New Xara Plus Photo Overlays

@Kate, I am sure these overlays will have some use:

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We’ve added another 1200 Photo Filter Overlays to the Online Content Catalog of Xara Designer Pro+. Overlays can be added to your photo, even on top of other photo filters, to provide a huge choice of creative possibilities.

You can find them in Components > Image resources > Photo Filter Presets > Overlays, in 4 new categories (Light Rays, Night Sky, Rose Petal and additions to Light Leak). To apply the overlay simply select your photo, then select the overlay and click Import.

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The problem I have is I am not going to click Import on 1,200 overlays to download them so I can check how good each may be against any given photo.

Will you please restore the Download All option!

Acorn

I have wondered if so many options are actually of practical use....

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Originally Posted by handrawn

I have wondered if so many options are actually of practical use....

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handrawn, I personally do not see what the benefit is either.
I use Filter Forge 12 and can get thousands of variations of a single filter and I have some 10,000 Library Filters to chose from.
In addition, I can design my own filter and tweak on the fly and apply directly to any image I choose.
The bonus is they can usually be applied as seamless tiling or overlays and quick to regenerate, e.g., Soft Rainbow Gradient - Variation 29155.

I am not claiming thesebeat the Xara ones, just they are dramatically faster to try out.

Acorn

well to paraphrase William of Ockham once again the more options you have, the more time you will waste

I dare say they may well be useful but if i were a cynic [...which thank the lord I'm not sir...] I might think this is a soft option to keep the updates coming rather than, say, fix what is broke...

I've looked at the overlays and I agree this does seem like overkill.

I would be thrilled just to have the FX contents of Pro X added back to Pro+ This is the only reason I still have Pro X on my computer.

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Originally Posted by gwpriester

I've looked at the overlays and I agree this does seem like overkill.

I would be thrilled just to have the FX contents of Pro X added back to Pro+ This is the only reason I still have Pro X on my computer.

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@Gary, is this what you are looking for?
https://helpandsupport.xara.com/xara...lterm=fx%20pro

Amazing what you find in a manual :D

I think that will please Gary...

Personally there is a lot of stuff switchable in the registry that I would like to see in the UI [eg autodeselect freehand, set default bitmap copy resolution...];

plus
a freehand tool that does not wobble when you use it with smoothing set
vector and bitmap mesh warp like affinity
affinity is a very good program but xara's UI is far easier to use - vector/bitmap mesh warp alone would be enough to bring me back to pro+ [the xara mould tool does not begin to hack it]

Yes!

But why should he have to do that Matt?

Why isn't that particular section AUTOMATICALLY included in Pro+

what matt is saying, effectively, is that if you have a magix version installed you can use the filters that you purchased with your magix version, in pro+

however, as they are magix filters, if you don't have a magix version purchased, you cannot

A time back I found these instructions sitting without any announcement despite many TG enquiries:

• https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...5219-EXIF-Tool
• https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...to-retain-EXIF
• https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...100#post625100

So much for Xara-developed replacements.
Another moribund half-solution.

In passing, I have XPDXv18 and earlier, none have MxEXIF_rel_u_x64_vc.dll but if you check for MxEXIF_rel_u_x64_vc12.dll, copy that across and rename to MxEXIF_rel_u_x64_vc16.dll, you may get a working EXIF.

The downside remains that you cannot copy any of the EXIF data.

Acorn

Personally, I'd VERY MUCH like to see Xara's bitmap trace function working a lot better... at least as good as CorelTRACE. I've even tried the old UltraSnap Pro 5 which is Xara-friendly, but it is buggy on my shiny new Win 11 Pro lappie :'(. I reckon I'd even change over from Magix to Xara if the trace function was dragged into the 21st century ;))

Agree Jaydear. The bitmap tracer is an orphaned feature. It was introduced and then forgotten. I have an ancient copy of Vector Magic that is probably the best bitmap tracing app out there.

I don't think it's going to happen

xara is not focusing on designers anymore, it is focusing on enabling people who are not designers to produce designs; different emphasis; more customers

but who knows...

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Originally Posted by gwpriester

Agree Jaydear. The bitmap tracer is an orphaned feature. It was introduced and then forgotten. I have an ancient copy of Vector Magic that is probably the best bitmap tracing app out there.

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If I had a regular need, i would definitely consider Vector magic.

For the the one-offs I need, I use Inkscape v1.2 > Path > Trace bitmap.
All free.

Acorn

that I agree with, for tracing black and white line art inkscape is is worth every penny you don't have to pay [you can donate folks...;)]

xara removes the anti-alias and line art traces have jaggy edges; often this does not matter if you draw twice up or more from final art size as I usually do, but sometimes it does...

inkscaoe gives smooth edges, though there are compromises made with the curvature but not so many as to usually be an issue for me, and some are inevitable

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Originally Posted by handrawn

I don't think it's going to happen

xara ... is focusing on enabling people who are not designers to produce designs...

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There seems to be an emphasis on the real estate businesses :)

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Originally Posted by Acorn

...For the the one-offs I need, I use Inkscape v1.2 > Path > Trace bitmap...
Acorn

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I'll have to give v1.2 a try.

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Originally Posted by jaydear

There seems to be an emphasis on the real estate businesses :)

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dare I say a business where gloss is more important than detail;))