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What is the difference between Xara X1 and Xara Xtreme. I ordered a Xara Graphic Studio that suppose to contain 3 different software packages, including Xara Xtreme and I received Xara X1... Are these packages the same?
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
That's good, I asked earlier if X1 was still available but got no response. X1 is more stable and supports more printing output and Pantone colours (features removed from Xtreme). Xtreme still needs a few patches but has a PDF export and can apply some Photoshop-like filters to vector shapes.
Xtreme has a quicker redraw than X1 but achieves the higher performance with bitmap cached copies of objects which isn't always a good thing. Xtreme has a newer version of the Xara Picture Editor spinoff/plugin app but both versions have an Autobalance which is all I really used. I personally prefer X1 over Xtreme, some others do too (http://talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=19128) but it really depends what you want to do.
I am with Daniel on this. It all depends on what you intend on using the product for. If you want to do professional graphics for printing at the local printshop then X1 is better in some aspects. If you are more of a hobbyist who might print at the local printshop maybe once a year then xtreme is the better bet. Can both live side by side on the same machine? Yes! Can you run x1 and xtreme at the same time? yes! Can they swap files... mostly.
Xtreme has a larger feature set than x1. AS long as you keep within x1 features, the files swap just fine.
Is the cost to have both prohibitive? Ummm... I have spent more eating lunch at Mcdonalds (feeding teenagers that is) than the cost of the upgrade... so go for it! :D
If you were told that you would get Xreme then you will almost certainly find you are entitled to a free upgrade to Xtreme. Contact Xara via the web site.
Christine
I'm not sure I agree with that. To help me understand your point, in what way is Xtreme less stable? I myself have identified and reported over 100 bugs in X1 during the last couple of months - a number of which were critical ones that crashed X1 but now not Xtreme. In general, the only way Xtreme could be less stable is if there were crash bugs introduced from the new features (namely the LE tool), and some other reworked features like shadows etc. Having used it extensively, I can say it has not crashed on me in a while now since its inception release. As far as I have observed, Xtreme is considerably more stable than X1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Xhris, going on my own experience with my own work I don't think that X1 has crashed on me in over a year. After I switched to Xtreme I got one or more crashes most days. I played with Live Effects a couple of times to see what they were but have little/no use for them in day to day work so the files I was working on in Xtreme were either LE-less Xtreme files or old X1 files.
Nothing on my PC crashes, I have very little software on it because it's how I earn my living, it's otherwise rock solid. I lost confidence in using Xtreme and didn't feel able to recommend it to others because it crashed so many times. I kept Xtreme installed but used X1 day-to-day but after having loaded Xtreme without realising for some real work soon after the first December release of Xtreme, I uninstalled it: it crashed while working on an old X1 file that I have used dozens of times (merely editing text on a file I use for a DVD template inlay card - nothing fancy about it at all!) and have uninstalled it now.
I think that my confidence in Xtreme would be hard to win back, especially with there being so little new that I'd use. I realise some things are different rather than worse, I don't like for example Xtreme's feathering control but know it's personal preference. Don't get me wrong - I am a diehard Xara user - cut my index/mouse finger open and it'll say XARA through the bone like Blackpool Rock but Xtreme does nothing for me. The delays over the CD and manual make it worse - I'd rather have an email from the Moirs to tell me that the manual would be with me by the end of May 2006 than just be left to wonder or read Anthony's messages on this forum to say that it hasn't even gone to print yet.
Xtreme is great for people who want a play with their pictures but I don't think it suits me. It's a shame but I realise that for Xara there is more money in people playing with pictures who want shiny new buttons than people like me who want small refinements like an autosave, userdefined defaults for the number of contour steps, keyboard shortcut to the colour eyedropper etc.
I've gone back to X1, Xtreme is a little too whacky in it's behaviour. Toolbars appear and disappear, very sloppy transparencies that would have been acceptable in the mid 80's but not now, plus nearly every export needs postwork to remove Xtreme added extras. Don't expect the CD version to be much better than the 2.0e, so it's very unlikely it will make it all the way from the mailbox to the office.
Weird, I've had none of the problems you mentioned with Xtreme...
I believe you should have got a note within your Xara Studio saying that you'll get Xtreme later, but we've given you X1 for now. I can double check if you want me to, but look in your package for a piece of paper.Quote:
Originally Posted by MetzLyov
X1 crashed on me a lot (for now known and fixed reasons). The early released beta versions of Xtreme crashed, but that was expected by definition. The latest version of Xtreme doesn't crash anymore (in any way I know of). Maybe you could continue to use it again, and note if it does crash (even if you can't identify the exact cause), if not for yourself, then for the benefit of others. For the most part, I would now recommend Xtreme over X1, unless people need the features that were removed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Xhris
Well, I've done that - and want to make my way back to X1 again! I kept Xtreme uninstalled until the http://talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=19503 topic, when I reinstalled. I have 2.0e dated 7th December and expect the CD to arrive in the morning (not sure if it will contain a later revision?)Quote:
Originally Posted by Xhris
Today I had four words in one text block, changed the last word to a different font and cut it to the clipboard. Xtreme exited with a serious error immediately after I pressed CTRL+X. The document was a very basic file created in X1 containing just three rectangles as markers for print borders to a pre-cut sheet of paper. Since opening the template I had pasted in a bitmap (not large) from the web and had rotated the text 90º.
Another gripe still present is this: type some text, apply a 1 step contour and a drop shadow to it, copy the result with a left-drag and right click to deposit the copy, then amend the original's text. The contour and drop shadow don't update. The only sure way I have found to update them is to save, close, and reopen the file: moving them, panning them off screen and back on again, scrolling, or drawing a rectangle over it and deleting it doesn't (always?) work. The same thing happens in a more regular workflow but those steps seem to consistently reproduce the problem.
This did not occur for me. When I encounter a problem like this, I always try to repeat the last few steps I did, or as much of the general document as I can. It sometimes takes a while of trial and error, but I usually figure out the cause with some persistence and effort. I then write a recipe to repeat it and contact Xara about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Yes, this occurs for me too. Have you reported it to Xara so they can do something about it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
There are times when it would be easier for me to run back to something old and stable when I see a problem with something new, but problems aren't fixed unless an effort is made to help get them fixed. I always try to identify the source of a bug when I run into one. As a result, many of the ones I have found have been fixed and a lot of the bugs in X1 are not there in Xtreme now.
I can't make it happen again either, but with respect, the last thing on my mind when I've just lost an amount of work is how to re-create the problem immediately. When I have time later, other factors may have changed - and I can't rarely ever recreate the crash. My point earlier though was that these kind of crashes never get me in X1, only Xtreme.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xhris
No I lost confidence in making contact with Xara long ago. Perhaps you know of a contact method I don't, with the exception of telephone contact I have enjoyed very limited success.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xhris
Yes, while annoying, in general, experiencing a crash is no reason to ditch Xara given its record for fixing reproducible serious bugs in a timely manner. Go here for evidence.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
xtreme@xara.com is used for reporting bugs. I've reported the text contour one and it has been recognised by the developers, and will likely be fixed in due course.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
The Xara cycle:
1. Discover a bug
2. Find a recipe for reproducing it
3. Report it
4. It gets fixed (most severe first).
OK here goes, I finally got my Xtreme CD on Dec 31st and tried to install it last Monday. The CD was faulty and Xara didn't reply to my ticket after a week so I've copied someone else's CD. Using Xtreme 1.0e CD for the first time today, crash straight away.
(original message deleted - just found an easier way to reproduce the crash, will post in a minute...)
Could someone try this before I send it in an email to Xhris's bug reporting address?
Xtreme has always crashed on me at what seemed like random events and I've never been able to reproduce my steps. Today I think I have found one of the crash prompts: if you colour a word in a text block using the colour picker and then cut a selection of the sentence to the clipboard, Xtreme crashes with the error "Access violation exception at offset 0x000C3727".
(While I was taking the screenshots (and pasting them into X1), the "updating clipboard" bug hit me again - that one has been around for years but I've never been able to find the trigger for that. It requires any flavour of X1/Xtreme to be closed and re-opened before it can "see" new contents of the Windows clipboard. It hits quite often when producing documents with lots of screenshots, Alt+PrntScrn takes a screenshot and places it onto the clipboard but when the bug bites, Xara can't see anything new on the clipboard until it is restarted.)
jep, that will crash Xtreme.
Thank you. I've sent an email to the address Xhris posted.
Thanks. That's a nasty bug that's new to Xtreme, so we'll look at fixing it and releasing an Xtreme patch.
Neil
Just tried your instructions three times, and Xtreme didn't crash.. was able to Ctl-X and paste with no problem.
Thanks Neil :-)
I've tried it a few more times glenngosack, I'm sure it is a bug. Making the text bold makes no difference, I needn't have included that step. Nor does cutting words before or after the recoloured text - cutting just the text itself forces the crash. Picking a set colour doesn't crash, it's using the eye dropper to set the colour which seems to make it happen.
Same here.Quote:
Originally Posted by glenngosack
Glen
Hi,everyone! I'm new to Xara,and need a bit of help.I downloaded xaraextreme in December,and just got my manual and cds today.I see on the program disc that here are movies,clipart etc.I assimue I got all this stuff when I downloaded,right?There is a second disc-xara zone-do I install that as well,or is all that in there,too?Thanks!
Model bug report (take ages don’t they). And you justified your earlier point. But at least that one will be neutralised. For new bugs to occur in old features, there must have been some substantial under-the-hood changes for Xtreme’s release. With time, all these new ones will be filtered out. I can appreciate your point of wanting to use X1, but I still prefer to use Xtreme, as I still feel it is more stable for what I use it for. There is still one other crash-causing bug in Xtreme that annoys me, but the good thing about knowing how to cause crash bugs is that you know how to avoid them until they’re patched.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
And yes the non-updating clipboard is still a pain. One method I found (and have reported) that triggers it involves both X1 and Xtreme being open simultaneously. So avoiding that situation will reduce the chances of it happening.
I take it back... I didn't use the eyedropper for color selection the first time I tried it. Just did and boom - crash. - confirmed
i just tried it and thought for sure it wouldn't crash on me because i am using a multi-clipboard (which i LOVE - M8 MultiClipboard) BUT IT DID CRASH!!!
Same here!Quote:
Originally Posted by glenngosack
Glen
(Maybe the similarity between two of us here has to do with being named Glen[n] :o)
and I guess the number of n's doesn't make a difference.
no, the number of ns certainly doesn't matter because i spell Glenn like this:
Bob
hahahahahaha
I'm with Daniel on this issue.
I use X1 99.5% of the time over Xtreme. Which comes in handy for providing AI folks the vectors they need. Xtreme does a very good job converting XaraX vectors to WMF's & AI files. Saves about 50% on effort per conversion.
For my work though, the CMYK printing option is manditory, I've stated this many times before (a broken record for sure).
I can live without spots, but CMYK is a must have. If Xtreme had it, I'd be using it more, but for now extreme works for the PDF & AI conversions. It compliments X1 quite well.
My hope is that one day we'll see a Print module upgrade that takes advantage of the Open source available to Xtreme. Till then, I'll stick with X1.
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Kudo's to everyone involved with the Xtreme manual. Very well done & worth the wait. ;)
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