Xara Accuracy

[Sheff]

Is there anyway to get an extra decimal point out of Xara?

If I want to make an object that is 3.875 or rather 3 and 7/8th of an inch, Xara rounds the figure up to 3.88.

This is annoying. I need more accuracy. All I can do is modify the subdivions of the ruler and drag to guidelines.

Is there some setting or trick to doing this?

Sheffield Abella
sheff@sheff.com
www.sheff.com

[Sheff]

Is there anyway to get an extra decimal point out of Xara?

If I want to make an object that is 3.875 or rather 3 and 7/8th of an inch, Xara rounds the figure up to 3.88.

This is annoying. I need more accuracy. All I can do is modify the subdivions of the ruler and drag to guidelines.

Is there some setting or trick to doing this?

Sheffield Abella
sheff@sheff.com
www.sheff.com

[Egg Bramhill]

I don't think theres a way of of adjusting the size display above 2 decimal points in Xara.
HOWEVER I believe the easiest way to get accurate measuremnts is via the grid option. If you set your major grid spacings to 1 inch and the sub spacings to 8 (for working in 1/8th of an inch units) and snap to grid, the size of the shape will be 3 and 7/8 inches exactly and NOT the 3.88 inches displayed on the status bar. It's just that Xara only displays to 2 decimal places.
At least thats what appears to happen.

I tried an experiment. Set the grid to 1 inch and 64 minor spacings.
Draw 2 rectangles exactly the same, one above the other, 1 inch wide.
Set the reference point to the top left corner.
Now select the top rectangle and set the width to 0.98 inch in the status bar.
Now select the bottom rectangle and set the width to 0.984375 in the status bar (63/64ths of an inch)
Zoom into the right hand end and you will see a difference in length, even tho the status bar shows both rectangles as 0.98 wide.
Egg

[This message was edited by Egg Bramhill on August 24, 2001 at 19:20.]

[Sean Sedwards]

Xara actually uses the full precision of numbers entered on the InfoBar (to the limit of its 32 bits) but only displays 2 dp. You can demonstrate this by entering 3 dp then enlarging the object by 1000%.

Regards - Sean

[RUSS-USSR]

I like Xara for excellent transparency, high speed, … but some tools…
When I move selection bounds handle for to stretch object, opposite side of the object move this direction too. Also I don`t like alignment. It doesn`t align to any special side of special object but move all objects to any center point. I think it`s crazy. OK it`s not bugs – it`s features. But …

[Klaus Nordby]

Yes, this "rounding off" and cutting off decimals is annoying. I sometimes have to circumvent this by doing work 10 times numerically larger than it's intended to be. Working massively oversized is is also very important when slicing and intersecting small objects - otherwise, inaccuracies will result.

But XX's slicing and intersecting, etc., is unsatisfying anyway: it produces a heap of nodes which should really be avoided, like getting two nodes exactly on top of each other - thus making them invisible!!! And since XX does NOT, most infuriatingly, have a node counter - like CDRW has - these odd nodes can create major headaches.

I've had to take objects into CDRW to find out how maney nodes there really are, and to remove such troublesome double nodes! God, that is humilitating! I do not, in such moments, think very highly of the Xara programmers. Give us node counting and other ways of coping with node problems, please!!!

This is another thing I've written to Xara about for year, but NOTHING happens to improving such basic, bread-and-butter vector functions - they're too busy making useless and infuriating NavBars and Image Slicing, I bet.


K

PS: Gary, I want my "curmudgeon" title back!

[Clements]

I thoroughly concur about the "bad side" of alignment and node selection and node editing.

Sometimes you have to bite your lip and be prepared to spend some (or a lot) of time especially when importing vectors or breaking apart contoured objects.

The method of tabbing to a node and pressing Delete to see the result is a common practice; if it fails press ESC and Tab to the next node and try again. YUK!

[Sean Sedwards]

A node count would be very easy to implement and the simplistic slicing algorithm should have been replaced long ago (it's all but unusable on small, intricate shapes). The problem is, unlike Navbar tools, say, such improvements won't generate sales. If 100 people ask for 100 easy-to-implement improvements, chances are that none of them will be included. Our best strategy is to agree which minor improvements we want most and then all vote for them.

The alignment tool is another example, although it's only the "centrally" option that's wrong. The other methods align to the top-, left-, right- and bottommost object of the group. I'd like 'centrally' to align to the front- or rearmost object.

Regards - Sean

[amoore]

If Xara had 'align to target object' instead of 'align to extreme', all the alignments would work better.

Then Sean could select the front or rearmost object as the target when he's centering. And I wouldn't have to waste time jockeying things back into place after an align or manually entering the X coordinate on object after object.

Align to target is one of the two things I badly need in Xara. The other is the calculation of measurements from the upper left instead of the lower left.

[Klaus Nordby]

Another align function that is BADLY needed is "align to baseline" for type. Now, it is IPMOSSIBLE to properly line up separate elements of type! It's one more reason why I have moved virtually all my web page work away from XX and over to Photoshop 6.


K