This is the main window for Xara 3D 4. The buttons across the top of the screen are as follows: a. New, b. Open, c. Save, d . Export Animation, e. Undo, f. Redo, g. Show/Hide Cursor, h. Text Options, i. Color Options, j. Extrusion Options, k. Button Options, l. Bevel Options, m . Shadow Options, n. Texture Options, o. Animation Options, p. Start/Stop Animation, and q. lighting options.

The easiest way to get started in Xara 3D 4 is to open the application, and then open one of the sample files and find a style you like. Then edit the text and/or import a XAR file and all the lighting and effects will be applied to the text or imported file. It's easy.

In this tutorial we will be working with the Show/Hide Cursor (g.) feature. The difference between this and the Text Options is Show/Hide lets you edit on the actual image on the screen whereas Text Options opens a separate text editing window.

We will be using several typographic controls that may not be familiar to all, so I will cover these briefly here.

• Line Spacing is the space between two lines of text. This setting can be increased or decreased and can even be set to a negative number where the lines of text run into one another.
• Baseline Shift (found only in the Text Options menu) moves a word, or letter, or selected text up and down. This is different from Line Spacing as it can move individual characters or words. Line Spacing applies to all lines of text.
• Tracking uniformly increases or decreases the amount of space between characters and spaces. Text must be selected before Tracking can be adjusted.
• Kerning controls the spacing between two individual adjoining characters. The cursor must be inserted between two characters before the Kerning Options are available.