Create Vector Brushes: Now or Future ?

[Kman]

Hi. I have some questions on creating vector brushes.

I am specifiying vector brushes and not those made of
bitmap fills (tile filled).

In Xara Xtreme now, do you know of the means whereby
you could create a vector brush similar to any of those shown
in the image below?

And if this capability is not in Xtreme, do you think it will be
included in a future release? Or, is even such an option
important/desirable to you?

I look forward to your reply so that perhaps I can learn something
I don't already know, and get a sense of the general desires of
Xara folks out there.

Thank you.

Ken

[jamesmc]

I guess I would have to ask why first? Not sure I understand the need to make vector brushes look like irregular patterns. For node editing maybe?

Vectors are path oriented, so they move in the direction of a path. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of Xara will answer. Not sure I would want a vector brush that has dozen of paths with perhaps hundreds of nodes.

Since Xara can zoom down to like 25000X you can make extremely complicated shapes. Some people are used to making hair with bitmap brushes because they know that hair is multi-textured.

The example below was made from one shape, mermaid hair if you will. I did this with minimal effort. More time spent with shadows, transparency and etc., one could make magnificent looking hair. Besides, I would rather the hair have defined edges, makes it much easier to mask.

I guess what I'm saying is that zoom is so powerful in Xara that you can put in almost infinite detail with shapes. I think this attribute would be much more powerful than a brush as you can edit each and every node of the shape, along with color, shading, transparency, feathering the vector shape, and etc.

[Kman]

Thanks, James, for replying. Yes, I was hoping for the
added ability (at some point) to create vector brushes
which could appear "erratic" or "irregular" ... to simulate
more natural media effects.

I suppose I chose a dud subject for this thread, given the
lack of responses. I also suppose Xara folks are satisfied with
the current line gallery and stroke shape options. Thanks for
the insight.

Ken

[Xhris]

Thanks, James, for replying. Yes, I was hoping for the
added ability (at some point) to create vector brushes
which could appear "erratic" or "irregular" ... to simulate
more natural media effects.

I suppose I chose a dud subject for this thread, given the
lack of responses. I also suppose Xara folks are satisfied with
the current line gallery and stroke shape options. Thanks for
the insight.

Ken

Actually, this kind of brush is possible in Xara, albeit with limitations (and you do have to use bitmaps). When I was going through my brush phase some time back, I tried to create brushes that can produce the brush strokes that you can make in MS Expression, but in the end I decided that it required more effort than was practical, and had too many inherrent limitations. But it is possible. I'd like to see this feature in a future Xara version. Essentially, I think MS Expression just maps an object (vector) group to a besier curve.

[Kman]

Hi, Xhris. Thanks for replying, too. I'm glad to hear that you
would like something like this as a feature in a future Xara
version.

Yes, I already knew that one could create something similar
by using bitmaps. And to get the end-result I wanted did
mean lots of cumbersome work and time, in using bitmaps.
That's why I wondered if a simpler solution was possible.

In Xtreme presently, the programmers have provided stroke shapes
that taper in or bulge out at various regions, and with rounded,
straight, and pointed ends. So, I wondered if they could provide
users with the ability to do something similar with multiple "sections",
(objects) as shown in the image above.

Thank you again.

Ken

[Albacore]

Hi Kman,
Very, very occasioally I have found the need to use brushes which have a very free flowing look and usually spend more time getting the brush right than using it in the drawing and if used frequently on the page it can slow down the redraw. To answer your question, yes would be the answer but it is only a few times a year that I would want to use vector brushes. What you have to remember that it is a vector app and not a substitute for PS or Expression where they use pseudo vector effects. The app which I think has the best set of brushes and can give a drawing real freehand look has to be AI with its set of brush libraries and it is one area of AI that it easily beats Xtreme and X1. But as i stated before the number of times that I would want to use vector brushes is very small I would rather have a PDF import than brushes where I can make do and mend at the moment.

[outofspacero]

I am one for a pdf import feature for the future.

It kills me to see that a program like serif draw has that ability and yet they have such a horrible comunity, and virtually no tutorials.

I mean i went to their forum asking why there wasn't any trials for serif draw 8
and i got hammered by draw enthusiast

and i wasn't the only case. I just read some post where someone was complaining about some feature not working as it should and some of them behaved like it's a sin that that person couldn't figure out how to do it.

So please, make future versions of xara xtreme be more powefull than draw!!! at least by adding 2 features: vector natural media brushes, and pdf import and pdf 1.6 export so i can enable and disable pdf layers

Trully the best forum because of people like gary who gives us so many tutorials for free!!!