Getting Started with Drawings

 Using the Mouse

 Using the Keyboard

When you first start Xara Xtreme the key drawing tools for creating and editing your image will be aligned down the left hand side of your workspace.  For example the tools for drawing lines and shapes, for adding color fills, transparency, shadows or bevels to your lines and shapes. The Tools topic listed under Contents describes each of the tools in turn and you will also find a demo movie for each of them.

When you select a particular tool an Infobar will appear immediately above your workspace. The Infobar displays the controls for and information related to that particular tool.. For example, when you choose the Text Tool the Infobar contains only text related controls and when you choose the Zoom Tool, the Infobar only shows zoom related controls. By doing this, you can easily select which buttons are available and only ever have one set visible on screen - no more screen clutter!

Another important piece of information is displayed on the color line at the bottom of your workspace. This shows which colors are included in your image, and also provides a very easy way of applying colors to your image.

 So, to give an example, click on the quickshape tool.

You’ll notice the Infobar now displays the different sorts of quickshapes you can create, and information about the shape.

Click on the star, then simply position the cursor in your workspace, drag the outline to the size you want and let go. Click on a color in the color line to change the color.  Create more quickshapes and drag and drop colors from the color line onto the shapes.

Let’s take this one step further and start to edit one of our shapes.  Click on the selector tool

and then click on one of your shapes. You’ll notice four ‘selection handle’ blobs appear around your image. If you drag on one of these blobs you’ll find you can resize the image.  There are various different sorts of selection handle and it is important to understand the difference.

Now click on the blend tool (notice how the Infobar changes)

Now you can blend two objects together by simply dragging from one to another. Try it with two of your quickshapes.

Click on the shadow tool

Then place the cursor over your image and drag to move the shadow. You might want to experiment with some of the controls in your shadow Infobar to alter the shadow.

Bevels, contours, color fills and transparency work in a similarly intuitive way.

Shapes are an important part of any drawing, the other essential element that we’ve ignored until now is freehand drawing.  Click on the freehand & brush tool

Now when you move the cursor over your workspace you’ll see it changes to a pencil – and you can draw with that just like a normal pencil. Take a look at the Infobar and you’ll find that you have control over what the lines look like, including (in the drop down menu next to the edit brush button) a selection of brush designs.  You can customize and add to these brush designs and use them in combination with pressure sensitive tablets - see the Freehand Tool topic for more information.  If you continue your line back to its starting point the two ends will join and form a shape (a little cross appears when the cursor is correctly positioned over your starting point).

And there’s one final basic element, which is text. Click on the text tool

Select the font and point size in the Infobar and then simply position your cursor where you want to enter your text and start typing.

Now it’s time to start experimenting with creating your own images. But first we’ll point out one other very important feature – the Galleries showing on the toolbar at the top of the workspace.

Open the clipart gallery

And click on Get Clipart. This will either load the clipart from your CD or download it.  Click on the Business Pack folder and you will find a ready made collection of business stationery, all full editable. Simply drag and drop the image to load it. Click on one of the Xara Examples folders and you’ll find a collection of example illustrations created by professional graphic designers using Xara X. This is where you’re heading!  We hope you enjoy the experience.