"Drawing" with Xara

[tomos]

I have a copy Xara (X1) but dont have installed.

was trying to find out some info about it first

I own and use Freehand 9 which is a great programme but apparently theres problems with exporting to PDF (with fonts and colour of bitmap images) and also problems with open type fonts.
(Also problems with insecure future )

So, I'm looking at Xara.
I would be looking at upgrading to Pro but I presume the basic tools are the same across the range.

In the Freehand forum at Adobe I came across a thread http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforu...&keyword1=xara about Xara where someone name JETLT made the following post (it's about halfway down the page)

Xara wants its Shape Editor Tool to be the primary drawing tool. It works much like the historic "bendomatic" technique in FH (something I highly favor). But that method is just that--a wonderful method to have available. It is not the most expedient way to draw all of the time. Experienced users of Bezier-based drawing programs want to be able to fluidly place corner/curve points--with predictable results--as they draw. Xara's Shape Editor Tool lets you use keyboard shortcuts to specify whether the next segment you place will be straight or curved; but whatever criteria it uses to position the extended curve handles seems unsophisticated and utterly arbitrary relative to the path being drawn. So essentially, yes, you can cause the handles to be extended when you place the point, but you still have to go back and then edit them before proceeding on to the next segment. This is not efficient to any proficient user of AI or FH.

A Pen Tool is provided. But the program's own documentation all but denegrates this tool, saying somthing akin to "for users who want to torture themselves." The Pen works by conventional click and clickDrag as one would expect. But by all appearances, this tool is considered a mere "me, too" afterthought. Using Xara's preferred Shape Editor Tool, you can do all the momentary overrides to edit the pre-existng segments of the current path and then resume drawing the path from where you leave off. But not so with the Pen.

"The Pen works by conventional click and clickDrag as one would expect. But by all appearances, this tool is considered a mere "me, too" afterthought."
He's not very clear why just an afterthought & why it's not so good ..

unfortunately in spite of loads of "demos" at the xara website I couldnt find any showing the pen tool in sight (they may be there but aren't adverstised!)

I did see an unnamed tool - looked like a pencil to me - after drawing a freehand line it turns into a vector line with points.

I guess I'm looking for some feedback from Xara users, maybe especially people who could further compare its drawing/pen functionality with the bezier pen in FreeHand or Illustrator.

thanks in advance,
tom

.. maybe I should see can I download a manual from Xara ..
EDIT: couldnt find any manual.