Adobe 38039927 User Guide - Page 160

155 Chapter 9: Pages, Layers, Masking, and Blending Fireworks CS3 added the capability to create a single PNG file that contains multiple pages. Each page contains its own settings for canvas, size, color, image resolution, and guides. These settings can be set on a per-page basis, or globally across all pages in the document. You can also create a master page for common elements. Layers and pages can be used together if you have elements that you want to appear on more than one page. Layers can apply to a single page, or can be shared across multiple pages. Once shared, the layers are displayed in yellow to differentiate from unshared Layers. Only the top most parent layer can be shared across pages. Layers divide a Fireworks document into discrete planes, as though the components of the illustration were drawn on separate tracing paper overlays. A document can be made up of many layers, and each layer can contain many sub-layers or objects. In Fireworks, the Layers panel lists layers and the objects contained in each layer. Fireworks layers are similar to layer sets in Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop layers are similar to individual Fireworks objects. Masking gives you creative control over layers and objects. You can apply masks and blending modes from the Layers panel. You can also create masks using options on the Select and Modify menus. You can use a vector object or a bitmap object to block out part of the underlying image. For example, if you want to block out part of a photograph so that it appears to have an elliptical frame around it, you can paste an elliptical shape as a mask on top of the photograph. All areas outside the ellipse disappear as if cropped, showing only the part of the picture inside the ellipse. Blending techniques give you another level of creative control. You can create unique effects by blending the colors in overlapping objects. Fireworks has several blending modes to help you achieve the look you want. This chapter contains the following topics: • "Working with pages" on page 155 • "Working with layers" on page 159 • "Masking images" on page 164 • "Blending and transparency" on page 179 Working with pages A Fireworks CS3 document (PNG) file can contain one or more pages. You can either create all of the pages before you start to draw, or you can add pages as needed. If you do not create any new pages, all of the elements of your file reside on a single page (Page 1). You can view the pages in your file in the Pages panel. Pages are added in the order in which they are created. The name of the active page is highlighted in the Pages panel and shown in the pages pop-up menu in the active document bar below the active document. The objects on each page are displayed in a thumbnail next to the page name in the Pages panel. Each page has an independent hierarchy including the Web layer and general layers, which can be shared across different pages. You can also create a master page to hold common elements. The objects and layer hierarchy on the master page are inherited by all other pages.