Interesting thread that explains how to successfully bring in assets from Adobe Illustrator into Expression Design. When creating Silverlight content, you can use Expression Design but you can also use Illustrator or Photoshop. If you use Illustrator then you can import your design elements to Expression Design and use the XAML Exporter in Design. Note that not everything will be imported from Illustrator into Design, for example effects or custom brushes might have to be rasterized or lost but for all the normal geometry with color fills, gradients etc, this import method will work great. 

Read thread from bottom to top.

From: Yin

Here’s a way to get correct 96 dpi when importing AI file (assuming the ai format is supported according to William’s comments).

• [Beta only step]  [If you are using Design V2 beta, there’s a bug about automatic DPI when opening ai files, workaround is to create a new blank document and set it to 72 DPI.  This should be solved in the final release of Design 2]
• Open your AI file in Design.
• File->Document size,  this popup a dialog.  Notice the DPI is 72.
• Remember your document width and height, in terms of pixels.
• Change DPI to 96.  (the pixel dimension might change with dpi change)
• Change width/height back to original pixels (the dpi should remain 96)

OK.

You should get an document with the closest visual appearance while preserving the pixel dimensions.
Then you can copy&paste them to another Design document, or export them to Blend.  Everything should be in 96 DPI.

– Yin

Hi Sarah,
Two important things
Make sure the AI file is written out in PDF compatible format, otherwise Design can’t read it.
For the dpi issue do an ‘open’ rather than an ‘import’. With open we automatically set the dpi to 72 in design to match up with AI. For import, the dpi depends on how you’ve set that up when you created the document. This latter assumes you’re using Version 2 of Design. I’m actually not sure if this auto setting made it for the Beta or not (I’m actually doubtful it did), in which case you can use import, just make sure you’ve specified 72 dpi when you create your Design doc.

William

Hi Sarah,

There is some information about importing from Illustrator to Design in Design’s online readme: 

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/readme.aspx?key=design

–Dawn

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone has information or documentation they could point me to that details the process for importing AI files to Expression Design, including things such as setting up files in AI so that when they translate to Expression Design it is as close to the same as possible.

Specifically I am looking for information on:

• When exporting from AI to Expression, the dpi is different what’s the best way to approach this?
• There does not seem to be a setting in AI to use 96 dpi.

We are trying to record exact processes for getting artwork from different programs / formats and would appreciate any information.

Thanks
Sarah

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