I use them both Jen. Couldn't do without either one to tell you the truth.
Right now I use Corel PSP XI (recently upgraded from 9.) There are some things in PSP that are just easier, quicker to do, probably because I'm used to doing it that way.
Since I made PSP XI the bitmap editor for Xara Xtreme, it's not a problem if I want to do some bitmap work to double click and open up PSP XI and send it back to Xara Xtreme - quite nice actually.
I think that the developers would agree, that some things are done more easily in bitmap programs and I have never heard them (Xara Developers) discourage the use of Bitmap programs on this forum.
The accumulated picture tubes and paint brushes I have make it well worth having, along with all the built-in effects and the preview dialog boxes that give you so many options, the ideas are endless.
It took me about six months to get use to Xara Xtreme coming from a bitmap only crowd. Even then I was unsure about how to do things. But the more I used it, the more I became addicted to it. It is the first graphics program I open up when I start a new project, because it is so much easier to draw out an idea in Xara Xtreme than any bitmap program. I even use it to start ideas for 3D projects.
BTW, in my 3D programs, I can use PSP as my bitmap editor and since Xara Xtreme is tied to that, I can do a lot!
It all boils down to what kind of artist you are and how you like doing it.
Me? I'm a hammer, saw and ruler type of guy - vector graphics suit me. Some artists are a pallet knife, brush, chalk, pencil, spray paint, masking kind of person.
I use both programs and wouldn't ever change it.
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