Xara X. The Contour Tool

The Contour Tool creates a series of concentric outlines either to the inside or the outside of a selected shape.

When you click an object with the Contour Tool cursor, a series of 8 red arrows appears. Drag any of these arrows to interactively add a contour. Drag outward for an outside contour and drag towards the center for an inside contour.

Selecting the Contour Tool brings up several control options on the Infobar at the top of the screen.

The Distance Between Steps allows you to specify an exact distance between contour rings. The Number of Steps lets you define how many rings the contour will contain. Remove restores the selected object to its non-contour state. The Color Contour Effects works in the same manner as for blends. (Refer to the Blend Tool section for more details).

The Contour Width slider is similar to Distance Between Steps and can be specified by moving the slider or by entering a distance amount in the text entry box. The Outer and Inner Contour buttons determine the direction in which the contour is applied. The Position and Attribute Profiles will be covered a little later on.

The last group of Contour controls are Inset Path which creates a single shape based upon the outer most contour ring. Miter, Round and Bevel Join determines the configuration of the the contour rings where they form corner sections.

This illustration shows the effect of an Outside vs. an Inside Contour. The red outline indicates the original object.

Edit Distance Between Contour Steps lets the user determine the precise spacing between contour rings. 

Fade creates a blend of colors from white to the fill color of the selected object. Rainbow produces no noticeable effect. Alt Rainbow produces a rainbow effect with the colors lessening in saturation until they reach white.

You can change the color of the contour ring fills by dragging a color from the screen palette and dropping the color onto the contour rings.

This last illustration shows the effects of the path options.

Inset Path creates a single outline shape based upon the outermost shape. Miter Join creates sharply angled corners. Round Join creates softly rounded corners. Bevel Join creates blunted corners.