Xara Outsider December 2014

IN THIS MONTH'S EDITION...

It's the season for giving and so we have a Santa Sackload of short Xmas offers, including discounts on Photo & Graphic Designer and Page & Layout Designer, and web pack bundles with Designer Pro and Web Designer. All offers end 30th December. More details below.
In addition we have just added the brand new MAGIX Fastcut to our site, now the best way to edit and share action cam videos. We have a short launch offer, so if your Christmas involves something more active than eating, buy it now, record your heroics and put the couch potatoes to shame! More info below.
The holiday also offers the perfect opportunity to spend some quiet time building your Xara skills. Why not try our Outsider tutorial covering the Color Select & Enhance tool of Photo & Graphic Designer / Designer Pro. Or there's plenty on The Xara Xone to give your drawing tools a work out, including new tutorials from Gary Bouton and some free form shapes from Igor Vojtela that are the perfect calming measure. More info below.
And finally we would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and successful 2014.

INSPIRATIONAL ART // It's got to be Christmas!

Four different designers do their best to help put you in the Christmas mood, and hopefully bring a smile to your face. - Find out more

CHRISTMAS OFFERS

Visit the Xara graphics forums to discuss or find answers to your graphics needs.

Our pick of Top Talk this month:

See where Igor's shapes are leading people in Igor's Giveaway thread in the Xone forum. Here's a creation by Maya Doka >>
The traditional Christmas tree trimming is going strong in the Xone forum, it's not too late to make your contribution to the tree decorations.
There were some very inventive entries in the Drop Cap November challenge, but still only 3 in Drop Cap December. Are you all too busy with the Christmas shopping? Fortunately it's not too late to enter!

FEATURED TUTORIAL // PHOTO & GRAPHIC DESIGNER 10 / DESIGNER PRO X10

Changing the Colors of a Selected Area of your Photo

OTHER NEWS

Download the Free v10 Patches Now
During December we released patches for all v10 programs, we recommend you download them. The updates are free if you already own v10, make sure you have the latest by selecting Help > Update within the program. The patch includes some minor but worthwhile enhancements to web and photo features.
Details about the patch

Book Award
Congratulations to Gary Priester whose cover for the book Lonely River Village recently tied for first place in the New Mexico / Arizona book awards. We featured the cover design in the March issue of Inspirational Art. Gary used Designer Pro to design the cover, and in fact lay out the whole 175 page book.

Surveys
If you've already purchased Photo & Graphic Designer 10 or Designer Pro X10 you can help us make future decisions relating to the product by completing our very short survey. All help appreciated! Complete the survey

Xara News, As It Happens
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HINTS & TIPS

Know Your Nodes
In the Shape Tool you can select a node by clicking on it, you can select a second node with a shift click. So for example if you want to change a segment from a curve to a straight line click the node at one end of your segment, shift click the node at the other end and click on the 'Make Line' icon on the InfoBar (or simply type the letter L). To change a line to a curve type C or click on 'Make Curve'.

Know Your Nodes 2
In the Shape Tool a quick way to move from node to node is to simply hit Tab. Click the Reverse Path icon in the InfoBar to reverse the direction (or use Shift + Tab).

PRESS REVIEWS

"Overall this is an impressive suite. The uncluttered interface is straightforward to use and the software is extremely responsive."

Computeractive gives Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 10 5/5 and a Buy It award.

FASTCUT LAUNCH OFFER

IN THE XARA XONE THIS MONTH...

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