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In this issue:
Fall Has Fallen
I'm not going to write much about Fall except to say in my neck of the woods, it's fallen. A week ago, I was going for my morning walk in shorts and a T-shirt.
This morning, with a brisk, nippy wind blowing out of the northwest, it was long pants, a T-shirt and an overshirt.
The cotton sheets came off the bed this morning, replaced by flannel sheets. This transition is always a hard time for me because it acknowledges that Fall is
here and Summer is but a pleasant memory. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas, and then Winter in earnest.
But Fall is also one of the most pleasant seasons for me. I love to see the leaves turning golden. The days are still warm and the nights chilly. The fall
sunlight is bright and cheery. And the air is scented with the smell of burning wood. Halloween and Thanksgiving come in Fall, as does my wife's birthday. It's the 15th by the way and we plan on spending it in Santa
Fe on Monday. Which reminds me, if I plan on being there, I better quite waxing poetic about Fall and get down to business. Anyway, happy Fall.
The Xara X Online Manual continues with installment #15. In this issue we'll look at bitmaps, pixel by pixel. specifically, using Xara's Create
Bitmap Copy command. Next month we'll continue this exploration. There are a lot of bits to be covered.
TIP of the Month
The new TIP of the Week is growing steadily. But the Old Tipster (your editor) can always use more tips. If you have a favorite tip, send it along. If I use it, I will attribute the tip to you and immortalize you in the
TIP of the Week page.
Insider Information
Ivan (the Brushmeister) Louette has donated a new set of brushes that is awaiting your download in the Fills and Brushes page. If you want to create labels for
Memorex CD's and Jewel cases, you'll find a new template created by James Kasyar in the Shareware Page. By the time you read this, I'll will have posted a FREE Financial printable
PowerPoint template from Volume 4, courtesy of Steve Knight and Power2Present.com, a company that uses Xara to create and sell PowerPoint
templates. Each £30 volume contains a set of 4 templates in presentation and printable form. You PowerPoint people should hurry over to the Shareware Page and download your free template!
The Featured Artist for October is Alan Burns whose pocket watch and microscope images push the limits of what is possible to create in Xara. What's more, these two
images were created using Xara 2.0! I shudder when I think of what Alan could have done with Xara X!
The October Trompe L'Oeil Room Xara X
tutorial, was inspired, by the tragic and senseless events of September 11. The tutorial creates a waving USA flag in the fiery glow of sunset. As many of you readers reside in other countries, feel free to substitute your own country's flag when doing the tutorial.
The October Guest Tutorial #8 was prepared by Risto Klint. Risto was March's XaraXone Featured Artist and one of the most talented and innovative Xara artists found in the
TalkGraphics Xara Gallery Conference. In his Guest Tutorial, Risto shares some of his unique techniques, a series of simple shapes actually, which he arranges with art and skill into a very
snappy illustration.
And speaking of Featured Artists. December's Featured Artist will be all of you. If you have created an image with Xara over the last
year that you think is Featured Artist quality, send it (just one image, please) to your editor in GIF or JPEG format, no later than November 1, 2001. We'll be assembling a group show of the best Xara art of ott one. Please limit the width
of your image to 600 pixels, and do try to keep the file size down by using a bit of JPEG compression, if your image is a JPEG.
If you have a web site you've created with Xara, let your editor (yep, old you know who) know and we'll add your site to the list of sites in the Xara Links page.
And last but not least, your editor is always looking for new talent to showcase in the XaraXone Featured Artist page. If we don't get some more talented folks to step forward, your editor is going to have to make a guest appearance.
If you think you have the right stuff (10-12 really cool images—created with Xara, or created mostly
with Xara), drop me a line and if possible send me an URL where I can see your images. The world is waiting to see your images, so don't be shy. OK?
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