FW MX 2004 Tutorial (2): Drawing tools

Tutorials and many of the mainstream image processing software, fireworks drawing tools are mainly focused on the "tool bar." These tools allow you to draw a variety of shapes and set properties for them, such as color, size, location, and so on.

Fireworks MX 2004 's "sidebar" adds a number of new tools and is organized into six categories with the original tools: selection, bitmap, vector, Web, color, and view areas. Some tool buttons have a small triangle in the lower right corner, which means that the tool contains several different tools, and holding down the tool button will show other tools.

Let's start by introducing the bitmap area's drawing tools.

　　1 , constituency tool

Figure 2-01 is the main tool for bitmap areas in the sidebar, the rectangle, oval, lasso, polygon lasso, and magic wand tools are all used to constrain the editing scope of bitmaps, and all bitmap edits such as cut, copy, padding, and so on can only be valid within that range.

Figure 2-01

Selection Tool: The area selected with the selection tool is represented by a rotating black and white line (ant line). When you hold down the SHIFT key and then draw a marquee, you can combine it into a new selection area. As shown in Figure 2-02.

Figure 2-02

While holding down the ALT key, the rectangular selection that is drawn again cuts off the intersecting portion of the original selection.

Figure 2-03

To cancel a selection, click the Selection tool First, and then click anywhere outside the selection.

The selection box's property panel displays the current size and coordinate position of the marquee, and so on.

Figure 2-04

In the style options, you can make the marquee switch between normal, fixed size, and fixed scale three styles.

Normal-The default selection method is also most commonly used. You can use the mouse to pull any rectangle or ellipse selection area.

Fixed proportions-you can arbitrarily set the width-height ratio of a rectangle or an elliptical selection. Simply enter the corresponding width and height ratio below the option.

Fixed size-In this way you can precisely determine the size of a rectangle or an oval selection by entering a wide and high number.

Edge options can be set for hardening programs on selection edges.

Solid side-The selection edges are jagged, without any softening transitions.

Anti-aliasing-Enables the most basic softening of selection edges.

Feather--Removes the normal hard edges of the selected area and makes it soft. That is, the boundary produces a transition segment, the value of this option is 0-100, the greater the number, the greater the degree of flexibility.

Lasso Tool: You can draw the desired range in random circles, mainly for selecting irregular graphic selections. If the end of the selected curve and the starting point do not coincide, fireworks will automatically be closed into a complete coil.

Polygonal Lasso Tool: You can select an irregular polygon in the image and press SHIFT while selecting to make the line, horizontal, 45-degree angle.

Figure 2-05

Compared to the selection box's property panel, the Lasso Tool's property box has less style options, and the other options are exactly the same.

Magic Wand Tool: This is a magical selection tool. You can use to select areas of similar color in an image, and when you click a point on the image with a magic wand, the area close to that point will be selected to save a lot of effort to achieve unexpected results in some cases.

Figure 2-06

The Properties dialog box of the Magic Wand tool allows you to set the tolerance value of the color and the softness of the edges. The larger the tolerance value, the larger the range you choose.

　　 2 , free brush tool

Both the brush tool and the pencil tool can draw arbitrary lines directly on the canvas, as shown in Figure 2-07.

Figure 2-07

You can set the brush color, size, stroke class, edge softening value, texture, texture transparency, brush transparency, color mode, and so on in the Properties dialog box for the Brush tool, as shown in Figure 2-08.

Figure 2-08

There are a variety of stroke class shapes to choose from in the Stroke class drop-down list of the property box, and click Stroke Options to edit the new strokes.

Figure 2-09

There are dozens of fill texture patterns in the Drop-down list for the texture type to choose from, and you can select other from the list and import the bitmap image externally as the new texture fill.

In the Pencil's property box, you can also set the color of the line segment, whether to choose soft, transparency values, automatic erasure and so on.

　　 3. Image modification Tools

Eraser tool: The color used to erase a bitmap. As with a brush, after selecting the Eraser tool, hold down the left mouse button and drag on the image, as shown in Figure 2-10.

Figure 2-10

Blur Tool: The tool works by reducing the contrast between pixels, making the image blurry, as shown in Figure 2-11.

Figure 2-11

Sharpen tool: Contrary to the Blur tool, the sharpening tool is used to deepen the contrast between pixels to sharpen the image, as shown in Figure 2-12.

Figure 2-12

The blur and sharpen tools have exactly the same property panel, where the strength represents the stroke strength when blurred or sharpened.

Figure 2-13

Dodge and Branding tools: Both tools are used to change the brightness and dimming of the image. The principle comes from the film exposure, after a part of the dimming and lighting, to improve the exposure effect. The effect chart is as follows.

Figure 2-14 Figure 2-15

The "Dodge" and "branded" property boxes feature the same, as shown in Figure 2-16.

Figure 2-16

The range option is a tonal selection of the particular tonal area that will be processed.

Darkened--After the selected "Dodge" and "branded" tool only for darkened areas;

Intermediate Tune--the "Dodge" and "mark" tools are used only for intermediate area;

Brightness--After the selected "Dodge" and "branding" tool only acts Yu Liang area.

Smudge Tool: The tool is used as if it were rubbed on dry ink with a dry brush in everyday life. This means that the pixels around the stroke move along with the brush strokes of the smudge tool, as shown in Figure 2-17.

Figure 2-17

　　 4 , Color Fill tool

Eyedropper tool: Used to choose a color from an image to specify a new stroke or fill color. You can select the color of a single pixel, the average color value within the 3x3 pixel area, or the average color value within the 5x5 pixel region.

Paint Bucket Tool: The fill properties of the drawing tools that apply to bitmap and vector objects, such as rectangles, rounded rectangles, ellipses, and polygons, when drawing. The current fill appears in the Color mixer Panel in the Properties dialog box, the Tools bar panel, and the combo panel. You can use any of these panels to change the fill color of the paint bucket tool. As shown in Figure 2-18.

Figure 2-18

As you can see in the Paint Bucket Properties dialog box, the Fill category for the tool is filled with solid fills, web jitter, gradient fills, and pattern fills in four kinds. The various filling methods have many colors and styles to choose from.

Figure 2-19

The following two charts are filled with the grain 3 in linear fill and pattern fill mode in gradient fill mode. Where I am in "linear fill" is from the top left corner of the image to hold the mouse, then drag to the lower right corner of the image, while the "Wood grain 3" Fill is from the center point of the image hold the mouse, and then drag to the upper right corner of the image.

　　
Figure 2-20 Figure 2-21

And this use of the mouse to drag the fill is also the "gradient tool" filling characteristics. Also, the Properties dialog box for the gradient tool is the same as in the Paint Bucket property box, except that the gradient tool's fill mode has only a gradient fill.

　　 5 , Rubber Stamp Tool series

Rubber Stamp Tool: a part of the area used to clone an image so that it is embossed in another area of the image. When using, move the mouse over the image you want to copy, then click the left mouse button to determine the starting point of the copy, and then drag the mouse to start copying anywhere in the image. Figures 2-22 and 2-23 are images before and after the replication. There's no aliasing, and you can copy as much as you want, which is really convenient for us lazy people.

　　
Figure 2-22 Figure 2-23

Replace Color tool: Choose a color that can be applied to another color in the range of this color, with something similar to a brush. When you use the tool, click the color Preview box to the right of change in the Properties panel to select the color, or click in the image to select the color you want to replace. Then select a color in the color Preview box in terminate, or select the color you want to replace in the image.

Figure 2-24

Figures 2-25 and 2-26 are the images before and after the replacement color.

　　
Figure 2-25 Figure 2-26

You can also set the size, shape, tolerance, and strength of the replace color stroke in the Replace Color property box. and "color" refers to the "end" color to replace the "change" color. Deselect color to paint the change color with the stop color and keep a portion of the change color unchanged.

Red-eye Removal Tool: In some photos, the pupil of the subject is an unnatural red shadow. So using the Red Eye elimination tool is an easy way to solve this problem. The Red-eye removal Tool paints only the red area of the photo and replaces the red with gray and black. Figures 2-27 and 2-28 are images before and after red-eye elimination.

　
Figure 2-27 Figure 2-28

Tools for bitmap areas The following is followed by the main tools of the vector area, as shown in Figure 2-29.

Figure 2-29

　　 6 , Path Tools

Line tool: Use the line tool to draw straight lines directly on the canvas, while holding down the SHIFT key to draw a horizontal, vertical, 45-degree line.

Figure 2-30

Pointer Tool: Use this tool to easily move a line. When you click a line with the Subselection tool, a control point appears at both ends of the line, holding down the left mouse button to drag a control point of the line to easily change the angle of the line arbitrarily, and to lengthen or shorten the line arbitrarily, as shown in Figure 2-31.

Figure 2-31

Pen tool: When you select the Pen tool and click a different position on the canvas, you can draw a straight path that consists of line segments. If the mouse click does not release, but drag the mouse, so that the path is curved path, by adjusting the curve of the two control line can be set curve curvature.

Figure 2-32

When adjusting the curve's control line, hold down the ALT key to control a single control line, thus establishing the direction and curvature of the next curve segment.

Figure 2-33

To end the drawing of a line, simply double-click at the end of the line. When you draw a closed path, you click the start point or hold down the starting point to drag. When the pen tool's pointer is in a non-path area, a small fork is next to the pointer, and if the pointer is over the path, a sign of the cross will be placed next to the pointer, and a node will be added when the mouse is clicked.

Figure 2-34

And when the pointer is over the node, there is a one-word flag next to the pointer, and the mouse clicks to delete the node.

Vector Path Tool: The use of the vector path tool, like the brush tool, allows free paths to be drawn arbitrarily. The settings for stroke color, size, and the softness of the edges are identical.

　　 7 , Path modification tool

Redraw Brush Tool: The detail tool allows you to edit a simple closed path. But for this more complicated and more closed path in Figure 2-37, it is necessary to use "redraw brush" to deal with it.

Figure 2-35

Use the redraw brush to redraw an arc along the curvature, and the redrawn path portion is highlighted in red so that the original path is replaced by a new path. As shown in Figure 2-36.

Figure 2-36

Freeform tool: You can bend and distort vector paths directly, instead of performing actions on individual nodes. Fireworks automatically adds, moves, or deletes nodes on the path when you change the shape of the vector path.

Figure 2-37

Change Area shape tool: When used, the tool's pointer is two concentric circles, and only paths in these two concentric circles will be modified.

Figure 2-38

Path Cutting tool: This tool is used to cut vector paths such as the pen path. Use the left mouse button down from the cutting place to move across. A control point is added to the cutting place. Use the detail tool to move one end to separate segments, as shown in Figure 2-39.

Figure 2-39

Path Scrubbing tool: The path scrubbing tool can only be used on a path with a pressure-sensitive brush stroke. Make time to change the stroke properties of the path by changing the pressure or speed on the path you want to modify. These properties include the original stroke size, angle, inking, dispersion, hue, brightness, and saturation of the path. Use the Sensitivity tab of the Stroke Options dialog box to specify which property in these properties is affected by the path scrubbing tool. You can also specify the number of pressures and speeds that affect these properties.

　　 8 , Shape Tools

The shape tools are also divided into "Basic Shapes" and "Auto Shapes", as shown in Figure 2-40.

Figure 2-40

Basic shapes: simple geometries that have rectangles, ellipses, and polygons. Use only on the canvas with the mouse drag can draw the corresponding graphics. such as Tutu 2-41.

Figure 2-41

You can draw squares and circles when you hold down the SHIFT key, and you can easily fill them with different fill patterns in the property boxes of each shape tool. Through the color of the adjustment handle can freely control the color of the fill direction and range.

You can draw a rounded rectangle of varying degrees by entering different values in the rectangular roundness of the Rectangle tool property box.

When you use the Polygon tool, you can set the shape, the number of sides, and the angle of the polygon in the property box before drawing.

Auto shape: This is a set of intelligent vector drawing tools that follow special rules to simplify the creation and editing of common visual elements. Unlike the basic Shape tool group, the selected auto shape has a diamond control point in addition to a color fill handle. Each control point is associated with a specific deformation property of a shape. You can change the deformation properties associated with it by dragging the control point. Most auto shape control points have tooltips that describe how they affect auto shapes. Move the pointer over a control point to see a ToolTip that describes the property that is controlled by the control point, as shown in Figure 2-44.

Figure 2-42

In addition, there is a more complex set of smart shape tools under the Shapes panel in the combo panel. As shown in Figure 2-43.

Figure 2-43

By dragging these objects directly into the canvas, you can change the object-related properties by adjusting each of the diamond control points on the object. As shown in Figure 2-44.

Figure 2-44