Description:
Written for everyone from beginners to experts, this guide covers all of the basic and advanced features in Macromedia's popular illustration package for Macintosh and Windows. The author combines specific instruction with discussions of features and digital-graphics technology. He first explains the uses of the toolbar options and shows you how to navigate the interface, select and move elements, work with layers, set preferences, use Xtras, and get help in using the program. Next he helps you create basic drawings while working with simple shapes, paths and points, strokes, fills, graphic styles, charts and graphs, and drop shadows. There's plenty of guidance on creating realistic and compelling drawings, with insight on perspective drawing and extensive path manipulation. As you create and alter text and type, you'll use FreeHand's spelling, search, formatting, style, and copyfitting options; place text on a path; wrap text; and create inline graphics. The subsequent chapters teach you how to import and export files; transform elements in a drawing; create, add, edit, and apply colors; manage color; and work with trapping and color separations. A full-color section illuminates various color-management issues. Next, you learn how to fine-tune printing options for the best output, prepare files for imagesetting, troubleshoot printing problems, and use PostScript to extend FreeHand. Finally, you output your images to the Web. Kvern shows you how to export GIF images, create Shockwave Flash graphics, output images to Fireworks, and create HTML pages in FreeHand. An appendix demonstrates how to write scripts using AppleScript (Macintosh only) and Java. --Kathleen Caster
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