An experiment for Xara users

Hey guys this file is 14000 pixels long
I have applied a round soft bevel
I try to convert to bitmap png transparent at 40 dpi
however everytime when it finishes the bevel becomes fragmented
what is going on with Xara? it has had this problem with bevel from day 1
is there anyway around this, i tried converting to shapes before applying the bevel, same thing
it appears the bevel tool works great on export as long as you are not exporting anything large
this happen with tiffs also

If you don't reproduce what I am talking about please post
If you do, then Xara please fix the issues
you have with the software.

Windows screen resolution is 96dpi and Apple is 72dpi. What is the point of creating something that is half screen resolution? Explain it to me.

It's not even about resolution Gary, Xara has a problem with Exporting bevels of any resolution, usually like this, when you try to export at 96 dpi or above, Xara will crash
the reason I export to 40dpi, is that I already have my exact size I want for the graphic, i sometimes like to import a transparent png into artrage for airbrushing
to give it a little pop, and even at 8gb quad core intel I5, at 96 dpi, artrage does not run as smooth, because I am used to printing on large format roland printers
the 40 dpi, prints beautiful at full scale, as long as you have no need to enlarge it from there, probably a bit wordy, sorry.

And I hate to keep riding the horse here, but it is now 2011, and Xara still cannot export beyond 16300 pixels in tiff format??
I realize photoshop is a bitmap drawing program, and Xara is light years ahead, but photoshop is beyond 300,000 pixels or more with latest version
so why can't Xara overcome the export size limitation?

Hello jnerf,

I saved out as a PNG using several resolutions with your file as is. No problem here as regards crashing. The bevel wasn't produced on the entire bevel, though. No idea why other than perhaps we can add that to a fix-it list.

Instead of using the original size (because the bevel was not produced properly across the entire 14000+ length), I reduced the size of the graphic to 1/3 the length and exported at 300 ppi. This produces a file of roughly equal length--and did so properly. It should place fine in Artrage and sizing it a bit will not / should not hurt the print. I use to do this in PhotoShop all the time for signage. I have not used Artrage, though.

I uploaded the PNG and you are welcome to it. I'll leave it up for a day or two. It is a 2 meg+ PNG file. I would right-click and save it rather than view it.

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/temp/splasho.png

Take care, Mike

Can I ask why must it be a bitmap that you want to export to and why are you using pixels. I haven't done many banners but I have done a few and as Mike has stated above it is all down to resolution as you are working in a vector programme your banner can be scaled. If you set up your artboard to a scale and sorry I have not looked at your bevelled banner and if you then import any bitmaps these have to be in a res. which will scale up to your banner length. What I mean about that for banners & signage I wouldn't go below about 100 dpi although others may say you can go lower than that and if your import bitmap had the resolution of 600 dpi then you could scale up your final PDF by 6 times at the printer. In the "Purge" thread you stated that you imported your vector lettering in I think Artrage and assemble your banner there. The great thing about a vector programme is that vector shapes are not res. dependant so text and shapes will scale up without any hint of the "jaggies" that you would get in a bitmap based programme like PS & Artrage. That's why so many signage printers use Illustrator as their main programme as it is a vector programme. Please do a search on the net or here about scaling, scaling PDF's or signage/banners as there has been many tips which will save you time and therefore money.

I hate illustrator for designing, way too long a process and as far as designing in vector xara rules hands down
it's my favorite and i will never switch!
if illustrator works for you then great, but for me and my business Xara keeps up with speed of my design process
I don't have to wait for things to update, they happen almost immediately.
it keeps up with my creativity on the fly!

Xara Rules!!

thanks mike but both of you are confused on my issue
I said I occassionally import in such as the splash for like an accent graphic
then i will go back to xara and add my vector lettering and such, i by no means design signs in artrage
i only use it for added effects like airbrushing, because with one click you can turn a png into a frisket
that you can use over the graphic you import in, and airbrush over the frisket, without stepping out of the boundaries.
and as far as using illustrator for bevels, yes it's vector, but the results are not good.
there is nothing that even comes close to the quality of the bevels in Xara.

Hi Jnerf,

Read this thread:
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...ht=#post209027

i made this design to print in a banner of 20 feet by four feet.

It required to be exported as a 60 inch by 12 inch (aprox.)
at 300 dpi in tiff file format. (150 MB)

That tiff image was downsampled to 72 dpi
and scaled to 20 feet by 49.5 inches.

Although, I do not have a photo, some years ago
I created a banner with the dimensions of a two story
building using the same method.

Well the "challenge" was: "Xara has a problem with Exporting bevels of any resolution, usually like this, when you try to export at 96 dpi or above, Xara will crash..."

I submit that with the 300 dpi version I produced your statement is not entirely accurate. As I mentioned, it did produce an error on the bevel when doing any resolution over the full 14,000+ pixel dimension of the original. And this should be fixed in XDP.

If the issue is, well, working, then there are methods such as what I did that allows one to do so. This doesn't mean that Xara shouldn't attend to this bug, just that this limitation shouldn't affect workflow.

Take care, Mike

Hey Mike, i do appreciate the advice on the bevels as a work around
because that seems to work well, until Xara irons out the issue.

thanks again
Jeff

You're welcome, Jeff.

XDP should allow all effects to be exported it allows one to create.

I use to assemble large signage using both PhotoShop (1.4 gig files) and CorelDraw. I wish I had used XDP even with the few (very few) quibbles I have found. Just for fun I opened and manipulated a couple of the big PS files like I would do in CD. XDP was far faster. Ah well, live and learn.

Take care, Mike