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 Ellipse Tool (keyboard shortcut L). Hold down the Ctrl key to constrain the ellipse to circles. Create three ellipses to the sizes shown above. Center the circles and let them overlap as shown.

TIP: The easiest way to create an ellipse (or rectangle) to a specific size is to draw an ellipse or circle to any size, then change the W (Width) and H (Height) values on the Infobar and press Enter . This only works immediately after the shape has been drawn, however.

Select the Rectangle Tool (M). Draw a rectangle to the size shown and center the rectangle over the small circle as shown. Draw three ellipses with the Ellipse Tool and arrange them as shown to create the brim of the top hat and the top and bottom of the crown.

NOTE: The different colored outlines are to help you see the different objects. Also, I have set the fill to none so you can see the position of each object.

Add two more ellipses to the sizes and positions shown. And add a rectangle to the size and in the position shown. These will be used to create the muffler which the snowman is wearing around his neck.