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Xara wants its Shape Editor Tool to be the primary drawing tool. It works much like the historic "bendomatic" technique in FH (something I highly favor). But that method is just that--a wonderful method to have available. It is not the most expedient way to draw all of the time. Experienced users of Bezier-based drawing programs want to be able to fluidly place corner/curve points--with predictable results--as they draw. Xara's Shape Editor Tool lets you use keyboard shortcuts to specify whether the next segment you place will be straight or curved; but whatever criteria it uses to position the extended curve handles seems unsophisticated and utterly arbitrary relative to the path being drawn. So essentially, yes, you can cause the handles to be extended when you place the point, but you still have to go back and then edit them before proceeding on to the next segment. This is not efficient to any proficient user of AI or FH.
A Pen Tool is provided. But the program's own documentation all but denegrates this tool, saying somthing akin to "for users who want to torture themselves." The Pen works by conventional click and clickDrag as one would expect. But by all appearances, this tool is considered a mere "me, too" afterthought. Using Xara's preferred Shape Editor Tool, you can do all the momentary overrides to edit the pre-existng segments of the current path and then resume drawing the path from where you leave off. But not so with the Pen.
"The Pen works by conventional click and clickDrag as one would expect. But by all appearances, this tool is considered a mere "me, too" afterthought."
