was a
Vector Graphics Editor initially developed by Creature House in tandem with
Fractal Design Corporation and later
MetaCreations as a companion to
Painter . At the time, Creature House was an independent Chinese software studio. Expression tried to duplicate Painter's UI as close as possible and was available for Mac OS and Windows.
Some time After Fractal Design and MetaTools merged into MetaCreations, a public company, management decided to thin out the product portfolio and focus on a more specific audience. Expression ended up back with Creature House who released two versions of the software under their own brand name, Expression 2 and Expression 3.
Eventually, Microsoft purchased Creature House and continued development under the code name Acrylic. In 2007, the original Expression application became part of
Microsoft's Expression Studio suite of applications, rebranded as
Microsoft Expression Design .
Windows XP and Vista versions are available, although
Mac OS X support has officially been discontinued.
Expression uses a unique technology called
Skeletal Stroke . There have been a few research papers on this technology, including the work of Alex S. C. Hsu and Irene H. H. Lee
who are the original developers of Expression. Go to the [http://portal.acm.org/ ACM Portal and search for ''skeletal stroke'' to find out more.
Inkscape Wiki also has
a section on Expression with brief discussion on skeletal stroke.
