creature house expression 3

Creature House Expression 3 User Manual

Creature House, the Creature House logo, Creature House Expression and Skeletal Strokes are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.Adobe®, Illustrator®, Photoshop® and PostScript® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc., which may be registered in certain jurisdictions.Apple®, ColorSync®, Macintosh®, Mac® OS and TrueType are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Com-puter, Inc., which may be registered in certain jurisdictions.CalComp is a trademark or registered trademark of GTCO Calcomp, Inc.Flash is a trademark or registered trademark of Macromedia, Inc.PANTONE® is a registered trademark of PANTONE, Inc.Trumatch is a registered trademark of Trumatch, Inc.QuarkXPress is a trademark of Quark, Inc. and/or certain of the Quark Affiliated Companies, Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. and in many other countries.Unicode® is a registered trademark of Unicode, Inc.WACOM and Intuos are trademarks of WACOM Co., Ltd.

The Creature House Expression program Copyright © 2003 Microsoft Corporation, including the look and feel of the product. The Creature House Expression 3 Manual Copyright © 2003 Microsoft Corporation. This manual, as well as the software described in it is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license.Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, peo-ple, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all appli-cable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this docu-ment may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permis-sion of Microsoft Corporation.Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the fur-nishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.Copyright © 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The Expression 3 Manual was written by Irene Lee and S.C.Hsu; edited, designed and illustrated by S.C.Hsu.

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ContentsGetting Started....................................................................................................................................... ix

Chapter 1: Introduction.........................................................................................................................11.1 A Stylish Vector-Based Drawing Application..................................................................... 11.2 What Is New in Expression 3 ................................................................................................. 21.3 Original Expression Features ................................................................................................ 41.4 Software Design Philosophy ................................................................................................ 6

Chapter 2: Drawing with Skeletal Strokes............................................................................................92.1 What Is a Skeletal Stroke?.................................................................................................... 92.2 Drawing with Skeletal Strokes.............................................................................................. 92.3 Bitmap Strokes....................................................................................................................... 92.4 Defining Skeletal Strokes .................................................................................................... 102.5 Multi-View Skeletal Strokes................................................................................................. 102.6 Skeletal Stroke Power ......................................................................................................... 11

Chapter 3: Creating Expressive Pictures ...........................................................................................133.1 Paths as Basic Picture Elements ........................................................................................ 133.2 Thinking in Terms of Area.................................................................................................... 133.3 The Expression Work Flow................................................................................................... 15

Chapter 4: Color and Color Management........................................................................................174.1 Specifying Colors ................................................................................................................ 174.2 Color Management ........................................................................................................... 20

Chapter 5: Expression Picture Document Structure and View ........................................................255.1 Expression Document......................................................................................................... 255.2 Document Frame, Ruler Units, Origin................................................................................ 265.3 Grid and Guides ................................................................................................................. 265.4 Graphics Objects................................................................................................................ 275.5 Layers and Groups ............................................................................................................. 285.6 The Expression Workspace................................................................................................. 295.7 Document Windows........................................................................................................... 305.8 Navigating around a Picture ............................................................................................ 335.9 Flipping Documents ........................................................................................................... 345.10 Using Onion Skin Display .................................................................................................... 345.11 Opening Files and Importing Objects .............................................................................. 355.12 Reversing Document Changes......................................................................................... 36

Chapter 6: Floating Palettes, Controls and Palette Management ..................................................376.1 Using Palettes ...................................................................................................................... 376.2 Using Sliders ......................................................................................................................... 386.3 Using Meters ........................................................................................................................ 396.4 Using Popup Buttons........................................................................................................... 396.5 The Toolbox Palette ............................................................................................................ 406.6 The Paint Style Palette........................................................................................................ 426.7 The Attributes Palette ......................................................................................................... 436.8 The Font Palette .................................................................................................................. 436.9 The Object List Palette ....................................................................................................... 43

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6.10 The Variable Width Palette ............................................................................................... 436.11 The Strokes Palette ............................................................................................................. 446.12 The Transformation Palette................................................................................................ 446.13 The Item List Palette............................................................................................................ 446.14 The Colorize Palette ........................................................................................................... 456.15 The Effect Lines Palette ...................................................................................................... 456.16 The Flash Button Palette..................................................................................................... 45

Chapter 7: Paths, Text and Other Path-Based Objects.................................................................... 477.1 Paths: The Basic Building Blocks ........................................................................................ 477.2 Anatomy of a Path............................................................................................................. 477.3 Creating Paths .................................................................................................................... 487.4 Using the Freehand Pen Tool ............................................................................................ 487.5 Using the B-Spline Tool........................................................................................................ 497.6 Using the Polyline/Arc Tool ................................................................................................ 507.7 Using the Bezier Pen Tool ................................................................................................... 517.8 Shape-Based Drawing Tools: Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Star/Polygon/Twirl ................... 527.9 Using the Rectangle Tool................................................................................................... 537.10 Using the Line Tool .............................................................................................................. 537.11 Using the Twirl Star Tool ...................................................................................................... 547.12 Ellipses and the Ellipse Tool ................................................................................................ 557.13 Joining Paths ....................................................................................................................... 567.14 Closing Paths....................................................................................................................... 577.15 Forming Paths Using Path Operations .............................................................................. 577.16 Working with Compound Paths ........................................................................................ 577.17 Working with Clones........................................................................................................... 587.18 Blending Paths .................................................................................................................... 587.19 Selecting Nodes.................................................................................................................. 597.20 Editing Nodes ...................................................................................................................... 607.21 Changing Bezier Tangent Continuity ............................................................................... 617.22 Converting Nodes .............................................................................................................. 627.23 Using Miscellaneous Path Modifying Tools....................................................................... 627.24 Smoothing Paths................................................................................................................. 637.25 Unstructuring Strokes .......................................................................................................... 637.26 Working with Clippers......................................................................................................... 637.27 Text Objects ........................................................................................................................ 647.28 Bitmap Objects ................................................................................................................... 677.29 Object Warping and Warp Groups.................................................................................. 677.30 Effect Line Groups .............................................................................................................. 68

Chapter 8: Paint Style and Other Object Attributes ......................................................................... 698.1 The Paint Style Palette........................................................................................................ 698.2 Setting Stroke Type ............................................................................................................. 698.3 Setting Fill Type.................................................................................................................... 708.4 Setting Stroke Width ........................................................................................................... 708.5 Setting Soft-Edged or Embossed Width ........................................................................... 718.6 Opacity, Paper Textures and Blending Modes ............................................................... 748.7 Setting Opacity (or Transparency) ................................................................................... 758.8 Setting Paper Textures........................................................................................................ 758.9 Setting Blending Modes..................................................................................................... 768.10 Setting Variable Width and Opacity................................................................................ 788.11 Picking Colors...................................................................................................................... 78

Contents v

8.12 Applying Gradients ............................................................................................................ 818.13 Applying Pattern Fill ............................................................................................................ 828.14 Applying Image Fill ............................................................................................................. 838.15 Applying Skeletal Strokes ................................................................................................... 848.16 Colorizing Objects and Skeletal Strokes........................................................................... 858.17 General Colorization of Objects ....................................................................................... 86

Chapter 9: More Specialized Stroke and Fill Attributes....................................................................899.1 Multi-View Strokes and Shape Parameter ....................................................................... 899.2 Setting Shape Parameters ................................................................................................. 899.3 Setting Stroke Shear............................................................................................................ 899.4 Setting Stroke Modes.......................................................................................................... 909.5 Setting Stroke Twist.............................................................................................................. 909.6 Setting Stroke Joints ............................................................................................................ 919.7 Breaking Strokes at Corners............................................................................................... 919.8 Setting Stroke Caps ............................................................................................................ 919.9 Applying Strokes in Dashes ................................................................................................ 929.10 Setting Fill Rules ................................................................................................................... 93

Chapter 10: Defining and Managing Skeletal Strokes .....................................................................9510.1 Defining and Editing Strokes.............................................................................................. 9510.2 Defining Strokes with Anchoring ....................................................................................... 9610.3 Defining Strokes with Repeatable Paths .......................................................................... 9810.4 Defining Multi-View Strokes................................................................................................ 9910.5 Managing Strokes and Folders........................................................................................ 10110.6 Setting Quick Strokes ........................................................................................................ 102

Chapter 11: Selecting and Managing Graphics Objects..............................................................10311.1 Selecting Objects ............................................................................................................. 10311.2 Managing Graphics Objects .......................................................................................... 10511.3 Moving, Copying and Editing Objects........................................................................... 10511.4 Using Snapping ................................................................................................................. 10711.5 Changing Object Order .................................................................................................. 10811.6 Managing Layers .............................................................................................................. 10811.7 Managing the Object List ................................................................................................ 111

Chapter 12: Transformation and Precise Size and Position Control ..............................................11312.1 Transforming Objects ....................................................................................................... 11312.2 Translating Objects ........................................................................................................... 11412.3 Scaling Objects................................................................................................................. 11412.4 Rotating Objects............................................................................................................... 11512.5 Shearing Objects .............................................................................................................. 11612.6 Mirroring Objects .............................................................................................................. 11712.7 Setting Object Size and Bounds...................................................................................... 11812.8 Applying Perspective Transformation ............................................................................ 11912.9 Working with Previous Transformations........................................................................... 11912.10 Aligning, Distributing and Stacking Objects .................................................................. 120

Chapter 13: Creating Effect Lines.....................................................................................................12313.1 Generating Effect Lines ................................................................................................... 12313.2 About Effect Line Groups ................................................................................................ 12313.3 Applying Strokes to Effect Lines ...................................................................................... 124

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13.4 Setting Effect Line Variations........................................................................................... 12413.5 Using a Template Path..................................................................................................... 126

Chapter 14: Using Bitmap Images ................................................................................................... 12714.1 Creating Bitmaps.............................................................................................................. 12714.2 Painting Bitmaps ............................................................................................................... 12714.3 Using Bitmap Filters ........................................................................................................... 12814.4 Defining Bitmap Strokes ................................................................................................... 12914.5 Converting Bitmaps to Paths........................................................................................... 13014.6 Bitmap Resources ............................................................................................................. 131

Chapter 15: Managing Custom Colors, Gradients, Patterns, Width Profiles and Attribute Sets . 13315.1 Managing Custom Colors ............................................................................................... 13315.2 Managing Gradients........................................................................................................ 13415.3 Managing Patterns........................................................................................................... 13515.4 Copying Colors and Attributes ....................................................................................... 13715.5 Managing the Item List .................................................................................................... 13815.6 Managing Variable Width............................................................................................... 139

Chapter 16: Turning Graphics Objects into Flash Buttons.............................................................. 14116.1 Exporting as Flash Movie Files and Interactive Flash Pages ........................................ 14116.2 About the Flash Button Palette ....................................................................................... 14116.3 Choosing Flash Settings ................................................................................................... 14216.4 URL and Target Settings ................................................................................................... 14216.5 Motion Effects, Color Effects and Pointer States........................................................... 14316.6 Effect Setting Sliders ......................................................................................................... 14316.7 Reciprocating Multi-View Stroke Animations ................................................................ 14416.8 Speed of Effects ............................................................................................................... 14416.9 Number of Effect Cycles ................................................................................................. 14416.10 Exporting to Flash Format ................................................................................................ 144

Chapter 17: Printing, Saving and Exporting .................................................................................... 14717.1 Saving Documents ........................................................................................................... 14717.2 Using Crop Marks.............................................................................................................. 14717.3 Exporting to PostScript Based Formats ........................................................................... 14817.4 Rasterizing to Bitmap Formats ......................................................................................... 14917.5 Exporting through the Clipboard.................................................................................... 14917.6 Printing Documents .......................................................................................................... 150

Chapter 18: Customizing Expression 3 ............................................................................................ 15118.1 Setting Options and Preferences.................................................................................... 15118.2 “General” Preferences .................................................................................................... 15118.3 “Tools” Preferences .......................................................................................................... 15218.4 “View and Display” Preferences .................................................................................... 15418.5 “Print, Save and Export” Preferences............................................................................. 15518.6 “Keyboard Shortcuts” Preferences ................................................................................ 156

Menu Commands............................................................................................................................... 157

Contents vii

Tutorial 1: Easy Paths and the B-Spline Tool ....................................................................................165

Tutorial 2: Effective Use of Layers......................................................................................................167

Tutorial 3: Defining Vector Skeletal Strokes .....................................................................................171

Tutorial 4: Strokes with Multiple Repeating Parts.............................................................................175

Tutorial 5: Variable Width without Pressure......................................................................................177

Tutorial 6: Scraping and Lifting Effects .............................................................................................179

Tutorial 7: Personal Expressive Styles ...............................................................................................183

Tutorial 8: Blending Mode Surprises .................................................................................................185

Tutorial 9: Dry Brush Effects................................................................................................................187

Tutorial 10: Comics and Effect Lines.................................................................................................191

Color Plates .........................................................................................................................................193

Index ....................................................................................................................................................195

END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE .........................................................199

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ix

Getting Started

Welcome to Expression 3, the innovative vec-tor-based stylish drawing and illustration softwarethat continues to re-define vector graphics. Whetheryou are a veteran professional illustrator workingon print-quality illustrations, a web designer build-ing the most dazzling web site or a budding artisteagerly experimenting with various styles and tech-niques, you will find Expression 3 an indispensabletool for your creative tasks. It brings you the best ofboth worlds — the richness of pixel-based paintingsoftware and the convenience and editability ofvector graphics.

System Requirements

Macintosh Systems:• PowerPC-based Macintosh system supporting

thousands or millions of colors.• Mac OS version 8.6 or later, with a minimum of

64MB free application memory, with Col-orSync 2.6.1 or later installed.

• Mac OS X version 10.1 or later, with a mini-mum of 128MB memory.

• Mouse and/or digitizer tablet supporting theWACOM tablet software interface.

Windows Systems:• Pentium-based or compatible systems with a

minimum of 64MB memory.• Windows 95, 98, NT4 or later, ME, 2000 or XP• Mouse and/or digitizer tablet supporting the

WinTab API; this includes WACOM and Cal-Comp tablets.

End User License AgreementMost software is licensed, not sold, to end users.This is also true for Expression 3. Please consult theEnd User License Agreement (included on the CDand also at the end of this manual), and make sureyou accept the terms before you start to use the soft-ware. If you do not accept the terms of the agree-ment, please delete and destroy any copies of thesoftware you have made, and contact your distribu-tor to return the complete package and request arefund.

Installing and Launching ExpressionThe following setup procedure may change onfuture updates to the application. Please consult the“Read me” file for the latest setup procedure.

For Macintosh Systems:1. If your CD contains multiple language versions

of the software, go into the language folder ofyour choice first.

2. Simply drag the entire “Expression 3” folderonto your Desktop or hard disk to copy theinstallation from the CD to your system andthat’s it! You are done.

3. To run Expression 3, go into your newly copied“Expression 3” folder, double-click the “E3”icon (or “E3 X” icon on Mac OS X) to launchthe application.

x Expression 3 Manual

Windows Systems:1. If the auto-run feature has been turned on in

your system, the Setup program will start auto-matically after you have inserted the Expres-sion 3 CD.

2. If your CD contains multiple language ver-sions, choose the language version of yourchoice and click “Install”. Otherwise, dou-ble-click “Setup.exe”.

3. Follow the setup instructions to complete theinstallation.

4. The program can be launched from “Start menu> Programs > Expression 3 > Expression 3”.

Serial NumbersThe first time you launch the application afterinstallation, the program will prompt you to enter aserial number. Enter the serial number given to youat the time of your purchase. The serial numbers arecase insensitive.

If you are upgrading from a previous version ofExpression and have a serial number starting withthe letter “U”, you will be prompted for your previ-

ous serial number in a second dialog. You mustenter a valid Expression 1, 2 or LE serial number.

If you have entered the serial numbers incorrectly,the application will either quit immediately, or startin save-disabled mode. Launch the applicationagain to enter the correct serial number.

Troubleshooting and Technical SupportIf you think you have entered your serial numberscorrectly but cannot launch the application, or ifyou encounter system errors when launching theapplication, please contact Creature House by emailat [email protected]. To help us diag-nose your problems, please include the “e3.log” filefrom your “Expression 3” folder (Macintosh) orfrom “Start menu > Programs > Expression 3 >Resources” (Windows). The log file is a record ofthe program launch process, and is very useful fortroubleshooting start-up problems.

Obtaining the Latest UpdatesCreature House releases bug fixes and free updateswith feature additions from time to time. Pleasevisit the Creature House web site (http://www.crea-turehouse.com) to download the latest updates.

Windows version.

Macintosh version.

1

Chapter 1: Introduction

Spread your wings and let your creative powerunfold! The unique tools and features in this newmajor version of Expression will bring you a newlevel of energy and freedom to create stylish draw-ings and illustrations. Built on Creature House’sproprietary, efficient and powerful graphics engineand cross-platform framework, Expression 3 con-tinues to break new grounds, introduce new uniquefeatures, enhance and improve on existing featuresto make the software more accessible and useful asa creative tool.

1.1 A Stylish Vector-Based Drawing ApplicationExpression 3 is an object-based drawing applica-tion. All brush trails, painted areas, lines, curvesand text are recorded analytically as high-precisionmathematical lines and curves. Graphics and soft-ware using this approach are generally referred toas vector-graphics or vector-based, so namedbecause of historical reasons rather than being anaccurate description of the approach, which actu-ally involves more than linear vectors. In contrast tothis object-based and analytical approach, paint

applications, like Photoshop, record pictures inunstructured arrays of pixels, and possibly layers ofthem. Such applications are generally referred to asbeing pixel-based or bitmap-based.

Vector-based applications, in general, name supe-rior editability and resolution independent graphicsas their main advantages. However, as you createmore and more graphical objects in a picture docu-ment, its structural complexity and hence the com-putational demand on the computer increases.

Pixel-based paint applications, on the other hand,are generally resolution dependent. This is a disad-vantage, because pictures displayed in outputdevices whose resolution is higher than the resolu-tion at which the pictures were created will appearblocky. A further disadvantage is that one usuallycannot edit the brush strokes that are drawn on bit-map-based pictures, except at the pixel level. None-theless, in terms of complexity, that of bitmappictures always remains the same, regardless of thelook of the images and the length of time spentworking and re-working them.

For reasons explained above, vector-based drawingapplications have often been used mainly for designwork, where precise curves, crisp edges andsmoothly shaded areas of colors are oftenrequested. Whereas photo touch-up and other moreorganic paint effects were usually in the realm ofpixel-based applications.

That is, until this monotony was broken by thelaunch of Expression 1, which introduced to thevector graphics world the Skeletal Strokes technol-ogy and full transparency. And after that, withExpression 2 pushing the vector graphics boundaryeven further by introducing, for the first time in thesoftware industry, real-time soft-edged andembossed fills, “live” paper textures, watercolor

2 Expression 3 Manual

strokes with variable width/transparency, and warp-ing of arbitrary vector/bitmap objects.

Continuing in the spirit to raise the expressive capa-bility of vector-based drawing applications,Expression 3 is once again ready to release its newfeatures and solutions for containing the problem ofgrowing complexity which is inherent to all vec-tor-graphics software. Read on to explore what newpower now lies in your hands.

1.1.1 Skeletal StrokesCore to the application is Creature House’s originalSkeletal Strokes technology. Skeletal Strokes is thekind of user-definable stylish brush strokes madefrom arbitrary vector or bitmap pictures. SkeletalStrokes are applied along a path, also referred to as

the skeleton of the stroke, and can be easily con-trolled by manipulating the path itself.

Graphics of any design can be easily turned into aSkeletal Stroke. All you need is a quick simple mar-queeing gesture using the Stroke Definition Boxtool. Whether a watercolor brush trail, a fish, anarm or a picture created from other SkeletalStrokes, they can all be turned into new SkeletalStrokes, and be used for drawing at once.

In Expression, Skeletal Strokes are always in yourcontrol. You can make different parts stretch orrepeat differently, or use multi-view strokes to addvariety or make animations. If you are new toExpression or Skeletal Strokes, the next chapterpresents an introduction to Skeletal Strokes andtheir power.

1.2 What Is New in Expression 3Here is a quick list of the new features added toExpression 3.

New Fill Types and Stroke Power• Tiled bitmap fill with alpha channel, for conve-

nient re-positionable textures.

Chapter 1: Introduction 3

• Reflection-mapped embossed fill, for photore-alistic metallic blobs and effects.

• User-definable fringes, from realistic naturalblotting effects to roughened paper effects.

• Bitmap strokes with head/tail anchoring andmulti-part repeatable body sections, givingmore variations to your stroke gallery.

• Independently controllable transparency vari-ability and width variability, providing evenmore control over the appearance of yourorganic brush strokes.

Unique Power Features Extending Creative Possibilities• Unique Eraser Mode applicable to any graphics

objects, for vector-based editable lifting andfeathering effects. (Works even with paper tex-tures.)

• Powerful effect line groups with fully user-con-trollable shapes and variations, for speed linesin comics or complex interference fringeeffects.

• Unique and versatile 3-in-1 Star-Polygon-Twirltool with controllable variations, for creating –in one dragging gesture – the wildest looking


stars, the most regular polygons, and twirlswinded up using your mouse or stylus.

New and Improved Drawing Tools• Rectangle tool with new round-corner control,

and the option to create rotated rectangles in asingle dragging gesture.

• Ellipse tool with new option to draw from thecenter.

• Numerical specification dialogs for Rectan-gle/Ellipse/Star/Twirl/Line tools, for precisepositioning and dimensions.

• Enhanced text handling with Unicode text andfull support for Mac OS X ATSUI fonts, newcontrols for baseline-shift and tracking, andenhanced accuracy of text-on-path.

• New “Position” and “Size” sections in theTransformation palette for precise numericalspecifications.

• New Transform Fill tool for interactive manip-ulation of tiling pattern fills and bitmap fills.

Productivity Enhancements• Unique Frozen-Layer feature for temporary

freezing of any layers, reducing any arbitrarilycomplex layer to a preview alpha channel bit-map, allowing the fastest possible manipulationof even the most complex pictures.

• User-editable shortcut keys for all menu com-mands and tool switching commands.

• Numerous new options for fine-tuning and cus-tomizing the application’s behavior.

• Support for native Photoshop PSD and PNGformat import/export.

• New auto-cling-on Macintosh palettes for max-imum efficiency in managing desktop space.

• Fine-tuned and improved functions; improvedefficiency.

1.3 Original Expression Features

Skeletal Strokes Power• The original skeletal strokes technology allow-

ing arbitrary vector graphics to be used as brushstrokes.

• Bitmap-based skeletal strokes for re-creatingthe most realistic watercolor and tradi-tional-media brush strokes.

• Infinite variations for each brush stroke throughcomplete control over stroke modes (sausage,ribbon or elliptical), shear angle, twist, variablewidth, transparency profile, joint type and theuse of dash patterns.

• Unique anchoring and repeating capability ofindividual stroke elements for controlling the


appearance of brush strokes along differentbrush trails.

• Corner deformation suppression using the“Break At Joints” attribute.

Stylish Rendering Functions• Soft-edged fill, now with user-definable

fringes.• Real-time embossed fill effect.• User-definable paper textures.

• Blending modes for controlling the color mix-ing behavior of overlapping objects.

• Independent stroke and fill transparency con-trol.

• Warping of vector and bitmap objects.

Tool Box• Familiar classic drawing tools like the Freehand

Pen tool and Bezier Pen tool.• Intuitive and powerful B-Spline and

Polyline/Arc tools for convenient constructionof the smoothest curves or the sharpest poly-gons.

• All-in-one Text tool for creating and editing ofpoint-text, text-on-path or area-text objects.

• One-drag object creation tools for rectangles,ellipses and straight lines.

• Transformation tools for scaling, rotating,shearing (slanting), mirroring and for applyingperspective transformation to graphics objects.

• Specialized path modification tools, for adjust-ing path (and sub-path) direction, for choosingstarting nodes of closed paths, for splittingpaths, and for adding and deleting nodes.

• Bitmap editing tools for simple editing of bit-map objects.

• Eye-dropper tools for capturing colors or objectattributes in full, and for copying colors andattributes from one object to another.

• Specialized selection tools for selecting indi-vidual objects, and for selecting nodes orgroups of objects. Selections are made by usingsingle clicks on objects or nodes, by surround-ing objects or nodes with a rectangular mar-quee, or by drawing a lasso around objects ornodes.

• Picture navigation tools, such as the Hand tooland Zoom tool.

• Accessible definition box tools, for creatingdefinitions of skeletal strokes and patterns.

Compatibility• Native support of bitmap import/export of the

following image file formats: TIFF, BMP (Win-dows only), GIF, JPEG. Export to PhotoshopPSD format with original layer structure andalpha channel preserved.

• Photoshop filters applicable to any bitmapobjects.

• Import of Adobe Illustrator files of formats upto version 8, with optional conversion of artbrushes to skeletal strokes.

• AI and PDF format export.• WMF/EMF format import (Windows only).• Flash SWF export, from multi-view strokes to

multi-frame movies, or from any graphics to aninteractive page with animating buttons.

• Color management based on ICC profiles.


1.4 Software Design PhilosophyCreature House is a small team of computer scien-tists who set out to put their ideas into practice.From the very beginning, we have had no doubt asto what we intended Expression to be. It was not tobe yet another drawing application competing withother existing tools. It was to be the realization ofour vision of an ideal drawing tool, which is at thesame time powerful, expressive and easy to use.

Expression does not claim to be an “all purpose”tool, and may not contain all features imaginable.What it does offer, are rich and organic graphicswhose descriptions are not always totally compati-ble with current industry standards, some of whichare aging, some restrictive, like PostScript, PDF orFlash. We believe it impractical and short-sightedto allow expressive possibilities to be stifled byexisting vector graphic standards, which are, afterall, compromises based on yesterday’s technology.

Should compatibility be a prime concern in certaintasks, we leave the decision to restrict usage tousers themselves.

This is not to say that compatibility and dataexchange with other applications are not one of ourprime concerns. In fact, Expression’s export func-tions are optimized for each particular file format sothat editability and the appearance of graphics areretained as much as possible. Each application hasits own strengths and unique features, and the bestresults can often be achieved by taking advantageof the best tool for each creative step.

1.4.1 Expression Work FlowDue to the limitations of the vector-based graphics’industry standards like PostScript and PDF, manyof the more stylish renderings supported by Expres-sion cannot be faithfully transferred to these fileformats without losing the graphics objects’ analyt-ical forms or editability.

Therefore the most effective way to capture therichness and subtleties of pictures created usingExpression is to export pictures as rasterizedimages. Expression 3 provides native support formany major image file formats, including TIFF,JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG and PSD. When used withsuitable Photoshop format filters, other file formatscan also be used. Rasterized images produced fromExpression can be color-separated or post-pro-cessed in other applications if so needed forhigh-quality printing.

That large image files may take up much hard diskspace should not be a worry, because as long as youhave the original Expression picture, you canalways rasterize it again at the same or different res-olution later when the need arises. Artwork is bestkept in the native Expression format, which is verycompact.


1.4.2 Expression UI Design PrinciplesNewcomers to Expression may find the ExpressionUser Interface (UI) slightly different from otherdrawing applications. We trust that very soon youwill discover the reason for the difference – not formerely being different in appearance but for achiev-ing maximum accessibility and convenience.

The Expression UI is displayed using the same ren-dering engine as is used for displaying Expressionpictures. This approach is, in a way, similar to theAqua UI on Mac OS X.

The emphasis of the Expression UI is on substance,not just looks. All UIs are designed to allow direct

access to the tools and controls at sensible loca-tions, yet not consuming too much precious Desk-top “real estate”. Most commonly used controls areplaced at the top level, without having to go throughmulti-levels of tabs or hidden pages. We have spe-cial double sliders for grouping controls of relatedvalues into one compact form. For numerical input,we have designed a convenient meter control forentering precise values without the need to releasethe mouse or tablet stylus, while accepting key-strokes equally well, should you prefer to inputnumbers by keyboard. For more details on the oper-ation of the meter control and other Expression 3 UIelements, refer to Chapter 6.

9

Chapter 2: Drawing with Skeletal Strokes

2.1 What Is a Skeletal Stroke?From a user’s point of view, a skeletal stroke is sim-ply a stylish brush stroke of arbitrary form — itcould be a natural-looking dab of paint that resem-bles the brush trail left by a bristle brush, or a surre-alistically stretched centipede with as many pairs oflegs as is allowed by the length of your brush trail.Skeletal strokes can take any shape and form, andhave many variations that you can easily control.

From Expression’s point of view, skeletal strokes isthe software technology that performs the con-trolled deformation of certain pre-recorded graph-ics along a user-specified skeleton, which is alsoreferred to as a path. Vector-graphics brush strokessimilar to skeletal strokes have been implementedin other drawing applications, but Expression is theoriginal application that introduced this concept tothe vector graphics world.

2.2 Drawing with Skeletal StrokesPick a brush and draw! That’s how you work withskeletal strokes. With an array of drawing tools,

from the classical tools like the Freehand Pen tool(Section 7.4) and Bezier Pen tool (Section 7.7) tothe convenient B-Spline tool (Section 7.5) andPolyline/Arc tool (Section 7.6), you can lay downexpressive strokes on your virtual drawing surfaceand make as many changes and revisions to them asyou like. With a pressure sensitive tablet, you candraw in a natural way, with the strokes respondingto your hand’s articulations, in terms of width vari-ations and opacity changes.

2.3 Bitmap StrokesSince Expression 2, bitmap images can also bedefined as skeletal strokes (Section 14.4). Usingscanned images of real watercolor strokes on paper,authentic-looking brush strokes can be re-created,with the same flexibility as vector skeletal strokes.The transparency of bitmap strokes with an alphachannel can vary along the brush trail, based on thepressure of the stylus or according to a variablewidth profile (see Section 8.10). The richness of thestrokes you create and their realistic appearance


will soon make you forget that you are actuallyusing a vector-based drawing application.

Expression 3 further allows arbitrary head and/ortail portions to be anchored so that they do notstretch with the rest of the stroke. The body sectioncan be stretched along the path or be made to berepeatable. Strokes can even have several repeat-able sections, so that when stretched, different bodyvariations can be formed from random combina-tions of the repeatable sections. For more details,refer to Section 14.4.

2.4 Defining Skeletal StrokesTo create a new skeletal stroke, simply pick anyvector drawing or bitmap, and turn it into a strokeusing the Stroke > Define Stroke command or using

the Stroke Definition Box tool (see Section 10.1.3).It is simple! You can start drawing using the newlydefined stroke immediately. A simple skeletalstroke applied along a brush trail will be stretcheduniformly. But if you like, you can constrain thedeformation of certain parts of the stroke or makecertain portions repeat on stretching. For moredetails and options of defining skeletal strokes,refer to Chapter 10.

2.5 Multi-View Skeletal StrokesThe appearance of a skeletal stroke can be dynamic,if, instead of a simple stroke, you define amulti-view stroke from a number of variations of apicture. You can think of a simple skeletal stroke asa deformable, still picture, and a multi-view strokeas a deformable animation. Indeed, Expressionallows a multi-view stroke to be exported as an ani-mation in the Flash SWF format. For more detailson creating Flash animations using multi-viewstrokes, see Chapter 16.

The appearance of a multi-view stroke is notrestricted to the finite number of views defining thestroke. In fact, an application of a multi-view strokecan take any intermediate shape in between thedefining views. The exact in-between shape is spec-ified using a shape parameter (see Section 9.2).The shape parameter can be an explicit value, or itcan be randomly assigned by Expression.

Multi-view strokes are useful not only as animationobjects; they can also be used to create random

A simple composition using just a few bitmap strokes.

A multi-view stroke of a turning head of an ox.

Chapter 2: Drawing with Skeletal Strokes 11

variations of a main design, or to give brush strokesa more organic look.

2.6 Skeletal Stroke PowerIn addition to the richness in form and shape, skele-tal strokes can be adjusted in many ways andapplied in different styles. Like constant-thicknessPostScript strokes, the sharp-angled joints of skele-tal strokes can be shaped in one of three artificialstyles: mitered, round or beveled (see Section 9.6).A skeletal stroke can also be bent along a brush trailin one of three stroke modes: sausage, ribbon orelliptical mode (see Section 9.4). Other variationsand application styles are described in Chapter 9.

Despite the organic appearance of skeletal strokes,pictures with skeletal strokes are remarkably com-pact. This is because these compositions containonly the path geometry and a reference to the strokedefinitions used. There is no need to record any

redundant graphical details on individual pathobjects.

You can read about other expressive uses of skeletalstrokes and about the power of Expression in thecoming chapters.

13

Chapter 3: Creating Expressive Pictures

Expression 3 is a complex and powerful software,and the sheer number of commands, palettes andcontrols can be overwhelming to newcomers. Butrest assured, because the basic drawing model isactually very simple, and after all, you do not needto know every detail and function to begin creatinggreat pictures.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the basicconcepts of Expression 3, and to suggest some pos-sible approaches to creating richly textured pic-tures.

3.1 Paths as Basic Picture ElementsIn an object-based drawing application like Expres-sion 3 or Adobe Illustrator, every single picturecomponent, from a simple curve to an area paintedwith a color gradation, is an individual componentrecorded in some form of abstract digital represen-tation.

In Expression, the most commonly used basic pic-ture component is the path, a term which probablyoriginated from PostScript, referring to an abstractshape defined by a sequence of straight lines orcurve segments.

On its own, a path is nothing more than an abstractshape. But when annotated with descriptions onhow it should be rendered, a path can start to

become all sorts of interesting objects: a brush trailof a stylish stroke, an area filled with a solid color, acolor gradation, a blob of liquid metal or even astain mark. Such annotations which accompany apath are called paint style attributes.

3.2 Thinking in Terms of AreaThe experience of drawing and painting in tradi-tional media and bitmap-based painting softwareencourages us to build up shapes and shading byoverlaying numerous brush strokes. This approach,while applicable in Expression 3, is not very eco-nomical in terms of computational efficiency.Another approach — a one-step method — is to usea path to define the area to be shaded or filled, andthen specify the paint style attributes for producingthe final rendering in that area.


Adjusting to this more structured approach of creat-ing pictures does have many advantages. It encour-ages experimentation, as paint style attributes andshapes of paths can be easily modified at any time.It also provides other advantages, such as efficiencyin picture creation, and compactness of data forstorage and transmission.

Indeed, it takes a slightly different way of thinkingto create pictures with object-based drawing appli-cations than paint with traditional media. This isprobably why it is bitmap-based applications, notobject-based ones, that are often called “paint pro-grams”.

3.2.1 Paper-Cutting and CollageIn a way, the “path/attribute” approach to picturecreation is analogous to collage making. Collageartists would collect colorful and richly texturedmaterials, cut them up into appropriate shapes usingscissors, and paste these shapes onto an art board toform the composition. In Expression 3, the pathsare like the shapes cut out by scissors, and the col-ors and textures are provided by the paint styleattributes. The added advantage with Expression isthat the shapes can be “cut” or modified as manytimes and in any way you like. So can the materialsand textures, until you are fully satisfied with theresult.

3.2.2 Enriching Pictures with Textures, Stylish Strokes, Fringes and ErasersExpression 3 provides many different paint styleattributes, together with options and adjustable set-tings, for creating richly textured rendering on eachpath. For example, you can pick a skeletal strokefrom the array of available strokes to draw along apath, or, for that special touch, define your ownunique stroke. You can fill the area enclosed by apath with a gradation, pattern, hatching or papertexture of your choice. Or even a fill with fuzzy,fringed edges or with a metallic, shiny look, wherethe occasion calls for one.

Sometimes, you may want to go beyond the built-inattributes available to the single path object, andcreate a unique and personal rendering. This iswhen the clipper group can be most effective. First,create the richest texture and paint effect on a blankarea. Then, draw a clipper path to “cut” the textureand paint effect to the exact size and shape that youwant. But would this give rise to hard-edgedshapes? There is no need to worry, because clipperpaths can also have their own fill and strokeattributes, and using a clipper path with textured

Chapter 3: Creating Expressive Pictures 15

and fringed edges will result in very rich andorganic-looking rendering.

In fact, the use of the clipper is similar to anothertechnique which is employed by traditional mediaartists. Eric Carle, in his popular children’s book“The Hungry Caterpillar”, composes each pictureby laying out cutout shapes of colorfully paintedpieces of paper.

Yet another technique worthy of mention here is theeraser mode, which makes the ultimate featherededges and smooth edges across overlapping paintedareas not only possible, but also easy! Just choose asoft or textured stroke and, with the eraser mode turned on, apply it across the edge to be softened.This creates a semi-transparent “lift” effect to pro-duce the most organic blend, which is difficult toachieve with any other vector-based software.

3.3 The Expression Work FlowExpression is designed for all artists, whether work-ing in a professional capacity or just drawing forfun. It aims to be a tool for the creative process, andyou may sometimes find it useful to take Expres-sion artwork to other graphics software for furthertouch-up or production work. The PostScript modelcommonly adopted by many vector graphics pro-grams has been in existence for over a decade now,and does not support many of Expression’s specialdrawing features. The best way to faithfully renderyour Expression pictures is to rasterize them intovarious bitmap formats. Expression files can be ras-terized to TIFF format with alpha channels or PSDformat with layers, to ensure a smooth and naturaltransition into pre-press tools like Adobe Photo-shop or QuarkXPress for further processing.

17

Chapter 4: Color and Color Management

When drawing on traditional media, we pay littleattention to the nature of the color pigments or thephysics behind human color vision. We rely on thefact that the same picture will appear more or lessthe same over time and space, and that most peoplecan differentiate the sensation of different colorsrelatively consistently. Without this color consis-tency, artists cannot reliably communicate their col-orful creations with viewers.

In the creation of digital artwork, there must also bea consistent way to specify, display and reproducecolors consistently. This is less obvious than onewould generally imagine. Different monitors andprinters have very different color characteristics.Textual color descriptions, e.g., “red”, “azure”, areboth too vague and imprecise for general colorspecification. Therefore graphics software mustrecord and transmit color information in a generallyadopted way based on certain standards. Digital art-ists should also understand the basic underlyingprinciples and mechanisms in order to use, commu-nicate and reproduce their colors effectively andaccurately.

4.1 Specifying ColorsColors are perceptual quantities stimulated by aspectrum of light waves. To simplify the identifica-tion and specification of colors, simplified colormodels are often adopted to allow colors to be con-sistently described. RGB, CMYK, and HSL are thethree color models supported in Expression 3. For adescription on picking colors, refer to Section 8.11.

4.1.1 RGB ModelThe RGB model is based on the tri-stimuli model ofhuman vision. It also corresponds to the use of RGB

phosphors in CRT displays and tube-based moni-tors. Many LCD and plasma panel displays are alsobased on pixel cells responsible for one of the red,green and blue primaries that combine to create asensation of various colors. Full intensity of red,green and blue would give a sensation of a whitecolor.

Because the sensation of a color in human vision isactually triggered by the entire spectrum of lightwaves entering our eyes, the range of colors that wecan see is far wider than the limited color range thatis reproducible by the red, green and blue primaries.The range of colors describable by a particularcolor model or a particular device is known as thecolor gamut.

Since the RGB color model is closely related to thetechnology behind most display devices and moni-tors, it is a useful model for describing colors fordigital applications. The gamut of many monitors isalso wide enough to cover a significant portion ofthe gamut of the CMYK model commonly used inoffset printing processes.

The RGB model is known as an additive colormodel because any particular color sensation cre-ated using different intensities of the R, G and Bprimaries is the combined effect of the three prima-ries.

The RGB model. (Color plate on page 193.)


In earlier days, RGB values were tied to the monitorand display devices when the RGB values wereused directly as the RGB pixel values in the framebuffer of the monitor. As a result, a color of a par-ticular combination of R, G and B can look com-pletely different from one device to another.

Many applications now resolve this problem bystoring a color profile (information describing thecolor input/output characteristics of a device andthe interpretation of device-specific color values)for the particular monitor the RGB values are tiedto. By interpreting the color profile together with

the RGB values, a consistent color can be displayedon different devices.

Expression 3 adopts a different approach by storingRGB values in a device-independent RGB space.The advantage of using a device-independent colorspace is that there is no need for an explicit colorprofile to be carried with the picture document, yetconsistent colors can be displayed across differentdevices. Many different device-independent RGBspace standards are available. The particular RGBspace that Expression has adopted is known as thesRGB space. This is a standard color spaceapproved by the International ElectrotechnicalCommission (IEC 61996-2-1 sRGB). While thereare arguments favoring the use of otherdevice-independent RGB spaces for their widergamut or linearity, the adoption of the sRGB spaceis based on its compatibility with the largest num-ber of existing color images and its resemblance tomost monitors’ device RGB spaces.

The same RGB values can produce different colors on different devices.

Chapter 4: Color and Color Management 19

4.1.2 HSL ModelWhen an artist thinks of a color, it is probably notthought of in terms of red, green and blue compo-nents (perhaps only technicians in CRT factorieswould). People usually describe a color in terms ofits perceptual properties: its lightness (or bright-ness), its paleness or color strength (saturation), itstint, color family or hue.

The HSL model supported in Expression and manygraphics applications is one such model. The colorspace is orientated in a cylindrical coordinate sys-tem as a double cone, with the vertical axis beingthe lightness axis, the radial axis saturation, and theradial angle the hue.

In Expression, an HSL color picker is provided forchoosing colors in an intuitive way (see Section8.11.1). The triangular color area displays a verticalslice of the double cone for the particular hue cur-rently chosen. To save space and make the designmore stylish, only a portion of the hue ring is dis-played if the “Draggable color wheel” option ischosen in the “Preferences” dialog (see Section18.2.3). If this option is turned off, the hue ring iscompressed and displayed as a vertical spectrum.

A color chosen from the HSL color picker is actu-ally stored in sRGB values. sRGB values can beconverted to and from the HSL values consistently.

4.1.3 CMYK ModelThe CMYK model is a color model directly relatedto the offset printing process using the four standardprocess color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow andblack.

The choice of the process color inks is again basedon the tri-stimuli model for human vision, withcyan being the complementary color of red,magenta the complementary color of green, andyellow the complementary color of blue. Becausecolored ink does not emit light, but reflects lightafter a portion of the incident light has beenabsorbed, such an ink-based color model is called asubtractive color model. Cyan ink absorbs the redcomponent in the incident white light and reflectsthe remaining components to give the cyan color.Magenta and yellow inks work in a similar way byabsorbing the green and blue components respec-tively.

Ideally, with three inks at full strength and overlap-ping in a particular area, all red, green and bluecomponents of the incident light will be absorbedand the result will be blackness. In reality, the lightabsorption property of the inks is not perfect, andthe color produced from a mix of C, M, and Y inksis usually a muddy brown color. The introduction ofthe black color (K) extends the range of colorsreproducible and enhances the contrast of the print-out.

Expression supports CMYK values. However, inorder for CMYK values to be interpreted and dis-played consistently, a CMYK color profile must be

The HSL model. (Color plate on page 193.)

The CMY model. (Color plate on page 193.)


specified in the “Color Management Setup” dialogas is described in Section 4.2. If no such profile ischosen, Expression uses its default method to con-vert CMYK values to and from standard colorspaces.

4.1.4 Custom ColorsAnother intuitive and yet consistent way to commu-nicate colors is to use one of the standard namedcolor systems like PANTONE, Trumatch, Focol-tone etc. To keep the licensing cost low, Expression3 currently does not ship with the major, namedcolor systems. However, Expression allows theimporting of swatch library files from Illustratorfiles. You can also define your own, named colorsin the custom color list. By using custom colors in adesign, you can easily revise the color scheme byre-defining the color values corresponding to thecustom colors used. See Section 8.11.4 and Section15.1 for more details.

4.1.5 CIE XYZ, L*u*v* and L*a*b*Neither the RGB nor CMYK gamuts are wideenough to represent the entire range of colors that isvisible to the human eye. In response to thisproblem, the CIE (Commission Internationaled’Eclairage) devised a standard color space thatcontains the entire human visible color range. Thiscolor space uses three abstract imaginary colorcomponents, known as X, Y and Z. All perceivablecolors can be specified by different combinations ofpositive values of X,Y and Z. Though useful as astandardized, device-independent specification ofcolors, the XYZ color space is rather unintuitive touse in general. Except for the Y component, whichcorresponds to the brightness of a color, the X and Zcomponents are not directly related to meaningfulcolor qualities. Therefore XYZ color values aremainly used for recording, transmission or internalcomputation. Expression 3 does not provide a userinterface for specifying colors in XYZ values.

L*u*v* and L*a*b* are two otherdevice-independent color spaces that are based onthe XYZ space, but unlike the XYZ space, thesetwo color spaces are adjusted so that equally spacedcolor values in the spaces have more or less similarperceived differences. These two spaces aretherefore known as perceptually uniform colorspaces. Again, because L*u*v* and L*a*b* valuesare not intuitive color spaces, Expression 3currently does not support specification of colors inthese color spaces.

4.2 Color ManagementColor management is the process of the conversionbetween colors described in different device depen-dent/independent color spaces to achieve color con-sistency and accurate visual display and printout.For example, when a graphics object is to be dis-played on the monitor screen, the sRGB color val-ues are converted to the device-specific RGBvalues of the monitor through color matching func-tions.

The use of color management helps to ensure thatwhat you see on your monitor is what you see inprint, and what others see on their monitors.

4.2.1 Color ProfilesExpression relies on ICC (International Color Con-sortium) color profiles to provide specifications ofthe monitor and CMYK space characteristics, andto carry out color management functions. Macin-tosh users need to have ColorSync 2.6.1 or laterinstalled. The Windows version of Expressionrelies on ICM 2.0 (Image Color Management).ICM 2.0 is available only on Windows 98, Win-dows 2000, Windows ME, XP and later. The colormanagement functions will not work on Windows95. You also need to obtain the appropriate (and cal-ibrated) ICC profiles for your intended display and


output devices. Please check the web sites of yourmonitor and printer manufacturers to obtain theappropriate ICC profiles and information on cali-brating the profiles.

In Expression 3, the most important color profilethat needs to be set up properly is the monitor colorprofile. If you have already set up your monitor pro-file properly under your operating system, Expres-sion 3 will automatically select and use the samemonitor profile. So, normally, you should not needto make any special changes. If you will be usingCMYK colors, the CMYK color profile should alsobe set up accurately in order for the colors in thefinal process-color printout to be accurately simu-lated on your monitor screen.

4.2.2 sRGB Space and RGB Bitmap ExportIn Expression 3, all color values specified using theRGB or HSL picker are recorded in the sRGBspace. When rasterizing a picture to one of the sup-ported image formats, Expression 3 currentlyalways exports the pixel values in the sRGB space.An ICC profile for the sRGB space is also embed-ded in the exported file, if the particular format sup-ports ICC profile embedding. When you take animage rasterized from Expression, and open it inanother application, the application should be ableto recognize the color values as sRGB values, andperform the appropriate conversions. If the formatof the image you have export into does not supportprofile embedding (e.g., JPEG), you need to explic-itly specify to the application that the sRGB profileshould be assumed for the pixel values. Mostgraphics applications assume the default profile tobe sRGB when opening images without embedded

ICC profiles. Therefore images rasterized fromExpression should normally need no special han-dling when opened in other applications.

4.2.3 Rendering IntentsDuring most of time you are spending on a picture,you would want your colors to be displayed accu-rately as specified. This is the standard behavior ofthe color management functions performed byExpression. However, not all monitors are bornequal, and the sRGB colors you use may often falloutside the displayable range of your monitor.When this happens, the color management func-tions have to allow for a compromise, and substi-tute the colors that cannot be displayed with thosethat can.

There are different strategies for doing this. Onestrategy is to simply clip the out-of-range color andreplace it with the displayable color closest to it.This leaves most colors unchanged, but shades andvariations at areas with many out-of-range colorsare flattened. Another color manager may compressthe entire color range (non-uniformly) in order topreserve the subtleties and details in the picture, atthe expense of slightly shifting all colors. Whethersuch shift in color is acceptable or not depends onhow you intend to use your picture. If most colorsin the picture need to be absolutely accurate, thegamut compression strategy will not be a goodchoice. The color management functions used byExpression 3 allow you to choose different strate-gies for color matching. This is specified in the“Rendering Intent” popup in the “Color Manage-ment Setup” dialog.

The four “Intents” defined by ICC are:

• Perceptual: This rendering intent maps onegamut to another through a smooth globalgamut transformation. All colors will be shiftedbut the tonal variations are preserved.

• Saturation: This intent attempts to preservethe saturation of the colors at the expense of


other color qualities. For example, if a saturatedgreen is not displayable, an equally saturatedcolor of a different hue or brightness will beused instead. This approach does not producegood results in general, except when used forbusiness graphics, where color vividness ismore important than color accuracy.

• Relative Colorimetric: This approachreplaces out-of-gamut colors with the closestmatch, after making an overall adjustment tomap the white point of the source color space tothat of the destination color space. This is thedefault rendering intent in Expression 3.

• Absolute Colorimetric: This approach alsoreplaces out-of-gamut colors with the closestmatch, but without making any global whitepoint mapping adjustment.

4.2.4 Soft ProofingSometimes, you may want to see how colors willappear when displayed or printed on other devices,and to see a simulation on your screen. This isknown as soft proofing for that particular outputdevice. Expression does not normally performproofing, unless you explicitly turn on the option inthe “Color Management Setup” dialog.

If the target output device has a wider color gamutthan your current monitor screen, all colors shouldbe faithfully rendered. The simulated appearance(or the proof) should also be identical to what younormally see on your monitor screen. However,printers generally have a much more limited colorgamut than monitor screens — for example, it isusually impossible to reproduce the brilliant bluesand vivid greens easily displayed in most monitors.If your picture uses any of these out-of-range col-ors, these colors will have to be substituted by otherprintable ones, using one strategy or another.Again, your choice should be made according to theintended use of your output. You can choose whichstrategy to adopt in the Proofing Intent popup of the

“Color Management Setup” dialog. The meaning ofthe proofing intents are identical to that of the ren-dering intents except that it describes how to mapcolors from our sRGB colors to the printer colorprofile. This setting is applicable only if proofing isturned on.

Note that the proofing option and your choice ofproofing intents will not affect the actual printingprocess. What the proofing intent describes is asimulation, for proofing purposes, of your picture’scolors after conversion to and back from theprinter’s color space to your current monitor. Whenyou actually print your picture, the printer or printerdriver software will perform its own color manage-ment functions. At that point, you should againspecify the desired rendering intent for the printingprocess, if your printer driver provides suchchoices. If the picture is to be sent to a printingpress for offset printing, please consult the techni-cal staff to learn more about their specific processbefore determining the best strategy and work flow.

4.2.5 Using Color Management1. Choose File > Color Management. This opens a

“Color Management Setup” dialog.

2. Choose the monitor and CMYK profiles. If youdo not want to use color management, turn offthe “Enable Color Management” option.

3. Choose an appropriate Rendering Intent tospecify the strategy for handling gamut mis-match between the internal sRGB space, the

The “Color Management Setup” dialog.


chosen CMYK profile and the output monitorprofile.

4. If you want to see all colors as a soft proof sim-ulating the output to a particular output device,turn on the “Proofing for” option, and choosethe color profile for your output device. Notethat this choice of printer profile does not affect

the actual printing process or color values ofrasterized pixels in any way. Choose an appro-priate proofing intent to specify the strategy forhandling gamut mismatch between the printerprofile and the monitor profile.

5. Click “OK”. The screen will be refreshed afterthe color conversion tables have been built.

25

Chapter 5: Expression Picture Document Structure and View

An Expression picture is a structured documentstoring a hierarchy of graphics objects created bythe user. Each object has a unique stacking order inthe object hierarchy. For convenience and ease ofmanaging a complex composition, you can option-ally create sub-structures like groups and layersamong objects.

5.1 Expression DocumentAn Expression document is a self-contained picturefile. Any resources used in the picture, e.g., pat-terns, gradients, strokes, paper textures etc., arerecorded in a resource section in the document.This makes it possible for picture documents to becarried to another, different system and to still beopened correctly.

Although a document and an installation used toopen the document may both contain resourceswith the same names, the definitions of theseresources are not necessarily identical. So when adocument is opened, the local resources (i.e., thedocument’s resources), with the exception of gradi-ents and custom colors, are not normally shown inthe palettes. If you want the local resources to

become system-wide resources for future use, youneed to edit and re-define them specifically.

5.1.1 Auto-Save and Rescue FilesTo safeguard your precious art creations, Expres-sion 3 will, from time to time, automatically savethe document currently being worked on to the diskin a less self-contained format. Such files areknown as rescue files. In the case of a system failureor program error, the contents of the rescue fileswill be re-opened on re-starting Expression.

The idea of the rescue file is to provide a quick wayto back up your unfinished picture. A rescue filedoes not have a resource section recording all theresources used in the original file. To make the sav-ing of rescue files less intrusive, bitmap image datais also not saved; only place-holder frames for bit-map images are saved into rescue files. Thereforeyou must not rely on rescue files as a means to savepictures. Rescue files are nothing more than asafety mechanism to minimize data loss in case ofunexpected problems.

If you make no modifications to a picture docu-ment, or if you have just saved it, no operation to

Local resources.


auto-save to a rescue file will be performed. Other-wise, auto-saving will take place after a certainperiod of time has elapsed from the time of themodifications, when the program is idle. You canalso adjust the auto-save frequency in the “Print,Save and Export” page of the “Preferences” dialog(Section 18.5.2).

5.2 Document Frame, Ruler Units, OriginThe positions of graphics objects are recordedinternally in a coordinate system with the origin atthe bottom left corner of a reference frame knownas the document frame. You can move the origin toany other position, inside or outside the paperframe, according to your measurement needs. Thedocument frame is normally used for identifyingthe boundary of the intended output area. However,if you like, you can freely create objects outside thedocument frame and, by setting up crop marks(Section 17.2), specify any other region for outputand printing. You can specify the size and orienta-tion of the document frame in the “DocumentSetup” dialog.

The size and coordinates of objects are recordedinternally using an abstract numerical unit. In thevarious UI controls, measurements are displayed inone of the standard length units: inch, centimeter,millimeter, point or pica (1 pica=12 points). InExpression, the point is taken to be exactly 1/72

inch, following the PostScript definition for com-patibility.

5.3 Grid and Guides

5.3.1 Using the GridA grid can be shown in the document window as avisual reference, or as a snapping guide for creatingand positioning paths. The spacing of the grid canbe specified in the “View and Display” page of the“Preferences” dialog (Section 18.4.1). Note that thegrid is always drawn upright, regardless of how thedocument is rotated, and is always relative to thecurrent origin of the picture document.

• Showing the grid: Enable or disable View >Show > Grid as needed.

You can optionally set up a visible grid for position-ing and alignment purposes. The settings for theruler unit, origin, grid spacing and paper frame areall recorded in each Expression 3 picture file. Dif-ferent pictures can have their own independent set-tings.

Besides the regular grid, arbitrary paths can beturned into guides for snapping and alignment pur-poses.

Chapter 5: Expression Picture Document Structure and View 27

5.3.2 Creating Guides1. Select the paths you want to turn into guides

using one of the selection tools.2. Choose Objects > Guide > Make to turn all

selected paths into guides. Each guide will bedisplayed as a semi-transparent thin line on topof all other graphics objects.

Normally when you edit or transform selectedobjects, the nodes of the objects will snap to nearbyguides or grid lines. You could turn on or off thissnapping behavior using the menu commands View> Snap > To Guides or View > Snap > To Grid.

If guide snapping is turned on, all guides will beshown as semi-transparent thin blue lines, other-wise they will be shown as semi-transparent thinblack lines.

For more information on snapping, see Section11.4.

5.4 Graphics ObjectsThere are many different types of graphics objectsin Expression 3. Simple objects include: paths,ellipses, clones and images. There are also struc-tured objects built up from other simple objects:text, clipping groups, warp groups and effect linegroups.

Path ObjectsPaths are the basic build-ing blocks in Expression.You can apply variousstrokes and fill, and usethem to build new skeletal strokes and patterns. The

appearance of paths can also be further distorted bywarping them as if they were bitmaps. Paths arealso useful as clipping paths and positioning guides.

Ellipse ObjectsEllipse objects are special kinds of paths. An ellipseobject has only two editable nodes, which, if edited,would open up the ellipse into an arc. The twonodes would be the end points of the arc. The arccould take one of the three arc modes: open arcmode, pie mode, or with chord (closed arc) mode.

Cloned PathsA cloned path,or simply aclone, can becreated fromany pathobject. The shape of a clone follows that of the orig-inal path object. When the shape of the original pathis modified, that of the clone follows. A clone has itown transformation and paint style attributes.Clones are sometimes useful for creating differentinstances of the same shape in different places.

Clippers (or Masks)A clipper (or mask as is called insome drawing applications) is apath used for clipping othergraphics objects. A pathbecomes a clipper when it isdefined into a clipping grouptogether with other objects to be clipped. A clipperin Expression retains its original stroke and fillattributes, but is rendered is a special way: its fill isused as a background for the entire clipping groupand its stroke is rendered on top of the entire clippergroup, outlining the clipping group. In a way, otherobjects in the clipping group are sandwiched


between the filled background and the stroked out-line of the clipper.

Text ObjectsA text object is a special group of text characters,which are special closed paths whose shapes arebased on the glyph shapes defined in the Font beingused. Each text character can have its own strokeand fill attributes. Text can be selected, transformedand otherwise treated as normal paths. They canalso be converted into ordinary paths.

Text objects can exist on their own or be fitted ontoor inside another path object. If a text object is fittedon a path, the text characters will flow along theoutline of the attached path. If fitted inside, theattached path will be used as a frame for the text toflow within, justified or otherwise.

Warp GroupsOne or more path or text objects can be made into awarp group for overall non-linear deformationthrough manipulating a warp grid. The objectswithin a warp group remain fully editable.

A detailed description of various paths and pathrelated objects, like text, clipping groups and warpgroups, can be found in Chapter 7.

Bitmap ObjectsBitmaps are images in grids of pixels with fixedresolution, and can be imported (see Section 5.11)

or created from scratch. Expression supports bit-maps with transparency and you can define bitmapstrokes from bitmaps. Photoshop and compatiblefilters can also be applied to bitmaps. Chapter 14contains a detailed description on the use of bitmapimages in Expression 3.

Effect Line GroupsEffect Line Groups are specialobjects formed from twonon-compound path objects (orone path and its clone). Onceformed, a sequence of effectlines will be automatically cre-ated, dynamically, between thetwo source paths. There are many parameters andvariations that you could adjust to control theappearance of effect lines. Effect line groups aredescribed in more detail in Chapter 13.

5.5 Layers and GroupsThe main structural elements in an Expression pic-ture are groups and layers. Each is a collection ofgraphics objects, and can be manipulated as awhole. Groups and layers are basically the samething. It is just conventional to call the top levelgroups as layers. Layers also have some special set-tings for controlling the on-screen display of thegraphics objects within. For example, the color ofthe highlights can be specified for each layer to helpusers identify the objects in the hierarchy.


5.5.1 LayersLayers are the top level structures for graphicsobjects. Individual layers can be optionally hiddenor locked. Expression 3 further allows layers to befrozen, i.e., temporarily rasterized, to makeon-screen redraw as efficient as possible.

An analogy to the use of layers is the stacking ofpainted transparent celluloid films. Each layer islike one such film, on which graphics objects aredrawn. When you want to focus on the graphics inone of the layers, you can hide or lock all other lay-ers so as not to be distracted by objects in other lay-ers.

Expression documents usually contain at least onelayer. When you create a new Expression docu-ment, an empty layer with a pre-assigned name willbe automatically created.

The layered structure of a documentcan be inspected and modified inthe Object List palette (Section11.7) or in the Layer mini-list (Sec-tion 11.6) at the right side of thedocument view. Layers can be cre-ated, deleted or have their settings

modified through the lists.

5.5.2 GroupsIn some cases, objects are logically related to eachother, and should be treated as a whole. Groupingallows this to be realized. All types of objects canbe made to form an object group, which can then beconveniently selected as a whole, or as individualobjects. However, you can only group objects (andobject groups) that come from the same layer.

• Forming object groups: Select the objects,and choose Arrange > Group. Alternatively, usethe keyboard shortcut +G.

• Breaking up object groups: Select thegroup, and choose Arrange > Ungroup. Alter-natively, use the keyboard shortcut +U.

5.6 The Expression WorkspaceThe Expression workspace consists of the menubar, the status bar, various palettes and tools.Expression pictures are created and generallyworked on in the view area of document windows,which have various viewing features themselves.

5.6.1 About the Status BarThe status bar in the workspace gives informationabout tools, menus and operations. You can hideand show the status bar using Windows > StatusBar.

• Showing tool usage: The status bar showssome information related to the operation of thecurrently chosen tool.

• Showing transformation values: Duringan object transformation, the status bar showsthe numerical values in real time. For example,during an object rotation, the coordinates of thecenter of rotation and the angle rotated will beupdated as you drag with the Rotate tool.

• Showing steps for canceling tasks: Thestatus bar shows instructions for cancelingtime-consuming tasks, like rasterization, beforethey are completed.

• Showing memory usage (Mac OS 8/9only): The status bar shows Expression’smemory usage and the available resources onthe system. The first value in the square brack-ets (labeled “Free”) is the size of the heap mem-ory allocated to Expression; it is best to allocatemore memory to Expression before starting it.The second value is the amount of free memoryin the system. The next value (labeled “Used”)is the total amount of memory used in Expres-sion. This value is broken down into the amountfrom the application heap and the amount fromthe system heap, when Expression starts usingmemory from the system’s heap. In such a case,


the memory level may be so low as to stop otherapplications from starting.

5.7 Document WindowsFor every document that you create or open, a sep-arate document window will be opened, with thename of the file shown in the title bar and the Flipbar.

5.7.1 View Area and View ParametersThe most important part of a document window isthe view area. Because graphics objects can beplaced basically anywhere in the boundless space,inside or outside the document frame, the view area

could display only a portion, i.e., a view, of this vastspace. All drawing and manipulation of graphicsobjects are made through this view area. You canpan the view to display other parts of a picture,zoom in and out to change the magnification levelof the view, and rotate the view for the most conve-nient orientation to work on a drawing.

These view parameters are mostly directly visibleand controllable through UIs in the document win-dow: the X-Y position of the view can be read offfrom the rulers and changed by dragging the rulers;the magnification level is displayed in the Zoompopup at the bottom left corner and changed byclicking the Zoom popup.

If a view has been rotated, the ruler units will not beshown. They will re-appear when the view rotationis reset to the upright direction. The menu com-mands under the View menu are also convenient forchanging and resetting the view parameters.

New windows are normally opened at the same sizeand at the same on-screen position as the windowthat was previously in focus. In addition, the viewparameters, like view positions and magnificationlevels of the windows, are automatically synchro-nized, using the bottom left corner of the documentframe as a reference point. This synchronizationbehavior is designed to allow users to easily traceanother opened document when the onion skinmode is turned on. It also makes flipping betweendocuments consistent.

5.7.2 Disabling View Parameter SynchronizationYou can optionally disable this synchronization ofview parameters by unchecking the “Flip view syn-chronizes view parameters” checkbox in the “Viewand Display” page of the “Preferences” dialog(Section 18.4.4).

A View areaB Document frameC RulerD Ruler unitE Crop marksF Zoom popupG Resize handlesH Flip tabs on the

flip barI New layer

J Delete layerK Layer settingsL Layer color boxM Object selection indica-

torN Locking status indicatorO Visibility status indicatorP Active layerQ Layer mini-list

The document window.


5.7.3 Arranging and Switching Windows• Moving windows: Drag a document win-

dow’s title bar to move it.• Resizing, collapsing and closing win-

dows: Use the standard window buttons. OnlyMacintosh OS 8/9 windows can be collapsed.

• Arranging windows (Windows only): Inthe Window menu, choose Cascade or Tile asneeded.

• Opening additional document win-dows for the current document: ChooseView > New View.

• Switching windows without aligningthem: Click the window’s title bar or its viewto switch focus to it. Alternatively, on Win-dows, choose the name of the document in theWindow menu.

• Switching and aligning windows: Clickthe flip tab of the window you want to switchto.

5.7.4 Viewing Document NamesWhen more than one document is opened, Expres-sion will offset the flip tabs in order to accommo-date them all. Flip tabs are arranged according tothe alphabetical order of the file names, so a filecalled “ABCpict” will come before the file “BCD-pict”, and you will see the “ABCpict” tab to the leftof the “BCDpict” tab. The ordering of windows hassignificance when you use document flipping oronion skin display.

If more than one window is opened for the samedocument, the document name in each title bar willbe followed by a number to indicate the order in

which the window was opened, e.g., “Tree:1”,“Tree:2”, “Tree:3” etc.

5.7.5 Setting the Document FrameThe document frame sets the intended output areaof a document, and its dimensions are saved in thefile. This frame size can be different from the papersize.

1. Choose File > Document Setup.2. In the dialog that is opened, choose the paper

size you want, or choose the “Custom” option,and enter the dimensions as needed.

3. Choose the orientation as needed.4. Enable the “Use as Default” option if you want

to use these settings for all new documents aswell. Click “OK”.

5.7.6 Using the RulersThe pair of rulers sets the coordinate system of thedocument window, and indicates pointer positionsin the view area.

A GridB Document frame

C Paper frame based on printer’s settings

D Printer’s paper marginsThe view area.


Since the view area does not have a well-definedlimit, scroll bars are not suitable controls for scroll-ing the view area. In Expression 3, the rulers arealso used for panning or scrolling the view area.Simply drag the ruler to pan the view synchro-nously. The vertical ruler is for vertical panning,and the horizontal ruler horizontal panning. Thecursor will turn into a grabbing hand when it isabove the rulers, hinting that they are ready to bedragged. There are many other convenient methodsto navigate around the picture view. Refer to Sec-tion 5.8 for more details.

Usually, the ruler origin is at the bottom left cornerof the document frame.

• Setting ruler origin: Choose Edit > Set RulerOrigin (the pointer becomes ). Click-drag inthe view area, and release the mouse buttonwhen you reach the position you want the rulerorigin to be.

• Changing ruler units: You can change theruler units in the “Preferences” dialog (see Sec-tion 18.4.3).

5.7.7 Setting Display QualityDisplay quality refers to the different ways withwhich objects can be shown in the view area.

You may want to use a lower quality display toreduce the time for screen refresh, when arrangingobjects in a view full of objects. For details on set-ting display quality in the “Preferences” dialog, seeSection 18.4.2.

• Using path quality: Choose View > DisplayQuality > Path to view paths in their skeletonsonly.

• Using wireframe quality: Choose View >Display Quality > Wireframe to view paths asoutlined shapes plus their skeletons (the curvesthemselves).

• Using preview quality: Choose View > Dis-play Quality > Preview to view paths in full,including all stroke and fill attributes.

• Using better preview quality: Enable View> Display Quality > Better Preview to improvethe display of bitmaps by using pixel interpola-tion and better handling of overlapping regionsof bitmap strokes and paper textures.

5.7.8 The Layer Mini-ListA Layer mini-list can optionally be displayed on theright side of the document window. The list pro-vides a very compact UI for displaying the layerstructure of a document and for managing objectselections and layers. For a complete description ofthe use of the Layer mini-list and the related butmore powerful Object List palette, refer to Section11.6 and Section 11.7.

To show or hide the display of the Layer mini-list,use the menu command View > Show > LayerMini-List.

From left to right: preview quality, wireframe quality, and path quality.

Original display (left), and display using the “Bet-ter Preview” option (right).


5.8 Navigating around a PictureThe view area in the document window is the placefor drawing and editing pictures. You can scroll andzoom the view area using tools, using features inthe document window, and using menu commands.For more specific viewing features (e.g., at theobject or layer level), refer to Section 11.6 and Sec-tion 11.7.

5.8.1 Scrolling• Scrolling with the rulers: Drag the horizon-

tal ruler to scroll horizontally, and the verticalruler to scroll vertically.

• Using the mouse wheel: You can choose touse the mouse wheel for scrolling in the hori-zontal or vertical direction. See Section 18.3.4.

5.8.2 Zooming with Tools and Other Devices• Using the Hand tool: Choose the Hand tool

(or hold the Spacebar key so that the pointerbecomes ), and drag in the view area toscroll it.

• Using the Zoom popup button: Click-holdthe Zoom popup button to show a list of avail-able magnification levels, and drag to the oneyou want.

• Using the Zoom tool: Choose the Zoom tool. The pointer becomes . To zoom in, click

the view area. To zoom out, hold (thepointer becomes ), and click instead. Tozoom into a particular area, drag diagonallyacross that area.

• Using the mouse wheel: You can choose touse the mouse wheel for zooming in and out.You can also choose to use the pointer positionas the zoom center, so that graphics at thepointer position will always stay within theview area regardless of the magnification level.See Section 18.3.4.

5.8.3 Using Zooming CommandsThe View menu has commands for more specificzooming operations.

• Zooming in: Choose View > Zoom In to zoomto a higher magnification level.

• Zooming out: Choose View > Zoom Out tozoom to a lower magnification level.

• Zooming into objects: Choose View >Zoom On Selection to zoom to the highestzoom level under which the object selection canbe fully shown. See also Section 11.7.4 forlocating and zooming on objects in the ObjectList palette.

• Viewing all objects: Choose View > ViewAll to zoom to the highest zoom level underwhich all visible objects in the file can be fullyshown.

• Viewing documents at actual size:Choose View > Actual Size to view the docu-ment at the actual size.

• Viewing documents in center view:Choose View > Center View to view the docu-ment with the document frame in the center.

5.8.4 Rotating the View AreaThe view area in the document window can berotated in steps, each at an offset of 22.5 degrees, orone-sixteenth of a cycle.

• Rotating the view area: In the View menu,choose “Rotate Clockwise” or “Rotate

Scrolling the view area by dragging the ruler.


Counterclockwise” as needed. More conve-niently, these commands can also be appliedusing the { and } keyboard shortcuts.

• Resetting view rotation: Choose View >Reset View Rotation to revert the view area toits original, upright position.

If you have a tablet device that reports the tilt anglesof the stylus or a WACOM 4D Mouse or compati-ble device supporting Z-Axis rotation, the viewrotation can be directly controlled when the Handtool is selected. In such a case, there are nopre-defined rotation steps and you can continuouslyturn the view to any angle you like. This direct viewrotation function can be turned off in the “Tools”page in the “Preferences” dialog (Section 18.3.4).

5.9 Flipping DocumentsDocument windows can be aligned and shown oneafter another in succession, like the way an anima-

tor flips the pages of a stack of drawings. Flippingis useful for checking the smoothness of an actionsequence, and in Expression, you can flip openeddocuments forward or backward in the alphabeticalorder of their file names.

• Flipping documents: Press the ] key repeat-edly to align and flip opened documents for-ward, starting from the window currently infocus. To flip documents backward, press the [key repeatedly instead. Note that the above key-board shortcuts work only if you have notrebound the document flipping commands inthe “Keyboard Shortcuts” page of the “Prefer-ences” dialog.

• Scrubbing documents: Drag horizontallyfrom one flip tab to another.

5.10 Using Onion Skin DisplayOnion skin display refers to the option of allowinganother opened document to be shown through as afaint image in the current document window. Thisimage cannot be edited, and is useful as a referenceor for tracing.

You can make the previous or next file (accordingto the alphabetical order of the file names) showthrough. Unless you have turned off the “Flip viewsynchronizes view parameters” option in the “Pref-erences” dialog, Expression will always keep thetwo overlapping document windows (the currentwindow and the one showing through) aligned,even when you scroll, zoom or rotate the view area.

• Enabling onion skin display: Choose the“Show Previous” or “Show Next” option from

A rotated view area allows you to create graphic elements in an orientation that is natu-ral to you.


View > Onion Skin. To turn off onion skin dis-play, choose “Off”.

5.11 Opening Files and Importing ObjectsYou can open picture files in Expression by openingthem directly (for files in Expression format andother supported vector formats), by importing theminto opened files (for bitmap formats), and by past-ing them from the clipboard.

Vector file formats that can be opened in Expres-sion include Expression 2 and earlier, Illustrator 8and earlier, EPS, WMF (Windows only), and EMF(Windows only).

Bitmap file formats that can be imported intoExpression include PSD, TIFF, JPEG, GIF89a,PNG, BMP (Windows only), and other formatsthrough third party plugins.

• Opening files: Choose File > Open. In the“Open Picture File” dialog (Macintosh) or the“File Open” dialog (Windows), click the fileyou want. If the file had been saved with athumbnail image, it will be shown too, unlessyou click the “Hide Preview” button (Macin-tosh) or disable the “Show Preview” box (Win-dows). On Windows, you can choose more filesby clicking or dragging with the Shift or Ctrlkeys.

Using onion skin display. Here the previous doc-ument is shown through as a faint image.

A Chosen fileB Thumbnail image

C Hide Preview button

The Navigation Services dialog on the Macin-tosh (for Mac OS 8.5 and later). On operating systems without support for the Mac OS Naviga-tion Services, the classic “Open File” dialog will be used, without the thumbnail.

A Thumbnail imageB Chosen files

C Show Preview box

The “File Open” dialog on Windows.


• Converting Illustrator art brushes: Whenyou open an Illustrator file with art brushes init, you can choose to convert them into skeletalstrokes, or leave them as vector objects.

• Importing bitmap files: Choose File > InsertBitmap. In the dialog that is opened, click thefile you want.

• Pasting objects from the clipboard:Copy the objects you want (vector graphics,bitmaps or text from another application) to theclipboard using the Edit > Copy command inthat application. In Expression, choose the“Paste”, “Paste In Front” or “Paste In Back”command from the Edit menu as needed. For adescription of these commands, see Section11.3.2.

5.12 Reversing Document ChangesThe changes that you make to a document can bereversed one step at a time for a set number oftimes, or reversed all the way to the state when thefile was last saved. You can set the number of undolevels in the “Preferences” dialog (see Section18.2.1).

• Reversing the last change to a file:Choose Edit > Undo.

• Reversing the last undo action: ChooseEdit > Redo.

• Reverting to the state when the file waslast saved: Choose File > Revert To Saved.

37

Chapter 6: Floating Palettes, Controls and Palette Management

Expression’s various features are available from thepalettes, each of which is responsible for a differentset of tasks. For example, to choose colors and gra-dients, you will use the Paint Style palette, and tosee the layer and object structure, you will use theObject List palette.

Palettes in general show information about objectscurrently selected, and let you make changes tothem. If you select a path and then choose a strokefrom the Strokes palette, the stroke will be appliedto the path at once. The stroke will also be shown inthe Paint Style palette’s Stroke Preview, which isupdated whenever certain stroke related attributesare changed.

The choices that you make in a palette will remainafter all objects have been deselected, or after thepalette has been hidden, or after you have switchedto another document window (unless that otherdocument window already contains selectedobjects, in which case the palette will be updated toreflect the status of that object selection). Thesepalette settings will not be updated until you changethem yourself, or until you select another object.This design lets you use previous settings on newobjects, and is useful for drawing new paths.

Before introducing each palette, some of the palettecontrols that are unique to Expression will bedescribed first.

6.1 Using PalettesPalettes can be placed anywhere. Some can bedocked (all Windows palettes except the ObjectList and Item List palettes), and some can snap toother palettes (all Macintosh palettes and Windows’Strokes, Object List and Item List palettes).

• Showing and hiding palettes: Choose apalette’s name in the Window menu or use itskeyboard shortcut (F2 to F11) to show or hideit. To hide a palette, you can also click its Closebutton. To hide all palettes except the one youwant (Macintosh only), hold the Commandkey and enter the keyboard shortcut of the pal-ette you want to stay.

• Moving palettes: Drag a palette’s title bar tomove the palette to a new position. See alsoSection 6.1.1 about behavior of cling-on pal-ettes.

• Snapping palettes: Drag a palette nearanother one. Both palettes must be snappable.

• Collapsing palettes (Macintosh only): InMac Classic and Windows, double-click thetitle bar of a palette to toggle between the col-lapsed state (with only the title bar showing)and the normal state. In Mac OS X, because thisbehavior is not natively supported by the OS,you need to hold the Option or Commandkey and click the title bar instead.

Expression’s palettes.


6.1.1 About Cling-On Palettes (Macintosh Only)All Macintosh palettes are cling-on palettes. Whenone cling-on palette is being dragged around, anypalette that is currently snapped to its bottom edgewill be moved with it. So, for example, if three pal-ettes are snapped one on top of another, draggingthe top palette will cause all three palettes to move,but dragging the middle palette will move onlymiddle and bottom palettes.

When you collapse a cling-on palette, any palettecurrently snapped to its bottom edge (and all pal-ettes following it) will shift upwards to remainsnapped to the collapsed palette. Similarly, whenyou expand a collapsed cling-on palette, the pal-ettes “clinging” on to it will shift downwards.

6.1.2 About Dockable Palettes (Windows Only)All Windows palettes, except the Object List andItem List palettes, are dockable palettes. Dockingsnaps a palette to the top left or top right edge of theworkspace, and keeps it snapped to the edge evenwhen the workspace is re-sized or moved. Whenmore than one palette is docked, they form a stackof palettes down the edge of the workspace. If youlike, you can turn off the docking behavior of pal-ettes all together in the “Preferences” dialog (Sec-tion 18.2.3).

• Docking palettes: Drag the title bar of adockable palette to the left or right edge of the

workspace to dock it there. Alternatively, dou-ble-click its title bar to dock it to the left edge.

• Arranging docked palettes: Drag the titlebar of a docked palette up or down to move thepalette up or down the stack of docked palettes.

• Releasing docked palettes: Hold Ctrl andclick a palette’s title bar to float it. Alterna-tively, drag its title bar away from the edge ofthe workspace.

6.2 Using SlidersThe slider is a common control in palettes, and isuseful for adjusting an attribute’s value between thevalue limits.

• Viewing numbers: Click-hold the slider areato view the value in numbers. (For sliders with-out accompanying meters only.)

• Choosing values: Drag the slider to choose avalue.

• Previewing colors: For sliders showingcolor values (e.g., the RGB sliders in the PaintStyle palette), the slider areas themselves showthe color spectrum that is covered by the range.

• Using numerical entries: Double-click theslider area to open a dialog for entering thevalue.

• Snapping to zero values: If a slider’s val-ues range from negative to positive (e.g., theShear slider in the Attributes palette), it willsnap to the zero mark when you start draggingfrom a non-zero value and approach the zeromark.

The Opacity sliders.

Chapter 6: Floating Palettes, Controls and Palette Management 39

• Using double sliders: For a double slider(e.g., the Stroke/Fill Opacity sliders in the PaintStyle palette), the two sub-sliders can be movedseparately by dragging one of them at the endthat is not touching the other sub-slider. Tomove two sub-sliders as one, +drag oneof them, or, if they are already at the same posi-tion, start dragging where they touch in themiddle. The pointer will change into when you are operating both sliders simulta-neously.

• Using slider/meter pairs: For sliders withaccompanying meters (e.g., the RGB sliders inthe Paint Style palette), changes in the sliderswill be reflected in the meters immediately.

6.3 Using MetersThe meter shows a value in numbers, possibly withunits, and lets you make both big and small changesto that value, without having to switch betweenmouse/stylus and keyboard.

• Changing digit by digit: Drag any digitup/down to change it one unit at a time. Makebig changes by dragging more significant digits(e.g., digit “4” in the value “416.22”); makefine adjustments by dragging less significantdigits. Digits will overflow and underflow auto-matically. For example, dragging the digit “9”in the value “9.35” upwards will update thevalue to “10.35”, and dragging the digit “1” inthe value “1.35” downwards will likewiseupdate the value to “0.35”.

• Changing number of decimal places:Drag the decimal place icon (the dot) to theleft/right to change the number of decimalplaces.

• Changing units: Drag the unit digit up/downto change the unit. The numerical value shownwill be updated immediately.

• Switching signs: For meters that support bothpositive and negative numbers (e.g., the metersin the Transformation palette), you can drag anempty digit space (left of the value digits)downwards to switch the value from positive tonegative. Similarly, to switch a value from neg-ative to positive, drag the digit with the nega-tive sign upwards.

• Setting values to or from zero: Hold and click any digit to quickly reset the metervalue to zero or the minimum allowed value. Ifit is not the minimum value you are aiming at,but you want to start dragging the meter fromthe minimum value, hold and draginstead.

• Using keyboard: Click any digit to highlightall digits, and you can enter the whole value(including decimal places if needed) by key-board. Press the Return/Enter key to apply thevalue. Negative numbers can be entered in theform of a number followed by the Minus key(-), e.g., the value “-41.22” should be entered inthe sequence of “41.22-”. Note, however, thatyou cannot enter a number with more decimalplaces than are currently shown in the meter.

• Using dialogs: Double-click any digit to opena dialog for entering the whole value by key-board and for changing value units.

• Using slider/meter pairs: For meters thataccompany sliders (e.g., the RGB meters in thePaint Style palette), changes in the meters willbe reflected in the sliders immediately.

6.4 Using Popup ButtonsThe popup button shows your current choice out oftwo or more options, and can be distinguished from

The Stroke Width meter.


an ordinary button by the presence of a small trian-gular area at either of the lower corners.

• Using buttons with triangles at the bot-tom left: Clicking such a button will pop upthe options in a list. The Choose Color Pickerbutton in the Paint Style palette is an exampleof such buttons.

• Using buttons with triangles at the bot-tom right: If the button is already enabled,clicking the button will toggle through theavailable options, and clicking the triangle orholding the button for one second will pop upthe options in a list. The tool buttons in theToolbox palette are examples of such buttons.

6.5 The Toolbox PaletteThe Toolbox palette shows the main tools for taskssuch as path creation, selection and editing, as wellas zooming, object transformation, stroke definitionetc. Most tool buttons are popup buttons, and sometools have additional control buttons which areshown at the right of the palette when the tool ischosen.

A short introduction to the tools will be given here.For more details about each tool, refer to the rele-vant sections.

The Object Select tool lets you select objectsand object groups (Section 11.1.1).

The Group Select tool lets you select objectswithin a group (Section 11.1.1).

Using a popup button to choose a tool.

A Object Select toolGroup Select toolTransform Fill toolAnchor tool

Repeat toolB Hand toolC Freehand Pen tool

Bezier Pen toolBitmap Pen tool

D Color Dropper toolAttribute Dropper tool

E Rectangle toolEllipse toolTwirl Star toolLine tool

F Cut Path toolReverse Path toolStart Point tool

G Stroke Definition Box toolPattern Definition Box tool

H Node toolNode Lasso toolConvert Node tool

I Zoom toolJ B-Spline tool

Polyline toolK Gradient Vector tool

Reference Vector toolLighting tool

L Add Node toolDelete Node tool

M Rotate toolScale toolMirror toolShear toolPerspective tool

N Text tool


The Transform Fill tool lets you transformgradient, pattern and image fill (Section 8.12.5,Section 8.13.3 and Section 8.14.3).

The Anchor tool lets you specify the paths andnodes to be anchored (Section 10.2).

The Repeat tool lets you specify objects to bemade repeatable in stroke definitions (Section10.3).

The Node tool lets you select and edit nodes(Section 7.19).

The Node Lasso tool lets you select and editnodes and paths in more global way (Section 7.19).

The Convert Node tool lets you convert cor-ner and curve nodes into one another (Section7.22).

The Hand tool lets you scroll the view area inthe document window (Section 5.8.2).

The Zoom tool lets you perform zoomingtasks (Section 5.8.2).

The Freehand Pen tool lets you createfreely-drawn Bezier paths and perform simpleobject selections (Section 7.4).

The Bezier Pen tool lets you create Bezierpaths (Section 7.7).

The Bitmap Pen tool lets you paint bitmapobjects (Section 14.2).

The B-Spline tool lets you create B-splinepaths (Section 7.5).

The Polyline tool lets you create paths withline and curve segments (Section 7.6).

The Color Dropper tool lets you copy colorsacross objects and from objects to the Paint Stylepalette (Section 15.4).

The Attribute Dropper tool lets you copystroke and fill attributes across objects (Section15.4).

The Gradient Vector tool lets you changethe directions and positions of gradients that areapplied to objects (Section 8.12.4).

The Reference Vector tool lets you assignreference points and orientation information toobjects for the handling of transformations in objectblending (Section 7.18.2).

The Lighting tool lets you specify a lightsource for shading the embossed fill effect (Section8.5.4).

The Rectangle tool lets you create rectangu-lar paths (Section 7.9).

The Ellipse tool lets you create elliptical paths(Section 7.12).

The Twirl Star tool lets you create paths withregular and irregular shapes such as stars, polygonsand sickle shapes (Section 7.11).

The Line tool lets you create paths of straightlines (Section 7.10).

The Add Node tool lets you add nodes topaths (Section 7.23).

The Delete Node tool lets you delete nodesfrom paths (Section 7.23).

The Cut Path tool lets you split paths (Section7.23).

The Reverse Path tool lets you change thedirection of paths (Section 7.23).

The Start Point tool lets you specify startingpoints for closed paths (Section 7.23).

The Rotate tool lets you rotate objects (Sec-tion 12.4.2).

The Scale tool lets you scale objects (Section12.3.2).

The Mirror tool lets you reflect objects (Sec-tion 12.6.1).

The Shear tool lets you shear objects (Section12.5.2).


The Perspective tool lets you perform per-spective transformations (Section 12.8.1).

The Stroke Definition Box tool lets you set astroke definition area (Section 10.1.3).

The Pattern Definition Box tool lets you seta pattern definition area (Section 15.3.2).

The Text tool lets you create, select and edittext objects and characters (Section 7.27).

6.6 The Paint Style PaletteThe Paint Style palette provides controls for themain stroke and fill attributes, such as colors, gradi-ents, transparency and stroke width.

The Stroke Type buttons at the top right of the pal-ette let you choose a type of stroke (none, basic,gradient or skeletal strokes), and the Fill Type but-tons (three rows below the Stroke Type buttons) letyou choose a type of fill (none, solid, gradient, pat-tern or image fill).

When you choose a type of stroke or fill, the lowersection of the palette will change accordingly toshow the options for that type of stroke or fill. Forexample, if you click the Basic Stroke button, thecolor selection controls (the Color picker, the ColorPreview etc.) will be shown in the lower section ofthe palette, but if you click the Gradient Fill button,the gradient selection controls (a list of availablegradients, gradient editing buttons etc.) will beshown instead.

Besides these attributes, the palette has controls fortransparency, paper textures, blending modes,stroke width and fill edge width (for soft-edged andembossed fill). The choices that you make for themain attributes (such as colors, gradients and trans-parency) are instantly reflected in the Stroke Pre-view and Fill Preview. For more details, refer toChapter 8.

In fact, most tasks related to colors and gradientscan be handled in the palette. You can create andedit custom colors and gradients, and when you doso, the upper section of the palette will change intoa custom color editor or gradient editor as needed.You can also copy colors across the previews (theStroke Preview, Fill Preview and different Colorpreviews) by a dragging action. For more details,refer to Chapter 15.

A Stroke previewB Opacity slidersC Fill previewD Color pickerE Paper texture on/offF Stroke types

G Stroke width meterH Blending mode

popupI Fill typesJ Fill width meterK Lower section

The Paint Style palette.


6.7 The Attributes PaletteThe Attributes palette displays and controls themore specialized stroke and fill attributes. For moredetails, refer to Chapter 9.

6.8 The Font PaletteThe Font palette displays and controls the font andtext attributes. For more details, see Section 7.27.

6.9 The Object List PaletteThe Object List palette lists a file’s layers andobjects in a tree view, and lets you view, arrangeand lock individual objects and layers. Layers can

be expanded to show objects within. For moredetails, refer to Section 11.7.

6.10 The Variable Width PaletteOne of skeletal strokes’ special features is variablewidth, which refers to the uneven variation in thewidth of strokes and fill edges (for soft-edged fillsand embossed fills) along stroke paths. Variablewidth for strokes and fill edges (for soft-edged fillsand embossed fill) along stroke paths is describedas width profiles, which can be created and appliedfrom the Variable Width palette.

A width profile is shown as a graph of width varia-tion against path length, and its shape can bechanged by editing the profile nodes on it. Profilescan be saved for future use, and the Presets popupmenu lets you choose one from the profile list. Forbitmap strokes, you can use the width profile for

A Shape parameterB Stroke shearC Fill ruleD Dash patternE Stroke mode

F Stroke continuityG Stroke jointH Stroke capI Node continuityJ Dash phase offset

The Attributes palette.

A Font nameB Font styleC Baseline shiftD Relative leadingE Text alignment

F Font sizeG TrackingH Horizontal scalingI Text placement

The Font palette.

A Expand/Collapse switch

B Partially selected group

C Object type iconD Selection indicatorE Object selection indi-

catorF Locking status indica-

tor

G Visibility status indi-cator

H Active layer indi-cator

I New layerJ Delete layerK Locate objectL Zoom onM PropertiesN Collapse all

The Object List palette.


controlling opacity variations as well. For moredetails, refer to Section 8.10 and Section 15.6.

6.11 The Strokes PaletteThe Strokes palette lists the skeletal strokes from allthe stroke folders, or, if you like, from a strokefolder of your choice. The name of the currentstroke folder is shown at the bottom right of the pal-ette.

Each entry in the stroke list consists of a thumbnailof the stroke (with a blue dot if it is a multi-viewstroke), the name of the stroke, and the name of the

folder to which the stroke belongs if you have cho-sen to see strokes from all folders. You can choosethe folder you want to see using the Stroke Folderpopup menu at the bottom right of the palette, andorganise strokes using the Folder Operations popupbutton next to it. For more details, refer to Section10.5.

6.12 The Transformation PaletteThe Transformation palette is for applying objecttransformations (translation, rotation, scaling,shearing and mirroring) and for setting object sizeand position. The meters of the palette changeaccording to the type of transformation chosen inthe lower section of the palette. For more details,refer to Chapter 12.

6.13 The Item List PaletteSome stroke and fill attributes that you choose inthe Paint Style palette can be saved in the Item List

A ResetB Add nodeC Delete nodeD Presets popupE Add to presets

F Edit preset listG Transparency vari-

ability sliderH Width variability

sliderThe Variable Width palette.

A Edit strokeB Delete stroke

C Folder operations popup

D Stroke folder popupThe Strokes palette.

A TranslationB RotationC ScalingD ShearingE Mirroring

F BoundsG SizeH Apply to a duplicateI Apply transformation

The Transformation palette.


palette as stroke items or fill items. For moredetails, refer to Section 15.5.

6.14 The Colorize PaletteThe Colorize palette lets you replace the color spec-trum of one or more vector objects, which may havedifferent and multiple colors. White, black and anycolor in the hue spectrum can be replaced. For moredetails, refer to Section 8.17.

6.15 The Effect Lines PaletteThe Effect Lines palette is for specifying effect lineattributes, such as line spacing, width, use of clus-tering, focus point and template path. Most attributecontrols are accompanied by variation sliders foradding the right amount of random variation to theattribute settings of the effect lines. For moredetails, refer to Chapter 13.

6.16 The Flash Button PaletteThe Flash Button palette is for choosing andfine-tuning motion and color effects for objects and

A Create itemB Edit itemC Load item list

D Save item listE Delete item

The Item List palette.

A HSL color pickerB Black nodeC White nodeD Selected hue

nodeE Deselected hue

node

F Brightness sliderG Saturation sliderH Colorized spectrumI Hue reference ringJ Remove colorization

The Colorize palette.

A Line spacingB Stroke widthC Clustering on/off,

cluster size and gap size

D Focus on/offE Start edge varia-

tion

F Spacing variationG Width variationH Cluster variationI End edge variationJ Add template pathK Remove template pathL Reverse line directionM Create effect lines

The Effect Lines palette.


groups to be exported as Flash buttons. For moredetails, refer to Chapter 16.

A ResetB Object/Group

previewC Motion effects in

normal, pointer-over and pointer-click states

D Color effects in normal, pointer-over and pointer-click states

E Effect cycle timeF Motion effect magni-

tudeG Color effect magnitudeH Number of effect cyclesI Reciprocate on/offJ Export stroke animationK URLL Target

The Flash Button palette.

47

Chapter 7: Paths, Text and Other Path-Based Objects

7.1 Paths: The Basic Building BlocksPaths are core to most vector-based drawing appli-cations. They are also the basic graphics primitivein Expression.

A path is just an abstract shape description. Whenwe refer to a path object, we are actually referringto the graphics object with a shape defined by apath, and with various paint style attributesattached to specify how the path is to be rendered.

Many other graphics objects are actually made upof path objects. For example, the complex appear-ance of a vector-based skeletal stroke is composedof many paths, the strokes of which may in turnhave been made up of other finer paths. Top levelpath objects are directly manipulatable by the user.Other internal path objects within other graphicsobjects are generated dynamically and they canonly be controlled indirectly. Text characters in atext object are also path objects. However, theirshapes are based on the font being used and theshapes of the text characters are not directly edit-able (except when a warp group is created from thetext object).

This chapter explains the internals of paths and theuse of paths in detail, together with otherpath-based graphics object types.

7.2 Anatomy of a PathA path is made up of a sequence of curved andstraight segments, and can be made up of differentkinds of curves for different drawing and editing

needs. The curves used in Expression are Beziercurves and B-splines.

The Bezier curve describes a shape by the positionsof its control points (the nodes) and the condition ofthe tangents at each node. For Bezier paths, there isa pair of tangent handles at each node for control-ling the curvature and curve continuity at that node.

A Bezier curve can be continuous at some nodes(i.e., the curve is smooth at those nodes) and dis-continuous at others (i.e., there may be sharp cor-ners or cusp points at those nodes).

The B-spline curve is a smooth curve. The kind ofB-spline used in Expression is called uniformB-spline, with second order continuity, i.e., not onlydoes the curve have a continuous tangent vector,but the rate of change of the tangent vectors is alsocontinuous. Therefore B-splines are generallymuch smoother in appearance than Bezier curves.The shape of a B-spline curve is described by thepositions of its control points, called nodes, which,

Bezier and B-spline paths.A A path containing only straight line segments.B A path made up entirely of Bezier curve seg-

ments.C A path made up entirely of B-spline curve seg-

ments.


with the exception of the starting and ending nodesof an open path, do not lie on the curve itself.

Each path has a starting node and an ending node,which is marked with an arrow when the path isselected. The direction of this arrow (from startingnode to ending node) is the direction in whichstrokes will be applied, and you can reverse the pathdirection, or choose another starting node alto-gether (if the path is a closed one).

Paths can be open-ended (e.g., a simple line) orclosed (e.g., rectangles and circles). An open-endedpath can be appended to another open-ended path,and its fill area is the area bounded by the path andan imaginary straight line across its starting andending nodes.

Compound paths, clones and text objects are threekinds of special paths, and their usage will beexplained later. See Section 7.16, Section 7.17 andSection 7.27.

7.3 Creating PathsExpression provides a number of different drawingtools for creating paths. You should experimentwith them to find out which is the most convenientone for you. Using the Freehand Pen tool, you candirectly draw out the shape you want, but with thenode-based drawing tools like the B-Spline tool,Polyline/Arc tool or Bezier Pen tool, you need toplace each node by clicking (and dragging if youwant to control the tangent as well). Tools forpre-defined shapes, such as the Ellipse, Rectangleand Twirl Star tools, let you quickly create a shapein one single drag of the mouse/stylus. The Texttool lets you enter text characters from the key-board.

When used with certain modifier keys, some toolscan have additional control over shapes of paths.Using the key with the Rectangle tool willcreate squares, and using it with the Bezier Pen tool

will constrain the tangent handle angles to certainangular steps, e.g., at every 45 degrees (or eightconstraint steps in 360 degrees), or at another num-ber of steps as is set by you in the “Preferences”dialog (see Section 18.2.2).

7.4 Using the Freehand Pen ToolWhen you draw a shape using the Freehand Pentool, a Bezier curve will be fitted to the trail to forma path. You can choose how tightly you want thepath to be fitted to the trail in the “Preferences”dialog (see Section 18.3.2).

To create a freehand path using the Freehand Pentool:

1. Choose the Freehand Pen tool .2. Adjust the Freehand Pen tool setting controls

on the right side of the Toolbox palette if neces-sary.

3. Draw out a path in one of the following ways:• Creating an independent path: Simply

draw out the shape you want in the view area. Ifyou want to create a closed path, end the shapenear the starting point of the path, and releasethe mouse button when the pointer becomes

.• Starting a path at an existing open

path’s end nodes: Hold the key andposition the pointer near one of the nodes untilthe pointer becomes . Then begin drawingthe path. The new path created will beappended to the existing path you started from.

• Ending a path at an existing openpath’s end nodes: Draw out the shapetowards one of end nodes of an existing path,hold the key and release the mouse but-ton when the pointer becomes . The newpath will be joined with the existing path.

Chapter 7: Paths, Text and Other Path-Based Objects 49

Freehand Pen Tool Pressure SettingsIf you use a pressure sensitive device (e.g., aWACOM tablet), Expression can vary the strokewidth of the path according to the pressure appliedat each point.

The Freehand Pen tool pressure settings controlsare displayed at the right side of the Toolbox palettewhenever the Freehand Pen tool is selected. Youcan turn pressure sensitivity on and off and adjustthe pen-pressure related behavior as follows:

• Using pressure sensitivity: Expression reg-isters the pressure information from your stylusas you draw, and uses it to vary the stroke widthalong the path. Disable the Variable WidthOn/Off button if you do not want this. Notethat if pressure sensitivity is turned on (andyour tablet reports pressure values to Expres-sion), the current stroke width settings in thePaint Style palette will have no effect on thefinal stroke width.

• Setting width at maximum pressure: Themore pressure you apply to your stylus, thethicker will be the stroke. To set the width thatcorresponds to maximum pressure, choose avalue (in screen pixels) in the Maximum Pres-sure Width meter. To draw a really wide stroke,you could zoom out a bit first. To draw finedetails, zoom in before you draw.

• Controlling width and transparencyvariability: For bitmap strokes defined withan alpha channel, both width and transparencycan be controlled by pressure. Use the Widthand Transparency Variability sliders (shown inthe Toolbox palette when the Freehand Pen toolis chosen) to control how much the width ortransparency should be affected by the styluspressure. The setting here will be used in thepaths you subsequently create with the Free-hand Pen tool. Note that even after a path hasbeen created, you can still change the variablewidth and transparency using the VariableWidth palette (see Section 8.10).

As a side note, the Freehand Pen tool can also beused as an object selection tool by simply clickingon the object to be selected.

7.5 Using the B-Spline ToolThe B-Spline tool lets you build up B-spline curvesby placing nodes in succession. Although B-splinesare smooth curves, the B-Spline tool lets you intro-

Creating a path with variable stroke width.

Pressure sensitivity options for the Freehand Pen tool.A Variable width on/off.B Maximum pressure width meter.C Transparency/Width variability slider for the

Freehand Pen tool.

From top to bottom: a path with variable stroke width only, with variable stroke width and trans-parency, and with variable stroke transparency only.


duce discontinuities such as sharp corners to a pathby starting a new B-spline curve segment at everydiscontinuity.

B-splines are used less often in 2D drawing applica-tions, probably because PostScript does not supportB-splines. 3D software, on the other hand, almostexclusively uses B-spline curves and surfaces asmodelling primitives because of their smoothnessand ease of control. Try the B-Spline tool and youwill find that it is a more convenient tool for all ofyour curve (or even straight line) constructionneeds.

To create paths using the B-Spline tool:

1. Choose the B-Spline tool .2. Click on the view to place the B-spline control

points or nodes one by one:• Placing the first node: Position the pointer

where you want to start the path, and click toplace the first node.

• Placing subsequent nodes: Move thepointer and click to place more nodes (use therubber line linking the previous node and thepointer as a guide). Alternatively, where youwant to make the path discontinuous (i.e., asharp corner), +click to place the node.You can also hold the key before youclick to constrain the angle made by the nodeand the previous two nodes. Repeat this step toplace the subsequent nodes.

• Canceling nodes: Press theDelete/Backspace key to delete the previ-ous node that you placed.

• Placing the last node: Double-click toplace the last node. Alternatively, press theReturn/Enter key to end the path at the lastnode. If you want to create a closed path, posi-

tion the pointer near the first node and clickwhen the pointer becomes .

B-Spline Tool OptionsWhen the B-Spline tool is selected, the Append andDo Not Append option buttons will appear at theright side of the Toolbox palette.

Enable the Append Path button in the Toolboxpalette if you want to connect newly createdB-spline paths to existing open paths. If not, enablethe Do Not Append button .

7.6 Using the Polyline/Arc ToolThe Polyline tool lets you build up paths made up ofstraight line and/or Bezier curve segments by plac-ing nodes in succession. Simple clicking createsline segments, and click-dragging creates circulararc segments:

1. Choose the Polyline tool .2. Add straight line or circular arc segments one

by one:• Placing the first node: Position the pointer

where you want to start the path, and click toplace the first node.

• Adding a straight line segment: Move thepointer and click to place a node for a straightsegment.

Creating a path using the B-Spline tool.


• Adding a circular arc segment: Move thepointer and click to set up the tangent directionof the circular arc you are going to create, thencontinue to drag the pointer to form the circulararc. There is an initial tolerance before the cir-cular arc mode is started. This tolerance is pro-vided to prevent circular arcs from beingaccidentally created when straight lines areintended. Therefore you might want to drag thepointer a bit to start the arc first, and then adjustto define the arc. The length of the tangent vec-tor (the distance between the previous node andthe clicked point) does not affect the final shapeof the arc at all. However, a longer tangent vec-tor would give you a more accurate control overthe tangent direction. You can also hold the

key while you click to constrain the anglebetween the line segments. In the case of arcsegments, dragging with the key heldconstrains the arc angle.

• Canceling nodes: Press theDelete/Backspace key to delete the previ-ous node or segment that you placed.

• Ending the path: Double-click when placingthe final node. Alternatively, press theReturn/Enter key to end the path at the lastnode. If you want to create a closed path, posi-tion the pointer near the first node and clickwhen the pointer becomes .

Polyline/Arc Tool OptionsWhen the Polyline/Arc tool is selected, the Appendand Do Not Append option buttons will appear atthe right side of the Toolbox palette.

Enable the Append Path button in the Toolboxpalette if you want to connect newly createdPolyline/Arc paths to existing open paths. If not,enable the Do Not Append button .

7.7 Using the Bezier Pen ToolThe Bezier Pen tool lets you build up arbitrary Bez-ier curves by placing nodes and Bezier tangent han-dles in succession. As you click to place a node, youcan adjust the curvature and continuity at that nodeby dragging out tangent handles.

The Bezier curves created using the Bezier Pen toolare known as piecewise Bezier curves because eachcurve is pieced together from individual Beziercurve segments. The continuity between two adja-cent Bezier segments could be smooth or discontin-uous. Each Bezier curve segment consists of thetwo nodes that mark the ends of the Bezier segment,and the two tangent handles from the nodes. Boththe lengths and the directions of the tangent handlesaffect the final shape of a Bezier segment. When thetangent handles are retracted fully into the endnodes, the Bezier segment will appear as a straightline.

It takes practice to get used to drawing Beziercurves. If you are new to vector-based drawingtools, you would probably find the B-Spline toolmore handy for any kinds of constructions, fromsmooth curves to polylines.

To create Bezier paths:

1. Choose the Bezier Pen tool .2. Click to place a Bezier node, and drag to bring

out the tangent handle. If you just click but do

Creating a path using the Polyline tool.


not drag out a tangent handle, the tangent han-dles on both sides of your node will be fullyretracted.

• Placing the first node and the initial tan-gent: Position the pointer where you want tostart the path, and click to place the first node.Unless you are trying to create straight line seg-ments, remember to drag out the initial tangentvector as you place your first node.

• Placing subsequent nodes: Move thepointer and click to place subsequent nodes.Before releasing the mouse, drag to bring outthe tangent handles on both sides of the node.Note that the tangent handles on both sides willbe co-linear and have the same length so thatthe adjacent curve segment will be smoothlyconnected. If you hold down the keywhile you drag, the angle of the tangent handleswill be constrained. You could also hold downthe key while you drag to lock the tan-gent handle on the other side of the node inplace to break the continuity.

• Adjusting the tangents: If you want toadjust the tangent handles of the node you lastplaced, position the pointer at that node (thepointer becomes ), then drag to set the tan-gent handles again.

• Canceling nodes: Press theDelete/Backspace key to delete the previ-ous node that you placed.

• Closing a path: Move the pointer to the start-ing node (the pointer becomes ), and click itagain to close the path. Remember to drag outthe final pair of tangent handles.

• Ending a path: End a path explicitly bypressing the Return/Enter key. Double-click-ing to place the final node also ends a path, butyou would not be able to drag out the tangenthandle for the final node. Note that the Bezier

Pen tool does not have a rubber curve/line cueto indicate whether you are continuing on aworking path (this is for compatibility withBezier Pen tools in other drawing applications.)You have to rely on the pointer shape to knowwhether you are continuing on the path youhave been working on ( ) or whether you arestarting a new path ( ).

Bezier Pen Tool OptionsWhen the Bezier Pen tool is selected, the Appendand Do Not Append option buttons will appear atthe right side of the Toolbox palette.

Enable the Append Path button in the Toolboxpalette if you want to connect newly created Bezierpaths to existing open paths. If not, enable the DoNot Append button .

7.8 Shape-Based Drawing Tools: Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Star/Polygon/TwirlExpression 3 provides a few tools specialized increating certain commonly used shapes, includingsquare/round cornered rectangles, ellipses, simplestraight lines, regular or irregular stars with 3 to 99points, regular or irregular polygons and twirlingcurves.

Creating a path using the Bezier Pen tool.


7.9 Using the Rectangle ToolThe Rectangle tool lets you create rectangles andsquares, optionally with round corners.

1. Choose the Rectangle tool .2. Click and drag out a rectangular shape. The

proportion of the rectangle can be constrainedto a square if you hold down the keywhen you drag the pointer. Also, the aspectratio of the rectangular shape can be lockedduring dragging by pressing the key, andfurther dragging at this point will rotate therectangle. The angle of rotation can also be con-strained by holding down the key.

3. Release the mouse button to create the closedrectangular path. The starting point of the rect-angular path will be at the position where youfirst clicked.

If you click on the view area using the Rectangletool and release the click without dragging, a “Rect-angle Specification” dialog will be displayed forentering numerical values of the position, size, cor-ner roundness and rotation angle of a rectangle.

Rectangle Corner RoundnessWhen the Rectangle tool is selected, a CornerRoundness slider will be displayed at the right sideof the Toolbox palette. This slider lets you specifythe roundness, i.e., the radius of the circular arc forthe corners as a percentage of the half length of theshorter side of the rectangle. A roundness of 0%produces sharp-cornered rectangles and a 100%

roundness produces a rectangle with semi-circularcorners.

7.10 Using the Line ToolThe Line tool lets you create straight lines with onlytwo nodes, through one single click-drag action.This tool is particularly useful for quickly drawinga sequence of straight lines.

1. Choose the Line tool .2. Click where you want the starting point of the

line to be, drag and release at the desired endingpoint to create the straight line path.

If you click on the view area using the Line toolwithout dragging, a “Line Specification” dialogwill be displayed for numerical entry of the endpoint coordinates. The starting point coordinates inthe dialog will be initially filled with the coordi-nates of the point you clicked.

Line Tool OptionsWhen the Line tool is selected, the Append and DoNot Append option buttons will appear at the rightside of the Toolbox palette.

Enable the Append Path button in the Toolboxpalette if you want to allow the newly created lines


be connected to existing open paths. If not, enablethe Do Not Append button .

7.11 Using the Twirl Star ToolThe Twirl Star tool is for creating a wide variety ofconvex and concave shapes with straight or curvedsides, such as stars, hexagons, sickle blades, andother shapes with indentations.

1. Choose the Twirl Star tool .2. Click where you intend the center point of the

star or polygon to be, and drag out the star orpolygon shape. If you drag the pointer beforereleasing the mouse, the shape will also berotated. The angle of rotation can be con-strained by holding down the key. Therotation and size of the star/polygon can belocked by pressing the key. Further drag-ging will cause the star shape to be winded upinto twirls. You could unwind the stars by turn-ing in the opposite direction.

3. Release the mouse to create the star/poly-gon/twirl path.

If you click on the view area using the Twirl Startool without dragging, a “Star Specification” dialogwill be displayed for entering the various parame-ters of the star/polygon/twirl object to be created.The parameters are basically the same as the TwirlStar tool settings described below, except that the

radius and angular variations can be controlled sep-arately.

7.11.1 Twirl Star Tool SettingsWhen the Twirl Star tool is selected, a few controlswill be displayed at the right side of the Toolboxpalette for adjusting the various star/polygonrelated parameters:

• Setting number of corners: This is thenumber of convex vertices to be created in theshape. For example, choose “5” for pentagonsand five-pointed stars.

• Setting inner depth: Inner depth is a mea-sure of indentation, or more precisely, how farthe concave vertices will be from theun-indented shape to be created. At zero innerdepth, there will be no indentation, and astraight line will join each pair of adjacent con-vex vertices to form a convex polygon. As youincrease the inner depth, the concave vertices ofthe shapes to be created will become increas-ingly closer to the center of the shape, and theconvex angles will become increasingly nar-rower. Setting an inner depth of 100% will

A Break at joints on/off

B No. of corners

C Inner depth sliderD Star variation slider

The Twirl Star tool settings.


make the stars so narrow that the “arms” willbecome lines. In such a case, the resulting pathwill be a compound path with a number of openlines (or curves, if twisted) radiating from thecenter.

• Setting variation: Star variation is theamount of randomness to be introduced to boththe radial length of the corners and angular sep-aration of the corners. Setting it to zero pro-duces regular stars or polygons. The larger thevalue, the wilder looking the shapes will be.

• Setting “Break At Joints” option: Thisswitch specifies whether the “Break At Joints”attribute should be turned on for the stars andpolygons created using the tool. This option ismeaningful only if skeletal strokes are appliedto the resulting paths. With the “Break AtJoints” option turned on, one stroke will beapplied to each smooth segment of the path.With the option turned off, one stroke will beapplied along the entire path. The “Break AtJoints” setting of created polygons and stars cansubsequently be changed using the Attributespalette. See Section 9.7.

7.12 Ellipses and the Ellipse ToolEllipse objects are a special kind of path designedfor circles, ovals and partial ellipses such as arcsand sectors. An ellipse object has two editablenodes, normally concurrent, marking the startingpoint and the ending point of the elliptical arc.

Although an ellipse looks like a closed path when itis created, it can actually be an open path with twonodes at the same position (or with a zero-lengthline segment joining them, depending on the cur-rent arc mode). These nodes can be slid along thecircumference of the ellipse to form an open arc, a

sector, or a closed arc, which is an open arc with astraight line across the two nodes.

Ellipse objects can be turned into ordinary pathswith the menu command Object > Convert To Path.Once converted, the resulting path will consist ofBezier curve segments, the nodes on which canthen be freely edited to form arbitrary non-ellipticalshapes.

7.12.1 Using the Ellipse ToolThe Ellipse tool lets you create ellipses and circles.

1. Choose the Ellipse tool .2. Click and drag out an ellipse. Hold down the

key to constrain the ellipse to a circle.3. Release the mouse to create the ellipse object.If you click on the view area using the Ellipse tooland release the mouse without dragging, an “EllipseSpecification” dialog will be displayed for you toenter the numerical values of the position anddimension of an ellipse object. In the dialog, an arcangle refers to the angle a line joining the ellipsecenter and a node is at with reference to the hori-zontal axis, measured in the counterclockwisedirection. Because there are two nodes for eachellipse object, there are two arc angles that you canspecify. If the two arc angles are identical, a fullellipse will be created.

7.12.2 Ellipse Tool SettingsWhen the Ellipse tool is selected, certain ellipsetool settings controls will be displayed at the rightside of the Toolbox palette. Choose the “From cen-ter” option if you want to use the starting point ofyour dragging action as the center of the ellipse tobe created. Otherwise, with the “From boundingbox” option chosen, the point where you start drag-ging will be a corner of the bounding box of theellipse to be created. The Arc Mode popup at thelower right is for choosing the arc mode for subse-


quent ellipses to be created using the tool. Arcmodes are described in the sub-section below.

7.12.3 Creating Arcs and Pies1. Select an ellipse object.2. Opening up ellipses: Choose the Node tool

or Node Lasso tool . Drag one of thenodes along the path as far as you want theellipse opening to be. When you release themouse button, two nodes, one at each side ofthe opening, will be shown.

3. Choosing open arcs, closed arcs andpies: From Objects > Arc Mode, choose“Open Arc”, “With Chord” (closed arc), or“Pie” as needed. These options are also avail-

able from the Object List palette (see Section11.7.3).

Converting Ellipses to Bezier Curves• Select the ellipse, and choose Objects > Con-

vert To Path.

7.13 Joining PathsYou can combine two open paths into one path byjoining them end to end. The paths are joined at theends that are closer together, and the position of onenode is changed to merge with the node of the otherpath. A related operation, called virtual joining,brings nodes together without merging them.

• Joining two paths: Select the paths, andchoose Objects > Join Path > Real.

• Making two paths meet without joiningthem: Select the paths, and choose Objects >Join Path > Virtual.

Dragging a node to open up an ellipse.

From left to right: open arc, with chord, and pie.

Joining two paths into one.


7.14 Closing PathsYou can close selected open paths (simple or com-pound) by choosing the “Close Path” command. Ifa path is already closed, the command will have noeffect. Similar to the “Join Path” commands, anopen path can be closed by just bringing the endnodes to the same position (called virtual closing),or it can actually become a closed path.

• Closing one or more paths: Select thepaths, and choose Objects > Close Path > Real.

• Moving the end points of an open pathtogether: Select the paths, and choose Objects> Close Path > Virtual.

7.15 Forming Paths Using Path OperationsPath operations (or Boolean operations) form pathsof Bezier curves based on the addition or subtrac-tion of the shapes of the fill areas of two or morepaths. The newly formed paths will have the strokeand fill attributes of the topmost or bottommostsource path, depending on the kind of path opera-tion used.

If there are more than two source paths, the pathoperation will be applied to the first two paths, thento the newly formed path and the next path, and soon, until all source paths are worked on. You can setthe option to keep or delete sources paths after pathoperations (see Section 18.2.1).

1. Select the paths.2. Choose the path operation you want from

Objects > Path Operations:• Unite: Forms a path whose shape is made by

merging the fill areas of the source paths.• Front minus back: Forms a path whose

shape is made by cutting the fill area of thesource path behind out of that of the source pathin front.

• Back minus front: Forms a path whose shapeis made by cutting the fill area of the sourcepath in front out of that of the source pathbehind.

• Intersection: Forms a path that is the shape ofthe overlapping area of the source paths.

• Divide: Forms a number of paths by cutting upthe fill areas of the source paths along the paths.

7.16 Working with Compound PathsA compound path is a path that is made up of two ormore sub-paths, each with its own starting and end-ing nodes. Compound paths are useful for makingshapes with holes in them, such as the numbers “8”or “0”, and are formed from two or more paths, orformed as a result of path operations.

• Forming a compound path: Select thesource paths, and choose Objects > CompoundObjects > Make.

• Converting a compound path to itssource paths: Select the compound path, andchoose Objects > Compound Objects >Release.

Dividing paths.

Turning two independent paths into a com-pound path with a hole.


7.17 Working with ClonesThe clone is a special kind of object that is closelyrelated to the path. A newly created clone looksexactly like the path from which it is formed (themaster path), but it is not just a duplicate of themaster path. Unlike its master (or any ordinarypath), a clone does not have nodes, and cannot beedited directly. In fact, its structure remains tied to,and dependent on, the master’s, and whenever themaster’s nodes are edited, the clone’s shape isupdated to follow.

Clones can, however, have their own stroke and fillattributes, and be transformed independent of theirmasters. When a master is deleted or unstructured, aclone will be automatically freed, or converted to apath.

• Creating a clone from a path: Select thepath, and choose Edit > Clone.

• Selecting the master of a clone: Selectthe clone, and choose Edit > Select Master.

7.18 Blending PathsBlending creates a series of paths of Bezier curvesby interpolating the position (of nodes and objects)and attributes of two paths. The stroke and fillattributes that are interpolated include color, width(stroke width, soft-edged/embossed width and vari-able width), stroke shear, opacity, dash pattern andshape parameter.

The source paths need not have the same number ofnodes. Expression will determine a correspondencebetween the nodes, and compensate for any differ-ence. After the blending operation, the resultingpaths (also called in-betweens) are grouped

together. The source paths are not affected in anyway.

If you try to blend three or more paths, Expressionwill blend the first and second paths, then the sec-ond and third paths, and so on. The order mentionedhere is the object order; the first path is thebottommost path, and the last path is the topmostpath.

1. Select the paths.2. Choose Objects > Blend Paths. This opens a

“Blend Paths” dialog.3. Choosing the number of new paths:

Choose or enter the number of new paths thatyou want in the “No. of Steps” box.

4. Choosing interpolation method: The“Linear interpolate” option treats nodes on asource path as individual nodes, with no regardfor node positions relative to adjacent nodes.The “Angle and length” option takes intoaccount the angle and distance between adja-cent nodes during interpolation.

5. Click “OK”.

7.18.1 Marking NodesThe blending process can be controlled with moreprecision by raising the status of certain nodesbeforehand, in an operation called node marking. Ifyou mark one node from each source path, thenthese two marked nodes will have preference (overother unmarked nodes) in being matched for inter-polation during blending. You can mark more thanone node from each source path and the number ofnodes marked in each source path does not need tobe the same.

• Marking a node: Select it and chooseObjects > Node Marking > Set.


• Removing a mark from a node: Select thenode and choose Objects > Node Marking >Clear.

7.18.2 Using Reference VectorsBefore blending two paths, you can assign a refer-ence vector to each path, to indicate a point of ref-erence and an orientation.

1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose the Reference Vector tool .3. Choose from these options:• Adding and editing reference vectors:

Place the pointer where you want the referencepoint to be, and drag in the direction you want.

• Removing reference vectors: ChooseObjects > Remove Reference Vector.

7.19 Selecting NodesTwo tools are available for selecting nodes. TheNode tool lets you select nodes individually and by

dragging out a marquee. The Node Lasso tool hasall the features of the Node tool, but offers moreflexibility.

1. Choose the Node tool or Node Lasso tool .2. If the nodes are not shown, click the path to

select it and show the nodes.3. Choose from these options:• Selecting nodes one by one: Click a node

to select it. +click another node to add itto the node selection.

• Selecting nodes by dragging out amarquee: For the Node tool, drag out a box toenclose the nodes you want to select. For theNode Lasso tool, drag out a shape (e.g., a circleor S-shape) to enclose the nodes you want.

+drag to enclose more nodes to add to thenode selection.

• Selecting nodes by encircling nodes:Using the Node Lasso tool, drag out a curvearound the nodes you want to select.

+drag to enclose more nodes to add to thenode selection. Objects cut across by the curvewill also be selected at the object level.

Blending paths with and without node marking.

Blending paths with reference vectors.Selecting nodes using the Node tool.

Selecting nodes using the Node Lasso tool.


• Deselecting all nodes: Click an emptyspace in the view area to deselect all nodes. Youcan also use the Freehand Pen tool in this way.

• Toggling node selection state: Hold the key and click each node that you want to

select or deselect, or +drag out a shape toenclose them.

7.20 Editing NodesYou can change the shapes of paths by editing nodepositions, path curvature and continuity.

7.20.1 Editing Nodes Using the Node ToolsThe Node tool and Node Lasso tool let you editnodes, and take advantage of the node snappingfeature, as is described in Section 11.4.2.

1. Select the node you want.2. Choose the Node tool or Node Lasso tool .3. Choose from these options:• Moving nodes: Drag the node to move it. If

more than one node has been selected, draggingone selected node will move all selected nodes.

• Changing the tangent vectors of Beziercurves at a node: Drag one of the tangenthandles at the node to change the curvature nearit. Or, you can hold the key while you

drag to lock one tangent handle in place (thetool actually temporarily changes to the Con-vert Node tool when you hold the key.)To change the behavior of a pair of tangent han-dles, see Section 7.21.

• Reshaping path segments: +dragone node (the pointer becomes ) to move thenode. Nearby nodes will also be influenced.The influence diminishes with the distancefrom the node being dragged.

7.20.2 Editing Nodes Using Other MethodsYou can move nodes by nudging them one step at atime, or by transforming two or more selectednodes using the resize handles or any of the trans-formation tools.

1. Select the nodes.2. Choose from these options:• Nudging nodes: Press the arrow keys

repeatedly to move the nodes one step at a time,in the direction you want. Alternatively, holdthe key while you press an arrow key tomove half a step at a time. You can also changethe nudge increment in the “Preferences” dialog(see Section 18.2.2).

• Using resize handles: Choose the ObjectSelect tool ; the resize handles will beshown if two or more nodes have been selected.Use the resize handles to transform the pathsegments near the selected nodes, as you would

Dragging one selected node to move all selected nodes.

Dragging a node to reshape the path seg-ments.


to transform objects. For details, see Chapter12.

7.21 Changing Bezier Tangent ContinuityA Bezier path can be continuous at some nodes, anddiscontinuous at others. Where a path is continu-ous, you will see a smooth curve segment; where itis discontinuous, there may be an abrupt change intangent, like a sharp corner, or a cusp point. Thecontinuity of a node between adjacent Bezier seg-ments can be specified explicitly.

1. Select the node.2. Choose from these options:• Maintaining continuity and symmetry

at a node: Click the Symmetrical button in the Attributes palette, or choose Objects >Node Continuity > Symmetrical. When youedit one of the node’s tangent handles subse-quently, the other tangent handle will move sothat it will always be opposite the handle beingdragged, and be at the same distance from thenode.

• Maintaining continuity at a node: Clickthe Smooth button , or choose Objects >Node Continuity > Smooth. When you edit oneof the node’s tangent handles subsequently, theother tangent handle will move so that it willalways be opposite the handle being dragged.This is the default option for new Bezier curves.

• Allowing discontinuity at a node: Clickthe Unconstrained button , or chooseObjects > Node Continuity > Unconstrained.When you edit one of the node’s tangent han-dles subsequently, the other tangent handle willstay unchanged.

• Locking the relative tangent angle at anode: Click the Angle Locked button , orchoose Objects > Node Continuity > AngleLocked. When you edit one of the node’s tan-gent handles subsequently, the other tangent

Symmetrical node continuity.

Smooth node continuity.

Unconstrained node continuity.


handle will move so that it will always make thesame angle with the handle being dragged.

7.22 Converting NodesSince a path can be made up of a mixture of straightlines, Bezier curves and B-splines, you may some-times want to convert a particular segment from onetype of curve to another. This can done with theConvert Node tool, which modifies the continuityand nature of a node, hence the nature of the adja-cent path segments.

The Convert Node tool allows you to turn a discon-tinuous Bezier node into a smooth one, or a junctionbetween two straight line segments into a smoothB-spline node. However, it is not possible todirectly convert a Bezier node to and from aB-spline node. You can also adjust the tangent han-dles at a Bezier node, and switch the continuityfrom smooth to discontinuous.

1. Select the node.2. Choose the Convert Node tool .3. Choose from these options:• Converting nodes in Bezier curves: Click

an ordinary node to convert it to a corner node.The tangent handles will be retracted. The seg-ment between two consecutive corner nodeswill also be turned into a straight line. To con-

vert a corner node to an ordinary node, drag it topull out its tangent handles.

• Converting nodes in B-spline curves:Click a B-spline node to convert it to a cornernode, and vice versa.

• Converting nodes betweenstraight-line segments: Click a corner nodeto convert it to a B-spline node. Alternatively,drag the node to bring out a pair of handles toturn the adjacent segments into Bezier seg-ments.

7.23 Using Miscellaneous Path Modifying ToolsA selected path can be further modified in one ofthe following ways:

• Adding nodes: Choose the Add Node tool, and click the path segment (not a node)

where you want to add a node. The shape of thepath will not be affected, unless you are addingnodes to B-spline segments, in which case thenewly introduced B-spline nodes will slightlychange the path’s shape. Adding a node to anellipse will convert it to a Bezier curve.

• Deleting nodes: Choose the Delete Nodetool , and click the node you want to delete.Alternatively, select the node, and press theDelete/Backspace key. The shape of thepath will change accordingly.

• Splitting paths: Choose the Cut Path tool ,and click the path segment where you want tosplit it. The path segment will be split into twoindependent paths.

• Reversing path direction: Choose theReverse Path tool , and click anywhere onthe path. Alternatively, choose Objects >Reverse Path. Clicking a compound path will

Angle-locked node continuity.


reverse the direction of each individualsub-path.

• Changing starting nodes of paths:Choose the Start Point tool , and click thenode that you want to be the starting node. Foropen paths, clicking a node other than those atthe open ends will convert the path to a closedpath.

7.24 Smoothing PathsThe purpose of smoothing is to reduce the numberof nodes on a path while retaining the approximateshape of the path. After smoothing, the path isre-fitted with new Bezier curves.

1. Select the paths.2. Choose Objects > Smooth Path. This opens a

“Smooth Selected Path(s)” dialog.Choose a tightness of fit value, within the range of0.1 (tight) and 10 (very loose). The looser the tight-ness of fit, the fewer nodes there will be in theresulting path, and the smoother will it be. You canalso set a default value in the “Preferences” dialog(Section 18.2.1).

7.25 Unstructuring StrokesUnstructuring converts the skeletal strokes on apath to individual paths. Text objects must be con-verted into paths before they can be unstructured.The resulting paths are grouped together.

Unstructuring paths: Select the paths, andchoose Objects > Unstructure.

7.26 Working with ClippersIn clipping (or masking), the shape of a path is usedto mask other paths and bitmaps, so that only thoseobject areas within the fill area of the clipping path(or clipper) are shown. The clipper itself retains itsown stroke and fill attributes, such as soft-edgesand variable width, and all objects in the clippergroup remain editable.

If the clipper path has a fill attribute, the fill will bedrawn at the background of the clipper group. Onthe other hand, if the clipper group has a strokeapplied to it, the stroke will be drawn on top ofeverything else within the clipper group, outliningthe clipping shape.

Normally, Expression assumes that you want to usethe top object in an object selection as the clipperfor clipping other objects in the selection. However,if you like, you can use the bottom path as the clip-per instead.

7.26.1 Forming Clipper Groups1. Create the path (the clipper-to-be) and move it

in front of the objects to be clipped. Or, movethe clipper-to-be behind other objects.

2. Select the clipper-to-be, and the objects to beclipped.

3. Choose Objects > Clipper > Make With TopPath to use the top path to clip other objects inthe selection. If you choose the “Make With

Reversing path direction.

Changing a path’s starting point.


Bottom Path” command, Expression will movethe bottom object to the top of the selection, anduse it to clip the other objects in the selection.

7.26.2 Breaking up Clipper GroupsSelect the clipper group, and choose Objects >Clipper > Release.

7.27 Text ObjectsA text object is a special group of text characters,which are special closed paths whose shapes arebased on the glyph shapes defined in the font beingused. Each text character can have its own strokeand fill attributes. Text can be selected, transformedand otherwise treated as normal paths. They canalso be converted into ordinary paths.

Text objects can exist on their own or be fitted ontoor inside another path object. If a text object is fittedon a path, the text characters will flow along theoutline of the attached path. If fitted inside, theattached path will be used as a frame for the text toflow within, justified or otherwise.

7.27.1 Creating Text ObjectsText can be pasted into Expression from the clip-board, or created using the Text tool.

1. Choose the Text tool .2. Choose from these options:• Creating text by itself: Place the text carat

by clicking in the view area.• Creating text along a path (text on

path): Place the pointer near the path, andclick when the pointer becomes . See alsoSection 7.27.3 for details on attaching existingtext objects to paths.

• Creating text in a path’s fill area (areatext): Place the pointer near the path, and

+click when the pointer becomes . Seealso Section 7.27.3 for details on forming areatext from existing text objects.

3. Enter text from the keyboard. To use a new line(for ordinary text and area text only), press theReturn/Enter key.

7.27.2 Editing Text CharactersThe Text tool can be used to select individual textcharacters.

1. Choose the Text tool.2. Choose from these options:• Selecting text: Highlight text characters by

dragging the pointer over the characters, or starthighlighting from the text carat by holding the

key and using the arrow keys.• Editing text: Select the characters or place the

text carat where you want, and enter the new

The clipper group on the right is formed by the paths on the left. The spade shaped path with soft-edged fill is used to clip the paths behind it.

Typing text.


characters. To delete characters, use theDelete/Backspace key.

7.27.3 Attaching Text to PathsThere are two ways in which a text object can beattached to a path. One is called text on path, inwhich the text is made to flow along the shape of apath. Here, any line breaks in the text object areignored, and all the text characters appear insequence along the shape of the path.

The other kind of attachment is the area text, inwhich the text is confined within the fill area of apath. In this case, all line breaks are honored, exceptat places where the lines are too long to fit into thefill area of the path. You can attach text to paths asthe text object is being created, or bring text andpath together at any other time.

• Using text on path: Select both text andpath, and choose Objects > Text On Path >Attach. To move the text along the path, or flipit to the other side of the path, place the pointernear the first text character (the text caratbecomes ), and drag it.

• Using area text: Select both text and path,and choose Objects > Text On Path > AttachArea Text.

• Releasing text from paths: Select theattached text object, and choose Objects > TextOn Path > Release.

7.27.4 Choosing Font and Text AttributesA text object has text characteristics such as fontstyle and font size, and can be organized into rowsof text characters with controls such as alignmentand leading.

1. Select the text object or text characters.2. Choose from these options in the Font palette:• Choosing fonts: Choose the font and style

you want. Change the font size in the Point Sizemeter .

• Aligning and justifying text: Choose the“Left” , “Center” , “Right” , “RightJustify” or “Right Justify All” button as needed. For ordinary text and text on path,the “Left”, “Center” and “Right” options letyou align the text (the left sides, horizontal cen-ters or right sides) at the left side of the firstcharacter in the first line. For area text, align-ment of all lines is made against the path’s

Text on a path.

Area text.


shape, and the “Right Justify” and “Right Jus-tify All” options are also available.

• Using superscript and subscript: Choosethe “Normal” , “Superscript” or “Sub-script” button as needed.

• Setting baseline shift: Change the baselineshift value in the Baseline Shift meter to set

Centered text.

Right justified text.

Justified text.

All lines justified.

Text with superscript and subscript.


the vertical positions of characters with respectto the baselines.

• Setting tracking: Change the tracking valuein the Tracking meter to set the tracking(extra horizontal spacing between characters)as needed. A positive tracking value will makethe spacing looser and a negative value willmake the spacing tighter. If you want to adjustthe spacing between only two adjacent charac-ters, you should select only the first characterand adjust its tracking value. Selecting bothcharacters will modify the spacing between thesecond and the following character (if there isany).

• Setting leading: Click the Leading/AutoLeading button to show the Leading meter,and change the leading (vertical spacingbetween lines) as needed.

• Setting horizontal scaling: Change thescaling value in the Horizontal Scaling meter

to scale individual characters and thespaces between them horizontally.

7.27.5 Converting Text to PathsText objects can be converted to ordinary Bezierpaths, for example, for editing the outlines.

• Converting text to paths: Select the textobject, and choose Objects > Convert To Path.

7.28 Bitmap ObjectsBitmaps are images in grids of pixels with fixedresolution, and can be imported (see Section 5.11)or created from scratch. Expression supports bit-maps with transparency and you can define bitmapstrokes from bitmaps. Photoshop and compatiblefilters can also be applied to bitmaps. See Chapter14 for more details.

7.29 Object Warping and Warp GroupsWarping distorts a picture unevenly by squeezingsome parts together, and pulling them apart at oth-ers. In Expression, warping can be applied to bothbitmaps and paths.

While bitmaps are created with warp grids in place,paths need to be specially fitted with warp grids, bymaking them into warp groups. When vectorobjects are warped, it is the top-level paths them-selves that are being warped. The strokes on thepaths are applied to the warped paths.

Having a warp grid does not affect the structure ofthe paths themselves, and paths can continue to beselected (as a warp group), edited, transformed andarranged as before.

• Forming warp groups: Select the paths, andchoose Arrange > Make Warp Group.

Text with different horizontal scaling.

Text outlines can be edited after the text has been converted to paths.

Warping vector objects. These paths and text objects (left) are made into a warp group, and are warped (right). Objects within a warp group remain intact until the warp group is ungrouped.


7.29.1 Editing Paths within Warp GroupsPaths within warp groups can still be edited asbefore, but in a separate document window contain-ing only those paths, in their pre-warped state. Anychanges made in this window will be instantlyupdated in the original window, in the warpedgroup.

1. Select the warp group.2. Choose View > Edit Warp Group. This opens a

new document window containing the paths.3. Edit the paths as needed, and close the window

after you have finished.

7.29.2 Deforming and Resetting a Warp GroupThe warp nodes on a warp grid let you deform thewarp group until you have the distorted effect thatyou want. The grid resolution can also be adjustedto allow for warping over a more local or globalarea.

1. Select the bitmap or warp group.2. Choose from these options:• Changing warp grid resolution: In

Objects > Warp Mesh, choose “Increase Reso-lution” or “Decrease Resolution” as needed.

• Deforming a warp mesh: Choose the Nodetool or Node Lasso tool . Click a warpnode to select it, and +click others toselect them too, if you want. Drag a selectednode to apply warping to the area around thenode selection.

• Resetting a warp group: Choose Objects >Warp Mesh > Reset Grid to revert the bitmap orwarp group to the state before any warping wasapplied.

7.29.3 Breaking up Warp GroupsYou can commit to the warped appearance of pathsby breaking up the warp group. This will removethe warp frame, and cause a set of new curves to befitted to the paths so as to maintain the warpedappearance.

• Select the warp group, and choose Arrange >Ungroup.

7.30 Effect Line GroupsEffect Line Groups are special groups formed fromtwo non-compound path objects (or one path and itsclone). Once formed, a sequence of effect lines willbe automatically created between the two sourcepaths. There are many parameters and variationsthat you could adjust to control the appearances ofthe effect lines. Effect lines are described in moredetail in Chapter 13.

Breaking up a warp group causes new curves to be fitted to the vector objects.

69

Chapter 8: Paint Style and Other Object Attributes

A path by itself is only an abstract geometricaldescription. To make a path interesting, or visible atall, a set of paint style attributes must be applied toit. The paint style attributes describe how the inte-rior of a path should be filled, what kind of line orstroke should be rendered along the path, as well asother more detailed path rendering settings, likejoint type, dash pattern etc.

The basic paint style attributes for a path are thestroke and fill attributes, which are displayed andspecified in the Paint Style palette. When Expres-sion starts, the Paint Style palette displays thedefault stroke, the skeletal stroke called s01, and thedefault fill type No Fill.

8.1 The Paint Style PaletteThe Paint Style palette is divided into two main sec-tions. The upper section is for setting the stroketype and fill type. The lower section displays thecontrols for the stroke type or the fill type, depend-ing on the current palette focus.

The Stroke Preview is depressed when the previewfocus is on stroke type, either when you click one ofthe Stroke Type buttons, or when you click theStroke Preview to switch focus yourself. Similarly,the Fill Preview is depressed when the previewfocus is on fill type, when you click one of the FillType buttons or when you switch the focus byclicking the Fill Preview yourself.

You can see the name of the current stroke or fill byplacing the pointer over the Stroke Preview or FillPreview. You can also double-click the Stroke Pre-view or Fill Preview to go to edit the stroke or fill.

8.2 Setting Stroke TypeIn the Paint Style palette, to the right of the StrokePreview, there are four buttons that correspond to

A Stroke previewB Opacity slidersC Fill previewD Color pickerE Paper texture on/offF Stroke types

G Stroke width meterH Blending mode

popupI Fill typesJ Fill width meterK Lower section

The Paint Style palette.

Choosing a new fill type switches the preview focus from stroke to fill. The lower section changes accordingly.


the four available types of strokes, namely, “NoStroke”, “Basic Stroke”, “Gradient Stroke” and“Skeletal Stroke”.

• No Stroke: Enable the No Stroke button ifyou do not want an outline to be drawn along apath.

• Basic Stroke: Enable the Basic Strokebutton if you want a stroke with constant thick-ness and a single color to be drawn along a path.The color can be chosen from one of the colorpickers in the lower section, as is described inSection 8.11.

• Gradient Stroke: Enable the GradientStroke button if you want a stroke with constantthickness and gradient colors to be drawn alonga path. The gradient can be chosen from thegradient list displayed in the lower section, as isdescribed in Section 8.12.

• Skeletal Stroke: Enable the SkeletalStroke button if you want a stroke created froma vector or bitmap picture to be drawn along apath. The skeletal stroke can be chosen from theStrokes palette, as is described in Section 8.15.

8.3 Setting Fill TypeIn the Paint Style palette, to the right of the Fill Pre-view, there are five buttons that correspond to thefive available types of fill, namely, “No Fill”,“Solid Fill”, “Gradient Fill”, “Pattern Fill” and“Image Fill”.

• No Fill: Enable the No Fill button if youwant the interior of a path to be left empty.

• Solid Fill: Enable the Solid Fill button ifyou want a uniform color to be applied to theinterior of a path. The color can be chosen fromone of the color pickers displayed in the lowersection, as is described in Section 8.11. Notethat if you want to use solid fill with no stroke,you can use the keyboard shortcut +F.

• Gradient Fill: Enable the Gradient Fill but-ton if you want gradient colors to be applied tothe interior of a path. The gradient can be cho-sen from the gradient list displayed in the lowersection, as is described in Section 8.12.

• Pattern Fill: Enable the Pattern Fill buttonif you want a tiling pattern to be applied to theinterior of a path. The pattern can be chosenfrom the pattern list displayed in the lower sec-tion, as is described in Section 8.13.

• Image Fill: Enable the Image Fill button ifyou want a bitmap image to be tiled in the inte-rior of a path. The image file can be chosenfrom the image list displayed in the lower sec-tion. The list contains all Expression readableimage files from the “Images” folder as well asany additional ones you have added yourself.See Section 8.14 for more details.

8.4 Setting Stroke WidthThe width of the stroke that is applied to a path canbe specified in the Stroke Width meter belowthe Stroke Type buttons. The stroke width can bebetween 0 and 10,000 points, and when it is set to 0point, it is rendered as the finest hairline visible onyour output device.

Skeletal strokes have a default stroke width, whichis saved with the stroke definition, and which isused when the stroke is applied to a path that doesnot already use a skeletal stroke. You can also varythe width of a skeletal stroke along a path, if youuse a pressure sensitive stylus (see Section 7.4) orapply a width profile to it, as is described in Section8.10.

8.4.1 Setting Stroke Width Using the Width Meter1. Select one or more path objects.

Chapter 8: Paint Style and Other Object Attributes 71

2. Choose the stroke width you want in the StrokeWidth meter . (For details on the usage ofmeters, see Section 6.3.)

8.4.2 Setting Stroke Width Using Width HandlesWhen a path that uses skeletal strokes is selected, awidth handle appears at the end of the path foradjusting stroke width and shear. The width handlecan be manipulated using the Node tool or the NodeLasso tool by holding the key, or, if the“Direct drag width handle” option has been turnedon in the “Preferences” dialog (Section 18.3.1), thewidth handle can be dragged directly using thesetools.

1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose the Node tool or the Node Lasso tool

.3. Hold and drag the width handle to

lengthen it (for a thicker stroke) or shorten it(for a thinner stroke) as needed.

Note: If you do not want to adjust the stroke shearwhile you drag the width handle, hold the keyto keep the stroke shear at 0 degree; this keeps thewidth handle perpendicular to the path.

8.4.3 Scaling Stroke WidthIf you have a bunch of paths with different strokewidths, and you want to make all of them thicker orthinner, you can use the “Increase” and “Decrease”command under Objects > Width. A more conve-nient way to do this is to use the shortcut keys

+] and +[.1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose Objects > Width > Increase (or

+]) to increase stroke width by 20%. Todecrease stroke width by the same amount,choose Objects > Width > Decrease (or

+[) instead.

8.5 Setting Soft-Edged or Embossed WidthSoft-edges and embossed edges can be thought ofas a kind of border extending from the fill area.Soft-edges refer to a fuzzy region outside the fillarea where the fill color gradually fades into fulltransparency. Embossed edges refer to a regioninside the fill area where a shading resembling anembossed shape is rendered. The embossed edgeeffect applies to all fill types.

In the Paint Style palette, the meter below the FillType buttons indicates the width of a soft-edged orembossed fill. A positive meter value describes thewidth of a soft-edged fill, and a negative value thatof an embossed fill. You can also vary a soft-edgedSetting stroke width and shear by dragging the

width handle.

Setting stroke width only, by constraining the shear angle to 0 degree.


or embossed width along the path, as is described inSection 8.10.

8.5.1 Setting Soft-Edged Fill Width1. Select one or more path objects.2. In the Paint Style palette, choose a positive

value in the Soft-Edged/Embossed Width meter. The more positive the value, the more

blurred the edges of the fill will be.

8.5.2 Applying FringesInstead of a smoothly varying soft-edge, Expres-sion 3 allows arbitrary fringe images to be appliedin place of the soft-edge. Fringes are useful for cre-ating a watercolor blotting appearance or even awoodcut effect.

Fringe images are simply Expression readableimages placed in the “Fringes” folder under the“Textures” folder. To make it possible for thefringed fill to create a blotting effect with a densercolor at the outer rim of the fringe, the grayness ofthe bottom-left pixel of a fringe image is used tocontrol the transparency of the body of the fill area.

If you create your own fringe image, make sure thatall pixels in the bottommost row have the samepixel value, or the resulting fringe will have a dis-continuous appearance.

To apply a fringe image to a path with a soft-edgedfill:

1. Select one or more path objects.2. In the Paint Style palette, choose a positive

value in the Soft-Edged/Embossed Width meter.

3. Click the Soft-Edge button to display the“Fringe Texture” dialog.

4. Choose the fringe texture you want, or choosethe <No Fringe> entry at the top if you want thenormal soft-edge.

5. The fringe texture can be stretched along theentire perimeter of the fill area or be repeated.This choice can be made using the “FringeOptions” popup. Click “OK”.

The path on the right has a soft-edged fill.


8.5.3 Setting Embossed Fill Width1. Select one or more path objects.2. In the Paint Style palette, choose a negative

value in the Soft-Edged/Embossed Width meter, which changes into when showing a

negative value. The more negative the value,the more protruding the edges of the fill willlook.

8.5.4 Setting the Light Source of Embossed Fill1. Select one or more path objects. They must use

embossed fill.2. Choose the Lighting tool .3. Place the pointer where you want the light

source to be, and click to direct the lighttowards the center of the paths. Alternatively,click-drag in the direction you want.

8.5.5 Using a Reflection MapWhile the embossed fill can create a smoothlyshaded appearance that resembles an embossedform, Expression 3 currently does not provide a fullset of controls for specifying the reflectivity, shini-ness or material properties for 3D shading. Evenwith a full set of parameters and controls for 3Dshadings, realistic lighting effects would still be dif-ficult to specify without a 3D environment.

Expression 3 provides an easier solution: to allowarbitrary photorealistic lighting effects to beapplied to embossed shapes using a techniqueknown as reflection mapping. This technique uses asampled image, called a reflection map or an envi-ronment map, which has recorded the appearance ofa surface at all normal directions under a particularlighting environment. Such a reflection map servesas a look-up table for the appearance of the surfaceat any orientation. This technique is commonlyused in 3D computer graphics and the film industryto give the most photorealistic lighting effects.

Reflection maps can take different forms. Some 3Dsoftware uses six rectangular images forming thesurface of a cube that represents the lighting envi-ronment. Expression 3 uses a spherical form of thereflection map — one that resembles the appear-ance of a circular sphere under the particular light-ing environment.

A reflection map can be applied to any path with anembossed fill by pressing the “Embossed” button

/ beside the Embossed Width meter. A

Using embossed fill with different light sources.

(Color plate on page 193.)


“Reflection Maps” dialog for choosing one of thereflection maps installed in the system will be dis-played. After choosing any one of the reflectionmaps, the embossed object will be rendered basedon the selected reflection map. If you want to revertto the normal, smoothly shaded emboss effect withlighting direction control, choose the <No Map>entry in the “Reflection Maps” dialog.

New reflection maps can be added at any time bysimply copying a bitmap image file to the “Env-Maps” folder under the “Images” folder. Refer toChapter 14 for more detailed information about thevarious uses of images in Expression 3.

A reflection map image is simply a bitmap withidentical X and Y resolution, and with an image ofany rendering of a circular sphere in it. The circularsphere rendering must extend fully to the edges ofthe reflection map. The pixels outside the circularsphere rendering are ignored.

Photographs of real spheres, dull or shiny, makeexcellent reflection maps. You can even draw yourown reflection to create surrealistic renderingeffects.

To apply a reflection map to a path object with anembossed fill:

1. Select one or more path objects.2. In the Paint Style palette, choose a negative

value in the Soft-Edged/Embossed Width meter, which changes into when showing a

negative value.3. Click the “Embossed” button to display the

“Reflection Maps” dialog.

4. Choose the reflection map you want or choosethe <No Map> entry. Click “OK”.

To rotate a reflection map:

1. Select the path object which uses a reflectionmap.

2. Choose the Transform Fill tool .3. Drag the resize handles at the sides to rotate the

reflection map.

8.6 Opacity, Paper Textures and Blending ModesA few paint style attributes are relevant to the pathas a whole. These include opacity, paper textures,and blending modes. These attributes are specifiedin the upper section of the Paint Style palette, in therow between the Stroke Preview and the Fill Pre-view.

Controls for opacity, paper textures and blend-ing modes.


The Reset Colorization button is normally disabledunless the selected objects are colorized. For detailson colorization, see Section 8.16.

The Opacity sliders let you specify the opacity ofselected graphics objects as a whole, or adjust theopacity for stroke and fill independently.

The Paper Texture buttons let you apply a papertexture to paths.

The Blending Mode popup buttons determine theway a path is mixed with the background on render-ing.

8.7 Setting Opacity (or Transparency)Objects with less than 100% opacity allow objectsbehind themselves to be shown through in varyingdegrees. Expression uses an opacity scale of 0%(transparent) to 100% (opaque), and allows thestroke and fill of a path to have different opacityvalues. If you want to check how the picture willlook if exported to a format that does not supportopacity less than 100%, you can turn off the “Dis-play transparency” option in the “Preferences”dialog (Section 18.4.4).

For paths using bitmap strokes defined with analpha channel, the stroke opacity can be made tovary along the path as well, as is described in Sec-tion 8.10.

8.7.1 Setting Opacity1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose from these options:• Setting individual opacity values: In the

Paint Style palette, place the pointer over theupper slider (the pointer becomes ) and dragto change stroke opacity. To change fill opacity,drag the lower slider instead. (For details on theusage of sliders, see Section 6.2.)

• Setting one opacity value for strokeand fill: +drag either slider to align themand set the same opacity value for stroke andfill. Alternatively, if the sliders are alreadyaligned, place the pointer where the sliderstouch in the middle (the pointer becomes ),and drag to move the sliders as one.

8.8 Setting Paper TexturesThe Paint Style palette has a paper texture namebutton (between the Paper Texture button and theBlending Mode popup button), which shows thename of the paper texture if one is chosen; if not,the area is blank. The degrees of darkness of a papertexture bitmap are used for modifying the transpar-ency of the path, and are used as local thresholds formaking particular areas completely transparent,giving the appearance of paint on rough texture.You can also add new paper textures to Expressionby placing Expression readable bitmap files in the“Textures” folder under the “Expression 3” folder(Macintosh) or under “Start menu > Programs >Expression 3 > Resources” (Windows).

A paper texture can be applied in transparent modeor opaque mode. In transparent mode, lighter areasin the texture bitmap are more transparent, reveal-ing objects underneath. In opaque mode, a higherdegree of whiteness is mixed with the path in the

The opacity of the fill is set to 50%, while that of the stroke remains at 100%.


lighter areas in the texture bitmap, but the transpar-ency values remain unchanged.

8.8.1 Applying Paper Textures1. Select one or more path objects.2. Click the Paper Texture On/Off button in

the Paint Style palette. This opens a “PaperTexture” dialog.

3. Choosing paper textures: Click the papertexture you want from the list.

4. Setting texture scaling and transpar-ency: If you want to scale the paper texture,choose or enter a percentage value in the “Tex-ture Scaling” box. In the “Mode” box, choosethe “Transparent” or “Opaque” option asneeded. Click “OK”.

8.8.2 Changing and Removing Paper Textures1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose from these options:• Changing paper texture settings: Click

the name of the paper texture in the Paint Stylepalette. In the “Paper Texture” dialog that isopened, choose the settings as in Section 8.8.1above.

• Removing paper textures: Click thedepressed Paper Texture On/Off button toturn it off.

8.9 Setting Blending ModesThe use of blending modes affects a path’s colorsby blending them with the screen colors behind thepath. The effect of the blending depends on theblending mode chosen.

Normal: The foreground color is not blendedwith the background, and will be displayed in placeof the background color (except when the opacityof the foreground object is below 100%). This is thenormal behavior unless one of the following specialmodes is chosen.

Eraser: The foreground object and all back-ground objects overlapped by it in the same layerbecome transparent, so that objects in the layersunderneath are shown through.

Multiply: This is basically a subtractivecolor-mixing mode, where the darker value in eachchannel is taken as the resulting color. For example,

Using paper textures in transparent mode (left) and opaque mode (right).

The blending modes. (Color plate on page 194.)

Normal mode. (Color plate on page 194.)


a bright yellow color mixed with a cyan back-ground will give a green result.

Light: This is basically an additive color-mix-ing mode, where for each channel, the lighter of thetwo color values (the value of the path and the valueof the background) is taken as the resulting value.Under this mode, a path placed in front of a whitebackground always becomes white. If three paths,one bright red, one bright green and one bright blue,are placed in front of a black background, the inter-section of the three will be white, like the effect ofthree colored spotlights.

Color Dodge: The color channels of thebackground color are brightened based on the colorvalues of the corresponding channels of the fore-ground color. A white foreground color will pro-duce whiteness, and a black foreground color (i.e.,all color channels are zero) has no effect.

Color Burn: The color channels of the back-ground color are darkened based on the darkness ofthe corresponding channels of the foreground color.A black foreground color will produce blacknesswhile a white foreground color has no effect.

Brighten: The color channels of the back-ground color are replaced by the correspondingchannels of the foreground color if the foregroundcolor channels are lighter. If the original back-ground color channels are already lighter than thecorresponding foreground channels, the back-ground color channels will not be changed.

Darken: The color channels of the back-ground color are replaced by the correspondingchannels of the foreground color if the foregroundcolor channels are darker. If the original back-ground color channels are already darker than the

Multiply mode. (Color plate on page 194.)

Light mode. (Color plate on page 194.)

Color Dodge mode. (Color plate on page 194.)

Color Burn mode. (Color plate on page 194.)

Brighten mode. (Color plate on page 194.)


corresponding foreground channels, then back-ground color channels will not be changed.

Difference: The background’s color value foreach channel is subtracted mathematically from thepath’s color value for the same channel. If the resultis a negative value, the value is wrapped aroundfrom 1.0. This blending mode produces interestingbut sometimes unexpected results, especially withsoft-edged paths in bright colors.

8.9.1 Applying Blending Modes1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose the blending mode you want from the

Blending Mode popup button in the PaintStyle palette. To revert to the normal mode,choose the Normal button .

8.10 Setting Variable Width and OpacityFor paths using skeletal strokes, soft-edged fill, orembossed fill, the width of these features can bemade to vary along the path using a width profile.

A width profile is a graph of width variation againstpath length, and its shape is determined by the posi-tions of the profile nodes on it. You can create, edit,arrange and save width profiles for future use, as isdescribed in Section 15.6.

For paths using bitmap strokes defined with analpha channel, the width profile can also be used tocontrol transparency variations.

Note: Opacity variations have no effect on vectorskeletal strokes.

1. Select one or more path objects. They must useskeletal strokes, soft-edged fill and/orembossed fill.

2. Choosing width profiles: In the VariableWidth palette, choose the width profile youwant from the Presets popup . To removethe width profile from the path, click the Resetbutton .

3. Controlling variable width and opacityfor bitmap strokes with alpha channel:Use the Transparency slider and Width slider tocontrol variable transparency and width.

8.11 Picking ColorsExpression supports three color models (HSL,RGB and CMYK) as well as custom colors. A moredetailed description of the color models and colormanagement is provided in Chapter 4. Each colormodel has a corresponding color picker, which isdisplayed in the lower section of the Paint Style pal-ette. In addition, you can choose colors by entering

Darken mode. (Color plate on page 194.)

Difference mode. (Color plate on page 194.)

Using variable width with soft-edged fill, embossed fill and skeletal stroke.


a description directly in the Paint Style palette, andlet Expression find the closest match. See Section8.11.5 for details.

The HSL, RGB and CMYK color pickers each havegraphical controls and corresponding numericalcontrols for choosing color components, a colorpreview, a status bar, and a Dropper Content button.

The usage of sliders and meters can be found inChapter 6. Colors can also be copied from object toobject, or copied to and from the Paint Style palette,as is described in Section 15.4.

8.11.1 Using the HSL Color PickerThe HSL color model describes colors based on thehuman perception of hue, saturation and lightness.Hues are chosen using the color wheel, whichshows a part of a much larger hue spectrum. Upondragging, the hue spectrum shifts as much or as lit-tle as you want, so that you can pick the exact huethat you want. The current hue is the hue pointed toby the tip of the triangle, which shows the satura-tion and lightness variations for that hue. If you pre-fer to see the full hue spectrum in the palette, youcan double-click the color wheel or turn off the“Draggable color wheel” option in the“Preferences” dialog (Section 18.2.3). In this case,the hue spectrum will be shown as a wraparoundcolumn, and there will be a circle in the column toindicate the position of the current hue.

• Changing the triangle’s backgroundcolor: Choose a color you like using the colorpicker, and drag from the color preview to thetriangle’s background space (the pointerbecomes ).

8.11.2 Using the RGB Color PickerThe RGB color model describes colors based on theoverlapping of red, green and blue light. The valueof each color component is in the range of 0-255.

8.11.3 Using the CMYK Color PickerThe CMYK color model describes colors based onthe overlaying of process inks (cyan, magenta, yel-

The HSL color picker with the non-draggable color wheel.

The HSL color picker with the draggable color wheel.

The RGB color picker.

The HSL color picker with the non-draggable color wheel.


low and black) printed on paper. The value of eachcomponent is in the range of 0-100%.

8.11.4 Using the Custom Color ListCustom colors are colors identifiable by name, andthey can be darkened or lightened using the Inten-sity slider under the custom color list. At ±0%intensity change, the color is its original color. At-100% intensity change, it becomes white; at+100%, it becomes black. Besides the custom col-ors provided in Expression, you can create yourown custom colors, as is described in Section 15.1.

8.11.5 Using the Color Text Display BoxYou can specify a color by directly enteringdescriptions of colors in the Color Text DisplayBox at the bottom left of the Paint Style palette.Expression accepts a wide range of color descrip-tions:

• HTML RGB values: e.g., “#ff12e4” or“ff12e4”.

• HSL values: e.g., “H=270 L:50%”.• RGB values: e.g., “B=50% r=128”.• CMYK values: e.g., “50 0 0 0”.• Individual channel values: e.g., “R=14%”.• Custom color names: e.g., “Pale Green

(-10%)”.• Partial custom color names and tint val-

ues: e.g., “2727U” (this would match “Day-tone 2727U”), “D?y* 2727U” (this wouldmatch “DIY 2727”, “Doyoda 272727” etc.),“30% Red”, “+40% Red”, “Red (-20%)” etc.

8.11.6 Applying Color Strokes1. Select one or more path objects.2. Click the Basic Stroke button in the Paint

Style palette. Alternatively, click the StrokePreview if the path already uses basic strokes.

3. Choose the color model and color as follows:4. Choosing colors in HSL values: Choose

HSL in the Choose Color Picker popup but-ton. In the HSL color picker, choose the hue bydragging the color wheel or, for the non-drag-gable color wheel, drag the circle on it. Tochoose the saturation and lightness, drag thecross in the triangle towards the right for highersaturation, and upwards for lighter colors.

• Choosing colors in RGB values: ChooseRGB in the Choose Color Picker popupbutton. In the RGB color picker, use the slidersor meters to choose the red, green and bluecomponents.

• Choosing colors in CMYK values: ChooseCMYK in the Choose Color Picker popupbutton. In the CMYK color picker, use the slid-ers or meters to choose the cyan, magenta, yel-low and black components.

• Choosing custom colors: Choose CustomColor in the Choose Color Picker popup

The CMYK color picker.

The custom color list.


button. In the custom color list, choose thecolor you want. To darken the custom color,drag the Intensity slider towards the right; tolighten the custom color, drag it towards theleft.

8.11.7 Applying Color Fill1. Select one or more path objects.2. Click the Solid Fill button in the Paint Style

palette. Alternatively, click the Fill Preview ifthe path already uses solid fill.

3. Choose a color picker and color as in Section8.11.6 above.

8.12 Applying GradientsA gradient is a sequence of colors that blend fromone to the next. Each color can have its own degreeof transparency, and the pattern as a whole can beapplied in a linear or radial direction. Besides thegradients provided in Expression, you can createyour gradients, as is described in Section 15.2.

8.12.1 Using the Gradient ListWhen you choose the Gradient Stroke button orGradient Fill button in the Paint Style palette, the

lower section of the Paint Style palette changes intothe gradient list.

8.12.2 Applying Gradient Strokes1. Select one or more path objects.2. Click the Gradient Stroke button in the

Paint Style palette. Alternatively, click theStroke Preview if the path already uses gradientstrokes.

3. In the gradient list, click the gradient you want.4. Enable the Linear Gradient button to use a

linear gradient, or enable the Radial Gradientbutton to use a radial gradient.

8.12.3 Applying Gradient Fill1. Select one or more path objects.2. Click the Gradient Fill button in the Paint

Style palette. Alternatively, click the Fill Pre-view if the path already uses gradient fill.

3. Choose a color picker and color as in Section8.12.2 above.

8.12.4 Setting Gradient AxesA gradient has two axes: the main axis (alongwhich the color varies) and the second gradient axis(which affects the skewing of the gradient coordi-nate system). If a gradient is radially applied, andits axes are skewed and of different length, the gra-dient will have an elliptical appearance. For linearly

Custom colors can be darkened and lighted using the Intensity slider. Here the same custom color (bottom) is applied at -50% intensity change (top left), at (±0% intensity change which is the color as it is defined (top middle), and at +50% intensity change (top right).

The gradient list.


applied gradients, only the direction of the secondgradient axis is significant; the direction of thecolor bands follows that of the second axis.

1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose the Gradient Vector tool .3. Choose from these options:• Setting the main gradient axis: Place the

pointer where you want the gradient’s startingpoint (0%) to be, and drag in the direction youwant, releasing the mouse button at where youwant the gradient’s ending point (100%) to be.The second gradient axis will automatically beset to a perpendicular direction with the samemagnitude as the main axis.

• Setting the second gradient axis: Hold (the pointer becomes ) and drag out

the second gradient axis. Only the direction andmagnitude of the second gradient axis ischanged. The gradient starting point and themain axis will not be affected.

8.12.5 Transforming Gradient FillYou can use the Transform Fill tool to move, scale,rotate and otherwise transform the gradient fillapplied to a path independently of the path itself. Ifyou are trying to adjust the appearance of a gradi-ent, it is probably easier to use the Transform Filltool than to define a new gradient every time.

1. Select the path object.2. Choose the Transform Fill tool .3. To shift the gradient, drag it. To scale, rotate, or

shear the gradient, drag the resize handles asyou would to transform an object. (See Section12.1.1.)

8.13 Applying Pattern FillA pattern is a set of path objects which tile them-selves over an area. If the pattern tiles are not com-pletely covered by the path objects that define thepattern, the areas not covered will be left fullytransparent. Expression allows semi-transparentobjects to be used in pattern definitions.

When a path with a pattern fill is transformed, thepattern is transformed with it. However, you can fixthe position, size and orientation of patterns byturning off the “Transform patterns” option in the“Preferences” dialog (Section 18.2.1).

8.13.1 Using the Pattern ListWhen you click the Pattern Fill button, or when apattern fill is used and the Fill Preview is depressed,the lower section of the Paint Style palette changesinto the pattern list. When you choose patterns fromthe pattern list, a preview of the pattern chosen willbe shown in the Fill Preview. Besides the patterns


provided in Expression, you can create your ownpatterns, as is described in Section 15.3.2.

8.13.2 Applying Pattern Fill1. Select one or more path objects.2. Click the Pattern Fill button in the Paint

Style palette. Alternatively, click the Fill Pre-view if the path already uses a pattern fill.

3. In the pattern list, click the name of the patternyou want.

8.13.3 Transforming Pattern FillYou can use the Transform Fill tool to move, scale,rotate and otherwise transform the pattern fillapplied to a path independently of the path itself.

1. Select the path object.2. Choose the Transform Fill tool .3. To shift the pattern, drag it. To scale, rotate, or

shear the pattern, drag the resize handles as you

would to transform an object. (See Section12.1.1.)

8.14 Applying Image FillImage fills are similar to pattern fills, except thatimages are used for tiling the fill area. This allowsfor more efficient screen redraw, and is convenientfor creating much distorted images for specialeffects or for organic textures with subtly changingpixel values.

8.14.1 Using the Image ListWhen you click the Image Fill button, or when animage fill is used and when the Fill Preview isdepressed, the lower section of the Paint Style pal-ette changes into the image list. When you chooseimages from the image list, a preview of the imagechosen will be shown in the Fill Preview. Besidesthe images provided in Expression, you can bring inyour own images.

The pattern list.

A fish pattern with a transparent background is applied to a fish-shaped path.


• Adding images to the image list: Go tothe image list in the Paint Style palette, andclick the Add Image button . In the dialogthat is opened, choose the image you want toadd, and click “Open”.

• Removing images from the image list:In the image list of the Paint Style palette,choose the image you want to remove from thelist, and click the Delist Image button . Theimage will not be shown any more in the imagelist, but the file itself will not be deleted fromyour hard disk.

8.14.2 Applying Image Fill1. Select one or more path objects.2. Click the Image Fill button in the Paint Style

palette. Alternatively, click the Fill Preview ifthe path already uses an image fill.

3. In the image list, click the name of the imageyou want.

8.14.3 Transforming Image FillYou can use the Transform Fill tool to move, scale,rotate and otherwise transform the image fillapplied to a path independently of the path itself.

1. Select the path object.2. Choose the Transform Fill tool .3. To shift the image, drag it. To scale, rotate, or

shear the image, drag the resize handles as youwould to transform an object. (See Section12.1.1.)

8.15 Applying Skeletal StrokesSkeletal strokes are picture strokes created frompaths or bitmaps. To use a skeletal stroke, click theSkeletal Stroke button in the Paint Style palette, orchoose a skeletal stroke from the Strokes palette. Inthe former case, the last skeletal stroke used orselected will be applied. If no skeletal stroke hasbeen used before, the default stroke s01 will beused.

When a skeletal stroke is applied to a path, the pic-ture defining the stroke is fitted along the shape ofthe path. The way this is done depends on how theskeletal stroke is defined, with or without anchoringand repeatable parts. The details on defining strokescan be found in Chapter 10.

8.15.1 Using the Strokes PaletteThe Strokes palette lists the installed skeletal strokefiles under your current stroke folder. You can clickone of the listed strokes to apply it to the selectedpaths.

Strokes can be organized into different folders.Expression supports only one level of sub-categori-zation to keep the interface simple. The Strokes pal-ette does not, however, list local stroke definitionsstored in a picture file. You can organize strokesinto different folders, as is described in Section10.5.

Choosing a stroke category in the Strokes pal-ette.


• Viewing strokes in individual folders:Choose a stroke folder’s name in the folderpopup menu to view strokes from that folderonly.

• Viewing strokes in the root folder: Choose<General> in the folder popup menu to showstrokes from the “Strokes” folder under the“Expression 3” folder (Macintosh) or under“Start menu > Programs > Expression 3 >Resources” (Windows), but not from individualsub-folders.

• Viewing all strokes: Choose <All> in thefolder popup menu to show all strokes.

• Choosing a skeletal stroke: Click one ofthe listed strokes to apply it to the selectedpaths.

8.15.2 Applying Skeletal StrokesTo use a skeletal stroke from a picture file, simplyselect a path that uses that stroke, then start drawingnew paths. The new paths will have the sameattributes as the original path, including the particu-lar skeletal stroke.

When a skeletal stroke is applied, Expression auto-matically removes the path’s fill. If you want tokeep the fill while you change strokes, turn off the“No fill with skeletal strokes” option in the“Preferences” dialog (Section 18.3.1).

1. Select one or more path objects.2. Choose from these options:• Using the Strokes palette: Click the skele-

tal stroke you want in the Strokes palette.• Using quick strokes: Press a numeric key

(from 1 to 9) to choose the correspondingstroke previously assigned to that number. Fordetails on how to assign quick strokes, see Sec-tion 10.6.

8.16 Colorizing Objects and Skeletal StrokesCertain types of objects in Expression contain mul-tiple colors; patterns, gradients and skeletal strokesare such objects. Now if you want to modify thecolor scheme of these objects, you can of coursedefine different versions of them, but there is a farmore convenient way to do this, and that is to col-orize these strokes, gradients or patterns after theyhave been applied to paths.

Colorization provides an external control over suchmulti-colored objects. General colorization of vec-tor objects is performed through the Colorize pal-ette by spectrum re-mapping, and lightness andsaturation shift. For skeletal strokes, a simpler buteffective foreground/background colorizationmethod can also be specified directly in the PaintStyle palette.

8.16.1 Colorizing Skeletal StrokesThe foreground/background colorization modereplaces a skeletal stroke’s original color spectrum

A path with a multi-colored skeletal stroke (top) and the colorized versions. (Color plate on page 193.)A Foreground/Background mode with a white

foreground and a red background.B Colorized using spectrum re-mapping. The red

hue has been re-mapped to a yellow color, the yellow hue to a reddish color, and the green hue unchanged.

C Brightness increased.D Saturation decreased.


with a new spectrum created from two new colorsof your choice. The two colors are called the fore-ground color and the background color, and thenew spectrum is the range of colors formed by agradual blending of these two colors. For example,if you choose a red and a yellow as the foregroundand background colors, the new spectrum will con-sist of reds, yellows, and the different shades oforange in between the two.

When you colorize a stroke, the foreground colorreplaces black in the stroke, and the backgroundcolor replaces white in the stroke. Areas that areneither black nor white are replaced with colorsfrom the new spectrum according to the degree oflightness. The darker the original color, the closer tothe foreground color the replacing color will be,and vice versa. Colorization is based on lightnessalone, with no regard to hue and saturation.

Note that colorization affects only the stroke that isapplied to the path, not the stroke definition itself.

8.16.2 Using the Foreground/Background Color PreviewsWhen you choose the Skeletal Stroke button in thePaint Style palette, the lower section of the palettechanges into the color picker, as when the BasicStroke button or Solid Fill button is chosen. How-ever, at the bottom right of the palette, the color pre-view will be replaced by a Foreground ColorPreview, a Background Color Preview (below theForeground Color Preview), and a Reset Color but-ton in the middle.

The Foreground Color Preview and the Back-ground Color Preview show the currently chosenforeground and background colors respectively.You can switch focus between foreground andbackground colors by clicking the relevant colorpreview. The colors in the color previews can alsobe copied to the Dropper Content button (below the

Background Color Preview) by a dragging action,as is described in Section 15.4.

8.16.3 Colorizing Skeletal Strokes1. Select the path whose stroke you want to col-

orize.2. Click the Stroke Preview in the Paint Style pal-

ette.3. Click the Foreground Color Preview if you

want to colorize the foreground color. To col-orize the background color, click the Back-ground Color Preview instead.

4. Choose a color picker and color as in Section8.11.

8.17 General Colorization of ObjectsColorization lets you affect the colors on differentstrokes and paths at the same time, by replacing thecolor spectrum. Composite objects, like fill patternsor skeletal strokes, are made up of different colorcomponents, and colorization allows you to controlthese different color components externally withoutmodifying the original definition. Colorization isalso useful for changing the tone or mood of anentire picture without numerous individual colorchanges.

The Foreground Color Preview, the Background Color Preview, and the Reset Color button.


The color spectrum is changed by replacing theindividual hues on the original hue ring with anyother colors, by replacing the black point and whitepoint (this is like the foreground/background col-orization for skeletal strokes), and by changing sat-uration and lightness.

8.17.1 Using the Colorize PaletteThe rainbow colored circular ring at the center partof the palette is the hue reference ring, which showsthe original hue spectrum as a reference for the col-orized spectrum inside the ring. Without coloriza-tion, the hues in the colorized spectrum match thosein the hue reference ring.

By adding hue nodes around the hue reference ring,the original hue at each node position is replaced bythe color of that node. Hue nodes can be draggedaround the ring to colorize different parts of thespectrum, and the colors of the nodes themselvescan be changed using the color picker at the left ofthe palette.

The vertical bar to the left of the colorized spectrumshows a preview of the color variations between theWhite node (at the top of the vertical bar) and theBlack node (at the bottom of the vertical bar). Youcan replace the white point and the black point ofthe color space by changing the colors in the Whitenode and Black node.

The two sliders at the right of the palette are foradjusting the overall saturation and lightness levelsof objects. The button below the sliders is for

restoring the original spectrum and hence theobjects’ original colors.

8.17.2 Replacing Hues1. Select the paths you want to colorize.2. In the hue reference ring, place the pointer over

the new hue that you want, and drag it (a huenode in the new hue will appear and follow thepointer as you drag) along the hue referencering to the hue that you want to be replaced. Thecolorized spectrum will be updated accord-ingly.

3. Edit the hue nodes as follows:• Changing colors of hue nodes: Click a

hue node, and choose a color using the colorpicker at the left of the Colorize palette. Fordetails about the HSL color picker, see Section8.11.

• Moving hue nodes: Drag a hue node alongthe hue reference ring to the new position.

• Adding hue nodes: Click the hue referencering to add a hue node that is the same color asthe color it replaces. Alternatively, add a nodeand replace a hue as in step 2 above.

• Duplicating hue nodes: Hold anddrag a hue node to duplicate it.

• Deleting hue nodes: Drag a hue node awayfrom the colorized spectrum to remove it.

A HSL color pickerB Black nodeC White nodeD Selected hue nodeE Deselected hue

node

F Brightness sliderG Saturation sliderH Colorized spectrumI Hue reference ringJ Remove colorization

The Colorize palette.


Note: The substituted hue color will affect a neigh-borhood of up to ±30 degrees in the hue dimension(with a diminishing influence over distance), or upto the midpoint between adjacent hue replacementnodes if they are less than 30 degrees apart.

8.17.3 Replacing the White and Black PointsThe vertical bar in the Colorize palette shows thespectrum between the white point and the blackpoint, and without colorization, the bar shows a gra-dient from white to black. You can choose theWhite and Black nodes, and replace them with anytwo colors. To replace white and black on skeletalstrokes only, you can also use the Fore-ground/Background colorization mode, as isdescribed in Section 8.16.1.

1. Select the paths you want to colorize.2. If you want to replace white, click the top node

of the vertical bar in the Colorize palette. Toreplace black, click the bottom node instead.

3. Choose the color you want to replace withusing the color picker at the left of the Colorizepalette.

8.17.4 Changing Overall Lightness and SaturationYou can change the overall lightness and saturationlevels of all colors in the spectrum. Note that if youhave replaced white and black with another twocolors, then the lightness level will be in the rangeof the two new colors, not from white to black.

1. Select the paths you want to colorize.2. In the Colorize palette, drag the Brightness or

Saturation slider to change the lightness or sat-uration as needed.

Note that if you perform hue re-mapping as well assaturation/brightness shift, the shift in saturation orbrightness will be performed after the hue-remap-ping.

8.17.5 Removing ColorizationRemoving colorization restores the original colorsof the strokes and paths.

1. Select the paths.2. Click the Remove Colorization button in

the Colorize palette or the Paint Style palette.Alternatively, in the Paint Style palette, clickthe Stroke Preview to show the Reset Color but-ton , and click it.

89

Chapter 9: More Specialized Stroke and Fill Attributes

The Attributes palette displays and controls themore specialized attributes, some of which applyonly to skeletal strokes, like shape parameter (formulti-view strokes), stroke shear, stroke mode andthe “Break At Joints” option. Two other attributes,dash pattern and stroke joint, apply to all kinds ofstrokes, whereas stroke cap is for basic and gradientstrokes only. You can also choose the fill rule andtangent handle behavior (see Section 7.21). For adescription on the usage of meters and sliders, seeChapter 6.

9.1 Multi-View Strokes and Shape ParameterMulti-view strokes are strokes defined from a num-ber of variations (the views) of the definition pic-ture, and can take the appearance of one of thein-between shapes. The exact in-between shape of amulti-view stroke that is taken in a path object isspecified in the shape parameter attribute.

9.2 Setting Shape ParametersThe value of the shape parameter can be within therange of 0 to 100%. The shape parameter 0% refersto the first view, and 100% to the last view of themulti-view stroke. You can choose a specific shapeparameter, or, for variety, let Expression choose onefor you at random.

1. Select one or more path objects. They must usemulti-view strokes.

2. Choose from these options:• Using a random shape: Enable the Ran-

dom button to let Expression choose ashape at random for each path.

• Setting shape parameters: Disable theRandom button to show the Shape slider,and drag the slider to the shape parameter youwant.

9.3 Setting Stroke ShearFor paths using skeletal strokes, the amount ofstroke shear determines how much the stroke issheared with reference to the path. Note that strokeshear is an attribute of skeletal strokes, and is differ-ent from the shearing transformation that can beapplied to all objects.

Strokes with the same shape parameter (left), and strokes using a random shape parameter (right).

A skeletal stroke applied to a path with stroke shear.


To set stroke shear:

1. Select one or more path objects. They must useskeletal strokes.

2. Choose from these options:• Setting stroke shear using the Shear

slider: In the Attributes palette, drag the Shearslider towards the right (for a positive shearangle) or left (for a negative shear angle).

• Setting stroke shear using the widthhandle: Choose the Node tool or NodeLasso tool . Hold and drag the widthhandle to change the angle between the handleand the path. The stroke shear can be reset tozero by holding down as you drag thewidth handle. To adjust the shear angle this waywithout altering the stroke width is difficult, soif the width must be retained, use the Shearslider to control stroke shear instead.

• Resetting stroke shear: In the Attributespalette, drag the Stroke Shear slider to thezero mark. Alternatively, choose Stroke > ResetStroke Shear.

9.4 Setting Stroke ModesAs a skeletal stroke follows the shape of the path itis applied to, the normal of the stroke can be madeto be always perpendicular to the path to give a gen-erally rounded shape (the sausage mode), or remainaligned with the vertical axis as if drawn with a flatnib pen (the ribbon mode). Somewhere in betweenthe two stroke modes is the elliptical mode, which

makes a stroke look as if drawn with an ellipticalpen.

To set stroke modes:


2. In the Attributes palette, choose from theseoptions:

• Using the sausage mode: Enable the Sau-sage Mode button .

• Using the ribbon mode: Enable the RibbonMode button . To reverse the direction inwhich the strokes appear to be folding, chooseStroke > Reverse Ribbon Folds.

• Using the elliptical mode: Enable theElliptical Mode button . To change thelength-width ratio, choose Stroke > Set EllipseRatio. Choose or enter a lower value for a stylecloser to the ribbon mode, or a higher value fora style closer to the sausage mode. Click “OK”.

9.5 Setting Stroke TwistYou can give a skeletal stroke a twist by specifyingthe number of turns.


2. Choose Stroke > Set Stroke Twist, and in thedialog that is opened, enter the number of turnsand click “OK”.

From left to right: sausage mode, ribbon mode, and elliptical mode.

Chapter 9: More Specialized Stroke and Fill Attributes 91

9.6 Setting Stroke JointsFor paths with sharp corners, like rectangles, youcan change the way the strokes look at the cornernodes by choosing different kinds of stroke joints.

To set stroke joints:

1. Select one or more path objects.2. In the Attributes palette, choose from these

options:• Using miter joints: Enable the Miter Joint

button to make the stroke corners sharp byjoining the outer stroke sides with straight lines.

• Using round joints: Enable the Round Jointbutton to make the stroke corners round.

• Using bevel joints: Enable the Bevel Jointbutton to make the stroke corners beveled.

9.7 Breaking Strokes at CornersThe skeletal stroke applied to a path can be mappedto the entire length of the path, or, in the case ofpaths with discontinuities (e.g., sharp corners), itcan be re-applied whenever a discontinuity isencountered in the path.

For example, with a rectangular path, there is a dis-continuity at each corner, and by starting the strokeanew at each corner, you can create the effect of apicture frame.

Note that discontinuities in paths do not necessarilymean sharp corners; Bezier curves are discontinu-ous where the node continuity setting is“angle-locked” or “unconstrained”.

To break strokes at corners:



• Using continuous strokes: Enable the Con-tinuous button to fit one skeletal stroke tothe entire length of the path.

• Breaking strokes at corners: Enable theBreak At Joints button to start a new skele-tal stroke whenever there is a discontinuity inthe path.

9.8 Setting Stroke CapsFor open paths that use basic or gradient strokes,you can choose different stroke caps to give thestroke ends different looks. Objects not using basicor gradient strokes are not affected by this attribute.

From left to right: round joints, bevel joints, and miter joints.

The same flower stroke, applied using the “Break At Joints” option (left), and without (right).

Another example of using the “Break At Joints” option.


1. Select one or more path objects. They must usebasic or gradient strokes.


• Using square caps: Enable the Square Capsbutton to make the stroke ends square andoverhanging from the starting and endingnodes.

• Using round caps: Enable the Round Capsbutton to make the stroke ends round.

• Using butt caps: Enable the Butt Caps button to make the stroke ends flat at the starting

and ending nodes.

9.9 Applying Strokes in DashesBasic, gradient and skeletal strokes can be appliedin dashes, so that a stroke is repeated at regular orirregular intervals along the path, like a string ofbeads in a necklace. Dashes are not necessarily ofequal length, nor need they be evenly spaced out.

A dash pattern can also be offset from the path’sstarting point; such a pattern is referred to as havinga phase offset. There are three kinds of phase off-sets: normal offset, snake offset and blanked offset.The normal offset option shifts the entire dash pat-tern along the path, and the blanked offset optionadds a blanked section before the dash patternstarts. The snake offset option ignores all but thefirst value of the dash pattern, and uses it to create a

dash pattern with only one section. The section isshifted along the path based on the snake offsetvalue.

9.9.1 About Dash Patterns and Phase OffsetsDash patterns and phase offsets are specified instrings of numbers, as in these examples:

• Dash pattern “100”: This is a regular patternof a dash (100 points), then a gap of the samelength, then a dash of the same length, and soon.

• Dash pattern “100 50”: Long dash (100points), short gap (50 points), long dash (100points), etc.

• Dash pattern “100 50 25”: Long dash (100points), short gap (50 points), very short dash(25 points), long gap (100 points) etc.

• Dash pattern “100 50 25” and phase off-set “1”: Phase offset is measured in number ofcycles. Here, the cycle length is 175 points (100+ 50 + 25 = 175 points). A phase offset of “1”means shifting 175 points from the start of thepath, but because the dash pattern repeats itselfevery 175 points anyway, no change will beseen.

• Dash pattern “100 50 25” and phase off-set “0.2”: This means shifting 35 points (175 x

From top to bottom: butt caps, round caps, and square caps.

From top to bottom: a repeating stroke applied without dash pattern, with the dash pattern “50”, and with the dash pattern “40 10 30 5”.

Chapter 9: More Specialized Stroke and Fill Attributes 93

0.2 = 35 points) from the start of the path. Thistime, a change should be seen.

9.9.2 Applying Strokes in Dashes1. Select one or more path objects.2. In the Attributes palette, enable the Dash

On/Off button to show the “Dash” box.3. In the “Dash” box, set the dash pattern as fol-

lows:• Using one length for dashes and gaps:

Enter the length (in points), and press theReturn/Enter key.

• Using individual dash and gap lengths:Enter the lengths in succession, i.e., dashlength, gap length, next dash length (if any),next gap length (if any), next dash length (ifany) etc. Separate the values with a space char-acter as in the examples in the previous section.Press the Return/Enter key.

4. If you want to set a phase offset as well, chooseit as follows:

• Using normal offset: Choose the NormalOffset button to show the Dash Phase Off-set meter. Set the offset value (in points), andpress the Return/Enter key. The normal offsetshifts the dash pattern along the path.

• Using snake offset: Choose the Snake Offsetbutton . Set the offset value, and press theReturn/Enter key. The snake offset specifiesby how much a one-section dash pattern isshifted along the path. Only the first dash valueis used. At snake offset of “0”, the section is atthe start of the path; at “1”, it is at the end of thepath.

• Using blanked offset: Choose the BlankedOffset button . Set the offset value, andpress the Return/Enter key. The blanked off-set specifies the amount of space at the start ofthe path before the dash pattern begins.

9.10 Setting Fill RulesFor a path that crosses over itself a few times, youcan choose the fill rule to make sure that the fillareas are filled the way you want them to be.

Expression supports both the non-zero winding ruleand the even-odd rule for determining theinside-ness of a path. To tell whether a particularpoint in the 2D space is inside a path of not, a wind-ing number count is determined. The winding num-ber count is simply the number of times a particularpoint is encircled by the path, with each counter-clockwise turn canceling each clockwise turn. Thenon-zero winding rule considers all points with anon-zero winding number count to be inside thepath, while the even-odd rule considers only pointswith an odd winding number count to be inside thepath.

To set fill rules:

1. Select one or more path objects.2. In the Attributes palette, choose from these

options:• Using the non-zero winding rule: Enable

the Winding Rule button .• Using the even-odd rule: Enable the

Even-Odd Rule button .

Using the non-zero winding rule (left), and the even-odd rule (right). The numbers shown are the winding number count.

95

Chapter 10: Defining and Managing Skeletal Strokes

Using skeletal strokes, you can draw expressive andstylish brush strokes at the flick of the stylus or themouse. It is just as easy to create your own skeletalstrokes. This chapter starts by explaining how youcan turn arbitrary graphics into a skeletal strokewith a simple command, and goes on to cover thefiner controls over the deformation and repetitionof various parts of a design.

When you create skeletal strokes, they are added tothe list of existing strokes in the Strokes palette,ready to be applied to paths, as is described in Sec-tion 8.15. Note that when you open an Illustratorfile with art brushes, they can also be converted toskeletal strokes. These skeletal strokes are, how-ever, not added to the Strokes palette unless youdefine them in Expression.

Each skeletal stroke is recorded in a stroke defini-tion file (using the extension of “.sks” on Windows)in the “Strokes” folder under the “Expression 3”folder (Macintosh) or under “Start menu > Pro-grams > Expression 3 > Resources” (Windows).Stroke definitions can be organized into stroke fold-ers for easy access, using controls in the Strokespalette.

10.1 Defining and Editing StrokesYou can create your own skeletal strokes from pathsand bitmaps, and the process is referred to as defin-ing strokes. For vector objects, the stroke definitionprocess in the simplest form involves adding a ref-erence frame to some paths. The reference frame,called the stroke definition box, defines the orienta-tion and scale of the stroke, and in strokes with

anchoring and repeating parts, allows structuralcontrols to be appended to it. The stroke definitionbox can be specified explicitly, or it can come fromthe bounding box of the source objects.

For bitmap strokes, there are no structural controls,and the stroke definition process is even morestraightforward, as is described in Section 14.4.

10.1.1 About the Stroke WindowWhen you define or edit vector strokes, a strokewindow opens to show the stroke and the strokedefinition box.

10.1.2 About the Stroke Definition BoxThe stroke definition box is a reference frame forthe stroke. The horizontal arrow acts as the pic-ture’s reference backbone, which will be used tomap a stroke to a path when you apply the stroke;the two ends of the arrow define the parts that will

A Add viewB Delete viewC View markers

D Stroke definition boxE Define stroke

The stroke window.


be mapped to the path’s starting and ending nodes.The height of the stroke definition box is a refer-ence for the stroke width.

10.1.3 Defining Strokes1. Create the paths to be defined as a stroke.2. Choose from these options:• Using the bounding box as the stroke

definition box: Select all paths to be includedin the stroke definition, and choose Stroke >New Stroke Definition.

• Setting stroke definition box by drag-ging out a marquee: Choose the StrokeDefinition Box tool , and drag diagonallyacross the paths, releasing the mouse buttonwhen you have the right size.

3. In the stroke window that is opened, edit thepaths if needed, and use the Stroke DefinitionBox tool to redefine the stroke definition boxagain if needed.

4. Click the Define Stroke button , or chooseStroke > Define Stroke. This opens a “DefineStroke” dialog.

5. Enter the stroke name and default width.Choose a stroke folder in which to put thestroke, or enter a new name in the “Folder” boxto add a new folder. Click “OK”.

10.1.4 Editing Strokes1. Open the stroke window in one of the following

ways:• From the Paint Style palette: Double-click

the Stroke Preview where the stroke is shown.

• From the Strokes palette: Double-click thestroke in the Strokes palette, or choose thestroke and click the Edit Stroke button .

• Using a menu command: Choose thestroke or select a path using the stroke, andchoose Stroke > Edit Stroke Definition.

2. In the stroke window, edit the paths, and definethe stroke as in Section 10.1.3 above.

10.1.5 Deleting Strokes1. Choose the stroke in the Strokes palette, or

select a path using the stroke.2. Click the Delete Stroke button , or choose

Stroke > Delete Stroke Definition. The strokefile will be deleted from your hard disk.

10.2 Defining Strokes with AnchoringWhen you apply a simple skeletal stroke to a pathwhose length and stroke width are different fromthe length and height of the stroke definition box,the picture you see will be stretched or squashed,and its aspect ratio will be changed. Sometimes,this may not be what you want.

For example, if you apply a stroke of a fish to a longpath, all parts of the fish will be equally stretched. Ifwhat you want is to always keep the proportions ofthe fish picture, or to keep the proportions in thehead and tail but let the fish’s body stretch with thepath, this can be done using anchoring.

The use of anchoring in stroke definitions refers tothe way in which nodes in a stroke definition can belocked at fixed and different positions on the refer-ence backbone. By doing so, the locked parts willbe mapped to the path according to the positions(relative to the reference backbone) at which theyare fixed in the stroke definition, and their aspectratios will be preserved.

A stroke with the stroke definition box.

Chapter 10: Defining and Managing Skeletal Strokes 97

10.2.1 About Anchor MarkersNodes can be anchored to the reference backbone atthe starting point (left end of arrow), the endingpoint (right end of arrow), or any position along thereference backbone. Each position to which nodeshave been anchored is marked with an anchormarker , which becomes when chosen. Theanchor marker indicates the position of the point onthe skeleton that the anchored nodes will movewith. Nodes anchored to the ending point will movewith the tail of a stroke, and nodes anchored to thestarting point will move with the head of the stroke.If nodes are anchored to an anchor point at a 1/3position (i.e., one third the distance from the start-ing point), the nodes will always stay at the samedistance away from the 1/3 position of the stroke asthe stroke is stretched.

• Locating anchor markers: Click or drag amarquee over one or more nodes to choose theirassociated anchor marker.

• Locating anchored nodes: Click ananchor marker to select all nodes anchored to it.

10.2.2 Anchoring Nodes in Strokes1. Open the stroke window for the stroke, as is

described in Section 10.1.4 above.2. Select the nodes you want to anchor.3. Choose the Anchor tool .4. Anchor the nodes as follows:• Anchoring nodes to the starting point:

Click the Anchor to Start button or chooseStroke > Anchor > To Start.

• Anchoring nodes to the ending point:Click the Anchor to End button or chooseStroke > Anchor > To End.

• Anchoring nodes to any position:Anchor the nodes to the starting or endingpoint, and then drag the anchor marker tothe position you want.

5. Edit anchor markers as in Section 10.2.3 below.6. Continue to define the stroke as in Section

10.1.3.

10.2.3 Editing Anchor Markers in Strokes1. Open the stroke window for the stroke, as is

described in Section 10.1.4.2. Choose the Anchor tool . The anchor markers

will be shown.

The selected nodes are anchored to the starting point of the reference backbone.

The hand in this stroke has been anchored to the starting point of the reference backbone.


3. Edit anchor markers as follows:• Choosing anchor markers: Click the

anchor marker so that it becomes .• Moving anchor markers: Choose an

anchor marker, and drag it along the referencebackbone to change its position.

• Removing nodes from anchoring: Click,+click or drag a marquee over the nodes

you want to free from anchoring. Click theRemove Anchor button , or choose Stroke >Anchor > Free.

• Removing anchor markers: Choose theanchor marker. Click the Remove Anchor but-ton , or choose Stroke > Anchor > Free.

4. Continue to define the stroke as in Section10.1.3.

10.3 Defining Strokes with Repeatable PathsWhen you apply a stroke to a long path, the pictureyou see will be stretched. By making some objectsrepeatable in the stroke definition, they can bemade to repeat themselves (in their original aspectratios) along a path that is longer than the stroke’sreference backbone.

For example, you can define a stroke of a fish withscales that are repeated along a long path, instead ofbeing stretched along the path. If the shape of the

fish’s body tapers towards the tail, you can scaledown the repeats accordingly as well.

10.3.1 Making Paths Repeatable in Strokes1. Open the stroke window for the stroke, as is

described in Section 10.1.4.2. Select the paths you want to become repeatable.3. Choose the Repeat tool .4. Click the Make Repeating button , or

choose Stroke > Repeating > Make. A pair ofrepeat handles appears at the two ends of thereference backbone.

5. Edit the repeat handles as in Section 10.3.3below.


10.3.2 About Repeat HandlesRepeatable paths need not repeat over the wholelength of the path, nor need they be the same heightthroughout. In fact, you can define the repeatinglimits using a pair of repeat handles in the strokedefinition.

A A picture defined as a simple skeletal stroke.B The head and tail of the arrow are anchored

to the start and the end.C Same as B, but the heart is anchored to the

30% position between start and end.D Same as B, with the heart made repeating.

The repeat limits are approximately 30% to 70%.

E Same as D, except that the repeat limits them-selves are anchored to the start and end.


The area in the repeat limits is shown as a rectangleor trapezium in dashed lines, and when you clickthe dashed lines, a pair of repeat handles will appearfor you to edit the repeat limits.

• Locating repeat handles: Click or drag outa marquee over one or more paths to show theirassociated repeat handles.

• Locating repeatable paths: Click thedashed lines to select all paths associated withthe repeat limits.

10.3.3 Editing Repeat Handles in Strokes1. Open the stroke window for the stroke, as in

Section 10.1.4.2. Choose the Repeat tool to show the repeat

limits (in dashed lines).3. Click the dashed lines. Alternatively, click or

drag out a marquee over the paths associatedwith the repeat limits. The repeat handles willbe shown.

4. Edit the repeat handles as follows:• Moving repeat handles: Drag the handle’s

left or right icon ( or ) to change the han-dle’s position. This sets the positions of thestarting and ending sides of the repeat limits.

• Scaling repeat handles: Drag the handle’stop or bottom icon ( or ) up or down tochange the handle’s length. This sets the heightof the ending repeat limit, hence the height ofthe repeats towards the end of the repeat limits.

• Anchoring repeat handles: +clickthe handle’s left or right icon ( or ) toanchor it. The icon changes to . To removeanchoring, +click the icon again. (In thecurrent version, the left repeat limit is alwaysanchored to the starting point of the stroke andthe right repeat limit is always anchored to theending point of the stroke.

• Removing paths from repeat limits:Select only the paths that you want to makenon-repeatable. Click the Do Not Repeat button

or choose Stroke > Repeating > Release.Other repeatable paths will be unaffected.

• Removing repeat handles: Click the DoNot Repeat button or choose Stroke >Repeating > Release.


10.4 Defining Multi-View StrokesA multi-view stroke is a skeletal stroke definedwith two or more vector pictures, each of which

In the top stroke definition, the four path objects have the same repeating limits, whereas in the bottom stroke definition each path object has its own repeating limits. The difference in the resulting stroke applications is illustrated in the next picture.

The stroke applications of the two strokes above.


forms one view of the stroke. Expression can blendthese views to form a series of in-between pictures,which, if viewed in sequence, represent a gradualchange from the first to the last view.

For example, if a multi-view stroke consists ofthree or four views of a person’s head at differentangles, then viewing the in-between pictures insequence will give an illusion of the rotation of thehead. In fact, you can make such an animation byexporting a picture with multi-view strokes to theFlash format.

But multi-view strokes are useful in pictures too.When you apply a multi-view stroke to a path, youcan choose an in-between picture from the stroke,by specifying a shape parameter. You can also letExpression choose a shape parameter at random, toadd variety to a picture. For example, if amulti-view stroke consists of different variations ofa blade of grass, you can create a varied patch ofgrass. For more details, see Section 9.2.

The stroke views of a multi-view stroke can be cre-ated by editing from the first view, or from anyother existing views.

10.4.1 About Stroke ViewsThe controls for managing stroke views are at thetop of the stroke window. The Add View button and the Remove View button at the left let youadd and delete stroke views, and the view markers(rectangles) along the view bar indicate the posi-tions of individual stroke views.

When you select a path in the stroke window, thecorresponding path from the previous and next

stroke views will also be shown (in different colors)in the current stroke view for reference.

This multi-view stroke consists of four views.

The same multi-view stroke applied with differ-ent shape parameters.


10.4.2 Creating Multi-View Strokes1. Open the stroke window for the stroke you

want to use, as is described in Section 10.1.4.2. Click the Add View button or choose Stroke

> Add Stroke View to add a stroke view. A newview marker will be added to the view bar at100%, and the focus will be switched to thisnew view.

3. Edit the paths as you like.4. Add more stroke views, or edit them, as in Sec-

tion 10.4.3.5. Continue to define the stroke as in Section

10.1.3.

10.4.3 Editing Stroke Views in Multi-View Strokes1. Open the stroke window for the stroke, as in

Section 10.1.4.2. Edit stroke views as follows:• Switching stroke views: Click the view’s

marker in the view bar to switch to that view, oruse the shortcut keys ] and [ instead.

• Moving stroke views: Drag a view markeralong the view bar to change its position. Drag-ging the view marker at 0% or 100% duplicatesthe view.

• Adding stroke views: Go to the view that isto the left of the position at which you want thenew view to be. Click the Add View button or choose Stroke > Add Stroke View.

• Duplicating stroke views: Hold anddrag a view marker to duplicate it.

• Deleting stroke views: Go to the view youwant. Click the Remove View button orchoose Stroke > Remove Stroke View.


10.5 Managing Strokes and FoldersStrokes in the Strokes palette can be organized instroke folders for easy management. The contentsof a stroke folder are updated every time you switchto the folder in the Strokes palette, but you can alsorefresh a folder yourself. This is useful for updatingany changes in stroke files that have been made out-side the Expression session. For example, if youmove stroke files (files with the extension “.sks”) inthe Macintosh Finder or Windows Explorer, youcan update the Strokes palette without having torestart Expression.

10.5.1 Moving Strokes across Folders1. In the Strokes palette, choose the stroke you

want to move.2. Choose the Set Stroke Folder button in the

Folder Operations popup button . Thisopens a “Change Stroke Category” dialog.

3. Choose the name of the folder to which youwant to move the stroke. If you want to move

The Folder Operations popup buttons.


the stroke to a new folder, enter a new nameinstead. Click “OK”.

10.5.2 Changing Stroke Folder Names1. In the Strokes palette, go to the stroke folder

whose name you want to change.2. Choose the Rename Folder button in the

Folder Operations popup button . Thisopens a “Rename Stroke Category” dialog.

3. Enter the name you want, and click “OK”.

10.5.3 Refreshing Stroke FoldersChoose the Refresh Folder button in the FolderOperations popup button to refresh the currentstroke folder.

10.6 Setting Quick StrokesBy assigning a skeletal stroke to one of the quickstroke slots, you can quickly apply the stroke to theselected paths by pressing the correspondingnumeric key. These quickly accessible strokes arecalled quick strokes, and you can set up to nine ofthem.

1. Choose the stroke you want in the Strokes pal-ette, or select an object that uses the stroke.

2. Choose Stroke > Set As Quick Stroke. Thisopens a “Set as Quick Stroke” dialog.

3. Choose the number (0 to 9) you want to assignto the stroke. If the number has already taken byanother stroke, you can overwrite the assign-ment, or choose another number. Click “OK”.

103

Chapter 11: Selecting and Managing Graphics Objects

Objects have to be selected before they can be iden-tified as targets for any command or operation.Selected objects can be identified by their highlight,which is drawn in a color specific to the layer theyreside in. Selected objects are usually also sur-rounded by eight resize handles, which are placedaround the selection. These handles can be used forscaling, rotating and shearing of the selectedobjects. See Chapter 12 for a more complete discus-sion on various ways to transform objects.

11.1 Selecting ObjectsObjects can be selected by using one of the selec-tion tools: the Object Select tool, the Group Selecttool, the Node tool and the Node Lasso tool. TheTransform Fill tool is also a selection tool, exceptthat it is designed mainly to select one path objectfor transforming its fill pattern or gradient.Although the Node tool and the Node Lasso tool aremainly for selecting nodes on path objects, they canalso be used for selecting objects as a whole, byclicking or by dragging out a marquee over thebody of an object.

When you are using a drawing tool, transformationtool or a miscellaneous tool, you may often need toselect a new set of objects or nodes. Instead ofgoing to the Toolbox palette to switch to a selection

tool, make a selection and then go back to the pre-vious tool, you can actually use the key withmost tools to temporarily switch to one of the cur-rent node tool or selection tool.

The Object Select tool and the Group Select tool letyou select objects as a whole by clicking the objectsor by dragging out a marquee over them. The oper-ations of the two tools are basically the same,except that with the Object Select tool, all objects ina group will be automatically selected wheneverone group member is selected. The groups hererefer to object groups and clipper groups. You canalso select objects at the Object List palette, as isdescribed in Section 11.7.

Usually, paths are selected automatically after theyare created, but you can disable this behavior byturning off the “Highlight new paths” option in the“Preferences” dialog (see Section 18.3.1).

Some objects cannot be selected, and these includelocked objects, objects in locked or hidden layers,and object guides.

Besides using a tool to make a selection, you canalso use the command Edit > Select All to select allselectable objects.

11.1.1 Selecting Objects Using the Object Selection Tools1. Choose the Object Select tool or Group

Select tool .2. Choose from these options:• Selecting objects by clicking them one

by one: Click the object body or its path toselect it. To add objects to a selection, hold the

key and click them one by one. To


remove objects from a selection, +clickthe selected objects.

• Selecting objects by dragging out amarquee: Drag out a box to enclose or cutacross the objects you want to select. To addobjects to a selection, +drag to enclose orcut across more objects. To remove objectsfrom a selection, +drag out a shape toenclose them.

• Selecting objects underneath otherobjects: With the modifier keys +both held, the selection tools enter a selectbelow mode, and the pointer becomes . In thismode, preference for selection will be given toobjects below the current selection, when youclick to make a selection. If there is no selectionyet, the tool just functions normally. In thismode, you can click a selected object to toggleselection from the currently selected object tothe object which also occupies the place thatyou click and which is the next such objectdown the object list (i.e., the next such objectbehind the originally selected object). If thereare more objects overlapping at the same place,subsequent clicks will toggle the selectionthrough all these objects.

• Adding other group members to theselection (Group Select tool only): Clicka selected object to add all other members of thegroup to the selection. If the group itself is amember of another group, clicking it again willselect other members of that upper-level groupas well.

• Deselecting objects: Click an empty spacein the view area to deselect all objects.

+click to deselect one particular objectfrom the current selection.

11.1.2 Selecting Objects Using the Freehand Pen Tool1. Choose the Freehand Pen tool .

2. Click an object to select it. To deselect allobjects, click an empty space in the view area.

11.1.3 Selecting Paths According to Attributes1. Select a path.2. Choose Edit > Select By. This opens a “Select

By” dialog.3. Choose from these options:• Selecting paths with the same stroke:

Choose the “Same Stroke Name” option andclick “OK” to select all paths that use the samegradient stroke or skeletal stroke.

• Selecting paths with the same strokecolor: Choose the “Same Stroke Color” optionand click “OK” to select all paths that use thesame stroke color (for basic strokes), strokegradient (for gradient strokes), or foregroundcolor (for skeletal strokes).

• Selecting paths with the same fill: Choosethe “Same Fill” option and click “OK” to selectall paths that use the same fill color, gradient,pattern or image as the selected path.

11.1.4 Selecting Objects Using Menu Commands• Selecting all objects: Choose Edit > Select

All to select all objects in the view area. Alter-natively, use the keyboard shortcut +A.Locked objects, objects in locked layers, andguides cannot be selected.

• Deselecting all objects: Choose Edit >Deselect All. Alternatively, use the keyboardshortcut + +A.

• Reversing the selection: Choose Edit >Invert Selection. Only the previously dese-lected objects will become selected.

Chapter 11: Selecting and Managing Graphics Objects 105

11.1.5 Disabling the HighlightsSometimes when you are manipulating a largenumber of objects, the highlighted nodes and pathscan become rather distracting or even block theappearance of the objects themselves.

You can turn off the “Show selected object nodes”option in the “View and Display” page of the “Pref-erences” dialog to disable the drawing of the high-lighted nodes of selected paths (Section 18.4.4).This option does not affect the editability of thenodes. If you select some nodes in certain pathobjects, those selected nodes will be highlighted fornode level manipulation.

There are times when you want to turn off all high-lights altogether to give an unobstructed view ofyour selected objects for attribute modifications.You can use the “View > Turn Off Highlights Tem-porarily” command to hide all highlights and yetretain the current selection. The highlights willremain hidden even if you pan the view, zoom in

and out, modify the objects’ attributes or issue com-mands at them. Highlights will be resumed whenyou click in the view area.

11.2 Managing Graphics ObjectsA complex drawing can easily contain hundreds ofgraphics objects. To manage them efficiently, youcan organize a drawing hierarchically into layersand object groups. You can also change thefront-to-back order of objects.

The following sections describe the various ways toadjust the composition of a picture, graphically orstructurally, using the many object arrangementcommands, tools and the convenient Object Listpalette.

11.3 Moving, Copying and Editing ObjectsObjects can be moved around in the view area usingthe object selection tools, through the clipboard, orusing the arrow keys. You can also translate objectsusing the Transformation palette (see Section 12.2).To bring objects forward or backward, or to moveobjects between layers, see Section 11.5.


11.3.1 Moving Objects Using the Object Selection ToolsThe object selection tools let you move objectsaround the view area quickly. If the “Quick (area)select” option in the “Preferences” dialog is turnedon, you can select and move objects in one draggingaction (see Section 18.2.1).

1. Select the objects.2. Choose the Object Select tool or Group

Select tool .3. Choose from these options:• Moving objects: Drag one of the objects or

their paths to move all of them. As a guide, usethe rubber object outlines, or refer to the dis-placements in the status bar (bottom left of thedocument window). The movement can be con-strained to the vertical, horizontal or diagonaldirection by holding down the key.

• Moving a duplicate of the objects: Hold (the pointer becomes ) and drag one of

the objects to make a duplicate of the selection.

11.3.2 Moving and Copying Objects Using the ClipboardThe clipboard is useful for moving and copyingobjects between different files that are opened inExpression, or between Expression and another textor graphics application.

1. Select the objects.2. Choose from these options:• Copying objects to the clipboard:

Choose Edit > Cut to move the objects to theclipboard. To copy the objects instead, chooseEdit > Copy.

• Pasting objects at the center of theview area: Choose Edit > Paste to pasteobjects in the current center of the view areaand as the topmost objects in the current layer.

• Pasting objects at the same position inthe view area: If you want to paste objects atthe same position in the view area as the origi-nal objects, but place them one step in front orbehind a certain object, select this object andchoose Edit > Paste In Front, or Edit > Paste InBack, as needed. If you do not select any objectbefore using these commands, the clipboardcontents will be pasted as the topmost objects inthe current layer.

• Pasting objects with layers intact:Choose Edit > Paste with Layer to paste objectsand their respective layers. If the current filealready has layers with the same names, objectswill be pasted into these layers accordingly.

11.3.3 Moving Objects Using the KeyboardYou can move objects by nudging them, one step orhalf a step at a time. The size of a step, called nudgeincrement, can be changed (see Section 18.2.2).

1. Select the objects.2. Press the arrow keys repeatedly to move the

objects one step at a time, in the direction youwant. Alternatively, hold the key whileyou press an arrow key to move half a step at atime.

Moving an object by dragging it with an object selection tool.


11.3.4 Editing Objects Using Menu Commands• Duplicating objects: Choose Edit > Dupli-

cate to duplicate objects with the cumulatedresult of the previous transformations in thesession. You can also duplicate objects whileyou are moving or transforming them.

• Deleting objects: Press the Delete/Back-space key, or choose Edit > Clear.

11.4 Using SnappingSnapping can be enabled for the grid, for nodes onpaths, or for paths that have been converted toguides. This is useful for aligning and positioningobjects in the view area.for nodes on paths, or forpaths that have been converted to guides. This isuseful for aligning and positioning objects in theview area.

When snapping is enabled, the snappable feature(the grid, the nodes, or the object guides) willattract nearby path elements (such as nodes on Bez-ier curves, starting and ending nodes on B-splinecurves, and bounding box corners of paths), whilethe paths or nodes are being dragged across theview area.

While paths or nodes of paths are being dragged,different marks will appear to show the type andposition of the snapping being carried out. Where amoving node is snapped to a grid corner, anothernode or a guide, an “×” is displayed; where it issnapped to a vertical grid line, a is displayed.When snapped to a horizontal grid line, a will

be shown. As for bounding box corners, snapping atgrid lines are shown with angle icons ( and ).

Snapping is also effective when you create pathsusing the drawing tools, with the exception of theFreehand Pen tool. As you move the pointer toplace a node, or drag out a regular shape (rectan-gles, ellipses or straight lines), the pointer will besnapped to a nearby snapping feature.

11.4.1 Using Grid SnappingWhen grid snapping is enabled, the grid will beautomatically shown, and all grid lines and cornerswill become snappable. More options for the gridcan be set in the “Preferences” dialog (see Section18.4.1).

• Enabling grid snapping: Use View > Snap> To Grid to turn the feature on and off.

11.4.2 Using Node SnappingBy enabling node snapping, all nodes on paths thatare not hidden will become snappable.

• Enabling node snapping: Use View >Snap > To Nodes to turn the feature on and off.

11.4.3 Using GuidesOnce a path has been converted to a guide, theentire length along the path will become snappable.Guides themselves are shown without stroke or fillattributes (these attributes will reappear with therelease of the guide), and can only be selected fromthe Object List palette (see Section 11.7.2).


• Converting paths to guides: Select thepaths, and choose Objects > Guide > Make.

• Reverting guides to the original paths:Choose Objects > Guide > Release to release allguides. To release only some of the guides,select them in the Object List palette and thenchoose the command.

Guide snapping can be turned on or off from the“Preferences” dialog. If guide snapping is enabled,they will be displayed as thin blue lines. Otherwisethey are displayed as thin black lines.

11.5 Changing Object OrderObject order refers to the front-to-back (or overlap-ping) order of objects in the view area. Whenobjects are created or imported into Expression,they are put at the top of the current layer.

You can use menu commands or the Object Listpalette to bring objects forward or backward withintheir layers. If you want to move objects from layerto layer, use the Layer mini-list or Object List pal-ette instead, as is described in Section 11.6.6.

11.5.1 Changing Object Order Using Menu CommandsThe menu commands are useful for changing objectorder within a layer.

1. Select the object.2. Choose from these options:• Moving objects to the front: Choose

Arrange > To Front to make the object the top-most object in the layer.

• Moving objects to the back: ChooseArrange > To Back to make the object the bot-tommost object in the layer.

• Moving objects one step in front: ChooseArrange > Up One to move the object one stepabove in the layer.

• Moving objects one step back: ChooseArrange > Down One to move the object onestep below in the layer.

11.6 Managing LayersLayers in a document are like a stack of paper fold-ers in a file cabinet. Objects can be put into differ-ent layers for easy handling. The top-to-bottomorder in the layer list corresponds to thefront-to-back order in the view area.

Layers have individual names, can be locked orhidden from view, and can be found in the Layermini-list or the Object List palette.

11.6.1 About the Layer Mini-ListThe Layer mini-list is a “layer only” version of theObject List palette, and is attached to every docu-ment window at the right side.

• Showing the Layer mini-list: Turn on or offView > Show > Layer Mini-List as needed.

• Viewing the layer names: Place thepointer within the list area to view the layernames. The layer names will disappear whenyou move the pointer away.

The Layer mini-list.


• Scrolling the layer list: Use the Scroll Up and Scroll Down buttons to scroll the list oflayers.

11.6.2 Adding and Editing LayersNew files are created with one layer, called “Layer1”. Subsequently added layers are named “Layer2”, “Layer 3”, and so on, but these names can bechanged as layers are being added or at any timeafterwards.

• Adding layers: Click the New Layer button in the Layer mini-list or Object List palette.

To add a layer and rename it at once, hold and click instead. In the “New Layer” dialog,enter the name you want, and click “OK”. Seealso Section 18.2.1 about the options to add lay-ers above the current layer, and to open the“New Layer” dialog automatically when creat-ing a new layer.

• Selecting layers: Click a layer’s Color icon(color square) in the Layer mini-list (or itsname in the Object List palette) to make it thecurrent layer.

• Deleting layers: Go to the layer, and click theDelete Layer button in the Layer mini-list orObject List palette.

11.6.3 Changing Layer SettingsYou can change a layer’s name, color (for high-lighting selected objects), display quality, lockstate, visibility state and freeze state in the “LayerSettings” dialog.

1. Double-click the layer’s Color icon (colorsquare). Alternatively, go to the layer, and clickthe Layer Settings button in the Layermini-list or the Properties button in the

Object List palette. This opens a “Layer Set-tings” dialog.

2. Choose from these options:• Changing layer names: Enter the name

you want in the “Name” box.• Changing layer colors: Drag the RGB slid-

ers in the Layer Color section to change thelayer color’s RGB values. The resulting color isshown in the Color Preview to the right.

• Changing layer display quality: Choosethe “Path”, “Wireframe” or “Preview” option toset the display quality for objects in the currentlayer, or choose “Default” to use the same set-ting as the current document window.

• Locking and hiding layers: Turn on or offthe “Lock” and “Visible” options as needed,and click “OK”. See also Section 11.6.4 belowfor another way to lock and hide layers.

• Freezing layers: Turn on the “Frozen” optionif you want to freeze a layer, i.e., rasterize itscontents temporarily to a bitmap for viewingbut not editing. You can also choose the bitmapresolution. Freezing layers that you are not cur-rently working on can vastly reduce screenredraw speeds for complex pictures. You canalso set an upper limit to the amount of memoryallowed for rasterizing each layer in the “Pref-erences” dialog (Section 18.2.1). If yourmachine has enough memory, you shouldfreeze any complex layer containing a lot oftextured objects as soon as you are not going toedit them for a while. Note that, however,blending mode effects, except the eraser mode,would not be shown correctly in the frozen lay-ers because those effects depend on the graph-ics underneath the layer, and rasterizing oneparticular layer could not taken into accountthese cross-layer effects.


3. Click “OK” to commit to the settings.

11.6.4 Locking and Hiding LayersLocking a layer prevents objects within from beingselected, and hiding a layer hides the objects within.You can lock or hide layers using the Layermini-list or Object List palette.

• Locking layers: In the Layer mini-list orObject List palette, click a layer’s Lock icon totoggle between (layer unlocked) and (layer locked). Note that if the layer is empty,the Lock icons look like and instead. (Ifthe layer itself is not locked but contains one ormore locked objects, the Lock icon looks like

.) To toggle the lock state of all layers exceptthe current one, hold and click instead.

• Hiding layers: In the Layer mini-list orObject List palette, click a layer’s Visibilityicon to toggle between (layer shown) and

(layer hidden). If the layer is empty, the Vis-ibility icons look like and instead. Totoggle the visibility state of all layers except thecurrent one, hold and click instead.

11.6.5 Changing Layer OrderThe higher a layer’s position in the layer list, thenearer the front its objects are; the lower a layer’sposition, the nearer the back its objects are.

• From the Layer mini-list: Drag a layer’sColor icon (color square) up or down to moveits position in the layer list.

• From the Object List palette: Drag alayer’s name instead.

11.6.6 Moving and Copying Objects across LayersObjects in one layer can be moved or copied toanother layer quickly using the Layer mini-list orObject List palette. However, if your selection con-tains objects from different layers, or if you want tocopy objects as well as the layers they are in, use theclipboard instead, as in Section 11.3.2.

1. Select the objects (they must all be in the samelayer). In the Layer mini-list and Object Listpalette, a cube icon appears in the layer toindicate that the selection includes objects inthis layer.

2. Drag the cube icon to the layer you want tomove the object. To move a duplicate of theobjects, hold and drag instead.

The “Layer Settings” dialog.

Moving a layer up the Layer mini-list.

Moving an object selection from one layer to another.


11.7 Managing the Object ListThe object list is a diagram showing the layer andobject order in a document, and is shown in theObject List palette. The top-to-bottom object orderin the Object List palette corresponds to thefront-to-back order in the view area. Besides chang-ing object order, the object list diagram also pro-vides structural information about objects. Theobject list can also be used to select overlappingobjects that are difficult to locate in the view areaby eye.

11.7.1 About the Object List PaletteIn the Object List palette, each layer can beexpanded to show the object list within, and eachgroup can be likewise expanded to show the mem-ber objects. Each object or group is identified by anicon (indicating its type such as an ellipse or a clip-per group), and a text description of its path struc-ture or bitmap size.

• Viewing the object list: Click a layer’s orgroup’s triangle icon (so that it becomes )to show the list of objects within. To retract alayer’s or group’s object list, click the triangleicon again. To retract all layers’ object lists,click the Collapse All button .

Understanding the object type icons:

11.7.2 Selecting Objects Using the Object List PaletteYou can select objects from the Object List palette.For other selection methods, see Section 11.1.

• Selecting objects one by one: Click thesquare icon to the left of an object or group toselect it. To add objects to or remove objectsfrom the selection, +click their squareicons one by one. Clicking a selected squareicon with the key held deselects theobject, and vice versa.

• Selecting objects by dragging:+drag the square icon of an object/group

up/down the list to add the object/group to theobject selection. To remove objects from theselection, +drag their square icons again.

11.7.3 Changing Object Settings1. Double-click the object/group’s type icon or

name. Or, select the object/group and click theProperties button in the Object List palette.

2. Change object settings as follows:• Entering notes: Enter a text description of the

object/group in the “Note” box, to be shown inthe Object List palette for reference.

A Expand/Collapse switch

B Partially selected group

C Object type iconD Selection indicatorE Object selection

indicatorF Locking status indi-

cator

G Visibility status indica-tor

H Active layer indica-tor

I New layerJ Delete layerK Locate objectL Zoom onM PropertiesN Collapse all

The Object List palette.

Path with no stroke/fillPath with stroke onlyPath with fill onlyPath with stroke and fillEllipseText

GuideBitmapObject groupWarp groupClipper groupEffect line group


• Changing arc mode (ellipses only):Choose the “Open Arc”, “Pie Mode”, or “WithChord” option as needed. For more details onellipses, see Section 7.12.

• Hiding and showing reference vectors:Enable or disable the “Show Reference Vector”option as needed, for objects that already have areference vector (Section 7.18.2).

• Locking and unlocking objects: Enableor disable the “Locked” option as needed. Alsoalso Section 11.7.5.

11.7.4 Identifying and Locating ObjectsObjects in the view area can be quickly locatedusing the zooming buttons in the Object List pal-ette. Objects cannot be hidden individually, but hid-ing a layer hides the objects within.

• Displaying thumbnail preview: In theObject List palette, right-click (or Ctrl+click onMacintosh) the object, group or layer to pop-upa preview of the object, group or layer.

• Locating objects in the view area: In theObject List palette, click the Locate Object but-ton to pan the view area so that the objectselection is shown in the center while the rest ofthe view area is dimmed.

• Zooming into objects: In the Object Listpalette, click the Zoom On button to zoominto the object selection in the view area.

• Flagging objects: In the Object List palette,click the space at the left of the object you wantto flag, and a icon will appear next to it. Flagsare for your own reference only, and have nofunctional effect on objects.

11.7.5 Locking ObjectsLocking an object prevents it from being selected.Locking a group locks all objects within.

• Locking objects/groups: In the Object Listpalette, click the space between the type iconand name of the object/group so that a iconappears. Or, select the objects/groups andright-click (or Ctrl+click for Mac) in the viewarea to choose the “Lock Object” command.Also see Section 18.4.5 on setting which cate-gories to make available in the context menu.

• Unlocking objects/groups: In the ObjectList palette, click the icon of the lockedobject/group to unlock it. Or, in the view area,place the pointer over the locked object/group,and right-click (or Ctrl+click for Mac) tochoose the “Unlock Object” command. If thereis more than one locked object overlapping atthe position where you clicked, using the com-mand repeatedly will continue to unlock thoseobjects that are behind one by one.

113

Chapter 12: Transformation and Precise Size and Position Control

In Expression, an object keeps record of a separatepiece of transformation information, which is inde-pendent of the geometry of the base object. Thefinal rendered appearance of an object is the com-bined result of the object geometry multiplied bythe attached transformation. The transformationused in Expression is a general 2D homogeneoustransformation, which allows true perspectivetransformation to be specified.

When an object is moved, scaled or rotated, anadditional transformation will be multiplied to thetransformation information stored in the objectwhile the internal geometry remains unchanged.The accumulated transformation information canbe completely removed to return the object to its“pure” geometrical form using the commandArrange > Reset Transform. Another way toremove the transformation is to multiply the trans-formation into the geometry so that the new geom-etry describes the transformed object without anyadditional transformation. This is done by the com-mand Arrange > Commit Transform.

This chapter describes the various tools and con-trols for applying transformation to objects interac-tively or numerically (by specifying precisevalues).

12.1 Transforming ObjectsWhen you drag selected objects around using oneof the selection tools, you are translating theobjects. Other methods to transform selectedobjects include using the resize handles, the trans-formation tools, the Transformation palette and thetransformation commands under the Arrange menu.

Transformations applied can be reset and re-appliedto other objects.

As you transform objects using the resize handlesor transformation tools, the transformation valueswill be instantly updated in the status bar (and theTransformation palette where appropriate) for yourreference.

When an object is transformed, the basic strokes orthe pattern fill applied to the objects may or may nottransform with the objects themselves. These arecontrolled through the “Scale line weight” and“Transform patterns” options in the “Preferences”dialog (Section 18.2.1).

12.1.1 About the Resize HandlesWhen you select objects or select more than onenode, the resize handles will appear around theselected objects or nodes. The resize handles pro-vide a convenient way to transform objects withoutthe need to switch tools. They also indicate thebounding box of the current selection. The resizehandles at the corners are for scaling, and those atthe sides are for rotating and shearing. Use the“Show resize handles” option in the “Preferences”dialog to turn on and off the display of the resizehandles (Section 18.4.4).

The resize handles.


12.1.2 About the Transformation ToolsExpression provides six specialized transformationtools to carry out the translation, scaling, rotation,shearing, mirroring and perspective transformation.The transformation tools are all grouped under apopup button in the Toolbox palette. The moreoften used Scale tool and Rotate tool can be conve-niently accessed using the keyboard shortcuts

+S and +R.

Except for the perspective transformation, all trans-formations are performed relative to a transforma-tion origin, which is usually the midpoint of theselection bounding box or the reference point, if areference vector has been defined. The transforma-tion origin can also be explicitly specified with aclick using any one of the tools before carrying outthe transformation.

The Perspective tool computes the transformationbased on the deformation of a reference quadrilat-eral frame and requires no transformation origin.

12.1.3 About the Transformation PaletteThe Transformation palette lets you transformobjects by entering precise numerical values.

12.2 Translating ObjectsObjects can be translated using the Transformationpalette, or by other methods, as are described inSection 11.3.

12.2.1 Translating Objects Using the Transformation Palette1. Select the objects.2. Click the Translation button in the Trans-

formation palette.3. Entering translation values: Enter the x and

y displacements in the X Translation meter and the Y Translation meter . Displacementvalues are positive when translating upwardsand to the right.

4. Applying translation: Click the ApplyTransformation button . To translate aduplicate of the objects, click the Apply To ADuplicate button instead.

12.3 Scaling ObjectsObjects can be scaled using the resize handles, theScale tool, or the Transformation palette.

12.3.1 Scaling Objects Using Resize Handles1. Select the objects.2. Drag a corner handle away from the objects to

scale them up; drag towards the objects to scalethem down. To scale proportionally or to scalein one of the horizontal or vertical directions,

A TranslationB RotationC ScalingD ShearingE Mirroring

F BoundsG SizeH Apply to a duplicateI Apply transformation

The Transformation palette.

Chapter 12: Transformation and Precise Size and Position Control 115

+drag instead. To scale a duplicate of theobjects, hold and drag instead.

12.3.2 Scaling Objects Using the Scale Tool1. Select the objects.2. Choose the Scale tool . The pointer becomes

.3. Setting scaling centers: Click where you

want the scaling center to be. The default scal-ing center is the center of the selection.

4. Applying scaling: Drag the objects awayfrom the center to scale them up; drag towardsthe center to scale them down. To scale propor-tionally, +drag instead. To scale a dupli-cate of the objects, hold and draginstead.

12.3.3 Scaling Objects Using the Transformation Palette1. Select the objects.2. Click the Scaling button in the Transforma-

tion palette.3. Setting scaling center: Enter the x and y

coordinates in the Scaling Center X meter and the Scaling Center Y meter . You couldalso automatically set the scaling center to oneof the bounding box corners or bounding boxcenter using the five buttons (see picture below)in the Size page of the Transformation palette.

4. Setting scaling factors: Enter the x and yscaling factors (in percentage) in the HorizontalScale meter and the Vertical Scale meter.

5. Applying scaling: Click the Apply Transfor-mation button . To scale a duplicate of theobjects, click the Apply To A Duplicate button

instead.

12.4 Rotating ObjectsObjects can be rotated using the resize handles, theRotate tool, or the Transformation palette.

12.4.1 Rotating Objects Using Resize Handles1. Select the objects.2. Place the pointer at a side handle (the pointer

becomes ), and drag it to rotate the objects.

Scaling an object by dragging a corner handle.

Scaling an object with the Scale tool.


To rotate a duplicate of the objects, hold and drag instead.

12.4.2 Rotating Objects Using the Rotate Tool1. Select the objects.2. Choose the Rotate tool . The pointer

becomes .3. Setting rotation center: Click where you

want the center to be. The default rotation cen-ter is the center of the selection.

4. Applying rotation: Drag the objects to rotatethem. To rotate to a constrained angle (see Sec-tion 18.2.2), +drag instead. To rotate aduplicate of the objects, hold and draginstead.

12.4.3 Rotating Objects Using the Transformation Palette1. Select the objects.

2. Click the button in the Transformation pal-ette.

3. Setting rotation center: Enter the x and ycoordinates of the rotation center in the Rota-tion Center X meter and the Rotation Cen-ter Y meter . You could also automaticallyset the rotation center to one of the boundingbox corners or bounding box center using thefive buttons in the Size page of the Transforma-tion palette.

4. Setting rotation angle: Enter the rotationangle (in degrees) in the Rotation Angle meter

.5. Applying rotation: Click the Apply Trans-

formation button . To rotate a duplicate ofthe objects, click the Apply To A Duplicate but-ton instead.

12.5 Shearing ObjectsObjects can be sheared along a plane (or axis) usingthe resize handles, the Shear tool, or the Transfor-mation palette.

12.5.1 Shearing Objects Using Resize Handles1. Select the objects.2. Place the pointer at a side handle, hold the

key (the pointer becomes or ), anddrag it to shear the objects.

Rotating an object by dragging a side handle.

Rotating an object with the Rotate tool.


12.5.2 Shearing Objects Using the Shear Tool1. Select the objects.2. Choose the Shear tool . The pointer becomes

.3. Setting shear center: Click where you want

the center to be. The default shear center is thecenter of the selection.

4. Applying shear: Drag the objects to shearthem. To shear a duplicate of the objects, hold

and drag instead.

12.5.3 Shearing Objects Using the Transformation Palette1. Select the objects.2. Click the Shearing button in the Transfor-

mation palette.3. Setting shear center: Enter the x and y

coordinates of the shear center you want in theShear Center X meter and the Shear CenterY meter . You could also automatically setthe shear center to one of the bounding box cor-ners or bounding box center using the five but-tons in the Size page of the Transformationpalette.

4. Setting shear angle and plane: Enter theshear angles (in degrees) in the Shear Anglemeter , and the shear plane (in degrees) inthe Shear Plane Angle meter .

5. Applying shear: Click the Apply Transfor-mation button . To shear a duplicate of theobjects, click the Apply To A Duplicate button

instead.

12.6 Mirroring ObjectsYou can make a mirror reflection of objects byreflecting them along a plane (or axis), using theMirror tool or the Transformation palette.

12.6.1 Mirroring Objects Using the Mirror Tool1. Select the objects.2. Choose the Mirror tool . The pointer

becomes .3. Setting mirror center: Click where you want

the center to be. The default mirror center is thecenter of the selection.

4. Applying mirroring: Drag the objects to mir-ror them. To mirror to a constrained angle (seeSection 18.2.2), +drag instead. To mirrora duplicate of the objects, hold and draginstead.

12.6.2 Mirroring Objects Using the Transformation Palette1. Select the objects.2. Click the Mirroring button in the Transfor-

mation palette.3. Setting mirror center: Enter the x and y

coordinates of the mirror center that you wantin the Mirror Center X meter and the MirrorCenter Y meter . You could also automati-cally set the mirror center to one of the bound-ing box corners or bounding box center usingthe five buttons in the Size page of the Trans-formation palette.

4. Setting mirror plane: Enter the mirror plane(in degrees) in the Mirror Plane Angle meter

.5. Applying mirroring: Click the Apply Trans-

formation button . To apply mirroring to a


duplicate of the objects, click the Apply To ADuplicate button instead.

12.7 Setting Object Size and BoundsYou can move and scale objects by specifying theabsolute positions of the objects’ top, bottom, leftand right edges, also referred to as the objects’bounds. The positions of the four bounds can bespecified individually. However, if you want tomove the objects without scaling them (vertically,horizontally, or in both directions), you do not needto specify the positions of all four bounds. Instead,you can link the top and bottom bounds to fix thedistance between them. By doing so, any positionchanges made to either the top or bottom bound willcause the position of the other bound to be automat-ically updated. Similarly, by linking the left andright bounds, you can preserve the horizontal sizeof the objects.

1. Select the objects.2. Click the Bounds button in the Transforma-

tion palette.3. Keeping horizontal or vertical size

unchanged: If you want to shift or scale theobjects without changing the horizontal size ofthe objects, turn on the Horizontal BoundsLinked button so that it becomes . Similarly,to keep the vertical size unchanged, turn on theVertical Bounds Linked button.

4. Specifying object bounds: Enter the posi-tions of the object bounds you want in the LeftEdge meter , Right Edge meter , Top Edgemeter and Bottom Edge meter .

5. Applying transformation: Click the ApplyTransformation button .

12.7.1 Setting Object SizeUsing the Size page of the Transformation palette,you can specify the dimensions and position ofobjects with reference to the center or a corner ofthe objects.

1. Select the objects.2. Click the Size button in the Transformation

palette.3. Specifying a reference for scaling: The

buttons at the top left of the palette are forchoosing the reference point for the sizechanges. The middle button represents the cen-ter of the current selection, and the other fourbuttons represents the top-left , top-right

, bottom-left and bottom-right cor-ners of the bounding box of the selectionrespectively. Click one of the buttons to choosethe reference point.

4. Specifying object dimensions: Enter theobject dimensions to which you want to scalethe objects in the Horizontal Size meter andVertical Size meter .

5. Applying transformation: Click the ApplyTransformation button .

Note that the size and bounds adjustments areequally applicable to selected objects as a wholeand to individual selected nodes. If individualnodes are selected, only the positions of theselected nodes will be translated or scaled.

The interpretation of the size and bounds of a selec-tion can be changed using the “Size/Bounds usepath bounding box” option in the “Preferences”dialog (Section 18.2.1). The option determineswhether only the paths (i.e., taking no account ofwhether the strokes are thin or thick, and whether


the fill has a soft-edge) of the selected objects areused in the measurement of the bounding box.

12.8 Applying Perspective TransformationPerspective transformation is applied through aperspective frame, through the perspective nodes atthe four corners of the frame.

12.8.1 Applying Perspective Transformation1. Select the objects.2. Choose the Perspective tool . The pointer

becomes .3. Adjusting the perspective frame: Drag

the perspective nodes one by one until theframe is the right size and shape.

4. Enabling the perspective frame: Clickthe objects to enable to perspective frame. Ifyou want to disable it later to edit the frameagain, click the objects again.

5. Applying perspective transformation:Drag the perspective nodes one by one to trans-form the objects.

12.9 Working with Previous TransformationsThe Transformation palette records the previous setof values for each type of transformation, so thatyou can apply a transformation to other objects.

You can also use menu commands to apply the pre-vious transformation used in the session, or applythe cumulative transformation of the session, whichis the cumulative result of all the previous transfor-mations in the session.

• Applying the previous translation, scal-ing, rotation, shear or mirroring: Selectthe object, and click the Apply Transformationbutton in the appropriate transformationsetting area in the Transformation palette.

• Applying the previous transformation inthe session: Select the object, and chooseArrange > Repeat Last Transform.

• Applying the cumulative transforma-tion of the session: Select the object, andchoose Arrange > Repeat Accumulated Trans-form.

Object bounding box (left) and path bounding box (right).

The original object (left), and after applying per-spective transformation (right).


12.9.1 Resetting and Committing to an Object’s Own TransformationsGraphics objects in Expression carry a transforma-tion independent of its geometry. The transforma-tion stores the cumulative effect of alltransformations previously applied to an object.Such a transformation can be removed by either theArrange > Reset Transform command or theArrange > Commit Transform command.

The “Reset Transform” command simply removesthe transformation from an object. The object willbe reverted to its pure geometrical state, i.e., thestate before any transformation was applied to it.

The “Commit Transform” command will multiplythe transformation to an object, modifying its basegeometry before removing the transformationinformation. Therefore an object should look moreor less unchanged after applying the “CommitTransform” command.

If the transformation stored in an object hasnon-uniform scaling or has been sheared, theappearance of the strokes on the object will proba-bly change a bit. This is because the appearance of astroke on a path is arrived at by first applying thestroke and then transforming the “stroked” object.If you commit to the transformation, however, the

stroke will be applied to the transformed pathinstead. Although the stroke width will be scaled oncommitting to a transformation to make it resemblethe original appearance, in the case of a non-uni-formly scaled or skewed transformation, it will sim-ply be impossible for an untransformed stroke tohave an identical appearance as before.

• Resetting an object’s cumulative trans-formation: Select the object, and chooseArrange > Reset Transform.

• Committing to an object’s cumulativetransformation: Select the object, and chooseArrange > Commit Transform.

You could also turn on the “Auto commit trans-forms” option in the “Preferences” dialog (Section18.2.1) to tell Expression 3 to perform all transfor-mation operations directly to the path nodes. Thiswould make the width meters faithfully display theactual widths, but would sacrifice the capability ofnon-uniformly transforming stroke widths.

12.10 Aligning, Distributing and Stacking ObjectsThe alignment commands align objects’ edges orcenters. The distribution commands move objectsin the middle so that they become evenly spaced.The stacking commands move objects in one direc-tion so that they become separated by a uniformgap, whose size can be specified in the“Preferences” dialog (“Stack gap size” in Section18.2.2).

12.10.1 Using the Alignment Commands1. Select the objects (at least two).2. Choose from these options in the Arrange

menu:

A Original object.B Transformed object. Notice that the stroke has

been non-uniformly transformed; part of it is wider and part of it is thinner.

C Committing to the transformation in B.


• Aligning top edges: Choose Align > Top toalign all top edges (or corners) to that of thetopmost object.

• Aligning bottom edges: Choose Align >Bottom to align all bottom edges (or corners) tothat of the bottommost object.

• Aligning left edges: Choose Align > Left toalign all left edges (or corners) to that of theleftmost object.

• Aligning right edges: Choose Align > Rightto align all right edges (or corners) to that of therightmost object.

• Aligning vertical centers: Choose Align >V. Center to align all vertical centers (horizontalaxes) to the selection’s original vertical center(horizontal axis).

• Aligning horizontal centers: Choose Align> H. Center to align all horizontal centers (ver-tical axes) to the selection’s original horizontalcenter (vertical axis).

12.10.2 Using the Distribution Commands1. Select the objects (at least three).2. Choose from these options in the Arrange

menu:• Distributing top edges: Choose Distribute >

Top to move objects that are between the top-most and bottommost objects so that all topedges are evenly spaced in the vertical direc-tion.

• Distributing bottom edges: Choose Dis-tribute > Bottom to move objects that arebetween the topmost and bottommost objects sothat all bottom edges are evenly spaced in thevertical direction.

• Distributing left edges: Choose Distribute >Left to move objects that are between the left-

most and rightmost objects so that all left edgesare evenly spaced in the horizontal direction.

• Distributing right edges: Choose Distribute> Right to move objects that are between theleftmost and rightmost objects so that all rightedges are evenly spaced in the horizontal direc-tion.

• Distributing vertical centers: Choose Dis-tribute > V. Center to move objects that arebetween the topmost and bottommost objects sothat all vertical centers are evenly spaced in thevertical direction.

• Distributing horizontal centers: ChooseDistribute > H. Center to move objects that arebetween the leftmost and rightmost objects sothat all horizontal centers are evenly spaced inthe horizontal direction.

12.10.3 Using the Stacking Commands1. Select the objects (at least two).2. Choose from these options in the Arrange

menu:• Stacking upwards: Choose Stack > Up to

move objects that are above the bottommostobject so that all objects are the same distanceapart in the vertical direction.

• Stacking downwards: Choose Stack >Down to move objects that are below the top-most object so that all objects are the same dis-tance apart in the vertical direction.

• Stacking to the left: Choose Stack > Left tomove objects that are to the left of the rightmostobject so that all objects are the same distanceapart in the horizontal direction.

• Stacking to the right: Choose Stack > Rightto move objects that are to the right of the left-most object so that all objects are the same dis-tance apart in the horizontal direction.

123

Chapter 13: Creating Effect Lines

Speed lines and other effect lines are at the veryheart of action comics and Manga (Japanese com-ics); they are indispensable conveyers of action andemotion, whether the message to get across is oneof speed, strength, urgency, shock, romance,embarrassment, absurdity or otherwise.

With minimal instructions, Expression can generatea set of effect lines or curves, which can then beenriched (with skeletal strokes) and varied (in linespacing, length and arrangement) to achieve theboldest or subtlest effects.

In fact, the effect line function in Expression hasmore general uses than as a tool for speed lines andcomics effects. By applying different stylish strokesand semi-transparent fill, dazzling interference pat-terns and effects can be created. The most creativeuses of this powerful function are left for you toexplore.

13.1 Generating Effect LinesAn effect line group can be generated across anytwo arbitrary open or closed paths, referred to as thestart edge and the end edge. Individual effect linesextend from the start edge to the end edge, forminga set of diverging, converging, parallel or intersect-ing lines, depending on the relative lengths and

shapes of the start and end edges. If you provideonly a start edge, Expression will create a clone asthe end edge.

1. Specifying start and end edges: Drawand select the paths to be used as the start edgeand end edge. (If you like, you can use only thestart edge, and let Expression create a clone asthe end edge.)

2. Generating effect lines: Click the CreateEffect Lines button in the Effect Lines pal-ette, or choose Objects > Effect Lines > Create.A default set of straight effect lines will be gen-erated across the start and end edges.

13.2 About Effect Line GroupsAn Effect Line Group is a special kind of groupcontaining two path objects: the start edge path andthe end edge path. The generated effect lines aredynamic objects, and so cannot be edited directlyusing path or node editing tools. Unlike other kindsof groups, which are abstract structures without atangible body, an effect line group does have a tan-gible body — the set of generated effect lines.

Because the start and end edges are groupedtogether as part of an effect line group, selectingone edge using the Object Select tool will resultin the entire group being selected. If you want toedit or transform one specific edge, you need to


select it using the Group Select tool , the Nodetool or the Node Lasso tool .

As for the generated effect lines, because they arethe tangible body of the effect line group, anyattempt to select one or more effect lines will resultin the entire effect line group being selected, includ-ing the start and end edges.

• Editing the Start and End Edges: Selectthe start or end edge using the Node tool ,Node Lasso tool or Group Select tool . Ifone of the edges is a clone (i.e., the effect linegroup is created from only one path), you canselect and edit the nodes of the master path.

• Transforming the Start and End Edges:Select the edge using the Group Select tool ,and transform it using the resize handles or oneof the transformation tools (Chapter 12). Makesure that the generated effect lines are notselected to avoid transforming the entire group.

13.3 Applying Strokes to Effect LinesYou can apply any kind of stroke (skeletal, gradientor basic stroke) to the effect lines, and apply the rel-evant stroke attributes.

1. Select the effect lines.2. Applying strokes and attributes: Apply

strokes and stroke attributes as you would forordinary strokes.

3. Changing the direction of the gener-ated effect lines: To reverse the direction ofthe strokes that are applied to the generatedeffect lines, click the Reverse Line Direction

button in the Effect Lines palette. Note thatthe number of generated effect lines maychange, because the spacing of the generatedeffect lines is based on the base points on thestart edge. Reversing the direction of the effectlines actually causes a swap of roles betweenthe start and end edges and hence also the inter-pretation of the spacing value. For more infor-mation about setting line spacing, refer to thenext section.

13.4 Setting Effect Line VariationsNewly generated effect lines are evenly-spacedstraight lines of the same width. Their appearancecan be modified through various parameters, suchas line spacing and width. They can also bearranged in clusters (e.g., of three effect lines each),and directed towards an editable focus point.

Another attribute that you can vary is the positionof the starting and ending points of the effect lines.Newly generated effect lines all begin from the startedge, extending all the way to the end edge, so thatthe contour formed by all the effect line startingpoints resembles the shape of the start edge. The sit-uation is similar at the end edge. By specifying arandomness value for the positions of starting orending points, you can easily create effect lineswith a hand-drawn quality to them.

In fact, for maximum flexibility, most parametercontrols are accompanied by their own variation

Chapter 13: Creating Effect Lines 125

sliders for varying the parameter settings amongeffect lines.

1. Select the entire effect line group, either byclicking the effect lines or by selecting with theObject Select tool .

2. Adjust the effect line parameters and optionsaccording to your needs, as follows:

• Setting line spacing: Use the Line Spacingmeter in the Effect Lines palette to changethe spacing between adjacent effect lines. Thespacing value is the distance between adjacenteffect lines at the start edge. If the end edge isshorter than the start edge, the effect lines willactually be more densely spaced at the end edgethan is indicated by the spacing value. Like-wise, if the end edge is longer than the startedge, the lines at the end edge will be moresparsely spaced than indicated. You can alsouse the Variation slider at the right to intro-duce randomness to the spacing.

• Setting stroke width: Use the Stroke Widthmeter in the Effect Lines palette to changethe stroke width of the effect lines. Use theVariation slider at the right to introduce ran-domness to the width of the effect lines.

• Forming clusters: Sometimes it is useful todraw the effect lines in groups for certain com-ics/manga styles. Click the Clustering On/Offbutton to turn on clustering, and set the clus-

ter size and spacing using the Cluster Sizemeter and the Gap Size meter . The clus-ter size is the number of effect lines to begrouped together as a cluster. Gap size is thenumber of effect lines to be omitted betweenadjacent clusters. Use the Cluster Variationslider to the right to add random variations toboth cluster size and gap size. Note that thisvariation does not affect the spacing of individ-ual effect lines within a cluster.

• Using a focus point: Click the Focus to aPoint On/Off button . The generated effectlines from the start edge will all point towards afocus point, but will become invisible beyondthe end edge. If the focus point is positionedsuch that certain effect lines cannot reach theend edge before reaching the focus point, thoseeffect lines may extend all the way to the focuspoint. If you want to change the position of thefocus point, drag it directly, using the Node tool

or Node Lasso tool .

• Varying starting positions of effect lines:The starting positions of the generated effectlines from the start edge can be made uneven byadding random variations. Drag the Start Edge


Variation slider to specify the amount ofrandomness.

• Varying ending positions of effect lines:The ending positions of the generated effectlines near the end edge can be made uneven byadding random variations. Drag the End EdgeVariation slider to specify the amount ofrandomness.

13.5 Using a Template PathNewly generated effect lines are straight lines, butthey can take on any shapes that you choose; theycan be curves, polylines or any open paths. Byattaching a path of your choice, referred to as a tem-plate path, to the set of effect lines, all effect lineswill take on the shape of the template path.

When you select an effect line group to which atemplate path has been attached, the attached tem-plate path will be shown across the start and endedges of the effect lines. You can continue to makechanges to the shapes of the effect lines by editingthe attached template path, using the Node tool orthe Node Lasso tool.

13.5.1 Attaching Template Paths1. Select the effect lines and the open path to be

used as the template path.2. Click the Add Template Path button in the

Effect Lines palette, or choose Objects > EffectLines > Add Template Path.

13.5.2 Editing the Shapes of Template PathsBecause the attached template path is not an ordi-nary path but part of the effect line group, somepath modification tools and commands cannot bedirectly used on it. If you need to replace anattached template path with another one, firstremove the existing template path and then attachthe new path to the effect line group.

1. Select the entire effect line group by clicking ordragging a marquee around the effect linesusing a selection tool.

2. Use the Node tool or Node Lasso tool todrag the attached template path.

13.5.3 Removing Template Paths1. Select the effect line group from which you

want to remove the template path.2. Click the Remove Template Path button in

the Effect Lines palette or choose Objects >Effect Lines > Remove Template Path to revertto using straight lines as effect lines.

127

Chapter 14: Using Bitmap Images

Bitmaps are images in grids of pixels with fixedresolution, and can be imported (see Section 5.11)or created from scratch. Expression supports bit-maps with transparency and you can define bitmapstrokes from bitmaps. Photoshop and compatiblefilters can also be applied to bitmaps.

Warping distorts a picture unevenly by squeezingsome parts together and pulling them apart at otherplaces. For more on warping, see Section 7.29.

14.1 Creating BitmapsBitmaps with transparency can be created fromscratch, or created by rasterizing a part of the view.

1. Choose Objects > Bitmap > Create Bitmap. Thepointer becomes .

2. Drag diagonally in the view area, and releasethe mouse button when you have the right size.This opens a “New Bitmap” dialog.

3. Choose from these options:• Creating bitmaps from scratch: Enable

“Transparent” or “Opaque White” as needed.• Creating bitmaps by rasterizing the

view area: Enable “Rasterize Region” to con-vert the chosen part of the view to a bitmap.

4. Setting bitmap resolution: Choose or enterthe resolution you want in the “Resolution”box, and click “OK”.

5. Paint the bitmap as in Section 14.2.

14.2 Painting BitmapsWith no inherent structure, bitmaps cannot usestroke and fill attributes, but you can create very

rich and subtle pictures by painting a bitmap at dif-ferent brush, color, and opacity values.

About the Bitmap Brush Setting AreaThe bitmap brush setting area in the Paint Style pal-ette lets you choose brush settings for painting col-ors or masks on bitmaps.

• Showing the bitmap brush setting area:When the Bitmap Pen tool is chosen, indi-cating an intention to paint bitmaps, the uppersection of the Paint Style palette will changeinto the bitmap brush setting area.

• Previewing brush shape: Refer to the Bit-map Brush Shape Preview (top left of the bit-map brush setting area) as you make changes tothe brush size and hardness.

14.2.1 Painting Colors on BitmapsBrushes for painting bitmaps can vary in size, hard-ness, spacing, opacity, and color. The width andopacity of bitmap trails can also be controlled bythe pressure levels from the stylus.

1. Select the bitmap.2. Choose the Bitmap Pen tool . The tool set-

tings are shown in the Toolbox palette.

The bitmap brush setting area.


3. In the Toolbox palette, choose tool settings asfollows:

• Using pressure sensitivity: Enable the Vari-able Width button if you want Expression touse the pressure information from your stylus tovary the width of your bitmap trail. To varyopacity as well, enable the Variable Transpar-ency button too.

• Enabling color painting: Enable the Drawon Image button to paint on the bitmap.

4. In the bitmap brush setting area of the PaintStyle palette, choose brush types as follows:

• Using soft and pixel brushes: Click theSoft Brush button for painting soft-edgedtrails. For hard-edged trails, click the PixelBrush button instead. To set individual brushsettings directly, see step 5 below.

• Using the eraser mode: Click the EraserMode button for removing colors from thebitmap completely or partially (with a partlytransparent brush).

5. Click a preset brush setting (top right of the bit-map brush setting area), or choose individualsettings as follows:

• Setting brush size: Enter or choose a value(1-99 pixels) in the Brush Size meter .

• Setting brush hardness: Enter or choose avalue (1-100%) in the Brush Hardness meter

. For pixel brushes, the hardness is always100%.

• Setting brush spacing: Enter or choose avalue (1-999%) in the Brush Spacing meter .

6. Set brush opacity by dragging the Brush Opac-ity slider.

7. In the lower section of Paint Style palette,choose a brush color, as is described in Section8.11.

8. In the view area, drag on the bitmap to paint it.

14.2.2 Painting Masks on BitmapsAn opaque bitmap mask protects the masked areafrom being displayed, and the bitmap image willappear transparent at the masked areas. Asemi-transparent bitmap mask allows more flexibil-ity than the opaque mask when painting over themasked area.

1. Select the bitmap.2. Choose the Bitmap Pen tool .3. Enable the Draw on Mask button in the

Toolbox palette.4. Choose from these options:• Painting bitmap masks: Choose a soft

brush or pixel brush, and choose brush settingsand opacity as in Section 14.2.1 above.

• Removing bitmap masks: Choose theeraser mode at 100% opacity. When drawing onthe mask, the color of the brush is ignored.

5. In the view area, drag on the bitmap to paint themask.

14.3 Using Bitmap FiltersIf Photoshop filters have been installed on your sys-tem, they can be applied to bitmaps.

Painting a bitmap mask.

Chapter 14: Using Bitmap Images 129

14.3.1 Choosing the Bitmap Filter FolderYou can indicate the location of your plugin folderthe first time you start Expression or at other times.

1. Choose PS-Plugins > Set Plugins Folder. Thisopens a “Photoshop Plugin Settings” dialog.

2. Enter the path to the plugin folder, or click“Browse” to choose it. Alternatively (for Win-dows only), you can also let Expression locatethe folder by disabling the “Do Not Search forPhotoshop Plugins” option. Click “OK”.

3. Restart Expression.

14.3.2 Applying Bitmap FiltersFor details on individual filters, refer to documenta-tion provided by the software developers of the plu-gin filters in question.

1. Select the bitmap.2. Choose the filter you want from the PS-Plugins

menu.3. Choose filter settings accordingly.

14.4 Defining Bitmap StrokesBitmap strokes are skeletal strokes defined frombitmaps, and if defined with an alpha channel, theytoo can be colorized. The two ends of a bitmapstroke can be anchored, and the middle section canbe made into one or more repeatable parts.

14.4.1 Defining Simple Bitmap Strokes1. Select the bitmap.

2. Choose Stroke > Define Bitmap Stroke. Thisopens a “Define Bitmap Stroke” dialog.

3. Naming bitmap strokes: Enter a newstroke name in the “Stroke Name” box.

4. Setting stroke folder: Choose the strokefolder to use in the “Folder” box. If you want tocreate a new folder, enter a new folder nameinstead.

5. Setting default width: Enter the width in the“Default Width” box.

6. Including an alpha channel: Choose “NoAlpha” to define the stroke without an alphachannel. Otherwise, choose “Use the OriginalAlpha” or “Grayscale” as needed.

7. You can continue to specify anchoring andrepeatable parts in this dialog (see Section14.4.2 and Section 14.4.3), or do this at anytime after the stroke has been defined. Click“OK” to define the stroke.

14.4.2 Defining Bitmap Strokes with Anchored Head and Tail SectionsBy anchoring one or both ends of a bitmap stroke,you can ensure that the aspect ratios of the anchoredparts will always remain unchanged, even when thestroke is applied to a path longer than itself.

1. Double-click the stroke in the Strokes palette,or double-click the Stroke Preview when thestroke is chosen. This opens the “Bitmap StrokeAnchor/Repeat Settings” dialog.

2. To anchor the left end of the stroke, enter thelength (in pixels) to be anchored in the“Anchored head section length” box. Similarly,to anchor the right end of the stroke, enter the


length in the “Anchored tail section length”box. Click “OK” to define the stroke.

14.4.3 Defining Bitmap Strokes with Repeatable Body SectionsBitmap strokes can be defined to contain one ormore repeatable body sections of equal length.When a bitmap stroke with one repeatable part isapplied to a path longer than itself, the entire partwill repeat itself. With two repeatable parts, the twoparts randomly alternate along the path. With threeor more repeatable parts, the parts appear in randomorder along the path, and there will be a differentcombination for each new path.

1. Open the “Bitmap Stroke Anchor/Repeat Set-tings” dialog for the stroke, as is described inSection 14.4.1.

2. In the “Body section” box, choose the “Simplerepeat” option if you want the stroke to haveone repeatable part. Choose the “2-part repeat”or other options to define two or more repeat-able parts. Click “OK”.

14.5 Converting Bitmaps to PathsAuto-tracing converts a bitmap to a group of paths.If you want to, you can perform a low pass filter ona bitmap before conversion.

1. Select the bitmap.2. Choose Objects > Bitmap > Auto Trace Bit-

map. This opens a “Bitmap Tracing Options”dialog.

3. Choose from these options:• Setting number of colors: Choose or enter

the number of colors to be used in the “No. ofColors” box.

• Setting value of pre-filtering: Choose avalue from the “Pre-Filtering” box if you want.The higher the value, the more the bitmap willbe smoothed. If you do not want to use pre-fil-tering, choose “None” instead.

• Setting tightness of fit: Choose the optionyou want (from “Very Loose” to “Very Tight”)from the “Tightness of Fit” box. The looser thefit, the fewer nodes the resulting paths willhave, and fewer features of the bitmap will beretained.

4. Click “OK”. Expression starts the auto-tracingprocess. When this is completed, the resultingpaths will be grouped and placed in front of thebitmap.

A bitmap (left) can be auto-traced to give a group of paths (right).

Chapter 14: Using Bitmap Images 131

14.6 Bitmap ResourcesIn Expression 3, bitmap images are also used as afill type, as reflection maps, paper textures andfringe textures. Images can be in Expression’snatively readable formats: PSD, TIFF, BMP, GIF,PNG or JPEG.

14.6.1 Image Fill BitmapsImage fill bitmaps are generally stored in the“Images” folder under the “Expression 3” folder(Macintosh) or under “Start menu > Programs >Expression 3 > Resources” (Windows). Imageshere are listed in the image fill list in the Paint Stylepalette. You can also add additional links to imagefiles placed elsewhere on your system to the imagefill list, using the Add Image button. Note thatthe image list is simply a list of links to the imagefiles, which are themselves not copied into the“Images” folder. Expression verifies the validity ofthe links on using the image fill list. Invalid entriesare automatically removed. You can also de-listlinks from the list manually using the Delist Imagebutton . For more details about the use of imagefill, refer to Section 8.14.

14.6.2 Reflection MapsA reflection map is a look-up table of the appear-ance of a surface at any normal direction under aparticular lighting environment. Expression 3 usesspherical reflection maps, each of which is animage of a circular sphere of a particular materialunder a certain lighting environment. Photographsof real spheres or hand-painted reflection maps can

also be used effectively. Reflection maps have to beplaced in the “EnvMaps” sub-folder under the“Images” folder.

14.6.3 Paper TexturesPaper textures are image files placed in the “Tex-tures” folder in the “Expression 3” folder (Macin-tosh) or under “Start menu > Programs >Expression 3 > Resources” (Windows). Any papertexture images will be shown in the “Paper Tex-ture” dialog. Colored images are converted to gray-scale automatically. For more about the use ofpaper textures, see Section 8.8.

14.6.4 Fringe TexturesSoft-edged fills have a smooth transparency grada-tion, giving the appearance of a soft-edge. You cangive a soft-edge fill more rugged edges by applyinga fringe texture to the soft-edge. Details aredescribed in Section 8.5.2.

A hand-painted reflection map. (Color plate on page 193.)


Fringe textures have to be placed inside the“Fringes” sub-folder under the “Textures” folder.

133

Chapter 15: Managing Custom Colors, Gradients, Patterns, Width Profiles and Attribute Sets

Colors, gradients, and patterns can be created, cop-ied to and from objects, and copied between objectsand the Paint Style palette. Some stroke and fillattributes can also be saved in the Item List palettefor later use. For width profiles, they too can be cre-ated, edited and saved, but in the Variable Widthpalette.

15.1 Managing Custom ColorsCustom colors are colors with names, and inExpression, you can create your own custom colorsin RGB or CMYK values. The use of custom colorsin a design allows a global revision of the overallcolor scheme by redefining the color values for par-ticular custom colors. It provides a consistent wayto communicate colors. When you create customcolors or open picture files containing custom col-ors, these custom colors will be added to the list ofexisting custom colors in the Paint Style palette,ready to be applied to paths, as is described in Sec-tion 8.11.4.

In fact, all the operations on custom colors can beperformed in the Paint Style palette. You can createand edit custom colors here, as well as import andexport custom colors as a file. Note that when youedit a custom color, all paths using the custom colorwill be updated automatically.

15.1.1 About the Custom Color EditorWhen you create or edit custom colors, the uppersection of the Paint Style palette changes into a cus-tom color editor. The editor contains a name box, acolor preview, and a status bar showing the colorsvalues in RGB or CMYK, depending on the colorpicker used when the color was defined.

15.1.2 Creating Custom Colors1. Go to the custom color list in the Paint Style

palette.2. Click the New Custom Color button . The

custom color editor appears.3. Edit the custom color as follows:• Changing custom color names: Enter the

custom color name you want in the box at thetop.

• Changing custom color values: Choose acolor in the lower section of the Paint Style pal-ette, as is described in Section 8.11.

A Custom color nameB Color previewC Color values

D CancelE Commit

The custom color editor.


4. Click the Commit button to save thechanges, or click the Cancel button to can-cel the changes.

15.1.3 Editing Custom Colors1. Double-click the Stroke Preview or Fill Pre-

view where the custom color is shown. Alterna-tively, choose the custom color in the customcolor list, and click the Edit Custom Color but-ton .

2. Edit the custom color as in Section 15.1.2above.

15.1.4 Deleting Custom Colors1. Choose the custom color in the custom color

list in the Paint Style palette.2. Click the Delete Custom Color button . To

retrieve the deleted color, click the Undeletebutton .

15.1.5 Importing Custom ColorsCustom colors can be imported into Expression byloading custom color list files saved in Expressionor Illustrator.

1. Go to the custom color list in the Paint Stylepalette.

2. Click the Load Custom Colors button .3. In the dialog that is opened, choose the file

whose custom color list you want to load, andclick “Open”.

4. In the dialog that is opened, choose the“Replace existing list” or “Add to existing list”option as needed, and click “OK”.

15.1.6 Exporting Custom ColorsCustom colors in the Paint Style palette can beexported as a custom color list file. On Windows,

these files use the extension of “.ccl” (for customcolor list).

1. Go to the custom color list in the Paint Stylepalette.

2. Click the Save Custom Colors button .3. In the dialog that is opened, enter the file name

in the folder that you want, and click “Save”.

15.2 Managing GradientsYou can create your own gradients with color andtransparency variations. And when you open pic-ture files containing gradients, these gradients willalso be added to the list of existing gradients in thePaint Style palette, ready to be applied to paths, asis described in Section 8.12.

The colors in a gradient can be RGB or CMYK col-ors, or a mixture of both, but if you choose a customcolor, it is the RGB/CMYK value, not the name ofthe custom color, that will be recorded in the gradi-ent. This means that gradients will not be affectedby any subsequent changes made to custom colors.

15.2.1 About the Gradient EditorWhen you create or edit gradients, the upper sectionof the Paint Style palette changes into a gradienteditor. The editor contains a name box, followed bya gradient preview bar showing the gradient.

The gradient nodes (pentagons in the gradienteditor under the gradient preview bar) indicate thecolor and transparency at different positions alongthe gradient. When a gradient node is chosen (byclicking it), the color at the node is shown in thepentagon.

The position of the midpoint marker (diamond above the gradient preview bar) between every twogradient nodes indicates where the color and trans-parency values are midway between those of thenodes at either side of it.

Chapter 15: Managing Custom Colors, Gradients, Patterns, Width Profiles and Attribute Sets 135

Below the gradient preview bar is the status barshowing the color, transparency and position valuesfor the chosen node, and a transparency slider.

15.2.2 Creating Gradients1. Go to the gradient list in the Paint Style palette.2. Click the New Gradient button .3. In the dialog that is opened, enter the name you

want, and click “Yes”. The gradient editorappears.

4. Edit the gradient as follows:• Changing gradient names: Enter the

name you want in the box at the top.• Changing colors at gradient nodes:

Click a gradient node to choose it (the coloris shown in the gradient node). Choose a colorin the lower section of the Paint Style palette, asis described in Section 8.11.

• Changing transparency at gradientnodes: Click a gradient node to choose it, anddrag the slider.

• Moving gradient nodes: Drag a gradientnode (the pointer becomes ) along the gradi-ent preview bar to change its position.

• Adding gradient nodes: Place the pointerunder the gradient preview bar (the pointerbecomes ). Click where you want to add agradient node.

• Deleting gradient nodes: Drag a gradientnode away from the gradient preview bar todelete it.

• Moving gradient midpoints: Drag a mid-point marker along the gradient preview barto change its position.

5. Click the Commit button to save thechanges, or click the Cancel button to can-cel the changes.

15.2.3 Editing Gradients1. Double-click the Stroke Preview or Fill Pre-

view where the gradient is shown. Alterna-tively, choose the gradient in the gradient list,and click the Edit Gradient button .

2. Edit the gradient as in Section 15.2.2 above.

15.2.4 Deleting Gradients1. Choose the gradient in the gradient list in the

Paint Style palette.2. Click the Delete Gradient button .

15.3 Managing PatternsWhen you create your own patterns, or open picturefiles containing patterns, these patterns will beadded to the list of existing patterns in the Paint

A Gradient nameB Gradient preview

barC Gradient nodeD Color/Transparency

values

E Transparency sliderF Midpoint markersG CancelH Commit

The gradient editor.


Style palette, ready to be applied to paths as patternfill, as is described in Section 8.13.

15.3.1 About Pattern Definition BoxesWhen you create or edit patterns, a pattern defini-tion box is added over the source path objects. Thepattern definition box is hollow in the center; thisarea defines the size and coverage of the basic unit(or tile), and the grayed out area surrounding the tileshows the effect of the tiling.

15.3.2 Creating Patterns1. Create the paths to be used as a tile of the pat-

tern.2. Choose the Pattern Definition Box tool .3. Drag diagonally across the paths, and release

the mouse button when you have the right tilecoverage and size. A selected pattern definitionbox appears over the paths.

4. If you want to move or transform the patterndefinition box, select it and transform it as forother objects. If you want to edit the paths,deselect the pattern definition box first.

5. When you have finished editing, select the pat-tern definition box. The Define Pattern button

appears at the bottom left of the docu-ment window.

6. Click the Define Pattern button . Thisopens a “Define Pattern” dialog.

7. Enter the name you want in the box, and click“OK”.To make it easier to make adjustments to newly defined patterns, you can set an option in the “Preferences” dialog (Section 18.3.1) to have the pattern definition box remain on-screen after patterns have been defined.

A Pattern definition box

B Source paths

C The tiling patternD Define pattern

The pattern definition controls.

Creating a pattern. Four source path objects with a deselected pattern definition box (left), and a preview of the tiling pattern shown when the pattern definition box is selected (right).

A transformed pattern definition box (right) changes the tiling pattern.


15.3.3 Editing Patterns1. Double-click the Fill Preview where the pattern

is shown. Alternatively, choose the pattern inthe pattern list, and click the Edit Pattern button

.2. Edit the pattern as in Section 15.3.2 above.

15.3.4 Deleting Patterns1. Choose the pattern in the pattern list in the Paint

Style palette.2. Click the Delete Pattern button .

15.4 Copying Colors and AttributesColors can be copied from objects to paths directlyusing a drag-and-drop action, or through the Drop-per Content button in the Paint Style palette.

15.4.1 About the Color DropperWhen you use the Color Dropper tool to pick upcolors, you can either pick up the object color,which is the object’s HSL or RGB values, or thescreen color, which is the color shown in the view,after being affected by other attributes, such asopacity. The screen color is always in RGB values.You can choose the “Pick object color” or “Pickscreen color” option in the Toolbox palette whenthe Color Dropper tool is chosen. You can also setthe default to be the option you want in the“Preferences” dialog (see Section 18.3.3).

15.4.2 About the Dropper ContentThe color picker in the Paint Style palette has aDropper Content button, which acts as a buffer fortransferring colors to and from the view area.

15.4.3 Copying Colors, Gradients and PatternsThe Color Dropper tool lets you pick up colors, gra-dients and patterns from the view area.

1. Choose the Color Dropper tool .2. Enable the Object Color button if you want

to pick up object colors. Otherwise, enable theScreen Color button to pick up screen col-ors. If you want to copy gradients and patterns,use the Object Color button.

3. Choose from these options:• Copying colors, gradients and patterns

to paths: Place the pointer over the color, gra-dient or pattern that you want to copy, and dragit to another stroke or fill area to deposit it.

• Copying colors to the Dropper Content:Click the color you want to copy (the pointerbecomes ). The color is shown in the Drop-per Content button.

• Clearing the Dropper Content: Enable theObject Color button, and click an empty spacein the view area.

15.4.4 Copying Both Stroke and Fill AttributesThe Attribute Dropper tool lets you copy bothstroke and fill attributes from one path to another atthe same time.

1. Choose the Attribute Dropper tool .

The Dropper Content button.


2. Enable the Object Color button if you wantto pick up object colors. Otherwise, enable theScreen Color button to pick up screen col-ors.

3. Place the pointer over the path whose attributesyou want to copy, and drag it to another path todeposit the attributes.

15.4.5 Copying Colors from the Paint Style PaletteYou can copy colors from the Paint Style palette tothe appropriate part of the path, be it the stroke, fill,foreground color or background color.

1. Select the path to which you want to deposit thecolor.

2. Go to a color picker in the Paint Style palette.3. Choose from these options:• Copying colors from the color pre-

views: Place the pointer over the color pre-view, and drag it to Stroke Preview, FillPreview or the Dropper Content button (thepointer becomes ) as needed.

• Copying colors from the Dropper Con-tent: Click the Stroke Preview (for copyingcolors to the strokes) or Fill Preview (for copy-ing colors to the fill) as needed. Click the Drop-per Content button.

15.5 Managing the Item ListSome stroke and fill attributes in the Paint Stylepalette or in path objects can be stored as items,each of which is a set of stroke-only attributes or aset of fill-only attributes. Not all attributes can bestored, however. Attributes that are relevant to the

path as whole, including opacity, paper textures andblending modes, cannot be stored.

15.5.1 About the Item List PaletteThe Item List palette provides temporary storagefor items. An example of a stroke item may be askeletal stroke called “tree” with width of 10 pointsand colorized using blue and yellow, while a fillitem may be a red color with soft-edge width of 12points. The items in the Item List palette can also beapplied to paths directly.

15.5.2 Adding Items1. Select the path whose attributes you want to

add to the Item List palette.2. In the Paint Style palette, click the Stroke Pre-

view to use the stroke attributes. If you want touse the fill attributes, click the Fill Previewinstead.

3. In the Item List palette, click the Create Itembutton .

4. In the dialog that is opened, enter a descriptivename for identifying the item, and click “OK”.

15.5.3 Applying Items1. Select the path to which you want to apply the

item.

A Create itemB Edit itemC Load item list

D Save item listE Delete item

The Item List palette.


2. In the Paint Style palette, click the Stroke Pre-view to use the item on the stroke. If you wantto use it on the fill, click the Fill Previewinstead.

3. In the Item List palette, click an item to apply it.

15.5.4 Editing, Importing and Exporting ItemsThe list of items in the Item List palette can besaved in a separate item list file for future use. OnWindows, these files use the extension of “.itl” (foritem list).

• Renaming items: Click an item, and clickthe Edit Item button . In the dialog that isopened, enter the name you want, and click“OK”.

• Deleting items: Click an item, and click theDelete Item button .

• Importing item lists: Click the Load ItemList button . In the dialog that is opened,choose the item list file you want, and click“Open”.

• Exporting item lists: Click the Save Item Listbutton . In the dialog that is opened, enterthe file name in the folder you want, and click“Save”.

15.6 Managing Variable WidthThe Variable Width palette displays various widthprofiles for use with soft-edged fill, embossed filland skeletal strokes, as is described in Section 8.10.

Besides the width profiles provided in Expression,you can create your own width profiles, and editand arrange them in the Variable Width palette.

15.6.1 Creating and Editing Width ProfilesWidth profiles are automatically created when youcreate paths using a pressure sensitive tablet, withpressure sensitivity turned on (see Section 7.4). Youcan also build up width profiles yourself.

1. Choose a width profile or start with a flat pro-file in the Variable Width palette.

2. Edit it as follows:• Moving profile nodes: Click a profile node,

and drag it to the position you want.• Adding profile nodes: Click the Add Node

button to add a profile node to the right ofthe current node. If no node is chosen, the newnode will be added to the right of the leftmostnode.

• Deleting profile nodes: Click a profilenode, and click the Delete Node button .

15.6.2 Saving and Arranging Width Profiles1. Select the path whose width profile you want to

save, or create a width profile in the VariableWidth palette.

A ResetB Add nodeC Delete nodeD Presets popupE Add to presets

F Edit preset listG Transparency Vari-

ability sliderH Width variability

sliderThe Variable Width palette.


2. Click the Edit Preset List button . This opensa “Preset Variable Width” dialog.

• Adding width profiles: Click the Add Pro-file button to add the profile to the profilelist.

• Duplicating width profiles: Click the pro-file you want to duplicate, and click the AddProfile button .

• Deleting width profiles: Click the profileyou want to delete, and click the Delete Profilebutton .

• Arranging width profiles: Drag a profile upor down to change its position in the profile list.

3. Click “OK”.The “Preset Variable Width” dialog.

141

Chapter 16: Turning Graphics Objects into Flash Buttons

16.1 Exporting as Flash Movie Files and Interactive Flash PagesFlash is becoming a de facto standard format forvector graphics on the Web. Its relatively compactformat, support of user interaction, and efficienttransformation of graphics objects make it a popu-lar format for Web contents.

Expression pictures can be exported to the Flashformat relatively faithfully, but without some of themore sophisticated features like blending modes,embossed/soft-edged fill, paper textures and fullycolored bitmap strokes.

There are other considerations as well. BecauseFlash only uses quadratic curves and not cubiccurves (which are used by Expression 3 and manyother vector illustration software), most exportedpaths have to be approximated. Also, the lack ofsupport for the non-zero winding rule in Flashmeans that Expression has to convert any self-inter-secting paths into simple paths that have no selfcrossings before exporting them.

Furthermore, because Flash supports only constantthickness strokes with round caps and round joints,any thick strokes that use a different type of cap,joint, or a richer style (e.g., a skeletal stroke) haveto be flattened into explicit outlines. While all theseadditional procedures help to ensure a more faithfulexport of the picture, they inevitably also reduce theefficiency of the export process, and increase thesize of the exported file. The number of quantiza-tion levels for the vectorization of bitmap strokescan be adjusted with an option in the “Preferences”dialog (see Section 18.5.1).

16.2 About the Flash Button PaletteYou can easily turn an Expression picture into aninteractive web page without knowing a single lineof scripting! Using the Flash Button palette, anyindividual graphics object or group of graphicsobjects can be turned into an interactive Flash but-ton by exporting the Expression picture file as anSWF file. The SWF file can then be placed in yourweb page directly.

If you define a multi-view stroke, any path appliedwith the multi-view stroke can also be exported as amulti-frame SWF movie by pressing the ExportStroke Animation button . Such SWF moviescan subsequently be imported into third-party Flashmovie applications for further editing.

A Normal State Effects column. The two popup buttons in this column set the motion and color effects of the resulting button in the normal state (i.e., when the mouse pointer is neither on top of the button object nor clicking the but-ton.) See Section 16.5 for details.

B Pointer-Over State Effects column. The two popup buttons in this column set the motion

The Flash Button palette.


and color effects of the resulting button when the mouse pointer is on top of the button object.

C Pointer-Click State Effects column. The two popup buttons in this column set the motion and color effects of the button when the but-ton object is being clicked.

D Animation cycle time in seconds. This meter control sets the duration of one cycle of the effects that are chosen in the A, B and C col-umns.

E Number of effect cycles to run before stopping. The default setting is “perpetual”. See Section 16.9 for details.

F Reciprocate toggle button . If this button is depressed, the animation effect will be played backward after a forward cycle has finished. The cycle time in this case refers to the time for a complete forward-and-backward sequence. This button is only applicable to objects that can have animation effects (e.g., an object with a multi-view stroke, or a stroke path with a dash pattern and snake offset.)

G Export animation effects as an SWF movie . (Applicable to objects that can have anima-tion effects.)

H Reset button. Clears all Flash button settings and reverts the graphics object(s) to the nor-mal state.

I Stroke button display. Shows the stroke button being modified. If the currently selected object has no Flash settings yet, this display will be dimmed and un-depressed. If multiple objects are selected or the current selection cannot be used as a Flash button, the display will be blanked.

J URL of the button. This is the URL to be jumped to when the button is clicked.

K Motion effect magnitude. This basically controls the strength of all motion effects. Note the dif-ferent interpretations of this value for different effects as is described in Section 16.6.

L Color effect magnitude. This basically controls the strength of all color effects. Note the differ-ent interpretations of this value for different effects as is described in Section 16.6.

M URL target. The name of the target HTML frame to replace with the URL content. You can enter any target name or choose one of the stan-

dard targets from the list. Refer to any HTML manual or Section 16.4 for details.

16.3 Choosing Flash SettingsThe Flash format supports simple user interactionswith objects and groups of objects. Expressiontakes advantage of these features, and allows anobject or object group to become a Flash button, tohave different animated effects under differentmouse pointer conditions, and to perform a hyper-link jump to a specified URL (Uniform ResourceLocator).

1. Select the object or group.2. Choose the flash settings and options in the

Flash Button palette. For details, refer to thefollowing sections.

16.4 URL and Target SettingsYou can create a hyperlink for an object by indicat-ing an URL and target for it. The Flash Button pal-ette offers some special targets:

• _blank: This specifies that no existing windowor frame should be replaced. Instead, a newwindow should be opened to hold the new con-tents.

• _self: This specifies that the current frame orwindow should be replaced with the new con-tents.

• _parent: This specifies that the new contentsshould be loaded into the parent window orframeset containing the frame with the Flashdocument. If the current frame is the top-levelframe, it is equivalent to the target “_self”.

• _top: This specifies that the new contentsshould be loaded into the current window,replacing any frames currently displayed.

Chapter 16: Turning Graphics Objects into Flash Buttons 143

16.5 Motion Effects, Color Effects and Pointer StatesThere are two types of animation effects for objects,namely, motion effects and color effects. Motioneffects make objects move in various ways, e.g.,pulsate, rock, rotate, or even animated (by choosingthe Animate motion effect if the path uses amulti-view stroke). Color effects modify the tone,color or transparency of objects.

The Flash Button palette lets you specify three setsof animation effects for an object, one for each ofthe three user interaction states, so that the appro-priate set of animation effects will be activateddepending on the state the object is in.

• Normal state: This is when the mousepointer is not touching the object.

• Pointer over state: This is when themouse pointer is over the object; the object isnot being clicked yet.

• Pointer click state: This is when theobject is being clicked.

Motion Effects

Color Effects

16.6 Effect Setting SlidersYou can introduce variations to a particular set ofanimation effects by specifying the degree of themotion or color change. In the Flash Button palette,there are two magnitude setting sliders, each ofwhich controls the set of effects (motion and coloreffects) to the left of itself. The parameter you

No effect Pulsate Horizontal Pulsate Vertical Pulsate Rock X Vibrate

Y Vibrate XY Vibrate Rotate Enlarge Shrink Animate

No effect Fade Blink

Brighten Darken


choose in a slider controls the effects specific toeach motion or color effect, as is tabulated below.

16.7 Reciprocating Multi-View Stroke AnimationsFor multi-view strokes using the Animate motioneffect, the multi-view stroke will be animated in theFlash export, with the shape parameter varying withtime. You can enable the “Reciprocate” option tomake the animation reciprocating, i.e., to make theshape parameter increase from 0% to 100% anddecrease back to 0%. If it is not reciprocating, theshape parameter will increase from 0% to 100%and then go straight back to 0% again.

16.8 Speed of EffectsMost of the animation effects are cyclical, and thespeed of the effects can be controlled by specifyinga cycle time parameter (in seconds, with decimals ifneeded) in the “Effect cycle time” box.

16.9 Number of Effect CyclesThe Cycle popup menu in the Flash Button palettelets you specify the number of times you want a setof effects to be repeated. You can choose the “Per-petual” option to repeat an effect forever, or choosea finite number of times, up to 40 times. Towardsthe end of the repeating period, the strength of theeffect will diminish, and finally any motion orchange will be stopped. Note that this setting doesnot apply to one-off effects such as “Enlarge” and“Shrink”.

16.10 Exporting to Flash Format1. Choose File > Export > Flash Export.2. In the dialog that is opened, enter the file name

in the folder you want and click “Save”.3. In the dialog that is opened, choose options as

follows:• Choosing output area: Enable “Paper

frame” to output the area within the documentframe. To output the area bounded by the cropmarks, enable “Crop marks”. To output the areabounded by the bounding box of all objects,enable “Objects bounding box”.

• Setting raster resolution and frame rate:Choose the raster resolution and frame rate youwant from the popup menus.

Effect Interpretation of the Setting Parameter

Pulsate The amount of scaling (5% -100%).

Rock The angular amount of the rock-ing.

Vibrate The amount of shifting (5%-100%).

Rotate Indicates a counterclockwise rotation when the slider is at the right side.

Enlarge The amount of scaling (5%-100%).

Shrink The amount of shrinking (95%-5%).

Stroke Ani-mation

No effect on multi-view stroke animation. For snake-path ani-mation, the slider controls the direction of the snaking: having the slider at the left side indi-cates start-to-end snaking, hav-ing the slider at the right side indicates end-to-start snaking.

Color Effects The amount of color/tonal/trans-parency change (5%-100%).

Chapter 16: Turning Graphics Objects into Flash Buttons 145

• Emulating joints and caps: Enable “Emu-late joint/caps” if you want Expression to emu-late the stroke joints and caps that are notsupported by Flash.

• Protecting output from being edited:Enable “Protect from editing” to prevent theoutput from being edited in the Flash program.

4. Click “OK”. Expression will start the exportprocess, and a progress bar appears to show theestimated time to completion. To cancel theprocess at any time, click “Cancel”, or, pressCommand-Period (Macintosh) or the Esckey (Windows).

147

Chapter 17: Printing, Saving and Exporting

Expression documents can be saved in the nativeformat, copied to other applications through theclipboard, exported to other vector and bitmap for-mats, and output to a printer.

17.1 Saving DocumentsExpression documents are saved in the Expressionfile format, which uses the file extension of “.xpr”on Windows. You can choose to save Expressionfiles in binary or text format, and include a thumb-nail image with size of up to 64x64 pixels if youwant. The thumbnail image will be shown when thefile is chosen in the file opening dialog. The thumb-nail image may be also saved at a slightly biggersize, up to 100x100 pixels. You can set this optionin the “Preferences” dialog (Section 18.5.2).

For crash recovery purposes, Expression savesmodified documents periodically into rescue files.These rescue files are also saved in Expression’snative file format. They are automatically removedas soon as the document has been properly saved orclosed. Rescue files are opened automatically on asubsequent launch if the program has been termi-nated improperly. To make the saving of the rescuefile less interruptive, pixel data in bitmap objects isnot recorded. Since bitmap objects are oftenimported from external bitmap files, the images areusually recoverable from the original source evenin the case of a crash.

Refer to Section 18.5.2 for instructions on settingthe options for saving Expression documents andrescue files.

• Saving documents: Choose File > Save. Ifthe document is being saved for the first time, adialog opens. Enter the file name in the folderyou want, and click “Save”.

• Saving documents under new names:Choose File > Save As, and in the dialog that isopened, enter the new name in the folder youwant and click “Save”. If you want both theoriginal and new documents to remain openedafter saving, choose File > Save A Copyinstead.

17.2 Using Crop MarksYou can use a set of crop marks to define a rectan-gular area (or crop area) in a file for output use. Ifno crop marks are set, the document frame orbounding box of objects is usually used as the out-put boundary instead.

17.2.1 Setting Crop Marks• By dragging out a marquee: Choose Edit

> Crop Marks > Set, and drag diagonally acrossthe area (in the view area) that you want to setas the crop area.

• By entering position coordinates: ChooseEdit > Crop Marks > Set, and click in the viewarea to open a “Set Crop Marks” dialog. Enterthe coordinates of the two diagonally oppositecorners of the crop area, and click “OK”.

• Using the object selection’s boundingbox: Select the objects whose bounding boxyou want to use as the boundary of the croparea. Choose Edit > Crop Marks > FromBounding Box.

17.2.2 Removing Crop MarksChoose Edit > Crop Marks > Remove.


17.3 Exporting to PostScript Based FormatsExpression documents can be exported to the Illus-trator 3.0, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0/PDF file formats and theEPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file format. You canalso use the clipboard to paste objects directly fromExpression to and from any applications that sup-port the AICB (Adobe Illustrator Clipboard) for-mat.

Note, however, that because some Expression fea-tures (e.g., transparency) are not supported by someof these file formats, some of these features have tobe approximated when exported; some features arelost when exported.

The best way to preserve the rich features ofExpression is to rasterize them to a bitmap format,but sometimes it is useful to export a picture to theEPS format to preserve the crispness of lines andtext.

17.3.1 Exporting to EPS Format or Illustrator Formats Without Transparency Support1. In the File menu, choose Export > Illustrator

Export, or Export > EPS Export as needed.2. In the dialog that is opened, enter the file name

in the folder you want and click “Save”.3. In the dialog that is opened, choose from the

options:• For Illustrator 3, 5 or 7 format: Choose the

Illustrator format you want to use. Choose the“Export hidden layers” option if you want toexport hidden layers as well as shown layers.

• For EPS format: Choose “No preview image”to save the file without a thumbnail image.Alternatively, choose “PICT resource” (Macin-tosh) or “Binary TIFF preview” (Windows) tosave a thumbnail image in the bitmap formatyou want. You may also choose “Platform inde-

pendent preview” to save a preview image in aspecial PostScript comment block as defined inthe PostScript Reference Manual. Note, how-ever, that some applications ignore the platformindependent preview comments block.

4. Click “OK”. Expression starts the export pro-cess, and a progress bar appears to show theestimated time to completion. To cancel theprocess at any time, click “Cancel”, or, pressCommand-Period (Macintosh) or the Esckey (Windows).

17.3.2 Exporting to the PDF Format1. In the File menu, choose Export > PDF Export.

Alternatively, choose Export > IllustratorExport and then choose the “9.0/PDF” option.

2. In the dialog that is opened, enter the file namein the folder you want and click “Save”.

3. In the dialog that is opened, choose PDF set-tings as follows:

• Setting objects for rasterization: You canchoose which types of objects to be rasterizedfor the export: objects with soft-edged orembossed fill, those with paper textures, thosewith transparent gradients, and those with bit-map strokes.

• Setting rasterization resolution: If youhave chosen to rasterize objects for the export,you can choose the resolution as well.

• Setting bitmap stroke vectorizationlevel: If you have chosen not to rasterize bit-map strokes, bitmap strokes will be vectorizedinto overlapping solid fill objects for the export.You can choose the number of overlappingobjects to create for each bitmap stroke.

• Exporting hidden layers: Choose the“Export hidden layers” option if you want toexport hidden layers as well as shown layers.

4. Click “OK” to start the exporting process.

Chapter 17: Printing, Saving and Exporting 149

17.4 Rasterizing to Bitmap FormatsPictures in Expression can be rasterized to differentbitmap file formats, including PSD (with layers andalpha channel), TIFF (with alpha channel), JPEG,GIF, PNG and BMP (for Windows only). If youhave Photoshop 4 or above, all the format pluginsavailable to the application are also available.

Besides outputting to bitmap files, you can alsoconvert an area of the view area to a bitmap objectdirectly, as is described in Section 14.1.

1. Choose File > Save As Bitmap.2. Setting name and file format: In the dialog

that is opened, enter the name you want, andchoose the file format to use. Click “Save”.

3. In the dialog that is opened, choose bitmap set-tings as follows:

• Keeping aspect ratio: Turn on the “Keepaspect ratio” option if you want Expression toautomatically update the counterpart to thewidth or height value that you are editing inorder to maintain the aspect ratio of the cropmark area (if used) or the document frame.

• Setting output size and resolution: In the“Pixel dimension” and “Output size” sections,enter the values you want.

• Saving with alpha channel: Some bitmapformats support alpha channels (e.g., TIFF andPSD). Turn on the “Save alpha channel” optionif you want to include them in the bitmap.

• Saving with layers (PSD only): The PSDbitmap format supports layers. Turn on the“Save with layers” option if you want toinclude them in the bitmap.

• Enabling antialiasing: Turn on the “Anti-alias” option if you want the bitmap to be anti-aliased.

• Setting output area: Turn on the “Save cropmark region only” option if you want to raster-ize only the area bounded by the crop marks.This option is available only if crop marks havealready been set.

4. Click “OK”. Expression starts the rasterizationprocess, and a progress bar appears to show theestimated time to completion. To cancel theprocess at any time, click “Cancel”, or, pressCommand-Period (Macintosh) or the Esckey (Windows).

17.5 Exporting through the ClipboardIf you have copied some graphics objects fromExpression into the clipboard, those objects can bepasted into another application in one of the follow-ing formats, depending on the type of clipboarddata formats the application requested:

• Windows BMP (Windows only)• PICT Image (Macintosh only)• PDF• AICB (Adobe Illustrator Clipboard) formats• Plain Text (Text objects only)Since Photoshop and Illustrator will normallyrequest AICB in favor of image formats like BMPor PICT, objects with transparency will not beexported faithfully. You could set the AICB optionin the “Preferences” dialog to “Always rasterize” or“PDF format” to tell Expression to supply only ras-terized images or PDF format data into the clip-board.

A rasterization progress bar.


17.6 Printing DocumentsExpression rasterizes documents into images beforeprinting them. When you initiate the printing pro-cess, a “Print Rasterization Settings” dialog will bedisplayed to let you choose the rasterization resolu-tion. The maximum rasterization resolution will bethe printer’s maximum resolution. In the “PrintRasterization Settings” dialog, a small preview ofthe printed page based on the current choice ofprinting area (document frame or crop mark region)will also be shown, with the printer’s margins inred. The preview image will be updated as the print-ing area is changed.

1. Choose File > Print. This opens the operatingsystem’s printing dialog.

2. Choose the settings you want, and click “Print”(Macintosh) or “OK” (Windows).

3. In the dialog that is opened, choose print raster-ization settings as follows:

• Choosing printing resolution: Choose theresolution (in dpi) at which you want to printthe picture.

• Choosing printing area: Enable “Print cropmark region” to print the area bounded by thecrop marks. If you want to print the area withinthe document frame instead, disable this option.This option is available only if crop marks havealready been set.

• Centering image: Enable “Center image” toalign the picture center with the paper center forprinting.

4. Click “OK”. Expression starts the rasteriza-tion/printing process, and a progress barappears to show the estimated time to comple-tion. To cancel the process at any time, click“Cancel”, or, press Command-Period(Macintosh) or the Esc key (Windows).

The “Print Rasterization Settings” dialog.

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Chapter 18: Customizing Expression 3

18.1 Setting Options and PreferencesCertain tool behavior, object operations, as well asviewing and output options can be set to suit yourworking needs and personal preference. These set-tings are organized into different preference pagesin the “Preferences” dialog.

18.1.1 Changing Preferences1. Choose File > Preferences. This opens a

“Preferences” dialog, showing the “General”preference page.

2. To switch to another page, use the popup menuat the top of the dialog.

3. Make the changes you want (see below for adescription of each item), and click “OK”.

Your preferences are saved in a preference file. Thefollowing settings are also saved in the same file:option settings, other persistent tool and controlstates, including plugin folder settings, WACOMtablet Tool ID tool mappings, quick stroke bind-ings, color management settings, suppressed mes-sage list settings etc.

18.2 “General” Preferences

18.2.1 Objects• Quick (area) select: When you drag a dese-

lected object using an object selection tool, itwill be selected; to move it, you need to dragagain. However, if the “Quick (area) select”option is turned on, you will be able to selectand move an object in one dragging action.

• Transform patterns: When you scale, rotateor otherwise transform a path that has a patternfill, the pattern will be transformed accordingly.Turn off the “Transform patterns” option if youwant the pattern applied to an object to be in itsoriginal size and orientation despite objecttransformations.

• Scale line weight: When you scale a paththat uses a basic stroke or gradient stroke, thevalue of the stroke width remains unchanged.Turn on the “Scale line width” option if youwant the value of the stroke width to be scaledup or down with the path.

• Path operations: Keep originals: Turn onthis option to keep the source paths after usingpath operations. For details on path operations,see Section 7.15.

• Create new layer above current layer:Turn on this option if you want new layers to becreated above the current layer, and not at thetop of the layer list.

• Ask for layer name when creating newlayer: Turn on this option if you want a dialogfor entering layer names to be automaticallyopened every time you create a new layer. Ifthis option is turned off, the new layers will benamed “Layer 1”, “Layer 2” etc.

• Auto commit transforms: Turn on thisoption if you want transformations to be com-mitted to automatically after each transforma-tion. With this option on, values of stroke widthalways reflect the true visual thickness of thestrokes, but for transformations that do not pre-serve the aspect ratio of objects, compromisedstroke widths may result. To use this option onall kinds of transformations, choose “Allkinds”. To use this option on all transformationsexcept for perspective transformations, choose


“Except perspective”. See Section 12.9.1. Thisoption is also available directly from File >Options.

• Size/Bounds uses path bounding box:When you are using the Size or Bounds pagesin the Transformation palette to specify exactobject positions, the size and bounds could bereferring to: (1) the bounding box of all visibleparts of the object(s) including soft-edges orstrokes; or (2) the bounding box of the pathsonly. If this option is turned on, the boundingbox of the object path (instead of the boundingbox of all visible parts) will be used as thebounds of the object.

• Frozen layer memory limit: Freezing alayer rasterizes a layer’s objects to a bitmap at aresolution of your choice. You can specify anupper limit of the amount of memory you areprepared to use for rasterizing each layer.

• Path simplification tolerance: The defaulttightness of fit value used in path smoothing is1.0, but you can choose a value within the rangeof 0.1 (tight) and 10 (very loose). This valuecan also be accessed from Objects > SmoothPath.

• Undo levels: The default number of undo lev-els is 15, but you can choose a number withinthe range of 2 to 200. For this change to takeplace, you need to restart Expression.

18.2.2 Arrangement• Angular constraint steps: The default num-

ber of angular constraint steps is 8, but you canchoose a number within the range of 1 to 360steps.

• Nudge increment: The default distancetraveled by an object selection or node selectionby nudging it once (i.e., by pressing an arrowkey once) is 1 point, but you can choose a valuewithin the range of 0 to 72 points.

• Stack gap size: The default gap betweenstacked objects is 8 points, but you can choose avalue within the range of -2,000 to 2,000 points.

18.2.3 Palette• Draggable color wheel: Turn on this

option if you want to choose hues by draggingthe Paint Style palette’s color wheel (thus shift-ing the hue spectrum) until the hue you want isbeing pointed at by the triangle. With thisoption turned off, the entire hue spectrum isshown as a column, with a circle on it to indi-cate the chosen hue. (See Section 8.11.1.) Notethat this option affects the color wheel in boththe Paint Style palette and the Colorize palette.

• Dockable palettes (Windows only): Turnoff this option to prevent palettes from dockingwhen they are dragged near the edges of theworkspace.

18.2.4 Messages and Warnings• Display all messages and warnings:

This option is available only if you have chosento hide some messages and warnings previ-ously. Enable this option to let them be shownagain.

• Beeps replace hidden messages: Thisoption is available only if you have chosen tohide some messages and warnings previously.Disable this option if you do not want Expres-sion to indicate a hidden message or warningwith a beeping sound.

18.3 “Tools” Preferences

18.3.1 General Options• Drawing tools: Append to path: Turn on

this option if you want to be able to start or end

Chapter 18: Customizing Expression 3 153

new paths at existing open paths. Note that thisoption only applies to the node-placing drawingtools (i.e., not the Freehand Pen tool, which hasits own path appending controls). This option isalso available from the Toolbox palette whensuch a tool is chosen, or directly from File >Options.

• Highlight new paths: Turn off this option ifyou want paths to be deselected immediatelyafter they are created. When drawing manypaths that are close together (e.g., a patch ofgrass), this will prevent paths from being acci-dentally moved. This option is also availabledirectly from File > Options.

• No fill with skeletal strokes: Turn off thisoption if you want to keep a path’s fill whenyou change skeletal strokes.

• Direct drag width handle: If this option isturned off, you will need to hold the keyin order to drag the width handle of a skeletalstroke. This additional requirement prevents thestroke width and stroke shear from being acci-dentally changed during path selection andarrangement.

• Ellipse tool draws from center: Turn onthis option if you want the pointer position to beused as the center of the ellipses to be created.With this option turned off, the pointer positionis used as a corner of the bounding box of theellipses. This option is also available from theToolbox palette when the Ellipse tool is chosen.

• Apply variable width profile to newpaths: Turn on this option if you want thewidth profile in the Variable Width palette to beautomatically applied to newly created paths.

• Object tool clicks show input dialog:Normally, when you click in the view area withthe Rectangle, Ellipse, Twirl Star or Line tools,a dialog box will appear to let you specify theexact dimensions of these shapes using numeri-

cal values. Turn off this option if you do notwant this feature.

• Define pattern: Keep definition box:Normally, after defining a pattern, the patterndefinition box will no longer be shown in theview area. However, if you want to keep thepattern definition box after defining a pattern(e.g., to make it more convenient for editingand re-defining patterns immediately afterdefining patterns), you can turn on this option.

18.3.2 Freehand Pen Tool• Show pressure trail: Turn on this option if

you want the shape of the variable width stroketo be shown while you are dragging on a tabletwith pressure sensitivity turned on. If thisoption is turned off, the shape of the resultingstroke will be shown only after you release thepressure on the tablet. This option is also avail-able directly from File > Options.

• Tightness of fit: The tighter a curve is fitted tothe freely drawn trail, the more nodes will thecurve have, and the closer will the shape of thecurve resemble that of the trail. Choose fromthe options of “Very Tight”, “Tight”, “Normal”,“Loose”, and “Very Loose”.

• Enable pressure sensitivity: Turn off thisoption if you want Expression to ignore thepressure information from your stylus as youuse the Freehand Pen tool (to draw paths) or theBitmap Pen tool (to paint bitmap trails).

• Maximum pressure brush width: This isthe width a stroke or part of a stroke will have ifthe pressure applied at that part is the maximumlevel detected by the pen/tablet. The defaultbrush width at maximum pressure is 60 pixels,but you can change it to any number within therange of 4 and 60. This option is also availablefrom the Toolbox palette when the FreehandPen tool is chosen.


18.3.3 Color Dropper Tool• Pick: When the Color Dropper tool is used to

pick up colors on objects, the “Object color”option (the default) makes it pick up the objectcolor, i.e., the color values in RGB, HSL valuesetc. Choose the “Screen color” option if youwant it to pick up the color as is shown on thescreen, after being affected by other attributessuch as transparency and gradients. This optionis also available from the Toolbox palette whenthe Color Dropper tool is chosen.

• Reset colorization: When copying colors toan already colorized object, the resulting color(i.e., the color displayed after colorization) canlook completely different from the color cop-ied. You can turn on this option to automaticallyreset any colorization on an object before copy-ing colors to it using the Color Dropper tool.

18.3.4 Tablet/Digitizer Support• Z-Axis Rotation: Hand tool rotates

paper: Turn on this option if you want therotation of the WACOM 4D mouse under theHand tool to be used for controlling the rotationof the paper.

• Z-Axis Rotation: Direct object rotation:Turn on this option if you want the rotation ofthe WACOM 4D mouse under a selection toolto be used for controlling the rotation ofselected objects.

• Z-Axis Rotation: Use pen tilt for rotation:Turn on this option if you want the tilt angledetected by the WACOM pen to be used forcontrolling the rotation of the paper or ofselected objects. Also turn on the “Hand toolrotates paper” and/or “Direct object rotation”options as needed.

• Mouse wheel: You can assign the rolling ofthe mouse wheel to different tasks. Choose“Zoom” to use it for zooming. Choose “V/Hscroll” for scrolling primarily vertically (hori-

zontal scrolling accessed with a modifier key),and “H/V scroll” for scrolling primarily hori-zontally. “Switch tool” lets you toggle amongtools in the same tool group, e.g., within thedefinition box tools, or within the selectiontools.

• Mouse wheel zooms about mouse posi-tion: Turn on this option if you want certaingraphics to remain visible in the view areawhile you zoom into it using the mouse wheel.With this option turned on, the pointer positionis used as the zoom center, and the graphicsnear it will remain visible regardless of themagnification level.

18.4 “View and Display” Preferences

18.4.1 Grid and Snapping• Snap to nodes: Turn on this option to enable

node snapping in the file.• Snap to guides: Turn on this option to enable

guide snapping in the file.• Show guides: Turn off this option if you want

to hide the guides in the file.• Snap to grid: Turn on this option to enable

grid snapping in the file.• Show grid: Turn on this option to show the

grid in the file.• Grid spacing: The default grid spacing is 36

points, but you can choose a value in the rangeof 1 to 360 points.

18.4.2 Display Quality• Path, Wireframe and Preview: The default

option is “Preview”, but you can change it to“Path” or “Wireframe”. For more details, seeSection 5.7.7.

Chapter 18: Customizing Expression 3 155

• Greek limit: The default greek limit (the min-imum pixel size below which text objects willbe shown as gray lines) is 10 pixels, but you canchoose a value within the range of 1 to 100 pix-els.

18.4.3 Other Settings• Ruler unit: The default unit for the rulers is the

inch, but you can choose to use millimeters,centimeters, picas or points. If you want to usethis setting for all files as well, enable the “Setas Default” option.

• Show printable area: Turn off this option ifyou do not want to see the actual paper size andprintable area in the document window.

• Set as default: Turn on this option if youwant the settings at the left hand side of the“View and Display” page to be used in all filesas well as the current one.

18.4.4 Display Options• Show selected object nodes: Turn off

this option if you do not want the nodes of pathsto be shown even when the paths are selected.The paths themselves are still highlighted. Thisoption is also available directly from File >Options.

• Show resize handles: Usually, resize han-dles are shown around an object selection, so

that you can scale, rotate and shear objects.Turn off the “Show resize handles” option tohide them.

• Display transparency: Turn off this optionif you want all paths in the view area to beshown as if they are 100% opaque. Use thisoption to check how the picture will look ifexported to a format that does not support trans-parency.

• Flip view synchronizes view parame-ters: Turn on this option if you want viewparameters (e.g., magnification level, documentframe etc.) of opened documents to be made thesame when you flip through them.

• Onion skin opacity: The higher this value,the less clearly the objects from the adjacentopened document can be shown through.

18.4.5 Context Menu Items• Right-clicking in the view area (or Ctrl+click-

ing on Macintosh) will bring up a context menuwith activated commands that are relevant tothe current selection. This part of the“Preferences” dialog lets you customize thecontext menu. Commands are grouped into cat-egories according to function, e.g., the “Object”category includes commands such as “LockObject”, “Unlock Object”, “Export As ImageFile” etc. Choose the command categories thatyou want to include in the context menu.

18.5 “Print, Save and Export” Preferences

18.5.1 Print/Export• Refit curves to output paths: Turn on this

option if you want to fit smooth curves to theresulting stroke shapes exported to an external


format or for printing. Fitting smooth curvesreduces the number of nodes but may introducea slight distortion to the output shapes.

• Split long path (PostScript): Turn on thisoption if you want to split long, complex pathswhen printing or exporting a file.

• Path quality: By default, the “Best” option isused, but you can choose the “Draft” or the“Normal” option.

• Bitmap stroke vectorization: The defaultnumber of levels used to vectorize bitmapstrokes in file exports is 3, but you can choose anumber within the range of 1 to 16 levels.

18.5.2 Native Format Save Options• Binary format: Expression files are saved in

binary format. Turn off the “Binary format”option if you want to save them in text format.

• Thumbnail: Each Expression file is savedwith a small image, which is shown in the fileopening dialog as a reference. Choose the“Large” option for a larger image, or the “Off”option to not save a thumbnail at all.

• Thumbnail image range: A thumbnailimage contains objects within the boundaries ofthe paper frame. Choose the “Crop marks”option or the “Objects bounding box” option ifyou want to use these areas as the thumbnailimage area.

• Auto save: Expression periodically savesopened files for backup purposes. This option

lets you choose how often (“Never”, “Seldom”,“Normal”, or “Frequently”) this is done. Formore about auto-save files, see Section 5.1.1.

18.5.3 Clipboard• AICB format: AICB stands for Adobe Illus-

trator Clipboard (see Section 17.5). Whencopying and pasting to and from Illustrator andother compatible applications, Expression canmake use of one of the AICB formats, the PDFformat or rasterize the graphics to bitmaps. TheAICB 3.0 format is compatible with Illustrator4.0 and before, and the AICB 5.0 format iscompatible with Illustrator 6.0 and before. Ifyou have Illustrator 7.0 or later, you can use theAICB 7.0 format to take advantage of the newerfeatures (e.g., RGB colors).

• Rasterization resolution: If you choose theAICB format’s “Always rasterize” option, youcan choose the rasterization resolution as well.

18.6 “Keyboard Shortcuts” PreferencesTo assign a new shortcut or to modify an existingone, choose the menu command, tool group or toolthat you want. The currently assigned shortcut keycombination will be shown. To make a new assign-ment, choose the combination of shortcut key andmodifier key that you want, and click “DefineShortcut”.

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Menu Commands

File MenuFile > New: Opens a blank document.

File > Open: Opens a dialog to let you choose anexisting document to open.

File > Recent Files: Lets you choose an existingdocument to open from the list of most recentlyopened documents.

File > Close: Closes the current document, or, if itcontains unsaved modifications, asks if the docu-ment should be saved before closing.

File > Save: Saves the current document, or, in thecase of an untitled document, opens a dialog to letyou specify the file name with which to save thedocument.

File > Save As: Opens a dialog to let you enter anew file name to be used for saving the current doc-ument.

File > Save A Copy: Opens a dialog to let yousave the current document under a new name, andthen opens the new document without closing theoriginal one.

File > Revert To Saved: Reverses all modifica-tions made to the current document to the statewhen it was last saved.

File > Close All: Closes all opened documents, or,in the case of documents with unsaved modifica-tions, asks if those documents should be savedbefore closing.

File > Import Bitmap: Opens a dialog to let youchoose an existing bitmap file to open.

File > Save As Bitmap: Opens a dialog to let youenter a file name for the bitmap, and then opensanother dialog to let you choose bitmap settings.

File > Export > Illustrator Export: Opens a dia-log to let you enter a file name for the Illustrator

file, and then opens another dialog to let you choosesettings for the export.

File > Export > Flash Export: Opens a dialog tolet you enter a file name for the Flash file, and thenopens another dialog to let you choose settings forthe export.

File > Export > EPS Export: Opens a dialog to letyou enter a file name for the EPS file, and thenopens another dialog to let you choose settings forthe export.

File > Export > PDF Export: Opens a dialog to letyou enter a file name for the PDF file, and thenopens another dialog to let you choose settings forthe export.

File > Document Setup: Opens a dialog to letyou specify the dimensions and orientation of thepaper frame for the current document.

File > Preferences: Opens a dialog to let you setoptions and parameters related to general programbehavior, tool operations, display preferences,export options and shortcut assignment.

File > Options: Lets you turn on and off certainfrequently used preference items.

File > Color Management: Opens a dialog tolet you choose color management settings, such ascolor profiles and rendering intent.

File > Print: Opens the operating system’s printdialog to let you specify a printer and related set-tings, and then to open another dialog to let youchoose the resolution at which to rasterize the doc-ument for printing.

File > Exit: Ends the Expression session.

Edit MenuEdit > Undo: Reverses the last change made to thecurrent document.


Edit > Redo: Reverses the last undo operation.

Edit > Cut: Copies the selected objects to the clip-board, and deletes them from their original posi-tion.

Edit > Copy: Copies the selected objects to theclipboard.

Edit > Paste: Copies the clipboard contents to thecenter of the current document.

Edit > Clear: Deletes the selected objects.

Edit > Paste In Front: Copies the clipboard con-tents at the same position in the view area as theoriginal objects, but places them one step in front ofthe currently selected object.

Edit > Paste In Back: Copies the clipboard con-tents at the same position in the view area as theoriginal objects, but places them one step behindthe currently selected object.

Edit > Paste With Layer: Copies the clipboardcontents with their layers to the current document.

Edit > Duplicate: Duplicates the selected objectsand places them next to the original objects.

Edit > Clone: Creates a clone object from theselected object.

Edit > Select All: Selects all unlocked objects inthe current document.

Edit > Deselect All: Deselects all objects in thecurrent document.

Edit > Invert Selection: Selects all formerlydeselected objects and deselects all formerlyselected objects.

Edit > Select By: Opens a dialog to let you specifythe criteria by which to select objects in the currentdocument.

Edit > Select Master: Selects the master of thecurrently selected clone.

Edit > Crop Marks > Set: Shows a set of rubbercross lines to let you drag out the crop mark area.

Edit > Crop Marks > From Bounding Box:Creates a set of crop marks at the position of thebounding box of the currently selected objects.

Edit > Crop Marks > Remove: Removes the setof crop marks in the current document.

Edit > Set Ruler Origin: Lets you change the rulerorigin by clicking or dragging.

Arrange MenuArrange > To Front: Moves the selected object infront of all other objects in the same layer.

Arrange > To Back: Moves the selected objectbehind all other objects in the same layer.

Arrange > Up One: Moves the selected objectone object up in the same layer, i.e., moves theobject in front of the object originally in front of it.

Arrange > Down One: Moves the selectedobject one object down in the same layer, i.e.,moves the object behind the object originallybehind it.

Arrange > Group: Forms a group from theselected objects.

Arrange > Make Warp Group: Forms a warpgroup from the selected objects.

Arrange > Ungroup: Breaks up the selectedgroup.

Arrange > Repeat Last Transform: Applies thesession’s previous transformation to the selectedobjects.

Arrange > Repeat Accumulated Transform:Applies the session’s cumulative transformation tothe selected objects.

Arrange > Reset Transform: Reverts theselected object to the state before any transforma-tion was applied to it.

Arrange > Commit Transform: Multiplies thetransformation to the selected object to modify itsbase geometry before removing the transformationinformation.

Menu Commands 159

Arrange > Align > Top Edges: Aligns topedges of the selected objects to the top edge of thetopmost object.

Arrange > Align > Bottom Edges: Aligns bot-tom edges of the selected objects to the bottom edgeof the bottommost object.

Arrange > Align > Left Edges: Aligns left edgesof the selected objects to the left edge of the left-most object.

Arrange > Align > Right Edges: Aligns rightedges of the selected objects to the right edge of therightmost object.

Arrange > Align > Vertical Centers: Alignsvertical centers (horizontal axes) of the selectedobjects to the selection’s original vertical center.

Arrange > Align > Horizontal Centers: Alignshorizontal centers (vertical axes) of the selectedobjects to the selection’s original horizontal center.

Arrange > Distribute > Top Edges: Movesobjects that are between the topmost and bottom-most objects in the selection so that all top edges areevenly spaced in the vertical direction.

Arrange > Distribute > Bottom Edges: Movesobjects that are between the topmost and bottom-most objects in the selection so that all bottomedges are evenly spaced in the vertical direction.

Arrange > Distribute > Left Edges: Movesobjects that are between the leftmost and rightmostobjects in the selection so that all left edges areevenly spaced in the horizontal direction.

Arrange > Distribute > Right Edges: Movesobjects that are between the leftmost and rightmostobjects in the selection so that all right edges areevenly spaced in the horizontal direction.

Arrange > Distribute > Vertical Centers:Moves objects that are between the topmost andbottommost objects in the selection so that all verti-cal centers are evenly spaced.

Arrange > Distribute > Horizontal Centers:Moves objects that are between the leftmost and

rightmost objects in the selection so that all hori-zontal centers are evenly spaced.

Arrange > Stack > Upwards: Moves objectsthat are above the bottommost object in the selec-tion so that all objects are the same distance apart inthe vertical direction.

Arrange > Stack > Downwards: Movesobjects that are below the topmost object in theselection so that all objects are the same distanceapart in the vertical direction.

Arrange > Stack > To The Left: Moves objectsthat are to the left of the rightmost object in theselection so that all objects are the same distanceapart in the horizontal direction.

Arrange > Stack > To The Right: Movesobjects that are to the right of the leftmost object inthe selection so that all objects are the same dis-tance apart in the horizontal direction.

Objects MenuObjects > Compound Object > Make:Forms a compound object from the selectedobjects.

Objects > Compound Object > Release:Breaks up the selected compound object into indi-vidual objects.

Objects > Clipper > Make With Top Path:Forms a clipper group by using the top path in theselection to clip other objects in the selection.

Objects > Clipper > Make With BottomPath: Forms a clipper group by moving the bottompath in the selection to the top before using it to clipother objects in the selection.

Objects > Clipper > Release: Breaks up theselected clipper group into individual objects.

Objects > Text On Path > Attach Text:Attaches the selected text object to the selected pathso that the text baseline follows the shape of thepath.


Objects > Text On Path > Attach Area Text:Attaches the selected text object to the selected pathso that the text flows within the boundaries of thepath.

Objects > Text On Path > Release: Separatesthe selected path and the attached text into individ-ual objects.

Objects > Guide > Make: Converts theselected object to a guide.

Objects > Guide > Release: Reverts guides toordinary objects.

Objects > Bitmap > Create Bitmap: Lets youdrag out an area in the view area to form a new bit-map object.

Objects > Bitmap > Auto Trace Bitmap:Opens a dialog to let you specify settings for per-forming bitmap tracing on the selected bitmapobject.

Objects > Bitmap > Export As Image File:Export the selected bitmap object as an image filein one of the supported image file formats. The bit-map will be exported in its original untransformedand unwarped state.

Objects > Effect Lines > Create: Generates aset of effect lines across the selected paths or, in thecase of a single selected path, clones the selectedpath and generate effect lines across the path andthe clone.

Objects > Effect Lines > Add TemplatePath: Attaches the selected path to the selectedeffect line group, so that all effect lines take on theshape of the template path.

Objects > Effect Lines > Remove TemplatePath: Removes the attached template path from theselected effect line group, and reverts to usingstraight lines as effect lines.

Objects > Unstructure: Converts the skeletalstrokes on the selected paths to individual paths.

Objects > Convert To Path: Converts theselected text, ellipses, clones or effect line groups toindividual paths.

Objects > Reverse Path: Reverses the directionof the selected paths.

Objects > Join Path > Virtual: Brings the endsof the selected open paths together by moving thenodes at those ends to the same position.

Objects > Join Path > Real: Joins the twoselected open paths into one path.

Objects > Close Path > Virtual: Brings the twoends of the selected open path together by movingthe nodes at the ends to the same position.

Objects > Close Path > Real: Joins the twoends of the selected open path to form a closed path.

Objects > Blend Paths: Opens a dialog to letyou specify settings for blending the selected paths.

Objects > Smooth Path: Opens a dialog to letyou specify the smoothness value to be used on theselected paths.

Objects > Stroke Width > Increase: Increasesthe width of the selected strokes by 20%.

Objects > Stroke Width > Decrease:Decreases the width of the selected strokes by 20%.

Objects > Soft-Edge Width > Increase:Increases the soft-edge width of the selected pathsby 20%.

Objects > Soft-Edge Width > Decrease:Decreases the soft-edge width of the selected pathsby 20%.

Objects > Remove Reference Vector:Removes the reference vector and hence any orien-tation information from the selected paths.

Objects > Set Opacities: Opens a dialog to letyou choose stroke and fill opacity values.

Objects > Arc Mode > Open Arc: Causes theselected ellipse to take the form of an open arc.

Menu Commands 161

Objects > Arc Mode > Pie: Causes the selectedellipse to take the form of a sector.

Objects > Arc Mode > With Chord: Causesthe selected ellipses to take the form of an arc witha straight line joining the two ends of the arc.

Objects > Node Continuity > Symmetrical:Causes a tangent handle of the selected node toalways be at 180 degrees to and the same length asthe other tangent handle of the node, when the othertangent handle is subsequently edited.

Objects > Node Continuity > Smooth:Causes a tangent handle of the selected node toalways be 180 degrees to the other tangent handleof the node, when the other tangent handle is subse-quently edited.

Objects > Node Continuity > AngleLocked: Causes a tangent handle of the selectednode to always be at the same angle to the other tan-gent handle of the node, when the other tangenthandle is subsequently edited.

Objects > Node Continuity > Uncon-strained: Causes a tangent handle of the selectednode to be unaffected by any subsequent movementof the other tangent handle of the node.

Objects > Node Marking > Set: Marks theselected nodes as more preferred candidates overunmarked nodes for matching for interpolation dur-ing path blending.

Objects > Node Marking > Clear: Reverts theselected marked nodes to ordinary nodes.

Objects > Path Operations > Unite: Forms apath whose shape is made by merging the fill areasof the selected paths.

Objects > Path Operations > Front MinusBack: Forms a path whose shape is made by cut-ting the fill area of the lower of the selected pathsfrom that of the upper path.

Objects > Path Operations > Back MinusFront: Forms a path whose shape is made by cut-

ting the fill area of the upper of the selected pathsfrom that of the lower path.

Objects > Path Operations > Intersection:Forms a path that is the shape of the overlappingarea of the selected paths.

Objects > Path Operations > Divide: Forms anumber of paths by cutting up the fill areas of theselected paths where they intersect.

Objects > Warp Mesh > Reset Grid: Revertsthe selected warp group or bitmap object to the statebefore any warping was applied.

Objects > Warp Mesh > Increase Resolu-tion: Increases the resolution of the warp mesh ofthe selected warp group or bitmap.

Objects > Warp Mesh > Decrease Resolu-tion: Decreases the resolution of the warp mesh ofthe selected warp group or bitmap.

Stroke MenuStroke > New Stroke Definition: Opens astroke window containing the selected paths foryou to define them as a new stroke.

Stroke > Delete Stroke Definition: Opens adialog to ask if the selected stroke definition shouldbe deleted from your hard disk.

Stroke > Edit Stroke Definition: Opens a strokewindow containing the stroke that is applied to theselected path for you to edit the stroke definition.

Stroke > Add Stroke View: Adds a stroke viewto the stroke window for creating a multi-viewstroke.

Stroke > Remove Stroke View: Deletes thecurrent stroke view from the multi-view stroke.

Stroke > Define Stroke: Opens a dialog to letyou enter a stroke name and specify other settingsfor the vector stroke currently being edited.

Stroke > Define Bitmap Stroke: Opens a dialogto let you enter a stroke name and specify other set-


tings for creating a bitmap stroke from the selectedbitmap object.

Stroke > Set As Quick Stroke: Opens a dialogto let you assign a quick stroke number to theselected stroke.

Stroke > Anchor > To Start: Anchors theselected nodes to the starting point of the strokedefinition.

Stroke > Anchor > To End: Anchors the selectednodes to the ending point of the stroke definition.

Stroke > Anchor > Free: Releases the selectednodes in the stroke definition from anchoring.

Stroke > Repeating > Make: Makes theselected paths repeatable in the stroke definition.

Stroke > Repeating > Release: Makes theselected paths not repeatable in the stroke defini-tion.

Stroke > Reset Stroke Shear: Reverts the shearangle of the selected stroke to zero degree.

Stroke > Reverse Ribbon Folds: Reverses thedirection in which the selected strokes (which arecurrently in ribbon mode) appear to be folding.

Stroke > Set Ellipse Ratio: Opens a dialog to letyou specify the ellipse ratio for the selected strokes,which are currently in elliptical mode.

Stroke > Set Stroke Twist: Opens a dialog to letyou specify how many turns you want to twist theselected strokes.

PS-Plugins MenuPS-Plugins > Set Plugins Folder: Opens a dia-log to let you specify the path under which youwant Expression to search for plugins.

View MenuView > Show > Grid: Toggles between showingand hiding the grid in the current document.

View > Show > Guide: Toggles between show-ing and hiding the guides in the current document.

View > Show > Layer Mini-List: Togglesbetween showing and hiding the Layer mini-list inthe current document.

View > Snap > To Grid: Toggles betweenenabling and disabling snapping to the grid in thecurrent document.

View > Snap > To Nodes: Toggles betweenenabling and disabling snapping to the nodes in thecurrent document.

View > Snap > To Guides: Toggles betweenenabling and disabling snapping to the guides in thecurrent document.

View > Display Quality > Path: Displays thepaths in the current document as skeletons only.

View > Display Quality > Wireframe: Dis-plays the paths in the current document as outlinedshapes plus the skeletons.

View > Display Quality > Preview: Displaysthe paths in the current document in full, includingall stroke and fill attributes.

View > Display Quality > Better Preview:Displays bitmap objects by using pixel interpola-tion and better handling of overlapping regions.

View > Onion Skin > Off: Turns of onion skindisplay.

View > Onion Skin > Show Previous: Letsobjects from the previous document be shown inthe current document as a faint image for reference.

View > Onion Skin > Show Next: Lets objectsfrom the next document be shown in the currentdocument as a faint image for reference.

View > Turn Off Highlights Temporarily:Hides highlights on selected objects temporarily togive an unobstructed view of the current objectselection.

View > Zoom In: Zooms to a higher magnifica-tion level.

View > Zoom Out: Zooms to a lower magnifica-tion level.

Menu Commands 163

View > Zoom On Selection: Zooms to the high-est magnification level under which the selectedobjects can be fully shown.

View > View All: Zooms to the highest magnifi-cation level under which all visible objects in thedocument can be fully shown.

View > Actual Size: Sets the magnification levelto 100%.

View > Center View: Shows the document withthe document frame in the center of the view area.

View > Rotate Clockwise: Rotates the currentdocument 22.5 degrees in the clockwise direction.

View > Rotate Counterclockwise: Rotates thecurrent document 22.5 degrees in the counterclock-wise direction.

View > Reset View Rotation: Reverts the cur-rent document to its original, upright position.

View > New View: Opens a new window of thecurrent document.

View > Edit Warp Group: Opens a window con-taining the contents of the selected warp group, foryou to edit the contents without ungrouping.

Window MenuWindow > Status Bar: Toggles between showingand hiding the status bar.

Window > Toolbox: Toggles between showingand hiding the Toolbox palette.

Window > Paint Style: Toggles between show-ing and hiding the Paint Style palette.

Window > Attributes: Toggles between showingand hiding the Attributes palette.

Window > Font: Toggles between showing andhiding the Font palette.

Window > Object List: Toggles between show-ing and hiding the Object List palette.

Window > Variable Width: Toggles betweenshowing and hiding the Variable Width palette.

Window > Strokes: Toggles between showingand hiding the Strokes palette.

Window > Transformation: Toggles betweenshowing and hiding the Transformation palette.

Window > Item List: Toggles between showingand hiding the Item List palette.

Window > Colorize: Toggles between showingand hiding the Colorize palette.

Window > Effect Lines: Toggles between show-ing and hiding the Effect Lines palette.

Window > Flash Button: Toggles between show-ing and hiding the Flash Button palette.

Help MenuHelp > User Guide: Opens the Expression man-ual.

165

Tutorial 1: Easy Paths and the B-Spline Tool

Creating paths is one of the most frequently per-formed tasks in the picture creation process, andExpression 3 provides a number of different toolsfor it. If you are a veteran vector-based drawingsoftware artist, you would probably be familiarwith the more traditional tools like the FreehandPen tool and Bezier Pen tool.

Here we will introduce the B-Spline tool.

The B-Spline tool is a very versatile path construc-tion tool which is good for almost any kind of paths,smooth or sharp cornered, straight-edged or curved.If you are new to vector-drawing software and havenot got too used to the Bezier Pen tool, we wouldparticularly recommend this tool to you.

The use of the tool is easy — just click, click, clickto place the nodes, then hit Return/Enter and youhave the path. If you do not like the nodes you justplaced, you can hit the Backspace or Deletekey to remove the last node placed. To introduce asharp corner, hold down the key when plac-ing a node.

The only thing that may need some getting used tois that the B-spline nodes (control points) are gener-ally not positioned on the paths themselves. Sowhen you want to draw a shape, you have to place

the nodes somewhere around the shape you are try-ing to construct.

To get a feel of how the nodes control the shape ofthe path, try to create a closed oval shape using dif-ferent numbers of B-spline nodes:

Using three nodes gives a somewhat triangularshaped oval; using four nodes gives a smootheroval and using six nodes gives a very round circularshape. You can, of course, place more than enoughnodes to create curves, but that would make it moredifficult to edit the paths. In general, placing nodesto form angles of about 120° gives a reasonable bal-ance between node economy and shape control.

Experiment a bit and try to create all kinds of com-plex shapes using the B-Spline tool. You will soon


find it an indispensable tool, when you are using amouse to create paths.

A further note on shape control: when you want tocreate a bend from a straight portion, you shouldadd an extra node before your bend begins. Other-wise, the nodes at the bend will influence the shapeof your entire previous straight portion. Alterna-tively, add a corner before the bend begins.

167

Tutorial 2: Effective Use of Layers

When you are composing a picture, you wouldoften like to prepare a layout of your compositionfirst, and then work on various parts of your compo-sition. Layering your Expression picture wouldhelp you construct your picture with such anapproach.

Here we will draw a picture of a dish on a table. Webegin by creating a layer called “Layout” for plan-ning out the composition and as a reference for fill-ing in the details. Of course you can choosewhatever name you like. (You can also refer to Sec-

tion 11.6 of the manual for more information andoptions about creating and naming layers.)

We choose the basic stroke and draw a few simplelines as a guide for our composition. We then makethe lines semi-transparent (using the Opacity slid-ers, as described in Section 8.7 of the manual) andlock the entire layer, so that these lines will notaffect our drawing process. This layer is purelyused for planning, and will be made invisible oreven discarded when the final composition is done.Depending on your drawing habit, you can draw amore elaborate guiding layer with colors and


painted areas, or just a few curves for partitioningyour drawing space.

We then create another layer called “Dish”. Wemove this “Dish” layer below the “Layout” layer sothat the reference lines are always visible and ontop.

We use the B-Spline tool to draw the outline of thedish and give it a bluish fill and a bold watercoloroutline.

On the dish, a simple flower pattern is drawn anddefined into a repeating stroke. (For more details ondefining strokes and making strokes repeatable,refer to Chapter 10 of the manual.) The flower pat-tern is then drawn on the dish using the B-Splinetool again.

We add a curve, using the B-Spline tool, for a shad-ing on the disk to suggest the depression, and addanother curve with a white stroke for the highlight.

The “Layout” layer can be hidden to give an unob-structed view of the finished dish.

Similarly, we create another layer called “Fish” anddraw the fish skeleton. When we draw the bones,we rotate the drawing paper first, to make it moreconvenient to draw the freehand curves for thebones. We use the “Rotate Clockwise” and “RotateCounterclockwise” commands from the View menuto rotate the paper. You can also define your ownkeyboard shortcuts for these commands.

After we are done with the dish and the fish, wemake all layers except the “Layout” layer invisibleby using +click on the Lock icon in the Layermini-list.

We create one more layer, “Table”, for the tablecloth. We use a simple red stroke to draw the

Tutorial 2: Effective Use of Layers 169

stripes. The stripes are set to about 40% opacity fora nice color mix at the intersections of the strokes.

We then make all layers visible again (except the“Layout” layer), to see the overall composition.

We then add the finishing touches. Lock all layersexcept the table cloth and draw another ellipse witha black fill for the shadow. We set the opacity of theblack ellipse to about 15% and give it a thicksoft-edge. Adjust the size a bit by transforming itusing the Object Select tool or resize handles. Weadd yet another layer called “Fish Shadow” and

move it between the “Fish” and “Dish” layers. Wedraw some freehand curves using the Bitmap Air-brush stroke for the shadow of the fish bones. Morethin white strokes are also added to the top of thebones as highlight. Again we rotate the paper whenwe draw the freehand curves.

Finally we use the Edit > Crop Marks > Set com-mand to drag out a rectangular region for rasteriza-tion or printing.

171

Tutorial 3: Defining Vector Skeletal Strokes

Skeletal Strokes is core to Expression. You will findthat it is actually very easy to create your ownunique stroke. A single drag using the Stroke Defi-nition Box tool on top of some graphics objects willturn them into a new skeletal stroke.

This tutorial introduces the more advanced controlsover your vector strokes. Anchoring allows you tolock certain parts (at the node level) of your strokeso that they will not be stretched along long paths.Making certain parts repeatable allows those partsof the stroke to populate themselves along a path.

We will first define a fancy arrow stroke. Arrowsand pointers are often useful in graphic design. Youmay find it handy to define a few signature arrowsof your own.

We draw the arrow head shape using the B-Splinetool. Because of its symmetrical shape, we drawonly one half of it. Then we use the Mirror tool toset the mirror center somewhere at the base of theshape. Next, by holding down the key, we

constrain the mirror plane to the horizontal. Then,also hold down the key to make a duplicate ofthe upper shape instead of just transforming it.

Next, we select both halves and use the Objects >Join Paths > Real command to join the paths intoone. If you prefer the path to be a closed shape, youcan further use the Objects > Close Path > Realcommand to close it.

We create the tail of the arrow in a similar way andadd various decorations to the arrow.

Now we are ready to define it into a stroke. Use theStroke Definition Box tool to drag out a box withthe axis placed along the arrow. Note that it is OK


even if some objects extend beyond the definitionbox.

On releasing the mouse, a newstroke definition window isopened. You can just click theDefine Stroke button to define it into a simplestroke, but here, we will do more than that. We willcontrol the arrow head and tail and lock their aspectratio. We do this by anchoring them using theAnchor tool.

The Anchor tool works like a node selection tool.We click on the arrow head to select the entireobject. Then we drag out a small marquee to selectthe first few nodes at the stem of the arrow. We areanchoring those nodes to make sure that they willbe locked together with the arrow head shape, sothat the gap between the arrow head and the stemwill not be stretched.

To anchor those nodes, weclick the Anchor To Startbutton at the right side of theToolbox palette.

We do the same for the arrow tail. The few decora-tive shapes at the tail are also anchored, togetherwith the arrow tail, to the end of the stroke.

If we define the stroke now, the head and tail partwill be locked and the body will be stretched nor-mally. Of course, you can also anchor the few dec-orative shapes in the body of the arrow to makethem non-stretching. But here, we will make themrepeatable.

To do this, we use the Repeat tool.

The Repeat tool works like an object selection tool.You can specify certain objects in a stroke as awhole to be repeated, but you cannot specify indi-vidual nodes to be repeated.

Tutorial 3: Defining Vector Skeletal Strokes 173

We select the decorative objects in the body andclick the Make Repeating button to make themrepeating.

However, the stroke would not look good if wedefine it like this. The repeating range is from thestart of the stroke to the end. This means that therepeating unit will consist of the decorative shapes,plus the empty space near the head and the emptyspace near the tail. If you make it repeat like this,the repeating decorative units will be separated byspaces.

So we adjust the repeating range by dragging thetwo bars tighter around the decorative shapes.

Note that the repeating range now not only controlsthe size of the repeating unit but also the startingand ending fractional position of the repeating por-tion. Because the arrow head is anchored, we wantthe starting point of the repeating portion to belocked with the arrow head as well, so that the dec-orations will start repeating right after the anchoredarrow head. We do this by anchoring the repeatingrange — by holding down the key and click-ing the repeat handle. An anchor icon will be shownindicating that the repeating range start point hasbeen anchored.

You can anchor the ending point of the repeatingrange in the same way. Here, we leave it the way itis, because it looks better, and so that you can seethe difference with and without anchoring therepeating range limits.

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Tutorial 4: Strokes with Multiple Repeating Parts

Repeating parts are very useful for creating varia-tions to an expressive stroke. If all graphics objectsin a stroke were to repeat in the same way, thestroke would be a static repetitive pattern. By con-trolling different objects in a stroke differently, theresulting stroke will look different on every strokeapplication.

To demonstrate this idea, we draw fivewave-shaped paths, each with a slightly differentwavelength. These paths are then defined into astroke.

If we make this stroke repeat, it will have a simplerepetitive pattern.

Now we select each of the wavy paths and giveeach of them a different repeating range.

The result is much more intriguing and each strokedrawn will have a unique complex pattern.


Strokes with both stretching and repeating partsoften give the most interesting results.

Here we use a few embossed and reflec-tion-mapped circular shapes with a simple water-color stroke at the back to define a stroke. Thewatercolor stroke is left to stretch but each circularpath is set to repeat with a different range.

The resulting stroke can be used for a bubble gumadvertisement.

Tutorial 5: Variable Width without Pressure 177

Tutorial 5: Variable Width without Pressure

A pressure sensitive pen and tablet is convenient fordrawing freehand strokes with varying width, but itis by no means the only way to achieve variablewidth strokes. Let us see how the Variable Widthpalette can be used not only as a substitute for thepressure sensitive pen and tablet, but also for creat-ing some interesting results.

Suppose we have drawn a stroke using the B-Splinetool (or the Freehand Pen tool) and the mouse.When we select the stroke and look at the VariableWidth palette, a straight horizontal line (or, flat pro-file) there indicates that the stroke has constantwidth throughout.

To make some variations, click the button a fewtimes. Each click will add a node to the profile, andyou can drag the nodes to form the shape that youwant.

In fact, you can create all sorts of shapes just byusing different profiles with the same stroke. As anexample, let us take the originally unexciting rect-angle stroke (the stroke at the left in the picturebelow). Just by applying different width profiles to


the same stroke, we can get some interesting varia-tions.

For more possibilities, let us apply the above widthprofiles to the strokes below.

Here are the results.

The Variable Width is very convenient for quicklytweaking the appearance of strokes, without theneed to edit stroke definitions or draw new paths.

179

Tutorial 6: Scraping and Lifting Effects

Scraping and color lifting are commonly employeddrawing techniques for creating subtle effects byrevealing the underlying colors below paintedareas.

Expression 3 is the first vector-based software pro-viding general support for this kind of effects, usingthe Eraser mode. The Eraser mode can be applied toany graphics object, yet allows the editability of thescraping paths and strokes to be maintained. Herewe will demonstrate the use of such techniques increating artwork.

One point you should bear in mind when using thistechnique in Expression 3 is that the erasing part isperformed through the complete layer, revealingthe underlying layers, if any. This is slightly differ-ent from scraping on real paints, where you canscrap through a layer of pigments as thin as youwant, or dig all the way down to the canvas (or evencut through it!). If you want to achieve a multi-levelerasing effect, you should create different layersand erase the layers individually.


We are going to draw a picture of a fish in negative,somewhat like a relief-print. We begin by creating anavy blue rectangle in a layer called “scratch”.

We give it a soft-edge with fringe texture for a moreearthy appearance.

The soft-edge is set by adjusting the Soft-EdgedWidth meter in the Paint Style palette to a positivevalue. The larger the value, the wider the soft-edgewill be. By pressing the button besides theSoft-Edged width meter, a Fringe Texture dialogwill be displayed for you to choose a fringe texture,instead of the smooth transparency gradient, for thesoft-edge. We choose a nice texture and we alsochoose the “Stretch to fit” option so that the fringetexture will be stretched along the edge to give ablurry, fibered appearance. (Normally, if the“Repeating” option is chosen instead, the fringetexture is repeated along the path.)

We then create another layer, called “hilights”, anduse the s01 stroke (the default skeletal stroke) tomake a rough sketch of the fish shape we are goingto draw. We colorize the stroke to white and set theopacity of the stroke to about 20% to make the linesmore subtle.

When we are done with the sketch, we lock the“hilights” layer and return to the “scratch” layer tostart scraping. To make the process more conve-nient, we lock the navy blue rectangle in the ObjectList palette first. We then use various differentstrokes, some coarser and some softer, to do thescraping. Of course, we have to choose the Erasermode for the strokes, otherwise they will simply bepainted onto the navy-blue rectangle.

The Eraser mode can be accessed from the Blend-ing mode popup button in the Paint Style palette.When the Erase mode is applied to a graphicsobject, the color of the object no longer matters;only its transparency value affects the strength ofthe eraser. The more opaque the object, the more it

Tutorial 6: Scraping and Lifting Effects 181

will reveal the colors from the underlying layers.Therefore you can use the Opacity sliders to controlhow much you want to scrap through the currentlayer you are working on.

We continue to draw the fish using various strokes,all in Eraser mode. The strokes appear to be whitebecause we have no underlying layer and the back-ground color (i.e., white) is revealed.

The white parts are actually transparent, and thisbecomes apparent if you draw something belowthat layer, which is exactly what we are going to do.However, instead of drawing underneath that layer,we will draw on top of it first, and then move thenew drawings below. We create another layer called“undercolor” and paint various colored strokes in it.To avoid accidentally touching other layers, we

lock the other layers before we start painting thecolors in the new layer.

We can paint rather freely, without worrying aboutpainting outside the white parts. This is because thisentire layer will be moved below the “scratch” layerlater, when only the scraped area will show through.When we are done painting the colors, we move thelayer to the bottom by dragging it down in the Layermini-list.

Then we add the few finishing touches on thescraped layer and our fish picture is completed. Weleave the semi-transparent white sketching linesthere because they seem to make the picture lookricher.

183

Tutorial 7: Personal Expressive Styles

The charm of a picture comes alwaysfrom the artist. Expression is just a toolfor the digital medium. It is all up to youto make your own expression. Here,award-winning veteran artist Walter vanLotringen has created a series of catsusing Expression. Each cat has its ownunique personality, from adorable toshaggy and stately arrogant. Each pic-ture also shows a different mood. Therichness and personal expression is con-veyed through bold and fluid freehandstrokes created using a pressure sensi-tive pen and tablet.

Walter used only simple vector strokesthroughout the pictures, yet the overlap-ping semi-transparent strokes give apleasant richness so fresh that it is a sur-prise to realize that the picture structuresare after all so clean and simple. In addi-tion, the pictures are always crystalsharp when rasterized to any resolution.(The original Expression picture for the

black-and-red “Character” cat is available in the“Samples” folder for closer study.)

In the handling of the painted areas, Walter likes tofill up areas with strokes in a painterly way insteadof creating fills. This gives each area its unique tex-ture.

All cat pictures Copyright © 2002-2003 Walter van Lotringen. [email protected]

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You can also find your own favorite way to handleyour pictures and create your unique personalstyles.

185

Tutorial 8: Blending Mode Surprises

Blending modes specify how colors in a graphicsobject should be mixed with the background. Draw-ing in different blending modes creates unusualchanges that are difficult to achieve though simpletransparency.

This picture titled “Elephant in Light” by MoriyukiSato uses the Light mode extensively. The Lightmode mixes colors additively, similar to the resultsyou see when light beams are projected onto a sur-face. Each stroke or any graphics object created inLight mode brightens up the picture a bit. This iswhy this elephant picture has achieved such a lumi-nous appearance.

Blending modes can be applied to any graphicsobject using the Blending Mode popup button in thePaint Style palette.

You cannot, however, draw a picture entirely inLight mode. Drawing anything in Light mode on a

Elephant in Light. Copyright © 2002-2003Moriyuki Sato. http://www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/satom/


white background will result in just whitenessbecause you cannot brighten whiteness any further.Therefore Moriyuki started the picture with a basein solid color, with a paper texture applied. Colorfuldabs are added to it to form the foundation for theelephant composition.

In fact, many of the strokes in this base layer are inother blending modes. Some are in Color Dodgemode for “lifting” certain colors; some are in ColorBurn mode for darkening certain colors.

All blending modes, except the special Erasermode, are purely artificial color mixing functions.The Multiply mode effect somewhat resembles pig-ment-based color mixing effects, and the Lightmode effect resembles the mixing of projectedlights on a screen. The other blending modes do nothave natural analogies or any physical foundation,so you may find yourself surprised at the resultingcolors when you begin experimenting with them.

To make sense of blending modes, it is best to dosome experiments yourself. Try to draw a few dabsof various colors, then draw a stroke across the dabsusing various blending modes and in different col-ors. Here we try a dash of green across a few strokes

in four colors at the background, using the ColorDodge and Light modes.

The behaviors of the two modes are quite similar:both intensifies the green component of the colors.The main difference is the strength and linearity ofthis intensification. The Color Dodge mode intensi-fies the colors more significantly while the Lightmode intensifies them more smoothly. TheBrighten mode can also be used to intensify thecolor components based on the foreground color,except that it operates in a maximizing manner,where the foreground component is used if itsintensity is higher, and if not the background com-ponent is not changed. Since the green componentof the stroke in the foreground is rather dim, apply-ing it in the Brighten mode will produce littlechange.

You will probably find that the other more dramaticblending modes, like the Color Burn and Differencemodes, are actually easier to grasp after a littleexperimenting.

Color Dodge vs. Light mode.

Color Burn and Difference modes.

187

Tutorial 9: Dry Brush Effects

Dry brush produces coarsely textured strokes and isoften used to convey a rough and earthy touch.There are different ways that you can create thesedry medium effects in Expression 3.

You can scan in some real pencil, crayon or drybrush strokes, and define them as bitmap strokes.However, this simple method may not be the mosteffective approach, because on stretching thestrokes along paths, the original grains of the stroketexture will be elongated and the characteristics ofthe original media may be lost. If you choose todefine pencil or crayon strokes from scans, youshould at least try to make the strokes repeatable,with an anchored head and tail at the two open ends.

Even if the textured stroke image you have scannedin is highly random, simply defining it into a repeat-ing bitmap stroke can still make the joints betweenrepeating units rather conspicuous.

To define a nice seamlessly repeating stroke from ascanned image requires some preprocessing. Youmay want to use some image touch-up software likePhotoshop. Here we demonstrate how to create arepeating pencil stroke with anchored head and tailsections.

We start with a scan of a real waxy pencil stroke onrough parchment. To create a seamlessly repeatingstroke, we will be splitting the image into three ormore sections: head, body and tail. If and after sucha stroke is defined and applied, the body sectionwill be repeated zero or more times. We must makesure that one end of the body fits well against theother end, and fits also with the head and tail sec-tions. As for the head and tail sections, they have tofit against each other too.

To achieve this, we have to find splitting points thathave relatively similar features and then touch-upthe image a bit to smooth out the regions around thesplitting points. To keep this demonstration simple,we will prepare a stroke with a one-part repeatingbody.

We find two splitting points which are of similarwidth, and partition the image into three sections.To start making the head section (the left end) and


tail section (the right end) fit seamlessly, we firstmove the two sections together.

Although the two sections, which are of similarwidth, fit reasonably well against each other, thereis a quite visible discontinuity at the boundary. Weuse the Rubber Stamp or Clone tool in Photoshop orother programs to copy the neighboring textureonto the boundary to remove any visible disconti-nuity.

Now we move the head and tail sections back to thetwo ends of the body section. To prepare the bodysection, we can paint the two ends of the body sec-tion to make them fit against the modified head andtail, but then the two ends may not fit very well witheach other. One simple way to achieve both objec-tives at the same time is to duplicate a small sectionfrom the head section and put it at the body sectionat the end close to the tail, and likewise, duplicate asmall section from the tail section and put it at thebody section at the end close to the head. This guar-antees that the body section fits perfectly againstthe head and the tail, and also with itself.

Of course, we still need to clean up the internal partof the body section a bit, after pasting the small sec-tions from the head and tail. Because we are nowworking on the inner parts of the body section, wedo not have to worry about misfits any more.

We then import the finished image into Expression3 and define it into a bitmap stroke using the Stroke> Define Bitmap Stroke command. We specify thepixel length of the head and tail sections and set thebody to “Simple repeat”. The pixel lengths of thehead and tail sections should be taken from yourimage touch-up program. We also choose “Gray-scale” to make the white background transparent.

The resulting stroke will give a very realistic pencileffect, if used with high transparency variabilityand low width variability.

If you want to create a really high quality texturedstroke, you may want to divide the body part intomore self-repeatable sections that fit seamlesslyagainst each other. This may sound difficult, but ifyou start with the head and tail sections and con-tinue to prepare each body section in the same way,you will get a multi-part repeating bitmap stroke.

Tutorial 9: Dry Brush Effects 189

Since the body sections will be applied in random,the appearance of the resulting strokes will be veryorganic.

The above approach can be used to define any kindof bitmap strokes, from a photograph of a centipedeto ropes and chains.

Another effective way to create dry brush effects inExpression is to use paper textures. Paper textures,when used together with smooth watercolor strokesor airbrush-like strokes, give the best results. Thestack of farm animals at the beginning of this tuto-rial is drawn using watercolor bitmap strokestogether with various paper textures applied at dif-ferent scale. To create a rich and complex chalkyappearance, you can overlay different paper tex-

tures at different scale. The following picture isdrawn this way.

191

Tutorial 10: Comics and Effect Lines

Expression 3 is very suitable forcreating crisp graphics and illus-trations, especially with the versa-tility of vector skeletal strokes. Itis also a convenient tool for draw-ing comics and Manga (Japanesecomics). Professional comics andmanga artists often use complexsets of stylish strokes to enhancethe action or atmosphere of ascene. The Effect Line functionsof Expression 3 is particularlysuitable for creating these strokeeffects. You can refer to Chapter13 of the manual for more detailson the use of effect lines.

We are going to demonstrate the use ofeffect lines with this picture of a robot drawn incomics style. Although this picture is drawn incolor, the techniques and line styles are similar tothose often employed in black and white manga.

We use mostly vector strokes for the outlines of therobot figure.

The classic strokes s01, s02, s03 and s07 are wellsuited for the comics drawing style. We also usesome specially defined strokes to add variety to theline styles. The use of rougher strokes on complexhatching could be distracting, but for the clean andsimple design of this robot character, some stylishstrokes would enrich the final picture.

We createEffect Line groups to render the shading of therobot’s eyes and one side of the robot’s head.

Create any two paths as the starting and endingedges for the effect lines, and click the CreateEffect Lines button in the Effect Lines palette. Theeffect lines so created will be straight lines. We thendraw a curve to be used as a guide for the effectlines. Select the curve and the entire effect linegroup, and click the Add Template Path button. Atemplate path will be copied into the effect linegroup and the original curve can be discarded. We


then adjust the shapes of the effect lines by editingthe template path and the starting/ending edges tomake the effect lines look nice. The End Edge Vari-ation slider is also used to make the effect lines lessmonotonous. The straight effect lines on the side ofthe robot head are made in the same way.

For the white radial lines in the background, weturn on the “Focus to a Point” function to makemake the effect lines radiate to/from the adjustablefocus point. We change the color of the effect linesto white to make them resemble rain.

Comics artists often use manual screening to createshading and special effects. Expression can be usedfor creating and applying “screens” too. The starshape in the robot picture is created using theB-Spline tool and with the “Break At Joints” optionin the Attributes palette turned on.

The star shape is filled with a screen of red dots ona yellow background. The screen is a patterndefined in Expression. It is often useful to turn onthe grid for precise patterns like this. It is not neces-sary to pre-specify the color into the pattern. Youcan use the Colorize palette to change the colors ofa pattern after it has been applied to a graphics

object. The pattern we defined is actually quitelarge in scale. When applied to the star shape, itlooks unnatural. We usethe Transform Fill tool toscale the pattern to asuitable density. You canrotate it too, if anotherscreen orientation isneeded.

A final note. Effect lines in Expression 3 are notdesigned purely for comics effects. You can makecomplex interference patterns and other interestingeffects. Effect lines are here for you to explore.

193

Color Plates

The RGB model.(Section 4.1.1, page 17)

The HSL model.(Section 4.1.2, page 19)

The CMY model.(Section 4.1.3, page 19)

A reflection map.(Section 8.5.5, page 73)

Colorization.(Section 8.16, page 85)

A hand-painted reflection map.(Section 14.6.2, page 131)


Blending modes. (Section 8.9, page 76)

Normal mode.

Multiply mode.

Light mode.

Color Dodge mode.

Color Burn mode.

Brighten mode.

Darken mode.

Difference mode.

195

Index
AAbsolute colorimetric intent 22Actual Size command 33Adding
gradient nodes 135hue nodes 87images 84items 138layers 109profile nodes 139stroke views 101template path 126width profiles 140

Aligningobjects 120text 65

Alpha channel 129, 149Anchoring 96

nodes 97repeat handles 99

Animation effects 143Antialiasing 149Append Path button 52Arcs

converting from ellipses 56Area text 64, 65Arranging

document windows 31objects 105palettes 37width profiles 139

Auto-save files 25, 147Auto-tracing 130

BBackground color 85Baseline shift 66Basic strokes 70Better preview quality 32Bevel joints 91Bezier curves 47

converting from ellipses 56Bitmap files

exporting 149importing 35

Bitmaps 28, 32, 67, 127, 131auto-tracing 130bitmap strokes 9, 129creating 127filters 128importing 36opacity 128

Black point 88Blanked dash offset 93Blending modes 74, 76Blending paths 58BMP files 35, 149Boolean operations 57Bounding box 96, 107, 113, 144, 147Breaking strokes at joints 91Brighten mode 77B-splines 47

converting nodes 62Butt stroke caps 92

CCaps 91, 145Center View command 33Circles 55

Clipboard 106importing objects 36preferences 156

Clippers 27, 63releasing 64

Clones 27, 58, 123Closing paths 57Clusters 125CMYK color model 19CMYK color picker 79Color Burn mode 77Color Dodge mode 77Color effects 143Color management 20

rendering intents 21soft proofing 22

Colorizing objects 85Colors

CMYK model 19color gamut 17color management 22color profiles 18, 20copying 137custom colors 20, 133foreground/background colors 85gradient nodes 135HSL model 19hue nodes 87L*a*b* and L*u*v* color spaces 20RGB bitmap export 21RGB model 17selecting 78sRGB space 18, 19, 21XYZ color spaces 20

ColorSync 20Compound paths 57Constraining angles 48, 152Converting

bitmaps to paths 130ellipses to Bezier curves 56nodes 62paths to guides 108strokes to paths 63text to paths 67

Copyingattributes 137colors 137Item List palette 138

Creatingarcs 56Bezier paths 51bitmap masks 128bitmap strokes 129bitmaps 127B-splines 49clones 58custom colors 133effect lines 123ellipses 55freehand paths 48gradients 135lines 53multi-view strokes 99patterns 136polyline paths 50rectangles 53vector strokes 95width profiles 139

Crop marks 144, 147, 149, 150Custom colors 20, 80, 133

DDarken mode 77Dash patterns 92Defining

bitmap strokes 129vector strokes 95

Deletingcustom colors 134gradient nodes 135hue nodes 87images from the list 84layers 109nodes 62objects 107patterns 137profile nodes 139stroke views 101strokes 96width profiles 139, 140

Deselecting objects 104Difference mode 78Display quality 32, 109

preferences 154Distributing objects 121Docking 38, 152Document windows 30

arranging 31opening additional 31

Documentsflipping 34frame 31onion skin display 34opening 35printing 150rescue files 147resources 25reverting changes 36saving 147scrubbing 34

Double sliders 39Duplicating

hue nodes 87objects 106, 107stroke views 101width profiles 140

EEditing

anchoring 97custom colors 134effect lines 124gradient nodes 135multi-view strokes 101nodes 60objects 107paths in warp groups 68repeatable vector strokes 99shortcut keys 156template paths 126text characters 64trangent handles 60vector strokes 96warp mesh 67width profiles 139

Effect lines 28, 123Ellipse stroke mode 90Ellipses 27, 55

converting to Bezier curves 56Embossed edges 71EMF files 35

196

EPS filesexporting 148opening 35

Eraser mode 76Even-odd rule 93Exporting 155

bitmap files 149custom colors 134Flash files 141, 144item lists 139preferences 156vector files 148

FFill

colors 81embossed edges 71fringes 72gradients 81images 83patterns 82rules 93soft-edges 71types 70width 72

Filters 128Flash files

animation 143exporting 141preferences 156

Flip tabs 31, 34Flipping 34Focus point 125Fonts 65Foreground color 85Frame rate 144Freezing layers 109Fringes 72, 131

GGIF files 35, 149Gradient fill 70Gradient strokes 70Gradients 134Greeking 155Grid 26

preferences 154snapping 107

Groupsclippers 63effect lines 123locking 112object groups 29selecting 103

Guides 27, 107

HHiding

grid 26Layer mini-list 108layers 110palettes 37reference vectors 112selection highlights 105

HSL color model 19HSL color picker 79

preferences 152Hue nodes 87

IICC profiles 20, 21ICM 20Illustrator files

art brushes 36exporting 148opening 35preferences 156

Image fill 70, 83, 131Importing

bitmap files 36custom colors 134item lists 139vector files 36

Items 139

JJoining paths 56Joints 91, 145JPEG files 35, 149

LL*a*b* and L*u*v* color spaces 20Layer mini-list 32, 108Layers 29, 108

display quality 109exporting 149preferences 152

Light mode 77Lightness 19, 88Line weight

preferences 151Lines

converting nodes 62Locking

layers 110objects 112tangent handle angles 52, 61

MMagnification 33Masks 27, 63Memory usage 29Meters 39Mirroring 117Miter joints 91Motion effects 143Mouse wheel 33, 154Moving 114

gradient nodes 135hue nodes 87nodes 60objects 105, 106, 110profile nodes 139strokes between folders 101

Multiply mode 76Multi-view strokes 10

defining 99editing 101Flash animation 143

NNodes

anchoring 97converting 62deleting 62editing 60marking 58nudging 60selecting 59snapping to nodes 107

Non-zero winding rule 93Normal dash offset 93Nudging

nodes 60preferences 152

OObject color 137Objects 27

aligning 120arranging 105, 108colorizing 85, 86deleting 107distributing 121editing 107grouping 29locking 112mirroring 117moving 105, 106, 110, 114object list 111perspective transformation 119rotating 115scaling 114selecting 103setting bounds 118setting size 118settings 111shearing 116stacking 121transforming 113

Onion skin display 34Opacity 74, 75, 155

bitmaps 128Opacity profiles 128Opening

document windows 30documents 35

Originruler 32

PPalettes 37

Attributes 43, 89Colorize 45, 87docking 38, 152Effect Lines 45, 123Flash Button 45, 141Font 43hiding 37Item List 44, 138Object List 43, 111Paint Style 42, 69, 127snapping 37Strokes 44, 84, 101Toolbox 40Transformation 44, 114Variable Width 43, 139

Paper textures 74, 75, 131Path operations 57Path quality 32Paths 13, 27, 47

blending 58changing starting points 63clippers 63clones 58closing 57compound paths 57converting 63, 67converting from bitmaps 130fill area 48joining 56preferences 151, 152reshaping 60reversing 62smoothing 63splitting 62unstructuring 63

Pattern fill 70Patterns 135

fill 82

Index 197

preferences 151PDF files 148Perceptual intent 21Perspective transformation 119Phase offset 92Photoshop filters 128Pies

converting from ellipses 56Plugins 149

bitmap filters 128importing 35

Pointer states 143Polygons 54Popup buttons 39Preferences 151Pressure sensitivity 49, 128

preferences 153Preview quality 32Printing 150, 155

preferences 156PSD files 149

QQuick strokes 85, 102

RRaster resolution 144Rasterization 127, 149Redo 36Reference vectors 59

hiding 112Reflection maps 73, 131Relative colorimetric intent 22Releasing

clones 58compound paths 57guides 108object groups 29text and paths 65

Removingbitmap masks 128colorization 88crop marks 147node marking 59reference vectors 59template path 126

Rendering intents 21Repeating commands 99Rescue files 25, 147Reset View Rotation command 34Resetting

warp mesh 67Resize handles 103, 105, 113, 155

editing nodes 60Reverting to saved state 36RGB bitmap export 21RGB color picker 79RGB model 17Ribbon stroke mode 90Rotate View commands 33Rotating

view area 33Rotation 115Round joints 91Round stroke caps 92Rulers 31, 155

scrolling 33

SSaturation 19, 88Saturation intent 21Sausage stroke mode 90Saving 155

documents 147

preferences 156thumbnails 156width profiles 139

Scaling 114Screen color 137Scrolling 33, 154

view area 31Selecting

colors 78layers 109master paths 58nodes 59objects 103, 111preferences 151, 153text characters 64

Shape parameter 89Shear

strokes 89Shearing 116Shortcut keys 156Show Next command 34Show Preview command 34Skeletal strokes 9, 70, 84

anchoring 96bitmap strokes 9colorizing 85defining 95defining bitmap strokes 129deleting 96editing 96multi-view strokes 10, 99preferences 153quick strokes 85, 102repeatable strokes 98, 130

Sliders 38Snake dash offset 93Snapping 107

bounding box 107palettes 37preferences 154to grid 26, 107to guides 27, 107to nodes 107

Soft proofing 22Soft-edges 71Solid fill 70Square stroke caps 92sRGB space 18, 19, 21Stacking 121

preferences 152Status bar 29Stroke folders 101Stroke windows 95Strokes

applying to effect lines 124breaking at joints 91caps 91colors 80dash patterns 92gradients 81joints 91shape parameter 89shear 71, 89stroke modes 90twist 90types 69width 70

TTangent handles 60Target 142Template paths 126Text 28, 64

aligning 65

area text 64, 65converting 67editing 64greeking 155selecting 64text on path 64, 65

Textures 74, 75, 131Thumbnails 156TIFF files 35, 149Tightness of fit 130

preferences 152smoothing 63

ToolsAdd Node 41, 62Anchor 41, 97Attribute Dropper 41, 137Bezier Pen 41, 51Bitmap Pen 41, 127B-Spline 41, 50Color Dropper 41, 137, 154Convert Node 41, 60, 62Cut Path 41, 62Delete Node 41, 62Ellipse 41, 55Freehand Pen 41, 48, 60, 104, 152,

153Gradient Vector 41, 82Group Select 40, 103, 104, 106Hand 33, 41Lighting 41, 73Line 41, 53Mirror 41, 117Node 41, 56, 59, 60, 90, 124Node Lasso 41, 56, 59, 60, 90, 124Object Select 40, 103, 106Pattern Definition Box 42, 136Perspective 42, 119Polyline 41, 50preferences 152Rectangle 41, 53Reference Vector 41, 59Repeat 41, 98Reverse Path 41, 62Rotate 41, 116Scale 41, 115Shear 41, 117Start Point 41, 63Stroke Definition Box 42, 96Text 42, 64Transform Fill 41, 82, 83, 84, 103Twirl Star 41, 54Zoom 33, 41

Tracking 67Transformations 29, 113

committing to 120effect lines 124fill 82, 83, 84mirroring 117moving 114preferences 151, 152resetting 120rotation 115scaling 114shearing 116transformation origin 114Transformation palette 114

Transparency 75, 155Twist 90

UUndo 36, 152Units

rulers 32Unstructuring 63

198

URL 142

VVariable width 78

Freehand Pen tool 49Vector files

exporting 148opening 35

View area 33document frame 31

rotating 33

WWarp groups 28, 67White point 88Width handles 90

preferences 153Width profiles 78, 128, 139, 153Wireframe quality 32WMF files 35

XXYZ color space 20

ZZ-axis 154Zooming 33, 112, 154

199

END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWAREMICROSOFT CREATURE HOUSE EXPRESSION 3IMPORTANT — READ CAREFULLY: This End-User LicenseAgreement ("EULA") is a legal agreement between you (either anindividual or a single entity) and Microsoft Corporation("Microsoft") for the Microsoft software that accompanies thisEULA, which includes computer software and may include asso-ciated media, printed materials, "online" or electronic documenta-tion, and Internet-based services ("Software"). An amendment oraddendum to this EULA may accompany the Software. YOUAGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS EULABY INSTALLING, COPYING, OR OTHERWISE USINGTHE SOFTWARE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOTINSTALL, COPY, OR OTHERWISE USE THE SOFTWARE.

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DÉNI DE GARANTIES. DANS LA MESURE MAXI-MALE PERMISE PAR LES LOIS APPLICABLES, LELOGICIEL ET LES SERVICES DE SOUTIEN TECH-NIQUE (LE CAS ÉCHÉANT) SONT FOURNIS TELS QUELSET AVEC TOUS LES DÉFAUTS PAR MICROSOFT ET SESFOURNISSEURS, LESQUELS PAR LES PRÉSENTESDÉNIENT TOUTES AUTRES GARANTIES ET CONDI-TIONS EXPRESSES, IMPLICITES OU EN VERTU DE LALOI, NOTAMMENT, MAIS SANS LIMITATION, (LE CASÉCHÉANT) LES GARANTIES, DEVOIRS OU CONDI-TIONS IMPLICITES DE QUALITÉ MARCHANDE,D'ADAPTATION À UNE FIN PARTICULIÈRE, DE FIABIL-ITÉ OU DE DISPONIBILITÉ, D'EXACTITUDE OUD'EXHAUSTIVITÉ DES RÉPONSES, DES RÉSULTATS,DES EFFORTS DÉPLOYÉS SELON LES RÈGLES DEL'ART, D'ABSENCE DE VIRUS ET D'ABSENCE DENÉGLIGENCE, LE TOUT À L'ÉGARD DU LOGICIEL ETDE LA PRESTATION OU DE L'OMISSION DE LA PRES-TATION DES SERVICES DE SOUTIEN TECHNIQUE OU ÀL'ÉGARD DE LA FOURNITURE OU DE L'OMISSION DELA FOURNITURE DE TOUS AUTRES SERVICES,RENSEIGNEMENTS, LOGICIELS, ET CONTENU QUI S'YRAPPORTE GRÂCE AU LOGICIEL OU PROVENANTAUTREMENT DE L'UTILISATION DU LOGICIEL . PARAILLEURS, IL N'Y A AUCUNE GARANTIE OU CONDI-TION QUANT AU TITRE DE PROPRIÉTÉ, À LA JOUIS-SANCE OU LA POSSESSION PAISIBLE, À LACONCORDANCE À UNE DESCRIPTION NI QUANT ÀUNE ABSENCE DE CONTREFAÇON CONCERNANT LELOGICIEL.

EXCLUSION DES DOMMAGES ACCESSOIRES, INDI-RECTS ET DE CERTAINS AUTRES DOMMAGES. DANSLA MESURE MAXIMALE PERMISE PAR LES LOISAPPLICABLES, EN AUCUN CAS MICROSOFT OU SESFOURNISSEURS NE SERONT RESPONSABLES DESDOMMAGES SPÉCIAUX, CONSÉCUTIFS, ACCESSOI-RES OU INDIRECTS DE QUELQUE NATURE QUE CESOIT (NOTAMMENT, LES DOMMAGES À L'ÉGARD DUMANQUE À GAGNER OU DE LA DIVULGATION DERENSEIGNEMENTS CONFIDENTIELS OU AUTRES, DELA PERTE D'EXPLOITATION, DE BLESSURES COR-PORELLES, DE LA VIOLATION DE LA VIE PRIVÉE, DEL'OMISSION DE REMPLIR TOUT DEVOIR, Y COMPRISD'AGIR DE BONNE FOI OU D'EXERCER UN SOIN RAI-SONNABLE, DE LA NÉGLIGENCE ET DE TOUTEAUTRE PERTE PÉCUNIAIRE OU AUTRE PERTE DEQUELQUE NATURE QUE CE SOIT) SE RAPPORTANT DEQUELQUE MANIÈRE QUE CE SOIT À L'UTILISATIONDU LOGICIEL OU À L'INCAPACITÉ DE S'EN SERVIR, ÀLA PRESTATION OU À L'OMISSION DE LA PRESTA-TION DE SERVICES DE SOUTIEN TECHNIQUE OU À LAFOURNITURE OU À L'OMISSION DE LA FOURNITUREDE TOUS AUTRES SERVICES, RENSEIGNEMENTS,LOGICIELS, ET CONTENU QUI S'Y RAPPORTE GRÂCEAU LOGICIEL OU PROVENANT AUTREMENT DEL'UTILISATION DU LOGICIEL OU AUTREMENT AUXTERMES DE TOUTE DISPOSITION DE LA PRÉSENTECONVENTION OU RELATIVEMENT À UNE TELLE DIS-POSITION, MÊME EN CAS DE FAUTE, DE DÉLIT CIVIL(Y COMPRIS LA NÉGLIGENCE), DE RESPONSABILITÉSTRICTE, DE VIOLATION DE CONTRAT OU DE VIOLA-TION DE GARANTIE DE MICROSOFT OU DE TOUTFOURNISSEUR ET MÊME SI MICROSOFT OU TOUTFOURNISSEUR A ÉTÉ AVISÉ DE LA POSSIBILITÉ DETELS DOMMAGES.

LIMITATION DE RESPONSABILITÉ ET RECOURS.MALGRÉ LES DOMMAGES QUE VOUS PUISSIEZ SUBIRPOUR QUELQUE MOTIF QUE CE SOIT (NOTAMMENT,MAIS SANS LIMITATION, TOUS LES DOMMAGES SUS-MENTIONNÉS ET TOUS LES DOMMAGES DIRECTS OUGÉNÉRAUX OU AUTRES), LA SEULE RESPONSABILITÉDE MICROSOFT ET DE L'UN OU L'AUTRE DE SESFOURNISSEURS AUX TERMES DE TOUTE DISPOSI-TION DE LA PRÉSENTE CONVENTION ET VOTRERECOURS EXCLUSIF À L'ÉGARD DE TOUT CE QUIPRÉCÈDE SE LIMITE AU PLUS ÉLEVÉ ENTRE LESMONTANTS SUIVANTS : LE MONTANT QUE VOUSAVEZ RÉELLEMENT PAYÉ POUR LE LOGICIEL OU 5,00$US. LES LIMITES, EXCLUSIONS ET DÉNIS QUI PRÉCÈ-DENT (Y COMPRIS LES CLAUSES CI-DESSUS), S'APPLI-QUENT DANS LA MESURE MAXIMALE PERMISE PARLES LOIS APPLICABLES, MÊME SI TOUT RECOURSN'ATTEINT PAS SON BUT ESSENTIEL.

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