This is probably the greatest vector drawing software that has ever been made. Basically Creature House Expression lets you draw smooth vectors (as intuitive as a real brush if you also have a tablet) which can become the most gorgeous water color strokes you could ever possibly wish for! It will also transform type and all sorts of other vector shapes (you can open Illustrator or EPS files), into painterly effects, which you can then export back out as a 24 bit PNG image with full transparency at whichever size you want.
It used to be freeware but then the rumor has always been that Microsoft bought it up and integrated it's key properties into their design suite Microsoft Expression (not to be sneezed at either by the way, excellent package in fact!) and took the free version off the shelf.
And then today I read somewhere that this wasn't so, and that a free download of Creature House Expression, for both PC and Mac, was still hidden away somewhere in the depths of the Microsoft Expression website. And sure enough, a bit of burrowing around and I found it:
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/expression-design/Default.aspxAnd then today I read somewhere that this wasn't so, and that a free download of Creature House Expression, for both PC and Mac, was still hidden away somewhere in the depths of the Microsoft Expression website. And sure enough, a bit of burrowing around and I found it:
Just downloaded it, installed it, and YAYY! It is a fully functional software!
Go go go! What on earth are you waiting for? Download now! Before they change their minds over there!
Note: I have quite a few additional creature house strokes and environment maps, which I downloaded back when the software was all over the place and people were developing freely downloadable stuff for it. I have put them all here:
http://www.citrinitas.com/easy-peasy/creaturehouse-stuff.zip
The strokes go to C: \ Documents and Settings \ All Users \ Application Data \ Creature House \ Expression 3 \ Strokes. And the environment maps go to the same location except Application Data \ Creature House \ Expression 3 \ Images \ EnvMaps on a PC. Where they all end up on a Mac, I have no idea.
You can also purchase a huge package of brushes for the software (very reasonably priced) from here:
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/express.htm
Note: I have quite a few additional creature house strokes and environment maps, which I downloaded back when the software was all over the place and people were developing freely downloadable stuff for it. I have put them all here:
http://www.citrinitas.com/easy-peasy/creaturehouse-stuff.zip
The strokes go to C: \ Documents and Settings \ All Users \ Application Data \ Creature House \ Expression 3 \ Strokes. And the environment maps go to the same location except Application Data \ Creature House \ Expression 3 \ Images \ EnvMaps on a PC. Where they all end up on a Mac, I have no idea.
You can also purchase a huge package of brushes for the software (very reasonably priced) from here:
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/express.htm
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