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(free) XaraXS


rridgely

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This is a neat little program. :)

 

Ever wondered why illustration software often seems so inflexible, slow, difficult to use? So did Xara. They decided to do something about it, too, and Xara XS is the impressive result: it just could be one of the best drawing programs you've ever used.

 

Take the interface, for instance. While the competition drown you in floating palettes and flyout options, Xara XS takes a much cleaner and less intimidating approach. Open the program and it looks little more complicated than Windows Paint, encouraging you to start experimenting right away.

 

Don't think that "simple" means "basic", though, because there's plenty of power available when you need it. You could draw with a range of pre-set QuickShapes (rectangles, circles, ellipses, stars), perhaps, or opt for freehand tools, which come with a wide range of brushes for interesting artistic effects (and it's easy to create more). Both Freehand and Shape objects can easily be moved around and resized by dragging their handles.

 

Any object you create can then be manipulated with the powerful tools on offer. The highly customisable Transparency tool adds great effects in seconds; there's a Fill option to flood objects with pre-set fills or designs, or a bitmap of your own; a Blend tool to merge objects together; a Mould tool that distorts options around a pre-set shape, and more. Plus of course all of these options work with any text objects you create, making it simple to create stylish headings, logos and just about any other text effects you can imagine.

 

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/downloads/2169799/xara-xs

 

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Its a cool little program. Its snappier than pain.net and does what I need it do. But I'm art impaired and cant make anything cool with any of these programs. I just like playing with them.

 

Its a nice program though and has a really nice uncluttered interface. Some features seem hidden but if you just spend 10min or so you can find them all.

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