Adobe Fireworks CS3 Tutorials
Button Symbols / Using Symbols pt. 2
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Subtitles of the Movie (Adobe Fireworks CS3 / Button Symbols / Using Symbols pt. 2)
Continuing my preview of Fireworks symbols from the previous movie, let me now demonstrate how to convert an existing object into a symbol. Let's take my Vector tool here, and let's do an arrow, and let's draw out an arrow there. Let's change the color, so I can see it against those other symbols. So there's my yellow arrow, and then with that yellow arrow selected let's choose from the Main menu, Modify, Symbol, Convert to Symbol, and notice that I'll get my same dialog, although this one is labeled Convert to Symbol, where I can convert it to a graphic, an animation, or a button. Let's choose Animation symbol this time, and let's call this "animation 1." Here I can choose to animate over a number of frames, 1 to 60. I can also choose to move a set number of pixels and also a direction. Here I have a little wheel that will tell me what direction I want. I can scale all the way from 250 to zero, that object over those frames. I can change the opacity from zero to 100. I can also rotate my object counterclockwise, or clockwise. click OK once I've set up all my parameters. And the animation of this symbol extends beyond the last frame of the document. I had too much animation there to accommodate in 60 frames, so Automatically add new frames, click OK. Notice that my animation is now there in the Library. Notice also it starts off in Visible because I animated from zero opacity to 100 percent opacity. Now, as I demonstrated previously you can also modify a symbol in the Symbol Editor which automatically updates all associated instances when you finish editing. To edit a symbol and all of its instances, all you do is you double-click 00:02:04 on the instance, so in this case I'm into the Edit mode for my graphic 1 symbol. Let's go ahead and change the color Click on Done, and notice that all of my instances are updated. Let's double-click on this invisible arrow here. Notice that that gives me this edit mode here where I can change the location of my final, that's my final frame in the animation. Click Done. I can also double-click on the symbol here in the Library, and that gives me this viewpoint again. Let me go ahead and make some more changes to this particular graphic, and when I'm done, click Done, so that the symbol updates. I can also duplicate the symbol. Let's go ahead and duplicate graphic 1. Do that by selecting the symbol in the Library and then from the contextual menu up here in the upper right-hand corner, choose Duplicate, give it a new name; let's call this graphic 1a, like so. I can also, notice, change the type of symbol here. click OK. Now it creates a duplicate of that symbol. I can always double-click on that, change the name back. To delete a symbol, select it in the Library panel, and then click on the Trash icon, or the Delete symbol icon there on the bottom right-hand corner, and that will delete that symbol from the Library. You can also swap a symbol that's already been placed on the canvas. To do that, select the symbol and then right-click on it with your mouse. Control click if you have a Macintosh, and then choose Swap Symbol from the menu. That'll give you a list of all of the symbols that you currently have in the Library. Select the library symbol that you want to swap it out for, and then click OK, and notice that there is my swap symbol. So there you have an overview of symbols in Fireworks CS3. Let me now move on to the next movie and demonstrate how to use the Button Editor to work with your button symbols.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | Adobe Fireworks CS3 |
| Author: | James Gonzalez |
| SKU: | 33836 |
| ISBN: | 1-934743-42-9 |
| Release Date: | 2008-01-25 |
| Duration: | 8.5 hrs / 93 lessons |
| Work Files: |
Yes |
| Captions: | No |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
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