Vector programs

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Vector programs

any open source options?

Beagle

2:56 pm on Feb 9, 2007 (gmt 0)

At first I thought surfin2u had beat me to this question - but what I'm wondering about is open source vector programs. The only one I find much information on is Inkscape (by the same people as GIMP, I think). It seems pretty well-developed for web graphics, but not for printing - still has issues with color consistency, which is important to me. I need to have logos that can be used both online and in print.

I'm pretty much resigned to buying what I need, but before I do that I thought I'd see if anyone here knows of any other open source options. It's not so much that I don't want to shell out the money as it is wanting to use open source "on principle" - if possible. (Yeah, I know - It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing.)

[edited to clarify question]

[edited by: Beagle at 3:05 pm (utc) on Feb. 9, 2007]

bcolflesh

3:28 pm on Feb 9, 2007 (gmt 0)

On Linux/Mac:

[xaraxtreme.org...]

The Windows version (not free, but reasonable) is supposed to be even better, but I've never used it.

Beagle

5:27 pm on Feb 9, 2007 (gmt 0)

I actually know someone who uses Xara Xtreme; I don't know if she's ever used it for print projects, but I'll ask her about it. Thanks for jogging my memory, bcolflesh - I'd forgotten about that one.

Turbulence

9:52 am on Feb 13, 2007 (gmt 0)

As much as I have read your demands, Beagle, XaraXtreme will suit your needs.
What I am not very sure about is whether its printing features (yes, Xara LX 0.7 includes some support for printing) will provide you are exactly looking for. Anyway, here are some notes on the use of the printing feature in Xara version 0.7:

* If you encounter problems in printing, choose "print as bitmap"
* Not supported printing to PDF.
* It is best if you set the paper size manually in print setup. Keep in mind that printing treats the entire page to be printable, so print borders don't appear.
* Print marks don't work.
* The printer resolution is assumed to be 600 dpi.
/thanks for Xara's corporate website content/

Just keep in mind that these problems may pop up. However, you can always ask for help with that, so my advice is - go for it.

Marcia

9:58 am on Feb 13, 2007 (gmt 0)

Paintshop Pro (now owned by Corel) is about the same price as that other one, maybe even less with a rebate and it handles both bitmap and vector graphics, has since several versions ago.

Beagle

5:50 pm on Feb 13, 2007 (gmt 0)

Thanks for the added info, Turbulance. According to my friend who uses it, XaraXtremePro (not free, but reasonable and - she feels - easier to use than Illustrator) is the best Xara product for printing. It can even be used to set up documents for professional printing companies, which is something I'm not sure I'll need but it speaks well for the product.

Marcia, yes, I've been using PaintShop Pro for several years. It's my favorite raster editing program, but its vector abilities are pretty limited. Unless it's been changed in the most recent update(s), you can't save an image as a vector unless you keep it as a .psp document. If you want to export it from the program, it has to be saved as some type of bitmap image. I'd be ecstatic if that's changed, as I love Paint Shop, but I haven't seen anything to indicate that it has. It's really a parallel to PhotoShop. For a parallel to Illustrator, you'd have to go to CorelDRAW, which I'm also trying out - definitely not open source, but has some nice features. ...After a bit of thinking, your post did give me an idea of how to meet my most immediate, basic needs with PaintShop by resizing the image for various uses before exporting it. Not sure if it will work, but the first logo I need to deal with is quite simple and completely in grayscale so I may give it a try.

Vector programs

any open source options?

Beagle

bcolflesh

Beagle

Turbulence

Marcia

Beagle

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