Danger Sign

540

Fireworks Zone

198

1788

07-11-2009

Description

We are going to create a danger sign with a ruff and aged look. I got inspired by a photoshop tutorial which I transfer to Fireworks.

What makes this tutorial stimulating is that it covers both vector and bitmap techniques which is the trademark of Fireworks.

Requirement

All Fireworks versions.

Article

1. Creating the sign

To create a triangle, select the Smart Polygon in the toolbar and select 3 sides. You have now a perfectly lined up triangle. Add a Fill color #FECB00 and a 12px soft-rounded Stroke in black. Resize it to 240x208. What the sign should look like at this step.



Figure 1: The sign

2. Rounded corners

To get rounded corners go to: Modify > Alter path > Inset path > Outside



Figure 2: The sign with rounded corners

3. The Thunderbold

Let's make a thunderbolt! Select the Pen Tool (or press P). Here is my thunder already completed.



Figure 3: The sign completed

4. The texture

We are going to add some dirt with a texture bitmap.

1. Import the texture you downloaded. Apply a filter. Go to: Filters > Other > Convert to Alpha to keep only the black stains.
2. Apply a second filter Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask to enhance the black stains in the texture.



Figure 4: The sign completed

3. Now, cut the texture, select the sign and Edit > Paste Inside . Adjust the texture to see what part of the texture will appear in the sign. Add the Thunderbold and you are done!



Figure 6: The completed sign with dirt

If you want to resize the danger sign, I suggest you ungroup the mask, resize the sign which is vector then Paste Inside again with the dirt. Because the dirt is a bitmap resizing the group will result in pixalating the picture.

5. Conclusion

This tutorial in Fireworks is easier than in Photoshop.

Where to go from here

• Fireworks CS4 Help
• Photoshop tutorial