Xara LX Drawing from Gary's July Tutorial

**Soquili** · 10 July 2006, 12:47 AM

I installed Xara Xtreme LX 0.5 on a machine running Debian GNU/Linux 3.1r2 today. To test it out I decided to see how much of Gary Priester's July Tutorial "A Touch of Glass" could be accomplished in this pre-release version of the software.

I had some problems with inner bevels on Text, and received an error when I attemped to convert the Contoured text to editable objects.

All in all I'm happy with the progress the Developers have made.

**abligh** · 10 July 2006, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by Soquili

I installed Xara Xtreme LX 0.5 on a machine running Debian GNU/Linux 3.1r2 today. To test it out I decided to see how much of Gary Priester's July Tutorial "A Touch of Glass" could be accomplished in this pre-release version of the software.

I had some problems with inner bevels on Text, and received an error when I attemped to convert the Contoured text to editable objects.

All in all I'm happy with the progress the Developers have made.

You might want to try the latest unstable version re both of those. We fixed a bug in how text relates to compound objects.

Alex

**Soquili** · 10 July 2006, 11:38 AM

Thanks Alex. I will try the unstable version this evening when I get home.

Edit: Removed the recommended release 2711 and installed the newest on the download site 1426. Everything worked wonderfully.

Some workarounds were required due to some features are still to be added to the program. The colour editor is still the HSV only without the ability to specify values for the colours. I used the grid instead of guide lines (not sure if they are working because the page rulers are still being worked on).

Even with some features and tools to be added, Xara LX works wonders compared to The Gimp, Sodopodi, and Inkscape IMHO.

Gary, excellent tutorial in all versions of Xara

http://www.xaraxone.com is Gary Priester's wonderful world of Xara tutorials, tips & tricks, and Featured Artists. If you haven't checked it out, you are missing a lot.

**Soquili** · 11 July 2006, 01:51 AM

Bump this thread so anyone interested knows it has been updated with a completed tutorial image.

I highly recommend using the "unstable" download for anyone wanting to try Xara LX.

**abligh** · 11 July 2006, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by Soquili

The colour editor is still the HSV only without the ability to specify values for the colours.

It shouldn't be. The colour editor in the current version (not the stable 0.5 version) should be fully featured did you remember to press the "advanced" button? It's also resizeable (unlike on Windows).

Originally Posted by Soquili

I used the grid instead of guide lines (not sure if they are working because the page rulers are still being worked on).

Guidelines /should/ work. I can drag them around, drag new ones off the rulers, double click on the rulers to create them, and insert them using the layer gallery, so I'm reasonably happy with them :-)

Alex

**Soquili** · 11 July 2006, 02:51 PM

Thanks again Alex. I was a bit rushed last night to redo the drawing in the build 1426 version. I overlooked some of the added features made since the 1175 build.

I also notice this morning there is a build 1427 available for download. I look forward to checking it out this evening and taking time to see all the new features to play with.

**fjgaude** · 13 July 2006, 06:23 PM

Thanks to Bill and Alex for all the fine work you and others are doing on Xara LX. After using it for real work for two or three months now I must say the work flow is better than any other program I've used in the last 18 years, and that includes CorelDraw, Illustrator, Freehand, Photoshop, InDesign, Paint Shop Pro, Fontograher, and FontLab.

Seems the original designers understood what layout folks need to speed their work. Most other programs don't.

frank
http://yantrayoga.typepad.com/noname/

**jamesmc** · 13 July 2006, 06:31 PM

Looking good Bill !

The Mac folks will want to call Xara their own. I would humbly submit that Mac users solicit their Mac Users Groups online and search for Mac OS programmers to get things rolling.

**fjgaude** · 13 July 2006, 06:41 PM

Wonder why you would say that, James? Xara is a Windows program being converted into Linux and Mac. Adobe gets 60% of its business, according to the CEO, from Windows users.

Linux Fedro Core calls Xara its own. <smile>

frank

**Soquili** · 14 July 2006, 12:02 AM

Hi Frank and James,

The developers appear to be working around the clock as the "unstable" build number is incrementing very quickly. As of just a few seconds ago the current newest build in 1440.

Frank, Alex is one of the major players in the development of Xara LX and all of them are doing a wonderul job. Me, I'm just a Xara addict

and love working with their vector program in any operating system.

If I could afford a Mac, I would be trying to get more people to help development on that OS as well.