Editing Photos or Creating Vector Graphics? Expression Design 2 surpasses Adobe Photoshop.

Microsoft Expression Design 2 is a professional illustration and graphic design tool that lets you build compelling elements for both web and desktop application user interfaces. Doing the job of both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Expression Design 2 is now available to students and their families (home use only).

Resources To Enhance Your Learning

Expression Design 2 users are not alone! There is an Expression Community Website that contains a frequently updated wealth of materials on all the Expression products and the Microsoft technologies that they are designed to work with.

Improved workflow

Powerful new export and slicing tools seamlessly bring your artwork to Expression Blend and Expression Web.

Flexible export options

Target individual slices as separate formats, including Silverlight canvas, WPF canvas, WPF resource dictionary, HTML comp, XAML, PSD, and PDF.

Seamlessly target multiple formats

Maximize re-use of your assets. Graphics can be overlaid by multiple and overlapping slices, so you can simultaneously export multiple formats in one simple action.

Total design control

Place and align your graphic elements precisely with snap-to, grids, points, guides and pixels. Pixel preview allows precision positioning of your graphics.

Quickly create visual assets

Create buttons, backgrounds, and other image assets for use in Expression Web, Microsoft Visual Studio®, or other authoring tools.

Flexible Vector Drawing

Expression Design 2's powerful vector drawing and editing tools let you explore new artistic possibilities and create compelling graphic designs and illustrations. Integrate vector artwork and bitmap images in the same document to create hybrid compositions.

Dynamic Live Effects

Live Effects let you apply high-quality effects and filters such as Bevel, Emboss, and Gaussian Blur to any vector or bitmapped object. The effect or object can be changed with the confidence that Live Effects are always non-destructive and fully editable.

Copy and Paste XAML

Powerful export and slicing controls create XAML code that works seamlessly with Expression Blend when building next-generation experiences, as well as a wide variety of other formats including PDF and PSD. Expression Design is the powerful graphics hub for all your XAML assets.

System Requirements Details For Expression Design 2:

To use Microsoft Expression Design 2, you need:

• Microsoft Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista® operating system
• PC with 1GHz or faster processor
• 512 MB of RAM or more
• 150 MB of available hard-disk space
• Support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0 graphics with Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WDDM) Driver, 128 MB of graphics RAM or more, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, 32-bits per pixel
• DVD-ROM drive
• 1024 x 768 or higher-resolution monitor with 24-bit colour
• Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration and operating system.