(Figure 5.1)

The Color Mixer allows you to select colors for your Strokes and Fills much in the same way as the color wells at the bottom of your Toolbox. The Mixer, however, allows you to select custom colors much faster than does the Toolbox because you don’t have to navigate through a number of menus to input colors. If you select the Pop Out Menu for this Panel you can choose to select your colors from either the RGB, Hexadecimal, CMY, HSB, or Grayscale color space. You can input color values by typing into the fields or moving the sliders on the right hand side of the panel. You can also select colors by using your eyedropper and the color spectrum across the bottom of the Panel. The Color Mixer makes it very easy to utilize custom colors.

(Figure 5.2)

The Swatches Panel is very useful if you require quick access to a range of custom colors.  This is very often the case if you are working for a company who have a unique color scheme for their various print and web assets.   If you place your cursor on the Swatches panel it will turn into a Paint Bucket and if you {Click} you can add the current fill color to the Panel.  You can add as many swatches to this panel as you like and also delete colors if you don’t need them. Hold down the [CTRL] key as you move your cursor over a swatch and it will change to a pair of scissors.  {Click} and the swatch is removed.

You can save, load, add to, or replace your custom swatches by selecting those options from the Panel’s Pop Out Menu. A dialog box will allow appear allowing you to either save or load swatches.  Fireworks saves custom swatches as .act files.

Now let’s explore the various tools and some of their uses.

The Line Tool allows you to create single, straight-line segments by {Clicking} and dragging with your mouse.  If you hold down the [SHIFT] key while you draw your segment Fireworks will limit the angle of your line to increments of 45 degrees. Experiment clicking and dragging while holding down the [SHIFT] key to see how this function works.

The Line Tool utilizes the Stroke Panel’s settings for the appearance of the line onscreen. We will be exploring the function of the Stroke Panel in a later unit.

If you create a line while in Object Mode you can use your Pointer Tool to select the line segment and move it around inside the Document Window. With the Sub selection tool you can select either end of the line segment and move it while the other end remains stationary.

The Line Tool has no options.

The Pen Tool expands on the capabilities of the Line Tool. With the Pen Tool you can create a series of connected line segments and, if you wish, a closed polygonal shape that can be filled with a color or pattern. Multiple line segments are connected by Points that can be modified and adjusted in a number of different ways.

(Figure 5.3 A closed polygon created with the pen tool)

Select the Pen Tool from the Toolbox. To create multiple, connected line segments simply {Click} your left mouse button and release to create the first point and move and {Click} for each additional line segment. When you have created all of the segments that you need, {Double Click} the right mouse button and you’ll have a complete line. If you would like to create a closed shape {Click}and move your mouse until you have all the segments you need and then place your cursor back at the beginning of the first line segment you created. You will know you are positioned correctly if you see a small black square at the bottom right hand corner of your cursor. {Click}your right mouse button and you will have a closed polygonal shape.

(Figure 5.4)