I've enjoyed working with Xara Xtreme, since figuring out how a vector program works, but I've run into a problem with cutting out unwanted parts of a shape, or erasing, etc. I was doing the "Combine Shapes / Slice" routine, and it was working great, but then it stopped working for a while. Then it just seemed to start working again, and now tonight it's gone AWOL once more. Is there some variable I'm missing? Does the transparency setting matter? Colors? The way the masking shape is drawn (freehand vs shape tool vs shape editor, etc)? I've tried shutting down all other programs, rebooting, chocolate (for me) - no luck. So why would it just stop working? What am I missing?

(ps - I've also tried the line breaking trick, in desperation, but can't get it to break in the direction I want. Also, the line break won't work for cutting out particular shapes, so I just want my Combine/Slice back!!!)