Xara is very stable, although I have had it crash on documents with lots of effects as well, there's infinite undo, and the program saves the file periodically, so if it does crash, you can still go back to the last time it saved itself. Also infinite undo allows me to undo even beyond saved versions (even if I save a close the program not crashing) - I could infinite undo all the way to where I started the map (though that usually isn't necessary). Although files can get big, using the Xara file format, I've never seen a map that exceeded 50 MB in size. Of course as stated I can export my maps (since I always create maps at least 18 x 24 inches in scale) to print or VT resolutions from the same Xara created map. Xara allows use many third party Photoshop plug-ins, though since there is both a 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the program, many PS plug-ins are 32 bit, which doesn't work in the 64 bit version (though I think the latest version of the program allows it) - when you download the program you can install both versions. I did so, so I could use plug-ins every now and again (I don't use plug-ins much). There's Magic Erase, which is kind of cool, I can loosely draw a mask around any object in a bitmap image, and not only will the selected area be erased, but will intelligently fill in the space using the image area surrounding the selected mask. This way I can draw a circle or shape around a tree and structure, applying effect will erase the selected object, but fill it with grass or whatever the dominant terrain fill surrounding it.
I've been using Xara software since Xara X 1.0 (now about 10 years old), now using Xara Designer Pro 9 (though 10 is released, and talk of 11 is coming soon, my version is 2 years old.) Although I use the pro version which includes many web design, flash and other online related functions, the basic program Xara Photo & Graphic Designer can do everything I do in maps, and only costs $89 - the pro version is about $250 (but I need to use all the tools in my day job), plus when I upgrade, I never pay full price, usually getting some kind of discount as a previous owner.
I also use an affiliate link to Xara Photo & Graphic Designer, which doesn't net a lot of affiliate profit, but I use it to further discount my upgrade price - so if anyone is interested in looking at Xara products, click the link, so I can earn some revenue if you buy - of course there's a fully operational 30 day trial (some of the add-on content is missing from the trial version, but otherwise the trial is the full version, and can export full sized images (often trials are hamstrung from full use, Xara is not).
To be fair, I find Xara to be one of the easiest to learn and use vector application - its very intuitive (easy to figure out how to use all the tools), but those who have years of experience using image editors, sometimes have a problem to switch their mentality to how vector works, but most people find Xara extremely easy to use. As stated Illustrator is more powerful than Xara, but like many of the competitors software, many tools have multiple layers of features that are sometimes all over the place and hard to get a grip or find. Xara has few layers, and far less tools, so its easier to fully comprehend each tool and all parameters in using that tool. (Can you tell that I'm a Xara fan?)
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