Extract unprocessed PNG from XAR file?

[M4R5]

I made a panorama in Xara and I'd like to extract the completed image as a PNG. Xara recognises it as a single PNG file (when you go to bitmap copy) but I can't find how to get the full resolution image out of Xara in an elegant way. I had to save as PSD but that meant re-sampling the image. Does anyone know? Also is it possible to use the Panorama tool outside of the main Xara environment? From the pop-up that appears when you invoke the command it seems like it is a separate utility.

Thanks

[Soquili]

Use the File menu > Export option. Select the png file type and set the options for the image you prefer, True Color + Alpha, True Color, 256 Color, etc.

[M4R5]

I want to extract the image as it is stored, without re-sampling it. This method doesn't seem to provide that option.

[Soquili]

If you are a software developer you may be able to uncompress the .xar file and if you know which data to extract. But other than that the export feature is the best and only choice available.

[gwpriester]

Photoshop PSD is a very all encompassing file format as there is 0 compression so you are not degrading the image in any way. In some aspects it is preferable to PNG, especially when dealing with very large files. The software I use to create stereograms can export in a variety of file formats, but when I try to save a 3 foot by 2 foot stereogram at 300dpi the PNG option produces an out of memory error message, while the PSD exports fine in seconds.

So, I would not worry about the PSD format. It is easy enough to convert the PSD to PND once the image has been exported.

[M4R5]

The only thing with the PSD export is that it asks for a DPI, so it's still re-sampling the images. Besides, once you scale an image in Photoshop it loses information. Al least it did back when I last used it. There was no way to let an element keep its original resolution so this way isn't perfect.

I've managed to do it by exporting to PDF and turning off bitmap compression, then extracting the images from the PDF with a dedicated tool. It's a bit ridiculous to have to do it this way, but it worked perfectly. AI format also works but I don't have Illustrator.

If anyone knows how to open a XAR file and look inside I'd be interested in learning.

Cheers

[Soquili]

I'm not understanding what you are thinking you can find within a .xar file other than binary code.

You can uncompress a .xar file using Xara's command line tool called ExpandXar.exe, however that only takes the data outside the zlib compression wrapper. The information remains binary code and not individual images if bitmap data is within the file. All raster images like png, bmp, jpg, gif, tif, etc are bitmaps which are simply binary information. The Xara records remain binary code as well.

You can download a .pdf document describing the .xar file format http://site.xara.com/support/docs/we...atDocument.pdf

[gwpriester]

M4R5 - Be more specific. How are you using the panoramic image? How to you plan to output it?

I think you are creating a problem when none exists. When you get a requestor asking for dpi, you can enter any number you want. 96dpi would display 1:1 in Windows. 300-600dpi would export the image with enough information for high quality commercial printing. Yes, there may be pixels you don't see, but they won't print either. Unless I am missing something here, it seems you are over thinking this.

[GerryI]

The alternative is to open the bitmap gallery and right click on the full panorama bitmap and then click "Save...". This should directly save the image as a PNG without resampling it.

Gerry

[gwpriester]

Xara to the rescue.