Macromedia Fireworks Tutorials
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Updated: 21Feb07
Introduction to Fireworks
Features | Toolbar | Pointer Tool | Scale Tool
Macromedia Fireworks (also known as FW for short) is a bitmap and vector graphics editor, developed by Macromedia and aimed at web designers (with features such as: slices, the ability to add hotspots etc.). It is designed to integrate easily with other Macromedia products, such as the popular Dreamweaver and Flash, and is part of the Macromedia Studio 8 suite.
Features of Fireworks
Fireworks contains a number of features that make it a unique alternative to Adobe ImageReady. The primary difference is Fireworks' emphasis on vector editing, similar to Adobe Illustrator, with limited bitmap capabilities. This is opposite to the approach used by Photoshop, which is primarily for bitmap graphics with limited vector editing features. Vector objects in Fireworks can be resized with no loss of quality, just as in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. Bitmap objects suffer a similar loss in quality whether resized in Fireworks, ImageReady or Photoshop.
The Fireworks Toolbar
Fireworks buttons can be held down to reveal a submenu of variations on each tool. For example, as the dodge and burn tools are used to lighten or darken an image and are similar, they can be found within the same submenu. This system of organization saves a lot of space and is very useful to graphic editors trying to save as much space on-screen as possible. The toolbar on the right is from Fireworks 8.
Pointer Tool
The Pointer Tool contains a submenu of 2 items. It is represented by a black-filled cursor.
- Selection Tool - The Selection tool allows the selection of an entire entity within the canvas, or a group of entities by shift clicking multiple items in succession.
- Select Behind Tool - The Select Behind tool allows the selection of an entity that is below another in the layer order.
Scale Tool
The Scale Tool contains a submenu of 3 items. It is represented by a box with a diagonal arrow.
- Scale Tool - The scale tool allows you to resize an entity in the X or Y dimensions, and also allows you to keep the image size in the proper ratio by holding SHIFT while scaling. This tool also allows for rotation of an entity.
- Skew Tool - The skew tool allows the skewing of images.
- Distort Tool - The distort tool allows you to twist the image and add perspective.
A major source of confusion is that several of the tutorials use images from Macromedia Fireworks 2004 MX desktop rather than the more recent Macromedia Fireworks 8 desktop. Directly below is an image of the MX workspace, and below that is the image of the 2004 MX version...it is this latter version that is used in the tutorials and the source of confusion.
Fireworks 8 Panel with Two Dropdowns Open
The Fireworks 2004 MX Effect Panel
