Here is the finished image. As always, I could not resist the urge to tinker with it a little more.

I created a black shape directly under the sign and applied transparency to make a convincing drop shadow.

I added a sun flare by creating a pale yellow and white Circular filled circle with the Alt Rainbow setting. A Circular, Mix Transparency blended it into the image.

I used Xara's new Feathering settings to ever so slightly soften the sign, smoke and flare giving the image a more believable photographic look. This new addition is really useful in softening the edges of objects while leaving the center of the objects sharp and crisp.

So what do you think? Was this tutorial helpful? Did you learn anything new? Or if you are a new user was anything unclear?

Please take a moment to fill out the form on the next page and let me know what you thought.