤịỊḳḲḷḶṃṂṇṆọỌṛṚṣṢṭṬụỤṿṾẉẈỵỴẓẒ

Grave

`

aAâÂeEêÊiIoOôÔuUüÜwWyY

àÀầẦèÈềỀìÌòÒồỒùÙǜǛẁẀỳỲ

Double grave

` x2

aAeEiIoOrRuU

ȁȀȅȄȉȈȍȌȑȐȕȔ

Hook

?

aAâÂeEêÊiIoOôÔuUyY

ảẢẩẨẻẺểỂỉỈỏỎổỔủỦỷỶ

Hook

?

bBcC dDfFgGhkKmnNpPqtT

ɓƁƈƇɗƊƒƑɠƓɦƙƘɱɲƝƥƤʠƭƬ

Horn

+

oOóÓòÒõÕọỌtT uUúÚ ùÙ ụỤ

ơƠớỚờỜỡỠợỢÞþưƯứỨừỪựỰ

Accents

Ctrl key

Hungerumlaut

"

oOuU

őŐűŰ

Line below

- x2

bBdDhkKnNrRtTzZ

ḇḆḏḎẖḵḴṉṈṟṞṯṮẕẔ

Macron

-

aAäÄęĘeEgGiIoOuUüÜ

āĀǟǞǣǢēĒḡḠīĪōŌūŪǖǕ

Ogonek

,

aAeEiIoOuU

ąĄęĘįĮǫǪųŲ

Ring

@

aAáÁuUwy

åÅǻǺůŮẘẙ

Ring below

@ x2

aA

ḁḀ

Slash

/

dDlLoOóÓ

đĐłŁøØǿǾ

Tilde

~

aAâÂeEêÊi InNoOôÔuUvVyY

ãÃẫẪẽẼễỄĩ ĨñÑõÕỗỖũŨṽṼỹỸ

Tilde below

~ x2

eEi IuU

ḛḚḭ ḬṵṴ

Bar

-

bdDgGhHl tTzZ

ƀðÐǥǤħĦƚ ŧŦƶƵ

Accents

Ctrl key

Symbols

Ellipsis

. or &

.

…

Bullet

. or &

*

•

Em-dash

&

-

—

Quotes

'

' "

' "

Quotes

`

' "

' "

Quotes

,

' "

‚ „

Punctuation

&

<>

‹ ›

Punctuation

<

<

«

Punctuation

>

>

»

Daggers

+

space +

† ‡

Symbols

&

$ % eE N pP tT

§ ‰ ℮ № ¶ ™

Punctuation

&

!?

¡¿

Ordinal

_

aA oO

ª º

Euro sign

-

cC

€

Cent

/

cC

¢

Copyright

@ or &

cC

©

Dong sign

_ or &

dD

₫

Florin

&

f

ƒ

Mill sign

/ or &

mM

₥

n superscript

&

n

ⁿ

Sound recording

copyright

@

pP

℗

Registered

@ or &

rR

®

Double S

&

sS

ß

Currency symbols

- or &

F nN wW yY £

₣ ₦ ₩ ¥ ₤

Other

&

a A á Á i l o O

æ Æ ǽ Ǽ fi fl œŒ

Fractions

/

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

½ ⅓ ⅔ ¼ ¾ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞

Superiors

&

0123456789

⁰ ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹

Subtract

-

-

−

Multiply

&

xX

××

Divide

&

:

÷

Plus-minus

- or _ or &

+

±

Equality

- or _ or &

=

≡

Inequality

/

=

≠

Approximate

~

~

≈

Less than or equal

- or _

<

≤

Less than or equal

<

- _

≤

Greater than or equal

- or _

>

≥

Greater than or equal

>

- _

≥

Legal

This documentation is protected by law. All rights, especially the right of duplication, circulation, and translation are reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in form of copies, microfilms or other processes, or transmitted into a language used for machines, especially data processing machines, without the express written consent of the publisher.

All copyrights reserved.

All other product names are trademarks of the corresponding manufacturers. Errors in and changes to the contents as well as program modifications reserved.

Xara is a registered trademark of Xara Group Ltd.

Xara Group Ltd. is an affiliate company of MAGIX AG.

MAGIX is a registered trademark of MAGIX AG.

MAGIX Photo Designer 7: Copyright © MAGIX AG, 2000-2011.

Other mentioned product names may be registered trademarks of the respective manufacturer.

This product uses MAGIX patent pending technology.

Copyright © Xara Group Ltd., 1994-2011. All rights reserved.

Xara Customer End User License Agreement

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Xara 3D Maker software ("Software") is the copyright of Xara Group Limited ("Xara") whose principal place of business is at Gaddesden Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP2 6EX, United Kingdom and may not be stored on any computer or copied without the license of Xara. You are offered a license on the terms of the End User License Agreement ("EULA") set out below.

If you accept the terms of the License Agreement, select "Yes".

Selecting YES and installing the Software constitutes acceptance of the terms of the EULA. Please read carefully and accept the terms and conditions of the EULA before installing the Software. Do not install the Software if you do not agree to the terms and conditions of the EULA.

If you do not accept these terms and you have purchased the Software you may within 14 days of purchase return the CD-ROM containing the Software, unused and intact or in the case of a download a Letter of Destruction to your supplier together with proof of purchase for a full refund.

XARA 3D MAKER END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT ("EULA")

You are permitted to:

1. load or download the Software and use it only on a single client computer which is under your personal control; except that you may

2. copy the Software from one computer to another under your personal control provided it is used on only one computer at any one time and only by you. The copies must reproduce and include Xara's copyright notices;

3. transfer the Software (complete with all its associated documentation) and this license to another person provided that person has agreed to accept the terms of this Agreement and you contemporaneously transfer all copies of the Software you have made to that person or destroy all copies not transferred. If any transferee does not accept such terms then this license shall automatically terminate. The transferor does not retain any rights under this Agreement in respect of the transferred Software or license.

You are not permitted:

(a) to use the Software on any computer or system which permits electronic access to it by more than one user;

(b) to rent, lease, sub-license, loan, copy (except as expressly provided in this Agreement), modify adapt, merge, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative works based on the whole or any part of the Software or its associated documentation except as permitted by law;

(c) except as expressly provided in this Agreement, to use, reproduce or deal in the Software in any way.

TERM

The license is effective until you terminate it by destroying the Software and its documentation together with all copies. It will also terminate if you fail to abide by this Agreement. Upon termination you agree to destroy all copies of the Software and its documentation including any Software stored on the hard disk of any computer under your control. If you are using the trial version of the Software then any rights to use the Software or images created with it terminates with the expiration of the trial period.

OWNERSHIP

You own only any CD-ROM (or authorized replacement) upon which the Software was supplied where it was not downloaded. You may retain such CD-ROM on termination provided the Software has been erased. Xara shall at all times retain ownership of the Software as recorded on the original CD-ROM and all subsequent copies thereof regardless of form. This Agreement applies to the grant of the license only and not to the contract of sale of the CD-ROM.

RESTRICTIONS

This license gives you the right to use images created with this Software with the following limitations:

1. The textures and fonts cannot be redistributed, sold or published in any form, commercial or otherwise.

2. Some fonts are provided by third parties who retain the copyright. In all cases copyright is reserved by Xara or its licensors and is protected by international copyright law.

3. You may not use the images for any purpose which is prohibited by law.

WARRANTIES AND REMEDIES

1. Xara warrants that the storage media on which the Software may have been supplied will be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for a period of 90 days after the date of original purchase. If a defect in any CD occurs during such period you may return it with proof of purchase to your supplier who will replace it free of charge.

2. Xara warrants that the Software will perform substantially in accordance with its accompanying documentation (provided that the Software is properly used on the computer and with the operating system for which it was designed) and that the documentation correctly describes the operation of the Software in all material respects. If Xara is notified of any significant error in the Software during the period of 90 days after the date of original purchase it will correct any such error within a reasonable time (by replacement if it chooses) or, at its option, refund the price of the Software (against return of the Software and its documentation).

3. The warranties set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 above are your sole warranties and are in place of all warranties conditions or other terms expressed or implied by statute or otherwise, all of which are hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. Paragraphs 1 and 2 also set out your sole remedies for any breach of Xara's warranties.

4. In particular Xara does not warrant that the Software will meet your requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or error free or that all errors in the Software can be corrected. You load and use the Software at your own risk and in no event will Xara be liable to you for any loss or damage of any kind (except personal injury or death resulting from Xara's negligence) including lost profits or any indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of or inability to use the Software or from errors or deficiencies in it whether caused by negligence or otherwise, except as expressly provided in this Agreement.

CONSUMERS

Nothing in this Agreement shall affect your statutory rights as a consumer.

LAW

This Agreement shall be governed by English law.

If you have any questions concerning this Agreement please write to Xara Group Limited, Gaddesden Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP2 6EX, United Kingdom.

The bundled fonts and textures cannot be redistributed, sold or published in any form, commercial or otherwise. Haxton Logos, Geotype, Greek Diner, Russel Write, Bouton International, Huxley Titling and Whimsy fonts are provided by kind permission of Gary Bouton and remain © Gary Bouton, see www.theboutons.com. In all cases copyright is reserved by Xara or its licensors and is protected by international copyright law.

Copyright

This documentation is protected by law. All rights, especially the right of duplication, circulation, and translation are reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in form of copies, microfilms or other processes, or transmitted into a language used for machines, especially data processing machines, without the express written consent of the publisher.

All copyrights reserved.

All other product names are trademarks of the corresponding manufacturers. Errors in and changes to the contents as well as program modifications reserved.

Xara is a registered trademark of Xara Group Ltd.

Xara Group Ltd. is an affiliate company of MAGIX AG.

MAGIX is a registered trademark of MAGIX AG.

Other mentioned product names may be registered trademarks of the respective manufacturer.

Copyright © Xara Group Ltd., 1994-2011. All rights reserved.

Windows and FrontPage are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. TrueType is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. registered in the US and other countries. Macromedia, Flash and Dreamweaver are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated, in the United States and/or other countries.

Frankfurter Venetian, Geotype, Greek Diner, Haxton, Russel Write, Steppes, Bouton International, Huxley Titling and Whimsy fonts kindly provided by Gary David Bouton, see www.theboutons.com

Other fonts are from a collection created by Fontbank Inc., which can be purchased from our web site www.buyfonts.com

Many of the WMF symbols on the CD are letters from EFF fonts — Creatures, Chess, Symphony, Picturesque, Birdie and ArrowPi — which are some of the variety of quality fonts from the EFF range which can be purchased from our web site www.buyfonts.com

Other WMF symbols are courtesy of James Parry or come from the Publish Art CD produced by Ekits. Details about this graphical resource can be found at: ekitsonline.com or from jim@ekitsonline.com

Still more WMF symbols were produced from Gary David Bouton's symbolic fonts Geotype, Haxton and Sympols. GeoType and Haxton are included on this CD, Sympols can be downloaded from Gary's site www.theboutons.com

Other mentioned product names may be registered trademarks of the respective manufacturer.

Table of Contents

Reference Section

Welcome to Xara 3D Maker 7

Purchasing and unlocking Xara 3D Maker

What's New in Xara 3D Maker Version 7

Other Xara products

Getting Help

Support

About Xara 3D Maker

Tooltips

Working with Xara 3D Maker

The Xara 3D Maker window

Getting started

How To ...

Quick overview

Open a new document

Change the text

Rotate and position the graphic

Status bar

Positioning options

Rotate options

Light the graphic

Color the graphic

Resize the graphic

Add bevels & extrude

Select characters

Add shadows

Shadow styles

Shadows and Flash vector format

Create animations

Animation options and file format

To preview an animation

Editing the text for multi-page animations

The time line

Applying animation effects to selected text

Tips for creating animations

Using the animation picker

Creating cursor (CUR & ANI) files

Importing 2D objects

For use as a board or border design

For use as a text character

Copying from Xara Designer Pro

Apply the style of an existing graphic

Copy the animation options

Copy selected options

Create buttons, boards, boards + holes and borders

Create screen savers

Previewing a screen saver file

Using a screen saver file

Tips

Create Flash files

Tips for creating Flash files