BIOS: Technology Means Business

Xara, a Corel-owned developer of low-cost graphics software, has updated its flagship vector-based illustration software. Targeted at print and Web designers, Xara X¹ now supports real-time bitmap anti-aliasing, offers smoother feather and shadows, and is a lot faster than the leading vector software. There's no symbols feature for repetitive graphics or a spelling checker for text, but it's still excellent value for money and capable of creating stunning results. The software's clean interface is also absent from the plethora of floating palettes and dialog boxes that plague high-end tools, which should further appeal to inexperienced designers.

Pros: Excellent value; lots of new real-time tools; CMYK support; fast
Cons: Can't import Flash files; no symbols feature of spelling checker

Xara X¹ is a low-cost vector-based illustration application targeted at print and Web designers. It now supports real-time bitmap anti-aliasing, shadows and object feathering, real-time interactive transparency controls, full transparency support including graduated transparency (linear, circular and elliptical) with different transparency types (mix, stain, bleach and the like), as well as a real-time vector brush tool that includes airbrush and natural media brushes. The aggressively-priced package even comes with full 32-bit alpha-channel bitmap support (creation, import, export, compositing), CMYK support for print illustration work including on-screen plate preview, as well as downloadable tutorial movies.

The software is targeted at professional designers, but its ease of use, low cost and speed make it equally suitable to entry-level users. However, don't let the software's relatively insignificant price put you off - Xara X¹ (roughly CorelXara version 7) is a powerful program that'll let you create polished vector drawings in a matter of minutes, even if your creative skills are somewhat limited.

Xara has long been the fastest drawing and illustration program around, but it's now even faster thanks to its third-generation rendering engine. It now also support real-time solid drag, resize and rotate tools, which means that as you reposition, resize or rotate an object the whole object moves, rather than just an outline, making it far easier to judge the effect of your edits in real time. The updated software also sports re-engineered and improved CMYK separations, CMYK on-screen plate preview, CMYK TIFF export, multi-layer, multi-file alpha channel PNG export, full 32-bit alpha-channel support, as well as infinite undos.

Perhaps more exciting is the new Picture Editor utility, a completely new tool integrated into Xara X¹ that provides basic photo-editing operations such as cropping, rotating, enhancing, and sharpening. Neither a pixel editor nor a painting program, Picture Editor also lets you adjust an image's contrast, brightness, sharpness/blur and saturation. Unfortunately, there's no support for third-party filters (promised as a free update later in the year) or local pixel editing (painting or retouching), unlike Macromedia's Fireworks which lets you paint on your artwork as easily as you draw.

Xara X¹'s unique 'zero-memory footprint' editing means that you can use the Picture Editor to edit and enhance photos from within the software, and each new edited image requires no memory or file space. What this actually means is that images files (JPEGs, GIFs, TIFFs and so on) are saved in their own Xara file, resulting in huge file size savings. For instance, in another program, an uncompressed 20MB photograph would double in file size every time you copy it. As a result, you may end up with a file that might easily be 60MB large. Xara X¹'s proprietary zero-memory footprint approach means that each new copy and edited copy requires no additional memory or file space. This technology makes Xara X¹ an ideal platform for creating compositions that mix native vectors and imported bitmaps.

Xara X¹ is also a useful program for creating compact, Web-optimised graphics. With this in mind, Xara has further added a NavBar tool, image slicing capabilities and Dreamweaver integration. It's also a lot easier to create animated GIFs and to prepare vector art for animation in Flash format, and you can now create and export frame animations to multiple PNG files so that they can be imported into Adobe's Photoshop/ImageReady as layers or frames for further editing.

Links:
Xara X¹ Web site
Xara X¹ 15-day trial (10.7MB)