![]() Again, this provides the most common options from a drop-down – Rotate, Fade, Pulsate – while more advanced options – Combined effects, Individual character animation and so on – are available from the Animation Picker. Once you’ve got your basic design looking the way you want it, you can bring it to life with the Animation Options Bar. The results look excellent – right down to partially transparent shadows – although this is only possible because the 3D object is pasted as a rasterised bitmap. Even better, you can also copy and paste your 3D designs back into Xara X1. Xara X1 users can now simply copy and paste their vector shapes into Xara3D too. You can also load your own files in XAR, WEB, WMF or EMF format and, when you register, Xara provides a free copy of its Webster 2 application (as sold for $49) to help you create them. Xara3D 6 provides the most common and useful object shapes – rounded rectangles, ovals and so on – from a drop-down in the new Design Options Bar or, using the Design Picker, you can choose from a number of more advanced options: spheres, crosses, splats and so on. It’s a lot neater and more streamlined than version 5, but it does mean you’re now limited to having just one Option Bar open at a time unless you undock them. The redesigned Option Bars – Colour, Extrude, Design, Bevels, Shadow, Texture and Animation – are all neatly docked down the right of the screen and are selected in turn by clicking on their title. Previously, other settings such as the choice of bevel type (there are no less than 27 on offer) were handled via a series of idiosyncratic and ugly docker panels, but the interface has been completely reworked. This hands-on approach makes the whole process of creative experimentation intuitive and enjoyable, although you can’t make all edits directly on your graphic. This release allows you to drag the depth of extrusion and bevel too, leading to an incredibly interactive feel. Simply drag to reposition your text, shadows and lighting within 3D space, fully rendered and in real-time. Once you’ve replaced this with your own, Xara3D’s speed soon becomes apparent. When you create a new file, it appears complete with dummy text in place. Instead, Xara3D concentrates almost exclusively on handling 3D text, particularly focusing on the creation of web graphics. At just $45, you can’t expect a full 3D modeller and you certainly don’t get one. However, it’s important to keep things in perspective. ![]()
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