Learning Graphic Editing Basics with Adobe Fireworks CS3 03: Layers

In the third video tutorial of the Adobe Fireworks CS3 series, we are going to talk about layers. In a sense, a layer is like a page of a book. Actually, it’s more like an animation cell because it can be totally or partially transparent to see what’s behind it. And just as a collection of several animation cells can constitute one frame, several layers can constitute one Fireworks file.

Handling layers in Fireworks is a little bit different from how they are handled in Photoshop. Under Photoshop, you could choose a particular layer with a right button click. But that doesn’t work unless there are multiple layers at the very spot where a click is made. Photoshop also has a function called Auto-Select. This feature lets you select a particular one across several layers. How about Fireworks? Fireworks lets you visually select a particular layer with a click of Mouse. So which layer is active depends on what’s been activated. Even in the presence of multiple layers, one does not feel the necessity of opening the Layer Window. This feature makes Fireworks easy to use for both beginners and even for advanced users. Continue reading →

If you attempt to export an MPEG file for Video iPod using QuickTime Pro‘s export preset for iPod, you are most likely to get an error. Even if you somehow manage to export a file, it will have no audio. That’s because QuickTime doesn’t separately recognize the audio layer of a multiplexed video file.

This 5-minute video tutorial shows how to use QuickTime Pro (v. 7.2) and Squared 5’s MPEG Streamclip (freeware) to convert MPEG video files for Video iPod. Note that handling MPEG files with QuickTime Pro and/or MPEG Streamclip requires that you have MPEG-2 Playback QuickTime Component. The original MPEG video clip comes from Internet Archive. Continue reading →

Learning Graphic Editing Basics with Adobe Fireworks CS3 02: Shortcut Keys

The most effective way of speedy work in graphic editing is use of shortcut keys. In the second video tutorial of the Adobe Fireworks CS3 series, we will first assign/reassign shortcut keys to the following Fireworks commands: Continue reading →