Charles, the final (?) does not work as advertised...

[Wolfgang]

Hi,

Charles Moir wrote in another thread:
--- snip ---
Wolfgang, you'll be glad to know that pdf import is in development and we hope to ship it with Pro, but that current Betas do not have this filter. (My internal version does and loads that file fine). Secondly it does load that eps file as well, as demonstrated earlier (although not by drag and drop - we can look at that).

And yes we do regard file interchange a priority and are doing what we can - and the answer to your question is yes, we will load both eps and pdf files.
--- snap ---

I just downloaded the supposedly final of XXPro and installed it.
Much to my dismay, it does not load PDFs nor EPS. Not even the EPS that were saved with Xara itself.

Just for fun I tried to load some PSDs and got errors on *all* of them. Mostly some problems with text.

What's now with PDF and EPS (import) ??
Is this the final and if yes, why doesn't it work ??

Wolfgang

[AntonyF]

In terms of PDF, Charles means "ship" literally. From the what's new page:

"http://www.xara.com/img/1px.gifXara Xtreme Pro supports PDF import and loads PDF files as true editable vector graphics and text (note, in common with most PDF importers it won't open PDF documents that are encrypted or include embedded subset fonts). Important Note: this feature will only be enabled in the shipping CD version, it is not included in the current download."

In terms of the PSD files, could you attach them?

EPS files Charles can answer as I don't know on that one.

[Charles Moir]

Yes Antony is right. We've tried to make it as clear as we can - like all over the website, that the PDF import feature will come with the CD version. So apologies for the delay but we couldn't quite get it in the download version.

As for EPS, remember EPS is a renderable format not ever intended for import or editing, so we've never been able to open our own EPS and never will.

We want to know about the PSD errors - no beta tester has ever reported a problem before, and it's been used a lot, and we're not aware of any issues.

[Wolfgang]

Thanks for clearing that up. I did not take "shipping" literally and did expect it in the "final", even if only downloadable.
However, since this (PDF & EPS import) ist the only killer feature for me, I will hold my order until it is confirmed working.

As for EPS, remember EPS is a renderable format not ever intended for import or editing, so we've never been able to open our own EPS and never will.

If I'm lucky, my clients give me their logos and stuff as .eps or .ai
If I'm not lucky, I get a blurry .jpg, but that's another story.
Now I need CorelDraw installed to open them and then drag'n'drop them to Xara. Xtreme very rarely opens these files natively.
All I want is, that I could de-install CorelDraw and open every logo etc. that I get directly in Xtreme(Pro).
If I made something myself in X, I will usually have the original files if I need to make changes.
But if I only get somebody else's files, I need to be able to open them as easy as possible.

Wolfgang

[zee]

The PDF/EPS import is also the feature that will get me to buy Xara Pro. Is there some technical reason that it can't be included in Trial version?

[Odat]

The PDF/EPS import is also the feature that will get me to buy Xara Pro. Is there some technical reason that it can't be included in Trial version?

Some possibilities (all pure conjecture)

1. Their filter architecture isn't complicated enough to allow a "demo" filter, so if the downloaded trial version included the filter, anyone that already owned Xtreme could just plunk the filter files from the Pro demo into their Xtreme installation.
2. Some sort of legal ramifications, like perhaps they licensed the code from someone and the terms restrict how they can provide the code
3. The code isn't up to their quality standards yet and they're taking a bit more time to make it more robust.
4. They're mean and want to keep us drooling for more.

[Charles Moir]

Is there some technical reason that it can't be included in Trial version?

It's still being worked on still. PDF import is difficult - but be aware there will be some files, maybe many files that it will not import Obviously things like encrypted documents won't load. But also documents that use font subsetting can't be opened either - since all text is rendered using a custom-built font that isn't a real font. PDFs with soft masks are a problem. These are issues that all PDF readers have - but ours will be at least as good as anyone's. It already opens most common PDF vector drawing files.

So if PDF import is important to you, then yes I'd recommend waiting until you can try it. We do hope to provide a test PDF importer that you can try before you buy. But right now I can't say when that might be. As soon as we possibly can.

[Soquili]

My guess is that it isn't part of the download so the file size allows for a reasonable download time. Just like the fills and clip art.

[ivan louette]

Charles,

For those who need open or import eps files or equivalent it could be interesting to optimise the import of pdf files created by GhostScript/Ghostview.

kindly,
ivan