Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201696975 ISBN 13: 9780201696974

Publisher: Peachpit Press, 1998

The FreeHand 8 Visual QuickStart Guide is a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to learn the complexities of FreeHand 8, the latest version of this enormously popular vector-based illustration program for Mac and Windows. Instructions are clear and concise in this book, which contains hundreds of examples of exciting text, design, and illustration techniques you can create in just minutes. Those just starting out, as well as more advanced graphic designers and fine artists, will find a thorough groundwork of the program in this handy reference format. Even the most basic beginner will find it easy to create complete Web pages quickly. That's because this latest edition, like FreeHand and the new Design in Motion Suite, is Web-savvy. Powerful new features described in this book include * how to use Insta.html to transform FreeHand pages into complete Web sites * how to turn FreeHand files into complete Flash 2 animations that can be instantly incorporated into Web pages * how to use the new transparency lens fills for extraordinary effects

Review:

The multitude of large screen shots and the careful step-by-step instruction in this Visual QuickStart Guide help elucidate the many tasks that newcomers to FreeHand 8 will need to undertake. The guide teaches you to create and customize pages; change views; work with guides, grids, and rulers; and then manage layers. You progress to learning necessary tasks such as drawing shapes; applying strokes; using the FreeHand pen and other drawing tools; working with points and paths; drawing with the Pen and Bezigon tools; moving, skewing, rotating, and otherwise transforming images; working with color; applying fills; and working with strokes, blends, text, text effects, styles, and path operations such as Joined and Intersect commands.

The last few chapters explain how to use Xtras, charts, and graphs and how to import and export images to and from other applications, such as Adobe Photoshop. You work with Web-safe colors, create Web images and animations, work with Shockwave Flash, and create Web pages using the insta.html Xtra. Finally, you learn how to print images and customize FreeHand's preferences. Appendices show you the elements of the FreeHand interface, keyboard shortcuts, and fills and strokes. --Kathleen Caster

About the Author:

Sandee Cohen, a former advertising creative supervisor, has been teaching and training on the Macintosh for the past seven years. She teaches at the New School for Social Research Computer Instruction Center in New York City. She is also a contributing writer for several desktop publishing magazines. Her artwork has been used for book jacket covers, interior illustrations, maps, and technical illustrations.