Astute Graphics

**iamtheblues** · 14 August 2014, 11:22 AM

Here is my new avatar made indirectly using Illustrator (host) for two plugins by Astute Graphics - Mirrorme and Dynamic Corners, with more than a little help from the font
Bouton Nouveau Ornaments* (Hat tip to Gare) (Upper Case U) attached. I like the Art Nouveau/Tribal quality of this, and it was a breeze to make even though Illustrator was involved (peripherally).
I liked the result a lot and decided to use it as my new avatar.
To my mind this is the way that Xara should go with its Version 11 release. The Astute Graphics products - Phantasm, Mirrorme, Stylism and others have all made Illustrator a lot easier to use, offering easy rounded corners, vector halftones, easy colour control, line width control and much more. The whole package of plugins are on offer at present with a huge $120 (US) discount. It's not cheap, but it does add so much improved workflow which Illustrator has lacked compared to Xara Designer.
If you have a copy of Illustrator (CS5 or newer) it's worth checking out the 14 day free trial on their products, (some of which are free).
Personally I'd happily wait a couple of years for the next XDP version if it offered anything similar to this.
Bob.

* apologies for not supplying a link to the above-mentioned font, I was unable to find it on the Xara Xone.

**gwpriester** · 14 August 2014, 01:03 PM

You created these in Illustrator? Is that what you are saying?

And if so, then I am not sure why you have posted these in the Xara Graphics Chat forum Bob.

**mwenz** · 14 August 2014, 02:11 PM

I think that if it is moved, it should be in the Dear Xara section. It demonstrates capabilities Bob (and I) would like to see in XDP with a concrete example of why (his avatar).

**iamtheblues** · 14 August 2014, 03:17 PM

@ Gary, Sorry if I was unclear, but yes, I did use Illustrator, but only so that I could use the Astute Graphics plugins. As the post referred to Illustrator, XDP and Astute Graphics, it wasn't a straightforward decision as to where the thread should go.

As Mike correctly stated, the capabilities of the Astute Graphics plugins would certainly go some way to granting a lot of the wishes still outstanding, that TG members have asked for.
So as you have more experience in things TG I would be happy for this thread to be moved to somehere you consider more appropriate.
Bob.