Transparency types

Xara supports the main types of W3C transparency used by many other applications. All Xara Designer titles include the following types:

Normal (Mix)

The color of the object mixes with the color of underlying objects. The effect is similar to spraying a thin coat of color (or paint) over underlying objects.

Multiply (Stained glass)

The effect is similar to viewing underlying objects through colored glass. It is useful for the simulation of glass and selectively darkening objects. The colors of objects with Multiply applied are:

  • White - no effect on the colors of underlying objects.
  • Gray & Black - darkens the colors of underlying objects.
  • Other colors - darken underlying colors towards saturated color (light red over light red results in mid-red: green over red results in black).

Technically the process is subtractive in RGB color space.

Screen (Bleach)

Screen has no clear analogy in the physical world. It is useful for highlights when the light source is not white. The color of the object with Screen applied:

  • Gray & White - lightens the colors in underlying objects.
  • Black - no effect on the colors of underlying objects.
  • Other colors - lighten underlying colors towards unsaturated color. (Light-red over light-red gives a pale-red: green over red gives yellow.)

Technically the process is additive in RGB color space.

Xara Designer Pro and Photo & Graphic Designer also support the following transparency types:

Overlay

Overlay is a combination of Screen and Multiply and generally used to boost the contrast in an image. The areas of the top object where the underlying objects are light becomes lighter and the areas of the top object where the underlying objects are dark becomes darker.

  • Gray (darker than 50% gray) will darken and add contrast to the underlying image.
  • Gray (lighter than 50% gray) will lighten and add contrast to the underlying image.
  • Other colors - lightens and adds contrast to unsaturated colors and darkens and adds contrast to saturated colors.

Hard Light

The same as Overlay, but with the base and overlying objects swapped.

  • White - no effect on the colors in underlying objects, the whites remain completely white.
  • Black - no effect on the colors in underlying objects, the blacks remain completely black.

Soft Light

This is a less extreme version of Hard Light. Again works similarly to Overlay although in a softer and less harsh way than Hard Light.

Luminosity

Luminosity affects the "lightness" of the image. It blends the lightness values of the top objects with the lightness values of the underlying objects, whilst ignoring the color values.

Color

Color is a combination of hue and saturation. Almost the opposite of Luminosity, the colors of the top objects are blended with the colors of the underlying objects whilst ignoring the luminance values.

Color burn

Similar to Multiply. Burns or darkens the overlying objects. The image will be generally darker.

Color dodge

Similar to Screen (Bleach). Dodges or lightens the underlying objects. The image will be generally lighter.

For all these, the slider controls the amount of transparency from opaque (0% transparent) to fully (100%) transparent.

Applying a flat transparency to an object also applies transparency to the line around the object. It is not possible to set different transparencies, but you can remove the line by setting it to no color or by selecting "None" as the outline width. To create an object with a transparent fill and a non-transparent line, use a non-flat transparency type.

For more information on colors see Color Handling.

Enhance

See Enhance below for more information on Enhance transparency.

Note that for legacy reasons, Xara documents which contain older transparency types will still refer to those types by their original names, even though those types are no longer supported in Xara. Look for (old) in the transparency type list to identify them.

 

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