Xara Designer Pro X9 Released

[Rik]

Why not give me the option of having the '3D' tool available on its own.
That's how I liked it.
Arrgghhhh to that enhancement.

Where's the 'Live effect Tool' gone???
Please can someone point me in the right direction.
Has it been amalgamated with something else?

EDIT: Oh! It's OK. It's called 'Fx' now.
But, not available on its own. Got to put up with the flyout.
Arrgghhhh to that enhancement.

[Grenou]

It's now called FX, and lives with the camera + other tools.
I have added the button to the custom toolbar :-)

Grenou

[jon404]

@ Rik -- Live Effects is now 'FX' on the Photo Tools flyout menu...

@ Gary P -- bees knees! Ha! You are such a good writer -- these reviews of the new products are just excellent.


As for me, now that I'm retired and no longer doing web stuff or print publishing, P&GD is absolutely perfect and a tremendous value for the money.


As far as I can tell, DPX 9 doesn't add anything new for me on the photo tools or design tools side. But what a great 'Swiss Army knife' program for Xara-Users making websites and doing printed work!


But -- just checked the intro upgrade price from XDP -- US $99 -- now THAT is quite a deal. Am tempted! May try it out.

[Big Frank]

EDIT: Oh! It's OK. It's called 'Fx' now.
But, not available on its own. Got to put up with the flyout.
Arrgghhhh to that enhancement.

alt click on any button to move it elsewhere

[pauland]

I personally like when a software company keeps trying to improve their product. It shows forward progress, hopefully. What really irritates me however is the VERY LAME grace period of approx 30-60 DAYS...6 Months would be a much more customer friendly position.

Not as customer friendly as free. It would be superb if they did 6 months trials. I could do six months using Xara, six months using something else, then back to Xara.

30 days is more than generous.

I just upgraded both Designer Pro and WD Premium in April and now get the intro offer of only $99. Really? That's horrible for continued customer loyalty. I finally bit the bullet upgrading, and with no indication that there was another release around the corner...

No indication apart from plenty of posts on these forums about the likely release dates.

That's just very poor ways of doing business. I like the products and want to be excited to use them but the upgrade game is starting to get old....

You don't have to upgrade. You made a decision that the software was worth $99 to you in April. It's as valuable to you now as it was then.

If the new version isn't worth the cash don't buy it.

Take a hint from the folks over at Pixelogic, creators of ZBrush. They have had free upgrades for life and have a very healthy and thriving customer base and always pushing the boundaries with meaningful/powerful upgrades.

Better buy it then.

See how they manage to stay in business a few years down the line.

I posted a similar concern on the FB page, wonder if that will get deleted?

Mark

I dunno. If Xara don't delete it, you might get some useful feedback from people who think you've nothing to complain about.

[Rik]

alt click on any button to move it elsewhere

Thanks Big Frank.
Why didn't I think of that?!
Actually, I think I've tried that before and it didn't work. And that's why I probably didn't try that this time.
Maybe I'm mistaken.

In which case: Xara, I take it all back.

[gwpriester]

Or Window > Control Bars > Button Palette. You can (hold down the Alt key) and drag and drop the tools anywhere you want and you can create your own custom button bar, something I have done for each version of the product.

[gwpriester]

As far as I can tell, DPX 9 doesn't add anything new for me on the photo tools or design tools side. But what a great 'Swiss Army knife' program for Xara-Users making websites and doing printed work!

@Jon Not so. The Regions and Mask Tool is brand new. And there are 11 new photo filters that work with both 32 & 64 bit versions. http://xaraxone.magix.net/XDPX9FL/photo-graphics.htm

And the Photo Heal Tool which Frank is a lot more sophisticated than the Magic Erase Tool.

And Background Erase, although a bit more labor intensive is so much better than the Select/Replace Tool.

[Rik]

Or Window > Control Bars > Button Palette. You can (hold down the Alt key) and drag and drop the tools anywhere you want and you can create your own custom button bar, something I have done for each version of the product.

I've been doing that for some time, Gary.
But, I hadn't realised that you can actually drag a tool from the 'flyout' itself.

[gwpriester]

Yes, you can.

@pauland +1