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New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Weve just released a new version of Photo & Graphic Designer. As always you can find an overview of whats new on our website @ http://www.xara.com/photo-graphic-designer/whats-new/ and detailed information in the Release Notes @ http://releasenotes.xara.hosting/pgd365/ but here are some of the highlights:
Paint on photo effects with the new Photo Effect painter
25+ photo filter presets in the Online Content Catalog
Magnetic Lasso for quick and easy cut-outs
New XProcess option in the photo enhance tool
New color dodge & burn transparency blend modes
Google Material Design icons added to the symbol library
New SmartShapes such as charts, text panels, photo grids and a new spiral
Enhanced Content Catalog with search and an integrated stock photo library
Improved Word, PDF, RTF and PSD support
Like Web Designer it benefits from the Update Guarantee, you can find out more about that on http://www.xara.com/update-guarantee/
We hope you enjoy the new version!
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
From my first look there are some very nice improvements. And the Stock Photos Collection (Content Catalog) is worth the price of the program alone. Note to users who don't see any photos in the Content Catalog, enter a keyword or two in the new Search box and it shall be revealed.
The paint on photo effects give you more control over editing just a portion of a photo.
The new intuitive controls for editing photos (rotate, resize, round corners, etc.) are going to be a real time saver and the similar new controls on smart shapes are something to check out.
Dodge and Burn blend options are a welcome edition to the transparency filters.
Nicely done.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
I'm waiting for Designer Pro so I am hoping these may still be coming, but the lack of any more improvements on the brushes is disappointing. I'm not sure about the photo presets I can see them being useful if you could save your own and adjust the intensity or opacity of the preset as a whole. Maybe when DP is out and I've had a chance to try them.
The stock photos from Pixabay sound really good, I've used pixabay before and already have an account with them so will be looking forward to seeing how that works. If there will be access to the whole pixabay library from within Xara that will be wonderful, there are photos, vector artwork and videos on pixabay as well.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Would have upgraded anyway, but now I am really looking forward to the release of the new version of Designer Pro.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Gah, I feel like I just upgraded from 10. :\
But I do like that new photo process brush. I was just thinking about that being a real photo editing weakness today and next thing I know, it's in there....
can't upgrade till next paycheck, but this looks like a much better upgrade than 11 was from 10.
Also, can anyone report if the effect brush works on non-photo shapes?
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
What's more important is the way the software is delivered. Xara sell's a license to use the software and in return for your money you also get a year free of updates. From the website: "For the 365 days from purchase you’ll get access to new feature, updates and content. At the end of the 365 days you can choose to upgrade again, or not. If you choose not to, then the online services (the online Content Catalog) will be removed or restricted (these are online services anyway that would typically be part of a subscription"
That is an interesting construction and though I'm really sympathetic towards Computer Concepts and the idea of selling this way of delivering software renders some questions. Are you entitled to upgrades when the product fails (i.e. you discover a bug after more then one year)? And what to do with a leap year?
And where is the Magix moniker?
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Michael
...If you choose not to, then the online services (the online Content Catalog) will be removed or restricted (these are online services anyway that would typically be part of a subscription"
In XP Pro 11, every time I use the line gallery for the first time, it seems to download the corresponding files from the web when the gallery first opens up. If I update, will I lose the lines and arrowheads after a year? (I'm really not impressed by the current implementation of these 'protection' features, and if that is the way Xara is continuing in, is not something I will continue supporting.)
David
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
David - Xara retarded the loading of the brushes until the user selects something from the Line Gallery. Loading the brushes was really increasing the time it took Designer to open. I am not sure if they download or just load on demand. I just tried this in Photo & Graphic Designer and it does the same thing but really fast.
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Is anybody else seeing this? When I open Photo & Graphic Designer 365 I am getting some kind of white rectangle in the top left portion of the screen.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
Is anybody else seeing this? When I open Photo & Graphic Designer 365 I am getting some kind of white rectangle in the top left portion of the screen.
I actually had weird graphic anomolies with Photo and Graphic similar to this. White boxes would appear overlayed on entire windows system and wouldn't go away until xara was closed. It happened again and again until I restared my computer. I couldn't recreate it, I'm guessing it was a graphic card memory leak.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Thanks for reporting this Gary. We will try and reproduce the problem and then try and determine what process is causing the window to appear.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Don't forget to use "custom install" or you will get simpleclean installed.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gracehjs
Don't forget to use "custom install" or you will get simpleclean installed.
Grace, I've never gone for a Custom Install on any Xara product and I've always had the option to not install SimpliClean,
Acorn
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Grace, I've never gone for a Custom Install on any Xara product and I've always had the option to not install SimpliClean,
Then they changed their policy because it used to install automatically if you did the standard install. I always use the custom install so I cannot dispute what you have observed.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
Then they changed their policy because it used to install automatically if you did the standard install. I always use the custom install so I cannot dispute what you have observed.
Gary, it pops up ticked, which I detest, but "measure twice, cut once" still applies to this electronic medium,
Acorn
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
being able to individually name objests in the gallery is great
as for the rest....
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Downloaded and installed. Great fun for the price of a nice lunch.
I won't eat tomorrow :-)
Grenou
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
katemoir
Paint on photo effects with the new Photo Effect painter
25+ photo filter presets in the Online Content Catalog
Magnetic Lasso for quick and easy cut-outs
New XProcess option in the photo enhance tool
New color dodge & burn transparency blend modes
Google Material Design icons added to the symbol library
New SmartShapes such as charts, text panels, photo grids and a new spiral
Enhanced Content Catalog with search and an integrated stock photo library
Improved Word, PDF, RTF and PSD support
Is it all? Funny!
It's a pity!
I am interested in the last point. What specific improvements by PSD/PDF ex/import? Probably again invisible improvements.
I'll wait for PRO version. Maybe a miracle will happen. Modern AI/PSD export, warp transform tool, some new vector tools and vector patterns, color management etc... :)))
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
regarding PSD improvements: you can now map xara objects to PSD layers - ie you can tell the PSD export to export every xara object as a seperate PSD layer - and when importing you can choose to convert every PSD layer to a seperate xara object - this is actually very useful as far as I am concerned
the new alignment distribution options are a nice touch, and as mentioned previously the naming of objects in the gallery is long overdue and most welcome
if i was using photo and graphic designer then I would upgrade on the basis of these features; I don't do photgraph manipulation in xara, nor do I use it as much as I once did, but the PSD filter changes and the ability to name objects in the layer gallery would save a lot of time when I do use the program.... it remains to be seen what is offered for Designer Pro and the more expensive upgrade...
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
Gary, it pops up ticked, which I detest, but "measure twice, cut once" still applies to this electronic medium,
Acorn
but it did not always do this - that is Gary's point - we had more than one thread on the subject back in the day.... maybe it all depended which program you were installing.... I too always do custom installs regardless...
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
"Great fun for the price of a nice lunch".
My wife and I had a great 2 course lunch with a few drinks for about half that price and it was lovely.:-O
Seems a bit steep to me.
Bob.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
iamtheblues
"Great fun for the price of a nice lunch".
My wife and I had a great 2 course lunch with a few drinks for about half that price and it was lovely.:-O
Seems a bit steep to me.
Bob.
Bob, if you and your Wife are in Spain then I imagine the food and drink might be cheaper than Grenou's missed luncheon today in SE England.
Acorn
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
regarding PSD improvements: you can now map xara objects to PSD layers - ie you can tell the PSD export to export every xara object as a seperate PSD layer - and when importing you can choose to convert every PSD layer to a seperate xara object - this is actually very useful as far as I am concerned...
Thanks for the info @handrawn.
I am very often prepared PSD files in XDP. I like the ability to manipulate multiple objects in the inside Xara's layer. I like the ability to create layer groups for PSD. Is it different now?
What am I missing: serious transformation tool for bitmap, the ability to export CMYK PSD files. It would be ideal guides and smart objects. Although I wish probably too much. ))
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
it would be nice to be able to export each [selected] xara object as it's own PSD layer all within a PSD layer group - but I don't think you can
you can always concatenate in Photoshop afterwards; that is, export each set of PSD layers that you want as a 'group' as a seperate PSD file and put it together in PS - not much fun if you want nested groups of more than one level though....
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
After the new XDP release I'll try the demo, perhaps the new PSD improvements are handy.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
You can export objects on named layers in PSD and they come into Photoshop on the same named layers. Just tried this in Designer Pro X11 and Photo & Graphic Designer.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
yes Gary I think you've been able to do that for a while
sometime back someone from xara, might have been PhilM said that since objects in xara could be grouped, such groups were the equivalent of layers in PS, and xara layers could be looked on as as layer groups
until now though you could not export each object on a xara layer to its very own layer in the PSD - now you can
for example six object groups on one xara layer can be exported to a PSD resulting in six layers, one for each object in stacking order and position
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Why is it that the introduction file always starts up when I open Photo & Graphic Designer 365? - I have all the backup options unchecked to see if that mattered, but it doesn't.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
glenngosack
Why is it that the introduction file always starts up when I open Photo & Graphic Designer 365? - I have all the backup options unchecked to see if that mattered, but it doesn't.
Just close it when the application opens.
It should never bother you again,
Acorn
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
glenn - What happens if you just close the page?
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
glenn - What happens if you just close the page?
Cross-posted!
Acorn
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
glenngosack
Why is it that the introduction file always starts up when I open Photo & Graphic Designer 365? - I have all the backup options unchecked to see if that mattered, but it doesn't.
It sounds as if you have not saved a default page which Xara will start up with every time you open Xara.
Choose a page size from options or a custom one, put all the settings you require in the options box, i.e grid and ruler, units-pixels or inches ect. When you have selected all the settings you require, click on apply and then ok, in the file drop down menu, select "save template as" enter a name for this template and most important, tick the use as default template. Next time you open Xara your template will be displayed, the Introduction is still in the Designs Gallery.
Stygg
Stygg
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
Just close it when the application opens.
It should never bother you again,
Acorn
actually it willl if you are running the trial - it will open everytime
XX_introduction.xar is held in your user appdata, but if you delete it the program will redownloded it from the web as I recall
maybe just best to delete it everytime you open the program until you are done with the trial / buy it
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
actually it willl if you are running the trial - it will open everytime
XX_introduction.xar is held in your user appdata, but if you delete it the program will redownloded it from the web as I recall
maybe just best to delete it everytime you open the program until you are done with the trial / buy it
I found this problem in PG&D10 and a 11 even though I had purchased them even after entering the serial number and run as administrator and the method I posted was the only way I could stop the Introduction displaying as the default page.
Stygg
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
fair enough if it had become your default - in the trial of P&GD365 that I have downloaded it is not the default page file, it opens as well as a second tabbed file , and as I recall this is forced until the product is activated....
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
I actually created a default page first thing - (been using xara for many years) - but it opens both my default and in another tab, the introduction. handrawn's explanation seems the most logical since it is a trial - I'm just seeing the new features and waiting for designer pro.
thanks,
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
This is the price of a nice lunch in the next village and this IS the UK, where everything seems a lot more expensive than the rest of the world.
Not to worry, I didn't starve. Have bought the new version and having fun investigating :-)
Grenou
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Three of us had a nice two-course Sunday lunch today, in the UK, with drinks and it came in comfortably below the P&GD price.
Not that it says much about the value of P&GD.
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
define lunch - I could spend a fiver in Greggs, or twenty plus easy in the local steak restaurant on a decent rare-cooked 20 oz ribeye or t-bone done by someone who knows what they are doing... :p
i dare say it would still be a whole load cheaper where bob lives >:)
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Re: New Version of Photo & Graphic Designer
Well we had a traditional Sunday lunch, beef, potatoes, carrots, peas, Yorkshire pudding and gravy.
Followed up with Gateau/Cheesecake. I had two pints of Bitter Shandy, there were also four halves of lager shandy, and two floater coffees.
Not extravagant or posh in any way. Lovely none the less.
BTW handrawn, don't imagine that I'm any stranger to lovely stakes in some swanky restaurant. That's just a different experience.