XaraXtreme - The best got better , 2008 brings Xara Xtreme 4

Xara Xtreme, already the fastest and best value vector graphics package, becomes even better in version 4. The photo editor is now built in and the various editing options become available in the usual way when you select a photo and hit the new photo tool button. You can crop and adjust levels etc., even of large bitmaps, with the usual  lightning speed. It is worth checking the Xara website for a nice demonstration of the photo tool. (Click the "Revolutionary Photo Handling" link on the left of the page.)

Another nice new (some would say overdue) feature is liquid text flow around objects.  Perhaps inclusion of this was delayed until it could be made to work with the speed that users have come to expect. Anyway, you can now drag an object around on top of paragraph text and watch the text re-format itself instantly.

Version 4 also comes with a new website creation feature. This, in conjunction with all the vector graphic and photo capabilities of the software, makes Xtreme  even more compelling. As ever, the software is backed up by a great help system and a resource rich website. The user will not need to spend money on courses and books in order to make the most of Xtreme.

Xtreme or Xtreme Pro?  You will only need the more expensive Xtreme Pro if the following features are important to you:

Shortcut key configuration, Color Separation Support, PANTONE® color support, PDF/X export, XPS Support, Multi-core processor support , HD Photo import , panorama photo stitching.

If you need to create files for high quality professional printing, you'll need Xtreme Pro. Otherwise, go for the standard version. It is not crippled by the omission of any of the intuitive vector and bitmap tools which make the Pro version so powerful.  

Prices.  At the time of writing (April '08) Xtreme4 is $89 (£55 incl vat) Xtreme4 Pro $249 (£199 incl vat).
 

There follow some notes I made about previous versions of my favourite graphics package and given time, I plan to add my impressions of the new website creation feature.

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Some time in 2007 ... For most of us the good news is the inclusion of animated Flash export and PDF import and export. The writer is not a great fan of animated banners but if you need to produce these for your website, I doubt that you would find a better tool. Xara Xtreme doesn't set out to become a complete Flash authoring environment - it does not support scripting, sound or embedded movies. However, you can make animated banners in minutes (just remember to name the elements you want to animate!). Actually - this would also be a great way of creating technical motion graphics for the Web. If you needed to show the world some sort of mechanical concept in action, you could quite easily animate 2D technical drawings made in Xara or imported from other packages. 

Acrobat PDF. There are quite a few of these files flying around these days and sooner or later you'll need to open one and dissect it (say, to extract and modify a graphic for use elsewhere). You'll also find yourself drawn (like it or not) into situations where you need to send .pdf files to all and sundry. Handling these files is a breeze with Xtreme. When you come to export your work as a .pdf, you can easily pick a template to make the file suitable for the Web, decent quality desktop printing or (with Pro) professional printing.     

XaraXtreme is a great place to start for those new to vector graphics. It is intuitive, fast, powerful and very reasonably priced. However, it is not a "starter" package that you will quickly outgrow. You'll get an idea of its full range of capabilities at the Xara website and having used previous versions in freelance work over the last few years, I can confirm that it is well suited to professional use.

Newcomers to the field can find the choice of a drawing package quite difficult - you often don't really know what tools you need until you start working on projects and even if you have made a shopping list of desirable features, you can't be sure that these are well implemented. The authors of Xara have a philosophy that addresses these problems. They include the tools that most of us need, most of the time - and they make sure that these work efficiently and interactively. The interface is clean and intuitive but if you need it, Xara has an excellent help system and the CD version is supplied with movies which demonstrate many of its features. I've listed some of the tools and enhancements below. They are all worthwhile but in my own work I've found the  shadow, transparency and feathering tools to be especially useful. I often use Xara to perform bitmap cut-outs in preference to traditional bitmap editors - you can feather the edges of the cut-out and easily move the outline with the shape editor tool until you are happy with the image. The feathering tool also works with Xara's vector graphics and this is a great way to overcome the unnatural look that you sometimes get with vector images. 

Check out some of the features below - if you want to try them out you can download a trial version of XaraXtreme from www.xara.com. This is one download you will not regret! (No, I'm not on the payroll, just happy to help promote a best in class product which was developed in Britain).

In XaraXtreme :

A new addition to the toolbar, the "live effects" tool. This allows you to apply Photoshop and Xara Picture Editor plug-ins, not just to bitmaps but to vector objects as well! If the plug-ins are modern 'scriptable' plug-ins then you can still edit the vector shape (or text) and the effects are automatically updated.

Improved Picture Editor. It's not a pixel editor but does many of the jobs you'll need to do (cropping, enhancing, rotating, sharpening, red-eye removal etc.) with ease. Now accepts Xara and 3rd party plug-ins. It handles large files with aplomb and uses what they call "zero memory footprint editing". It's great, and can now be used stand-alone. 

New PDF export tool allowing super-clean, very compact PDF files to be created. This includes support for graduated colour fills and support for flat transparency and graduated transparency. I've never needed to export PDF files but Xara claim that this means "not only dramatic increases in the PDF quality but also substantial reduction in PDF file sizes". 

Button & NavBar Tool - simplifies the creation of web page navigation bars and JavaScript rollovers. Automates the creation of the button graphics and produces the associated HTML and JavaScript. 
Shadow Tool - creates soft wall and floor shadows and glow effects. Soft shadows fade out at the edges and are much more realistic than hard shadows usually associated with graphics packages. 
Bevel Tool- creates an illusion of depth by adding shaped bevels to objects.
Contour Tool - creates concentric rings around lines and shapes (inset path operations).
Fill Tool - repeating fill patterns, color profiling and easier selection of bitmaps for fills.
Transparency Tool - extra transparency types added, repeating transparency patterns, easier selection of bitmaps for transparency; and transition profiling.
Freehand Tool (now the Freehand & Brush Tool) - real-time brush stroking, including simulated air brushing, with fully editable strokes.
Blend Tool - can now profile the blend steps, plus blend along a curve with control over the spacing between blend steps.
Selector Tool - new button allows the naming of objects. 

New Gallery: Name Gallery - assign names to objects (multiple names permitted). Shows and lets you select bitmaps, fonts, and colors used in the document. You can use the names to control batch export or to edit groups of related objects. Also controls image slicing and batch exporting.

New features for existing galleries: Line Gallery - new sections for brush strokes and stroke shapes. Clipart Gallery - a new drop-down list to select between regular clipart and themed template sets.

Drawing features: Support for non-linear profiles (the transition or rate of change) for the position and attributes of blends, transparency, color fills, contours and shadows. Multi-stage graduated fills - allows multiple color changes in fills. Brush stroking of lines - create patterned lines and object outlines using either predefined brushes (including air-brush effects) or by creating your own. Pressure-sensitive graphics tablet support for brush strokes. Stroke shaping of lines. Fully automatic on-screen bitmap anti-aliasing for rotated and scaled bitmaps . ClipView - a new way of clipping objects, sometimes called "paste inside".  Feathering - blur the edges of objects so they merge smoothly into the background or objects behind them. Convert lines to shapes - you can apply complex fills to lines.

Web graphics support: Easy creation of rollovers and navigation bars. Creates the necessary graphics and HTML. For rollovers also creates the necessary JavaScript. Macromedia Flash exporter. Macromedia Dreamweaver support. Image slicing.