Macromedia Fireworks Tutorials
Macromedia Fireworks is respected by graphic designers, who use it to create stunning graphics for their websites and other projects. Now you can learn how to design great-looking templates and more with these tutorials!
Introduction to Macromedia Fireworks
Macromedia Fireworks is a powerful yet easy-to-use web graphics authoring tool. In this series of tutorials, we will take a look at the various features of Fireworks and how to use them to create stunning web graphics.
We will start with a brief overview of the interface and then move on to creating simple shapes and buttons. We will then look at how to add text and images to our designs and how to animate them. By the end of this series, you will have a good understanding of how to use Fireworks to create professional-looking web graphics.
Basic Tools
In the Basic Tools section of the Macromedia Fireworks blog, you’ll find tutorials on how to use the basic tools in Fireworks. You’ll learn how to use the different types of brushes, how to create and edit vector objects, and how to work with bitmap images. You’ll also find tutorials on how to use the different types of selection tools, how to transform objects, and how to work with layers.
In the Advanced Tools section of the Macromedia Fireworks blog, you’ll find tutorials on how to use advanced tools in Fireworks such as the color picker tool and effects, such as drop shadows and glows. You’ll also learn about animation techniques for buttons and Flash exports.
Effects and Filters
Macromedia Fireworks is a powerful tool for creating graphics and animations. In this section, we’ll take a look at some of the built-in effects and filters that you can use to add pizzazz to your images and animations.
Effects are in many ways like filters; they’re both used to enhance your images. Effects add a special touch of pizzazz to images without changing the underlying visual elements. For example, you could apply an effect that makes the image more vibrant or adds some color. Filters, on the other hand, are used to change the overall look of your image. They can be used to remove red eyes from pictures or add a glow or softening effect to an image. This section will focus on using some of Fireworks’ built-in effects and filters.
The Difference Between Effects and Filters
Effects can be applied at any time when an image is open by choosing Modify → Effect . . . from the menu bar. Filters can be applied only when an image is open. They are found in the Filter menu of the Fireworks toolbox.
The Effects Pane and Filters Pane
The Effects pane (found under Modify → Effect) contains a small number of effects by default and also tabs for applying a number of additional effects to an image. The Filters pane (found under View → Show/Hide) contains all the filters that you can apply to your images.
There are so many filters that they have been broken down into separate categories, such as Blur, Distort, and Light & Shadow. You can toggle through these categories by choosing one from the pane’s pop-up menu at the top right of the pane or by using keyboard shortcuts.
The Effects pane and Filters pane replace the Image Effects dialog box used in previous versions of Fireworks.
The Colors Pane
The Colors pane (found under Modify → Swatches) contains a number of swatches used for selecting colors for your images. Each swatch represents different ways that you can change the color, such as changing the saturation or brightness of an image.
The panel also displays which toolset it is using: the Color tool set, Gradients tool set, Bitmap tool set, or Transparency tool set. The Colors pane replaces the Color Sets dialog box used in previous versions of Fireworks.
The Toolset Pane
The Toolset pane (found under View → Show/Hide) contains a number of toolsets that you can use to create and edit your images. The following toolset options are available:• Edit Tools—This is the default toolset, which allows you to edit an image by selecting different shapes, paths, and points on your image. You can also use this toolset to create various types of strokes and generate other shapes.
Web Tools —The Web tools allow you to make changes to your image for use by the Web. These changes include adding interactive elements like rollovers and page transitions. This toolset contains the same set of tools found in the Edit tools, with a couple of additions specific to making web pages.•
Color Tools —The Color tools allow you to change the color of an object or path by using the color picker. You can also use this toolset to change the fill and stroke settings of objects, paths, and strokes.
Effects Tools —The Effects tools allow you to apply special effects to your images, such as gradients and patterns. This toolset contains a wide range of effects, from blurs and distortions to glows and shadows.
Drawing Tools —The drawing tools allow you to create various shapes on your image using a variety of pre-determined settings. These shapes can be edited after they are created by using the Direct Selection or the Shape Builder tools within this toolset.
Selection Tools —The selection tools allow you to make changes only to specific areas of your image; you cannot use these tools on entire images. The selection tools include the Marquee and Lasso tools, the Quick Mask Mode, and a number of special tools that allow you to work with color ranges, paths, and channels.
Modifying Images
The Modify menu includes all of the tools used to alter your image. You’ll find a number of options here that allow you to do everything from rotating and resizing an image to adding effects like drop shadows or bevels.
Modify —The Modify submenu contains a number of commands used for altering images in various ways. The commands in this menu that deal with the canvas are used to resize an image or crop it; these are the same commands found in the Image → Canvas Size dialog box.
Exporting, Rendering, and Saving
When you’re done creating your masterpiece in Macromedia Fireworks, it’s time to export it so that others can see it. This process is known as rendering, and there are a few different ways to go about it.
The first thing you need to do is decide which file format you want to use. The most popular choice is PNG, but JPEG and GIF are also popular options. Once you’ve decided on a format, you can choose to either save the file directly or export it as a separate file.
If you’re exporting the file, you’ll need to choose a location to save it to. Once you’ve done that, click the ‘Export’ button and choose your desired file format from the drop-down menu. If you’re saving the file directly, simply click the ‘Save’ button and select your desired file format.
Once you’ve exported or saved your file, it’s ready to be shared with the world!
Conclusion
In conclusion, Macromedia Fireworks is a powerful program that can help you create amazing graphics for your website or blog. With the right tutorials, you can quickly learn how to use all of the features and tools that Fireworks has to offer. We hope that our collection of tutorials has helped you get started with using Fireworks and that you’ll be able to create stunning graphics for your own projects.