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introduced Fireworks, the first production tool to provide a unified<br />
environment for creating, optimizing and producing high-quality graphics<br />
for the Web. Engineered from the ground up to address the needs of<br />
professional Web designers, the new tool incorporates such advanced<br />
features as a visual export preview, complete control over compression and<br />
color palettes, automatic generation of button states and JavaScript<br />
rollovers, as well as text and effects which are editable all the time.<br />
Fireworks allows designers to create the most compact graphics and GIF<br />
animations in the fewest steps.</p>
<p>"Fireworks inaugurates a new category of Web graphics production tools,"<br />
said Norm Meyrowitz, executive vice president and chief technical officer<br />
at Macromedia. "Just as Dreamweaver was the first visual Web authoring<br />
tool for professionals concerned about preserving the quality of their code<br />
and Flash pioneered delivery of compact vector-based Web animations,<br />
Fireworks is the first graphics tool which specifically addresses the issue<br />
of creating images for the Internet."</p>
<p>New Medium, New Tools</p>
<p>The current workflow for creating Web graphics is complex and<br />
time-consuming. To create a simple animated GIF banner, a designer uses<br />
several tools, laying out text in a vector illustration tool, compositing<br />
the text with images in a bitmap application, and then optimizing the size<br />
of the graphic in yet a third program. Adding image maps and animation<br />
requires additional utilities. Finally, the designer previews the image in<br />
a Web browser. Developers often undertake multiple iterations of this<br />
process, attempting to balance image size and quality.</p>
<p>Moreover, if the client requests a change, today's artist must start the<br />
process over since graphics are not readily editable in existing imaging<br />
tools. Fireworks solves both the workflow issue and the problem of<br />
editability by allowing designers to complete the entire process of<br />
creating and producing Web graphics in a single, unified<br />
environment-keeping everything editable, all the time.</p>
<p>Focused Product for Web Graphics Production</p>
<p>Throughout the Fireworks development cycle, Macromedia's engineering team<br />
worked closely with an advisory board of professional Web designers to<br />
create a tool that addresses the real-world needs of Web graphics<br />
production. Fireworks provides Internet-focused innovations such as a<br />
visual export preview window, where designers can consult side-by-side<br />
views of a graphic while experimenting with different compression schemes<br />
and color palettes. To help designers balance image quality and bandwidth<br />
requirements, Fireworks displays file size and download time data, updating<br />
these dynamically as the user optimizes the graphic. Designers can also<br />
optimize and preview GIF animations in Fireworks, controlling properties<br />
such as frame rate and tempo. Compression settings can be saved as presets<br />
for use in subsequent export operations or in batch processes.</p>
<p>"Fireworks is the fastest way to produce virtually any type of image or GIF<br />
animation for Web pages, from simple ad banners to more complicated<br />
animated image maps," said Manabu Inada, art director for MTV.com. "The<br />
program is easy to use, and is loaded with special effects -there is a lot<br />
of functionality just one click away."</p>
<p>Other Web-focused Fireworks features include the ability to "slice" an<br />
image for faster downloading, then export the component graphics plus the<br />
HTML table to re-assemble them in the viewer's browser. Fireworks provides<br />
a built-in "Image Map layer" to facilitate assignment of URL links, as well<br />
as a button generation feature which automatically produces up, down,<br />
rollover, and hit states for button graphics, along with the JavaScript<br />
code to control the button behavior. Color picking in Fireworks is tuned<br />
for Web designers, defaulting to the Web-safe palette.</p>
<p>Everything Editable, All the Time</p>
<p>In addition to its production strengths, Fireworks offers a rich<br />
environment for creating Web graphics. One key Fireworks innovation is the<br />
concept of "Live Effects." These include Web-staple drop shadows, bevels,<br />
embosses, and glows. Unlike effects in traditional applications, Live<br />
Effects are properties of the object to which they are assigned -if that<br />
object changes, the effect updates automatically. This highlights the<br />
revolutionary nature of Fireworks' graphics creation environment: in<br />
Fireworks, every object is editable, all the time. Editability extends even<br />
to properties such as image maps, which retain their associated URLs when<br />
reshaped or moved.</p>
<p>Fireworks further features a text window which provides capabilities<br />
expected of high-end illustration applications, including precise control<br />
over kerning, scaling, and leading as well as the ability to attach text<br />
and even paragraphs to paths. Text, like any Fireworks object, is always<br />
editable. Fireworks provides the shape creation and path editing tools<br />
found in vector illustration applications such as Macromedia FreeHand,<br />
along with the ability to edit and composite bitmaps as in imaging<br />
applications. For example, artists can retouch images at a pixel level,<br />
clone them, and apply filters such as a Gaussian blur or an unsharp mask.<br />
They can brush with effects such as charcoal, pencil, and air brush, then<br />
precisely reshape those brush strokes using Bzier controls.</p>
<p>Familiar and Integrated</p>
<p>Users of current graphics applications will quickly be proficient with<br />
Fireworks, since its user interface adheres to the industry standards.<br />
Fireworks is designed to work as a companion application to Macromedia<br />
Dreamweaver-Dreamweaver users will be able to launch Fireworks as an image<br />
editor from within the application. Fireworks is also tightly integrated<br />
with Macromedia FreeHand 8 and Adobe Photoshop.</p>
<p>The Macromedia Family</p>
<p>Fireworks is the latest Macromedia application created from the ground up<br />
for Web developers. The first, Macromedia Flash, has changed the look of<br />
the Web by enabling crisp, anti-aliased layouts and compact vector<br />
animations. The second, Macromedia Dreamweaver, is the first visual page<br />
design tool geared to professional Web developers. Dreamweaver provides the<br />
efficiency of a graphical environment while preserving the quality and<br />
editability of the underlying HTML code. And now, Fireworks presents the<br />
first unified environment for creating and producing GIF images and<br />
animations for the Web. Until now, designers have had to switch between a<br />
host of applications to create simple GIF graphics. Fireworks radically<br />
simplifies this workflow, allowing users to create the smallest possible<br />
images in the fewest steps, in a single tool.</p>
<p>Pricing and Availability<br />
A pre-release beta version of Fireworks is currently available for download<br />
at no charge at (<a href="http://www.getfireworks.com" title="http://www.getfireworks.com">http://www.getfireworks.com</a>). Fireworks for Windows 95,<br />
Windows NT and Macintosh PowerPC will be available Summer 1998 for an<br />
estimated street price of US $299. It will be available for purchase online<br />
through Macromedia at <a href="http://www.macromall.com" title="www.macromall.com">www.macromall.com</a>, directly from Macromedia at (800)<br />
457-1774, and through traditional software distribution channels.<br />
Interested parties outside North America should contact their local<br />
Macromedia distributor for pricing and availability. For the name of a<br />
Macromedia authorized reseller in your area, call (800) 326-2128 or visit<br />
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