Hey Alex

I guess I should have been more clear. There are some bitmap effects you can do in xara that work similar to photoshop filters. But I rarely if ever use them cuz I think photoshop does a better job. ALthough maybe XX does a better job than Xara 2 (just got XX).

So I guess, anything that you can zoom and zoom and still see nice sharp lines (no pixelation)...that is a vector. Anything that you can go in with the mouse tool and move around nodes etc...that is vector. Transparency, gardients...they are all based on math and hence vector. Fractals are too but they are rendered and not completely sure how these translate. Kind of a vector/bitmap cross dresser.

Bitmaps are resolution dependent. Meaning that as you zoom in, you will see the little squares. If you make them larger and larger, the squares become more and more evident.Vectors are independent of resolotion and will look good no matter how much you zoom in or stretch them.

To do a test: draw a line drawn with the sponge brush tool and then export it as an eps or ai file. Open that file in Adobe illustrator..you will see a bunch of little boxes with solid fills (that were once the sponge fills). You can even manipulate the little boxes by change shape, size or colour. Thus they are vector.

I know it is kind of strange to think of these things as vector. Especially since you can control how things render with in Xara.