Xara Xtreme

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Xara Xtreme

Xara Xtreme for Linux, with the famous microscope demo image
Developer:	Xara Group Ltd
Latest release:	2.0f (Xara Xtreme) / March 2006
Preview release:	0.7 (Xara Xtreme for Linux) / August 11, 2006
OS:	Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
Use:	Vector graphics editor
License:	Proprietary and GNU General Public License
Website:	www.xara.com

Xara Xtreme (formerly Xara X) is a 2D vector graphics editor created by the British software company Xara.

1 Supported platforms
2 Development history
3 Characteristic features
4 Versions
- 4.1 Versions for Microsoft Windows
- 4.2 Versions for Linux and Mac OS X
5 Open Source Development
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Supported platforms

Xara Xtreme was originally developed for Microsoft Windows and the commercial version currently runs only on Windows.

Xara Xtreme for Linux (formerly Xara Xtreme LX or Xara LX for short) is the open source version for Linux and Mac OS X and is currently under development.

[edit] Development history

The predecessor of Xara Xtreme, called ArtWorks, was developed on the Acorn Archimedes 32-bit RISC computer running RISC OS.
The first version developed for Microsoft Windows was initially called Xara Studio, but before widescale public availability it was licensed to Corel Corporation, and from 1995 to 2000 was released as CorelXARA.
The first version under the name Xara X was released in 2000
In 2004 the next version Xara X¹ was released.
Xara Xtreme was relased in 2005.
In October 2005, Xara Group Ltd announced the plans to open the source of Xara Xtreme under the GPL and to seek community help in porting it over to Linux and Mac OS X.
In November 2006, a enhanced version of Xara Xtreme, Xara Xtreme PRO, was released.

[edit] Characteristic features

Xara Xtreme is notable for its usability and very fast renderer. Xara Xtreme is also notable for being the first vector graphics software product to provide fully anti-aliased display, advanced gradient fill and transparency tools, now available in many competing products.

Among vector editors, Xara Xtreme is considered to be one of the easiest to learn, especially for those who have had some experience with CorelDRAW. In recent versions, attempts have been made to render the application appealing to web designers by adding tools for popular effects such as drop shadows, bevels, and navigation buttons. Xara Xtreme also includes tools for manipulating bitmaps.

Xara Xtreme, while not as well known as some vector drawing applications, has a rapidly growing and very loyal user base, with active forums and many user-created tutorials. Xara Xtreme is also used in Scottish high schools as part of their Graphic Design course.

[edit] Versions

[edit] Versions for Microsoft Windows

Xara X (commercial version) - released 2000
Xara X¹ (commercial version) - released 2004
Xara Xtreme (commercial version with commercial plugins) - released 2005
Xara Xtreme XS (a light version of Xara Xtreme without plugins and no bevel/shadow/outline tools, commercial version) - released 2006
Xara Xtreme PRO (commercial version with enhanced functions) - released 2006

[edit] Versions for Linux and Mac OS X

Xara Xtreme for Linux (open source version) - released 2006

[edit] Open Source Development

Xara Xtreme for Linux (or Xara Xtreme Linux Edition) is the open source version of Xara Xtreme. Formerly, it was called Xara Xtreme LX or just Xara LX; the abbrevation LX stands for Linux. The "LX" name is retained in some places (for example, the executable is still called "xaralx").

The first version was released for Linux in October 2005, and Xara Group Ltd announced it will release the source code of the trimmed down version under the GPL and seek community help in porting it over to Linux and Mac OS X using the wxWidgets toolkit.

At the opening of the Libre Graphics Meeting 2006[1] in Lyon, France, Xara released most of the source code of Xara Xtreme for Linux in an updated website with details on how to access the sources. According to Xara Xtreme for Linux homepage, the released source code contains "the majority of the Xara Xtreme source code". Currently, the only part of Xara Xtreme for Linux that isn't under GPL is the CDraw rendering engine, though reportedly Xara is working on preparing that code for publication as well.

Xara has also granted write access to their subversion repository for some external developers. The website also carries stable and nightly Linux builds.

The 0.3 beta series for the first time allows use of the new *.xar file format for the open source version. Previous versions only supported opening and playing with bundled demo files. Version 0.5 was the first to also have functional save feature. The current beta version is 0.7.