Making a custom brush stroke

You can convert any path or shape (or multiple shapes) that you draw in Expression Design into a custom brush stroke by following these steps. You can also turn bitmapped images into brush strokes, but you use a different method (see Image strokes).

  1. Select the path (or paths) you want to turn into a new stroke.
  2. Click Stroke on the Object menu, and then click New Stroke Definition. Note that any stroke or fill already applied to the path will become part of the new stroke. Live effects, however, are not included in custom strokes.
  3. Expression Design opens your shape in a new window. You can edit the path (using any of the path-editing tools).
  4. Close the stroke definition window by clicking the Close button in the flip tab  or clicking Close on the File menu.
  5. In the Save Stroke dialog box, type the stroke name and the default width in points. (The default width is used when you apply this stroke to a path that currently has no stroke.) Also, choose a category in which to put the stroke from the Folder drop-down list.

  1. To save your new brush stroke, click OK. To close the window without saving the stroke, click Discard. To close the dialog box and return to editing the stroke, click Cancel.

Stroke Definition box

In addition to the stroke, you'll see a red box with a horizontal arrow in the Stroke Definition window. This is called the stroke definition box.

Imagine that the arrow (also called the reference backbone ) is the path that you will later assign your stroke to. The end of the arrow represents the starting node of the destination path and the arrow head represents the end node of the destination path.

For example, if you later apply this stroke to a circle, you can imagine that the red arrow is being wrapped around the circle. Expression Design places your stroke along the circle in the same way that you see the stroke mapped along the red arrow. If your brush stroke begins at the arrow's left edge, then when you apply the stroke to the circle, it will also begin at the circle's starting point. However, if your stroke starts to the left or the right of the arrow's endpoint, when you apply the stroke to the circle, Expression Design will offset your stroke so that it begins either before or after the starting node of the circle.

The height of the Stroke Definition box is a reference for the stroke width. That is, imagine the height of the stroke definition box as being the thickness of the destination line. If you later apply this stroke to a 50-point thick line and your stroke extends all the way to the top and bottom edges of the Stroke Definition box, your stroke will also appear 50 points wide. However, if your stroke doesn't reach all the way to the top and bottom edges, then it will appear thinner than 50 points. Similarly, if your stroke extends past the top and bottom edges, then it will appear thicker than 50 points.

You can redefine the edges of the stroke definition box by selecting the Stroke Definition Box tool  and dragging diagonally over your stroke. (Note that this tool only appears in the Toolbox when creating or editing a custom stroke.)