Editing Raster Objects

The Selection Tools

If you are familiar with Adobe Photoshop you'll recognize some of the same filters and bitmap editing tools used ion Fireworks. Fireworks is not designed to compete with Photoshop in the print market but it provides all the tools you'll need to edit bitmap images for output for the web.

The Marquee, the Move, the Lasso, and the Magic Wand , make up Fireworks MX® Selection Tools. A Marquee, a dotted line in constant motion, represents the shape of your selection. The Marquee is also known as a Selection path. At any time, you can {Click} “Edit/Deselect” to remove a selection. We will examine how to use the Selection Tools and related Panels.

Marquee Tool
The Marquee Tool is used to create regular shaped selections. The shape of your selection is represented by a Marquee; a line of cycling black and white squares in constant motion which is sometimes referred to as an “ant trail”. The Marquee is also known as a selection path. Available shapes include a Rectangular Marquee for square and rectangular Selections and the Elliptical Marquee for circular and oval Selections. To constrain the shape of the rectangular, elliptical or crop Tools {Click}, drag and hold the “Shift” key as you make your Selection. Perfectly square and circular selections result. The Crop Tool is limited to rectangular shapes. If you hold down the “Alt” key while using one of the marquee tools, the point of origin will be the center of your selection. If you don’t hold down the “Alt” key the top right corner of your selection will be the point of origin.

The Crop Tool
When you use the Crop Tool, you’ll notice small black boxes located at the corners of its Marquee as well as in the center of each side. You can {Click} and drag these to resize them. Press “Enter” or “Return” on your keyboard to crop the image . What happens? The image data outside of the Crop Tool’s selection is erased and the image resizes to the data within the selection. You can use the History Panel to restore the image back to its original state.

Multiple Selections
You may want to isolate more than one area of the image for modifications. To do so simply create your initial selection and hold the “Shift” key down as you create other selections. {Shift-Clicking} within a selection, adds to the selection. Alternately, holding down the ALT key while making a selection allows you to subtract from an already existing selection.

Moving Selections
You can move either the selection alone or the selection and the content it’s selecting. To move only the selection you must make one of the selection tools your current tool and place your cursor inside the selection. The cursor’s appearance will change letting you know that you can now {Click}, drag, and move the selection. To move both the selection and the content it’s selecting use either the Pointer Tool or the Subselection Tool . Using the Pointer will cut the selected material out of your document when you move it while using the Subselection Tool will copy the material.

Lasso Tool
The Lasso Tool is used to create irregularly shaped Selections . The Lasso Tool includes the Lasso for freehand Selections, similar to drawing with the mouse as you would with a pencil on paper. {Click}, hold and drag to create your Selection. {Release} the mouse button to close the Selection.

Polygonal Lasso Tool
The Polygonal Lasso Tool is used to make Selections by drawing a series of straight lines to make a polygonal shape, such as the shape of a Stop sign. {Click} within the image to start or begin creating your Selection. As you drag the mouse (having released the button) a line extends from your start point. To begin another line {Click} again and continue until you have created the desired Selection shape. To close a polygonal Selection either {Click} the start point again or {Double-Click} to make Fireworks MX® draw the final line to the start point for you.

The Tool Options Panel
The Toll Options Panel displays a number of options related to the Tool you are currently using. All of the Selection Tools have a set of options, but some have more than others.

The STYLE drop down menu provides you with three constraining options for your selection.

• NORMAL allows you to draw a free selection with no constraint on width or height.
• FIXED RATIO allows you to designate a ratio for your selection in the two fields below the drop down menu. You can set the ratio as 2 width and 1 height and no matter how large your selection is the size ratio will always be 2 to 1.
• FIXED SIZE allows you to set a size, in pixels, for width and height in the two fields below the “Style” drop down menu. If you input 200 width and 150 height in the fields your selection will always be 200 by 150.

You are also presented with 3 options under the EDGE menu; Hard, Anti-Alias, and Feather.

Magic Wand Tool
The Magic Wand Tool differs from the other Selection tools in that rather than drawing a path yourself you simply {Click} the Magic Wand in the area you wish to select and the Magic Wand creates the Selection for you. It creates the Selection based on range of related colors. The range of colors is set in the Options Panel by moving the “Tolerance” slider. Increasing the value increases the color range.