Rope
Quick and easy technique to put believable rope in your compositions through Macromedia/Adobe Fireworks. In order to complete this tutorial, you will need Macromedia Fireworks MX or above.
LEVEL: Beginner
WHAT YOU HAVE TO KNOW: Make new documents, Work with Text and Paths, Add live effects, Change blend modes
SOURCE PNG: Rope.png
Step 1 - Make new file (my is 400×400px)
Step 2 - Make path with Pen tool (find Pen tool here). This will be our rope.
Step 3 - Grab Text tool (find Text tool here) and type some dots Tahoma 20px Crisp Anti-alias
Step 4- Make kerning (-25)
Step 5 - Attach text to path: Select both path and the text objects -Go to menu Text ยป Attach to path
Step 6- Change Fill to Linear gradient (#D1C098 - #E9E1CF) Texture “Grain” 40% and Stroke to 1px./soft #CDC7BC
Step 7- Add “Inner Bevel” live effect Edge - Smooth, Width=7, Contrast=70%, Softness=2, Angle=108, Button preset - Raised
Step 8- Add “Sharpen” and “Curves” live effects. See Figure below for Curves settings.
Step 9- We are ready! Now try to add shadow and further enhance composition. With Fireworks 8 you can change the shape of rope at any time. Remember to have fun and experiment. My main goal is to teach you powerful and useful techniques, which you can develop further to achieve different (in most cases better) results. Please put links to your compositions in comments below! Thanks for reading!
Have questions? Always download source PNG files for the tutorial. There are hidden secrets in them ;-) Or use comments below! English is not my native language! I hope you point me to any errors I have.
