When will Expression Blend 3 be available

[Madison]

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I am using Expression Blend from a long time and its really nice. I have heard about the release of Expression Blend 3 in last few days. I am awaiting to go with the new version of Expression. So do you guys have any idea when is Expression Blend 3 go to be released and from where can i download it ? Also let me know the new features of the same. Thanks in Advance.

[Raine]

No need to wait any more. Expression Blend 3 including SketchFlow is already released and is available for download.The feature is Make Into Control and is available when you draw shapes in Blend 3. This gives you the ability to draw any shape and turn it into a Button, Slider or a ListBox. With Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow, you can create Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications for the desktop and Microsoft Silverlight 3 applications for the web.Expression Blend 3 provides new support for prototyping, interactivity through behaviors, special Silverlight 3 functionality, and on-the-fly sample data generation. Using Expression Blend 3, designers can make applications that are easy and fun to use.

For working on Expression Blend 3, there is some minimum system requirements that you must have. Here it is :-

Supported Operating Systems:

• Windows 7; Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 2
• PC with 1 GHz or faster processor
• 512 MB of RAM or more
• 350 MB of available hard-disk space
• .NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1
• Support for Microsoft DirectX® 9.0 graphics with Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WDDM) Driver, 128 MB of graphics RAM or more, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, 32-bits per pixel
• DVD compatible drive
• 1024 x 768 or higher-resolution monitor with 24-bit color

Download Microsoft Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow RC

[Maq.H]

With SketchFlow, Expression Blend 3 introduces a new set of features designed to make it easier for you to experiment with dynamic user experiences and to create compelling prototypes. SketchFlow helps you communicate design ideas to stakeholders, and makes it easier to collect feedback by using annotations. You can import Microsoft Office PowerPoint files into screens in your project. You can also export Microsoft Office Word documents that contain screenshots of all your screens. New categories in the Assets panel organize SketchFlow styles and other assets.You build an application by drawing shapes, drawing controls such as buttons and list boxes, making the pieces of your application respond to mouse clicks and other user input, and styling everything to look uniquely your own.

You can use Expression Blend 3 to import both Adobe Photoshop (.psd) files and Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files directly into your projects, while retaining layers, shapes, text elements, and more for easy editing inside Expression Blend 3 itself. It support for WPF and Silverlight graphic effects. Open the Assets panel, click the Effects tab, and drag an effect onto an object. You can modify the properties of the effect in the Properties panel.

[chroma]

Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow, Support for the Silverlight Visual State Manager has been improved with a revised user interface for the States panel. You can see more states for controls, regardless of whether those states were defined in your XAML file originally, and the States panel displays a warning indicator when a property has been changed in more than one state group. States are now supported in more scenarios. For example, you can define states in the MainWindow.xaml document of a Windows Presentation Foundation project.

You can also download Expression Blend 3 Preview that allows you to create Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications for the desktop and Microsoft Silverlight 3 applications for the web.It represents a major milestone in tools that empower designers to create rich internet applications and deep, meaningful user interfaces with features that make software development quicker, easier, and more efficient. Expression Blend 3 Preview is the first release that provides support for key Silverlight 3 features.