Fireworks
The Bitmap Auto-Crop Command for Fireworks
by Kim Cavanaugh - 07-Dec-06
Reader Level: 
Have you ever labored over a repetitive task and wished that there was a way to speed things up? You can often accomplish a great deal more if you just work out a more efficient way to get the job done. Such was the case recently when I needed to make a number of screen captures then crop the captured images to different sizes and shapes.
Of course, there are excellent screen capture programs out there, but in this case I ultimately found it easier to crop my images in Fireworks so I could do some additional work. After a few renditions of copy, paste, select, cut, delete, paste, and then trim I was definitely ready for something easier.
In the end, I created a custom command that takes most of the work out of the selection and cropping process. With the Bitmap Auto-Crop command that you'll find here you can take any bitmap selection no matter its size or shape and quickly remove all of the image except for the selected area, leaving you with a canvas that is sized based on your selection. And the entire process takes only seconds and one quick trip to the Menu bar. Heck, you can even assign a shortcut key to the command to make it even easier to use.
The Complete (Almost) Vectorized Webding Catalog
by Kim Cavanaugh - 06-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Way back in December 2003 I wrote a free article here at Community MX called Fun with Webdings and Wingdings which is consistently in the Top Ten of our most viewed tutorials. As of this writing the tutorial has been viewed over 55,000 times. And why not? First of all, the tutorial is free, and secondly, Webdings and Wingdings are lots of fun to play around with. They can also serve some really useful purposes. Depending on the font in that family of "Dings" you can get all sorts of little miniature pictures by just typing in the correct character using the Fireworks Text tool.
Recently I needed some small icons for a design project so I started up Fireworks and created my own reference library for the Webding font family. And while I was at it, I decided to go ahead and convert all of the text objects into vector shapes. What you'll find here is a somewhat later version of the same file that is a tad better organized. You can use this file for your own design purposes or use it as a reference for creating your own library of characters.
What do you get in terms of images? Well, you'll have to open the file up to see all of the little pictures that Webdings create, but here are a few samples.
In addition there are two source files included in this download—both a Flash and a Fireworks source file that make use of the webding vector shapes included in the library for your examination.
The Polaroidizer for Fireworks 8
by Kim Cavanaugh - 17-Jul-06
Reader Level: 
If you had a chance to read my recent article, Create
a Polaroid Photograph in Fireworks, you saw how (relatively)
easy it is to do this on your own. You can create two simple rectangles, punch
the smaller rectangle through a larger rectangle, apply some simple drop-shadows,
and Voila! Fairly easy frames that can be applied over the top of a photograph
to give the appearance that the picture was snapped with a Polaroid camera like you see in the collage below.
While the techniques described in the earlier tutorial were fairly easy, wouldn't
it be even better if you could automate the process? Since you might not remember
all the things that need to be done to achieve the effect how about it you
could just run a command and have the frames created for you? You could then
scale and place your own images and get the final outcome you see above with
a minimum of muss and fuss. Now you can.
When you download the support files for this article you'll find three commands
for Fireworks 8 that will create the Polaroid frames for you. Just unzip the
files and save into the Commands folder in your copy of Fireworks 8 and instant
Polaroid frames are just a few clicks away.
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 5
by Kim Cavanaugh - 22-Oct-04
Reader Level:
The CMX Black Line Master Series provides you with editable vector artwork in a Fireworks PNG format. Unlike traditional clip art, only the vector outlines exist in these scanned copyright-free images that have been traced in Freehand. In the fifth release of the series, Fall Season, you'll find a collection of images in Fireworks PNG format featuring images with a Fall theme. Jack-o-lanterns, witches, and lots of baskets of goodies can be found in this package. These images are suitable for use in Fireworks, Freehand, or Flash.
The CMX Black Line Master Graphics Series:
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 1
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 2
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 3
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 4
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 5
A New Autoshape: Ribbon
by Brian Edgin - 06-Jul-04
Reader Level:
Hiroshi Miyazawa of the Fireworks Development team has created two new Autoshapes: Wave and Ribbon. In this article you will find a quick start card and a mini-tutorial for the Ribbon Autoshape.
A New Autoshape: Wave
by Brian Edgin - 21-Jun-04
Reader Level:
Hiroshi Miyazawa, of the Fireworks Development team, has created two new Autoshapes: Wave and Ribbon. In this article you will find a quick start card and a mini-tutorial for the Wave Autoshape. Next week we will cover the Ribbon Autoshape.
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 4
by Kim Cavanaugh - 19-Mar-04
Reader Level:
The CMX Black Line Master Series provides you with editable vector artwork in a Fireworks PNG format. Unlike traditional clip art, only the vector outlines exist in these scanned copyright-free images that have been traced in Freehand. In the fourth release of the series, Cultures, you'll find a collection of images in Fireworks PNG format featuring images from the native American, Japanese, Egyptian, and Celtic cultures. These images are suitable for use in Fireworks, Freehand, or Flash.
The CMX Black Line Master Graphics Series:
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 1
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 2
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 3
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 4
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 5
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 3
by Kim Cavanaugh - 28-Nov-03
Reader Level:
The CMX Black Line Master Series provides you with editable vector artwork in a Fireworks PNG format. Unlike traditional clip art, only the vector outlines exist in these scanned copyright-free images that have been traced in Freehand. In the third release of the series, Christmas, you'll find a collection of images in PNG format all featuring a Christmas theme that can be grouped, scaled, filled and stroked to your hearts content and are suitable for use in Fireworks, Freehand, or Flash.
The CMX Black Line Master Graphics Series:
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 1
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 2
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 3
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 4
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 5
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 2
by Kim Cavanaugh - 06-Oct-03
Reader Level:
The CMX Black Line Master Series provides you with editable vector artwork in a Fireworks PNG format. Unlike traditional clip art, only the vector outlines exist in these scanned copyright-free images that have been traced in Freehand. In this, the second series, Art Deco, you'll find classic designs in the tradition of the 1920's and 30's that can be grouped, scaled, filled and stroked to your hearts content and are suitable for use in Fireworks, Freehand, or Flash.
The CMX Black Line Master Graphics Series:
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 1
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 2
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 3
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 4
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 5
The CMX Dashpack
by Kim Cavanaugh - 15-Jul-03
Reader Level:
Fireworks doesn't have it's own facility for creating dotted and dashed lines, but it does allow you to import custom Styles. The CMX Dashpack contains 6 dotted and dashed stroke styles that you can use anytime you need dots and dashes.
Super Guides for Fireworks MX
by Steven Grosvenor - 13-Jun-03
Reader Level: 
Super Guides is an axonometric projection template creator to allow you to create templates of any size, any angle and opacity for your isometric illustration needs. Through a simple yet powerful interface you can quickly create template documents within Fireworks MX to act as a starting point for technical and web illustrations
Foto 1.0 for Fireworks MX
by Steven Grosvenor - 01-Apr-03
Reader Level: 
Foto 1.0 (a Fireworks MX extension) is a collection of 5 non-destructive photo retouching effects for Fireworks MX. FOTO Includes:
1. Monochrome
2. Pencil Sketch
3. Color Glow Pro
4. Soft Glamour Pro
5. Precious
