Xara Designer Pro X9 Released

[Big Frank]

Who *is* representative of the Xara userbase? What does the profile of a Xara user look like?

that's a very good question
it was definitely me a decade ago
that's why one of their people came to my office for usability research
i'm pretty sure it's no longer me
i should know when i'm beat
but i prefer my cheese strong distinctive with character
i hate to see it become bland mass manufactured processed muck
cmon xara
give us back the strong stinky stuff!

[Nostaw]

cmon xara
give us back the strong stinky stuff!

LOL! I think Magix would have the final say of all product feature development. Magix seems to be sure web features are the selling key (based on sale reports?)?

The 64bit update would have been a massive job by itself and very often requires a complete rewrite of most of the core. If that was the case, Xara might have planned for future integration of new tools? Who knows, it's my wishful thinking out loud.

[Know1]

http://astutegraphics.com/products/vectorscribe - Vectorscribe
http://vimeo.com/41237505 - Spiro

Those look great. (Spiro for Inkscape starting at 6:20)

I'll add Colliderscribe to this list. It would be lovely to have some of those controls directly in Designer Pro.
http://astutegraphics.com/products/colliderscribe/

Or how about DynamicSketch:
http://astutegraphics.com/products/dynamicsketch/
Repeat sketching (1:12) - Intelligent path joining (1:28)

Or check out some of the features of Livebrush:
http://livebrush.com/

I'm with Nostaw on this, I'd pay more for functionality like this directly in Designer Pro. You had Designer and you had Designer PRO. Now you have basic spin-off programs like Layout Designer/Photo & Graphic Designer/Web Designer.

In general I find Designer Pro a lot easier to use than other software, the basic features are implemented in a way that's intuitive, easy and fast. There are still a lot of things Xara can improve upon, and that's just not happening. Not a single improvement to the core vector tools. A real shame.

[FLySOLO]

wow - livebrush looks nice - just brushed around a little bit with the free version. how good is vector export with the pro version?

things like drawing aids in vectorscribe i hope to see some day in xara. like the rounding corners tool. or some of the vector filters in illustrator. eg generate a waveline or add some distortion or roughen a line.

bb,

Fly

[WilliamHere]

wow - livebrush looks nice - just brushed around a little bit with the free version. how good is vector export with the pro version?

things like drawing aids in vectorscribe i hope to see some day in xara. like the rounding corners tool. or some of the vector filters in illustrator. eg generate a waveline or add some distortion or roughen a line.

bb,

Fly

Yes, the vectorscribe features are superb! Too bad it only works with Adobe Illustrator.

[WilliamHere]

Those look great. (Spiro for Inkscape starting at 6:20)

I'll add Colliderscribe to this list. It would be lovely to have some of those controls directly in Designer Pro.
http://astutegraphics.com/products/colliderscribe/

Or how about DynamicSketch:
http://astutegraphics.com/products/dynamicsketch/
Repeat sketching (1:12) - Intelligent path joining (1:28)

Or check out some of the features of Livebrush:
http://livebrush.com/
In general I find Designer Pro a lot easier to use than other software, the basic features are implemented in a way that's intuitive, easy and fast. There are still a lot of things Xara can improve upon, and that's just not happening. Not a single improvement to the core vector tools. A real shame.

Yes, much needed and overdue additions and updates on the vector tools.

[Know1]

wow - livebrush looks nice - just brushed around a little bit with the free version. how good is vector export with the pro version?

The vector export is limited.
From the FAQ: The Pro version add's over 60 more brush styles, the ability to customize the canvas size, and add's vector export *.
* Vector export is only for lines drawn in Livebrush. Vector decoration export is not supported at this time.

I've made a quick image to illustrate this and also added the SVG file: exported-from-livebrush.svg



1, 3, 6, 7 only the lines are exported.
2, 4, 5, 8 export just fine. (Edit: number 5 also has missing bits, those floating triangles. I hadn't noticed that before)
9 and 10 are pure decorations so nothing is exported.

2 and 5 also have their transparency levels intact as you can see when you import the SVG in Xara.

Livebrush needs some work here and there, and I don't think we'll see an update for it anytime soon. But for 10 bucks this has been one of my better purchases. It's like a sandbox environment for brushes where you can just experiment and go crazy.