Nicks Xara Wishlist 2015 and onwards

[nickr]

I am certainly too late to request anything major for v11, but I've always used Xara and always hoped they would sort out their structure of features and products. Xara could quite easily have a product that is good enough to stand up to Adobe if they just updated their look and stripped the bloatware. I have a vision of what a good structure would be and looking at Gare's Wishlist for v11 near the end he actually mirrors quite closely to what I had in mind. This would be a rough wishlist for a future DP model.

Ditch the product line names and have the following:


***Xara PRINT*** - This would have the capabilities of Photo and Graphic / Layout Designer would have. Direct competition to InDesign and Illustrator and nothing else!

A top of the line Vector drawing and layout tool with photo editing. Basically Designer Pro without the web design features. A graphic designer doesn't need all the web bloatware. Saving graphics optimized for web is OK, but if I want to design a website, I'd use a suite that's designed for that purpose, I'd doubt there's many users of DP10 who bought it for web design. Besides DP10 doesn't even use framework structures like Bootstrap that can be edited outside of Xara, so no professional designer would take it seriously.

Ditch 3D tool - does anyone really use this? The results are dated looking and it serves very little purpose in modern design. It may have been popular back when 3D Wordart was popular in the 90's but its just tacky now. I'd sooner make something in Sketchup and import it over as a png.

Ditch the novelty brushes - Remake the brushes presets, they are old and tacky and doesn't say 2015, a refresh in brushes, custom brushes and pressure profiles is needed. I've been using Xara on a daily basis since Xara Xtreme, and I'm pretty sure the brush sets haven't changed since.

Refresh or ditch the bitmap tracer - there are many good free tracers out there, I've never once had a good result from Xara's, if your tracer isn't as good there's no point in bloating the software out.

Improve CMYK colour management - highly requested by the looks of it. If v11 doesn't improve on this then I may end up leaving Xara.



***Xara WEB*** - This is where the web design can come in. Coffeecup have made a huge leap in WYSIWYG responsive design. A refresh in this would be welcome, but this needs to be a separate program. web and print are 2 totally different disciplines.


Give it a fresh Windows 10 look. Mac users may have Affinity to be proud of, but there's no reason Windows 10 can't have Xara PRINT with a fresh new look.

Why have so many different packages, that confuse people when buying. Keep a basic and pro version of PRINT if needed, but having a max of 3 packages in total rather than having 5 or 6 which are effectively all DP10 just with different bits stripped out of it. Fewer packages would mean more focus on improving each one, and less money spent on marketing.

If anyone can explain to me why this format wouldn't work I'd love to chat about it. The current mix of software is just confusing and filled with silly titles and unused features. I am not writing this to have a go at the Xara team, but this would be my dream Xara that would give Adobe a few sleepless nights.

[Albacore]

I wouldn't see any, this is where I have got to be careful, professional user, sing anything but praise, with your suggestions. Xara states in their website "Xara Designer Pro X10 is our top of the range product and includes all the features and templates of Web Designer 10 Premium, Photo & Graphic Designer 10 and Page & Layout Designer 10 in a fully integrated single package solution for all your graphic design needs" and yes that's what they give you. Even with what you call the bloatware, and no I don't use them either, it is still very fast in the 64 bit package so it suits many users and in a small market from a small company it what you must accept. I think Serif is taking a huge gamble with Affinity for the Mac users with Adobe ruling the roost and what graphic company is going to think that a product costing £35 is better than Illustrator costing the same per month.

Yes I think Serif has got it right splitting up each package and not trying to package their products all together like Xara. Serif's marketing, some may call it right, if you have ever bought something from them it is some what difficult to stop them trying to sell you the upgrades as they phone you every 6 months here in the UK.

No the brushes haven't changed ever, have been the same since ArtWorks! There're what I would call "scatter brushes", the brush lines produced is not really editable, no real vector calligraphy brush, and no custom profiles changing as in AI.

[steve.ledger]

Nick, you say all this like it would be an easy thing to do.
Certainly doable, but neither easy nor cheap.

[nickr]

Hi Steve, no I don't imagine half of what I say would be easy, nor am I disliking Xara. This is just a wishlist, just how I would want to see Xara move forward, and prevent me from joining Adobe camp.

Hey Albacore, maybe bloatware was the wrong term, since as you say, the 64 bit version is still faster than my last experience with Illustrator. I kind of understand why they bundle everything into 1 package if they can, so small businesses have a 1 stop tool, but for the majority of designers, print and web are 2 different disciplines that shouldn't collide. I'm not sure a cheap price should put people off buying Affinity, anyone like me enjoys trying new packages out and if it does what you want it to do at a fraction of the price then, win win. I don't believe in tying yourself down to one ecosystem like many Adobe users do, there's plenty of scope for competition, which I think Xara could achieve if they left 1997's Wordart and Clipart behind. That being said, I haven't dabbled with Serif too much since their pricing structure seems to be all over the place with random price drops, and with no free trial, it's difficult to see if their new features are worth it.

Im finding myself at a crossed roads where I'd like to keep using Xara, but admire Illustrator for its brush sets and vector control. If Xara could just concentrate in this area rather than add more web features with each release, and not clearing out the old features.

[browj2]

Hi Nick,

Xara has three different products and one that combines the three with a few extras, Designer Pro. I certainly wasn't confused when I was looking to buy. There were only three different products offered, not a couple of dozen like on the Magix site (there is a lot of confusion there).

I first bought Photo & Graphic Designer mainly to work with Magix Movie Edit Pro. Then I decided that I wanted to do some web design of the nature offered by Xara. After looking at the offer for Designer Pro vs two separate programs, I bought Designer Pro because it was much more convenient to have them in one program than in two. The difference in price between two separate programs or Designer Pro was minimal. I just ignore what I don't need, however, if I need it, I have it.

Here is what Kate said recently as reply #75 to the "Xara wants our opinion" thread.

" In fact we develop Web Designer (for web design), Photo & Graphic Designer (for photo editing and illustration) and Page & Layout Designer (for document creation), and then Designer Pro gets everything that we do for all three (ok, plus a few Pro extras). It's more bottom up than top down. As I see it, the main reason people buy Pro is that they want one integrated package that does all of those things, not least because many designers DO all of those things."

If you don't want the Web Design part, or the Page & Layout Designer, then why buy Designer Pro? Or is it that you would like a combination of the other two as I think that you are saying? If so, that, I can understand, and maybe Xara should offer a combination of the two.

However, if the price for combinations of two or three was the same, why complain? Bloated for what you do? Maybe, but probably not very much. Just ignore the web design part.

From what I have seen, there is a lot of overlap in the programs, and I wouldn't expect Xara to not use the same coding for the parts of the separate programs that do the same thing.

Take a look at the Web Design chat part of this forum and you will see that there are a lot of users who use it and like it.

I can understand some frustration about one of the programs not getting the attention that users would like, but I can also understand that Xara has to make a cutoff point at which time it puts out a new revision. If the new features in the Photo & Graphics part are weak in a new release, then don't buy it. Skip that one and hope for better in the following one.

As for what I would like to see in a future version, table handling and formatting for presentations and web design.

In case anyone was wondering, Xara Designer or Photo&Graphics can be opened from within Magix Movie Edit Pro to create overlay images and masks, either static or animated to follow the action in a video. This is a big plus for the Magix movie editors.

[pauland]

In case anyone was wondering, Xara Designer or Photo&Graphics can be opened from within Magix Movie Edit Pro to create overlay images and masks, either static or animated to follow the action in a video. This is a big plus for the Magix movie editors.

Perhaps you can explain this a bit more? Do you mean opening graphics exported using these programs or the Xara format file itself?

[nickr]

If you don't want the Web Design part, or the Page & Layout Designer, then why buy Designer Pro? Or is it that you would like a combination of the other two as I think that you are saying? If so, that, I can understand, and maybe Xara should offer a combination of the two.

However, if the price for combinations of two or three was the same, why complain? Bloated for what you do? Maybe, but probably not very much. Just ignore the web design part.

I think this hits the nail on the head, Photo and Graphics / Layout Designer, go so well with each other, but can only be used together with "Pro". Plus Pro has unique addons like Multi-core 64bit support and Live Copies which forces me to go for the Pro for that extra performance.

Buying the Photo and Layouts packages would be cheaper at £50 each, but then I'd have to swap back and forth between the 2 and would be missing multi-core / 64 bit. If they merged them together and added the extra performance features, then that would be perfect, but I'm assuming they want us to pay the extra money for the Pro, so doubt that will happen.

Thanks for the heads up about the movie edit tip too.

[browj2]

@Nick,

Thanks for confirming that. I agree that the combination would be a good idea, so long as the individual product for Photo & Graphics Designer was not dropped. This product likely forms the bulk of the users. In reviewing the P&LD, I could not understand how it could stand alone. Maybe I am misunderstanding its usefulness, but it may be that Xara should drop it as a standalone and only sell it combined with P&GD as you suggest.

@Paul,
The Plus and Premium versions of Movie Edit Pro and Video Pro X have the following capabilities if Xara is installed:
1. Right clicking on an image or video clip allows one to create an overlay or a mask. Xara is opened, usually in animation mode, and the image or video clip from the movie editor is shown on a layer. One can draw anything overtop of the image.
a. A static image - anything that one wants to draw that will be returned as a video object on the timeline in the movie editor, of the same length as the clip selected. It can subsequently be reopened and modified in Xara by double-clicking on it.
b. An animation overlay - named objects that have to be shapes and follow the animation rules of Xara. The shapes can be resized and modified, as per animation rules, along with transparency, including variable transparency. As per Xara animation, the frame is advanced by the fraction of a second indicated by default or by the user. If the underlying image is from a video clip, the video will also advance by that amount, thus allowing the user to move, resize, or whatever, the shapes to follow the action. Static un-named drawings can also be included. I haven't tried many combinations yet to determine all of what can be done with the static images combined with animated shapes. All is returned to the movie editor as a video object as above that can also be modified by double-clicking on it. A further note on both a and b, other video effects can be applied to the resulting video objects in the video editor.
c. Animated masks - same as named animated shapes but the objects must be white. Transparency is allowed, including graduated transparency. Multiple named objects or masks can be created that also can be moved and resized to follow the action. The result is also a video object in the movie editor, but the user must give it the chromakey alpha effect. The object is then used as a mask between two tracks. Whatever is on the track (higher numbered track) above the white part of the mask shows up, and the black part shows whatever is on the lower numbered track. Any transparency shows both tracks depending on the strength of the transparency.
2. As a mask on one track - this is opened from an effect menu by selecting Create a mask. Xara opens same as above and multiple named animated masks can be created. The resulting video object impacts the object with which it is associated. Any effects applied to the base object can be masked. For example, a blur effect can be applied to the base object (video or image) and the mask will either show the masked area as blurred or everything but the area as unblurred. I have had limited success with the latter and it may just be a problem with the version that I have been using.

Thanks for asking as this has allowed me to get a start on the tutorial that I have been planning to do (for many months) on this for the Magix Community forum. I'm sitting on a train right now on my way to Edinburgh. I'll work up the tutorial when I get back to Canada. I did do a quick video showing one of the methods and put it in an answer to a question on the Magix forum. I'll try to find the link and post it.

[pauland]

It would be nice to see some mention of this on TG. I suspect few TGers know about such interoperability.

[maxcon62]

Hi Browj2,

all that you have decribed perfetcly works with version 9 of Xara products.

On the contrary, Xara Designer Pro x 10 doesn't work neither with Magix Pro X6 - X7 nor Movie edit pro 2014 - 2015 premium

- When I want to create a mask or an overlay graphic animation, Designer Pro X 10 starts, but when I create additional frames by clicking on "Copy" in the Frame Animation Gallery , the video doesn't move to the corresponding position in the new frames (in order to adjust the objects directly on the video image); when I close Designer Pro 10, the animation doesn't work in Prox6-7 or Mep2014 - 2015.

- The Xara included animations in ProX6-X7 (magix tools), also, don't work, they are fix and don't move.

In addition to that, when Xara opens through ProX6-X7, the "frame gallery" doesn't appear. I have noticed that when Xara ProX 10 starts from Magix Video Pro X6-X7, to create a mask or an overlay graphic animation, it opens a "generic document" instead of an "animation document".

I have already informed Xara support of the problem and this is their answer about:

"Unfortunately this is a bit beyond our level of expertise as we only support Xara products, not the Magix ones so we would need to forward this onto Magix for them to investigate" (31 August 2014)

and in a second time...

"Hi, I have forwarded this to Magix who have reported it to their developers (and it appears to be an issue with Magix's end rather than Xaras), but they couldn't promise a timely solution.

Unfortunately I can't be of much help here, I can chase Magix for a solution but can't guarantee anything." (31 november 2014)

From Magix no news up to now .... indeed recently they have released a new product (video prox7) but the problem is subsisting...

I think it's not a problem of Magix but Xara's, since the "9 version" wouldn't work in this case, also.

Max