Problem with Blended and Contoured objects

**Centaurus** · 19 June 2013, 04:26 PM

Hi guys.

Just wanted to ask if anybody else here have problems with objects inside Blended and Contoured groups?
I use Xara Designer to create icons, that's why I usually have 2 views open, one is 100% zoom and another is about 500% to deal with little details.
Starting with the version 7 of Xara Designer I can no longer edit objects inside of Blended or Contoured groups, the application just freezes.

I put tickets into tech support for this issue but the answer that I got more than a year ago was:
"I'm afraid we cannot provide a timescale as to when this issue will be resolved"
and this year is:
"The bug has been logged but I cannot guarantee when it will be resolved. The development team must prioritise problems along with product development. It's possible it will be fixed in future releases and each time the bug is reported a count is incremented and added to the bug report."

I may not be right but it sounds to me like a polite version of "NO".
And it has been three new releases since the bug first appeared... and I can't upgrade since Xara Designer 6 because of that.

I must admit I have mixed feelings about that... first I'm frustrated because of being stuck on some old version. Second I'm starting to think that I may really be the only one person in the world who uses those features, so I'll just have to accept the fact it's not going to work anymore.

Well... except for venting. Does anybody experience troubles with that? Maybe you found a workaround or something since I can't have it fixed. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you!

**gwpriester** · 19 June 2013, 05:40 PM

Can you give us an example of how this works?

I have found that since I first started using CorelXara (about 1996) that the Blend Tool has changed a lot. One of the problems is when they add a new feature or tool, it can sometimes change the way another tool (such as the blend tool) works.

**Centaurus** · 19 June 2013, 05:53 PM

Hello Gary,

Please see the attached files.
Open bug.xar file and arrange two views like it is shown on bug_pre.png.

Then try to use any object inside of Blend or Contour group using Ctrl key and try to do something with it.. move, rotate, resize, etc. After that it stucks.

I understand there may be some unexpected bugs appearing in places which seem not to be affected by development... being a software developer myself for four years I know the complex software can be hard to pull together.
I was more upset of the fact that nobody apparently is going to fix it at all in the nearest future judging by the responses I got from the support team

And since it's critical for me I'm trying to find a suitable workaround.
Anyway thank for your help Gary!

**MEB** · 19 June 2013, 06:34 PM

Hi Centaurus,
I don´t remember anymore how version 6 or 7 worked regarding blends and contours. In most recent versions you can't edit the intermediate steps of a blend. Only the initial and final steps. The blend will update accordingly. I'm not sure if we could ever change an intermediate step of a blend no matter of version. But i never get stuck. The blend updates correctly.

**Centaurus** · 19 June 2013, 06:39 PM

No no I'm not talking about intermediate steps. I'm talking about start and final step. That is that stopped working in version 7 and is not working until now.
But the bug only appears if you have several views opened.

**MEB** · 19 June 2013, 06:56 PM

Sorry i misunderstood what you said here: Then try to use any object inside of Blend or Contour group using Ctrl key and try to do something with it...
Anyway you're right, it freezes Xara if more than one view is open. Still there isn't much we can do about it since Xara already is aware of this situation.
I see your problem, unfortunately i don't have any useful idea for this

**bcire68** · 25 June 2013, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by Centaurus

I use Xara Designer to create icons, that's why I usually have 2 views open, one is 100% zoom and another is about 500% to deal with little details.

Even though you are using a wacom tablet and not a mouse, you can still (just about) get the same effect of the zoom in and out by using the keyboard number keys.

= 100%
= 200%
= 300%
= 400%
= 50%

If you are using the Pro version then you can always customize the keyboard shortcuts to change what they do and maybe learn a few new ones such as...

z = zoom tool (and then use your pen to drag select what you want to zoom to, and then n = freehand and brush tool, or F4 = shape tool to get back to drawing
Ctrl+Shift+z = zoom to selected
Ctrl+Shift+j = zoom to drawing

Another thing you could do is to change the defaults on your Wacom tablet (instead of using keyboard shortcuts).

I know that this isn't the same as using the dual views (I use them too on occasion) but as a work-around until the new version comes out it might work out for you.

I hope that helps,
Eric

**GerryI** · 26 June 2013, 09:45 AM

You should also find that the editing does work in one of the views (except for the bits that sometimes get left behind) so just swap the two views over.

Gerry

**Centaurus** · 26 June 2013, 03:57 PM

Gerry! Now you're a life saver!! Thank you tons! I have never figured out that views are unidentical for this issue and I could actually have a real workaround!