Double-headed arrows etc.

[Sueno]

Dear Xara,

I was captivated by Xara Xtreme many years ago for its illustrator attributes and have used it virtually every day along with Trimble (Google) SketchUp)for producing engineering and architectural drawings. As the XARA product has concentrated more and more on photos and Web design, the needs of technical illustrators have been forgotten. For instance, why do we still have arrowheads on one end of a line only? Technical illustrations giving dimensions use lines with arrows on both ends. How about a dimension line with integral numbers and offset lines? I know we can construct our own solutions but it is not so handy. Another example would be a facility to enter the exact ordinates for Guide lines. (See SketchUp for how easy it is there.) Other users I know have the same complaint and are not upgrading because they can see little increase in value. Some of these improvements are trivial compared with what has been done so please think a bit more about the needs of technical illustrators at least give us a proper dimensioning tool.

My fingers are crossed for the next upgrade.

[pauland]

Xara software has allowed lines with arrows on both ends for as long as I can remember!

Select the line and go to the arrow heads panel and hold down ctrl when clicking..

Quite right about the other suggestions and I've always found the Xara way of handling arrow heads a bit crude.

[Sueno]

Aaaah. Thanks for that Pauland. I should have asked years ago.......... I have now discovered that the Straightline Tool (which is the "Straight Line and Arrow Tool") has a menu option that allows you to select the arrow heads independantly on both ends of a line. Further, if you then use the Shape Tool the new head/tail is retained and only turned off if you return to the Straight Line Tool. I never bothered with Straight Line Tool as you can draw straihgt lines with the Shape Tool. Perhaps the Arrow part of the tool has been added since Xara Xtreme days. I thought that in the very early versions of Xtreme there was a comment that the Straight Line tool was for compatibility with some even earlier version. Your comment is going to save me a bit of time. Thanks again. Mabe I've missed something on Construction Line positioning too......

[pauland]

The arrow heads at both ends is a very old feature - but I understand why you might have missed it; Xara can be like that.

Dimensioning/construction lines has been requested before, but as you say Xara's priorities have been elsewhere.

[PhilM]

Not as easy as Sketchup but: Right-click on guideline, choose Properties..., enter value in box and click OK. This feature has been in the program since Guidelines were first implemented.

The Straight line tool is relatively new and gives much more control over arrowheads than was possible in Xtreme. The Pen tool was created primarily for compatibility with Adobe Illustrator. It is still in the program but is hidden by default.

(I share your pain regarding the lack of a dimension tool for technical illustration.)

Phil

[Acorn]

Can we have a function to allow two objects to have a dynamic line connection while we are at it?

Acorn

[Sueno]

Hi PhilM and Pauland,

Thank you both for these tips. Hidden treasure to me.

As they say up here, beyond the mountains "Mony a puckle maks a muckle".

A complete dimensioning tool is clearly in the making.......

Sueno