48,005 reasons not to buy Xara?

[RichardJT]

I admit that I am a dedicated Corelist: have been for twelve or more years but I'm always on the lookout for something else, especially now that prices are getting very silly. So a free trial of Xara turned up with a mag and I decided to try it.
First off, if it comes from Hemel, why is it in American? Aside from that, my first impressions:

1. 30,000 clip art all in .cdr format. This trial version tells me that those tried so far are not .cdr!
2. 18,000 pix, bitmaps and bitmap objects all in .cpt. Xara says can't do.
3. Can't configure the rulers. I frequently have to show my clients what it will look like actual size. There is a +7.41% error at 1600x1200 120 dpi on my 19" screen.
4. Can't change things like line widths to mm. We don't use points ' cos we don't use inches.
As an aside, ISO says that there should be a space between figures and units of measurement. I've been putting that space in for forty years and can't get out of the habit.
5, Xara says I can only have twelve templates. ¿Por favor! I use twenty-six, not counting five standard page sizes, portrait and landscape, tabloid, broadsheet and banners.
6. Can't write scripts eg. for batch processing and special effects or personal filters.
7. My plug-ins (KPT)won't work.
I also can't find how to do colour separations but I haven't counted that as it may be my fault.
Are these just peculiarities of the trial version or do I have to stick with CorelDraw?

[RichardJT]

I admit that I am a dedicated Corelist: have been for twelve or more years but I'm always on the lookout for something else, especially now that prices are getting very silly. So a free trial of Xara turned up with a mag and I decided to try it.
First off, if it comes from Hemel, why is it in American? Aside from that, my first impressions:

1. 30,000 clip art all in .cdr format. This trial version tells me that those tried so far are not .cdr!
2. 18,000 pix, bitmaps and bitmap objects all in .cpt. Xara says can't do.
3. Can't configure the rulers. I frequently have to show my clients what it will look like actual size. There is a +7.41% error at 1600x1200 120 dpi on my 19" screen.
4. Can't change things like line widths to mm. We don't use points ' cos we don't use inches.
As an aside, ISO says that there should be a space between figures and units of measurement. I've been putting that space in for forty years and can't get out of the habit.
5, Xara says I can only have twelve templates. ¿Por favor! I use twenty-six, not counting five standard page sizes, portrait and landscape, tabloid, broadsheet and banners.
6. Can't write scripts eg. for batch processing and special effects or personal filters.
7. My plug-ins (KPT)won't work.
I also can't find how to do colour separations but I haven't counted that as it may be my fault.
Are these just peculiarities of the trial version or do I have to stick with CorelDraw?

[Kman]

Hi, RichardJT. I has to almost smirk at your title.

XaraX is a great vector program, in terms of speed, usefulness, and cost. I suggest you give the demo more than just a few days trial before judging it. I also hope you understand that just because it differs from Corel does not mean it is inferior. With any software comes a learning curve and some thought adjusments. The learning curve with XaraX is much shorter than other comparable apps.

Also, to give you an idea of what talented folks can and have done with XaraX, please
look at the Featured Art link below. Look at the art as far back as 2000, and each
succeeding year, and I think you'll be
impressed.

I'm sure other folks will join in this talk after the holiday, and they can express better than I that XaraX is an excellent vector software choice.

In the end, it comes down to what you bring to the table with your set of tools. Not everyone will be pleased with every app that exists. But I can assure you than many, many folks are more than pleased with XaraX. And XaraX is still developing and has a super support group here and the users know that the software developers at XaraX are listening to them. (You don't find that too often with other software makers.)

Anyway, glad to have you here and all the best to you.

Ken

featured art link :
http://www.xaraxone.com/html/featured_art_2003.html

tutorials found at :
http://www.xaraxone.com/html/tutorials.html

[Soquili]

Hi Richard,

Welcome to the forum. It's always good to see things from another person's viewpoint.

With so many clip art and pix in Corel's proprietary formats, it would be difficult to make the change to XaraX.

I personally don't use the ruler very often, but I'm also not a professional graphic artist. I never used a ruler doing traditional sketches and drawings either. So that's just my approach to art.

Millimeters aren't in the line width selection window; however, you can enter the line with in that unit simply by typing the desired width followed by mm. The line width display will revert to points. When I entered 1 mm for the line width it displayed 2.84pt.

Filters are another thing I don't use. Again that is a personal preference. If I can't create the look I want in XaraX, I will add the affect in another program.

Not being a professional, I've never needed to create colour separations. However, many of the members here have successfully created colour separations.

I understand that the cmx format from CorelDraw can be imported into XaraX.

Everyone here will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about XaraX.

I don't think any one program will ever be the one and only for everyone. CorelDraw has features and usability that fit some, Adobe Illustrator has those same attributes for others. XaraX fits my needs and skills, so it is my program of choice.

Cheers,

[Sheff]

Hi Richard,

If you have that much clipart that you rely on, I wouldn't switch. I believe Xara will only use Corel Exchange format (.cmx)

You can change the rulers, right click on them you will get ruler properties.

I wish Xara allowed more templates as well.

Scripts for batch processing would be nice, but you can also use the Name gallery for batch export of named objects.

KPT plugins work, but you don't get a magic wand selection tool. I use KPT 3. If the image is 32 bit, it converts it to 24 bit.

As far as screen size goes, I'm running 1600 x 1200 as well. For me 109% works out to 100% on screen.

[John Rayner]

Hi RichardJT,

Welcome to talkgraphics. On your razzing of xara, only one thing comes to mind. If you give the adverage person every shade of oil color ever made, they still can not produce a decent picture. Give a master a blank wall and a stick blackened in the fire and they can produce a masterpiece.

It all comes down to ease of use. If CD is easy for you, then more power to you. I own CD, AI and Xara. Of the 3 xara is by far the easiest and most artist friendly vector drawing program produced. Xara's tool box is sparse because the tools are extremely user friendly and much more powerful than anything in CD. Watch the movies that come with xara, and you will be able to hit the ground running and be able to produce art at least as nice as the stuff you produced in CD. Odds are, you will be able to produce it faster, which increases your profit margin.

You say you have been playing with CD for 12 years, Watch the movies and in one evening you will learn enough to put CD away and use a real drawing program.

[jens g.r. benthien]

Richard,

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> why is it in American? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Porque los programadores están en Inglaterra.

Welcome to the forum.

If you know what you do you don't need cliparts anymore - you'll develop them with this ultimate tool. And if you really need some 'old' clipart, open it with CD and export it in *.cmx format to import it into Xara.

Just dig deep into the app and you'll discover many features you won't find anywhere else. Of course you can adjust any presets and options - it takes some time to know how.

Don't expect to master Xara in less than one day - I'm using this tool for what seems to be decades now and still discover new features.

¿Necesita más?

¡Una herramienta es una herramienta - el idioma es de ninguna importancia si tu sabe cómo manejarlo!

[masque]

'The developers may be in England' but that doesn't answer why we have to transate into proper money to find out how much it costs; the opposite in fact.
However that aside you would find Xara a joy to use if you are using it as an illustration tool when placed next to Corel.
I have Xara and CD12 on my main PC and blood pressure levels depend on which application I'm in. I use Xara for as much as I can because it simply does what it does better than CD though I know that if I used Corel as much as I do Xara, I would be as familiar with that app. and so the bood would not rise everytime I'm told a relatively straighforward operation cannot be carried out.
Persevere with Xara and if you work with Corel and Xara side by side you will have the best of both worlds (until an Illustrator aficionado comes along and tells you different).
As Jen says 'a tool is a tool the laguage is unimportant, it's knowing how to use it'
(actually the language is very important because if you can't read the help files when you are new to it you're stuffed).
derek

[aertsjo]

Hello, RichardJT,

What you told is not korect! 12 years CD are nothing! Give a good programme two weeks time. Afterwards you
must determine for you yourself what is the best programme.
For your work from CD to Xara: open CD and export in WMF and import the file in Xara as WMF without
problems, you gets a larger cat without feeding!

I sent all the file CD from my clients to xara without enny problem, en work on it very faster.

Regards, Jozef.

[roman]

Useless off-topic, please delete. Amen