Step Six: Onwards with the plateau. After changing the color to the same green as the regional background (this too will change later in the tutorial), I select the Bevel Tool on the left side tool menu. Arrow handles now appear around the selected plateau object. I select one of the arrow handles and slightly drag it outward to create the bevel.
The default bevel setting is "flat", which is not want I want. Note at the top of the screen, just below the Main Menu, is a drop down box. This has a list of all types of bevels available. Play around if you like at each one. The bevel setting I chose for the plateau is "chiselled 2".
The bevel by default creates a strongly toned light and shadow side of the bevel - which is too strong in most cases. To soften this you will be using the slider tool to the right of the drop down menu you used to select the bevel.
The first setting to "slide" is contrast - drag the slider to the left to about 10.
The second drop down menu, just to the right of the bevel type drop down, offers other settings. Size, contrast, light direction, light angle are the options available. After adjusting the contrast, select the "light angle" and drag the slider to the right at a setting about 60. If you go to far the shading disappears altogether, which isn't the goal here.
With object still selected, you will want to also "Feather" the edge of the bevel to better blend in the with the background. The "Feather Tool" is located at the far right end, just above the Main Menu - its actually a slider tool currently set to "None". When you click it, a slider appears, click it and drag it to the right just a few pixels or enough until it looks right. Sometimes it helps to zoom in, as what looks good at full map size and up close may be very different. Looking right at closeup is the important factor.
The first image shows the results of this step.
Step Seven: next, I want to import a stone texture for use in filling the objects created, in this case the plateau.
One of the cool features of Xtreme, once you import an image in, immediately delete it. Any image imported to Xtreme becomes stored in the image gallery. Various tools including the fill tool accesses the gallery for specific fills.
The second image shows the imported texture, before deletion.
Step Eight: Select the plateau object. Then select the color fill tool - its the pouring paint bucket on the tool menu. Go to the top of the screen, where a new set of tools appear just below the main menu. The first drop down shows the options. In this case, select "Bitmap". A new tool appears to the right of that, showing the gallery. The default setting is the Xara logo fill. The gallery tool shows all available imported bitmaps, in this case, only the stone texture is available. Select it.
Vertice handles appear within the object. By selecting and dragging the end of either vertice away from the center, the fill enlargens. Rotating the handle rotates the fill. Adjust until it looks right...
Another option available, next to the dropdown menu is "single image", "repeated image", and "repeated image inverted." Depending on the texture you are working with, determines which option is best. For seamless textures "repeated image" works fine. For non-seamless images, try "repeated image inverted." (For this tutorial use the last one.)
The third image shows the results of this step.
Step Nine: I don't want the plateau to be solid image fill, I want to blend in some of the background green. Select the Transparency Tool on the left side menu (it the wine glass). The new dropdown at the top of the screen has many options. The option you'll be using, is used on other tools as well throughout this tutorial. Select "Fractal Clouds".
At small scale the "Fractal Clouds" transparency object looks crappy. Its best to enlarge and rotate to taste. This is done exactly the same as you enlarged and rotated the image fill. In order for the blends to have a greater contrast. Notice the right facing arrow, between the dropdown options on the right side of the transparency tool menu at the top of the screen. Clicking on this opens a "line graph" that gives you more control. Of the two settings under the graph, the top one adjusts the amount of the plateau fill is used, while the bottom option increases the contrast.
Note the settings in the shown "line graph menu" in the fourth image - these are the general settings you want.
Step Ten: I want the background green land shape to have a blend of the same stone texture. So I select the land shape, then in the Main Menu, select "Edit/Copy Object". Now for some Xara magic, click "Edit/Paste Object in Place". This places the copy exactly on top of the original.
Most apps let you copy and paste, but the paste occurs at the center of the page. Xara lets you copy from anywhere on the screen and then pasting exactly on top of the original - many uses for this...
Image five shows the copy on top of everything.