THE XARA XONE | XARA.COM | THE XARA CONFERENCES

As always, we will be using Pixels as our units of measure. Right click on the screen and select Page Options... from the pop up menu. In the Units tabbed section, select Pixels for the Units and 0-255 for the Color Units. In the Grid and Ruler tabbed section set the Major Spacing to 100pix (key it in exactly like this please) and the Number of Subdivisions to 10. Press OK to close the dialog and apply the changes.

To see a tutorial on Xara Basics visit Workbook 20.

NOTE: You will notice from time to time I apply arbitrary colors to objects. I do this to make the objects easier to see. If I do not specify a fill for an object, you do not have to apply a fill or outline color.

When I show an ellipse or rectangle that has just been created, that has no fill, it is because I have set the fill to none before I exported the illustration. By default, all ellipses, rectangles and Quick Shapes have a black outline and a black fill. There is nothing wrong with your copy of Xara.

Naming Conventions. I use bold face to indicate the names of tools, galleries, keyboard shortcuts, and dialogs. Items such as unnamed icons and drop down lists, which have names when you let your cursor rest over them for a moment, are displayed in italics.

The Infobar is the context sensitive menu at the top of the screen and changes to reflect the options for the selected tool.

Some of the tool icons have changed in Xara X1, and this may cause some confusion for new users. If you are using an older version of Xara, click here to see my Rosetta Stone for translating the old buttons into the new.

New Users? I have created some quick start mini-tutorials to get you though the basics. Workbook 20, Workbook 30, and Workbook 31 cover the main things you need to know to get started.

Select the QuickShape Tool (keyboard shortcut Shift F2). On the Infobar at the top of the window click the Create Polygons icon and select 6 from the Number of Sides drop down list. Click the QuickShape Tool on the screen and drag out a hexagon. Hold down the Ctrl key and rotate the hexagon as you draw it so the points are on the top and bottom as shown.

Increase the Size to 300pix and press Enter (or Return) to apply the change.

Enable Snap to Objects (the orange magnet icon in the down position when enabled).

Zoom in to about 300%. Select the hexagon with the QuickShape Tool and then switch to the Shape Editor Tool (F4). If the Make Line option is not selected on the Infobar, select it.

Click the Shape Editor Tool (F4) in the center of the hexagon on the X. Drag from the X to the right corner and when the line snaps to the corner, release the mouse button. Click on the top corner to add another side, click the left corner, and click back on the starting point to create a closed shape.

Delete the hexagon.

Click the diamond shape with the Contour Tool (Ctrl F7) to select the shape.

Drag any of the red arrow handles towards the center. On the Infobar change the Number of Steps to 1 and press Enter (or Return) to apply the change. Change the Contour Width to 24pix and press Enter to apply the change.

From the Arrange menu select Convert to Editable Shapes and then Arrange > Ungroup (or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl u). This will produce two diamond shapes.