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1 Attachment(s)
Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I've been requesting a few features for several versions, and some of this might be re-runs, but here goes.
Sometimes wishes come true. :)
• I'd like dynamic Smart Shape tool, where the result of creating a polygonal shape can be modified at any time in the future, with the capability to add control points, subtract them, and change control point as well as path segment properties. These took about 5 seconds in CorelDRAW. Xaraists should be able to do it in 2 seconds. Draw has had this feature since version 5.
Attachment 92088
• I'd like a bigger set of options, features, controls over the Shape Builder tool. I'd love to be able to draw a tapered end to a shape: CorelDRAW has a "dry-out" feature with their similar "paint a shape" tool, that essentially makes the path narrower as you finish a stroke. It would be a hoot to offer the user a way to design the brush shape, not just direction, but the "leading edge", and the ability to use it as a "skip brush", making anything from cookie cutter shapes to dashed lines in a custom pattern.
• I'd like the ability to make my own Brush Profiles. Some of the tapered presets produce too sharp at point at either end, and it would simply give the artist more control and expression to be able to make their own brush tip. The Saw Tooth is a good preset that has the potential to be great if the artist could make this tip them selves by drawing a tip, and then using some feature to capture the shape as a brush tip.
• I'd like a true B-Spline tool, please? The Shape tool, in an average professional designer's hands, isn't as fast as a B-Spline tool and about 1/2 hour's practice. I used to hate B-Splines until I discovered how to use the off-path control "hull" to quickly make perfectly smooth curves, French curve-style.
•And Phil mentioned that it's do-able to make a brush-type tool that can be used to roughen and/or push the edge or a shape on the page, sort of like Silly Putty. And this has been a feature in the competitors for several versions.
• Calligraphic strokes. Xara 8 is very close with one of the Shape Builder options, but you can't use a stylus right now and create true calligraphy.
I run what I think is a conservative screen resolution, 1280 x 1024 on a 4 by 3 ratio monitor, and there is plenty of room on the toolbox for more drawing tools. And you could go two columns...and get rid of the flyouts that actually require some practice to be able to choose the tool you need, especially if you're used to other programs with flyouts.
• A model for the Mould tool that allows control points to be added, and control point properties to be (more easily) changed. How would a Xaraist create a logo, for example, that's cigar shaped or requires, say, a pentagon of control points?
• I'd like to see more organization, that is my wish and my point. As Xara has grown, you've gotten into a few bitmap functions that I feel should be grouped. In fact, I feel that bitmap functions should be on a gallery. By doing this, you keep bitmap tools out of the way of artists who are solely interested in vector tools, and for someone who is even the slightest bit experienced with Photoshop, a gallery—a palette with everything Xara can do to modify a bitmap—puts masks, plug-ins, Levels, other tone and hue adjustments, all under one easy-to-find roof. It's taking me longer than I feel it should to find stuff, and although there clearly is more to work with, Xara was "Spartan" for many, many years—the Galleries would just come up and tuck away, instead of this new sidecar deal that I don't think a lot of people like in Photoshop and CorelDRAW.
Add to this the Dark UI, and it just feels cramped and more disorienting than need be. My suggestion to segregate the bitmap features is just a suggestion. If I could get more advanced path-drawing features, I'd live with the clutter! It's not a #1 priority on my Wish List.
It would also help alleviate some clutter, because as the features have grown, the UI is denser around the edges than when a lot of us first started out.
I hope I'm not talking to a wall here, and I'm honestly suggesting, not complaining.
For the sake of comparison, this is an example of a complaint: "WHY DO YOU GUYS MAKE YOU NAME SHAPES in FLASH ANIMATIONS???!"
:)
My Best,
Gary
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Can anybody post in this thread? :rolleyes:
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
some thoughts on what you said Gare:
even if its not possible [yet] to have custom stroke shapes it would be good to have the option of drawing the existing ones starting from either end of the shape - ok you can reverse the path afterwards but that's not exactly dynamic
the shape builder tool could do with an option to draw in absolute as well as screen pixels
a B-spline tool is not as fast as a freehand brush and a couple of years practice [ok - this, though true enough, is tongue in cheek :)]
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
Can anybody post in this thread? :rolleyes:
@ Gary, I have no idea what you mean here. I posted elsewhere and was questioned for doing so, and you know that.
So here's the public post, as sledger suggested.
-g
@handrawn,
Interesting take on my Wish List. You didn't really disagree with anything so much as refine my thoughts, thanks for that.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
That's a good wish list! How ever the plugins are something that you maybe don't want to tuck away from the vector side of things, Xara's plug ins can be applied to vector shapes and/or groups just as easily as to a photo and one thing that most don't seem to take note of is that the LIVE in live effects makes them very useful. You can apply a live effect to a vector group at 300 dpi (or even more if you want) and if you resize that group up from say logo size to sign size the program will reapply the effect to your much larger vector group at 300dpi (or what ever you have set on the info bar)
And while we are talking plug ins how about vector plug ins? Why not get in touch with the authors of some of the utilities that are gathering dust in the archives of the Xara Xone and look at turning them into plug ins that can easily be accessed from within the program? Things like Spray and SPX by Dmitry Malutin for example, update them and turn them into a plug in. I realize that vector plug ins are a whole different critter than the Photoshop plug ins but hey as long as we are wishing :)
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I think Gary was asking if we can add to the wish list in this thread.
Well, if you can, then here's mine.
If not, then please feel free to delete this post.
I'm not sure anyone's mentioned this, but doing shadows is something that is problematic, in my opinion.
If you want to draw a shadow that is sharp near the object and then gets softer further away, this is difficult to do.
The way I do it, is by combining two or three images and using transparency etc... Very cumbersome and sometimes a bit hit and miss.
My thought was that if you could have graduated feathering, then this could be used on the shape that you've drawn for the shadow.
Does this make sense?
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
No idea if anybody ever listens to me but for what it's worth I would like to second what Gary has suggested/recommended/requested. All of those things would make for an even more professional vector drawing application and in some cases, like the brush and mould tools, are way overdue.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I honestly think that Gary (Gare) has hit the nail on the head with this list!
The Dynamic Shape Builder Tool:- Would it not be easier to do this with a stronger more dynamic Duplicate Tool? Using the origin and the using "Ctrl+Shift+D" and if the origin was not moved it would be linear or conversely it would be on a arc (circular0.
The Advances Using Shape Builder Tool:- I am all for anything that just restricts Xara being used as a scatter brush. We need some form of sophistication with this tool.
Brush Profile:- This has been my gripe for many years. Just don't like Xara brushes and line controls.
B-Spline Tool:- This is the only one I have doubts over. In Tech. Drawing the spline tool can be bent into most reasonable curve shapes but a computer programme must use some form of maths to construct curves. In French curves you have a set which can be used so that with trial & error you will be able to get the curve that you want with a selection process. If my memory is correct in some paint programmes you had the ability to click the mouse, the smaller clicks away from your starting point in the X axis would give you steeper curves, the larger the clicks on Y axis would also do the same. Very hard to be accurate much easier to use Freehand Brush and then use the Bezier points to edit.
The Silly Putty Tool:- Not a big fan of the way Illy & Corel do this, hardly ever use it, but I do frequently use the Blob Tool in Illy that would be worthwhile.
User Defined Calligraphy Brush:- Would be outstanding to have. Lines drawn in Xara are too clean! they look artificial. This is where any of the competition has Xara beaten hands down.
Tool UI:- It is hard now to buy a PC package with a 4:3 ration as most are aimed now at watching movies and playing games so palettes/galleries are not an issue I think. It is having both on the interface which clutters it up if you use the default. (not well explain).
Mould Tool:- Yes in one.
Tool Organisation:- I would love to see one single button that would bring up vector tools/ a button for bitmap tools. This could be done using various methods but restructuring needs to happen. It is like AI where really powerful features are so well hidden that nobody uses them would not like to see that happen in Xara but it is happening already with Live Effects.
Dark UI:- Not worried about this at all.
A well written request list which should be treated seriously and it has my backing really for all. Maybe the Pro version should be loaded with all Gary's suggestions which are all vector in there nature and a Lite version should be marketed with what is available at the moment.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
- Pantone spot color support for bitmaps exported in PDF.
- Support for true Grayscale export.
- Support for Glyphs in Text mode.
- Return to the selected font in the Fonts drop down list instead of always returning to the first fonts on the list. This would be really helpful when you are auditioning fonts.
- Customizable forms module that is not a widget but part of the web design features.
- Automatic page numbering, plus headers and footers.
- Remember the folder where a document or website was last published. Store this info in the document.
- SUPPORT FOR NON-FLASH ANIMATION
- Option to open a published website in the browser (the physical site, not the file)
- Highlight current page in drop down menus in the same way as on the main level pages.
- On 4 Color Fills, each control point is independent so user can apply this to a skewed rectangle or rhomboid.
More as they occur
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
@Rik—
You are certainly welcome, as all members are, to contribute and extend this wish List. After all, we might (and apparently do) have overlapping wishes/needs, but as individuals, we certainly have unique ones.
Interesting that you want a tool that automates the creation of shadows with diffuse falloff. You do realize that this is a highly specialized request, and I’d hesitate to throw 5 programmers onto this feature when there are so many other, much more basic features a lot of people want? FYI, the type of shadow you’re looking for is sometimes called an “Area Shadow” in modeling programs, and it is very processor-intensive to calculate, more so than a simple bitmap (soft) shadow map, or a raytraced hard shadow.
@Gary P.—Thank you for these “Production-oriented” additions to the list. I wasn’t really considering our professional program here for some of its output capabilities, but to have them would push Xara farther toward the “Professional Design Program” that people have been grousing about, with Xara’s apparent attention to the “hobbyist stuff” recently.
FWIW, I feel some of the features set, and some of Xara’s advertising, is not on the mark, because of a psychological truth. All novices want simple features that produce expected results, but no novice wants to be seen with an “amateur program.” My sister-in-law insisted on using PageMaker for years even though a word processor would have cost far less, and all she used it for was word processing. The point? She wanted the prestige, the Bragging Power! So, Dear Xara: it’s okay, in fact many of us want your pitch to new customers to be that Xara Designer is a professional level program. It won’t put off many novices, not with its current price tag!
@albacore—
I think there has to be some way of reconciling the Shape Builder and the Pressure Profiles features so that defining both a shape and a pattern for a tool is within our reach. I’m attaching a ruffle-edge postcard file that I went through hell and back to create, because Xara doesn’t have an easy feature to define the basic outline pattern and then let it repeat across a rectangular shape.
Attachment 92107
I created the basic shape by tracing over a scan of a Fiskars Paper Edges scissors cut, copied it to the clipboard, and then pasted it into Microsoft Expressions Public Beta 3 from 1995. Interesting, Microsoft can take a path copied from Xara (and not a bitmap), and it can access the Adobe Illustrator ClipBoard, although I understand you might need to pay a licensing fee to Adobe Systems unless you can clean room the feature. I defined and applied this little snippet of a path pattern, exported as a PDF, and somewhat pointlessly got it back into Xara—I suppose I could have finished by design in Expressions, but the tools aren’t as fast to work with as Xara’s.
I’d like this sort of feature with the Strokes/Pressure Profiles, I’d like to see the AICB feature in Xara so I can paste a path into Photoshop any time I like. But most of all, I’d like to be able to work in Xara, creating what I’m thinking up or paid to think up, with as few excursions to other programs as possible.
I don’t think there’s anything exotic on my Wish List.
My Best,
Gary
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I like Gary's list a lot.
I would like to have the Shape Builder tool in XPGD because I do not use any of the web features and therefore have no reason to step up to XDP.
Our discussion about Animation in Xara has pointed out some weakness and I think Gary's request to add additional control points to the Mould Tool would be a big step forward in some areas we have been addressing.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Again (again, again), I know code about as well as I know skydiving (hence I practice neither), and we certainly can wish, but I think to make a Mould that has more than 4 control points means tearing up a lot of existing code. The Mould tool seems to be built on a different "model" than, say, CorelDRAW's Envelope feature.
If we all ever see a Xara engineer on this thread, I'd love it if we were in agreement in which priority our wishes were granted. Drawing and production features I'd like to top the list.
As the story goes, if Xara grants us three wishes, the third would be to have a dozen more wishes.
-g
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
It would, in fact, be highly desirable to have a Xara engineer pop his/her head in here from time to time to talk about the technical feasibility, or lack of, of certain wish-list items. The lack of any response from Xara towers to the hundreds of Dear Xara posts over the years could give the cynics amongst us the impression that they do not read it and, if they do, they frankly don't care.
Come on Xara, for Pete's sake, get involved a bit. You have no idea the positive impact that could have on this type of discussion. You don't have to give away any state secrets, but simply turning up would be a flippin' novelty.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Having been in their position before, it is not always as simple as it sounds. Comments they make (positive or negative) can easily be (and most generally are) taken the wrong way by customers unless they have made a commitment one way or another. I have responded to customer suggestions before just to try to carify what they were suggesting/asking for and it was interpeted that I was working on a solutions when in fact, I was not.
However, it would be nice once in a while to get some acknowledgement that they are listinging (again, taking my previous statement into account). It can be a fine line...........
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
oh they listen
and the proof is in the sketch mode function, the eraser tool, the shape builder tool ...they just follow JC [that's Julius Caesar] 's rather laconic advice about never announcing you are going to do somethiing until you've already done it - a wise maxim for a military general, and the market place is not that different...
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Frank...David has a very legit point.
It would be worse for a programmer to stick their neck in here and even faintly promise something they later discover can't or won't be delivered.
How about this?
Dear Xara Programmers:
If you're reading this, can you just post here that these posts are indeed being read? You don't have to commit to anything; we'd just like reassurance that the posts are being read and possibly considered.
Move the bell or the candlestick on the table while we are holding hands during this seance to let us mortals know that our message is heard from the Great Beyond.
Or at least outside the castle.
-g
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Even so, Gary, if an Xara person even writes, "Yeah, we read these posts," at some point they have to not respond because of the engagement it will produce--the follow-up questions and or direct responses to their responses.
So in my opinion, if they respond to the affirmative that they read these posts and then disappear again, it will have zero positive effect. Maybe. Been wrong lot's o' times.
Take care, Mike
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Yes it would be nice to know that the suggestions and bug reports made in this forum were actually being read, however I do think that we could perhaps try to make it easy for them to quickly scan through the posts and see: a) what is being requested in order of importance to the person posting and b) how many others are also wanting the same features.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Frances, is this you volunteering to make a short list for us here, so we can yay and nay the items?
Seriously? We seem to be in agreement with most of the requests I made in post #1. Add to that what you will. Gary's P.'s requests get my vote, as well, because many members need professional production features (to keep them from buying the Creative Suite), and secondarily to reinforce the reality that this ain't anyone's "toy program."
-g
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Here are some DTP additions for the list
1) Auto Hyphenation. We have full justification of text columns but with out auto hyphenation fully justification in Xara is often a mess!
2) Page numbering which goes in hand with number 3 on my list
3) Booklet creation feature that automatically sets up your pages in folios
And another vector feature I've long been asking for
Convert to Greyscale which would be a button on the info bar that would convert all colours in whatever is selected into percentages of black.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I would add:
AI's appearance panel capabilities. Being able to add multiple fills and strokes, including being able to position the strokes inside, middle and outside, etc.
Mike
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
@Frances,
I can see the first three as players in a production environment, Frances, but I can tell you right now that creating a feature that auto-converts a colour image to greyscale in a way that is pleasing and accurate to the human eye isn't going to happen real soon!
Even the Great and Almighty Adobe Systems gives the user options on how the saturation and brightness of every hue in a photo should be weighted to take into account the reality that colors doesn't naturally port to brightness (greyscale) values, partially because black and white is a man-made, artificial colour "state". Photoshop's Black & White Adjustment lets the user decide how "heavy" or light the hue contribution winds up in a greyscale equivalent. Here's a colour image, and then a straight greyscale by removing any saturation, and at bottom is an adjusted greyscale using the Photoshop feature.
Attachment 92113
It sounds like an operation, that to satisfy artists and their clients, is one best done manually.
-g
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So write a review about it!
Last month, PC World featured a review of Designer X online, and even though Kate had tweeted about it, many of us—including I—missed it.
What makes this both interesting and relevant is if you register, you can write your own review—scroll down and click this tab:
Attachment 92118
PC World's review of Designer X
Me, I think this Wish List, and writing a glowing, but qualified review are related: we're asking the Xara Group for something here, and can offer them something in return over at PC World.
My Best,
Gary
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Re: So write a review about it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
Last month, PC World featured a review of Designer X online, and even though Kate had tweeted about it, many of us—including I—missed it.
<rant>
That just sums up their complete lack of involvement in this forum.
They have an announcement to make that could do them an enormous favour and instead of communicating it to their most loyal fan base, TalkGraphics, they prefer to "tweet" it. Would it not have been better to have done both???
</rant>
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Re: So write a review about it!
Well, PC World's website won't accept new members for a few days it says, and this is Tuesday, so I suggest that if you are a member, go write a review, and if not, try back on Thursday or Friday to sign up, because I will write a review. The reviewer is not a seasoned Xara designer/artist/Illustrator, and I disagree that the Color Editor is hard to use.
Hope to see several reviews there in the future.
Home-made "buzz" is still "buzz",
Gary
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Re: So write a review about it!
Drawing objects by aspect ratio.
Drawing 3D objects.
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Re: So write a review about it!
Hi Petar—
Can you explain what drawing an object by its aspect ratio means?
You have me confused.
As far as drawing 3D objects goes, I can't put that on my personal Wish List—but you're welcome to list it here—there are plenty of free and open source programs already available, what can create 3D shapes. One of the more popular ones on TalkGraphics is Blender. I think even if the engineers agreed to adding a "make 3D stuff" feature, beyond the extruding feature, it would make the program very large, and take it off-course for what it's intended to offer artists.
My Best,
Gary
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Re: So write a review about it!
Wow, what an interesting bunch of suggestions!
I'm a bit late to the discussion, been quite busy lately
Those would greatly enhance Designer's procductivity
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
• I'd like dynamic Smart Shape tool, where the result of creating a polygonal shape can be modified at any time in the future, with the capability to add control points, subtract them, and change control point as well as path segment properties. These took about 5 seconds in CorelDRAW. Xaraists should be able to do it in 2 seconds. Draw has had this feature since version 5.
Attachment 92088
I don't know of those tools (I've kicked the tires of CorelDraw but it crashed on the first try!) I should look into it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
• I'd like the ability to make my own Brush Profiles. Some of the tapered presets produce too sharp at point at either end, and it would simply give the artist more control and expression to be able to make their own brush tip.
A crying need in my opinion
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
• I'd like a true B-Spline tool, please? The Shape tool, in an average professional designer's hands, isn't as fast as a B-Spline tool and about 1/2 hour's practice. I used to hate B-Splines until I discovered how to use the off-path control "hull" to quickly make perfectly smooth curves, French curve-style.
I often use other applications just to use Bspline, I would be very happy to see them in to xara. I find them superior to Bezier curves in many situations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
•And Phil mentioned that it's do-able to make a brush-type tool that can be used to roughen and/or push the edge or a shape on the page, sort of like Silly Putty. And this has been a feature in the competitors for several versions.
Definately yes, It would be quite useful to tweak shapes, as handy as the shape/eraser tool in my opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
• A model for the Mould tool that allows control points to be added, and control point properties to be (more easily) changed. How would a Xaraist create a logo, for example, that's cigar shaped or requires, say, a pentagon of control points?
Again, a crying need! Even some small upgrades would be appreciated, maybe the grid-type would be cool!
I would also like to see basic 4 corners deformation without using the mold tool, maybe shift-clicking a regular blob could stretch a corner.
(Secretly, I also wish for transform that would works on fills)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
Add to this the Dark UI, and it just feels cramped and more disorienting than need be. My suggestion to segregate the bitmap features is just a suggestion. If I could get more advanced path-drawing features, I'd live with the clutter! It's not a #1 priority on my Wish List.
The UI tint should be adjustable with a slider, it should be also scalable in my opinion. The dark one depresses me a bit, but that's just me.
Thanks Gary for taking the time to write all of these.
I Really think Designer is the best vector tool out there, even with it's shortcoming. No other tool is as stable, fast well thought and easy to use.
I could not output half as much work in the same time with other applications, for me the difference is like when you try a good road bike for the first time.
Marc
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Re: So write a review about it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
Hi Petar—
Can you explain what drawing an object by its aspect ratio means?
You have me confused.
You can see it in Photoshop. When using "rectangle selection tool" there is an option to make a selection by "aspect ratio". It means that you enter the proportion something like: width = 1, height = 1.34 and when selecting an object the rectangular tool keeps its aspect ratio.
But, in Xara it can be used for drawing objects keeping their proportion.
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Re: So write a review about it!
Hi Petar—
I'm deadly serious with my Wish List. It shouldn't even be called a "Wish List", because that suggests that I'd "like" a pie-in-the-sky feature.
I'm not. I've considered the features I'm begging, not exactly wishing for.
As far as Aspect Ratio goes, it'd be nice, but in a very real way, the feature already exists, and I'd resist asking a programmer to spend even five mintes when the time is better spent on a less-developed are in the program.
In a bitmap editor, I can see the need, for example, to maintain a specific aspect ratio, so you can crop images in batch mode (Action Scripts in Photoshop) with consistency.
But Xara is a vector drawing program, and once you have a rectangle drawn with a specific aspect ratio, all you need to do is drag on a corner selection handle to scale it up or down while keeping its original proportions.
As far as creating such a rectangle, Xara already has this feature. You begin a rectangle shape (with the Rectangle tool), then type in, for example 200 in the Width field on the Infobar (hit the Tab key), and then type 100 in the Height field, hit Tab or Enter, and you have a 2:1 aspect ratio rectangle.
So it's done differently than in Photoshop, but I definitely wouldn't put a feature as you suggest at or anywhere near the top of my Wish List.
The drawing tools need more muscle right now, IMFFHO.
My Best,
Gary
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Re: So write a review about it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MarcT
The UI tint should be adjustable with a slider, it should be also scalable in my opinion. The dark one depresses me a bit, but that's just me.
It isn't just you. A significant number of Xarans have the same reaction to the dark UI. It's not only depressing to many of us, it also produces eye strain fairly quickly.
As for the slider, that might help the general tone, but it wouldn't do anything about the awful icons in the dark UI.
Agreed re the mold tool, the 4-corners deformation request, and possibly the fill transform. Mostly I use the mold tool to fit screen captures into "screens" on clipart computer images. Usually it works well. Sometimes, not so much.
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Re: So write a review about it!
I think it's important for us all to parse out what is important, and what is less important (and trivial).
I don't use the Mould tool every day, but some Xaraists do. I think it's the percentage (perhaps a vote or poll is in order here).
This is probably tactless as incentive goes, but when Xara first came out, it generally ran rings around CorelDRAW.
Evidently, it only outperforms in most areas, but not the Mould tool. CorelDRAW's Envelope tool was mature the version it came out, version 2 or 3, I believe.
I know the coding uses a different model than Corel does, and I've heard Xara engineers call Corel code some pretty nasty names in the past.
So might we have a better model for the Mould tool, while avoiding the crud that Corel does to make the Envelope tool a very robust and flexible tool?
If enough people would use it?
-g
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Can I put in a call for pinnable files - like in the newer Microsoft Office products? So in the Open dialog you can save a shortcut to the files you use regularly.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Hi, concerning custom brush profiles, I would much like to see an on-screen symmetrical brush profile editor.
This is one rare example where illustrator has really nailed it (Width tool), they should promote that programmer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6hSVVsqyEo
This would be consistent with Xara's general innovative onscreen approach.
Marc
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
The capability to increase the width (symmetrically) at every control point is a must-have feature for an advanced vector drawing program.
Add to this (please, please) the option to put a fill behind or in front of a path's outline. It would make it a LOT simpler to outline text. Yes, this can be faked by a single step Contour, but PostScript language has a facility to specify fill or outline in front for objects.
As long as Xara speaks Flash and PDF, why not complete the circle and talk PostScript as well?
TIA!
Gary
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I heartily agree, Marc & Gary.
@Gary: I would simply put it like I have before--replicate the entire Appearance Panel of Illy in every capability. It is an incredibly powerful capability.
Take care, Mike
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
Add to this (please, please) the option to put a fill behind or in front of a path's outline. It would make it a LOT simpler to outline text. Yes, this can be faked by a single step Contour, but PostScript language has a facility to specify fill or outline in front for objects.
Gary
That would be indeed very handy.
I've cooked an autohotkey script that makes a copy, turn lines to shape, do a .7pt outline, and send it to back to emulate this.
A bit clumsy solution since it involves icon clicking but I do this a lot, especially on text.
Marc
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I think it's a far-flung wish to expect massive amounts of code to be torn up to accommodate artists and designers when the trend in new versions has clearly been to automate certain things to get results by people who aren't imaginative enough to figure out how to do an effect manually.
At the risk of sounding negative—because I am being negative!—the time and resources put into a feature such as the Clone Tool could have been spent on something we're asking for right here. I've been cutting holes in photos, feathering the edges and adding a replacement area manually for over half a decade, and I'm not intending to be disrespectful, but the core of my wishes is to improve the drawing part of Xara; that's what it's supposed to do, that's what stole my heart away from CorelDRAW, if I need to retouch something I own Photoshop.
So this is what Wish Lists are made of. :)
I'd love to see features that other programs have supported for years, and as Mike suggested, I'd like to be able to access them on a central palette. The Line Gallery would be a fine host for more features. I'd like to be able to make my own dashed line pattern because none of the presets offer me what I need on occasion. I'd like to be able to make my own varying width strokes, and I'd like to be able to do honest-to-gosh calligraphic strokes. I know that Expression has some patents on their "skeletal stroke" technology" but I find it very hard to understand why this can't be clean-roomed. Stretching a closed vector path to conform to another vector path can't be rocket science.
This is art created with a ten year old program. It's all scalable; some of the elements are bitmaps, but the wheat shafts are a stroke I created myself, and some of the paint strokes are vectors that have a transparency based on a coarse weave canvas.
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I'm not showing off; this is not Great Art. But it is expressive, and frankly it's proof to me that a decade-old program can still be exciting.
I'd like less goofy stuff that has a vertical use, I'd like less new stuff that is done better in competing programs. I'd like fewer presets and more opportunity to create my own tools within Xara.
For artists, the new "canvas" is the web, and we really have to watch all the time to see what direction it's moving in.
Please give us the tools and features to meet the new media challenges!
TIA,
Gary
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
I'd like to see some of these requests ie custom shape profiles etc applied to the shapebuilder tool. I'd like to be able to create a small shape or group of shapes, apply fills and/or transparency, to it and be able to set it as a custom nib for the shapebuilder or the eraser tool. It would also be great to be able to save a folder of these custom nibs and be able to point Xara to it and easily use them.
I would also love to have a transparency slider available on the shapebuilder and eraser tool info bar instead of having to deselect everything and go to the transparency tool to adjust the transparency of these tools.
The Shapebuilder and the Eraser tools are a great start and I really hope that they will continue to be developed and improved.
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Re: Bouton's Features Wish List for version 9
@Frances,
Your wish is certainly a step forward, but please let me point out that a brush that produces a closed and filled path 1.) doesn’t advance the building block of vector graphics—the path—at all, and 2.) I think a lot of people would be obliged to invest in at least $100 worth of hardware—a digitizing tablet—to take advantage of any added elegance to the Shape Builder tool.
Me, I either use a perfectly decent Logitech mouse, or a physical pen and pencil (that I draw with and then scan); because a shape created using the Shape Builder tool is a “set piece”—it has no dynamic editability such as paths and QuickShapes do, you have to be precise with the stroke, or Undo and try again (unless you use a stylus and tablet).
I’d much prefer that if any more automated routines are added for producing shapes, that they are designed around what Illustrator and CorelDRAW do (and Expression)— that a “core” or “skeleton” is produced when you make a stroke, and this path influences the overall shape of what you’ve drawn when you then modify control points. The Shape Builder produces control points around the path which is produced, and as this goes, there is no hierarchical control to edit the overall shape of the shape once it’s been created.
I’d be happier with more features for paths, and you might be happier with LiveBrush; there’s a $10 and a free version I think. Here’s some examples of elegant strokes.
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My Best,
Gary