The Xara Trompe L'Oeil Room Page 6
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With the Fractal Plasma-filled shape selected and centered on top of the sign, select the Transparency Tool. From the drop down list of Transparency Shapes select Flat and from the drop down list of Transparency Types , select Contrast (one of seven new transparency types in Xara X). Adjust the Transparency slider on the Infobar to 75%. This applies the texture to the sign without changing the colors.

TIP: Confused about all these names which are not identified on the Infobar? Let your cursor rest for a few seconds over any drop down list or feature on the Infobar and a white rectangle will appear with the proper name.

Next we will make a bit of post for the sign to attach to. (I've made the sign blue and white again to focus on the post).

Create three rectangles to the sizes shown. Add two circles centered over the center rectangle.

(I have enlarged my example 3 times for clarity. The actual sized post elements are seen beneath the sign.

Copy the circles to the clipboard (Ctrl C or Edit > Copy). Group the two circles (Ctrl G or Arrange > Group).

Select the grouped circles then the center rectangle and from the Arrange menu select Combine Shapes... > Subtract Shapes to remove the circles as well as the circle shapes from the rectangle.

Paste the two copied circles back onto the page using Shift Ctrl V. Change the outline width to 1.5 points by entering this number in the Set Line Width text entry box.

NOTE : Xara has two ways to paste. Selecting Paste from the Edit menu, or pressing Ctrl V, pastes the contents of the clipboard in the center of the screen. Pressing Shit Ctrl V pastes the contents of the clipboard in the same position from which they were copied.

Select the two circles and from the Arrange menu, select Convert Line to Shape.

NOTE: Unlike CorelDRAW 9 which leaves the original path (which is invisible and can cause some confusion when performing various path operations) when converting a line to a shape, Xara X deletes the original path leaving only the newly created closed path.