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There are some techniques to render smoke by using 3D modeling software. But creating this effect in a tool like Expression Design is easier than it looks.

The 3 main options are through:

• Expression Design
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator

All 3 routes allow vector shapes, element names and Text to be brought through safely.

Starting from the beginning, Expression is our brand for more “design” oriented products (as distinct from Visual Studio as our brand for development related products). Now that’s a gross oversimplification and it would probably take roughly 2s to shoot holes in it but I like simple things and I like buckets so there you go. The Expression tools are currently at version 2 (in fact most, if not all, are v2 Sp1). Version 3 is imminent.

If you are a developer and you are familiar of WPF or Silverlight, you may have wished you had a better sense of design to really take advantage of XAML and create a visually compelling app. A new Design for Developer series has been started and you can watch the first installment here.

Learn more about Balance, a principle of design that will help you achieve harmony in your designs and compositions. You will learn more about Balance while exploring Expression Design.

Shine is the oldest vector trick going around but it can add an element of realism to any graphic and it’s ever so easy.
There are a few different types on shine you can add to an object, the first is a flat shine, add this to your logos and other object to give a flat yet glass appeal.

For this tutorial we will start off in Expression Design to create the graphics for the button, then we will move into Expression Blend to create the button template and animate it.

I mentioned in my previous post that I’m working on a cool application (will be revealed in less than 2 weeks) that’s finally giving me the opportunity to spend some quality time with Silverlight 2.

In addition to the aforementioned web service interaction, the application naturally makes use of the animation support in Silverlight for some nice interactivity. I created some custom elements for the UI using Expression Design, exported the XAML into Expression Blend, and then animated the UI elements appropriately.