Wolfgang, using the Adobe Illustrator 8.0 (ai, eps) filter I can open your EPS file. :)
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Wolfgang, using the Adobe Illustrator 8.0 (ai, eps) filter I can open your EPS file. :)
FYI: Adobe lists the price of AI at $499 on their site:
http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/
But it's fair to quote that price as Xara's was quoted direct from them as well.
And someone could also have a previous version of
AI-in which case an upgrade would cost them 'from $169' to quote the web site. ($499+$169=$668) Also, new users have not paid for previous versions of Xara. Do you somehow feel that you didn't get your money's worth out of your previous Xara products?
It's one thing if you can't afford something for whatever reason. But that does not mean that Xtreme Pro is overpriced. It also doesn't mean that you are obligated to purchase said product. Did Xara Xtreme suddenly stop working on the day that X Pro was announced? Did it loose functionality? Please explain.
Hold on a minute-what plugins? Any extra plugins for Xtreme are bought at your discretion, no one makes you buy them. And do you know for a fact that all of the plugins won't work with XPro?Quote:
Xara Xtreme pro, with plug-ins (to compare it to Adobe Illustrator) will cost about 400$. The calcualtion is:
150$ worth plug ins (which I did not buy but I did insert that in the calculation because AI has filters), and the original Xara Xtreme Pro.
I'd love to have an Aston Martin-but they cost $200,000; so I make do with a Honda Civic. So it goes, that's life.Quote:
Paul: Yes I know nobody twists my arm to buy the product, but it's a general feeling. You and me we both know that I want it, like a toy I must have. I won't feel happy enough if I dont have the latest version of my favorite app.
FYI: Product pricing has nothing to do with being fair. :rolleyes:Quote:
I was complaining because the whole Xara (Xtreme or X) costs less than 80$, and the difference between Xara Pro and the inital products costs 120$. So if you use simple math: 1 product for 80$, or an upgrade for 120$. Doesn't sound fair enough for me, sorry.
I don't feel the upgrades are 120$ worth of paying.
How long did you have Xtreme? Divide that $80 by the number of months that you had it. I have had Xtreme for almost a year now, so $80 / 12 months = $6.6 per month or $1.60 per week. I spend more than that for a bus ticket or a cup of coffee!
And there are no new features in Pro that you like-nothing at all? I find that rather hard to believe. But if that is so, just stick with Xtreme. Problem solved! :-)Quote:
I will probably buy it eventually, but I will still feel it's too much. That's the nasty feeling I get when a product I like is becoming more expensive only because they know that people will buy it anyway.
Bill and Joe,
thanks for trying. That's exactly what I get in Xtreme too. So it looks like no advancement as far as this goes.
The really funny thing is, that the .eps was created in and saved from Xtreme !!
To Charles and Xara: Don't you think, any Vector Graphics program with "Pro" in its name should be able to read .eps and .pdf ???
Wolfgang
P.S. to Bill: Good to see that you could open at least the .eps and it looks like it's supposed to look. But it would be so much better if it worked by just drag 'n' dropping the file or at least by just saying "Open".
Charles,
This looks fantastic! I'm really excited about these new features. I'm going to download the trial today.
Can't wait to get the finished product.
ron
Wolfgang, you'll be glad to know that pdf import is in development and we hope to ship it with Pro, but that current Betas do not have this filter. (My internal version does and loads that file fine). Secondly it does load that eps file as well, as demonstrated earlier (although not by drag and drop - we can look at that).
And yes we do regard file interchange a priority and are doing what we can - and the answer to your question is yes, we will load both eps and pdf files.
Wolfgang, I Opened the eps file and it opened with a prg I didn't even remember having.
The pdf simply opened in Acrobat Reader.
Wow.
Thanks & congratulations.
I think the decision to divide this in Pro and regular is a very vise one, and I feel that the new improvements actually justify the Pro-moniker. In any case they will make my everyday work easier, and even enable me new job opportunities.
I feel that Xara is listening to us now, which is great.
That is what I did. But when I click on the .exe.file all I get is a flash and then nothing. I thought maybe my hard drive was getting too full, but I cleaned it up and still no luck :-(
Grace,
Are you sure you haven't got Xtreme open? In fact it's best to ensure no programs are running. Delete your last download & try a new download.
Might be an idea to check out your browser security measures.
Grace do you have Data Execution Prevention (DEP) turned on. If so try turning it off, I've had that cause symptoms like you described.
Holy c**p! I turn away for ten minutes and all hell breaks loose! This is good news indeed. Thanks for all your efforts, the new feature set and tweaks look really good. Downloading the beta now.
Oh! and thanks Gary for the Workbook.
Nope, DEP is not turned on.
Ok, I'll might as well quite while I still haven't called a war upon myself from all the Xara users in this forum as I see I'm in a non beneficial minority here :)
Do I HAVE to make this choice? Depends if this is on the long run or on the short run, and it also depends how long I didn't have a date (then my brain will just stop working).
I just wish I could add a 30$ and get a multipaging feature and a better text handling without the need of paying 120$.
Ok, I just came back from work so arguing with you about math is not the best of me right now. I didn't know that some of the plug ins might not work with Xara Xtreme Pro, since they are being advertised in the Xara website (that might be very disappointing to spend money on something you realize doesn't work).
What I meant by the high price was the following: The upgrade to Xara xtreme was 29$ if I remember correctly. It contained new pdf export, plug ins, a better picture editor and.... that's about what I recall so far.
Now, the new Pro version has (The major features): Multi - paging, some minor changes and a better text handling (yes I know it has panton colors again but for those who upgraded from Xara X to Xtreme they had the panton colors as well), which is still far from being perfect, not to mention that it doesn't help me since it does not support right to left typing (Middle Eastern fonts).
I know there were more changes made, but they are not so drastically seen (like there is still no mesh tool which could be very useful, no better brush handling, - like in Corel Draw, Illustrator or Freehand, or a better bitmap retrace tool).
Flash export is nice, but Xara is not really an animation software. You can make a frame by frame animation (and we all know our animation gurus here) but it lacks the timeline, key frames etc to become an animation software. It's nice for small little frame by frame animations.
So... 29$ for two major upgrades, or 120$ for about the same two - three major upgrades. Yes multi paging is nice, but not 120$ nice.
Ok There's a slightly better photo editing feature (the curves). If I remember correctly the free version of Xeus did pretty much the same. With little more investment in that project and Xeus, blended with the existing photo editor might have become a wonderful small little pixel editing program - a great stand alone or a complimentary program to Xara. Add a mesh fill tool to that and then - Xara would be priceless!
Again, please don't shoot me for this post I know you might totally disagree with me and that's your right.
I just get the feeling that there are too much valuable resources that are not being used. If you take a look at XaraXone.com there are some very nice shareware and freeware software. I'm sure those could be blended with Xara to create a truly powerful application.
Hurray for improved import!
I agree that .ai and eps import into Xtreme have been a problem. I even had to download a trial copy of Illustrator to get client supplied artwork into Xterme. (still recovering from the experience) After a bit of research I discovered that Coreldraw and Serifdraw pro could both open the same file too. - Either of which were on my shopping list should the client come back after the 30 days.
Fingers crossed that the final version of Xtreme pro can come up with the goods. It would be nice to be able to import ai's and eps' from swift 3d too!
So far everything new is great and I'm very glad (since I live in France) with the support for accented caracters. But I can't make the flash animation backround transparent for the web. I had this same problem with the animated gifs, but Egg solved that for me (us). See thread http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...286#post170286This trick doesn't work with the flash animations though. What am I doing wrong? :(
I see that there's a forum for XtremePro, so I post this there also...
It is just a line drawing - an amusement and in context with the text.
It is a fun thing ... there are full-colour posters on billboards which are far more specific and you only have to turn on a TV to view even more 'innappropriate' material in full colour.
'Tis just a fun thing which can offend none, I think, so unless there are some serious complaints I'll let it stand.
Well I am sold on it! To think that I will be able to all but get rid of Illy from my computer is a wonderful thought because of what Charles stated back a few pages. He stated the following "Wolfgang, you'll be glad to know that pdf import is in development and we hope to ship it with Pro, but that current Betas do not have this filter. (My internal version does and loads that file fine)." Just think, I will be able to have only three programmes up on my desktop, Xtreme Pro, PhotoShop and Indesign and thats all I will need to get my work done.
Xara to PhotoShop (with Layers) and do any colour correction there either with PDF or PSD
Xara to Indesign as PDF, superb
Illy at Work back into Xtreme Pro, no problems
Xtreme to Printers without having to think about it through PDF
How cool is that
What I like about this development is that Charles and his team have listen to this forum and have come up with the goods, Thank You. If anyone moans about the price and folk will, just tell to be quiet and list what this forum ask for during the summer into Autum.
Multi Page, yes
PSD, yyes
Improved Text Engine, yes
Better swf control, yes
Beter Animation, yes
Pantone Colours, yes
PDF import, looks like yes
The Ability to use Transparencies for Printing, yes
PDF with Layers, not sure about that one, will need to investigate?
Well done to the team and I hope that the PDF import gets sorted.
Will try the beta for a bit, hopefully it will be more stable than XXtreme which I stopped using after a few months because of constant crashing.
The $120 isn't too disastrous, compared to the $340 I paid 10++ years ago for CorelXara 1.1 and the wasted $30 for the dgrade to XXtreme from X1.
That's fantastic !!! I am amazed !!!!!
So much thanks !!!
ivan
Don't worry you aren't the only one who doesn't see much value in the announced "Major" new features. Yeah, Flash animation that's exactly what the world needs more of. I guess it all depends on what we are using Xtreme for as there are clearly plenty of people here who are excited about the new features.
Of course, if the hinted at PDF import actually works I might have to change my position. :-)
WOW! Very welcome PRO additions indeed!
Brief Question: Xara's info webpage for XXPro lists "alpha channel, 16-bit color" for PSD. But on opening even the simplest 16-bit color PSD I only get the error "16-bit not supported". So is 16-bit planned but not implemented yet? Also "round-tripping" of layer alpha channels doesn't really work -- when the XXPro exported PSD is opened again in PS, the alpha channel has been applied and thus erases parts of its layer. Still, just to be able to export a complex, layered PSD from XXPro -- instead of a heap of PNGs! -- is a great, great workflow improvement!
Someone here griped about the $199 price being too high -- that's ridiculous! XXPro is now very close to being a real "pro" product -- and the $199 price is a great, great bargain to any working pro.
Greetings,
Yes, I am very excited with Xara 'Xtreme's' developments, but I also have issues regarding the upgrade price.
The quoted upgrade price is more than reasonable for those who jumped onboard with a fresh purchase of Xara 'Xtreme'.
I originally purchased Xara X1 in July 2004 @ €137.00 [approx $164] and of course as upgraded [downgraded?-loss of pantone support] to Xara "Xtreme" in November 2005 @ €29.00 [approx. $38].
Basic math reflecting the new upgrade to Xara Xtreme 'PRO' @ [$120] equals a total investment of $322.00!
Yes, Xara is a wonderful program and continues to improve, yet the upgrade price for original X1 owners is too steep.
Till later,
minstrel
Minstrel,
I think Charles should be ashamed of himself for forcing you to buy the software.
I'll never understand why people seem to regard software as some kind of cumulative investment. If someone buys software it should be because of what it can do. We all decide if we need an upgrade on the basis of what it can do, not as some kind of investment into the bank of software. If you stop buying upgrades, your software doesn't stop working, nor do the features you considered worthwile purchasing evaporate. If Xtreme Pro isn't worth $120 to you, then don't buy it.
Think of it another way if you like: if you are a hobbyist, how much pleasure have you had from using Xara software since you've bought it? Does that have no value to you?
If you are a professional: How much money have you earned by using Xara software since you've bought it?
You could have spent all that money on cigarrettes, with nothing to show for it save a bad cough, bad breath and smelly clothes..
Xara: for the moment $120 is expensive for me too, but when I pick up my next freelance job, I'll almost certainly buy it. It is a smart move to actually move more upmarket with this product and anyone who really needs the feature set will understand that $120 is still great value.
Paul
I have no idear what the new updates would do for me?
But I also know if I stick around long enough here in the forum,
I will see what the advantage would be of the new pro version
(or not?).
And like it said, it`s for the professional users, and they care much about exporting their work, which makes sense, for them.
But like I said, I just watch the forum and I will see soon enough,
it`s a lively forum.
To any working pro it is ofcourse, atleast when I read the messages
it seems so. But not everyone is a professional.
If a DIY person, who redoes his home, sees what I pay for my tools
he would think it was ridiculous, but I need the good quality tools
for my trade, put for the DIY person it would be too much.
I guess it is the same here, although some amateurs would like
some of the pro features, but for those features they would like, the
upgrade price would be too high.
Greeting Paul,
The real shame of the matter lies in marketing strategy that took Xara X1 [in effect, the original PRO addition] and reduced it to a low cost 'consumer' version via the Xara 'Xtreme' upgrade. Then the strategy continues and introduces [re-introduces] a PRO version which has an upgrade cost nearly equal to that of the original purchase of Xara X1. We would need to be blinded by the 'glitter' to overlook this.
Of course, I also will purchase the upgrade to the new 'PRO' version when funds permit, yet one can not but feel a bit 'taken' by such a strategy.
Till later,
minstrel
Nope, but if your OS changes it will, and in time you will have a new OS.
But that is not in this case for Xreme and Xreme pro will be kept
seperate and will be developed further.
And I would have liked a modular approach, where I could purchase
SOME of the upgrades from pro. Although $120 might be too high
for me, a lower price with some of the features of pro might be affordable
and you just get the upgrades you want and/or need. Certainly as an amateur, I just have a Jpeg or a Gif output, I don`t need to print or
printshop compatablility industry standards.
Indeed, and feel bad because some of the features and improvementsQuote:
nor do the features you considered worthwile purchasing evaporate. If Xtreme Pro isn't worth $120 to you, then don't buy it.
you would have liked.
That has nothing to do with it, and it ccertainly has value to me, butQuote:
Think of it another way if you like: if you are a hobbyist, how much pleasure have you had from using Xara software since you've bought it? Does that have no value to you?
I can't see what this argument has anythiing to do with it?
But, that can be just me, being stupid or something ;)
If you are a professional, you could write it of as an investment fromQuote:
If you are a professional: How much money have you earned by using Xara software since you've bought it?
your taxes, atleast here you can.
Or I could stop donating to good causes, which I did after smoking,Quote:
You could have spent all that money on cigarrettes, with nothing to show for it save a bad cough, bad breath and smelly clothes..
well I already did, also when I smoked, but now a bit more.
Yep to anyone who truelly needs the upgrades it has to be worth itQuote:
Xara: for the moment $120 is expensive for me too, but when I pick up my next freelance job, I'll almost certainly buy it. It is a smart move to actually move more upmarket with this product and anyone who really needs the feature set will understand that $120 is still great value.
Paul
and for a proffesional it should be a must have, so the choice would be different.
Plenty of times I had to buy tools for my trade which I actually
couldn`t afford at the moment but had to have, and eventually
it payed for itself, but I won`t take a loan to buy something for my hobby.
But I might win the lottery someday, and I will certainly buy it then. ;)
On pricing...
I guess this debate confirms that view that if you price low, it is hard to increase your price later. Every business coach will tell you that!
I would summarise this as:
1. average 'home user' - don't buy
2. serious or more wealthy 'home user' - buy
3. professional (of almost any level) - buy
4. anyone who wants to help Xara with cashflow because you respect their products/strategy/fight against Adobe et al - buy
For any pro, just one of the major new features will save the cost over a month or two. Unless you are on a silly daily rate!
(I will buy as I fall into categories 2, 3 and 4.)
As a professional myself I think there are no 'must have' software packages.
I'm serious, there are plenty of free or very reasonably priced programs and services available that will do the job, perhaps not as efficiently or intuitively as some more expensive commercial products, but they are there.
Buying specific software for 'professional' use is really a matter of convenience.
Photoshop isn't the industry standard because it is the best, it has had the best marketing and early on included features that allowed users to exchange ideas and techniques.
This built a massive resource for all potential users - just try Googling Photoshop tutorials, Actions, brushes, styles, etc.
What tends to happen is that when users invest time and money into a piece of software they search out others who do the same and become part of a 'community', the price of which is often having the latest version of that software. I see it all over the net, there are little tribes of software users all over the place each fiercely loyal and commited to their choice.
I'm on a constant search for the best software for my particular needs, but I know I'm not going to find one perfect program, at least until some company goes with the idea of a 'modular' program (as mentioned by another poster).
So that each user buys and 'plugs in' the various componants they need and want (before any puts me straight - I don't want an explaination of why that 'can't be done').
Until then, I don't do brand loyalty, if they want my hard earned cash then they will have to earn it too.
Keep an open mind, it isn't the software that is the most important ingredient in your work (amateur or professional) it is your attitude.
Well, that is your opinion, and you are entitled to it.
Yep and if you run a business you want those things, I guess,Quote:
I'm serious, there are plenty of free or very reasonably priced programs and services available that will do the job, perhaps not as efficiently or intuitively as some more expensive commercial products, but they are there.
because we hear nothing else all day from the "managers".
efficiency is the hype word nowadays, and time is money,
so if you can do the job faster, it pays.
You have to set the cost against the gain ofcourse.
Or timesaving.Quote:
Buying specific software for 'professional' use is really a matter of convenience.
Indeed, so it was in the beginning too, between computer formats.Quote:
Photoshop isn't the industry standard because it is the best, it has had the best marketing and early on included features that allowed users to exchange ideas and techniques.
This built a massive resource for all potential users - just try Googling Photoshop tutorials, Actions, brushes, styles, etc.
What tends to happen is that when users invest time and money into a piece of software they search out others who do the same and become part of a 'community', the price of which is often having the latest version of that software. I see it all over the net, there are little tribes of software users all over the place each fiercely loyal and commited to their choice.
But communities show you the possibbilities of the program and if
you see a feature you could use or like the result you would want that too.
By yourself you probably wouldn`t have known or discovered that feature.
Well, maybe for computing, but tools are very important in my trade.Quote:
I'm on a constant search for the best software for my particular needs, but I know I'm not going to find one perfect program, at least until some company goes with the idea of a 'modular' program (as mentioned by another poster).
So that each user buys and 'plugs in' the various componants they need and want (before any puts me straight - I don't want an explaination of why that 'can't be done').
Until then, I don't do brand loyalty, if they want my hard earned cash then they will have to earn it too.
Keep an open mind, it isn't the software that is the most important ingredient in your work (amateur or professional) it is your attitude.
And they make cerain things possible and offordable.
MMM makes some excellent points. I have recently been searching about for products that will extend my own capabilities beyond Xara's admittededly fine features. And... i have found some.
As Availor, I have wondered over and over why Xara did not coordinate the inclusion of Xeus in Xtreme. It is better (in my opinion, far better) than XPE.
How did Xara let Expression get away from them and into the hands of the MS gargoyle. Expression's stroke/brush handling in Xara would improve it as a drawing product far beyond SWF export. (GREAT! more people making more annoying flash banners.) With MS prepared to take the lead (will each new MS UI include a 'non-pro' version of Expression?) and Inscape pressing from behind, MS is in a position now to do to Vector drawing what Word did to word processing. Hold onto your original Xara X installation... it may be soon worth a lotta money.... to antiquarians.
I am with Availor. The feature additions are good ones, but the price is more than twice the price of the original product and there are no new DRAWING features. I can get my images into PDF now. With all the format exchange features they leave out SVG?
Including features that are essentially outside the core purpose of the program will make them more competitive in the market. Increasing their pricing tables will make them more competive in the market as (if successful) it will allow for financing future improvements, presumably at a faster rate. But this release at this price is a mistake.
i will d/l it and play with it. I likely won't buy it. If Xara lasts long enough, I may buy the 3rd or 4th generation.
geo.
My post wasn't a personal attack on anyone here or their opinions, I'm just giving my point of view.
"Time is money" is a motto of mine. One of my main reservations about Xara is that it often takes much more time to do things with it than other products, hence my banging on about actions/macros so often.
In my opinion it will not make significant inroads into the professional market until it includes some kind of scripting/macro feature.
Having said that, obviously many people use it to earn a living, so there are alternative ways of working that do not always need the fastest or latest gadget (I still use Photoshop 7, never seen a reason to upgrade) and I know several illustrators who refuse to even touch a computer, but do very well. These things are often a matter of personal preference.
I'm all for online communities, no problem with them at all, my criticism was of the attitudes of some users who tend to get a sort of 'tunnel vision' about their choice of software.
No software company can lay claim to my loyalty, because I'm a realist, they are not in it for me, they are commercial enterprises.
Nothing wrong with that, we all need to earn a living.
I suppose I just feel depressed when I see so many people in various forums (no one in particular) who seem to think that a particular piece of software will 'make all the difference', software won't make a bad designer or illustrator good, it's just another tool.
Mark,
I certainly didn't mean to suggest anything about your intents.
Nor were my intentions to offend anyone. I work semi-professionally and hope to ellide the "semi" someday. The improvements will help work flow, yes. But it is a drawing program. Other drawing programs are pulling away, fast. I was hoping for improvements in the essential tools. I don't think Xtreme was much an improvement in imaging. Xtreme Pro even less so.
I have a quite good Multi-page layout program. I expect to continue using it for that purpose. It does not handle image creation or editing and that is fine with me. They concentrate on page layout. XXP is not going to replace Quark or scribus in that arena.
geo.
LOL!
No problem Ben, I don't take offence at anything said on internet forums and my remarks were not aimed at anyone in particular.
'nuff said.
btw - you might consider the open source GNU Licensed AutoHotKey (www.autohotkey.com/) as a scripting alternative. check out the docs... it has a lotta useful features.
geo.