XARA DESIGNER PRO X REVIEW SOFTWARE
While the vector-based software is aimed at a design audience, there are a handful of powerful tools that would make any amateur photographer ecstatic. There are much more than basic tweaks to contrast and saturation here, though. There’s not much explanation of the sliders’ functions, but ultimately they’re rather similar to the options in mobile image editing apps. In most cases all the editing is done directly on the image itself, with a selection of options at the top of the page controlling the desired effect.Ī perfect example of this streamlining is in the Photo Edit tool, which doesn’t require trawling through menus or making edits to a picture obscured behind a dialog window but instead simply requires adjusting sliders at the top of the screen. It is smartly designed to minimize the learning curve needed to get involved by removing as many complicated dialog boxes as possible. Don’t let that deter you, though if it’s only photo editing that interests you, Xara will more than suffice.ĭepending on how much experience you have with image editing software will basically affect how intuitive Xara is. The software itself slants more towards the graphic designer angle, therefore making it primarily aimed at the creation of leaflets, magazines, interface buttons or even business reports. Firstly, this is a vector-based editor, which essentially means it’s a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator in a single package. There are some important differences, though. It includes a lot of the key aspects of its competition, everything from layers and clone tools to some of the more complex features like perspective fixing and a magic erase function. It might be styled a bit heavily on Adobe’s leading software – what with that dark gray interface – but that’s a comparison totally worth making. Xara Photo & Graphic Designer isn’t messing around it aims to be a complete package and that’s clear from the start. Mercifully, if the only reason you’re looking for image editing software is to tweak holiday snaps or photos from wedding guests to perfection, then Xara Photo & Graphic Designer has all the clout you need.
XARA DESIGNER PRO X REVIEW TRIAL
Xara might have some extras that make it more suitable for advanced users, but it doesn’t overcomplicate its tools, provides a boatload of tutorials for beginners and offers a seven-day trial to test it before handing over $49.99 for a license. Xara and its parent company MAGIX have built up quite a list of creative tools over the years, the former providing programs to assist with web, image or document design this incredible experience has resulted in a complete package that could be a true alternative to Photoshop. Such is Adobe’s total dominance over the creative software market that there are few products out there that could feasibly call themselves a competitor to Photoshop.