Creating good-looking logos is one of the hardest tasks for amateur web designers. Xara3D 6 aims to make difficult effects, such as bevelled text, far simpler to create.

When starting the program and creating a new document, users are presented with a ready-made logo and surround, which they can click on to change, replacing the Xara text with their own. This can seem a little strange if customers are expecting a new document to be blank.

Down the left-hand side of the screen is a range of buttons for text, colour, animation, texture, lighting and 'board options'. These refer to the background, as if the text is mounted on, or cut through, a piece of board.

When moving the mouse over the image things start to get a bit confusing. Depending on where you click, you might be moving the shadow, controlling the thickness of the board or a letter, or rotating something. Fortunately, the pointer changes shape and a message appears at the bottom of the screen, but it takes a little getting used to.

But although it may seem fiddly at first, it is amazing how easy it is to create good looking images by moving light sources, changing various colours and applying textures to words.

If users need a simple way to make effective 3D text-based logos, Xara3D is well worth the astonishingly cheap price.

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