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Exporting bitmapped images

You can export your Expression Design files in any one of several bitmapped file formats, including the native Adobe Photoshop file format (PSD), TIFF, BMP, GIF, JPEG, Windows Media Photo (WDP), and PNG. When you save in a bitmapped file format, Expression Design automatically converts all of your vector objects into pixels.

To save a bitmapped image to disk, click Export on the File menu (or press CTRL+SHIFT+X) and then select the file format from the Save as Type list. After you give the file a name and specify which folder in which to save the file, click the Save button. Expression Design displays the Export Image Settings dialog box containing the following options:

• Region  If you have set crop marks in your document, you can choose to output just the area inside those crop marks or the entire document canvas from the Region list. Otherwise, Expression Design uses the document frame as the area to output.
• Pixel Dimension and Resolution  The values in the Width, Height, and Resolution fields are interrelated. The Width and Height values define the number of pixels horizontally and vertically in the final bitmapped image. You can choose the measurement you want to define by clicking the list to the right of the Width and Height fields. The Resolution field defines how large the pixels are, and therefore how large the image as a whole would be if printed. The pixel dimensions always equal the output size (in inches) multiplied by the resolution value (in dpi). Note that when you change the Width field, the Height field also changes, so you cannot scale the image disproportionately.
• Anti-alias  Select this check box if you want your image to be anti-aliased (smoothed).

• File format options  You will see additional options in the File Format Options section of the dialog box, depending on what file format you chose in the Save as Type list. For more on those options, see:
  • GIF format
  • JPEG format
  • PNG format
  • TIFF format
  • BMP Format
  • Photoshop (PSD) format
  • Windows Media Photo (WDP) format

When you click OK, Expression Design begins to rasterize your file (turning vectors into pixels) and save it. On complex documents, a progress bar might appear to show the estimated completion time. You can cancel this process by pressing ESC.

Exporting Image Objects

If you have imported an image object into your Expression Design document, you can export it to disk again by selecting it with the Selection tool, clicking the Image submenu on the Object menu, and choosing Export as Image File. You will be asked to choose a name for the new file as well as a file format. As in the technique above, you will see additional options after clicking Save, depending on the file format you choose, but you will not be able to change the exported file's resolution or pixel dimensions.