Import Photoshop and Illustrator files

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You can import Adobe Photoshop (.psd) and Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files directly into an open document in your Microsoft Expression Blend project. Expression Blend imports Photoshop and Illustrator features in the following ways:

  • Layers   Expression Blend preserves layer names, importing the layers as individual objects and layout containers to make them easy to work with. When importing Photoshop files, you can view layers, rename layers, and select which layers to import.

  • Text   When you are importing Photoshop files, text can be imported as editable text objects or as flat bitmap images.

  • Vectors   Vector art can be imported as editable path objects. Photoshop files can also be imported as images.

  • Blend modes   When you are importing Photoshop files, layers that contain blend modes can be merged to preserve the appearance of your art.

  • Gradients   Linear and radial gradients remain editable after they are imported. Other fills are rasterized. Color stops are imported as gradient brushes to the Fill property of the resulting object in Expression Blend, and opacity stops are imported as gradient brushes to the OpacityMask property.

  • Patterns   Patterns are imported as image brushes.

If there are unsupported features in your Photoshop file, the Import dialog box displays information about the best course of action to take to preserve the appearance of your art.

For a complete list of supported and unsupported features, see the Expression Blend Release Notes.

To import a Photoshop file

  1. Open the .xaml document into which you want to import the file.

  2. On the File menu, click Import Adobe Photoshop File.

  3. In the Import Adobe Photoshop File dialog box, browse to the file that you want to import, and then click Open.

  4. In the next dialog box that appears, do the following:

    • Select the layers that you want to import. Alternatively, you can select the Compatibility image to import a single merged image.

    • If information icons that appear next to a layer recommend merging layers, select the layers by holding down the CTRL key, right-clicking the selection, and then clicking Group for Merging.

    • View a preview of the art on the left side to make sure that it appears the way that you want it to.

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  5. Click OK.

    A new Canvas object, named the same as your imported file, is added to your document. Under the Canvas object are all your imported objects. If a folder has not been selected, in the Projects panel, a new folder is created in the root folder to contain all the converted image files.

To import an Illustrator file

  1. Open the .xaml document into which you want to import the file.

  2. On the File menu, click Import Adobe Illustrator File.

  3. In the Import Adobe Illustrator File dialog box, browse to the file that you want to import, and then click Open.

  4. Click OK.

    A new Canvas object, named the same as your imported file, is added to your document. Under the Canvas object are all your imported objects. In the Projects panel, a new folder is created in the project folder to contain all the converted image files.

See also

Tasks

Insert an audio or video file into the active document

Import XAML that is exported from Expression Design

Create a user control from existing objects

Concepts

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