Over the
course of just the last couple years, vector-based illustration
programs have begun making their first serious strides into
the territory of bitmap painting tools. That is, programs have
introduced vector tools that behave in many ways like bitmap
tools but retain the editability of vectors. These include Macromedia
Fireworks and Freehand, which retain most of the functionality
of traditional vector (formerly known as EPS) applications,
and Synthetik Studio Artist, which you would never identify
as a vector tool unless you were to engage in some research
to discover this fact.
Right in
the middle is Expression 2 from Creature House, an almost brand-spanking
new application resurrected from the ashes of Fractal Design
Expression from the company formerly known as MetaCreations.
(Creature House is actually the company that developed Fractal
Design Expression, selling it to MetaCreations. and then regaining
the rights to market it late last year.)
What
it does
Expression 2 is a dramatic overhaul of Fractal Design Expression,
adding a whole host of new features I'll catalog for you shortly.
For those of you entirely unfamiliar with any version of Expression,
this is a program allows you to paint strokes with vectors—including
support for pressure tablets—with a broad variety of stroke
styles, from simple objects to strokes that look like wet paint
strokes. It has full support for transparency, including gradations
in strokes and fills. It has a broad variety of transforms.
It allows for simple Flash animations. And it does all of this
in a way that will not be a difficult transition to make for
anyone with just a modicum of experience in Illustrator or Freehand
or any other vector program.
The Expressions
2 Macintosh interface. Click image for a larger view.
In addition
to all of these, you can import bitmap images created in other
programs or in Expressions and use them either as objects within
the composition or as stroke elements. In other words, you can
paint bitmap images along a path.
Tools,
text and functions
The two primary drawing tools in Expression 2 are the freehand
pen and the Bezier pen. The options for these tools are almost
too numerous to list here. Aside from width and an incredibly
broad range of stroke and fill options, you can colorize grayscale
bitmap strokes, apply slant, set maximum pressure (separate
from the Preferences setting) adjust stroke and fill transparency,
saturate/desaturate, darken/lighten, distort, change joints
(round, bevel, miter, continuous or broken) and even adjust
variable width. This last one is great for those who don't have
a pressure tablet and want to vary the width of the stroke along
the length of the path. For those with pressure tablets, this
lets you edit the pressure you input over the course of your
stroke. You can add points, move them and expand them for wider
or more slender areas. (See Variable Width palette below.)
Tools
and width settings
You have
an equal amount of control over text, even before converting
it to paths. You can stroke it with bitmaps and even adjust
joints, widths, slant and any other stroke or fill aspect.
Text strokes with a 30 point bitmap stroke.
Strokes over text can be adjusted as
easily as those on a path, including width, color, opacity,
slant, joint sty;e. etc.
This text has not yet been converted to paths and is still fully
editable.
