Fireworks 4 Activities

Semicircles / Half-Circles

Step 1: Create a Circle.

• Select the Ellipse Tool
• Holding down the Shift Key, draw out a Circle.

Step 2: Cut the Circle.

• Select the Knife/Eraser Tool (On Bitmap images, the Knife Tool changes to the Eraser Tool. This causes some confusion, but just remember the Knife is for Vectors, and the Eraser is for Bitmaps)
• Click and drag across the circle (starting and finishing at the two points)
• Click on the path with the Knife Tool.
• Click the V Key to select the Pointer Tool and move the circle.

• Select the Rectangle Tool.
• Draw out a rectangle.
• Turn off the Stroke.
  

Step 2: Edit the Fill from Solid to Linear.

• In the Fill Panel, change the Fill Category from Solid to Linear
• Edit the Fill to the colors you want. You'll want to keep one of the colors the same as your document's background color.
• In this example, I used dark orange and white. To get to this panel, click on fill, then click edit. Click on the icons under the color to select the specific color you want.

Step 3: Edit the Height of the rectangle.

• Select the rectangle by clicking on it.
  
• In the Info Panel, enter a new value for Height. For the thinnest possible line, enter 1 for Height.
  
• Adjust the value for Width if you like.
• Hit the Enter key to see the changes

MODIFICATION:

Create a line that both Fades and Tapers.

• Create a Rectangle.
  
• Select the Skew Tool.
  
• Grab the top, left corner point and bring it downwards. You'll also notice the bottom point will come up. Keep skewing the point until the bottom point meets the top point.
  

• In the Fill Panel, change the Fill from Solid to Linear
  
• Edit the Fill to the colors you want. You'll want to keep one of the colors the same as your document's background color. In this example, I used dark orange and white.

Creating Triangles

• Double-click the Polygon Tool to bring up the Tool Options.
  
• Set the Sides to 3
  
• Draw out your Triangle.

Rounded Rectangles

Using either the Rectangle Tool or the Rounded Rectangle Tool:

• Select either the Rectangle Tool or Rounded Rectangle Tool.
  
• Click and draw out a rectangle and while holding down the mouse button, press the Up/Down Arrow Keys to adjust the roundness of the rectangle.
  
• You can always edit the roundness of the rectangle AFTER you've drawn it by adjusting the Roundness Setting in the Objects Panel. Be sure to have the rectangle selected before adjusting the Roundness Setting. If you don't see this penel, click Windows>Object.
  

Creating Stars In Fireworks

• Begin by clicking the Polygon Tool to open the Options Palette shown below.
• Choose Star from the pop up menu. Change the Sides to 5 and select Automatic for starters. This will give you your basic star shape.
• Click and drag out a star.

Step 4. Adjust the settings. Now, you can play with the different sides and angles to create some unique stars.

Step 5. Adjust the angle. Changing the angle will automatically deselect the "Automatic" option. Fireworks default angle for stars is 38.