Strokes

The Stroke panel has 48 built-in strokes, and even more when using variations. Options such as color, strokes, patterns textures, width, edge, softness, and so on can change the text effect slightly or drastically, to create a unique new look. To apply a stroke, you select your object and choose a stroke selection from the Stroke panel. Modifying a stroke requires a few more steps.

Modifying a Stroke

To modify a stroke of a preset style that has been applied to some text, follow the steps below:

• Open the strokes panel (Window>Strokes).
• Be sure the text you want to modify is selected. When it is selected, the strokes, fills, and effects applied appear in the Strokes Stroke, Effect, and Fill panels.

• To modify the stroke color, select the color change you want from the color well. In this example, green was chosen instead of the yellow stroke that the preset style added.

• To change the stroke's thickness, simply click the down arrow next to the thickness number or type in a number; two pixels is the setting being used above, and a 4 thickness is used below.

• The Edge Softness slider (the slide that changes the box titled tip) changes how the stroke blends; change this if you want a softer edge.

Saving Strokes as Styles

You need to experiment with strokes and when you create one you like, saving it will save a large amount of time in the future. To save any stroke effect as a style, follow the steps below:

• Click the Styles panel tab, click the right-pointing arrow, and from the pop-up menu choose new style.
• Checking the features you would like saved for the style. For instance, when working with text, you may not want to save the font style, so just uncheck that option. If you check Font, then when the style is applied, it will also use the font information. It it is unchecked, only the stroke, fill and effects will be applied to any text or object.
• Enter a name and click OK.

Adding Texture to Strokes

Adding a texture to a stroke can really make an object pop out from the page. To add texture, follow the steps below:

• Select the object you want to add a stroke to. From the Stroke panel, select a stroke from the stroke category.
• From the Stroke category, choose Texture.
• Adjust the tip size to make it larger. A larger stroke will yield a better texture effect; size 20 or larger should work nicely.
• From the Texture pop-up menu, choose a texture, and then set the opacity of the texture. If you don't see the changes occur on screen , press the Enter key after you choose each option.

Enhancing an Image with a Unique Stoke

Stroke can't be applied to an image, only to paths.

• Open an image and place it in the center of the document.
• Click the Pen tool on the toolbar. Click around the image you wish to add a unique stroke. Click one time, move the cursor, click once again, and so on till you have completely surrounded the image. The blue points are the points that have been clicked. When you reach the first point, double-click it to close the path. The image will be covered with color.
• From the toolbar, select the Fill tool and change the fill to none (the circle with the line through it). Now you have a path and can still see the image below it.
• In the above example, the color of the canvas was modified to complement the image. Select Modify>Canvas Color. Click the color well and take a sample with the eye-dropper from some section of the image of the image.
• Open the Stroke panel, and choose an option from the Stork category, I choose Air Brush. I also selected Texture from the Type drop-down list. From the Texture name option list, I choose Swish , and used a percentage of 80 for the Amount of texture and a Tip size of 60. Play around with the different options until you get the effect you want.
• Click the Subselection tool from the toolbar and pull each point in or out until you get the effect you want. I pulled the points in for the above example.

Adding Pizzazz to Your Web Page Header

The Stroke menu offers a multitude of innovative options. Follow the steps below to create your own page header that will definitely get attention from your viewers.

• Open a new file (File>New) with dimensions of 400 by 100 pixels and a canvas color of black.
• Select the Text tool and type the word "Pizzazz" in your document. The font used is Trebucket MS, (or use a font of your choice) size 42, color black, horizontal scale 100 percent, leading 115 percent, and smooth Anti_Alias).

• Open the Stroke panel by selecting Windows>Stroke and from the pop-up menu, select Unnatural.
• From the Stroke Name menu (the second drop down box), choose Paint Spatter, type the color "#FF9900", enter a Tip size of 3, and press Enter to apply. You will not be able to see your black text. The next step will allow you to see the text.
• A filter from Eye Candy 4000 (a third-party filter) that ships with Fireworks is going to be applied next.
  • Choose Xtras>Eye Candy 4000>Motion Trail
  • At the dialog box, click OK to convert the image to a bitmap
  • Use the following settings for the Motion Trail
    • Length 84
    • Opacity 88 percent
    • Direction 233
    • Click OK

• The text is beginning to get some character now, but it is not distinct enough yet. Click the Text tool from the toolbar and enter the word "Pizzazz" again. The settings should be the same as when you last used the Text Editor, so simply highlight the text by clicking and dragging over it and change the color to #FF9900. Click OK.
• Position the orange text on top of the black text. Open the Effect panel and select Shadow And Glow/Inner Glow. Use the following settings.
  • Width 2
  • Softness 2
  • Color #FF6600
  • Opacity 65 percent
  • Press Enter
• From the Effect panel, choose Shadow And Glow/Drop Shadow and use the following settings:
  • Distance 4
  • Softness 2
  • Opacity 65 percent
  • Color Black
  • Angle 315
  • Press Enter
• In the Layers panel, select both the text and image object by Shift+clicking. Choose Modify>Group. Now your image can be moved and resized as one unit.