Question About Xtreme Pro

**Joseph Witchard** · 10 July 2007, 02:35 AM

I currently use PSP 9, and I am looking to upgrade. I like the idea of Adobe Photoshop, but $600+ is a lot of money, and if I can get a simliar program for the price of Xtreme Pro, I would take the opportunity.

Have I come to the right place?

**Soquili** · 10 July 2007, 03:20 AM

Hello Joseph,

Xtreme Pro is a Vector graphics application and would be more analogous to Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw.

PSP 9 is a raster (also known as bitmap) graphic application. Photoshop is also a raster application. Both have some very basic vector tools, but primarily the programs are for manipulating bitmapped images like photographs.

Xtreme Pro is a drawing application that creates vectors. Some bitmapped graphics effects are possible but not to the extent that PSP and PS can perform.

Xtreme Pro vectors can be used to do things that PSP and PS can do, but require a different approach to achieve the result.

If you want to learn vector graphics then Xtreme Pro is the most affordable and also the most intuitive to learn. IMHO.

**Egg Bramhill** · 10 July 2007, 04:19 AM

Hi and welcome Joseph,

One thing that Bill forgot to mention is that you can download the full version of Xtreme for a 1 month free trial.

**amoore** · 10 July 2007, 03:46 PM

Hi Joseph

You didn't say what you use PSP for.

If you're editing photos, then PSP or PS may be a better bet. XPE has photo editing tools for quick & easy fixes, but anything more than that requires additional tools.

If you're, say, making screen captures of software and replacing text in them, you have to use something like PSP. PS is overkill, and it may not allow you to match the text anyway.

If you're doing just about anything else -- including web graphics, which are often done in raster apps -- Xtreme may very well do exactly what you need. Plus, it's much faster, more intuitive and often requires fewer steps. You will have to adjust your thinking, but with Xtreme that can happen fairly quickly. (Besides, working with Xtreme is such a pleasure you may find it hard to go back to what you were doing before.

)

**jamesmc** · 10 July 2007, 06:12 PM

Buy Xtreme and then use PSP as your bitmap editor which can be linked to Xtreme in options. Just double click the bitmap object in Xtreme and PSP pops up.

Best of both words. I do it with Xtreme, PSP 9 and PSP XI.

**Joseph Witchard** · 10 July 2007, 08:15 PM

This will probably sound stupid, but what's the difference in vector and raster? =p

I'm mainly looking for something to make web graphics with, but beyond the scope of Xara Webstyle. Also, I want a program that can make nice blend images.

**jamesmc** · 10 July 2007, 08:42 PM

Basically bitmaps are what Paint Shop Pro does. The problem with bitmaps (raster images) is that you tend to get jaggies or pixelated edges and its harder to make minute changes.

Take a look at the images below. The one on the left was done in xtreme, in a few quick entries. The image on the right shows a 25601 percent zoom on the white line in the middle. Notice there are no jaggies.

Flash is an example of a vector application. Ever wonder why the animations look so smooth because there are no jaggies? It's because of vectors.

Here's the Xara page on demo videos. It demonstrates the power of Xara.
http://xara.com/products/xtreme/demos/default.asp

Trust me on this, you can't go wrong adding Xara Xtreme to your graphics tool chest. You'll wonder as I did, what took you so long to get into the worlds best and fastest Vector Graphics program Xara Xtreme.

**Soquili** · 10 July 2007, 08:49 PM

Vectors are scalable up or down without getting pixelation. Elements in a vector graphic are stored as mathmatical equations. When you up scale the elements the equation is re-evaluated and the elements are drawn smooth and clear at the new size.

Raster graphics are a matrix (a grid) of bits that represent dots in an image. If you scale a raster graphic to a larger size the image becomes pixelated. What was seen as a straight line at the images normal resolution my look like stair steps at a larger size. Up scaled raster graphics can also become very blurry.

Download the trial version of Xara Xtreme or Xtreme Pro at http://www.xara.com/downloads/xtreme/. It is very easy to learn. Ask any questions in the Xara Xtreme forum and also checkout the tutorials at http://www.xaraxone.com

**Xhris** · 10 July 2007, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by Joseph Witchard

This will probably sound stupid, but what's the difference in vector and raster? =p

I'm mainly looking for something to make web graphics with, but beyond the scope of Xara Webstyle. Also, I want a program that can make nice blend images.

This thread goes into more detail about the two differences.

If it's just web graphics you're doing, Xara is ideal for that purpose above over all other software.

**Joseph Witchard** · 10 July 2007, 11:00 PM

I'll download the free trial, but how much memory does Graphics Studio take up? One of the reasons I haven't saved up for Photoshop is I only have 512MBs.

Also, you can make blends with Xtreme/Pro, right?