Where is Photo Editor on XaraExtreme LX?

[bertman]

Hello all,
I'm new here, so if this question is redundant, let me apologize now.

I've been toying with the latest Linux version (uploaded 8/11/06) and have watched the tutotials. I have been unable to locate the photo editor tool that they show in the videos? What piece of the puzzle am I missing here? If I import a photo, that works fine, but I don't see the tools as shown in the vids.

I am amazed that they have opened up the source code, thanks XARA!

Regards,

bertman

[Charles Moir]

Unfortunately the Xara Picture Editor (XPE) is one part that we can't port to Linux - unlike Xara Xtreme, the XPE was never designed to be platform portable. It's very tied into Windows and the job of porting it, we estimated to be just too large and complex. So the plan now is that we're going to develop a new Photo tool as a real Xtreme tool, rather than a separate, but integarted utility. Can't say when this will happen though.

[jedfrechette]

So the plan now is that we're going to develop a new Photo tool as a real Xtreme tool...

As someone who has only recently returned to the Xtreme fold I am curious how much use the Picture Editor gets from those of you who are heavy Xtreme users. I can certainly see how it could be useful for making minor color balance adjustments or cropping, etc.

On the other hand, I think I would much prefer to have the option to include bitmaps in drawings via links rather than embedding them. Being able to edit included bitmaps in the GIMP or Photoshop or whatever and have the changes automatically reflected in Xtreme would be very nice. Of coarse, this would require that the user include any bitmaps that a document uses when sending a .xar file to someone. Hopefully as long as the interface made it clear what was going on this wouldn't be to confusing.

In any case, I'm curious to hear what others with more experience using the tool think.

Cheers,

[bertman]

Thanks for the info,
someday I hope to get my wife converted over to Linux, and 'The Gimp" is slightly too complex for her. Currently she uses a cheesy program called "professor franklin". Xara does things similar, but better than this program. perhaps, Krita will come along enough by then....

Again,
Thank you,

bertman

[fjgaude]

In any case, I'm curious to hear what others with more experience using the tool think.

I've used the XPE since March of this year, but stopped when I realized that any cropping and the like I did of a picture in Windows: then the Linux Xara wouldn't open it.

So considering all the picture editors that are being developed under Linux I don't concern myself, especially since Xara LX is doing drag-and-drop of images from other programs like Nautilus and gThumb. Programs like gThumb are not far away from what many graphic designers need as simple photo editors and browsers, just needs a good unsharp mark function, doesn't cropping just fine. Of course, there's always GIMP, but...

You can see some of my work at:

http://yantrayoga.typepad.com/noname

As for storing pictures as links in Xara .xra files, what with the unbelievable cheap prices for hard drives these days, I don't see the need. Just got a Seagate 250-Gigabyte for $129. Storage is not much of an issue anymore, at least not for me and many others.

frank

[abligh]

I've used the XPE since March of this year, but stopped when I realized that any cropping and the like I did of a picture in Windows: then the Linux Xara wouldn't open it.

That shouldn't happen. I think ANY file created on Windows Xtreme (whether XPE has been involved or not) should open on Linux Xtreme. Just the live effects (etc) won't be live (i.e. they won't be editable), and you won't have a live XPE edit history (i.e. the bitmap should still be there, but editing may be impaired). Can you retry on 0.7 and if it doesn't work, file a bug please?

Alex

[fjgaude]

That shouldn't happen. I think ANY file created on Windows Xtreme (whether XPE has been involved or not) should open on Linux Xtreme. Just the live effects (etc) won't be live (i.e. they won't be editable), and you won't have a live XPE edit history (i.e. the bitmap should still be there, but editing may be impaired). Can you retry on 0.7 and if it doesn't work, file a bug please?

Alex

Well, what you say, Alex, is no completely true. I tested the latest version, and slightly cropped an image in XPE Windows, copied the saved .xra over to Linux box, opened the .xra in r1698 and the cropped photo was missing, did show an error msg, "Problems have been found with some data. The data includes; bitmap definition. The problems have been fixed with default values". A holder 'Xara' image was put in the original photo's place, correctly sized. <smile>

frank

[abligh]

Well, what you say, Alex, is no completely true. I tested the latest version, and slightly cropped an image in XPE Windows, copied the saved .xra over to Linux box, opened the .xra in r1698 and the cropped photo was missing, did show an error msg, "Problems have been found with some data. The data includes; bitmap definition. The problems have been fixed with default values". A holder 'Xara' image was put in the original photo's place, correctly sized. <smile>

frank

A bug. I see either you filed it, or someone else filed something very similar.

Alex

[jedfrechette]

As for storing pictures as links in Xara .xra files, what with the unbelievable cheap prices for hard drives these days, I don't see the need. Just got a Seagate 250-Gigabyte for $129. Storage is not much of an issue anymore, at least not for me and many others.

I'm less interested in any filesize saving, as you point out storage is cheap, than in the ability to take full advantage of the excellent bitmap editors that already exist. Although I will admit I don't know what the performance hit is when including 10s to 100s of MB of bitmaps in a .xar.

Right now if I decide a bitmap doesn't look right and I want to make any changes that XPE can't handle I need to:
1. Open the original in my bitmap editor.
2. Make the changes.
3. Save the results.
4. Import the new version into Xtreme.
5. Delete the old version
6. Size and position the new image.

Obviously this could get a bit tedious if I want to try out several changes. If I could include a link to a bitmap, however, I could skip steps 4-6 and any changes I made to the bitmap would be immediately reflected in Xtreme. Although Illustrator handles this I guess it is more of a feature for page layout software.

My original motivation for asking how much XPE gets used is that I was wondering if it is a vital part of the application for many people. Given that the existing version can't be ported, I would rather have Xara spend their limited resources on improving the vector capabilities of Xtreme, including addressing some of the long standing requests on these forums, than reinventing the wheel by writing Yet Another Bitmap Editor. Personally, I would be more than happy with a "Edit in ..." right click item for bitmaps.

Just my 2c.

[fjgaude]

[...]
My original motivation for asking how much XPE gets used is that I was wondering if it is a vital part of the application for many people. Given that the existing version can't be ported, I would rather have Xara spend their limited resources on improving the vector capabilities of Xtreme, including addressing some of the long standing requests on these forums, than reinventing the wheel by writing Yet Another Bitmap Editor. Personally, I would be more than happy with a "Edit in ..." right click item for bitmaps.Just my 2c.

Okay, I agree with you. An "Edit in... " with a link to the file would do fine, but I would also want the drawing, photo, saved with the XRA file, after editing is final. I'm sure the Xara folks are thinking along these lines, using the core of one of the better picture browsers (like eThumb) to do the job, adding their own interface. Though for right now, the ability to drag-and-drop pictures into Xara LX is good, real good. <smile>

frank