Adobe Fireworks CS3 New Agni

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Adobe Fireworks CS3 to deliver deep layering support, slideshow

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By Aidan Malley

 

Published: 08:55 AM EST

The upcoming version of Macromedia's former web graphics application

is set to replace ImageReady in the next version of Adobe's Creative

Suite with a simplified photo slideshow creation tool as well as a

much tighter link with Photoshop.

 

As part of its testing for Fireworks CS3, internally dubbed "Agni"

after the Vedic god of fire, Adobe is putting to work some of the

first fruits of its buyout of Macromedia in 2005. The visual editing

firm has thoroughly revamped Fireworks to join its features closely

with those of Photoshop CS3, people familiar with the project say,

beginning with the addition of a simple tool for creating photo

slideshows.

 

Key to many of the other expected changes is the addition of

hierarchical layer support, those same people say. Where the previous

version of Fireworks assumed only basic layering and would destroy

any hierarchy created in a Photoshop image, the new edition will add

sub-layers for filters and other special effects that will follow

their parent layer around as it moves.

 

The change will also bring in a swath of basic image editing tools

from Photoshop that can be closely integrated with the new structure.

Drop shadows, glows, and overlays will be applicable to given layers

and will dynamically adjust themselves as the layer objects move or

change shape. Layer blending effects such as burns, dissolves, and

dodges will also be enabled through the Fireworks update.

 

Almost without surprise, the refreshed application will reportedly

hook deeply into many of the common platforms Adobe has used in

recent versions of the Creative Suite. Objects in Fireworks CS3 are

will be shareable with Illustrator, Photoshop, and the rest of the

Creative Suite through Adobe Bridge. They'll also use the company's

XMP to add metadata to images when sending them towards other CS3

applications. Font handling will also fit the Adobe model.

 

Despite the overwhelming attention given to making Fireworks at home

with its peers, Adobe has also reportedly added genuinely new

features to the editor, foremost of these an album creator that

strings photo collections into a slideshow that uses HTML or Flash --

even if the user has no experience with either.

 

Other changes will extend to new symbol types controllable through

JavaScript, multi-page PNG files with their own layers, and a 9-Scale

technique that adjusts the overall size of a bitmap or vector without

losing the proportions of specific regions such as borders.

 

Fireworks CS3 is due to launch as a Universal Binary at the same time

as the rest of CS3 suite in spring of this year.

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