Corel Knockout 2 in Xara

**alanti** · 11 July 2010, 06:38 AM

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

**steve.ledger** · 11 July 2010, 07:15 AM

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.

**alanti** · 11 July 2010, 08:25 AM

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.

**steve.ledger** · 11 July 2010, 08:35 AM

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

**handrawn** · 11 July 2010, 09:08 AM

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

**Big Frank** · 11 July 2010, 10:47 AM

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

**juergen** · 11 July 2010, 07:10 PM

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

**molucca** · 12 July 2010, 02:49 AM

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

**angelize** · 12 July 2010, 03:12 AM

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.

**alanti** · 12 July 2010, 09:45 AM

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