Hi Remi, and thanks for your nice reply !
Yes... even though I know most of what you are saying,
I continue stubbornly to chase after some answer which
maybe isnt so practical. I do not give up on my idea... but
I can see, by your reply, some of the real limits to doing this
with files.
Good news that other Xara already can do this with PDF...
supposedly, windows-xara is gradually being ported to xaralx,
so maybe not so long to wait for this answer.

Thanks again for your reply.

Quote Originally Posted by remi View Post
Hi stuseven,

you're talking about a common problem of each graphic package: To store a drawing you need a file and most of the graphic packages owns special functions, other packages doesn't own and therefore each graphic package has a own file format to save his drawings.

Some packages are able to import other file formats and some packages are also able to export to other file formats. Within Xara Xtreme for Linux this problem is solved through import/export filters. Currently there are not so much import/export filters available for Xara Xtreme for Linux. The Windows version Xara Xtreme PRO owns a new import filter to import PDF files as vector objects, but this function isn't available in the current Linux version of Xara Xtreme. So, you has to live with the current available import/export filters or you need programming skills in C++ to develop your own import/export filter (you'll find more information on this here). The other possible way is, that other graphic packages starts to support the .XAR format of Xara Xtreme (the .XAR file format is well documented here).

If you export your image as a bitmap (JPG, PNG, TIF, ...), the file isn't a vector drawing anymore. Therefore you need to export your drawing in a vector graphics format (for example CDR, AI, PDF, SVG). But these formats aren't able to store all the great drawing functions of Xara Xtreme. Therefore it's necessary for Xara Xtreme to change some objects within your Xara Xtreme drawing to be able to export in such a vector format. You see, there is no great format available to export your vector graphic in an editable object. Personally, I work within Xara Xtreme to create my vector drawings and - if necessary - import some bitmaps to enhance the Xtreme drawing. After that I save the .XAR file and export the same drawing as a PNG bitmap for using in Websites, Presentations or Documents. If I need to change something, I have the original .XAR file and am able to load the drawing within Xara Xtreme, again. So, you see, I use Xara Xtreme as my main graphic software tool to produce great bitmap images.

Regards,
Remi