Despite claims that it has "paused" development on the product, Microsoft delivered an updated CTP of Expression Graphic Designer -- formerly known as Acrylic -- over the weekend, along with a refreshed build of its Interactive Designer tool. Expression Graphic Designer has been hyped as a rival to Adobe's Photoshop, but Microsoft has designed the product to specifically take advantage of the new display capabilities in Windows Vista. Graphic Designer outputs into the XAML file format that is natively supported by Vista's Presentation Foundation.
XAML files can be 2-D or 3-D images, text, animation and even video. Because of this integration, Graphic Designer and the two other Expression Studio products are not expected for release until after Vista debuts later this year. However, work is continuing on the tools in the meantime.
Much of the code in Graphic Designer is based on a program named Expression, which Microsoft picked up through the acquisition of Creature House in 2003.
The March Community Technology Preview brings improved XAML export and support for the February CTP of WinFX. WinFX is the next-generation .NET Framework that will ship with Vista and be available for Windows XP.
