Creature House Expression was an award-winning
vector graphics editor
A vector graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to compose and edit vector graphics images interactively on a computer and save them in one of many popular vector graphics formats, such as EPS, PDF, WMF, SVG, or VML.
Vector ...
developed by
Creature House
Creature House Expression was an award-winning vector graphics editor developed by Creature House in Hong Kong, founded by Alex S.C. Hsu and Irene H. H. Lee. It was initially marketed through a developer/publisher agreement with Ray Dream Inc. ...
in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, founded by Alex S.C. Hsu and Irene H. H. Lee. It was initially marketed through a developer/publisher agreement with
Ray Dream Inc.
Ray may refer to:
Fish
* Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea
* Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin
Science and mathematics
* Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point
* Ray (gra ...
subsequently
Fractal Design Corporation and later
MetaCreations under the trade name Fractal Design Expression.
The software was positioned as a companion to then-
Fractal Design/MetaCreations Painter. Creature House regained full marketing rights from MetaCreations Corp. in late 2000 and published version 2 of the software under its own name as Creature House Expression.
The latest version of Creature House Expression published by Creature House Ltd is version 3.3.
In Sep 2003, Microsoft acquired the software product together with all related trademarks and titles and hired Dr. Alex S. C. Hsu as an architect. Eventually, Alex S. C. Hsu led a new Microsoft team to continue the development of the software under the code name Acrylic as part of a new Expression Suite Project initiated by Alex S. C. Hsu and others. In 2007, the original Expression application became part of
Microsoft's Expression Studio suite of applications, rebranded and rewritten in
WPF as
Microsoft Expression Design.
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
XP and Vista versions are available, although
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
support was officially discontinued.
Skeletal stroke
Expression uses a unique technology called
skeletal stroke
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...
. 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.
LivingCels
Along with Expression, Create House also developed animation software called LivingCels, featuring the same technology, including skeletal strokes, as in Expression. LivingCels was released as a public preview,
but never made it to final release after Creature House was purchased by Microsoft.
See also
*
Microsoft Expression Design, the new product based on Creature House Expression
*
List of vector graphics editors
*
Comparison of vector graphics editors
A number of vector graphics editors exist for various platforms. Potential users of these editors will make a comparison of vector graphics editors based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the software license, the feat ...
References
*
*
*
* {{cite web , url=http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-offers-beta-of-Adobe-rival/2100-1012_3-5740444.html , title=Microsoft offers beta of Adobe rival , website=CNET , date=June 10, 2005 , access-date=February 28, 2012 , last =LeMay , first= Renai
External links
*Creature House page
Expression 3*P&A., Inc. page
Expression 3J
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Download Creature House Expression from Microsoft
Archive.org archive of home pageMicrosoft Expression 3.3 Freeware Windows version
(57.3 MB), requires (No longer available) registration
Microsoft Expression 3.3 Freeware Windows version direct link to above file, does not require registration
Microsoft Expression 3.3 Freeware Mac OS 8/9/X version
(55.8 MB), requires registration; there are versions for Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It includes the largest overhaul of the classic Mac OS experience since the release of System 7, approximately six years before. It places a greater emphasis o ...
/ 9 and Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
in the archive
Update to Mac OS X version for Mac OS 10.3.5; fixes a startup problem
(2.9 MB), no registration required
November 1996: Fractal Design Ships Expression for Macintosh
Reviews
MacWorld
Freeware
Vector graphics editors
Microsoft Expression products