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I'm waiting for 2 years Xara mac os version. unfortunaly there is no alternative vector editor for mac. how long do i have to wait?
however my dream is an new generation vector editor fundamentally different from exiting products such as illustrator, corel, xara, etc.
maybe apple do this revolution?
That's not really true - Adobe Illustrator for example.Quote:
Originally Posted by discotv
Different in which way?Quote:
however my dream is an new generation vector editor fundamentally different from exiting products such as illustrator, corel, xara, etc.
maybe apple do this revolution?
AI is not 'alternative', it's the incumbent 20 ton gorilla.Quote:
Originally Posted by pauland
That's what I was wondering too!Quote:
Originally Posted by pauland
No positive news on the Mac version I'm afraid. We have a half working version, but right now need to persuade the powers that be that it's worth finishing this instead of adding more improvements to the Windows version. Of course all Windows users would prefer we keep improving the Windows versions instead.
Talking about Virtual Machines, I was just emailed by a customer that moved to the Mac, asking the same question as you. He was using Parallels to run Windows software, and had just changed to VMWare instead. He was just letting me know there was a huge improvement in stability and speed of Xara Xtreme on the Mac.
I run Xara in Fusion these days, and it runs fine.
I wonder which will be released first. A native Xara or a native InkScape...
http://jo.irisson.free.fr/?p=62
;)
PS. There's a new guy at work who, like me, also chose to shun Illustrator for something else. However, he uses InkScape, so I'm going to take this opportunity to learn more about it!
or try this on MAC
http://www.chromaticbytes.com/zeusDrawTour.php
Thanks for the link to ZeusDraw, minimiro - it looks interesting :)
Amanda
Charles
I was having an exchange with Daniel Will Harris who has migrated to the Mac. He was asking about the Mac version. I said that Corel had given it their best shot and finally thrown in the towel. I said Illustrator had a strangle hold on the Mac for sure.
Daniel's brilliant observation was: The percentage of Mac users has increased in the last few years and a lot of these users came from Windows. They are not going to want to learn Illustrator. This would be a perfect entry wedge for Xtreme.
Just thought I would share that insight.
improving = new tools/functions or stability? i prefer the second.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles Moir
often updates (begins from xara x) inherits principal bugs - for example problems with clipboard and unexpected shut downs (list of actions leading to shut down are growing from version to version)
do not develop a new os x version repaid? there are a lot of switchers who would be bought xara4mac
Don't forget that Wine or Crossover Office will both run on newer (intel) Macs and Xara seems to work quite well under wine.
I'm in the process of switching to Linux and I really don't want to have to leave Xara behind. I tried Xtreme Pro 4 on the latest Ubuntu and Wine the other day and it worked perfectly. I didn't do very much testing but everything I tried worked great and at pretty much native speed too - wine isn't a virtual machine.
The only glitch I noticed was that the transparent areas on all the tool bar button graphics were being filled in black. Looks a bit odd, but it all works and I'm sure it'll get fixed in a upcoming version of wine.
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/
GUI drawing problems could just as easily be your Linux graphics driver. I'm so over Linux these days, I have to use it on a fairly regular basis at work but its just using a preinstalled set-up so things usually work. But for home it was just too much effort for too many compromises, much as working on MacOS is, something else I have to do from time to time [thankfully a lot less than I used to in previous jobs].
For me Windoze offers the best of both worlds - a good basic set-up with more than enough tweakability to be sure I am getting the most out of my hardware. Even if Mac hardware was price/feature competitive with PC, I'd still stick with Windoze, whereas if a Linux set-up was as easy to work with as Windoze, I might be tempted to go that way, but in the past 10 years it hasn't come anywhere near to that point.
If you're going to avoid the heavy hitters like InkScape (granted, currently cripped by X11) and Illustrator, why not give them ALL a try:
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx...&dir=desc&pg=1
There's about 70 different apps to choose from there.
Well, there's currently two newly born slightly ground breaking applications on OS X. The first one is DrawIt, which you can get here:Quote:
Originally Posted by discotv
http://www.getdrawit.com/
I think I read somewhere that it doesn't have it's own code for curves, but rather uses Leopard API features to draw everything (Core Image?), which is kinda cool if true. Also, it has some rather innovative feature application, similar to parametric 3D modelling, which I find very interesting.
http://www.atebits.com/software/scribbles/
Scribbles is the second innovative app. The results aren't actually vector based, nor is the way you draw, but internally, all brush strokes are curves, so you can zoom, rotate and scale you drawing all you want. Pretty neat, though slightly OT!
Dflock - I just tried installing from the CD I just received. Minimal install worked fine, but xara refuses to start with Wine on Ubuntu 8.04... Did you use the downloaded install file, or did you install from CD?
I'm on the verge of switching to a Mac and the one thing that has me chained to Windows is Xara Xtreme. If there was a Mac version, I'd be in heaven. The thought of using BootCamp or some other software program in order to have Xtreme run doesn't sit well with me. It defeats the whole reason for making the switch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles Moir
Recently, I even downloaded the trial version of Illustrator CS3 to see what it was like, and it just gave me a headache. Simple things - like their way of editing a transparancy effect is nuts. And the price is even nuttier.
Mac's are advertised as easy to use, fun, and "it just works." Xara Xtreme is like the perfect Mac program yet only available for the PC.
It's not just "a Mac version" - it's millions of possible new Xara Xtreme users. It's worth finishing. Windows version is good for now.
The transparency in Illustrator isn't "simple", because you can create way more complex stuff using it, than what you can (simply/easily) accomplish in Xara. However, once you get familiar with the masking concept, you'll probably find it as intuitive, or even more easy to work with than Xara (I did).Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Hahn
The price is big, because the people who use it do big jobs, where the stakes are bigger, which demands big investments but also do big pay-offs. Xara is a hobbyist tool, so for small jobs, you use smaller tools (yes, I know I get flamed by this constantly, but someone has to be the voice of reason... err, I mean the voice of the non-fanboy around here). ;)
Also, you can get the entire CS3 suite for peanuts if you're a student, and for just a peanut or two more, you can get a CS3 student license approved for commercial work (and again, sorry, but if the job you are doing won't cover a full CS3 license, it either won't require it so Xara will be fine, or you got a bad business deal). :p
[Countdown when this thread is going down the crapper... 10... 9... 8... 7...] ;)
I will NOT be going vista [aka 'windows millenium 2']
so either mac or linux - I am coming round to mac - so I would like to see this developed too.
Eobet - I agree with your comments on illustrator, however :
there is no such thing as a 'hobbyist' or a 'professional' tool - only hobbyists and professionals - both at liberty to use what they choose - a true professional could draw on a wall with a burnt stick... if that was the effect they needed...;)
Well, I'm not really a professional, but you have summed up my drawing ability.. ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by handrawn
LOL
:D
a lot of different definitions of a professional - to me its someone who produces to spec taking on board changes and on time - no more no less, whether they can draw or not - heck they could even sub-contract it :eek: [and notice I did NOT mention being paid - that is not necessary in my definition ;)]
Those who are thinking of switching to Mac should not let the fact that there is not a Mac native Xara stop them. Parallels and VMware Fusion are excellent virtual machines. I have been running Xtreme on a low end Mac Mini for a year and a half with excellent results. The only penalty is adding 15 seconds or so to the time it takes to launch Xtreme, which not a lot to pay in the over all scheme of things. The cost for a VM is not high, $80 and you can find deals for around $50, so I say go for it.
adios
sunland
I don't want to get into another Illustrator vs. Xara vs. hobby tool vs. pro tool vs. Mac vs. Windows Vista, but... I have used Corel Draw since v. 3 and it has always been almost as intuitive as Xara. I work in the graphical business (freelance and newspaper graphics) and have to use Illustrator from time to time. I guess it is a question of learning curve as it is with everything else, but even Photoshop is 100 times easier to learn than Illustrator... I've really tried to learn how to use Illustrator but it usually drives me bonkers: the selection tools are very non-intuitive, and fills and transparencies are over complicated too. I find myself doing most stuff (about 99 %) in xara and now I mean professional things like newspaper graphics (charts, graphs, tables, maps, illustrations and about everything else). The only things I have to use Illustrator to is editing material that is received as PDF.
When it comes to Windows Vista, it also drives me crazy... I don't really see this as a finished product yet. With our newspaper system and network there has been nothing but pain with the few Vista machines we have tested so far. The only Vista version is of course the most expensive Ultimate - Hell, we need an operating system that is simply an OS that runs the application we need. not the applications that are forced on us! And I would personally switch anytime to a Mac when my XP workhorse's days are over, so to Charles & Co, please consider making a Mac version soon. I'll have to take a closer look on Parallels (which many have suggested).
I agree with what you're saying. But from Xara's side of things, that is only catering to Windows users who switched to a Mac, or someone who uses both a Mac and PC and for those programs not available for Mac. There are many Mac users who don't use Windows, so it only makes sense that Xara and the powers that be get a Mac version of Xtreme finished. There could of been a lot of Mac usesers who stumble across Xara Xtreme, only to find out it's only for PC, then it's a "well, forget that then."Quote:
Originally Posted by sunland
I agree Bob, I would love to see a Native Mac version and I do not quite understand why they are not moving forward on this a little faster.
I started computing on main frames, on to cpm, dos and then windows machines and I might still be on windows if my day job, database development, had not landed me jobs with companies that were using Mac computers. Eventually when it came time to buy a new home computer I went with a Mac. For a few months I had two computers Mac and PC running with a KVM switch on one monitor and keyboard, etc. Xara on the PC and everything else on the Mac. When the VM's matured I bought one and was very pleased with the results, Xara ran faster on the VM than my Pentium PC. But I am not the CEO of Xara so it is up to them to make their own decisions. The Mac version is mentioned from time to time, but I honestly do not sense much enthusiasm or energy in that direction. That is too bad as I believe it would be a great thing and do a lot to elevate Xara against the "industry standards."
adios
sunland
Yes, Magix is missing a real trick with this - to get Xtremes profile raised in an environment awash with creatives. Just realeasing it into the Mac environment will get it plenty of free publicity.
Paul
VM Fusion works fine, although I would rather have a native mac version.
Inkscape, I try it every time a new version is released, but display/screen drawing performance on both mac and windows versions are very disappointing.
I use Illustrator for mostly print work, xara for web design graphics.
Please finish the mac version, it is the graphic designers OS, xara belongs their.
I thougt: "Maybe I'm using this Illustrator software the wrond way on my mac because... it can't be as complecated as it seems to do simple things" ... turns out it DOES!
A 8 week course on illustrator showed me the illustrator is good for doing work in a CMYK enviroment, far better then xara. But when it come to being fast and easy, it's total crap.
So why isn't xara moved to mac yet. I don't understand! So please let me put my Winhose by the garbage en use my mac for xara too!
I've only just caught up with this thread, but oh yes! yes! yes! please let there be a native mac version. I would switch to macs in a minute.Quote:
Originally Posted by discotv
I am really really over Windows :)
For what it's worth. I have recently switched to a mac with Illustrator. I needed a new computer, I always wanted to try a mac, and I figured that since most of my work goes to sites like iStockphoto and their requirements are ai 8 compatible eps file, and I need to have a copy of ai anyway to check the work, what the heck. Well, it SUCKS! It has been about two months of steadily creating illustrations in Illustrator with the hope that I could beat the learning curve but I still don't like it. The workflow is killing me. All of that tedious work with those tiny little nodes, selecting objects, the silly steps to create a transparency or drop shadows...AAAAAAH I am pulling my hair out, and I don't have much anyway. For a program that is all about "the line", it sure has a dumb way of making you work with them.
Please Xara, give us a mac version. Maybe Adobe has a stranglehold but they have basically no competition on the mac side. Inkscape? Nah. It is free but that is all it has going for it. If Xara jumped on board I am sure it would sell like crazy. PLEEEEASE!!!!
I do love my new imac BTW. :)
I just thought I'd add a little here.
I switched to Mac almost 2 years ago buying a MacBook Pro. The only thing I missed from the Windows side was Xara so I've been running that in Parallels pretty much since Parallels came out.
It works very very well and is fast and useable. I have 3gig of RAM (max for my model) and often I'm using a 19 inch external monitor. I give 1gig of RAM to Windows XP. I have 9 spaces open and one of them is filled with a full screen Windows XP running Xara full screen.
I can handle pretty large drawings and I've usually got a ton of other things open on the Mac side while running Xara. The other advantage (!) of this set up is I can run all versions of Internet Explorer from 4 up on the Parallels machine to see just how broken that damn browser is.
Sure a native Mac app that used the GPU acceleration would be super but I have to say that comparing Pixelmator on the Mac (which does use GPU acceleration) with Xara on the PC Virtual Machine, its hard to say that Xara is slower (comparing photo operations). Xara is just very well optimized code and the latest version of Parallels is pretty good.
The biggest downside is the boot time of XP but once its up, its really very convenient.
and to continue topic....
I found one very promising vector software for MAC... Vector Designer named
http://www.tweakersoft.com/vectordesigner/
It has transperancyes, CMYK, shadows, effects etc and working really fast
etc etc
I'm in the same boat. The ONLY application that has kept me on a PC is Xara. I'm looking into VMware though. If I could find someone local who could run Xara on a virtual machine on a Mac, and it was tolerable, it might make me switch.
I'd prefer not to sound out-of-tune in this thread, but wonder why anybody mentioned the new Illustrator CS4 ?!?
For what I know its brand new gradient editor is a joy to use (WITH built-in transparency finally) and Adobe did a good job improving the workflow.
I still think Xara is better for price-performance balance, but for the Mac OS users out there...