Microsoft Acrylic October 2005 Community Technology Preview

3.8 out of 5 stars 3.8 (42 votes)

BETA (October 21, 2005)

Windows XP / Freeware / 20,614 downloads

Microsoft Acrylic professional design tool that brings together the richness of pixel-based painting and the flexibility of editable vector graphics for a more fluid and flexible creative workflow. With Acrylic you can create sophisticated designs and graphic elements for your on-screen, Web, and print projects. Portions of this software are based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

  • Publisher

    Microsoft Corp.

  • Homepage

    Microsoft Acrylic

  • Limitations

    Yes - 180 day timeout

  • Latest Changes

    - Updated XAML exporter. It will have its own installer, so please make sure you install it!

    - Thumbnail viewer for shell and the file open dialog

    - Bitmap painting performance improvement

    - New sample files

    - New icons and splash screen

Reviews

Discussions

Reviews of Microsoft Acrylic

  1. 4 out of 5 stars
    patmc7

    Reviewing August 2005 Community Technology Preview (Aug 16, 2005)

    It's not freeware if it has a timeout. Shareware has timeouts.

  2. 5 out of 5 stars
    twosheds

    Reviewing August 2005 Community Technology Preview (Aug 15, 2005)

    The five rating is for Creature House's wonderful software, as for what MS have done to it, well, they've made it unstable and taken out the superb and really elegant Flash export feature, which means that the pre-MS version is the last one that will ever be used professionally by me. Sheez, even Adobe gave a bit of ground on Flash export when they were MM's biggest rivals,seems pretty petty.

    On the plus side MS have added some very nice default line styles, really sensational. Back to the negative side, they've yucked up the interface with really horrible 1995-style smooth-bevels - why, for God's sake? Plus Expression had a bit of an interface problem to begin with, and MS are making it much, much worse.

    Just as a PS, why also do Betanews add a 'no-follow' tag to ANY URL that we post in these forums? Hiding from 'the man'....? :)

  3. 5 out of 5 stars
    iknowyouknow

    Reviewing August 2005 Community Technology Preview (Aug 15, 2005)

    I`ll give it 5 cos it does what it says. I really hope that in future it can handle PSD files also, I think PS is extremely overpriced. As far as this beta goes, its clunky for sure, but lets hope it gets better:)

  4. 5 out of 5 stars
    Mukkinese

    Reviewing Beta (Jul 3, 2005)

    A piece of software with exceptional potential, this beta version is a little rough around the edges and can get clunky when using the bitmap tools, but all the tools have a great deal of functionality and many unique features.

    If this lives up to it's promise this could be a
    major contendor in the pro graphics field.

    For anyone interested in graphics production, it's well worth trying out.

  5. 3 out of 5 stars
    yokozuna

    Reviewing Beta (Jun 12, 2005)

    First of all it is not a "native" Microsoft application. It is rebranded Creation House Expression 3.3 (which I use and I like it much). Microsoft acquired the Creature House technology and development team in 2003. I do not care that it is a beta version. The problem is that it is worse than CHE. Picture my surprise when I discovered that the code for this product is so poorly redone that it is worthy of Microsoft. I hope it will be improved.
    And one more thing: I love the logic of Ms. Acrylic was released on the 10th of June 2005 and the timeout is 180 days. What the FAQ says (http://www.microsoft.com...cts/expression/faq.aspx )?
    "Does the Acrylic Beta have an expiration date?
    Yes. The Acrylic Beta will expire on October 1st of 2005." How they counted the days is one of the greatest mysteries ever known.

Write a Review View All Reviews

Discuss Microsoft Acrylic

Post a Discussion