Welcome to Macromedia Fireworks 3, the solution for professional Web graphics design and production.
Multimedia Tour
A multimedia tour of Fireworks 3 is included in Fireworks Help as a Macromedia Director Shockwave movie. It plays in your Web browser.
The movie requires the Shockwave 7 player for your Web browser. You can download the latest Shockwave player from the Macromedia Web site, or install it from the Fireworks CD. There is also a longer Fireworks movie included on the CD.Fireworks Help Pages and Using Fireworks manual
Fireworks Help contains information about using all Fireworks features. Want help getting started? Simply open the Help Pages, and click "Tutorial" in the Table of Contents. Fireworks Help includes all of the content of the Using Fireworks manual.Fireworks tutorial
Open the Tutorial by choosing Tutorial from the Help menu in Fireworks, or begin reading Chapter 1 in your Using Fireworks manual.Fireworks ToolTips
Tabbed panels in Fireworks contain many ToolTips that appear when the mouse pointer pauses over a user interface element.www.macromedia.com
Macromedia's award-winning Web site contains Fireworks tutorials, sample art, and updates. Fireworks Information has an overview of features and current news.Fireworks Support Center
This Web site is updated regularly with the latest information on Fireworks, plus advice from expert users, advanced topics, examples, tips, and updates. Check the Support Center for news on Fireworks and how to get the most out of it.Extending Fireworks
This manual includes information about writing JavaScript to automate Fireworks tasks. Nearly every command or setting in Fireworks can be controlled using special JavaScript commands that Fireworks can interpret. If you don't have a printed manual, you can download an Acrobat PDF of it.TechNotes
Search the Fireworks Support Center for frequently updated technical information on Fireworks.Fireworks Discussion Group
For discussion on Fireworks topics with Fireworks users, technical support representatives, and the Fireworks development team, use a newsgroup reader to go to news://forums.macromedia.com/macromedia.fireworks.Wish List
Send feature and change requests to the Fireworks team at wish-fireworks@macromedia.com. We'll do our best to make them come true.Technical phone support
For additional assistance, contact Fireworks Technical Support in the United States at 415-252-9080. Keep your product serial number available when you call.
Several features were added to Fireworks after the manual was completed.
Save as Fireworks 2.0
Fireworks 3 files can be saved in the Fireworks 2 file format. Choose Save As from the File menu, then choose Fireworks 2.0 from the Save as Type pop-up menu. When saving in an older Fireworks format, objects creating using newer editing features will be altered.Commands
Fireworks ships with several categories of examples of JavaScript extensibility within the Commands menu. Using any text editor, you can customize these commands and new commands that you create.Animation commands demonstrate the creation of simple GIF animations through scripting. Rotate takes the contents of the current frame and adds new frames to rotate the objects 360 degrees. Rotate and Scale scales the objects smaller as they rotate.
Batch a Command prompts you to choose an existing command script then choose files to batch process using that command. Any command can be batch processed, including those that you create using the History panel. For more information on creating commands, see Chapter 18, "Automating Repetitive Tasks."
Creative commands include Convert to Grayscale and Convert to Sepia Tone, which use Hue/Saturation as a Live Effect to nondestructively change the appearance of selected objects. Create Picture Frame creates the appearance of a wood picture frame around your document.
Document commands create useful shortcuts to procedures that normally take many steps. Center in Document centers the selection within the current document. Hide Other Layers and Lock Other Layers hide or lock all layers in the frame except the current drawing layer. Reverse All Frames reverses the order of all frames in the Frames panel. Reverse Frame Range prompts you to choose a range of frames to reverse, and is useful when creating animations.
Panel Layout allows you to save and restore the visibility and layout of your toolbox and panels. Panel Layout Sets for 1024 x 768 and 800 x 600 monitor resolutions are included with Fireworks.
Web commands include Create Shared Palette and Set Alt Tags. Create Shared Palette creates a color palette containing colors from multiple files. The command prompts you to choose a folder of images, then choose the maximum number of colors you want in the palette. The resulting .ACT palette file can be used to batch process images, loaded as a custom palette in the Optimize or Color Table panels, or imported into the Swatches panel for use when drawing and editing. Set Alt Tags prompts you to enter an Alt tag to be set for all hotspots and slices in the document without changing any other slice or hotspot properties.
Dreamweaver Commands: Create Web Photo Album
Create Web Photo Album is a sophisticated example of using JavaScript to control Fireworks from within Dreamweaver. This command is installed into the Dreamweaver 3 Commands menu. If you do not already own Dreamweaver, download the free trial version. Create Web Photo Album uses Fireworks to process a folder of images to create thumbnails and full-size source images, then uses Dreamweaver to create a Web page of thumbnails and linked pages of source graphics.Eye Candy 3.1 LE demo filters
Fireworks installs two filters from Alien Skin's excellent Eye Candy set of image filters: Cutout and Motion Trail. Like the rest of Eye Candy 3.1 and many other Photoshop filters, both of these can be used as static image filters from the Xtras menu, and can also be used as nondestructive Live Effects when applied from the Effects panel. To upgrade to the full version of Eye Candy, choose Buy Now from the Cutout or Motion Trail dialog box. Versions before Eye Candy 3.1 cannot be used as Live Effects. Contact Alien Skin to inquire about updates.Tweening Photoshop filters as Live Effects
Many Photoshop filters can be used as Live Effects within the Effects panel. Like the Effects that ship with Fireworks, these can be applied to symbols and tweened to create special effects for animations. For more information about tweening, consult Fireworks Help.Shortcuts in the Layers and Frames panels
Shift-select multiple frames in the Frames panel to duplicate or delete a range of frames, or set frame delays for animation. In the Layers panel, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) the New Layer icon to name the new layer while it is being added. Click a hidden layer to show and select it.Fireworks goodies and Extensis Portfolio
The Fireworks clipart, styles, textures, patterns and sample files have been cataloged for you using Extensis Portfolio 4.1. View the catalogs using the free read-only Portfolio browser, which is included in the Goodies folder on the CD-ROM. Run the browser and open the appropriate FDB file to view thumbnails.A 30-day trial of the fully functional version of Portfolio is included on the CD-ROM. The full version of Portfolio lets you view, organize, manage, select, and share content with others across networks and platforms. For more information, visit www.extensis.com.
Also included on the CD-ROM are installers for Macromedia Shockwave Flash and Shockwave Director, plus 30-day trial versions of various Macromedia products.
Installation
When installing Fireworks on the Macintosh, it is recommended that you turn off extensions. To turn off extensions, restart your Macintosh and hold down Shift as your computer starts up.Installing Photoshop plug-ins
To use Photoshop plug-ins within Fireworks:
After any of these options, relaunch Fireworks and choose the Xtras menu or Effects panel to view the commands for available Photoshop plug-ins. Some plug-ins that ship with Photoshop require a DLL in order to be recognized by Fireworks. To enable these plug-ins, copy the file Plugin.DLL from the Photoshop application folder into the Fireworks application folder and relaunch Fireworks.
If you already own Eye Candy plug-ins from Alien Skin, you will need to upgrade to Eye Candy 3.1.1 or later to use Eye Candy filters as Live Effects.
Fonts
Fonts that do not contain vector outlines, such as bitmap fonts and Type 3 fonts, are not available in Fireworks. We recommend using TrueType fonts or Type 1 fonts, but note that Adobe Type Manager 4 or higher is required to use Type 1 fonts on the Macintosh.Norton Utilities NT and Netware
Incompatibilities can arise between Norton Utilities NT and Netware. If you use the Norton Protected Recycle Bin, it may prevent you from saving to Netware shared volumes. We recommend disabling Norton Protected Recycle Bin if you are using Fireworks, Netware, and Norton Utilities NT together.Preferences
The Fireworks Preferences file is located in the Fireworks application folder (Windows) or the Preferences folder in your System folder (Macintosh). To use default Preferences, quit Fireworks, delete the Preferences file, and relaunch Fireworks. To reset the configuration of all toolbars on Windows, quit Fireworks, delete the Fireworks.ini file from the Fireworks application folder, and relaunch Fireworks.
==================================================
Copyright © 1999 by Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Fireworks is a registered trademark of Macromedia, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Add life to the Web!
The Macromedia Fireworks Team