6.0

Shadow options
Xara3D includes an advanced shadow tool that can give a very realistic effect of the object hanging in
front of a surface. The position of the shadow is controlled by one of the arrows in the lighting control.
The shadow blur and darkness is controlled from the shadow options. You can even control the color of
the shadow for special effects. Note that if display as Flash
is selected, this entire section is grayed out as the Flash format does not support shadows.
Ways to display shadow options
Click the shadow options button on the toolbar (see the icon above left).
Click the shadow options tab on the right of your screen (don't see this?
).
Click the options menu, then select shadow.
Press Alt-S.
Shadow
Select this to display a shadow.
Style
1 is a blurred copy of the objects. Artistically this is not a true shadow but it looks "correct" for simple
drop shadows (the most common type on web pages).
2 is a true shadow, thrown by the shadow light. This type looks best in animations where the eye is more
aware of the shape of a shadow.
Transparency
Controls how much of the background color or texture shows through the shadow. Semitransparent
shadows are more realistic than solid shadows.
Blur
This can give the effect of either a pin-point light source (little blur) or diffuse light source (greater blur).
For best results we suggest always blurring the shadow slightly—in real-life shadows don't have sharp
edges.
Notes:
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
GIFs with shadows are usually larger than with no shadow. Also the further the shadow is away
from the text, or the more blurred, the larger the file. To get the most realistic shadow effects on
your web page, ensure the Xara3D background matches that of the web page. See shadows
and backgrounds

for details.
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
Selecting display as Flash disables shadow options because Macromedia Flash vector format
does not support shadows. More details

.
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Flash vector format does not support shadows. Selecting display as Flash

on the View menu dims all shadow options.
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