Enable Snap to Grid. (found in the Window pull down menu).

Select the Rectangle Tool on the main toolbar on the left of the screen.

Click and drag a rectangle that is 250 pixels wide by 150 pixels tall. Refer to the size on the context-sensitive Infobar at the top of the screen and do not release the mouse button until the rectangle is this exact size. The reason for this rigidity is we will be rounding the corners of the rectangle and in order for the corners to be perfectly round, the rectangle must be drawn to the exact size, and not resized which will result in non-round corners.

With the rectangle and the Rectangle Tool still selected, click the Curved Corners icon on the Infobar at the top of the screen (it's the inverted L- shaped button).

There are two methods to round corners in Xara. The first is to drag the outside control points on the corners with the Rectangle Tool cursor. The second is to select Curvature from the drop down list on the Infobar and click the right arrow button. In either case, we want a curvature setting of 0.7.

Using the Rectangle Tool, draw a second rectangle, 170 pixels wide by 50 pixels tall. Again, draw the rectangle to the exact size before releasing the mouse button.

Any questions?

Select the new rectangle and then select Mould Tool. (Remember this is a British product!) The Mould Tool is used to apply interactively editable, enveloped shapes to objects, text objects, and groups of objects.

On the Infobar, select the Default Perspective envelope. (The second rectangle button on the Infobar). Drag the bottom corner control handles outward as shown. The modifications are applied in real time.

Disable Snap To Grid ( Window pull down menu).

NOTE: Xara has two kinds of interactive envelope shapes, straight sided and curved sided. The curved sided envelope shapes use Bezier control handles to modify the shape.

Select the larger curved rectangle and apply a solid deep blue fill.

Select the Fill Tool then from the drop down list of Fill Types on the Infobar at the top of the screen, select Linear.

An arrow will appear going from the center of the capsule shape to the right side. Drag each end of the fill path arrow until it is going up and down as shown.

I will explain in a moment how to adjust the color using the Color Editor. For the time being, just pick a deep blue. By default the second color in a Linear Fill is white, which is what we want in this case.

Creating multicolored gradient fills in Xara X is intuitive and painfully simple.

With the Fill Tool and the filled object selected, and the fill path arrow showing, drag a color from the screen palette and drop it onto the fill path arrow. The small icon to the right of the cursor changes to either a thin line to indicate line color, or a square to indicate fill. We want a medium blue fill.

NOTE: Once on the fill path, the color, or additional colors, can be dragged to new positions if desired.

Additional NOTE: Colors can be dragged and dropped onto non-selected objects as well.

To access the Color Editor (covered in the next paragraph) click the small color wheel icon to the left of the screen palette. To add a fill color to a selected object, click any color on the screen palette with the left mouse button. To apply an outline color, click with the right mouse button.

To set the fill color to none, click the cross hatched square with the left mouse button. To set the outline to none, right click the cross hatched square or select None from the Line Width drop down list on the Infobar.

To modify or mix a color, use the Color Editor (click the color wheel icon to the left of the screen palette).

If the Color Editor only shows half what is shown here, click the icon directly under the X button at the top of the menu to display the Advanced Options.

In the Color Editor, you can edit in RGB, CMYK, HSV, Grayscale and RGB Web/Hex modes.

You can name a color by clicking the yellow tag icon to the immediate right of the color drop down list. Click the button to the right of this to convert any mixed color to a web safe color.

Select the colors on the Linear Fill and change their values as shown in the illustrations.

NOTE: If you let the arrow cursor rest over any color on the screen palette, a Tool Tip appears with the color properties.

NOTE within a NOTE: If the colors shown in the Tool Tip are in percentage and not 0-255, you need to change the Color Units setting in the Page Options dialog. (See page 1). On the other hand, if you are specifying color for CMYK printing, use Percentage and not 0-255.

OK, back to the tutorial.

As I mentioned on the home page, Xara's Linear Transparency is unique. CorelDRAW users should note that Corel's Linear Transparency was copied from Xara's.

Select the white highlight, then select the Transparency Tool from the main tool bar. From the drop down list of Transparency Shapes at the top left of the Infobar, select Linear.

As with the Xara's Linear Fill (the two are quite similar) the fill arrow appears in the center and extends to the right edge. Drag the control handles on either end of the fill path until the top edge of the highlight is almost opaque and bottom edge is almost transparent. Extending the fill path arrow slightly above and below the shape accomplishes this. If the transparency end of the arrow is inside the highlight, the edge cleanly disappears.

At this stage, except for the type and the drop shadow, we have replicated Apple's gel effect, without ever creating or editing a bitmap!

Now it's time to take the Apple effect to the next level.

Select the blue capsule shape, then select the Transparency Tool. From the drop down list of Transparency Shapes found top left of the Infobar, select Elliptical.

By default, Elliptical (and Circular) creates a transparency that is transparent on the outside and opaque in the center. We need this to be the other way around. With the Transparency Tool selected, click on either of the outside squares at the ends of the fill path arrows. Change the setting by dragging the Transparency slider on the Infobar to 20%. Click in the center square and change the Transparency slider to 100% .

Click again on the center square and press the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the transparency center down as shown. Cool?

NOTE of PRIDE: All the screen images for this tutorial were created in Xara X.

What's missing from our gel capsule is a shadow. We can add a soft diffused shadow with Xara X's new Shadow Tool.

Select the blue capsule shape, then select the Shadow Tool. Click the second effect from the left, Wall Shadow (the far left box removes the shadow).

Reposition the shadow so it is directly beneath the capsule by dragging the shadow with the Shadow Tool.

NOTE: You can also intuitively add a drop shadow to any object, or text object, by selecting the Shadow Tool, then dragging on an object in the direction you want the shadow to fall. It's kind of like magic!

It's not that I don't have the greatest respect for Apple's design team, but a gel-filled capsule does not cast a gray shadow. It casts a shadow the color of the gel.

To achieve this effect, select a solid blue color on the screen palette and drag and drop it onto the shadow. Compare this to the example in the previous paragraph. Which do you think looks more realistic?

Draw another rectangle, this time exactly the width of your rectangle and 2 pixels in height. The easiest way to specify this is in the W and H (Width and Height) text entry boxes on the Infobar. To apply changes that are not linked to one another, press the tiny lock icon button on the Infobar so it is in the raised (non-proportional scaling) position.

Make a duplicate (Ctrl K or Edit > Duplicate) and position it at the very bottom of the page. Position the first rectangle at the exact top of the page.

Apply a 20% black fill to both rectangles and set the line width to none by right clicking on the cross hatched square to the left of the screen palette.

In this step we will create a blend between the top and bottom rectangles.

Select the Blend Tool. Click on the top rectangle and drag down to the bottom rectangle. Release the mouse button.

You should have a 5-step blend. Change the number of Blend Steps on the Infobar to 18 and press Enter on your keyboard to apply the changes.

Select the blended rectangles and the background and press Ctrl B (as in Back) to send them to the back, or select Send to Back from the Edit menu.

NOTE: To multiple select objects, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard while you click on multiple objects.

Select the blended rectangles and the background and group them (Ctrl G or Arrange > Group).

Select the capsule, and the background and line group, and make a duplicate. Edit > Clone or Ctrl K.

Select the capsule, then the Shadow Tool , and click the left square shadow icon on the Infobar to turn the shadow off.

The lines behind the blue capsule would be distorted due to the roundness of the capsule.

Center the duplicate capsule over the duplicate lines and background. Select the lines and background, select the Mould Tool, then click the Elliptical Envelope button on the Infobar. The enveloped shape can be seen over the original background.

The enveloped background and lines are wider and taller than the duplicate capsule shape.

Select the enveloped lines with the Selector Tool. Click the top center control handle and while holding down the Shift key, drag towards the center. The Shift key constrains resizing so the sides move either together or apart the same distance.

Repeat this to make the width narrower. The enveloped shape should extend slightly beyond the capsule shape.

Place the capsule shape on top of the enveloped lines and background. Select the capsule and the lines and from the Arrange pull down menu, select Combine Shapes > Intersect Shapes. This crops the lines to the shape of the capsule.

Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the black outline around the capsule to select just it and not the entire contents, and set the outline to none.

Select the intersected lines and the background group, and send both to the back (Ctrl B or Arrange > Send to Back).

NOTE: Another way to do this is to select the intersected lines and press Shift Ctrl B to send the lines Backwards. This sends the selected object(s) back one layer at a time.

Select the Text Tool, click on the page to place the insertion cursor, and key in XARA ROCKS (it really does, don't you think?). Highlight the text by dragging the text cursor over it and click the Center Justify icon on the Infobar.

The font I have used is called Valken, and is available from Xara's BuyFonts.com or in the Fonts folder on the Xara CD.

With the text still highlighted, click the down arrow next to the Line Spacing text entry box until it reaches 70%. Click the right arrow next to the Tracking text entry box until it reaches 100%. Visually center the text over the capsule.

This next step is a bit convoluted and for it I apologize.

Make a duplicate of the capsule. With the duplicate selected, click the Shadow Tool and click the No Shadow icon (far left). Next select the Transparency Tool and select None from the drop down list on the Inforbar.

Now, copy the capsule (Ctrl C or Edit > Copy). Select the text and press Shift Ctrl A or Edit > Paste Attributes . This is Xara's equivalent to Adobe's eyedropper tool and is used to copy all attributes from one object to another. Including transparency. Your text should now look like the text shown here. Delete the duplicate capsule. Because the capsule had multiple special effects, copying and pasting attributes did not have the desired effect.

Xara's new Bevel Tool is hot with a capital H . Select the text then select the Bevel Tool. From the drop down list of Bevel Types, select Flat. On the Infobar press the Inner Bevel button (the in-facing arrows) to apply the bevel to the inside of the text. Amazingly enough, the text is still editable!

Set the Contrast slider on the Infobar to 80%. From the Slider Type drop down list, select Size and change the setting to 2.

The embossed text looks nifty except the text wants to look recessed.

Piece of cake! Just grab the light source arrow in the center of the text and drag it 180 degrees to the bottom as shown. Now the text looks as if it's recessed.

We could leave it here. But we won't. You should be naming and saving your image as you go along. But in case you're like me, and have completely forgotten to do so, name and save your file now and take a break to rest your eyeballs.

OK Is everybody back from your break?

Not only can Xara apply some awesome bevel effects, but the bevel can be a separate color, same as with the Shadow Tool.

Find RGB 102, 153, 255 medium blue on the screen palette. Drag and drop the color onto the bevel.

We're going to apply transparency to the beveled text so we can see through it. It will be easier if the portion of the blue capsule shape is removed first.

Copy the beveled text to the clipboard (Ctrl C or Edit > Copy ).

Select the beveled text and the blue capsule and from the Arrange menu, select Combine Shapes > Subtract Shapes.

To paste the beveled text in exactly the same position from which it was copied, hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys and press V.

Select the beveled text, select the Transparency Tool and apply a Flat, Stained Glass transparency.

NOTE: Xara's Stained Glass operation is the same as Adobe's Subtract.

Make a duplicate of the beveled text. Convert it to editable shapes (Arrange > Convert to Editable Shapes).

Ungroup twice (Arrange > Ungroup). Delete the solid portion of the text leaving just the beveled portion.

To delete in Xara just press the Delete key on your keyboard or right click and select Delete from the pop up menu.

Position the empty bevel over the beveled text.

This last step was not really necessary but enhances the light and dark of the beveled edges.

The problem with most vector applications is vector objects are too hard edged producing an unrealistic effect. If we were in Photoshop, we could apply a tiny amount of Gaussian blur to soften the white highlight and make it softer.

But who needs Photoshop when we can add a small amount of feathering right in Xara X! Select the white highlight. In the upper right corner of the Infobar, move the Feathering slider to about 2 to 2.5pix. Doesn't that look more realistic?

Since we went to all the trouble to lighten the bottom of the blue capsule using Xara's Elliptical transparency, we should go the extra 9 yards and add a soft shadow beneath the text.

Duplicate the beveled text. (Ctrl D) and convert the duplicated text to editable shapes (Shift Ctrl S)

Select the Mould Tool and apply a Default Envelope. (The first rectangle button on the Infobar). Click in each corner and drag the Bezier control handles downwards as shown. Drag the bottom handles a little more than the top ones.

One of the few features missing from Xara is a Gaussian Blur filter. But lucky for us, Ladislav Seridi has created a cute little utility called SL Blur which can be downloaded for free from the XaraXone Shareware Page along with a ton of other cool shareware and freeware stuff.

Select the text and from the Arrange menu, select Create Bitmap Copy. From the Color Depth drop down list, select True Color (24-bit). And press Create.

Copy the bitmap to the clipboard.

Open SL Blur and press the Clipboard icon on the far left to paste the bitmap.

Move the slider to 10 and check the Add Border check box. Press the water drop button to apply the blur. Press the Copy button (to the left of the hand button), to place a copy of the blurred bitmap in the clipboard. Close SL Blur and say thank you, Ladislav.

BY THE WAY: Add Border automatically expands the width of the bitmap to accommodate the blurring. If not checked, the blurring is truncated.

We're almost finished.

Paste the bitmap ( Edit > Paste). A dialog box will appear with two choices: Bitmap and Device Independent Bitmap. Select Bitmap and press Paste.

Position the blurred bitmap text below the beveled text. With the bitmap selected, select the Transparency Tool and apply a Flat, Stained Glass transparency. Stained Glass treats white as transparent.

Marquee select the beveled text and the white highlight (drag a rectangle around it with the Selector Tool) and bring the beveled text and white highlight to the front (Ctrl F).

NOTE: Unlike Illustrator, you have to marquee select the entire objects not just a portion.

To increase the intensity of the white highlight, you can make a duplicate (Ctrl K).

And here's the final image.

So what do you think?

Any of you Mac users impressed or do you think you can do the same thing in Illustrator, FreeHand or Photoshop?

Let me know. By all means, please e-mail me your comments.

If you want to see more really great art created primarily with Xara, visit the Featured Artist page at Xaraxone.com.

I want to thank Ross Macintosh, Big Frank, and all the contributors to the Xara Conference for suggesting many of the techniques used in this tutorial. The final effect was a genuine collaboration.