Xara Designer Pro X and Photo & Graphic Designer Updates

[Acorn]

I too would love to see better brushes and cool plugins/effects or compatibility with AI/PS plugins, but Magix doesn't seem to know that Designer is used for more than just creating documents and calendars. (Ooooh! New smart shapes!)

But Xara, conveniently, dropped the Calendar templates it was always delivering a year late anyhow.

Acorn

[Acorn]

It is a ... shame.

I no longer Post in Dear Xara..., I Pest. I have looked over, in fair detail, all the current offerings Xara considers to be updates and new features and, frankly, few measure up to the hype that MagiXara pumps out.

Acorn

[handrawn]

xara hype:

https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...156#post596156

you have my admiration for all you have done acorn there is only so much one can take

[Acorn]

xara hype:
https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...156#post596156
you have my admiration for all you have done acorn there is only so much one can take

Xara does occasionally dip into these Threads so if we nag enough it might sink in. It is a sad state that collectively TG member have a wealth of experience we are happy to share and we see no acknowledgement that things have been noted, let alone acted on.

Acorn

[handrawn]

you were not a TG member back in 2010 when Steve L decamped to xara-users, but I am sure you were/are aware...

at the time xara said it mattered not, the forum [TG] would continue regardless, some members would go, new members would replace them

I think xara tske it for granted... and as has been said elsewhere, shame

[Acorn]

you were not a TG member back in 2010 when Steve L decamped to xara-users, but I am sure you were/are aware...
at the time xara said it mattered not, the forum [TG] would continue regardless, some members would go, new members would replace them
I think xara tske it for granted... and as has been said elsewhere, shame

Steve L (sledger) was a prolific contributor as are many others.

I think Xara only keeps TalkGraphics around as it would have to change its program coding to jettison it or invent a replacement for the Help > More Xara <Desktop application> > Online forum link.

Acorn

[browj2]

I often see complaints here that Xara does not reply enough to the threads and that feature requests are ignored. However, I do see many times where Xara employees do intervene, comment and help out, but it is, obviously, not enough. Compare this to Corel (Paintshop Pro) where intervention from Corel employees is almost non-existant, and support is limited to 1 month after purchase - pitiful.

On the other hand, below is an example of what I think is excellent intervention by a software company on its forum - BluffTitler. The BluffTitler guy is Michiel and he replies to most threads and takes suggestions for improvements and new features to heart. Magix/Xara should take heed. I know that Magix/Xara do not like to announce what they are working on, or even comment on suggestions in Dear Xara, but they should. Here is one of Michiel's latest threads; judge for yourselves:

"Today we jump to version 14.1.

Not because it's a major new version, but because we need a nice number for the Sea Monsters pack, planned for release later this week:
www.outerspace-software.com...

By request of Jeep35, the show duration is no longer rounded off to whole seconds. You can now, for example, enter 2.5 in the FILE > SET SHOW DURATION... dialog.

By request of Kauzito, a new effect is introduced: Special/NormalMapper. This can be used to normap map a model that has no UV coordinates, similar to what Special/UVMapper does for colourmaps.

By request of lightads, the old ReflectiveWater_CubemapDDS effect has been converted to CFX.

Also inspired by lightads, the SETTINGS > OPTIONS... dialog now has a MAXIMUM TEXTURE RESOLUTION option. This can be used to prevent out of video memory issues when using lots of super high resolution photos. For example, set this value to 1920 and your 8K photos are automatically scaled down to make them fit into the video memory of your graphics card.

Lots of effect thumbnails have been redesigned..."

[BONES]

Like most internet forums, this is full of negativity but I just dropped by to thank the Xara developers for fixing a long-standing gripe I've had (and mentioned here a few times). I bought a new laptop last week and downloaded the latest version of Xara (which I had assumed I was running on my old machine anyway) and discovered, to my delight, that the application now starts far more quickly than it has in years. It is now on -par with all the other software I use so thanks, Xara, it makes a big difference to me.

[gwpriester]

I have removed three posts which do not meet our community standards for civility.

[jmanganelli]

Just figured I'd add my voice to the chorus. I use xara everyday at this point. it is a great application. it is quick and convenient and stable, for the most part. however, there has been little quality improvement or feature expansion in the last few years. i know a lot of pre-made content has been added, but that is not useful to me. Support for layered tif, exr, and psd files would be useful. ability to handle larger dtp documents would be useful. improvements to brushes would be useful. performance improvements for filters would be useful. being able to reference other image/graphic files without importing them would be useful. a general sense that the desktop programs are being actively and aggressively developed would be reassuring.

in the last few years, it seems most effort has gone into the online tools, and the desktop tools have gotten just barely enough development to avoid mutiny among maintenance subscribers but not really the kind of attention that a company puts into its feature products. I'm not judging. I'm sure that xara had to make tough decisions to get its online offerings off the ground. but now that the online offerings are off the ground and now that xara recently sent a survey to subscribers indicating that it intends to continue developing the desktop applications and asking us for input on development priorities, it is time to follow through on this promise to develop the desktop applications.

at this point, i'm not abandoning xara. it is useful and i enjoy using it and i use it daily. but i don't believe that i've seen enough development in the last three years to warrant paying the subscription fee each year. i'll take a wait an see approach over the next ten months, til my subscription is up for renewal. but if the only updates to designer pro in the next 10 months are more free content in the online catalog and a smattering of bug fixes with one or two minor, incremental feature improvements, it will not be enough to justify the $120 annual maintenance fee. $120 is also the annual maintenance fee for photoshop and in comparison to xara's desktop products, photoshop appears to have received far more development in the last few years. though i mostly left adobe over their new pricing structure and increased cost, i have had to maintain some access to and use of their tools on occasion and have been pleasantly surprised at how aggressively they are developing them. similarly, affinity's development in the past few years is astounding, and there is no annual cost for access to those improvements. in comparison, xara's desktop app development efforts appear disconcertingly pedestrian these past few years.

In summary, xara is a great program and was a good investment as i transitioned from adobe cc. importantly, xara is just a fun and easy but also powerful program to use, which makes it enjoyable in a way that some of its competitors' products are not, in my opinion. But the maintenance fee that i've paid the last few years has not been worth the paltry improvements the desktop programs have seen in that time. if xara does not develop designer pro more aggressively, it will not make me question my investment in the software nor will it make me cease using designer pro in the short-term, but it will make me stop paying a subscription fee when it is not at all clear that there are sufficient benefits for the cost of the subscription.