New Tools

     

Fireworks MX 2004 has added a few new tools to the image-editing tool box. Although these tools don't do anything that you could not have done in previous versions of Fireworks, they increase your efficiency. What took several steps now takes one or two.

Auto Shapes

The new Auto Shapes tools are one of the most appreciated additions to Fireworks MX 2004. A look at the Auto Shapes tools (see Figure 24.4) will reveal a slew of new shapes that you can use in your designs. Even better, you can modify these shapes by using the control handles, as well as change their stroke and fill properties. Auto Shapes can also be ungrouped and modified as individual objects.

Figure 24.4. Auto Shapes simplifies the process of creating complex shapes by giving you "canned" shapes that can be modified.

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The Auto Shapes panel (see Figure 24.5) also lets you create your own shapes, as well as use shapes from third-party developers.

Figure 24.5. Shapes in the Auto Shapes panel that are shipped with Fireworks MX 2004.

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Red Eye Removal Tool

The Red Eye Removal tool enables you to remove that irritating red from the pupils of your Aunt May's birthday party photos (see Figure 24.6). Many designers have created their own workarounds to counter this photography phenomenon , but Macromedia has now given us the tools to simplify this process. The new tool works great on most red eye images, but gets a bit sketchy if the red eye leaks over to the iris.

Figure 24.6. The Red Eye Removal tool provides a quick way to touch up photos affected by red eye.
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Replace Color Tool

The Replace Color tool lets you easily replace colors in bitmap images by painting with an adjustable brush- size cursor. Replacing image colors in previous versions of Fireworks required selecting pixels and then using the Paintbucket or Brush tool to modify the color. The new Replace Color tool allows you to select the color you want to change, set the color you want to change to, and then use the brush to make the switch (see Figure 24.7).

Figure 24.7. The Replace Color tool gives you professional-level photo retouching capabilities so you can get funky with photos.
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Motion Blur Live Effects

New in the Live Effects panel are some great new motion blur effects (see Figure 24.8). As with other effects, these "filters" can be applied, modified, and removed as you see fit.

Figure 24.8. The new Motion Blur Live Effects in action.
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Using Macromedia Studio MX 2004
Special Edition Using Macromedia Studio MX 2004
ISBN: 0789730421
EAN: 2147483647
Year: N/A
Pages: 339

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