|
Back in the early 2000s, there was a vector graphics application called Expression, created by Creature House, a small Hong Kong-based company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creature_House_Expression). They also had a beta of an animation version of Expression, called LivingCels. It had been battle-tested in various local animation studios, and was just getting ready to burst into the market... (dominated, at that time, by Adobe Illustrator and Flash) Expression was based on the founders' PhD work too: 'skeletal strokes', a really cool feature that allowed painting with complex vector or bitmap strokes. It reached version 3, then Microsoft acquired the company in 2003, re-wrote the software, got it wrong... and quietly killed it. Expression had the BEST user interface, was packed with features, and the website was whimsical and unique. Guess what? It's still available! A free download for Windows, that works perfectly in Wine. It's better than Affinity Designer, and most other vector drawing apps. I would place it alongside Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW - except it's more intuitive and easier to use. (Sure, it lacks features, because it's nearly 20 years gone!) I love this new vector graphics technology. But they have a lot of catching up to do to make a full-featured application. If only their tech could be combined with Expression (a far-off fantasy!), the world would have another awesome vector graphics application. |
And indeed I have a lot of catching up to do feature-wise :) VGC Illustration won't be able to be as feature-complete as Illustrator for a long time, but hopefully the killer features and better drawing experience will make up for it.