Copyright: Copyright ©1998 Xara Ltd.
Citation: Xara 3D program ©1998 Xara Ltd.


Altering the 3D extrude

Pressing the 'E' button (or ALT+E on the keyboard) displays the Extrusion Options dialog box. This lets you change the extrude 3D depth, and whether the text is shown glossy or matt.

You can also change the text color - see Altering the text color for details.

This dialog box lets you create hollow text - see Hollow text for more details.

See also

Altering the lights

Altering the background

Altering the Bevel

Altering the font

Altering the text

Altering the text color

Using a texture to color the text


Altering the Bevel

You can adjust the bevel - that is the type of corner that is applied to the edge of the text - by typing ALT+B or pressing the ‘B’ button to display the bevel dialog box.

You can select various bevel types from the list, and the size of the bevel by typing in the bevel depth. Note that the bevel size is relative to the extrude depth, so that the greater the 3D depth of the text, the more obvious the bevel is. Also note that the bevels go along the side of the text, not the face of the text. So, for example, selecting the 'Curved' bevel produces a budge effect to the extruded part.

Notes

Beveled text is slower to display than text with no bevel.

The Miter and Round options affect the corners of the lettering. Usually it's displayed with a sharp mitered corners, but you can round this off by selecting the Round options. This is usually only obvious for fonts that have sharp corners or serifs.

See also

Altering the font

Altering the text

Altering the text color

Using a texture to color the text

Altering the 3D extrude

Altering the lights

Altering the background


Altering the background color or texture

To use a flat color as the background behind the text choose Background Color from the View menu. This displays the Color Picker.

To use a bitmap texture as the background choose Background Texture from the View menu. You can also drag-and-drop textures onto the background.

Bitmap texture backgrounds are useful where you want a 3D text heading to appear on a web page that has a texture background.  Using the same bitmap as the web page background ensures that any 3D heading 'fits in' with the whole page background. You can import any BMP, PNG, JPEG or GIF file as a background and Xara3D repeats this (tiles it) in exactly the same way as a Web browser.

Note that the actual bitmap is not stored inside the X3D file. If you give someone a Xara3D file that uses a texture, also give them the bitmap file. For transferring files to other people, we suggest storing the bitmap file in the same folder as the X3D file. Xara3D automatically finds bitmap files in the same folder.

See also

Altering the font

Altering the text

Altering the 3D extrude

Altering the text color

Using a texture to color the text

Altering the lights

Altering the Bevel


Altering the font

Use the drop down list on the Text Toolbar (at the bottom of the window) to alter the font. Any installed TrueType font is available in the font list. With Xara3D you may find that some of the more unusual block and ‘curvy’ fonts work particularly well.

Click B (or press CTRL+B) to make the text bold.

Click I (or press CTRL+I) to make the text italic..

Note:

You can also click the "T" button at the top of the window to display the Text options dialog box. This lets you preview the different fonts installed on your computer. Use the up/down cursor (arrow) keys on the keyboard to step up and down the list of fonts.

See also

Altering the text

Altering the 3D extrude

Altering the Bevel

Altering the lights

Altering the text color

Using a texture to color the text

Altering the background color or texture


Altering the lights

Xara3D has three lights shining on the text. These lights can be any position and color you wish. You can also rotate the lights in animations - see Creating an animation.

To view the lights:

1. Press the ‘light bulb’ button. (You can also press CTRL+TAB.)

This shows the three lights, represented by colored arrows that are initially red, green and blue. You can alter the color of any light by double clicking the appropriate light arrow. To learn how to select colors see The Color Picker

To reposition a light:

1. Simply drag on it. This rotates the light around the text object.

To make the light go behind the text, just keep dragging right or left until it rotates behind the object.

Note:

An alternative way to control the light colors is right-click on the window. This brings up a pop-up menu that allows you to control all three lights as well as colors or bitmap textures.

See also

Altering the font

Altering the text

Altering the text color

Using a texture to color the text

Altering the 3D extrude

Altering the Bevel

Altering the background


Altering the text

Maximum number of characters: 80

You can either directly edit the text in the window or use the Text Options dialog box. Text Options is easier to use when editing complex text that is slow to redraw on screen. Click the 'T' button to open the Text Options dialog box (or press ALT+T.)

On-screen editing:

  To add characters to the end of the text: type the characters as normal.

  To start a new line: press Enter.

  To delete characters from the end of the text: press the BACKSPACE key on the keyboard.

  To edit text:

1. Click the Show/Hide Cursor button (the I-beam) to select it. This displays a vertical cursor.

2.	Using the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor.

3.	You can then type in new text or delete existing text using BACKSPACE or DELETE.

Text Toolbar:

To change the spacing between characters: change Tracking on the Text Toolbar (displayed at the bottom of the window.) Tracking is measured in ems. One em is the width of the letter 'M' in the current font.

To make the text wider or narrower: change Aspect Ratio on the Text Toolbar (displayed at the bottom of the window.) 100% is regular width. Less than 100% compresses the characters. Note the difference between Aspect Ratio (change the width of characters) and Tracking (change the width between characters.)

To change spacing between lines of text: change Line Spacing on the Text Toolbar (displayed at the bottom of the window.) This value is a percentage of the regular line spacing. 100% is regular spacing. Less than 100% moves the lines closer together. Line spacing has no effect for a single line of text.

To change the alignment of two or more lines of text: click the three align buttons on the Text Toolbar. These buttons have no effect for a single line of text.

Outlining: this displays only the sides of the text, not the faces. It gives interesting results. See Hollow text for details.

See also:

Altering the font

Altering the text color

Using a texture to color the text

Altering the 3D extrude

Altering the Bevel

Altering the background

Altering the lights


Altering the text color
Altering the text color or texture

Normally the text is white, and colored by the three lights shining upon it.

Changing the text color:

However you can change the color of the text by choosing Text Color on the View menu. This displays the Color Picker. If you select anything but a very light or pale color you'll find the light colors have relatively little effect.

Using a texture to color the text:

You can also use a bitmap texture to color the text. Use Text Texture on the View menu to select a bitmap. You can use any BMP, PNG, JPEG or GIF file. For light colored textures you can use the normal lighting. Darker textures need bright lights (white or pale colors) to give the best results. You can also drag-and-drop textures onto the text.

Note that the actual bitmap is not stored inside the X3D file. If you give someone a Xara3D file that uses a texture, also give them the bitmap file. For transferring files to other people, we suggest storing the bitmap file in the same folder as the X3D file. Xara3D automatically finds bitmap files in the same folder.

Shiny or matt text surface

The surface of the text can be shiny or matt - this alters the reflectivity of the surface. The Extrude dialog box controls this. Press the 'E' button (or ALT+E on the keyboard) to display this dialog box.

However the difference won't always be obvious unless the lights are at the necessary angle to reflect off the surface. This is usually obtained by arranging the lights to be behind the text (keep dragging the light right or left so it goes behind) so it can reflect off the surface of the text.


Changing the short-cut
Changing the shortcut

Installing Xara3D places a shortcut to the program in the top level of the Programs menu.

To move the shortcut to a submenu:

1. 	Right click on the Start menu on the Taskbar and select Open.

2.	Double-click on Programs. This displays the contents of the top level menu with Xara3D shown at the bottom.

3.	To move Xara3D to another folder simply drag and drop it over the desired folder.

To create a shortcut on the Windows backdrop:

Drag the icon to the Windows background. This gives you easy access to the program right from the desktop.


Contents
Help for Xara3D

Welcome to Xara3D, a ‘slimware’ program that produces great, super high quality, three-dimensional text headings, and animated GIFs in seconds.

The online Help provided here is deliberately simple and lacking illustrations in order to keep the download size small. A more descriptive, illustrated version of the documentation is available online at www.xara.com/xara3D/helpv2.1/

Introduction

Installing the free fonts

Moving the Xara3D short-cut

Purchasing Xara3D

Unlock codes and Key codes

What's New in Version 2

The basics

Positioning, rotating and sizing

Altering the text

Altering the font

Altering the text color

Using a texture to color the text

Altering the 3D extrude

Altering the bevel

Altering the lights

Altering the background

Creating hollow text

Saving a 3D image

Creating a movie or animated GIF

Correcting mistakes

The Color Picker

Previewing AVI movies

Customizing Xara3D

Direct3D

Keyboard short cuts

Hidden or advanced operations

Uninstalling Xara3D

Technical support

Version 2.1 April 1998

All trademarks acknowledged

The license distributed with Xara3D grants you the right to use the Xara3D software on a single client computer at a time and by a single user at a time, subject to the restrictions listed below and the disclaimer relating to warranties, support and damages.

1. Disclaimer: This software is provided on an "as is" basis, without any other warranties, or conditions, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantable quality, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or those arising by law, statute, usage of trade or course of dealing. The entire risk as to the results and performance of the Product is assumed by you. Neither we nor our dealers or suppliers shall have any liability to you or any other person or entity for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages whatsoever, including but not limited to loss of revenue or profit, lost or damaged data or other commercial or economic loss, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages or they are foreseeable; or for claims by a third party. You may have other rights which vary from state to state.

2. Restrictions: This license gives you the right to use this software but all rights not specifically mentioned in this agreement, including ownership rights, intellectual property rights, trademarks and copyright, are reserved by Xara Ltd. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise reduce the software to a human perceivable form. You may not modify, rent or resell for profit the software, or create derivative works based upon the software.


Correcting mistakes

You often need to experiment to get the best results. Xara3D makes this easy - if you don't like the result use Undo button to discard the change. Also on the Edit menu or press CTRL+Z.) It's not just the last operation you can undo. Xara3D has unlimited undo so you can step all the way back to the beginning.

If you step back too far, click the Redo button (also on the Edit menu or CTRL+Y) to undo an Undo. You can use Redo at any time until you make new changes.


Creating a movie or Animated GIF

It's incredibly easy to create rotating text animations and movies in Xara3D. You can preview a rotating animation by pressing the rotate button. The text can rotate either horizontally or vertically around its center. You can control the rotation speed and frame rate using the animation dialog box available from the A button.

Rather than always doing a complete 360 degree revolution, where you would see the back side of the text which is difficult to read, Xara3D includes an option to show only the front face of the text. This restricts the rotation to 180 degrees so that, although it appears to perform a continuous rotation, it actually skips 180 degrees and the text is always readable.  This has another significant advantage of reducing the file size of the animation, particularly important for Animated GIFs.

Steps to producing a movie or animation:

1.	Resize the Xara3D window to the required image size. Remember that Animated GIFs need be very small to have an acceptable download time.

2.	Select the Animation dialog box (the A button) and choose the number of frames per revolution. Again for Animated GIFs the fewer the better.

3.	Choose the number of frames per second (animation speed). A slow animation speed with only a few frames per revolution can give a jerky animation - you may need to experiment to get the best results.

4.	Select if you want the text or lights (or both) to rotate. The two check boxes switch rotation on or off. Select both if you want the lights to follow the rotating text. The two left hand buttons select vertical or horizontal rotation. The right hand button selects clockwise or counterclockwise rotation.

5.	Select Export Animation on the File menu, and select AVI or Animated GIF file type, and give the file a name and press Save. This displays the Export quality dialog box where you can select the quality number and number of colors etc., see Export options for AVI movies and Export options for Animated GIFs

When previewing an animation, the program displays a much lower quality to be as fast as possible - however when exporting an Animated GIF or AVI movie Xara3D always renders all frames at the maximum quality. To preview an Animated GIF simply drop the file onto your web browser window.

Xara3D can produce, in minutes, top quality Animated GIFs and movies that would take hours using traditional 3D design programs.

See also

Previewing AVI movies

Tips for reducing the size of Animated GIFs


Customizing Xara3D

Displaying Toolbars

The View menu lets you control display of:

the main Toolbar at the top of the window

the Text Toolbar at the bottom of the window

the Status Bar, also at the bottom of the window

Docking dialog boxes

The Extrude, Bevel and Animate options dialog boxes can be either free-floating (you can move them independently of the main window) or docked (attached to the side of the window.)

To dock a dialog box:

1.	Drag the dialog box over either the left hand edge or right hand edge of the window. The dialog box outline changes to a thin line when it can be docked.

To undock a dialog box:

1.	Drag the dialog box away from the window. The outlines changes to a thick line when undocked.


Direct3D

Xara3D doesn't use Direct3D as the Xara3D engine is more advanced in many ways than the Microsoft Direct3D software solution (for example, the anti-aliasing). Obviously having a hardware accelerator would be faster; however these are also usually inferior quality (again no anti-aliasing). Future versions of Xara3D may offer a Direct3D option as and when hardware accelerators are able to render the same quality as Xara3D.


Export options for AVI movies

Experimentation has shown that exporting AVIs as 24-bit produces the smallest file size. Perhaps surprisingly, exporting as 256 color (8-bit) produces larger files but usually higher quality. This is because it uses a different compression system.

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.

Note. It’s very important to make sure the compression option is switched on. Even at 100% quality, compression makes the file up to 10 times smaller.

See also

Creating a movie or Animated GIF

Previewing AVI movies


Export options for Animated GIFs

To learn more about exporting animated GIFs see Creating a movie or Animated GIF

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 try .

Dithering always makes GIFs look better, but at the same time 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.

Pause lets the animation wait before starting each rotation. (The animation shows the first frame during the pause.) Pause applies only to the first frame; use Frames per Revolution and Frames per second in the Animation Options dialog box to control the speed of animation. Enter values in centiseconds (1/100ths of a second) - a 2 second delay is 200 centiseconds. Note that you can pause only animated GIFs, not AVIs.

Note:

There is an issue with ‘optimized palette per frame’ with Macintosh web browsers. Unfortunately they all seem to have a serious bug that prevents per frame optimization working. If you know your audience consists of Mac viewers then we advise you not to use per frame palette optimization.

See also

Tips for reducing the size of Animated GIF files


Export options for GIF or BMP
Export options for GIF, PNG or BMP

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 Xara3D’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.

For examples of the different quality settings see the web page GIF quality settings

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.  For more details on the transparent options see the web page GIF & PNG transparency

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.

Additional quality control:

Also available from Xara is Xara Webster, which provides even more advanced color reduction facilities and can be used to further reduce the size of files by selecting intermediate numbers of colors. To do this, export the image as a True color 24-bit BMP image and use Xara Webster to color reduce the file to a specific number of colors.

More details on Xara Webster


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.

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.


Hidden or advanced options

Wire-frame mode:

You can turn on a wire-frame mode that can speed up the moving and positioning. To do this press CTRL+SHIFT+W Press it again to turn wire-frame off.

Perspective:

You can adjust the Z distance of the object using CTRL and + or  - keys on the numeric keypad. Note that at maximum zoom you get a rather unrealistic perspective, as if the image were very close to the eye, causing a fish-eye lens effect. This exaggerates the perspective. The default perspective is about right for the typical distance these images will be viewed on screen.

Quality:

ALT+Q displays a dialog box that lets you alter the quality settings for display and export. Usually the default settings give excellent results, but you may wish to try different settings to fine-tune Xara3D to your requirements.

Low Screen Quality controls the initial display after changes. (The low quality preview.) Increasing the quality setting means that the preview takes longer to redraw on screen. Anti-aliasing is a technique of blurring the edges between color transitions. Turning anti-aliasing on gives better results but takes longer to redraw.

High Screen Quality controls the final image at the end of redraw. Increasing the quality setting increases the redraw time.

Export Quality controls images exported as static bitmaps. Increasing the quality may give better results for some graphics but increases the file size. This is particularly important for web graphics as files then take longer to download.

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 can make the file size much bigger which can cause jerky animation on slow computers.


Hollow Text
Creating hollow text

You can turn off display of the faces of the text (show only the sides) to create interesting effects. There are two options:

as outlined text with thick sides. Both the inside and outside edges show a bevel.

turn off display of either the front or back face. This creates totally hollow text - the sides are wafer thin and you can see inside the text. Only the outer bevel is shown.

The two options are illustrated on the web help pages - click here to view them.

To create outlined text:

1.	Click Outline on the Text Toolbar.

Or, for more control, display the Extrusion Options dialog box. (Click the 'E' button.) This duplicates the Outline button and also lets you control the width of the outline.

To turn off display of the faces:

1.	Display the Extrusion Options dialog box. (Click the 'E' button.)

2.	Outline must be deselected.

3.	Click Front Face and Back Face for the result you want.


Installing the fonts

After you have run the installer, three free fonts are included in a Font folder. You can preview the fonts simply by double clicking on them in this folder. To use these fonts in Xara3D or other Windows programs, you need to install them using the Fonts Control Panel.

To install the fonts:

1. Open the Control Panel by double-clicking on Control Panel in My Computer.

2. Open the Fonts Control Panel by double clicking on its name.  This shows all the TrueType fonts installed on your system.

3. Drag the fonts over the Fonts Control Panel window.

Notes:

In step (1) you can also click Start on the Taskbar then choose Settings, Control Panel.

In step (3) you can also select the menu  Install New Font on the File menu of the Font Control Panel, and then locate the fonts on your hard disc where Xara3D was installed.

The three free fonts are called:

Balthazar - an unusual old fashioned ‘pen’ font

Dayton - a modern blocky font

GeoType - a wonderful collection of symbols and shapes. Kindly provided by Gary David Bouton.

The first two fonts are from the large Xara collection of fonts available for individual download at www.xara.com/resources/fonts/


Introduction

Xara3D is a ‘slimware’ program as opposed to the increasingly complex 'bloatware' that is released from the major software developers nowadays. This does not mean that Xara3D is low quality or produces inferior results compared to more complex 3D programs; on the contrary, it produces better output, and faster than just about anything else.

'Bloatware', while often very capable, includes so many features that most people never get to use more than 10% of the functionality. It's often huge, impractical to download over the Internet, requires huge amounts of disc space, and is nearly always so complex that to use its advanced features takes a considerable learning effort.

Xara3D is designed to be a program that does one thing, and does it supremely well, that is dead simple to use, and costs very little. It's designed to be small enough to be easily downloaded from the Internet.

Xara3D produces high quality three-dimensional text images and nothing else. These images would typically be used on Web pages although they can be used anywhere. Xara3D can create animated rotating 3D images with absolute ease (AVI movie or GIF). You have control over the text, the font, the depth of the 3D extrude, the type of the bevel on the text and the lighting. You can position and rotate the text just by dragging, and it updates the image in real-time, interactively. You resize the image just by resizing the window. It couldn't be easier.

See also

Installing the free fonts


Keyboard short cuts

Open new document	CTRL+N

Open existing document	CTRL+O

Save document	CTRL+S

Export image	CTRL+SHIFT+E

Export animation	CTRL+SHIFT+X

Undo last operation	CTRL+Z

Redo (cancel Undo)	CTRL+Y

Open Animation Options	ALT+A

Open Bevel Options	ALT+B

Open Extrude Options	ALT+E

Display text bar	CTRL+T

Display text cursor	CTRL+E

Display lights	CTRL+TAB

Start/stop animation	CTRL+SPACE

Cancel rotation	ALT+HOME

1 degree rotation	ALT+arrow keys

15 degree rotation	CTRL+ALT+arrow keys

Change color of text	ALT+C

Apply texture to text	CTRL+SHIFT+C

Change color of background	ALT+E

Apply texture to background	CTRL+SHIFT+E

Edit light 1 color	ALT+1

Edit light 2 color	ALT+2

Edit light 3 color	ALT+3

Make text bold	CTRL+B

Make text italic	CTRL+I

Make character to right of cursor upper case

CTRL+U

Make character to right of cursor lower case

CTRL+SHIFT+U

Swap case of character to right of cursor	CTRL+W

Outline text	CTRL+SHIFT+O

Display text cursor	CTRL+E

Display as wireframe	CTRL+SHIFT+W

Copy text to clipboard	CTRL+C

Paste clipboard contents	CTRL+V

Change Quality settings	ALT+Q


Position, rotation and sizing

To position or rotate the text :

1.	Drag on the window. The operation of this has been designed to be as intuitive as possible.

Hold down CTRL to move only horizontally.

Hold down SHIFT to move only vertically.

Alternatively you can use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars to rotate the object vertically or horizontally.

If you want a precise rotation, hold down ALT and use the cursor (arrow) keys on the keyboard to change the rotation in 1 degree steps. SHIFT+ALT+ the cursor keys gives 15 degree steps.

To control the size of the text:

You can control the size of the text in two ways:

resizing the Xara3D window by dragging the bottom right corner, as you would normal windows

or specifying a size for the text in points. Change the text size using the Text Size field on the Text toolbar. Either type in a new value or select one from the drop down list.

To switch between the sizing options:

1.	If the Text toolbar is not displayed at the bottom of the window choose Text Toolbar on the View menu.

2.	In Font Size select Fit to Width to resize the text as you resize the window. Alternatively specify the text size in points.

Everything in Xara3D is WYSIWYG - so with either method, the size you see in the window will be the size of the resultant image on your Web page. (Although you can override the size setting when you export the image.)

Xara3D uses one of the most advanced 3D rendering engines around. For instance, it automatically anti-aliases the image to produce the highest quality jaggy-free image. However as the anti-aliasing process can take a second or two, when you are ‘interacting’ with Xara3D (that is when you are dragging the text or altering other aspects in real time, such as the lighting) the program produces a lower-quality non anti-aliased display. When you stop moving or altering things, the program automatically redisplays the top quality version.


Previewing AVI movies

To preview a movie:

1. Double-click on the movie file icon.

However this uses the standard Windows 95 AVI player which plays the movie once and then closes the window. If you want to keep the movie on screen, right-click on the AVI file icon and select Open. When the movie player has opened, you can select the 'Auto-repeat' option that allows the AVI movie to cycle continuously.

Microsoft have recently made available a newer and more advanced movie playing solution, called ActiveMovie. This is available for free download on the Web. See www.microsoft.com/ie/download/

You will need to select the OS type (Windows 95 and NT4) and then proceed to select ActiveMovie 1.0 for Windows 95 and NT4.


Previewing GIF and JPEG files

The easiest way to see how your saved GIF or JPEG files will appear on the web is to preview using your web browser.

To preview GIF and JPEG files:

1. Drag the file from the folder in which you saved the file and drop it over your web browser window. This works for both Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The same applies to animated GIFs.

Note that Netscape versions prior to Navigator 4 do not get the timing right for animated GIFs - they always ran about half the speed they should. Navigator version 4 and Internet Explorer display animation with the correct inter-frame timing.

See also

Previewing AVI movies


Problems unlocking Xara3D
Unlocking Xara3D

Purchasing over the Web uses two keys:

a nine letter Key code

a seven letter Unlock code

The Key code changes if you change or reformat your hard drive or change to a new computer. You will need a new Unlock code.

If you have already purchased Xara3D, you will not be charged for getting a new Unlock code. However, you will need your XaraClub user name and password. Forgotten your password? The XaraClub FAQ pages (www.club.xara.com/clubxarafaq.asp) tells you how to get the password hint you typed in when you joined XaraClub.

To unlock Xara3D:

1.	If necessary, reinstall Xara3D.

2.	Run Xara3D and click Purchase.

3.	The Title Bar of the dialog box shows you the nine letter Key code. Make a note of this code.

4.	Click Purchase Online or type in the URL secure.commerce.xara.com/x3d/unlockmain.asp

5.	Follow the instructions for generating a new unlock code.

6.	Type that seven letter Unlock code into the Purchase dialog box in Xara3D. Note: use upper case letters - type 'ABCDEFG' not 'abcdefg'.

Remember: this Unlock code applies only to your current set-up. Changing the hard disc or computer means you need a new Unlock code.

Related Topic:

Purchasing Xara3D


Purchasing Xara3D

This page applies if you are running the time-limited trial version of Xara3D.

This version of the software displays a background message, which you cannot change. (With the full version you can use any color or bitmap as a background.)

When you start up Xara3D a dialog box reminds you that you are running the trial version - click Purchase on that dialog box. This lets you purchase Xara3D using a fully secure transaction process.

If you have already purchased Xara3D but get an 'Invalid Key Code' message or need a new Unlock Code:

look at the Unlock Codes page for more details.


Saving an image

When you've positioned and sized the image as required you will need to export the image in one of the appropriate bitmap formats. Xara3D can export the image as: BMP, PNG, GIF or JPEG static bitmap images, or either of two animating types - AVI movie and Animated GIF.

To save an image:

1. For static bitmaps choose Export Bitmap on the File menu.

For animations choose Export Animation on the File menu.

(Or click the Export button on the Toolbar. This exports an animation if the image is rotating otherwise a static image.)

2. Select the appropriate type from the drop down "Save as type" list on the export dialog box

3. Enter the required name.

4. Press OK. This displays the export options dialog box which provides all the control over the quality of image.

Depending on which bitmap export type you’ve chosen you’ll get a number of different export options as follows

Export options for GIF, PNG, or BMP

Export options for Animated GIF

Export options for JPG

Export options for AVI movies

Hint

While there are no hard and fast rules as to which file type, JPEG or GIF, is best for the web, we suggest trying GIF format first as this can produce higher quality images than JPEG.

See also

Previewing GIF and JPEG files


Technical support

If you have any problems with Xara3D you can contact our tech support by emailing technical@xara.com

or alternatively you can send feedback directly from our web site www.xara.com/feedback/index.html


The Color Picker

The Color Picker lets you select any hue and any shade of color.

To adjust the shade:

1. Click or drag on the central area of the Color Picker. You'll see the exact color in the top right corner of the dialog box.

To alter the hue:

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

HSV and RGB

If you want a exact color type in values:

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

You can create the same range of colors using either HSV or RGB - use the one you are familiar with.


The basics

To create a 3D heading you just enter the text and the font for the heading (use the T button), then adjust the bevel and extrude if you wish (using the B and E buttons). Finally drag the text and resize the image window so that you’ve got it to be the right size and angle. Then just select the Export menu option to save the image as a GIF or JPEG.

Each of these steps is described in more detail on the following pages, along with instructions for more advanced features such as setting the background image or color, producing animated GIFs and AVI movies etc.

Positioning, rotating and sizing

Saving a 3D image

Previewing GIF and JPEG files

Creating a movie or animated GIF

Tips for reducing the size of animated GIF files

Altering the font

Altering the text

Altering the 3D extrude

Altering the text color or texture

Altering the bevel

Altering the lights

Altering the background

The Color Picker

Previewing AVI movies


Tips for reducing the size of animated GIF files;
Tips for reducing the size of Animated GIF files

Images of any type that are larger than, say, 50K are not really welcomed by Web users.

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

Select 'Front face only' and have no more than about 20 frames per revolution.

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.


Uninstalling Xara3D

To keep the download size small Xara3D doesn't include an uninstall option. However uninstalling is simple:

1.	delete the folder containing Xara3D

2.	right-click on the Start menu on the Taskbar, and select Open

3.	double-click on Programs. This displays the contents of the top level menu with Xara3D shown at the bottom

4.	delete the Xara3D shortcut


What's new
What's new in Version 2

The main features added in release 2.0 and 2.1 are:

Text handling:

Multi-line text, with left center or right alignment options

More characters allowed (up to 80)

New Text Toolbar gives you direct access to many new text options (e.g. tracking and kerning, point size)

You can specify an exact point size for text

On-screen text editing, even while animating

(added in 2.1) Outlining text

Bitmap textures:

You can apply any bitmap texture to the face and sides of text

Includes samples of bitmap textures

Animations can now rotate around the horizontal or vertical axis

Greater control over animation speed

Other features:

Multi-level undo and redo

File previews in .X3D load and save dialog boxes

File previews in texture import dialog box

(added in 2.1) 32 & 64 color export options

(added in 2.1) Rotation of lights as well as text in animations

MMX compatible so even faster on MMX compatible processors

On-screen display of rotation angle and image size

You can specify exact pixel sizes of bitmap output (allows much smaller and larger bitmaps than before)

Faster rendering and display speeds

Remembers window size and dialog box positions

Export in PNG format, with full alpha-channel anti-aliasing

Drag and drop of X3D and texture files

Changes to keyboard shortcuts so that you can use standard keys to navigate around dialog boxes

Greater control over rotation angle using cursor keys

Unicode support for languages such as Japanese