Posts tagged Expression Studio
What’s in Expression Blend 3 RC
Jul 11th
Microsoft besides releasing version 3 of Silverlight, also released Release Candidate for Expression Blend 3. In this post, I intend to bring to you the essential features that the Release Candidate brings for you. One of the interesting and my favorite feature is the Sketchflow. Expression Blend is seen as a major update and is expected to increase and enrich tooling support. More notable improvements include:
- Sketchflow: SketchFlow makes it significantly easier to create prototypes, experiment with dynamic user experiences, and incorporate feedback from customers. If you haven’t seen or tried it yet – you must. It really is a game changing new way to create great user centric applications.
- Intellisense: Blend 3 includes C#, VB and XAML intellisense support. You can now write code and event handlers within Blend without having to switch to VS.
- Behaviors: Blend 3 includes behavior support which can encapsulate complex design interactions into reusable components that can be directly applied to a control within the design surface. This enables designers to quickly add functionality and behavior to applications without having to write code.
- Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Import: Blend 3 now has built-in support for importing Photoshop and Illustrator files. As part of the import process you can view and pick individual Photoshop layers to import, customize and regroup layers, and have Photoshop/Illustrator elements retain their original formats within XAML: including layer positions, editable text and font settings, and vector element conversion to XAML.
- Sample Data: Blend 3 adds design-time sample data support which makes it easy to mock up data-connected applications and see what they look like without requiring access to live data. You can generate sample data or import sample data from an XML file and it is available to controls on the artboard at design-time. You can customize your sample data details, and you can easily switch between using sample data and using live data at run-time.
- TFS: Blend 3 now includes Team Foundation Server (TFS) support – allowing you to use source control and enlist within projects. Blend shares the same project and solution format as Visual Studio – allowing both VS and Blend to work simultaneously on the same projects and enabling seamless editing between them.
- Other Improvements: Additional enhancements including improved animation and easing function support, 3D transform support, visual effects support, and an improved visual state manager designer.

Expression Studio 3 final release is expected during the upcoming 29 days. Expression Studio 3 will comprise of
- Blend with Sketchflow
- Web
- Encoder
Microsoft DreamSpark
Feb 26th

If you are a high school or university student, then this might be the breakthrough you were looking for. Want to download professional developer, designer and gaming softwares offered by Microsoft absolutely free of charge? Well you can do that, just use Microsoft DreamSpark.
DreamSpark enables students to download and make use of Microsoft tools to unlock and reveal their true potential, and provide a platform for the students to achieve career and academic success and glory.
Currently, this latest sensation from Microsoft provides the following tools for free download:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Expression Studio 1.0
- Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Trial Edition (includes Web, Blend, Media, and Design)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
- IT Academy Student Pass
- SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
- Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition
- XNA Game Studio 2.0 (with 12-month Creators Club Student trial membership)
- Virtual PC 2007
- Visual Basic 2005 Express
- Visual C++ 2005 Express
- Visual C# 2005 Express
- Visual Web Developer 2008 Express
- Visual Basic 2008 Express
- Visual C++2008 Express
- Visual C# 2008 Express
In order to make use of the provided opportunity, and get these softwares at no charge, you will be asked to setup or verify your student status once a year. This setup and validation process is built into the DreamSpark site itself. Verification of valid student status will enable students from around the globe to download Microsoft developer and design tools at no charge.
In order to use DreamSpark and download the free tools you need :
- A PC with a Windows Operating System.
- An Internet connection.
- An Internet browser.
- A Windows Live ID account.
