Corel Knockout 2 in Xara

Does anybody know if Corel Knockout 2 is as good as that masking tool in CS5?, and also if the plugin would work in Xara. It is a lot cheaper than Photoshop.

Alan

Post moved to new thread: Xara Forums > Talk Graphics > Xtreme Plugins


Hi Alan,

I don't think any Corel plugins will work with Xara Xtreme/Designer Pro.

Thanks for the reply, I was just wondering because the XDP6 help says that many Adobe Photoshop plug-ins will work, and the Corel Knockout site says that it is Photoshop compatible.

Problem is there doesn't seem to be a demo version and US99 is a bit much for something that may not work.

Plugins and filters can become a bit confusing, though I have never used Corel Knockout my senses tell me that it would be a plugin application rather than a plugin filter, this means that it would only be accessible from the File>>Automate menu in Photoshop (such as AlienSkin Blowup and Genuine Fractals are).
These are not compatible with Xara Xtreme or Xara Designer Pro

Hi

here's an alternative that does work with xtreme 5 [not yet tried it with designer 6]

there is a 10 day trial

http://akvis.com/en/smartmask/

I seem to remember there were problems with knockout and xtreme - but never tried knockout 2

I have Knockout 2 but I can't even get it to show in Xara so I've never bothered. If i can get it to show up i'll test it in wdp6

Didnt try that with current version but Knockout2 worked with last version of XaraX on my pc.
If I find the old CD I install and try again.

Juergen

I remember using KO form Xara. I don't remember the version. I saw my disk the other day, but I have Smart Mask and would rather use it. KO requires marking a selection as you would in PhotoShop. I spent a lot of time in corrections. The edges were never clean. You could use it to erase sort of. Marking in Smart Mask is much easier for me. More like using a felt pen. Trial versions are available. I think KO was only acquired by Corel like a lot of other programs.

Rich

My favourite way to knock out a background is to simply use the shape editor tool and draw a mask then slice. With a bit of practice it's easier and I get better results.

Thanks to everybody for all of the suggestions and advice. I think that as I do not need to do this very often, I should probably go with angelize's solution, much cheaper too :)

I have Corel Knockout 2 and working fine with Xara Xtreme 5 and Designer Pro 6.
No problem.

I bought Corel's Knockout 2 after reading this thread.

What I can tell you is that it does work fine with XaraDesigner Pro 6 ( on a computer that is running a 32 bit version of Windows Vista home ).

The important difference between using Knockout and the mask in XaraDesigner is that KnockOut is much easier and faster to use.
You just draw a very general line interior to the edge you'd like to cut, and line external to that perimeter, then click on the process button. Boom! Done !
There are also additional refinement tools for making more exacting adjustments if need be.
Importantly, it can be found for much less than suggested retail online if you do some searching.

- Andy

thanks for the update guys - always good to know these things