A number of features of Xara Webster really come into their own when creating animations. For a start, because Xara Webster is an object-based illustration package, it is simple to clone a drawing and change one small portion of it without affecting the rest of the drawing. Objects can be moved easily across the screen, and co-ordinates can be entered precisely in icons on the tool bar. You can also copy a complete frame; this is especially useful when there's only slight differences between successive frames.

With Xara Webster's superior display even in 256-color modes, its redraw speed and multiple undo, and you have an incredibly powerful animation tool.

By way of illustration, let's see how the animation at the top of this page was created, step-by-step. The animation is small, simple, and uses all the relevant techniques, so it's an ideal one to use as a tutorial.

The first step

Create a new document.

Open the Frame Gallery

You'll see that the Frame Gallery shows just Frame 1 which is the frame we're working on.

This provides a frame within which to place each cell of the animation.

Type in the text 'Animated GIFs'. This is the first frame completed.

Note: in many circumstances it is simpler to draw the graphic first, and then fit the frame round it, so these two steps can be completed in either order.

Copying the frame

Click the Copy button on the Frame Gallery. This creates Frame 2. By clicking Copy several times, you end up with a sequence of (currently identical) frames, ready to be animated.

Animating the other frames

Animating all the frames is a simple matter of making small changes. In this case, the letters on subsequent frames must be moved up and down again to create a wave effect, and the color changed to red and then back to black. To do this:

• In the Frame Gallery, click on the name of the frame you want to change. (Clicking on a name highlights it.)
• Using the text tool, select the individual letter or letters.
• Move them up or down using Baseline Shift.
• To change their color either drag-and-drop from the Color Line or use the Color Editor.
• Repeat for the next frame in the animation.

Far more complicated effects are also possible - often easy - to achieve: you could have a scrolling star field, a scrolling message or banner, or a fade between objects using Xara Webster's transparency.