Any object you create (including text and bitmaps) can be made transparent using the wide variety of transparency options available.

Like real-time anti-aliasing, Xara was the pioneer of vector transparency. Transparency can be used in a number of ways - one of the most common is to simulate glass, but it can also be used to create subtle reflections and highlights that are very difficult to achieve in any other way.

Another common use is to overlay parts of your drawing with additional transparent objects which can then be used as filters to modify colors or contrast in your image, for example. Xara Xtreme also allows you to create textured transparencies by using bitmaps of your choice to give a special effect to any graphic or selection of graphics.

Transparency can be applied in a linear graduation or even a multi-stage graduation (new in V5). Plus there's a variety of shapes such as diamond or conical transparency to get some very unusual effects. Transparency can be applied in any direction and is independent of color - simply select the transparency tool and then click and drag on the image to apply the transparency, completely interactive and immediate.