Cropping and transparency of SVG imports, and large page size

[kovacsbv]

I am evaluating Photo and Graphic Designer 11 for making a large format banner (about 190cm x 400cm). Naturally, I want to work in vector format and do not want pixelation, so I am staying in vector format and sending an SVG to the printer. The questions are these:

1. I have imported a stock art SVG file for the background, and stretched it past the edges of the page so it is lined up the way I want. How do I crop this background to the page boundaries? It is currently grouped.
2. I wish to set the brightness up to fade it out so that SVG images on other layers will stand out. Also, there will be other stock art on layers that must have transparency to overlay the background. Where are the layer settings?
3. The page size has limitations that are too small, so I just set the page size to 1/10 scale. Is there a better way?
4. Is this the correct tool for the job? Should I be using Designer pro instead?

[handrawn]

Hi welcome

firstly xara is an object oriented editor, not layer oriented; there are no settings for layers other than editable/locked and visible/hidden [EDIT: and solo mode - but that is a special case of the other two]

so to take 2] first: if you want to make something transparent you select the object[s] and use the transparency tool
3] scaling works fine in my experience - the latest version of designer pro has a much bigger pasteboard and you would be able to set a page size of 190cm x 400cm; I don't know if that will apply to page and graphic designer 365
4] apart from that designer pro would give you 'professional' PDF export options if you needed them, and also has better [multicore] processor support which may be useful; and depending what you are doing, some extra tools
1] you can use clipview, using a rectangle that is the same size as the page and aligned to it using using the alignment tool [or grid/snap] - that said with some exports you can tell the export dialog to export only the page, but I am pretty sure svg is not one of those

if I was sending to printer I would use PDF [or TIFF but that is not vector] - be aware that there will be some limitations on what exports as vector, because not everything that xara tools can do is supported by the svg format as implemented

[handrawn]

PS: - more on 2]: not only can you use the transparency tool to vary the objects opacity, you can also use it to apply transparency types that [sort of] equate to layer modes [eg multiply] but are again applied directly to the object not the layer

[gwpriester]

In addition

1) Create a rectangle that is the size of the page. Send the rectangle to the back (Ctrl + B). With the rectangle still selected, hold down the Shift key click to also select the SVG background. From the arrange menu select Create Clipview. (If you lost the rectangle, hold down the Alt key and click and the status bar will indicate Rectangle selected).

2) Create another rectangle the same size as the page. Apply a Black fill. Select the rectangle with the Transparency Tool and apply a Flat, Multiply (Stained Glass transparency). Adjust the Transparency slider on the Infobar to adjust the amount of darkening.