How do you get started? Snap to grid, for example.

[si8einw2]

I am a very smart, mature person who has spent hundreds of hours using using drawing programs, graphic programs, image programs and the like. So I understand how computers and computer programs and graphic programs work, extremely well.

Am I missing something, or does xara really not have any documentation? How do you get started? Watch movies?

So I want to draw a vertical line that goes up, then bends right, and has a radius on the curve. And I want the end points to snap to grid.

I turned on "Show Grid" and "Snap to Grid" but nothing snaps to the grid. When I place a point, it doesn't snap. When I move a point, it doesn't snap.

I tried turning on "Snap to Objects". Still no snapping.

This is where I would normally look in the documentation to figure out what I'm doing wrong that snap to grid won't work, but I'm also missing the documentation.

How did you all figure out how things worked when they didn't work the way you would expect them to work?

[steve.ledger]

How did you all figure out how things worked when they didn't work the way you would expect them to work?

Well it was easy for me because things worked how I expected them to work

They may not work how others expect them to work owing to their expectations being quite different.

I assume you understand that Xara Designer is a vector graphics application and not a raster (bitmap) graphics application such as Adobe Photoshop or CorelPainter et al?
Drawing things in a vector application is fundamentally different.

You'll find some Xara created movie demos here ► http://www.xara.com/us/products/desi...torials-demos/

And of course there are tutorials at Gary Bouton's XaraXone ► http://www.xaraxone.com/

and plenty more at Gary Priester's XaraXone archives ► http://www.xaraxone.com/archive.htm

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics

I understand how frustrating it can me not to have a manual. But Xara has something for new users that should get you going in the right direction. Follow sledger's first link and pick your product and watch the videos. They are very well done and explain the basic moves including how to use the Shape Editor, Freehand and Brush, and Pen Tool to draw.

And if you need some more videos on just about anything you can think of, visit sledger's Xara User's site http://board.xara-users.info/

[PhilM]

Documentation is supplied with the program in the form of a very detailed help file.

Just press F1, go to the index and type "Snapping" into the search box.

Phil

[gwpriester]

Actually, I just keyed in Snap and the first choice was Snap to Grid.

To add to Phil's excellent suggestion is press F1 when any tool is selected and a context sensitive explanation appears and explains the tool and how it works. Press Help in any menu and a context sensitive explanation appears covering all the features and functions associated with that menu.

This is not as linear as a manual, but it is a lot more immediate than a manual because the information pertaining to what you are doing is always just one click away.

[handrawn]

I am a very smart, mature person who has spent hundreds of hours using using drawing programs, graphic programs, image programs and the like. So I understand how computers and computer programs and graphic programs work, extremely well.

wish I was

I learnt from the helpfile mostly until I discovered this site and xaraxone

of course not being too clever, [though familiar with many other programs], the help file was the obvious place to start