Any news about next release ?

[Renaud]

Klaus : i agree with you, XX is the best "pure" vector app for me. It lacks some usefull tools and features and nead to evolve. But the workflow and the UI are good. RealDraw is fantastic, but as you said there is lot of **very important** vector capabilities missing (import/export, path editing, beter fill/line control, etc.) so i can't see it as a true replacement for XX, but as a complementary tool. But it cost only $49, very good value for the price.

jon : silence as power ? Yes, maybe it's true when it's abour war, but you are right : in software and customer support areas silence is the worst thing i can think to.

Risto : for anti-aliasing in RD look at the menu Object/Anti-Alias ;-) As you said, Xara X (unlike RD) has most major tools we need for vectors, and i dont want it to become another Illustrator ! But we need some bug fixes, a beter brush implementation, ability to define and reuse styles, to get some path modifiers, and maybe a few other things. I also have to say that i don't want XX to become more web oriented : when it comes to slicing or rollover making i already have the tools, all i want is improvement of design and drawing features. And most of all we need to know that Xara is listening to us and XX alive... all i get is marketing mails from kate, telling me about web gadgets and the last photo gallery. But i don't want that ! I want to ear something about the future of Xara X !

[RAMWolff44]

very well said!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Risto, you know all we want is something from Xara Ltd. saying one way or the other that XaraX is alive or dead, that's it. Well and maybe a bug fix and an upgrade and a little more this and a little bit of that, then we do the hokey pokey and all fall down laughing! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Where am I?? I must be channeling again! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

I already said I wasn't giving up on XaraX untill the fat man sings and hopfully he won't, 'cause it won't be pretty anyway! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a goodnight!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Richard [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

PS: Just got Namo Webeditor 5 today in the mail.... lots to learn! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

---Wolff On The Prowl---

[RTK]

... I meant how do you make the AA work properly... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I does only seem to do an ok job at 100$ zoom. Any zoom above 100%... what is that? Exporting a large bitmap with curved edges... oy!

I'm still going to buy RD3 when it comes out - at $49 it is a steal.

Risto

risto@ristoklint.com

Visit my web site!

[This message was edited by Risto Klint on November 28, 2002 at 05:47.]

[Renaud]

Path are drawn as vectors, but images are in fact pure bitmaps when rendered on screen, and are rendered Ã* 100% scale only, as far as i know... so zooming give some AA artifacts. But if you export using the megarender two to ten times bigger, everything is resampled and prety well antialiased.

[randyrives]

Has anybody used the new version of Expression 3? I have been using it, or more like learning it for the past few weeks. I like it. Gradients are not as easy to use, and or limited compared to Xara, but overall I like it.

Just wonder if anyone else uses this app and what their opinions are of it.

[davezub]

Renaud

The silence quote was posted by me not Jon, and it was in reference to keeping silent about new versions. You know the whole competitive edge thing.

I agree there should be no silence in support. However, there is a line between spending time on "old bugs" and developing a new program. I agree that Xara's development cycles are very long for a specific product. Personally I think they lack a true specific focus - too many apps to support. It also boggles my mind why Kate/others from Xara don't keep us up to date on what is going on. Very strange.

All in all, Xara X is a great product that I will continue to use and support - UNTIL SOMETHING ELSE CAN BUMP IT OFF MY HARD DRIVE! So far IMHO Xara has been lucky that no one else has filled the void.

Dave Zubrowski

Xara FAQ

[RAMWolff44]

downloaded the trail, wow, what a mess!! Good ideas but my god not very intuitive, IMHO!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

One thing that really bothered me about the setup was that the fills colors were all the oposite of what was selected on the color wheel. So there must be an option pre selected that I don't know how to change or some is amiss in the code. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

The fills don't stay filled. If I change the line width then the filled object becomes unfilled when the line width is changed. Strange.

I couldn't find any sort of bevel or contour type tool!!

and for $149.00 it aint' worth the price. XaraX IS better than this program!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Not meaning to bash the company, as I said the ideas on the site of what it's capable of doing sounds really KOOL!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] but in needs more of an intuitiveness to it and that issue with the color wheel is just plain strange.

I tried using all the color modes but still had the same effect. So if I wanted something filled with a bump mapped texture, no problem, but if I wanted it, say violet, I got orange and so on. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

So I uninstalled the silly thing!! Too bad!!

Richard [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

---Wolff On The Prowl---

[randyrives]

I found it very easy to pick up. Of course I remember doing the same thing that you did with the Xara demo. I just couldn't do anything with it. But I reinstalled the Demo, played with the tutorials and it all started to click.

Xara is a esay program also, though I know some who would disagree.

So don't dismiss Expression so quickly. The fills stay and are easy to change. Just click the fill box which shows a thumbnail of how the fill will work.

It takes time to learn a different way of doing things.

[RAMWolff44]

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

So tell me, what's with the color fills?? As I said, I used all the color palettes provided and still seemed to apply everything half ass backwards. I'm not 'getting' that way of things.

Say I want to use that same bumpmap fill, OK that applies just fine (unless I change the line width and then the fill seems to go away, but maybe not, just need do some of those tutorials) then I want to change the color, that's when it gets strange. Say I'm useing a RGB color palette and I use the sliders to create a forest green and in the color box it's forest green, then I take the color dropper and drag the new color and drop it onto the image, BAM!! I get violet!! Ummm, that's not supposed to happen!!

So, can you please, if you can, tell me why that's happening?? I mean, honestly, that's just plain wrong!!

BTW, I hope you and everyone at TG's had a really nice celebration, if you celebrate Thanksgiving, I still very full and glad to be home!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Richard [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

---Wolff On The Prowl---

[randyrives]

I was able to duplicate what I think you did, and it is a little crazy. If you have a object with a bitmap or gradient fill, and you use the dropper to change the fill of another object (this on has a plain color fill, lets say blue) the fill type doesn't change unless you deselect the object or change the fill type on the fill tool bar.

That is why when you changed the line size it reverted back to the blue fill. This does look like a bug. The workaround of course is to delselect the object after using the dropper or changing the fill type.

Good catch, I am working on a review for Expression 3 and need to know all of its quirks.