Help!!

[kayleighmcardle]

Hello,
I have xara design 7.1 pro I run it on windows 7, It is up to date (I think it seemed to work but nothing really changed) recently I have had a lot of problems when I try to run anything more complicated, such as 3d of a big shape, or bitmap tracing with more passes, I really love this program but need some help on how to fix it, please use simple instructions as I am not that brilliant with software. thank you in advance

[handrawn]

you may be running out of memory - but as you don't say what the problems actually are it's difficult to say...

[kayleighmcardle]

I have lot's of ram, the problem is as if it is being timed out, it only occurs when I have either lot's of layers on show or I am trying to complete a more complex action I have waited over 5 minutes before and it is still timing out.
I cannot have brushes installed for more than one session and using them normally makes it crash.
Making my own brushes it will crash.
3d makes it crash unless it is a very simple object.
bitmap tracer with more then 15-20 passes it will crash.
I really need to sort this, I think it has something to do with the way I am running it or the settings but I am not sure.
thanks.

[handrawn]

ok if you could let us know what version of windows you are running and how much memory the system actually has [xara is a 32bit program so it has a limit on the amount it can use]

do you have a problem with the xara default brushes?

can you post up a xar file with one of the brushes in that you have made that makes it crash

there is a practical limit on the number of brushes you can have installed at any one session, and its not that high I wouldn't go above 20 myself

what you say about 3D sounds wrong but it depends on what exactly you are trying to do

with bitmap tracer what are you tracing - how big is it what resolution?

worth mentioning that if the program stops refreshing on the screen and 'goes white' this does not necessarily mean it has crashed - whilst it is working it stops refreshing the screen - I have had bitmap traces that have taken a long time: 15 minutes plus..

[kayleighmcardle]

windows 7, 4gb memory, I sometimes have problems with the default brushes if I change a drawing from one brush type to the other, It crashes if i add then use just one brush, and with the 3D just having a shape the trying to move it with the 3d tool, yes it was a high resolution image.
I really appreciate you helping me.

[handrawn]

ok shouldn't be a problem with windows [though there are the odd issue or two with 64bit win7]

xara is a layer based program - when you draw on a layer with a brush everything already on that layer has to be recalculated as you draw, which can slow things down - so it is good to use layers and then the things you have already drawn on the previous layers do not need recalculating

wherever possible group things first that are going to be used together, say as a 3D extrusion

[kayleighmcardle]

I do group that's when I have the problems, I might try to re install it see whet happens lol thanks anyway

[handrawn]

ah well it works both ways - all depends when you do it