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Another Adobe Illustrator to XAML Exporter

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When it rains, it pours. If you're following along, you'll remember that the WPF/XAML Conversion Tool Contest officially ended this past Friday at midnight. And while I haven't yet had the time to review the submissions (which doesn't include a couple that were sent in via e-mail), a friend of mine mentioned that he had heard about "another Illustrator exporter." So, tonight I did a quick search on Windows Live, and whaddya know? It popped-up fourth on the list.

This is awesome news! You see, I haven't had the time to add any new functionality to my Illustrator plug-in, and I'd begun to worry about how much time I'd be able to dedicate in the future. So not only was I excited to hear about a new exporter, but I was completely thrilled to read that it's written in C#! And if that isn't enough, the source code has been checked-in to CodePlex! Okay, I need a few more exclamation points!!!!! :-)

On to the important stuff. Here's the CodePlex project where you can download the bits. Read Pavan Podila's post announcing the exporter and a follow-up with a little more information.

I couldn't find any installation or usage instructions, but I was able to figure out one way to use the tool (perhaps there are more):

  • Download the bits and extract them to a folder of your choice.
  • Start Adobe Illustrator and load some artwork (like the Crystal.ai sample file that ships with Illustrator).
  • From the folder where you extracted the bits, launch Exporter.UI.exe.
  • Click the Export XAML button in the tool and wait...and wait. I'm guessing that the delay is due to scripting, and frankly, if it provides all of the flexibility mentioned above (C#, CodePlex, etc.), it's easily worth it.
  • Eventually, you'll see a XAML representation of the Illustrator drawing in the top half of the window and a WPF rendering in the bottom. A lot like XamlPad. Beautiful.

If you can't tell, I'm quite excited about this tool. A huge thank you to Pavan Podila for his great work! I can't wait to see where this goes.

Oh...I added it to my WPF Tools and Controls page too.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    November 02, 2006
    I updated the CodePlex page with a screenshot and some usage instructions. Thanks for pointing that out.

  • Anonymous
    December 03, 2006
    Windows Presentation Foundation Recommended practices for WPF Custom Control developers Drag & Drop