Snap to pixel in Fireworks CS5

Description

Snap to Pixel option is for cases when a vector point becomes blurry resulting in sharp lines. 

 

Requirement

Adobe Fireworks CS5 and higher

Article

1. What kind of objects will it work on?
1. Line
2. Rectangle
3. Raw paths
4. Groups with Paths in it
2. Workflows

Workflow 1

1. Select an object
2. Run the Snap to pixel command through Modify > Snap To Pixel or Ctrl+K

Workflow 2

1. Select an object
2. Right click and Snap To Pixel



Figure 1: Modify menu

3. Soft Lines
1. Draw a horizontal line using the Line tool > Soft pixel
2. Modify property inspector in width or height to get fuzziness
3. Apply Modify > Snap To Pixel

The outcome is that the anchor points don’t go back to where they would be if you hadn’t resized the lines and the soft line still has some "fuzziness".



Figure 1: Soft Line

4. Rotate a 1-px thick rectangle
1. Draw a horizontal line using the Rectangle tool
2. Rotate 90° and you will get a fuzzy line
3. Apply Modify > Snap to pixel and the line is sharp again



Figure 3: 1px rectangle

5. Rectangle



Figure 4: Rectangle

A rectangle with a 1px stroke, you will get full sharpness with Snap to pixel

6. Workarounds to avoid fuziness
1. Using 3 nudging commands which can move vector at sub pixel levels

Super Nudge: Super nudge

Transfrom Panel: Transform panel

Commands > Resize Selected Objects: John Dunning's Resize Selected Objects which I would expect to be safe to use on lines, but for some reason it doesn’t appear to be working to resize lines at the moment.

2. Lines vs rectangle

To avoid the problems caused by lines the workaround is to use the rectangle tool to draw lines.

7. Conclusion

Snap to Pixel does not fix the problems of fuziness, it addresses some of the symptoms of a problem that has not actually been fixed.

Where to go from here

1. Fireworks CS5 Help