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	Xara X. Chapter 6 The Transparency Tool




	One of the first things that blew me away when I saw my first demo of Xara 1.0 was Xara's incredible Transparency Tool. No other application had anything like it. In my humble opinion, this is still true today. To apply a simple transparency select the object to which you want to apply transparency, then select the Transparency Tool, and adjust the Transparency slider to the desired amount of transparency. As we shall see, Xara can apply transparency to a gradient-filled shape or gradient transparency to a solid shape or bitmap.

Xara has two sets of transparency modifiers on the Infobar which can be a bit confusing. They are Transparency Shapes and Transparency Types. The shapes are identical to the Fill Types found in the Fill Tool drop drop down list. We will cover the Transparency Types next.

The results of these Transparency Shapes can be seen in the illustration on the left.

The Transparency Types are less obvious than the Shapes as you will see when you look at the example on the left.

Mix Mixes the color of the selected object with that of the object beneath it in equal proportions.
Stained Glass (also known as subtractive transparency) treats white as transparent and makes all other colors under the transparent object deeper.
Bleach (also know as Additive transparency) treats black as transparent and makes all other colors under the transparent object lighter.
Contrast in effect makes the colors under the transparent object brighter or duller.
Saturation is similar to Contrast except it makes the colors more or less saturated. Colors with no saturation are shades of gray.
Darken is a grayscale version of Stained Glass. It makes the colors beneath the transparent object darker but less saturated than Stained Glass.
Lighten is a grayscale version of Bleach and makes the colors under the transparent object lighter.
Brightness uses the values (light to dark) of the transparent object to make the object beneath lighter or darker.
Luminosity uses the value (amount of light or dark) of the transparent object to control the value of the object beneath the transparent object.
Hue has no effect on grayscale colors but imparts the color of the transparent object to the object below the transparent object.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Refer to the Help menu.

TIP: You can create a soft edge that fades into white by applying an Elliptical or Circular Transparency. However, as you can see by the example on the top right the colors of the transparent object lose their intensity.

To remedy this, make two or more duplicates (Ctrl K) of the transparent object. Each additional duplicate will increase the intensity of the colors as seen on the bottom right.

Fountain Transparency (Linear, Circular, Diamond, etc.) like many other Xara X features, has the additional control provided by Xara X's profiles.

The illustration on the left show the effects of Linear and Conical Transparency.

TIP: You can create a three dimensional appearance to an object by using a grayscale shaping mask and Brightness Transparency. Brightness makes the dark areas darker and the light areas lighter.