Potentially damaging Fill Gallery actions

[brianlj]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Well even though this is not the way that you should use the fill gallery, this can happen. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Bruce,

So perhaps the question to be asked is, "Why are we allowed to open a file from the Fill Gallery? It's not an accident -- if you look closely, you'll see that StatusBar tells us that dbl-click opens the file.

But I agree with you: it's an UNexpected thing to be able do.

So, should that facility simply be removed from the Fill Gallery?

[traceyp]

I'm getting just a little confused by this thread. I tried doing exactly what was done initially and what I finished up with was a fill in a Xara window which was shown in the title bar as a TIF. I then simply saved it without doing anything other than moving it. The file was saved but I still had access to the original fill (a JPG).

I had no idea where it had saved it but eventually found it in my fills folder. I found that indeed, the file had been saved as a TIF but my original fill (a JPG) was fine and remained exactly as I had accessed it.

Now, a theory as to what happened. Could it be that Xara saves the fill in the last format that you last saved a file. For example, although I save the source as a XAR I also export the vast majority as TIFs. Is this why Xara saved the file as a TIF? If I'd saved it as a PNG would it have saved the file as a PNG and so on?

Whatever, I've not had any problems with this whatsoever in spite of trying to replicate the problem. I'm happy that Xara have got it right, although its true to say that if I am correct and you save your graphics as JPGs then you are indeed liable to overwrite the original.

Just my thoughts on what I find to be a confusing thread.

Tracey

[Christine Farrelly]

I just tried your theory Tracey, but it still showed as a JPG. I was able to rename the file to .XAR and open it then export the bitmap agin as a JPG.Although I had to change the page background to the main colour in the bitmap to get a seamless tile. A workaround for extreme cases but I definitely feel that if it is saving it in XAR format it should name it with a XAR extension.

Christine

[brianlj]

Tracey

You opened the Fill Gallery, found a JPG on your hard disc, dbl-clicked it and it opened as a TIF? That is seriously weird. Xara's Statusbar tip for files in the Fill Gallery is "Double click to open this file; Or drag and drop" Opening a file shouldn't change it's type. In fact, how could it?

I had no idea where it had saved it but eventually found it in my fills folder. I found that indeed, the file had been saved as a TIF but my original fill (a JPG) was fine and remained exactly as I had accessed it.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Could it be that Xara saves the fill in the last format that you last saved a file. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Strictly speaking, saving a file can only be done in XAR format. If you want your output to be in a different format, you have to export it. <eggs-granny-vacuum mode=OFF> http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Anyway...

I've just tried that by exporting some stuff as a series of TIFFs and then dbl-clicking a JPG in my Fill Gallery. My Xara opened it as a JPG and then saved it as an XAR -- with exactly the same name as the original JPG file.

[brianlj]

Christine<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I was able to rename the file to .XAR and open it then export the bitmap agin as a JPG <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Isn't there something about saving and re-saving JPGs being a no-no? Something about the quality getting worse with each save? Still... if it's an emergency, it'll have to do.

[John Rayner]

Hi Brian,

I think that pertains to compressed jpgs. Is there any loss in a 100% jpg? It would be an easy enough test. Type the word test, save it as a 100% .jpg, Import the .jpg, export it as another 100% jpg. repeat until you have 100 files. Repeating the import with the latest .jpg. compare jpg 1 with jpg 100. Text is very hard for jpg to match. Any error will be mulitplied. here is 1 and 10 for my quickie test.

[brianlj]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Is there any loss in a 100% jpg? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Good point. Yes, you'd have to switch to 100% quality and make sure you were on (o)Visible A-A.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[John Rayner]

I would suggest 24 bit color unless it was an alpha to begin with.

[Christine Farrelly]

John you really should know that you can't have alpha JPG's.

Christine

[Judi A]

I can't reproduce the name change. When I double click on a fill in the fill gallery my un-titled drawing is now called mybitmapname.tif

ANYHOW, if I just drag the fill bitmap onto the page, instead of double clicking it my drawing is still untitled.