Back again - just wanted to thank everyone, plus ask about erasers

[Toonicorn]

Here's the thing....up until a couple of years go, I was a "traditional" artist - that is, I created my art using chalks, pencils, paints, inks etc. Only recently have I started using art software to create artworks. So I still have a lot to learn.

Which is to say: I have no idea what a "bitmap" is. What I meant to ask was: when I outline something in Xara, and then want to use Photoshop Elements to clean it up, and, as per Molucca's suggestion, I've set up PSE as my Xara image editor...how do I then open the image editor? I can't see how to do that when I open the Xara page.

[handrawn]

ah right - well you can only do it like that for a bitmap in otherwords an image [a 'photo' as xara calls it ] - you cannot do it with a xara drawing , you would have to turn it into a bitmap image, either by exporting it as an image or by making a bitmap copy first and then you loose [most of] the editability in xara

photoshop is like a traditional painting - what you draw is like paint on a canvas
xara is not like that at all - xara is like a collage - lots of seperate pieces [objects] that sit on [technically above] the page and each other - Ron's bit about scissors is a good analogy... if you send these pieces out to photoshop you merge them all onto one canvas as an 'image' and you can no longer manipulate them as objects, only as 'paint'

[Toonicorn]

Hmmm...okay. So once again - to clean up lines in Xara, what do I do, since it has no eraser? I realize that the answer has probably already been given to me, but because of my newbie understanding of art programs in general, I don't understand it. Can you give me a step by step example, please? Thanks!

[pauland]

You might be better off providing an example of the kind of cleanup that you wish to do.

[Boy]

If you want to know more about the difference between bitmaps and vectors, search "difference between bitmap and vector" (without the quotation marks) in Google. It will list quite some interesting articles.

[pauland]

There's no technical reason why there shouldn't be a vector eraser, so the request for a vector eraser is perfectly legitimate, regardless of the legacy differrences found between vector and bitmap software.

[wizard509]

Can you give an example of the type of art work you art wanting to do?
People or carts or the like with subtle gradation like a photo or more stylized graphic type of work such as a logo or design?

[Rik]

Good news.

I'm trialling the Eraser Tool at the moment.
If things work out fine, then an Easter release is scheduled.

[Toonicorn]

Okay, here's a Xara file of the Toonicorn that I outlined. (Hope this works). As you can see, it has overlapped lines and other lines that I'd like to remove. How do I do that without an eraser? Thanks!

newtoonposes 001.xar

(I have to add that I'm having a beast of a time with Xara. It feels so unnatural to draw a line and have it wiggle all over the place before you finish drawing it. And some of the lines look REALLY awful. I don't know if I'll ever get used to this program. :P )

[Toonicorn]

Hmmm...okay. So once again - to clean up lines in Xara, what do I do, since it has no eraser? I realize that the answer has probably already been given to me, but because of my newbie understanding of art programs in general, I don't understand it. Can you give me a step by step example, please? Thanks!

You might be better off providing an example of the kind of cleanup that you wish to do.

Okay, I've done so in the post above.