Tutorial: It's Not Carved In Stone, by Gary Priester

Create a rectangle 430 pixels wide by 300 pixels tall. You can refer to the Height and Width box on the Infobar at the top of the screen to make sure the rectangle is drawn to the correct size. With the rectangle, and the Rectangle Tool still selected, click the Curved Corners icon (the arc) on the Infobar.

Select the Text Tool, click on the page and key in IT'S NOT CARVED IN STONE. I have used a font called Roost Heavy Regular which comes with Xtreme. (If you did not install the fonts from CD, you can install this font on its own. Open the Font Gallery (the icon with 'Aa' on it) and click Get Fonts. In the 'All The Library Fonts' sub-section scroll down to RoostHeavy Regular and double click it. You will then be offered the option to install the font). . Highlight the text (drag the Text Tool cursor over all the letters) and change the size to 48 points. With the text still highlighted, click the Center Justify icon on the Infobar (the five centered lines icon) to center the text. Click the down facing Line Spacing arrow until it reads 75.0. Click the right facing Tracking adjustment arrow until it reads 200.

We'll add a decorative element, in this case a printer's embellishment from a font called Minion Ornaments (Adobe). If you don't have this font installed on your computer, click here to download the character in a Zipped XAR file. Center the ornament under the text as shown.

We want to create a freehand version of the rounded rectangle. It will make the wooden version look more realistic. Select the Freehand and Brush Tool and draw a raggedhttp://www.xaraxone.com/ version of the rounded rectangle. Be sure the line ends on top of the beginning point. (The cursor will change to a + when you are over the starting control point and if you are successful, the shape will fill black). Change the fill color to pale yellow for now. You can delete the rounded rectangle.

With the new raggedy shape selected, open the Fill Gallery on the Infobar. Scroll down to and open the Wooden Fills folder. Select Grain 11 and press Fill. Select the fill with the Fill Tool and adjust the size of the tile by dragging the outside control handles as shown.

Adding Fills to the Fill Gallery: If you have no fills in your Fill Gallery, or you have some, but not the one shown here, make sure your Xara Xtreme CD is in your CD drive, open the Fill Gallery and press Disc Fills... Xara will try to locate your CD and open to the Fills folder. Double click on the Fills folder then press Add. Xtreme may ask you if it is all right to create an index for you. Say yes. Xtreme will create thumbnail images for all the fills and place them in the Fill Gallery. (The actual fill images reside on the CD and to apply a fill, the CD needs to be installed in your CD drive). Click here for a full tutorial on adding fills.

Name and save your drawing and take a short eye break.

Make a duplicate (Ctrl d) of the Minion ornament and set it aside for later on. Group the text and the Minion ornament (Ctrl g). Select the ragged rectangle and copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl c). Select the grouped text and ornament and from the Arrange menu, select Paste Attributes (Shift Ctrl a). This copies the fill from the rectangle and applies it to the text and ornament.

Select the text and ornament group and then select the Bevel Tool. From the drop down list of Bevel Types on the Infobar, select Chiseled. Click the Round Join icon (the arch). Move the Contrast slider to 80%. From the Slider Types drop down list on the Infobar, select Size. Change the size slider to 5 and press Enter to apply the changes.

Select the ragged rectangle and apply a Flat, Outer Bevel, Size 10 and with a Contrast slider setting of 80. Select the Miter Join icon (the ^).

This looks pretty convincing. But it also looks too new. I think it should look older, don't you? (The answer is yes!)

Clone the ragged rectangle and select it with the Bevel Tool. From the drop down list of Bevel Types, select None to remove the bevel.

Apply a flat fill using the RGB values shown above.

HOW TO: To apply a fill using RGB values, open the Color Editor (Ctrl e or click the small color wheel icon to the left of the screen palette.

Select RGB Color Model from the drop down list of Color Models. Enter the first number (153) in the R (red) text entry box, the second number (204) in the G (green) text entry box, and the third number, (204) in the B (blue) text entry box. All colors values are listed in the same way with the red, then green and then the blue color values.

Select the Transparency Tool and click on the gray green shape to select it. Apply a Flat transparency and from the Transparency Types drop down list on the Infobar, select Hue . This adds a gray greenish color tint to the wood. It still looks too new, so...

Clone (Ctrl k) the gray green shape. Open the Fill Gallery and then open the Stone Fills folder. Select Stone 10 and press the Transp button. With the shape still selected, switch to the Transparency Tool and from the drop down list of Transparency Types, select Contrast. This makes the wood look old, stained and moldy.

Ungroup the text and the Minion Ornament. Clone both (Ctrl k) and set the Bevel Type to None. Apply the two RGB colors shown above. Add a Feathering amount of 3pix to each. The feathering slider (officially called Change size of Feathering Region) is found on the right hand side of the Infobar and fades the edges of the characters causing them to appear as if the color has been worn away over time.

Clone (Ctrl k) the text and ornament and change the fill colors to the darker colors shown. Increase the feathering to 5pix. This darkens the inner portion of the text and ornament while exposing a bit of the paler color around the edges.

Clone the text and ornament again and this time open the Fill Gallery, select Stone 10 from the Stone Fills folder, and press Transp to impart some of the mottled stone texture to the text. Marquee select all the elements (drag a rectangle around the elements with the Selector Tool (the arrow pointer icon) and then group them (Ctrl g or Arrange > Group).

TIP: If you do not have anything else on the page except the elements we have been working with, you can use Ctrl a to Select All or Arrange > Select All. Do remember that you also have an extra ornament somewhere so with everything selected, hold down the Shift key and click on the duplicate ornament to deselect it.

Draw a rectangle that is larger than the other elements and apply a Stone Fills > Granite 6 fill. This places the sign on a surface.

Save your work and take a short eye break.

Create a rectangle and two ellipses to the sizes shown above.

Position the wider ellipse (pale yellow) on the left of the rectangle so the edge of the rectangle passes through the center of the ellipse. Position the slimmer ellipse (pink) on the right so the center of the ellipses passes through the center of the edge of the rectangle. Duplicate the slimmer ellipse (pink).

Select the rectangle and the ellipses and from the Arrange menu, select Combine Shapes > Add Shapes. This combines all three elements into one continuous outline.

NOTE: When you use the Add Shapes command, Xtreme assigns the attributes of the top most object in the selection to all the objects.

Apply a Grain 11 fill from the Fill Gallery > Wooden Fills folder to the combined shape and the pink ellipse. Now select the shape with with Fill Tool and adjust the fill path arrows as shown. Rotate the fill by holding down the Shift and Ctrl keys while dragging either of the outside control handles (the squares at the end of the arrows) so that the fill is horizontal and not vertical.

Make a clone of the shape and apply a multicolor Linear Fill using the colors and positions shown above. (Select Linear from the Fill Type drop down list on the Infobar and then drag the ends of the fill path arrow until they are vertical).

How To: With the shape and the Fill Tool selected, select Linear Fill from the drop down list of Fill Types. Drag the ends of the fill path arrows (using the Fill Tool cursor) so the arrow is in the vertical position. Click on the top control handle (the tiny black box at the end of the arrow) to select it and change the color in the Color Editor (Ctrl e ). Now modify the color on the other end. Double click on the fill path to add a new color station and then repeat to add another color station. Change the colors as shown above. Color stations can be repositioned by dragging them with the Fill Tool cursor or by selecting a color station and then pressing the up or down arrows on your keyboard. (For horizontal fills press the left or right facing arrow keys).

Select the Transparency Tool then select the Linear filled shape and apply a Flat transparency. From the Transparency Type drop down list, select Brightness and move the slider to 50%.

Position the duplicate ellipse over the right end of the cylindrical shape. Apply 4pix feathering. This softens the edge of the ellipse and creates a soft rounded-like end to the cylinder.

Save your work and take a short eye break.

Now that we have a handle for the chisel, we need to create the chisel portion.

Construct some rectangles to the sizes and positions shown above. Start with the two basic rectangles and then add the smaller rectangles.

Zoom in close to the right edge of the chisel. Select the end rectangle and Arrange > Convert to Editable Shapes.

With the converted rectangle selected, select the Shape Editor Tool and drag the end control points until they taper a bit and meet the top long rectangle as shown. (If you enable Snap to Objects—press the red magnet icon on the Infobar) the ends will automatically snap to the ends of the larger rectangle).

Open the Line Gallery on the Infobar (the Arrow with the dotted line shaft icon) and select Miter Join from the Join Types drop down list to blunt the shape edges.

Apply two, two color Linear Fills using the two colors, and the fill path directions shown above.

Fill the shaft portion on the left using the three fills shown.

Apply a Flat fill to the top edge and a Linear fill to the bottom edge as shown.

Group the blade elements and take a short eye break.

We'll create an incised image on the blade using a copy of the ornament.

Create three small duplicates that are about 1/2 the height of the blade and arrange them about 1 pixel down and 1 pixel apart. (I've made the three examples much bigger to make it easier for you to see what we are doing).

Apply the three solid color fills shown on the right. Select the middle ornament and bring it to the front (Ctrl f). This creates a lighter and darker version which act as a highlight and shadow edge. Place this over the blade and group with the blade elements.

Group the handle and blade elements. Rotate the chisel about 20 degrees anti-clockwise.

Select the Shadow Tool and drag downwards on the chisel to add a shadow. Move the Shadow Transparency slider on the Infobar to about 60 to make the shadow darker.

Place the chisel over the carved wood.

And here is the final image (slightly modified).

I made a few alterations after all was completed. From the overhead angle from which we are viewing the image, the ellipses on the handle of the chisel were too wide. I modified them making them more closed and recreated the handle to make the handle appear as though we were looking almost straight down on it. I extended the bottom of the stone so the chisel does not obscure the wood. And finally I added a bit of a solar flare on the blade.

This flare effect is really quite simple to create. Make a circle about the height of the handle. Apply a pale yellow fill. Change the fill type to Circular and change the Fill Effect to Alt Rainbow (from the drop down list that normally says Fade). Now apply a Circular transparency and you have a very convincing sun flare.

©2002 Gary Priester from the Xara Xone