Chapter 19: Working with Bitmap Images

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Overview

Photographs are comprised of pixels, the smallest component art of a bitmapped image (which is also known as a raster image in some programs). Pixels are little squares of color resembling a mosaic composition. Editing pixels involves adding, removing, or coloring individual pixels. Fireworks MX devotes a whole section of tools just for working with bitmap images.

The pixels are what distinguish a bitmapped image from a vector image, which consists of paths, a line with at least two points. Because vector objects (called objects in Fireworks) are made up of a series of lines they are fully scalable. Pixel images lose detail as they are scaled up because each image contains a set number of pixels. When you scale a bitmapped image up, Fireworks has to guess which pixels need to be resampled to "fake" the detail in the increased space. This stretching of pixels results in what is known as a "pixilated image." You can identify pixilated images by the obvious squares that can be seen or by the blurring of detail. The bigger the image is stretched the worse it will look.

In previous versions of Fireworks there was a bitmap mode and a vector mode that you needed to switch between. In Fireworks MX, you don't change modes; everything is automatic. The Tools panel is divided up into sections. The top portion contains the bitmap tools; if you select a bitmap tool, you are in bitmap mode. If you open a bitmap image, you are in bitmap mode. But as soon as you select a vector tool, the mode changes.

Figure 19-1 shows the new Tools panel with the pointer pointing at the Bitmap section. A thin line just below the bitmap tools divides the section with the Eyedropper and Paint Bucket/Gradient tools. You can use this section in both bitmap and vector modes.

Figure 19-1: The Tools panel showing the placement of the Bitmap tools

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