Review of Xara3D5

[Welles]

Xara3D5

Since I began using computers, text effects and 3D text has been a personal fascination. I?ve tried out a fair number of different programs and plug-ins. In Illustrator I?ve used Vertigo?s PopArt and 3D Words ( http://www.vertigo3d.com/ ), Zaxwerks? Invigorator ( http://www.zaxwerks.com/ ), KPT Vector Effects? 3D Transform (defunct), all the versions of FILTERiT ( http://www.cvalley.com/products/filterit4/ ) as well as the new 3D capacities of Illustrator CS. In Photoshop, my favorite plugin was Vertigo?s HotTEXT, Layer Styles completely captivated my imagination, and then there are theKeeper?s tutorials on 3D text both here (Forum Tutorials) and in the tutorials section of PSG. In other applications TypeStyler ( http://www.typestyler.com/ ) was very good for effects but hasn?t been upgraded in many years. The new Vue 5 Esprit?s ( http://www.e-onsoftware.com/Products/vue5/index.php ) text tools are exceptional and Strata 3D ( http://www.strata.com/strata3D_new.asp ) is also excellent. I thought I?d about run the gamut of 3D text possibilities until recently when I ?discovered? Xara3D5.

It is a Window?s only application that just does a few tricks?but it does them superbly well. You can take text from any .ttf font and place it in a simple scene with a tinted background or one made of a single texture. To make it easier to select characters Xara3D5 includes a character map that shows all the glyphs, including those in Unicode fonts. Your capacities to manipulate the text include a wide variety of bevels and extrusions, hollow or solid text, texturing and/or coloring faces and sides together or independently. There are three colored lights available and a Shadow ?light? all of which can be manipulated to create your scene.

But wait! There?s more! Russell Brown? (heh heh). You aren?t limited to text. Importing 2D objects in .wfm, .emf and a couple of Xara proprietary file types is also supported. Once you?ve set up your scene it can be exported in a number of file formats, .bmp, .jpg, .png, .gif etc. Although the initial concept of Xara3D was to make banners, images, animations, and buttons for the web, you can specify a file size of 2000 x 2000 pixels for the final image, so while it isn?t directly supported, print is a possible result of the exported files. This is particularly noteworthy as the rendered images have absolutely the best anti-aliasing I?ve ever seen in any 3D application and? it is FAST. The rendering occurs after each change you make while you are creating the scene so when you finally export a static image it seems to instantaneously take place, although rendering animations takes longer, of course.

Oh, I haven?t mentioned animations yet. Take your text and use one of the presets to have an instant GIF. Better yet, make screen savers! The animation capacities are limited compared to a full blown 3D program but what do you want for under $50?! You can work on individual characters and have them animated differently in the same scene. If you use the multi-page feature you can have one line of text move through another in a real 3D interpenetration. The stock animations aren?t limited to rotations either. The others are described as pulse, pulsate, wave, typewriter, step, fade and swing. You can export the final result as a GIF, AVI, or Flash file.

The quality of the software is astonishing. If you have had any prior experience at all with 3D, every aspect of the program is available and can be ?discovered? in just a few hours of serious experimentation. Serious means adding your own textures, using Illustrator or XaraX1 to create 2D objects to import etc. You can even open up the files which store the image data in a text editor like Word Pad and tweak the settings in the file to do stuff beyond the application's intended limitations. It is amazing just how simple a piece of sophisticated software can be. I?m wildly enthusiastic about Xara3D5.

Could there be capabilities added? Sure! In my relatively brief acquaintance, I wanted to create a static scene with each of the characters rotated slightly. Can?t do it in this version. You can move a line of characters every which way but not individuals. I?d also like to be able to place the characters on a path, starting with stock paths and having the capacity to create a user-defined path. I?d like to be able to render a file larger than 2000 x 2000 pixels, although the image rendering quality is so good that increasing the final render to a poster size is easily done in Photoshop with no real apparent image degradation. The biggest drawback of all is from a Mac users point of view. Xara3D5 is Window?s only although it runs just fine (with a couple of odd work-arounds) with Virtual PC.

My conclusion? I?ve had more fun playing with this application than any I can remember. I?m so enthusiastic about it that I also purchased XaraX1 (thanks to Gare for his recommendation) and have ordered an inexpensive PC to run the software. How?s that for a testimonial from a dyed in the wool Mac user!

The image samples I?ve added below include a static image displaying some of the capacities, a simple GIF, and a button. I didn?t really mention buttons but you can input your text and use a variety of shapes to create buttons that have your text applied on the face. My example is ridiculous for an actual button but I was entranced by the carved wooden effect and made it huge to show off the texture. All of these samples were done within three hours of beginning my exploration of the software and are stock effects. Newbies to 3D programs will have no trouble with this application, though it will take them a bit longer to rummage around and figure it out. To shorten the learning curve it might be worth purchasing the application package that includes a printed manual for an extra $10.

In my estimation, Xara3D5 is a five star application.

http://www.xara.com/products/xara3d/

[Welles]

Here's the little animation.

[Welles]

Xara 3D 6 has just been released and it is a significant upgrade. Most noticeable at first glance is a completely modernized GUI which makes the work easier than before. In X3D 5, moving objects and shadows was done by clicking and dragging but now that applies to extrusion, bevel depth and moving text on a design as well. There are two new bevels, more control over exporting animations as movies, cut and paste capacities with XaraX1, several new design types extrapolated from button designs.

For newbies there is a completely rewritten manual, available from the help menu, which is actually comprehensible. In addition, there are tool tips every time your cursor goes over any aspect of the program while in use.

All in all, this is a must have upgrade. Already the easiest 3D program, Xara3D 6 has become even more simple to use. The only flaw in the program is that it is Windows only.

In my little sample below I've used the new Border feature.

[Legend...]

Thanks for the review, really helpful!