Page 426 - Xara Designer Pro X17

426 3D Extrude Tool

In this example the face color of
the shape is set to white. But you
can see that it appears green
because there is a green light
shining almost directly onto the
front face of the shape.
By adjusting the colors of the face
and extrude and the positions and
colors of the three lights, you can
enhance the realism of the 3D
objects in your design.

Behind the object is a beige / orange colored light and another that is a purple color. Both
lights cause reflections down the side, and changing the color, or direction of the lights
behind will change the reflected highlights.

To move a light around the 3D object, simply drag on the light arrow. If you happen to
drop a light so that it is behind the 3D object and therefore isn't selectable, you can
retrieve it by using the left slider on the Extrude InfoBar. Select one of the light angles
from the dropdown list to the left of the slider (e.g. "Light 2 Angle 1") and then adjust the
slider. The light moves around the 3D object in your design. The various "light angle"
options in this dropdown list allow you to move any of the lights in any direction in 3D
space to achieve the positions you want. However for most purposes you can achieve
good results most easily by dragging the light arrows directly on the page.
To change the colors of the lights, you can simply drag colors from the color bar and drop
them directly onto the light arrows. To edit a light color with the color editor, double click
on the light arrow you want to change and the color editor opens with that light color
selected. You can now edit the light's color. With the color editor open, as you click on
the different light arrows, extrude face and extrude sides, the color selected in the color
editor dropdown list changes to match your selection, so you can quickly select the
different colors on your extrude to modify them.

Gloss / Matt

Use this toggle button to make the surface of a 3D object more or less
reflective. With the gloss option on lights placed at the correct position behind
the object will "bounce off" the sides to good effect.

Mitred corner / Rounded corner
You can choose either MITRED or ROUNDED corners for your 3D object.

"Mitre" gives square edges, while "Round" produces rounded edges.