Which other brand graphic design software do you use and why?

[pauland]

artboards can be very useful for organising work

Definitely. In my posted example there are close on 70 artboards in the one file. It's super useful organising them visually and in the one project file.

[MarcT]

HI,

-Photoshop for bitmap editing, it's so nice to have this option of an external editor in Xara.

-Illustrator for mesh warp, line distortion, astute phantasm plugin, client demands and pains in the neck .

-Moi3d for more technical graphics - Like Xara it's the most no nonsense and productive option I've found.

Marc

[stevegill]

I'm no graphics wiz but I started using Affinity Designer. I have been getting into animation lately and AD integrates into the animation software workflow, whereas XDP doesn't.

AD had a steep learning curve for me but it's an excellent program. Still, there are some surprising omissions from its feature set.

I still use XDP as well. Some things are easier and faster in XDP.

= Steve

[handrawn]

well graphic design covers a wide range of possibility - everything put together is designed more or less, and if it's for art, it's a graphic

I've just switched over [from SAI2] to PS CC for drawing line art with the cintiq pro - if this is for animation then I can import it into Harmony which will vectorise it, and then I can colour it in that program - if it's not for animation it does not ususally need to be vector and I would PSD it into SAI2 and do the colouring there as it is a lot more straight forward to do flats/highlights/shades in that program; and then back to PS if it needs any plugin effects - if it did need to be vector I would use inkscape for vectorising the lineart [because you cannot export vector from Harmony]

I still use xara for vector asset when that is easier to put together in an external program, but to be honest this is tailing off

Personally I would prefer Illustrator CC to Affinity Designer, but unless the asset takes off again in a big way i could not justify the cost, xara designer is adequate as things stand for vectors - for raster affinity photo I really like a lot, but now i have PS I am unlikely to use it so much

as I said in a thread oh about 18 months ago, if you work with others and they use PS/Illy, then it is often cutting your nose off to spite your face if you dig in and refuse to sync for the sake of saving a few quid a month

[pauland]

if you work with others and they use PS/Illy, then it is often cutting your nose off to spite your face if you dig in and refuse to sync for the sake of saving a few quid a month

That's what has kept Adobe alive for so long - total market dominance when working in teams. It's why I have had an Adobe suite licence for years - interworking with clients.

It's not just about saving a few quid - if you have distributed/corporate clients and they are working with Adobe assets then we have to do the same or they go elsewhere.

So far I have avoided renewing my Adobe licence for close on one year. The adobe market grip is strong, but it is loosening.

[handrawn]

i can justify the cost of the photoshop £10 a month photography package - ironic as i am not a photographer and have not even installed lightroom - but the brushes and the plugins save one heck of a lot of time for me, worth it - it is simply that the program works quickly and without hassle, giving the best results for what i do

yes, i dont have clients in that sense but you are right; with me it is sync with the one ongoing project, have to make sure the PSDs that are ported are fully PS CC compatible

[jaydear]

I still use CorelDraw 12 on my Win7 PC which also runs Xara DPX365. Xara is a good one stop shop for quick, simple diagrams and for undemanding bitmap edits. Xara's bitmap healing tool is very good.

CorelDraw 12 is best for editing my more complex designs which would be too much work to take across to XDP. CorelDraw also has more logical (to me) vector handling and many more format import/export capabilities than Xara. I'm getting more experienced with XDP as time passes though.

For fancier bitmap edits I use Affinity Photo or PaintShop Pro in concert with CameraBag Pro. I love CameraBag Pro's adjustments - nothing else comes close. Just brilliant - fun and useable.

It's a shame that Xara has not updated their old, old, old live bitmap filters for a very long time, nor have annoying niggles like the white outline you get after some edits been fixed. I really dislike the live filters and their fragmented interface, which is very old hat, convoluted to use and feels like you're using old versions of external programs loosely patched into XDP.

[Gamerprinter]

Well knowing I won't upgrade past Xara Designer Pro x11, it is still my go to design software for all my professional mapping, and some of my page layout - I do use InDesign for major page layout projects, because the printer/publishers I work with demand it. I am using Wings 3D and Vue Creator for all my 3D work right now, which get's incorporated with my Xara work. But consider I've had Xara since XaraX1, and previous to that I was using Micrografx Designer, which Xara essentially replaced for me, since Corel bought out Micrografx then put it in the trash bin. I see no reason to use anything but Xara as my primary graphics program.

[rsrsrs]

Krita for ... just open a picture and press "w" which i could have this in xara...
Inkscape for vectorize bitmaps. (made in krita)
Adobe PS and LR.

[ad1066]

I use Paint Shop Pro for bitmap stuff, and PagePlus for layout of anything I can't do in Xara due to size of other constraints.

I've recently gotten into Wonderdraw for maps, though I find myself using it mainly for landmasses and water, and then exporting the resulting image into Xara for use as a background, over which I'll draw buildings and landmarks.

-- Ben