Macromedia fireworks MX bible phần 3 pps

Quiteoften you need to use a combination of tools and methods to get the desired results.Luckily, Fireworks offers a full range of pixel manipulation tools: Pointer, Marquee,Oval Marquee

4 Drag the control point away from the arch If Alt (Option) was not pressed, the

connecting line (on the left side of the arch) would be affected by the point drag

control-5 Release the mouse button when the arch is in the desired shape.

Figure 5-18: Use the Pen to manipulate

Bézier curves and create objects with combinations of straight and curved lines

You can also use this constraining property to draw uneven curves, where you drag

a little bit before pressing Alt (Option) and effectively lock the previous curve

Adjusting curves

The alternative name for the two control points in Bézier curves is control handles.

As the name implies, you can grab and manipulate control handles By changing theposition of the control handle, you can adjust the shape of the curve Here are a fewguidelines for moving control handles:

✦ The closer the control handle is to its associated curve point, the flatter thecurve

✦ Alternatively, the further away the control handle is from its curve point, thesteeper the curve

✦ If a control handle is on top of its curve point, the curve becomes a straightline, and the curve point becomes a corner point

✦ You can convert straight lines into curves by pulling the control handle awayfrom the corner point

✦ After you’ve drawn a curve point, you can retract one of the control handles

so that the next segment can be either a curve or a straight line

All the manipulations involving control handles can be accomplished after thefact using the Subselection tool; you can find a discussion of how to use this pointadjustment device in Chapter 9 However, you can perform a few of these opera-tions while drawing with the Pen The two key operations involve adding andremoving a control handle.

Adding a control handle to a corner point

To add a control handle to a corner point, follow these steps:

1 Use the Pen to draw a path with a curve point Two control points are visible.

2 Move the pointer over the last curve point set.

Figure 5-19: By retracting one control

handle, you can continue the curve in the same direction

3 Click once The curve point is converted into a corner point, and one control

Extending a control handle from a corner point

The opposite of retracting a control handle is extending one To extend a controlhandle from a corner point, you need to enlist the aid of a couple of keyboard modi-fiers: Ctrl+Alt (Command+Option) to be specific When you extend a control handlewhile drawing, you are, in effect, changing your mind Instead of proceeding withthe straight line that you first indicated you wanted with the corner point, you cannow draw a curve

To extend a control handle from a corner point while drawing, follow these steps:

1 Draw a straight line segment with the Pen.

2 Move the pointer over the last point set.

3 Press Ctrl+Alt (Command+Option) and then click and drag a control handle

out from the point When you press the keyboard modifiers, the pointerchanges to a white arrowhead

4 Release the mouse button when you’ve positioned the control handle where

desired

5 Move the pointer to the position for the curve to end.

6 Continue drawing or double-click the final point to complete the shape.

In this technique, it’s important that you press the keyboard modifiers before youdrag the control handle If you begin dragging before pressing the special keys, youmove the anchor point instead of extending a control handle This is actually a fea-ture that enables you to move a previously set point by starting the drag and thenpressing the Ctrl (Command) key; the Alt (Option) key has no effect on thissequence

Bézier curves are not easy to master and you may find yourself getting frustrated

Stick with them as, once you have them tamed, they open a whole new creativedoor

Using the keyboard modifiers

Bézier curves in Fireworks use a fair number of keyboard modifiers to achieve ous effects While these special keys are explained throughout this section in con-text, it is useful to put them all in one place (see Table 5-1) for easy reference

vari-Note

There’s a lot more to manipulating Bézier curves and other Fireworks objects, asyou find out in Chapter 9.

Table 5-1

Bézier Curves Keyboard Modifiers

Shift Shift Constrains the straight line or control

handle to a 45-degree angle Ctrl Command Moves a set curve or corner point or

a control handle to a new position Ctrl and double-click Command and double-click Completes an open path without

adding another point Ctrl+Alt Command+Option Extends a control handle from a

corner point

Summary

I once had to indoctrinate a corporate design team into “The Fireworks Way” in atwo-day training session When it came to vector objects, I described them as beingthe “skeleton” of Fireworks graphics After the vector object is completed — andthe body of fills and clothing of strokes have been applied — you won’t be able tosee its underlying structure, but it is the basis of the image As you begin to buildvector objects, keep these points in mind:

✦ Paths are the most basic element of Fireworks’ vector objects A path must bestroked and/or filled before it becomes visible in your image

✦ The geometric shape tools — Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, andPolygon — can also create squares, circles, and stars

✦ Spacebar Move enables you to move geometric shapes while drawing by ply holding the spacebar and repositioning your shape Spacebar Move workswhile drawing Rectangles, Rounded Rectangles, Ellipses and Circles, as well asPolygons and Stars

sim-✦ The Line tool creates one straight line at a time

Cross-Reference

✦ The Vector Path tool enables you to draw on the Fireworks canvas withoutrestriction

✦ The Pen draws Bézier curves, which use a series of corner and curve points inconjunction with control points and handles to make smooth curves and con-nected straight lines

In the next chapter, you learn about the other side of Fireworks graphics: bitmapobjects

Working with Bitmaps

Vector objects are the backbone of Fireworks, and are

perfectly suited for the bulk of a Web artist’s work —building navigation bars, drawing shapes and lines, andinserting editable text These design elements benefit fromthe precision that vector drawing provides, and are the type

of things you’re likely to draw right from scratch in Fireworks

Some kinds of images couldn’t possibly benefit from a based substructure, though Photographic images that startedlife in a digital camera or scanner are pure bitmap, throughand through Think of product photographs for an onlinestore, or digitized paintings for an online art gallery; incorpo-rating them into a Web page won’t involve drawing Insteadyou cut and paste pixel selections and manipulate alphamasks and blending modes

vector-This chapter begins with a discussion of how Fireworksgenerally handles bitmaps We delve into an exploration of thevarious tools available for bitmap editing And, finally, thischapter covers how to change a vector object into a bitmapobject and the benefits you might realize by doing so

Opening bitmaps inFireworks

Resizing bitmapsSelecting bitmapelementsDefining a drawingarea

Working with bitmaptools

either on for white or off for black Map these bits along an x and y axis and you can

create an image out of them Editing a bitmap basically involves adding or removingpixels, or changing their colors Even when you erase part of an image, you’re justsetting the color of those excess pixels to your chosen background color (or to

“transparent” so that they show another image underneath) so that they appear

to have been erased

The best way to describe the difference between a bitmap image (also called a

raster graphic) and a vector object, is to ask you to think of a line, 100-pixels long

and 1-pixel wide With vector graphics, all you need to make this line visible istwo points and a stroke in between With a bitmap, you need exactly 100 pixels Tomove one end of the vector version of this line up a notch, you just need to moveone of the endpoints With pixel-based images, however, you have to erase all thepixels in the line and redraw them in another location

Examining bitmap preferences

The two Bitmap options under the Editing category of the Preferences can proveuseful

✦ Turn Off Hide Edges: Turns off the View ➪ Hide Edges command when you

select vector or bitmap objects This is convenient to make your selectioneasy to find, but if you really think edges are a visual nuisance, uncheck thispreference Turn Off Hide Edges takes effect immediately upon exiting thePreferences

✦ Display Striped Border: Tells Fireworks to draw a striped “barber-pole”

bor-der around the canvas when you’re working on a bitmap object Changes tothis preference take effect immediately upon exiting the Preferences

Opening existing bitmaps

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 cent perspiration.” In the Internet graphics field, the formula is a bit different: “Webdesign is 20 percent creation and 80 percent modification.” Of course, this is just

per-my rough estimate — but it definitely feels as if I spend most of per-my day revising animage already created by me or someone else

Fireworks offers multiple ways to open existing bitmaps — and it supports a widerange of file formats as well Increasingly, more of your work will be stored inFireworks’ PNG-based format, which enables both vector and bitmap editing.However, many times you find yourself working with a bitmap file created inanother application such as Photoshop

As with many computer programs, Fireworks loads images and other files throughthe File ➪ Open command This command displays the Open dialog box (seeFigure 6-1), which previews various file types You can select multiple files by press-ing Shift or Ctrl (Command) as you click on filenames The Open dialog box also has

a very useful option, Open as Animation, which creates an animation from multiplefiles by distributing them across the frames of one document Make sure you selectmore than one file in order to enable the Open as Animation checkbox

For detailed information on how to use the Open command to load any type offile, see Chapter 14

Figure 6-1: Opening an image sequence as an

animation using Fireworks’ Open as Animation option

Scaling bitmaps

Changing the size of a pixel-based bitmap image is something probably taken forgranted, but it’s actually a pretty complex task, requiring Fireworks to literallycreate a new image — with the newly specified dimensions — by analyzing the oldimage Fireworks examines groups of pixels and basically makes a best guess abouthow to represent them, with either more or fewer pixels Coming up with intermedi-ate values based on analysis of known values is called interpolation

Cross-Reference

Fireworks offers you four interpolation methods (see Figure 6-2):

✦ Bicubic: With bicubic interpolation, Fireworks averages every pixel with all

eight pixels surrounding it — above, below, left, right, and all four corners.This scaling option gives the sharpest results under the most conditions and

is recommended for most graphics

✦ Bilinear: Bilinear interpolation is similar to bicubic, but only uses four

neigh-boring pixels (above, below, left, and right), instead of eight

✦ Nearest Neighbor: The Nearest Neighbor algorithm causes Fireworks to copy

neighboring pixels whenever a new pixel must be interpolated Consequently,the Nearest Neighbor scaling option creates very pixelated, stairstep-likeimages This is the fastest interpolation method available

✦ Soft: Soft interpolation offers a smoothing blur to the scaled-down images.

The Soft Interpolation scaling option is a good choice if your images areproducing unwanted artifacts using the other scaling options

Figure 6-2: Fireworks offers four scaling

options to suit different kinds of images

Although I tend to use Bicubic Interpolation most of the time, I do turn to Bilinearand Soft Interpolation in some cases, usually when small text is involved I haven’tfound much use for the blockiness produced by the Nearest Neighbor scalingoption Experimenting with the different interpolation methods is the best way

to become familiar with the results

Interpolation methods option list

Inserting a bitmap into a document

Collage — the mixing of various images and other graphics — is a very importantdesign tool, on or off the Web Whether you’re overlapping bitmaps or just layingthem side-by-side, Fireworks’ File ➪ Import command enables you to include anexisting graphic wherever necessary in an open document

To include a bitmap in a document, follow these steps:

1 Choose File ➪ Import, or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+R (Command+R)

Fireworks displays the Import dialog box

2 Select your image and choose Open when you’re done The cursor changes to

the Import cursor: a corner bracket

3 Position the Import cursor wherever you would like the upper-left corner of

the image to be initially located, and click once The chosen image is insertedinto the document as a new bitmap object and selected

If you need to adjust the position of the newly inserted bitmap object, select thePointer tool, and click and drag it to a new place For more precise placement, usethe cursor keys to move the selected bitmap object any direction, one pixel at atime or the Property inspector to move the bitmap to a specific location

When pressing Shift, the arrow keys move the selected bitmap object in 10-pixelincrements

Inserting an empty bitmap

So far you’ve seen how Fireworks can open a wide range of file formats for bitmapediting But what if you want to create a bitmap image directly from within Fireworks?

Whereas vectors are far more editable than bitmaps, occasionally only a bitmap will

do For those times, you can use a Fireworks feature that creates an editable bitmaparea by choosing Edit ➪ Insert ➪ Empty Bitmap

The Empty Bitmap command is extremely helpful when you need to paint a fairlylarge background with a brush, such as the Air Brush, and don’t want to use theFill tool You can then modify the Air Brushed background with any of the pixel-based tools, such as the Eraser

Using bitmap tools

The scoreboard shows an almost equal number of Fireworks tools dedicated toworking with bitmaps and vectors at eight to six respectively Naturally, the betteryou understand what a tool is intended for and how it is best used, the more fluidyour workflow becomes This section discusses the bitmap tools

Tip Tip

The bitmap specific tools are primarily concerned with pixel manipulation, and

there’s a very good reason for this emphasis: Selecting and manipulating pixels ismuch harder than selecting and manipulating vectors The most complicated vectorpossible can be selected with just one click Pixels are chosen either by their posi-tion with a tool, such as the Marquee, or by their color with the Magic Wand Quiteoften you need to use a combination of tools and methods to get the desired results.Luckily, Fireworks offers a full range of pixel manipulation tools: Pointer, Marquee,Oval Marquee, Lasso, Polygon Lasso, and Magic Wand Each has its own way ofworking, as well as a variety of user-definable options

Examining the Pointer

Although the Pointer tool is listed as one of the selection tools, capable of beingused in both modes, it’s included here for a simple reason You can use the Pointer

to quickly and easily reposition your bitmaps by clicking and dragging anywherewithin the bitmap object, as shown in Figure 6-3 Just make sure that there are noactive pixel selections

Figure 6-3: You can use the Pointer to move whole bitmap objects around the canvas.

You can also use the Pointer to resize a bitmap object You can drag the controlhandles, the solid squares in the corners of the selection indication bordersurrounding the image, to a new position, resizing the graphic much like theDistort tool does You can even obtain proportional resizing by holding Shift whiledragging a corner.

Using the Marquee tools

The Marquee tool is one of the most frequently used selection tools The Marqueeselection tool is quite similar to the Rectangle vector drawing tool Both are gener-ally used by selecting a point for one corner of the rectangular shape and draggingdiagonally to the opposite corner However, the Marquee tool doesn’t draw a shape

on the bitmap; it temporarily surrounds and selects an area of pixels for anotheroperation to take place, such as a copy or a fill

Examining the Rectangular and Oval Marquee tools

There are actually two different Marquee tools The first is the default rectangularMarquee, which you select through its button on the toolbar, or by pressing thekeyboard shortcut, M The second parallels the Ellipse vector drawing tool: TheOval Marquee selects an oval or circular area Pressing and holding down the Shiftkey while using the Marquee and Oval Marquee tools constrains the shapes youdraw to perfect squares and circles, as it would when using the vector Rectangle

or Ellipse drawing tools

If you find yourself making a lot of perfect square and circle marquee selections,click the Marquee or Oval Marquee tool and choose Fixed Ratio from the Style box

on the Property inspector Set the ratio at 1 to 1, and it’s easy to draw perfectsquare and circle selections instead of rectangles and ovals, with no need to holdthe Shift key

To use the Marquee or Oval Marquee tool, follow these steps:

1 To select a rectangular or square region, select the Marquee tool from the

Tools panel or through its keyboard shortcut, M

2 To select an elliptical or circular region, select the Oval Marquee tool from the

Tools panel by clicking and holding the Marquee tool and choosing the buttonfrom the flyout menu Alternatively, you can press the keyboard shortcut, M,twice

3 Click where you want one corner of your selection to begin, and drag to the

opposite corner Fireworks displays a moving dashed line, called a marquee

or, more familiarly, “marching ants” (see Figure 6-4)

Tip Tip

You can refine the positioning of your marquee selection by temporarily holdingthe Spacebar while you drag.

Figure 6-4: The Marquee tools are used for marking rectangular, square, oval, or

circular areas for selection

Exploring the Property inspector

The two Marquee tools also share a set of options available from the Propertyinspector You can display the Property inspector, as shown in Figure 6-5, by select-ing Window ➪ Properties, or by pressing Ctrl+F3 (Command+F3) The Marqueeproperties affect two separate items: Style and Edge

Figure 6-5: Use the Property inspector to set the Marquee to a

predetermined size or ratio; you can also choose a type of edge for the selection: Hard, Anti-Alias, or Feather

Tip

Discovering the Style portion

Generally, the Marquee tools are unrestrained, meaning the selection can be anysize or shape drawn out But sometimes it’s useful to specify the needed selectiondimensions The Style section of the Marquee Property inspector has three possiblesettings:

✦ Normal: This default state enables you to drag out your rectangular or

ellipti-cal selections freely

✦ Fixed Ratio: Sets the horizontal-to-vertical ratio for the Marquee selection

tools Enter horizontal values in the first text box (marked with the side double-headed arrow) and vertical values in the second (marked with theup-and-down double-headed arrow) This option is useful when you know thatthe selection must be a particular proportion If, for example, the selectionshould be twice as wide as high, you would enter a 2 in the horizontal text boxand a 1 in the vertical text box To get a perfect square selection, specify 1 to

side-to-1 When you use either Marquee tool with a Set Ratio option enabled, theselection size varies, but not the proportion

✦ Fixed Size: Sets the dimensions to a particular pixel width and height Enter

the desired pixel values in the horizontal and vertical text boxes When eitherMarquee tool is selected with this option enabled, a selection outlining thespecified dimensions is attached to the pointer and can be easily repositioned

on the screen After you’ve located the area to be selected, clicking oncedrops the selection outline on the bitmap The Fixed Size option worksespecially well when you need to create a number of same-sized selections

If you enter a value in one of the Fixed Size text boxes, but leave the other blank,Fireworks creates a selection outline the width or height specified that spans theentire bitmap It’s a great way to grab a slice of an image, one or two pixels wide

or tall, and ensures that you get the full image without having to draw it For thistechnique, using the Marquee tool rather than the Oval Marquee tool is best

Learning the types of edges

The Marquee Property inspector also controls the type of edge that the selectionuses The default edge type is a hard-edged line — what you select is what you get

The other two types, Anti-Alias and Feather, act to soften the selection Anti-Alias isthe more subtle of the two options When you choose the Anti-Alias option for yourselection, any jagged edges caused by an elliptical or circular selection are blendedinto the background, much like bitmap type is antialiased to make it appear lessjagged

You can get a very smooth bitmap crescent by making a circular selection usingthe Oval Marquee tool on a solid color Set the Edge type on the Marquee Propertyinspector to Anti-Alias, and make your selection Then, use the arrow keys to movethe selection one or two pixels vertically and the same distance horizontally

You’re left with a crescent shape that blends smoothly into its points

Tip Tip

Feathering a selection is much more noticeable Basically, think of feathering asblending After selecting the Feather option, the value box becomes active with adefault of 10 pixels Any feathered selection blends equally on either side of theselection outline If, for example, you choose a small Feather value of 2 pixels for arectangular selection, four rows of pixels are altered — two inside the selection andtwo outside If you delete a feathered selection, you’re left with a hole in the image,blending smoothly into the canvas, because both the selection and the surroundingimage are feathered If you move a feather selection and the pixels it contains, theselection has a blended edge, as shown in Figure 6-6.

Figure 6-6: Moving a feathered selection blends both the selection and the

remaining image to create a gentle transition

Remember to hold Ctrl (Command) while you move a Marquee selection in order

to move both the selection and the pixels it contains

Using the Lasso and Polygon Lasso tools

Not all regions to be selected are rectangular or elliptical The Lasso tools selectirregularly shaped areas of an image As the name implies, the Lasso tools surround

or lasso the desired pixels to select them The standard Lasso tool is a

click-and-drag type instrument that enables freeform selection, in the same way the Vector

Tip

Path tool used for freeform drawing The Polygon Lasso tool, on the other hand, issimilar to the Pen tool in its straight-line mode, and makes selections through aseries of connected straight lines.

All Lasso selections are by their very nature closed paths As with the drawing tools,when you drag the pointer near the beginning of a Lasso selection, Fireworks displays

a closed-path cursor with a black square, as shown in Figure 6-7 You can also close aLasso tool selection by releasing the mouse button; Fireworks draws a line from thebeginning point to the ending point, closing the shape With the Polygon Lasso, dou-ble-click the last point to close the shape automatically in the same manner

If you’re selecting an area that has more curves than straight lines, use the Lasso Ifyour selection has some long straight lines, you may find the Polygon Lasso is moresuitable, even if you also have some curves to deal with because the straight linesare quick and accurate Lots of short lines with the Polygon Lasso enable you todraw around curves

Figure 6-7: Drawing with the Polygon Lasso The

little block on the Polygon Lasso cursor means that one more click closes the path and creates the selection

To make a freeform selection, follow these steps:

1 To use the Lasso, select it from the Tools panel, or use the keyboard shortcut, L.

2 With the Lasso, click at the starting point for your selection, and drag the

mouse around the desired area, releasing the mouse when you’re done

Closed pathPolygon Lasso cursor

3 To use the Polygon Lasso, select and hold the Lasso tool until the flyout

appears, and then choose the Polygon Lasso, or press the keyboard shortcut,

L, twice

4 With the Polygon Lasso, click at the starting point for your selection, and then

move the mouse to the next point on the outline, surrounding the desired areaand click again Fireworks connects each point that you set down with astraight line

5 Repeat Step 4 until you’ve outlined the entire area, and then close the

selec-tion by moving your pointer over the starting point and clicking once ordouble-clicking to permit Fireworks to connect the first and final points

As a matter of personal preference, I get a lot more use out of the Polygon Lassothan I do the regular drawing Lasso Selecting an area of pixels is often a painstak-ing chore, and I find the Polygon Lasso to be far more precise Generally, I use theLasso to outline some stray pixels for deletion only when there’s little chance thatI’ll select part of the main image

You can determine the type of edge the Lasso tools use through the Propertyinspector As with the Marquee tools, the three edge options are Hard, Anti-Alias,and Feather, and they work in exactly the same manner as described in the previ-ous Marquee section

Working with the Magic Wand

The Magic Wand is a completely different type of selection tool from those alreadydiscussed Instead of encompassing an area of pixels, the Magic Wand selects adja-cent pixels of similar color This type of tool enables you to select single-color back-grounds or other regions quickly

Using the Magic Wand is very straightforward Choose the Magic Wand tool fromthe Tools panel, or use the keyboard shortcut, W Now click on any pixel in thebitmap — it, and all pixels of a similar color next to it, are selected

With both the Magic Wand and the Lasso, I find that the representational pointerssometimes get in the way It’s hard to see exactly which pixel you’re pinpointing ifthere is a sparkly wand cursor obscuring the area You can toggle Precise Cursors —

a crosshair pointer — whenever you like, by pressing the Caps Lock key

The key phrase in the description of the Magic Wand is “pixels of a similar color.”Many bitmap images, especially photographic JPEGs, tend to use a range of colors,even when depicting a seemingly monochromatic area You control what Fireworksdefines as a “similar color” through the Tolerance setting on the Property inspector.The Tolerance scale goes from 0 to 255; lower tolerance values select fewer colorsand higher values select more

Tip

Here’s how the Magic Wand and the Tolerance work By default, the initialTolerance is set to 32 The Tolerance value is applied to the RGB values of theselected pixel — the exact one selected by the Magic Wand If the Tolerance value is

50 and the selected pixel’s RGB values are 200, 200, and 200, Fireworks judges anyadjacent pixel with an RGB from 150, 150, 150 to 250, 250, 250 as being similarenough to select Pixels within that color range, but not in some way touching theoriginally selected pixel, are not chosen

In addition to varying the Tolerance, you can also determine the type of edge for aMagic Wand selection Edge options, as with Marquee and Lasso tools, are Hard,Anti-Alias (the default), or Feather For a detailed explanation of how these toolswork, see the “Using the Marquee tools” section earlier in this chapter

Increasing or Reducing the Selection Area

Fireworks selection tools are very full-featured, but, for complex selections, you need moreflexibility Adding several selections together, or using one selection tool to eliminate part of

an existing selection, opens up a whole range of possibilities

The key to adding or removing pixels is to use the keyboard modifiers as you draw yourselections: Press Shift to add selections and Alt (Option) to remove them Notice that thepointer indicates the operation; a plus sign (+) appears when Shift is pressed and a minussign (–) appears when Alt (Option) is pressed

For example, I often use Shift in combination with the Magic Wand to select additionalareas of an image, rather than alter the Tolerance Your first Magic Wand selection may have

a couple of small gaps that need filling Holding down Shift and clicking in those gaps isusually the quickest way to fill out the selection, as shown in the accompanying figure

Continued

Rubber Stamping

If you’re looking for a unique tool, look no further than the Rubber Stamp One ofthe few pixel-based drawing tools, Rubber Stamp acts like a real rubber stamp: pick-ing up a section of your document and stamping it out somewhere else The RubberStamp tool makes picking up portions of an image and blending them into otherareas of the graphic easy

The Rubber Stamp is a two-part tool, with both source and destination pointers.The source, or origin, pointer is initially placed on the area of the document thatyou want to duplicate The destination pointer draws the duplicated section in adifferent location on the image While you are drawing, the two pointers maintainthe same relationship to each other; if you move the destination pointer to the left,the source pointer moves to the left as well Because the “ink” that the RubberStamp tool uses is always changing while you move it (because the source pointer

is also moving), you can achieve a smooth blend, as in Figure 6-8 Getting a handle

on this tool is a little tricky, but well worth the time you spend mastering it

Continued

Just as you can add onto selections, you can take away from them, too Use the Alt (Option)key when applying any of the selection tools to reduce an existing selection The basic tech-nique is to “carve out” the undesired selection; in the following figure, the donut shape wascreated by first drawing a circular selection, and then pressing Alt (Option) while drawing asmaller circular selection inside An Xtra was then applied to the donut-shaped selection tocreate a frame around the subject’s face Obviously, the selection reduction feature enablesyou to create some very unusual shapes

Figure 6-8: Using the Rubber Stamp tool to create an extra head that practically

draws itself

To use the Rubber Stamp tool, follow these steps:

1 Select the Rubber Stamp tool from the Tools panel, or use the keyboard

short-cut, S

2 Set the source pointer by clicking once on the bitmap If you attempt to set

the source pointer on a vector object, Fireworks tells you that the RubberStamp tool can only be used on floating bitmap objects

3 Move the destination pointer to where you want the copied image to appear,

and draw by clicking and dragging As the source pointer moves over theimage, following the movement of the mouse, the image is copied under thedestination pointer

Understanding Source Alignment

You can use the Rubber Stamp in two basic modes, selectable from the Propertyinspector once you’ve chosen the Rubber Stamp tool First, with Source Alignedmode (checked by default), you can always keep the relationship between the

source and destination pointers constant, not just when you’re drawing This is ful if you want to copy different portions of the image to a remote area, but keepthem proportionally spaced For example, if I wanted to position two eyes as if theywere floating in space above my model’s head, I would copy one eye using theRubber Stamp tool, release the mouse button, and position the source pointer overthe second eye and then begin dragging and drawing again until the second eye wascompleted.

use-By unchecking the Source Aligned box, you switch to a Fixed Source mode In FixedSource mode, whenever the mouse button is released, the source pointer snapsback to its original starting place This mode enables you to copy the same image inseveral locations If, for example, I wanted to place a series of floating eyes around

my model’s head, I would use Fixed Source mode

Press Alt (Option) to reset the origin for the Rubber Stamp

Learning about other options

There are a couple of other controls on the Property inspector that change how theRubber Stamp tool behaves The Edge Softness slider affects the hardness of theduplicated image’s edge; the higher the slider, the softer the edge To blend acopied image more, use a softer edge You can also change the size of the sourceand destination pointers with the Stamp Size slider The range of the Stamp Sizeslider is from 0 to 72, and the default is 16 pixels The selected Stamp Size includesany feathering that may be required by the Edge Softness setting

Exploring the Eraser

As you might suspect, the Eraser removes pixels from an image, just like the trustygum-based version erases pencil drawings

To use the Eraser, follow these steps:

1 Select the Eraser from the Tools panel; alternatively, you can use the keyboard

shortcut, E

2 If necessary, select the image you want to work on.

3 Click and drag over the pixels you want to remove Fireworks deletes the

pix-els leaving the canvas showing through, as shown in Figure 6-9

In addition to being able to set the Edge Softness and Size of the Eraser on theProperty inspector, as you can with the Rubber Stamp tool, you can also select itsbasic shape By default, the Eraser is circular, but you can change it to a square bychoosing the Square Eraser button

Tip

Figure 6-9: The Eraser tool removes pixels from your image according to the

settings established on the Property inspector

Understanding the Touchup tools

Manipulating bitmaps pixel-by-pixel is all well and good but what about the funstuff? What do you do when you have a bitmap image that could use a littleretouching? That’s where the touchup tools come into play They allow you to makesharp edges blurry so they’re not as obvious, or make blurry edges sharper so youcan view things more clearly They let you lighten the dark images and darken thelight ones You can even shove your colors around to mix them into each other Ofcourse, you’re not limited to using these tools on a one shot per image basis; youcan use combinations of any, or all, of them to get your bitmaps just right

Fireworks MX adds new tools designed to help you touchup your bitmaps Theyare Blur, Sharpen, Dodge, Burn, and Smudge

Blur and Sharpen

The Blur and Sharpen tools have opposing effects on pixels Like their filter terparts, the Blur and Sharpen tools are used to decrease or enhance the focus onareas of a bitmap image Unlike the filters, the Blur and Sharpen tools allow youvery fine control over what gets blurred or sharpened because you’re applyingthem directly with the mouse cursor rather than applying the filter to a selection,

coun-or the entire document

New

Feature

The options for the Blur and Sharpen tools are as follows:

✦ Size: This setting controls the size of the tip of the Blur and Sharpen tools It

affects how large, or how small, an area the tool touches The size rangeextends from 1 to 100

✦ Edge: The Edge setting determines how soft or how hard the edge of the tip is.

The valid range is from 1 to 100, with 1 being a solid shape and 100 beingfairly feathered around the edges

✦ Shape: Determines whether the tip of the tool is round or square.

✦ Intensity: The intensity sets the degree of blurring or sharpening The valid

range is between 1 and 100

What do you do when you want to remove someone’s head and make it look like it’sattached to someone else’s body? You know that almost everyone has done thiskind of thing and if you haven’t, you’ve certainly seen it done After all, you knowthat wasn’t a real picture of Britney Spears that arrived in your e-mail Once you’vecut out the head, and resized it to match the body, what do you do about that linewhere the neck attaches or the face gets put in? That’s where the Blur tool comes

in In figure 6-10, you see, from left to right, the source image, the image for the newface, and then the completed job If it weren’t for the Blur tool, the edges of the cutout face would all be totally obvious

Figure 6-10: At 300 percent magnification, you can see the areas in the final shot

(at right) where the Blur tool was used to blend the edges of the face transplant

Blur masking edges of new faceImage with face to copy

Source image

To use the Blur tool, follow these steps:

1 If necessary, select the image you want to work on.

2 Select the Blur tool from the Tools panel; alternatively, you can use the

key-board shortcut by pressing R

3 Tweak the settings in the Property inspector until they’re set up the way you

want them

4 Click and drag over the pixels you want to blur Fireworks uses the settings in

the Property inspector to blur the pixels in your image

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any other areas you wish to blur.

Use the sharpen tool to bring clarity to blurry or out-of-focus portions of bitmapimages It can fix up those fuzzy photos or you can add crispness to some blurrytext (see Figure 6-11) With only a few swipes of the Sharpen tool, you can add newlife to your images

Figure 6-11: The text on the right is the

blurry original; the text on the left has been sharpened With a little more work, it will be restored perfectly

Blurryoriginaltext

Text withSharpenapplied

To use the Sharpen tool, follow these steps:

1 If necessary, select the image you want to work on.

2 Select the Sharpen tool from the Tools panel; alternatively, you can use the

keyboard shortcut by pressing R twice

3 Tweak the settings in the Property inspector until they’re set up the way you

want them

4 Click and drag over the pixels you want to sharpen Fireworks uses the

set-tings in the Property inspector to sharpen the pixels in your image

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any other areas you wish to sharpen.

Holding down the Alt (Option) key temporarily switches from the Blur tool to theSharpen tool and vice versa This allows you to blur and sharpen different areas ofthe same image without having to constantly switch between tools

Dodge and Burn

Like Blur and Sharpen, Dodge and Burn go hand-in-hand as they also perform site functions You can use the Dodge tool to lighten any dark or badly lit portions

oppo-of a bitmap image The burn tool, on the other hand, is used to darken areas oppo-of animage that appear too light

The options for the Dodge and Burn tools are as follows:

✦ Size: This setting controls the size of the tip of the Dodge and Burn tools It

affects how large, or how small, an area the tool touches The size rangeextends from 1 to 100

✦ Edge: The Edge setting determines how soft or how hard the edge of the tip

is The valid range is from 1 to 100, with 1 being a solid shape and 100 beingfairly feathered around the edges

✦ Shape: Determines whether the tip of the tool is round or square.

✦ Range: The Range option list has three settings:

• Shadows: Causes the Dodge and Burn tools to affect the dark tones in an

image

• Highlights: Causes the Dodge and Burn tools to affect the light tones in

an image

• Midtones: Causes the Dodge and Burn tools to affect the middle tonal

range in an image — the tones between the light and dark ranges

✦ Exposure: The Exposure value can be set from 1 to 100 If you want a low level

of effect to be added, choose a low number; for those areas that you reallywant to modify, choose a higher number

Tip

Though its name is the least descriptive of the touchup tools, the Dodge tool isgreat for those occasions when you need to lighten areas of an image that turnedout a little darker than expected You can remove the shadow left by the brim of ahat or simply brighten flesh tones In Figure 6-12, I use the Dodge tool to lighten thisyoung scholar’s face, hands, and reading material While I could have used theBrightness/Contrast command, that would have brightened the walls and possiblymade the image too washed out.

Figure 6-12: The Dodge tool can work wonders to brighten areas of a

photograph that are slightly too dark

To use the Dodge tool, follow these steps:

1 If necessary, select the image you want to work on.

2 Select the Dodge tool from the Tools panel; alternatively, you can use the

key-board shortcut by pressing R three times

3 Tweak the settings in the Property inspector until they’re set up the way you

want them

4 Click and drag over the pixels you want to lighten and release the mouse

button when all of the desired pixels have been affected

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any other areas you need to lighten.

Originalimage

Dodge applied

to face, hands, and Bible

The Burn tool is one of those tools whose name says it all If you need to darkensome areas of a bitmap image, simply get out the Burn tool and apply it Those over-exposed areas dim down in no time Let’s say you want some focaccia, with goatcheese and olive oil, and you ask to have it cooked well done so that the crust isextra crispy You get home, only to discover that the crust isn’t quite as crispy asyou’d like Rather than head all the way back to Villa Agnese, in La Habra, California,

to have it cooked a little more, get out your digital camera, take a photograph, anduse the Burn tool to crisp the focaccia to your exact specifications You can see theresults of the Burn tool in Figure 6-13 where I toasted my focaccia crust a little togive it that extra crunch An undocumented advantage to using the Burn tool for thisproject is that you’re less likely to burn the roof of your mouth — your focaccia’sbeen cooling down while you’ve been burning its crust

Figure 6-13: The Burn tool is a great way to darken, or shade, areas of an image

that are too light — especially when you don’t want to get into trouble with the chef

To use the Burn tool, follow these steps:

1 If necessary, select the image you want to work on.

2 Select the Burn tool from the Tools panel; alternatively, you can use the

key-board shortcut by pressing R four times

3 Tweak the settings in the Property inspector until they’re set up the way you

want them

4 Click and drag over the pixels you want to darken Fireworks uses the settings

in the Property inspector to darken the pixels in your image

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any other areas you wish to darken.

Original image Burn applied to crust

Holding down the Alt (Option) key temporarily switches from the Dodge tool tothe Burn tool and vice versa This allows you to dodge and burn different areas ofthe same image without having to constantly switch between tools.

Smudge

At some point in life, everyone’s done finger-painting Pour some paint on a piece ofpaper, get your hands in there, and push all the colors around, into, and througheach other In many ways, the Smudge tool does for pixels what fingers do forfinger-painting Essentially, the Smudge tool blends colors in a bitmap in whateverdirection you push or pull It’s like grabbing the colors and smearing them acrossother pixels (see Figure 6-14)

Figure 6-14: What started out as four

rectangles can soon become impressionist art with some overzealous use of the Smudge tool

The options for the Smudge tool are as follows:

✦ Size: This setting controls the size of the tip of the Smudge tool It affects

how large, or how small, an area the tool touches The size range extendsfrom 1 to 100

✦ Edge: The Edge setting determines how soft or how hard the edge of the tip is.

The valid range is from 1 to 100, with 1 being a solid shape and 100 beingfairly feathered around the edges

Tip

✦ Shape: Determines whether the tip of the tool is round or square.

✦ Use Entire Document: Check this option if want the Smudge tool to affect

bitmaps on all of the layers in your document at the same time With thisoption unchecked, only bitmaps on the selected layer are affected

✦ Smudge Color: With this option checked, the color in the color well is applied

to the beginning of each smudge stroke you make If this option is unchecked,the color under the Smudge tool at the beginning of the stroke is used

✦ Pressure: This controls how intense your smudge is The valid range for this

option is from 1 to 100 A lower setting smudges a small amount of color; ahigher value smudges your colors deeper and further

To use the Smudge tool, follow these steps:

1 If necessary, select the image you want to work on.

2 Select the Smudge tool from the Tools panel; alternatively, you can use the

keyboard shortcut by pressing R five times

3 Tweak the settings in the Property inspector until they’re set up the way you

want them

4 Click and drag over the pixels you want to smudge Fireworks uses the

set-tings in the Property inspector to smudge the pixels in your image

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any other areas you wish to smudge.

You can accomplish an interesting effect with the Smudge tool by checking the UseEntire Document option and using the Edit ➪ Insert ➪ Empty Bitmap command.Follow these steps to discover a creative way to make some interesting graphics:

1 Open an existing banner or logo, or add some colorful text to a new document.

Text objects, or a logo, tend to be the best candidates for this procedure

2 For this example, you should have extra space on all sides of your bitmap If

your bitmap stretches right to the edges of the canvas, then select Modify ➪Canvas ➪ Canvas Size to add 20 or 30 extra pixels to all four sides

3 Select Edit ➪ Insert ➪ Empty Bitmap to insert a blank bitmap into yourdocument

4 Select the Smudge tool from the Tools panel; alternatively, you can use the

keyboard shortcut by pressing R five times

5 Check the Use Entire Document option in the Property inspector.

6 Click and drag all across your document window Don’t worry if you can no

longer make out the details in your image This effect looks best when you’vegot colors mixed up everywhere, especially off the sides of your image andout onto the extra canvas space Once you do, release the mouse button tostop blurring

7 Switch to the Pointer tool and click the middle of your document to ensure

that the Empty Bitmap you inserted earlier is selected

8 Choose Modify ➪ Arrange ➪ Send to Back to send the Empty Bitmap to thebottom of the stacking order

You should now see your banner, logo, text, or image sitting on top of the EmptyBitmap that you applied the Smudge tool to The blank border of your documentshould be strewn with smudges of color as in Figure 6-15

Figure 6-15: Only the colors in your document get smudged on the Empty Bitmap

you inserted, leaving your original bitmap image, or text, untouched

If you used text, you add Live Effects and/or a stroke to your text, as I did, to help itstand out from the smudged colors Play with this technique, applying it to anynumber of bitmap or text objects, and you’ll come up with some interesting andeye-catching combinations

Text in frontwith strokeand effects

Smudge applied

to Empty BitmapOriginal

text

Fireworks Technique: Limiting Your Drawing Area

Not only can the selection tools modify your images after they’re created, but theycan also help to structure them while they’re being made When you place a selec-tion on an image canvas — whether it’s an existing image or an inserted EmptyImage — any subsequent drawing is limited to that selected area The selected areacan be any shape possible, with any or all the selection tools: Marquee, OvalMarquee, Lasso, Polygon Lasso, and Magic Wand In Figure 6-16, a feathered selec-tion around the subjects’ faces was inverted so that everything in the document,except the faces, was selected The entire document was then painted over with theBrush tool Note that the Brush could only paint in the selected area

Figure 6-16: The subjects’ faces aren’t selected,

so they don’t get painted

If you have a pixel selection in your document, a Filter will only be applied to theselected area as well

The only prerequisite for using this technique is to make sure that the selection isactive — it has a marquee border — before you begin drawing

Tip

Deselected areaSelected, paintable area

Making Pixel Selections

The Tools panel’s selection tools are handy, but they aren’t the only selectionoptions in Fireworks The Select menu contains a host of useful options for fine-tuning and even saving and restoring your pixel selections

After you’ve made a pixel selection, the “marquee” or “marching ants” border actsalmost as if it’s a new object You can drag the marquee selection around, or modifyits properties, without affecting the underlying pixels of your image When you want

to move pixels along with a marquee selection, hold down the Ctrl (Command) keywhile you drag your marquee Fireworks adds a small scissors icon to your cursorwhen Ctrl (Command) is pressed, indicating that you’re about to edit the selectedpixels

Selecting all

When you need to select all the objects — both bitmap and vector — in the currentdocument, choose Select ➪ Select All I often find myself using the keyboard short-cut for this command, Ctrl+A (Command+A), in combination with the Delete keywhen I want to erase all the work in a document and start over Of course, any oper-ation that needs to be applied universally to every portion of a document benefitsfrom the Select All command

Selecting similar

The Select Similar command is an extension of the Magic Wand selection tool

Whereas the Magic Wand selects pixels within a particular color range adjacent to

the one initially chosen, Select Similar selects all the pixels in a document within

that color range, whether they are adjacent to the original pixel or not To use thiscommand, choose Select ➪ Select Similar, after setting the Tolerance level on theMagic Wand tool on the Property inspector

Select Similar is a very powerful command that you should use with care It’s oftenextremely difficult to predict all the areas of an image that will be affected Youmay find yourself using this command in concert with Undo or the History panel,until you get a feel for what it does

The Select menu’s Superselect and Subselect commands are concerned withgroups and are therefore covered in Chapter 13

Cross-Reference

Caution

Selecting none

The opposite of Select All is Deselect I use this command so frequently, it goes on

my Top 10 Keyboard Shortcuts to Memorize list: Ctrl+D (Command+D) It’s a verystraightforward and extremely useful command Choose Select ➪ Deselect toremove all selections in the current document for any bitmap, vector, or text object

Selecting inverse

Sometimes I think I select inverse more than I select the pixels I want directly.Often, the background in an image contains fewer or flatter colors than the fore-ground, making it easier to select with the Magic Wand tool After the background

is selected, use the Select Inverse command to invert the selection, and select theforeground elements On the other hand, if you want to select a background full ofirregular colors and shapes, selecting the foreground elements and then invertingthe selection to select the background may be easier This command can be a time-saver over and over again

1 First, select your foreground object through whatever tool or combination of

tools is required

2 Choose Select ➪ Select Inverse, or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+Shift+I(Command+Shift+I) Fireworks inverts the marquee selection so that thebackground is now selected (see Figure 6-17)

Figure 6-17: Selecting the foreground element and

inverting the selection quickly isolated this complex, blended background

Feathering an existing selection

You’ve seen the Feather option for all the selection tools, but you may have noticedthat in each case, feathering has to be established prior to the selection beingmade, whether through the Marquee or the Magic Wand But what do you do whenyou want to feather an existing selection? Make your selection and choose Select ➪Feather to open the Feather Selection dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-18 Whatevervalue you enter into the Radius text box is then applied to the current selection

Figure 6-18: The Feather Selection

dialog box permits you to feather the edges of the current selection

Remember that the Feather command does not blur the selection’s edges, butrather alters the selection’s alpha channel, which controls transparency To see theeffect of a feathered selection, moving or cutting and pasting the selection is oftennecessary As with all the other feathering options, both the selection and the areaadjacent to the selection are affected

If you just want to blur all or part of an image, you’ll want to use one of the Blurcommands found under the Filters menu Find out more about these commands

in Chapter 12

Expanding or contracting a marquee

Sometimes a hand-drawn marquee selection is just a few pixels too large or small

Make a selection, and then choose Select ➪ Expand Marquee to open the ExpandSelection dialog box and specify the number of pixels by which you want to expandthe selection Conversely, if you want to contract the selection, choose Select ➪Contract Marquee, and enter the number of pixels to contract the selection in theContract Selection dialog box Click OK when you’re done in either case

Adding a border

To create an additional marquee around a current marquee, choose Select ➪Border Marquee, enter the width of the border you want to create in the SelectBorder dialog box, and click OK when you’re done Instead of your previousselection, what is now selected is a border around the previous selection

Using the Smooth command

The Smooth command smoothes the outline of a selection to turn a jagged, cated marquee into a simpler one This command is especially useful for the jaggedmarquees that are easily created with the Magic Wand tool Create a selection, andthen choose Select ➪ Smooth Marquee Enter a sample radius in the SmoothSelection dialog box; a higher number means a greater smoothing effect Click

compli-OK when you’re done

Cross-Reference

Saving and restoring selections

The Select menu has two final commands that you haven’t yet looked at ChooseSelect ➪ Save Bitmap Selection to save the current pixel selection to a sort of selec-tion clipboard within Fireworks This selection is stored until you choose Select ➪Save Bitmap Selection again, and overwrite it with another selection Choose Select ➪ Restore Bitmap Selection to restore a saved selection at any time

Converting a Vector into a Bitmap

Keeping parts of your document in vector form for easy modification is best, butoccasionally you may want to convert a vector object into a bitmap object Toaccomplish this, select one or more vector or bitmap objects, and then chooseModify ➪ Flatten Selection, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Z(Command+Shift+Option+Z) Fireworks converts the vector outline to a rectangularbounding box, surrounding all the pixels from the vector object’s fill, stroke, andeffect settings

If you have selected multiple objects, you can convert them all at one time with thiscommand However, you lose the capability to reposition them individually, as theyall become part of one image; as the command’s name implies, you are flatteningthe images

After you’ve converted a vector to a bitmap, you can’t go back without using theUndo command or the History panel to actually reverse your work New bitmapobjects in documents that have been saved and reloaded cannot return to theirvector state under any circumstances Fireworks throws away the vector informa-tion when you convert a vector object into a bitmap object

Similar to Flatten Selection is the Merge Down command Let’s say you’re working

on a graphic where you’ve started out with a picture, perhaps that of a skyline, andyou’ve added a portion of text and some vector buttons to it Once you’ve goteverything just right, you may want to flatten some of your vectors, text, or evenanother bitmap onto the original skyline bitmap All you need to do is select thevarious objects and then go Modify ➪ Merge Down, or use the keyboard shortcutCtrl+E (Command+E) Fireworks then merges the selected objects — text, vectors,

or other bitmaps — with the bitmap they were on to create a new bitmap image.While you lose future editability, you can greatly reduce the number of items filling

up the Layers panel

For more about layers and the Layers panel, see Chapter 13

Cross-Reference

Caution

Managing Color

For any graphic designer, the importance of color is a

given Not only can color attract the eye and convey tions, but it’s also an important commercial consideration Onthe Web, as with any mass medium, color also becomes a keyfactor in branding After all, if you’re working on a logo for theCoca-Cola Web site, you had better make sure you’re usinggenuine Coca-Cola red

emo-Fireworks outputs graphics for a screen-based medium Youwon’t find complex color separation, halftone, or calibrationtools in Fireworks; those instruments are for the world ofprint Moreover, Fireworks is not just screen-based, it’sInternet-based — a distinction that signifies an importantbalance of freedoms and restrictions

This chapter covers color on the Web — both its basic theorywith the various standards, and its actual practice withFireworks If you’re familiar with how computers handle color

in general, feel free to skip the initial part of the chapter, anddive right into the more hands-on Fireworks sections If, onthe other hand, you think RGB is a one-hit wonder band fromthe ’80s and hexadecimal is a library catalog system, the firstsection should be pixel-perfect for you

Working with Color on the Web

Color in the natural world comes at us full force, without anyimpediments Color on the Web, however, passes throughmany filters At the most basic level, the computer dictateshow color is generated Rather than using a system of blend-ing inks as with print, the computer blends light — red, green,and blue light, to be precise Next, the color settings and capa-bility of a viewer’s specific system determine the range of col-ors to be used The final filter for Web-based color is thebrowser, in all of its varied configurations and versions

To get the most out of your Web graphics, you need a basic understanding of howcomputers create color The smallest component of a computer screen that you can

see is the pixel, which, you’ll remember, is short for picture element Pixels are

dis-played by showing three colors in combination: red, green, and blue, often referred to

by the initials, RGB The blend of red, green, and blue at full intensity creates white

If you’re coming from a print background, you’ll probably be more familiar withthe CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) color model than the RGB model It’sgenerally not too difficult to make the transition; Fireworks offers ways to convert

a color in one system to its equivalent in the other, as explained in the section,

“Using the Color Mixer,” later in this chapter

If RGB blended at full intensity creates white, and if a pixel that’s turned off displaysblack, how are other colors created? The intensity of each of the key colors in apixel — red, green, and blue — and their combinations can be varied For example, ifyou have red set all the way up and both blue and green off, you get pure red; if youadd a full dose of blue to the red, you create a deep purple However, having onlythe capability to turn a color on or off greatly limits the number of color combina-tions possible What’s needed is an increase in the number of steps or levelsbetween on and off

Examining bit depth

The number of accessible RGB levels is called the bit depth A bit is the smallest

ele-ment of computer memory, and each bit is basically an on-off switch A computerdisplay with a bit depth of one is capable of showing two colors — one color in the

on position and another in the off position Now, if the bit depth is doubled, twice

as many colors can be defined

Each time you increase the bit depth, the number of colors increases exponentially.Table 7-1 takes a look at how bit depth affects color range

Table 7-1

Bit Depth and Color Range

Bit Depth Number of Colors Description

1 2 Black and white, corresponding to the “on” or “off”

possible with one bit.

2 4 Typically, computers with two-bit color depth (usually

handhelds or portables) display four shades of gray.

4 16 The minimum color depth of VGA (Video Graphics

Adapter) displays, the most common computer display technology.

Tip