Re: FLASH: [OT] Text on a path w/ Photoshop possible???

[John Dowdell]

At 1:05 PM 8/27/99, Nigel Randsley-Pena wrote:

>"...it (Fireworks) creates 'rich pixels' for web graphics..."

>

> Is that some special update of Fireworks ? Mine only creates

> normal pixels. I'd love some of those rich pixels...



heh... you're settin' me up here, ain'cha...?  ;-)


"Rich pixels", "natural media", "real world brushes", "painterly

effects"... all are phrases for that type of look where the stroke is

richer than just a blob of color.


Fireworks comes with many preset brushstrokes... you can find these in the

menu of the Stroke Inspector. From this Inspector you can also change brush

basics like size, texture, antialiasing, texture amount, more.


But -- for the nerdy! -- try choosing "Edit Stroke" from the Stroke

Inspector's menu (or shortcut by doubleclicking the brush preview in that

window). This is where things get very interesting... you can set the

number of tips on an oil bristle brush, or control how widely apart dabs of

paint are spaced, or specify how quickly an airbrush or quill pen runs out

of ink, or whether faded marker pens "build up" on previous strokes like

real pens do.


Then switch over into the "Sensitivity" page and you've got complete

control over pressure-sensitive pens... the size of the brush can vary with

pressure, or the amount of ink applied vary with the speed, or you can make

brushes which change hue depending on the direction or speed of the

stroke... your tablet can exquisitely control the appearance of a brush on

the page.


And what's even more insane is that even this pressure-sensitivity remains

editable... with the "Pressure Scrubber" tool in the Tool Palette you can

change the pressure of a stroke even after it's been made. You can make

dabs or paint spread out along a path, or constrict, or change the

saturation along the stroke... everything remains editable, all the time,

so you can look at it and change your mind whenever you want. Can't do that

with real paints, or even with older pure-pixel computer painting tools.


With Photoshop's brushes you can pre-choose the shape of the brush, or its

density, size, color... Fireworks' brushes are much, much richer, and they

let you change your mind after you draw the stroke, even after you shut

down the computer or email the file. It's a different way of working...

more like Flash itself.


jd







John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US

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