Xara Designer Pro X update July 2017

[Stewart]

Got to agree with czehz and Signpig....tinkering at best and trivialities. I have to also agree strongly that most of the stuff theyare releasing involves bits and pieces that can be easily knocked up.

[tonylondon]

Egg, if you experiment, you will find you only need one of the above.

Acorn

In principle they are all the same, but one of these appears to have an extra handle to change 'tail' style.

[maksimon]

Not only for those.
It is time to realize that the development of the core part of the program is finished, the code is complex, the team is small, the application needs to stay fast as its biggest advantage with the rivals, so better to not risk with mixing the code.
With the price increase the paradox is that those pay more, who love the program most. Those who can see the things objectively already did not extend the subscription.
We need to realize now, in 2017, that it is the wasting of the time to propose anything here or trying to be cool and positive, the core program will be not developed, small additions, bug fixes and online content which going to be added in the future.

Don't get me wrong, but for such upgrades is much easier and cheaper to have XDP without subscription and XWD with subscription .

[Acorn]

In principle they are all the same, but one of these appears to have an extra handle to change 'tail' style.

I thought they all did; you have to scale up the line before the green control "Drag to select style" appears.
There are 16 ends in all and you can apply these to either End.

All the controls are Resize, Rotate, End (A), End (B), Head/Tail (A), Head/Tail (B), Drag to select style (A), Drag to select style (B), Middle segment position.
They accept any Brush.
The Fill and Line colours have different effects.
The Head/Tail size is minimally constrained by the line width and maximally by the segment position.

One single 3-segment line of 8pt width and 180 px size for the Head and Tail will almost stop interactive changes for 3 seconds on a fast machine.

The functionality of the lines themselves is accomplished but all four are the same other than their starting state.
Unless I have missed Xara documentation, all the above has been discovered through experiment.
The Drag to select style control is poor as it vanishes at small scale, changes position and the cycle round the options is not intuitive; revolving round its own centre is the one with least effort.
The Head or Tail, when changed do not remain in a locked position so the line pattern can alter and the end points all need to be re-aligned.

Mostly a toy.

Acorn

[Boy]

Mostly a toy.

I find it a useful new tool that deserves some additional TLC and documentation.

[Acorn]

I find it a useful new tool that deserves some additional TLC and documentation.

Boy, I agree. The Smart Arrows are toys as they do not conform to the behaviour other Xara objects exhibit.
While they Snap to Grid, they do not Snap to Objects or Snap to Guides.
Changing a Head or a Tail should not alter the line's positioning.
Simple thing's like adding functionality to the meta-keys; Ctrl+"Drag to select style" to reverse the choice rather than cycling through 16 options.

Acorn

[tonylondon]

I thought they all did; you have to scale up the line before the green control "Drag to select style" appears.
There are 16 ends in all and you can apply these to either End.

Mostly a toy.

Acorn

Thanks for explaining that; presumably my flow line wasn't large enough to show all points. Not sure there is much benefit in it for me. I'll become interested when they cater for branching chains or filleted corners.

[Acorn]

Thanks for explaining that; presumably my flow line wasn't large enough to show all points. Not sure there is much benefit in it for me. I'll become interested when they cater for branching chains or filleted corners.

Tony, agrred (+1). My other wish is for stick ends (for the lines and not people!).

Acorn

[browj2]

They accept any Brush.
The Fill and Line colours have different effects.

Acorn

Hi Acorn,

How do you get it to accept a brush?

Same with colours? I can change the line to one colour and the head and tail to another colour. Is there any way to change the line from one colour to another along its length?

Thanks,
John

[Acorn]

Hi Acorn,

How do you get it to accept a brush?

Same with colours? I can change the line to one colour and the head and tail to another colour. Is there any way to change the line from one colour to another along its length?

Thanks,
John

John, I simply opened the Line Gallery and applied a brush.

To change colours along a line, you would have to create such a brush and apply that.

Acorn