In this book, you'll:

• Learn the Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008 development environments
• Create designs using Blend 2's unique tools
• Use XAML and C# to add interactivity to your designs
• Publish your Rich Media Applications to the Web using Silverlight

The only real tool available for creating Rich Media Applications, web-based animations, and games has been Flash—until now! WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and Silverlight have opened the door of Rich Media Application development to Microsoft .NET developers. With Microsoft's new Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008, you can now create compelling Rich Media Applications complete with animations and even 3D!

This book shows you how to take full advantage of Blend's new interface, together with and Silverlight's vastly improved designer-developer workflow, guiding you through every step of development from downloading and installing of the development environment through creating finished, functional projects. You'll learn how to create simple drawing applications with the InkCanvas, make tabbed and scrollable interfaces, as well as build fully featured media players, photo galleries, and interactive 3D designs.

Each chapter discusses major WPF and Silverlight features, provides a hands-on tutorial, and explains how that feature is implemented in the real world. In the end, you will have a collection of impressive WPF and Silverlight applications that can be added to your portfolio.

Whether you're an experienced .NET or web developer, or you're just starting out, this book will provide you with all you need to create Rich Media Applications with Expression Blend 2.