Using Xara 3D in VS12x

alanball · Post by **alanball** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 2:24 am

As they had a special on Xara 3D over Xmas I thought I would buy and download it. I am surprised to find no user manual, I have made a search but could only find it on one internet site which I did'nt like the look of.

I know Black Lab and Ken Barry and various other members use Xara, could you point me in the direction of a manual on the internet if you know of one please?

Could you also advise what output you have found the best for use in VS? Under the Help menu it gives AVI Export options, but I have not found where they are selected looking though the program menu's. It also refers to selecting a codec, have you any suggestions for the best one to use?

If I imported a 3D title into VS, what is the best file type to enable me to see through the title to say a picture behind the title?

Many thanks.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 2:51 am

I didn't know they had a download version. When I bought it, it came from the UK in boxed form, with a small manual. However, the manual in effect is no more detailed than the Help files which are part of the program itself. If you go through the Help files, there are quite a few 'How To's there. There is also a link to a Video tutorial which is useful for starters.

I personally always export as an uncompressed AVI, though the resulting file is huge e.g. 1 GB for a 10 second title...

If you want a transparent title, then export as an animated GIF... and tick the transparency box.

Note also that there is a Xara web board which I found to be both fast in answer and as helpful as this one. You will also find some truly amazing titles and objects there constructed by Xara 3D users... There is a link to forums in the Help menu.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 3:20 am

Ditto.

alanball · Post by **alanball** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:29 am

Thanks Ken and Black Lab, I'll take a better look at the help file and the Xara web site and give both the AVI and GIF a go. (when I find out where to the setup options are for the AVI.)

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:30 am

File > Export Animation > Choose Avi > Give it a name. Then on the next screen you are given an AVI Options button. The settings are in there.

rguthrie · Post by **rguthrie** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:24 pm

Wow, this makes me reminisce back to the days when Ulead Cool3D 3.0 came with VideoStudio (that's right, as in an extra freebie!).....shame that Corel has let it go!

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:36 pm

Yes, that's true. Mind you, I still have Cool 3D Production Studio which was not supposed to work with Vista, though it seemed to do so for me. I must give it a try with Windows 7 which I have now loaded on 3 of my computers.

Cool 3D is indeed capable of doing some fantastic titles. Its main drawback for me has always been, though, the incredibly long rendering times associated with it -- usually around 40 minutes (or longer) for a 10 or 12 second title!

Xara 3D and BluffTitler take at most real time and usually less to produce equally spectacular titles...

alanball · Post by **alanball** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:42 am

Thanks for showing me where to select the file setup Ken,

I would normally expect to select the file type and settigs before getting the the save menu.

aljimenez · Post by **aljimenez** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:03 pm

Ken Berry wrote:... . I must give it a try with Windows 7 which I have now loaded on 3 of my computers.

It works in Win 7; simply ignore the dialog box that says "this program has known compatibility issues" I have not found any yet... Al

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:07 pm

Cool 3D is indeed capable of doing some fantastic titles. Its main drawback for me has always been, though, the incredibly long rendering times associated with it -- usually around 40 minutes (or longer) for a 10 or 12 second title! Xara 3D and BluffTitler take at most real time and usually less to produce equally spectacular titles...

I agree. And aside from the rendering time, Xara has many, many preset animations to choose from. With Cool 3D you had to make most of them on your own, which wasn't easy. For 3D titles, I now use Xara exclusively.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:20 pm

In fact I didn't even get the 'known compatibility issues' messages with Xara 3D on Windows 7...

aljimenez · Post by **aljimenez** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:45 pm

Ken Berry wrote:In fact I didn't even get the 'known compatibility issues' messages with Xara 3D on Windows 7...

I should have said with Cool3D Ken, sorry... Al

rguthrie · Post by **rguthrie** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:03 pm

Ken et. al,

Thanks for the helpful feedback guys. I guess one of these days I'll just have to let go and move on to another 3D program....snif, snif. But yea, the rendering time is awful, and perhaps Corel's programmers couldn't overcome that (I dare 'em to!). I wonder what would happen if they just released the source code as an open source project.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:07 pm

I wonder what would happen if they just released the source code as an open source project.

Oh, you are serious...