|
|
|
|
||||
Download Xara 3D 5 |
As soon as I'd finished my review of Cool 3D, another great little utility for creating 3D effects came along. Xara 3D 4 is a very compact program with robust capabilities for creating 3D text and animations. It runs on Windows 9x, NT and 2000 without the need for Active X being installed. Best of all, it only costs $39.95 which includes a CD full of fonts and textures.
Looking at the initial screen shown at right, you might not think there are many features, but this is only because the interface was designed with simplicity in mind. Let's take rotation as an example. I couldn't find the obvious button for it but was pleasantly surprised to find the scroll bars handle the rotation. Controlling exactly where you want the text to rotate is a piece of cake. Sure you can rotate by clicking the insertion cursor icon and pushing directly on the image, but it just seems easier to control with the scroll bars.
By clicking the T icon on the toolbar, you have a wide variety of controls over your text as shown at left. Just like Cool 3D, Xara 3D is limited to only TrueType fonts. You can type anything you like; adjust the alignment, line spacing, character spacing and much more. You certainly have a lot of control over where the text goes. In fact, you can adjust each character separately if you so desire. A really cool feature is clicking the More button to get a complete character map of the current font. Note that while I'll only discuss text, you can also bring in simple vector shapes.
Text can either be colored or you can apply a texture. More than forty textures are included with the downloaded version, many more with the CD. Using the Texture Options palette shown at right, you have control over the texture size and position. Just playing with these sliders will automatically change the preview until you find what you would like. The same controls allow you to add a texture to the background as well.
Giving the text a unique edge is quite easy with twenty-two different bevel options as shown at left, though it is frustrating to figure out which one to use without having a preview. Once you've found the one you like, you can choose between rounded edges or mitered edges. Plus you can control the depth or amount of bevel. All these choices definitely give you a chance to create a fantastic effect.
The Extrusion options shown at right starts out by letting you choose a color. If you do, you'll lose the texture you previously loaded. I was frustrated that there wasn't an easy way to undo choosing a color. Selecting Matt means the color or texture will remain flat while Gloss provides reflections based on the lighting you've chosen. Other choices involve applying the extrusions to the front or back face or both of them. Outlines can be applied and you can select just how deep the text is extruded.
By default there are three lights shining on your object. These are indicated at left by three big arrows. Clicking and dragging on the arrows allows you to position the lights as you desire. Double-clicking on them brings up a dialog that allows you to change the light's color. In the middle is a different kind of icon that indicates the location of a shadow. Again you can drag it to move the shadow or double-click to change its color.
And of course, you've got to have animation to create irritating things for the Web. The image at right shows the animation palette. Frames per cycle controls how many frames for the animation to finish one complete cycle of frames. And you can also control how many frames are displayed each second. Between these two settings, you can control the length of the animation. Several styles of preset animation are provided as well as buttons and an angle. For those who want more sophisticated animation, you can choose to create what is called a Step animation where you design each of the frames separately. Regardless of the animation option you choose, it isn't difficult to create something that looks good.
Once you've got everything created, you can either export the image to a static bitmap or to an animation. GIF, JPEG, PNG and BMP are the four flavors of static bitmaps. You are given a number of choices so that you get an optimized file. GIF and PNG formats both support transparency if you so desire. Animations can be saved in either AVI or GIF formats. Again, there is no support for the up and coming Metastream streaming 3D format and that is a real disappointment. At left is an animation that shows what can be created within only a few minutes. While the GIF file is a tad big for the Web, the quality is fantastic.
Overall, Xara 3D is a darned good product. It doesn't have the bells and whistles found in Cool 3D. Nor does it have the drag and drop simplicity. But I think after a few hours, you'll find that Xara 3D is every bit as easy to use. Best of all, Xara 3D is a true bargain at only $39.95! Unless you really need explosions and flames, Xara 3D will do exactly what you need.
Do you have a product you would like to have reviewed? Send press releases to reviews@unleash.com.
Foster D. Coburn III has written six best-selling books on graphics software and is currently the Webmaster of the Graphics Unleashed Web site.
|
|
CorelDRAW X6 Font List · CorelDRAW X5 Font List · CorelDRAW X4 Font List · The Terms of Adobe Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT · CorelDRAW X3 Font List · Cropping and Rotating Files in Corel PHOTO-PAINT · The Magic of Color Styles · CorelDRAW's Find and Replace Wizard · Shorten Your Design Time with Templates · CorelDRAW's Multi-Faceted Eyedropper Tool · CorelDRAW and Special Characters · The Easy Way to Create Calendars in CorelDRAW · The Wide World of Labels in CorelDRAW · Including Variable Data with Print Merge · Resaving, Resizing & Resampling Files in Corel PHOTO-PAINT · Creating Your Own Fonts in CorelDRAW · The Evils of Using JPEG Files · Speeding Up CorelDRAW 11 and Windows XP · Symbols and Imposition · The Easiest Way to Recreate Logos · A Few Guidelines to Follow · Square Corners Can Be Sticky -- Rounding Corners in CorelDRAW · Creating Complex Shapes Easily with CorelDRAW · Identifying the Mystery Font · Two Ways to Create a Split Front Design · Last Word in Font Management · Calibrating Your Printed Colors with a Color Chart · Graphics Computing in 2001 · Hottest R.A.V.E. In Town · Get the Red Out of Eyes · Secrets of Color Management · Dressing Up Your PDF Files · How Adobe Acrobat Can Make Life Simpler · Why You Want PDF in Your Workflow · Converting a Scanned Logo to Vector in CorelDRAW · Designing 360 Degrees · Customizing Your Interface in CorelDRAW 8.0 · Fitting Text to a Path · Creating Cool Graphs Without a Spreadsheet · From CorelDRAW to Macromedia Flash, A Simple Example · Getting Rid of That Darned White Box · Converting a Bitmap Logo to Vector in CorelDRAW · Finding Clipart with ROMCAT
Xara Xtreme Pro 5.0
Serif WebPlus X2
Xara Web Designer 5.0
Xara Xtreme Pro 4.1
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Professional
Fuji FinePix 2800 Zoom Digital Camera
Procreate KnockOut 2
Hemera Photo Objects Volume I and II
Wildform SWfx
Macromedia Fontographer 4.1 and FontLab 4
Caligari iSpace v1.5
Xara X
Macromedia Fireworks 4
Web Site Design Made Easy
Alien Skin Eye Candy 4000
Swish 1.51
Macromedia Flash 5
Corel KPT 6
Dreamweaver Ultradev
1st Page 2000
Adobe Illustrator 9
Corel KnockOut v1.5
Xara 3D 4
Cool 3D 3
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 1995-2007 Unleashed Productions, Inc., All Rights Reserved. |
||
