Problem with Blended and Contoured objects

Hi guys.

Just wanted to ask if anybody else here have problems with objects inside Blended and Contoured groups?
I use Xara Designer to create icons, that's why I usually have 2 views open, one is 100% zoom and another is about 500% to deal with little details.
Starting with the version 7 of Xara Designer I can no longer edit objects inside of Blended or Contoured groups, the application just freezes.

I put tickets into tech support for this issue but the answer that I got more than a year ago was:
"I'm afraid we cannot provide a timescale as to when this issue will be resolved"
and this year is:
"The bug has been logged but I cannot guarantee when it will be resolved. The development team must prioritise problems along with product development. It's possible it will be fixed in future releases and each time the bug is reported a count is incremented and added to the bug report."

I may not be right but it sounds to me like a polite version of "NO".
And it has been three new releases since the bug first appeared... and I can't upgrade since Xara Designer 6 because of that.

I must admit I have mixed feelings about that... first I'm frustrated because of being stuck on some old version. Second I'm starting to think that I may really be the only one person in the world who uses those features, so I'll just have to accept the fact it's not going to work anymore.

Well... except for venting. Does anybody experience troubles with that? Maybe you found a workaround or something since I can't have it fixed. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you!

Can you give us an example of how this works?

I have found that since I first started using CorelXara (about 1996) that the Blend Tool has changed a lot. One of the problems is when they add a new feature or tool, it can sometimes change the way another tool (such as the blend tool) works.

Hello Gary,

Please see the attached files.
Open bug.xar file and arrange two views like it is shown on bug_pre.png.

Then try to use any object inside of Blend or Contour group using Ctrl key and try to do something with it.. move, rotate, resize, etc. After that it stucks.

I understand there may be some unexpected bugs appearing in places which seem not to be affected by development... being a software developer myself for four years I know the complex software can be hard to pull together.
I was more upset of the fact that nobody apparently is going to fix it at all in the nearest future judging by the responses I got from the support team :( And since it's critical for me I'm trying to find a suitable workaround.
Anyway thank for your help Gary!

Hi Centaurus,
I don´t remember anymore how version 6 or 7 worked regarding blends and contours. In most recent versions you can't edit the intermediate steps of a blend. Only the initial and final steps. The blend will update accordingly. I'm not sure if we could ever change an intermediate step of a blend no matter of version. But i never get stuck. The blend updates correctly.

No no I'm not talking about intermediate steps. I'm talking about start and final step. That is that stopped working in version 7 and is not working until now.
But the bug only appears if you have several views opened.

Sorry i misunderstood what you said here: Then try to use any object inside of Blend or Contour group using Ctrl key and try to do something with it...
Anyway you're right, it freezes Xara if more than one view is open. Still there isn't much we can do about it since Xara already is aware of this situation.
I see your problem, unfortunately i don't have any useful idea for this :(

I can confirm I am having the same problem when Ctrl-clicking one of the end objects and attempting to move it, however it is occurring inconsistently. Once I shut down the program via the Task Manager (it would not let me exit normally), I opened the file and arranged the views again, and was able to Ctrl-click one end fo the object and move it around, change the color, etc.

I was also able to select the object by drilling down into the layers gallery, so there may be a possible workaround.

-- Ben

Hi Ben,

I tried to select an object by Layer gallery but it works the same..
The matter is that you can change the color or pull object handles if it is a shape and it'll work. But if you try to move or rotate the whole object it freezes.
The same thing happens in new version of Xara Designer for Contoured objects... if you look at the attached file, the group with 3 user figures.

Attachment 96760

Okay, with that file I'm seeing fairly consistent behavior so far. When two views are open, and I select one object in the blended group (either ctrl-click or via the layers gallery), attempting to move that object results in a partial lockup of the program. I can still scroll, pan, and zoom using the mouse wheel, but cannot click on anything (closing the program requires right-clicking on the program on the taskbar and selecting close).

-- Ben

Hi Centaurus,

I've just had a look at this and the bug will be fixed in the next version of the program. It was caused by the contour and blend objects updating both views during dragging, which is not quite right (you can see it leaving bits behind in one of the views) and not how other objects behave. This unexpected behaviour was upsetting some of the other code.

BTW: There is a workaround for you until the fix is released - have a single view and use Ctrl+Mousewheel to quickly zoom in and out. I think this is what most people do when they want to look at a drawing in detail because it's extremely quick, natural and convenient. That's presumably why very few other people encountered the problem.

BTW2: If you do ever encounter this bug (the semi-hang where clicks are mostly ignored), pressing Escape should get you out of it.

Phil

Thanks, Phil.

Glad to know it can be fixed :)
Seems you will have a lot of new features to catch up with in the next version now Centaurus!
Nice work Phil!

It's good to know there's a very simple and easy workaround. I can see why very few people would encounter this issue.

How many people actually use the multiple view feature of Xara (useful as it may be), I wonder?

I would imagine many who work on art that is intended to be 'reproduced' at a much smaller size than it is created at - that will include cartoonists who do the kind of stuff I do, icon creators such as the OP; - two monitors and two views makes everything so much easier for me at least [given VHQ rendering], and I could wish for more sometimes

Thank you Phil! Sorry I took much time to response, I was out of work for several days.

Unfortunately suggested workarounds do not really work for me.. I'm using wacom tablet, and not mouse, there is no mousewheel click for me :) Moreover when it comes to lots of icons, constant in out zooming really a bit too much. I have to see permanent zoomed-in and actual sizes at the same time.
Escape key does unfreeze the application, thanks! it still doesn't let me do blend editing but at least I save time on getting back to work.

I'm soooo excited to hear it'll be fixed in the next patch, that would made my day and more :) Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Centaurus

I use Xara Designer to create icons, that's why I usually have 2 views open, one is 100% zoom and another is about 500% to deal with little details.

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Even though you are using a wacom tablet and not a mouse, you can still (just about) get the same effect of the zoom in and out by using the keyboard number keys.

1. = 100%
2. = 200%
3. = 300%
4. = 400%
5. = 50%

If you are using the Pro version then you can always customize the keyboard shortcuts to change what they do and maybe learn a few new ones such as...

z = zoom tool (and then use your pen to drag select what you want to zoom to, and then n = freehand and brush tool, or F4 = shape tool to get back to drawing
Ctrl+Shift+z = zoom to selected
Ctrl+Shift+j = zoom to drawing

Another thing you could do is to change the defaults on your Wacom tablet (instead of using keyboard shortcuts).

I know that this isn't the same as using the dual views (I use them too on occasion) but as a work-around until the new version comes out it might work out for you.

I hope that helps,
Eric

You should also find that the editing does work in one of the views (except for the bits that sometimes get left behind) so just swap the two views over.

Gerry

Gerry! Now you're a life saver!! Thank you tons! I have never figured out that views are unidentical for this issue and I could actually have a real workaround!