Member Avatar for Blade10878

I am currently in a class called interface design. Last week we learned how to make a rusted looking metal in photoshop. Problem is, at home I have Fireworks, and Freehand and I do not know how to do this techniqe in Fireworks. The version of Fireworks I have is MX 2004. Here is a link to my instructor's site with a tutorial of what we learned in class.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mikeandike22

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Short answer: the Photoshop tutorial relies on channel-based raster filters (rendered clouds, channel blends) that are not exposed in Fireworks the way Photoshop exposes them, and FreeHand is primarily a vector tool, so neither will reproduce that tutorial step-for-step inside MX 2004. That said, a practical, reliable workflow is to create or grab the raster noise/cloud map elsewhere and assemble the final look in Fireworks.

A simple workflow to get the same result without Photoshop

  • Create the metal base in Fireworks (rectangle + linear gradient; add subtle highlights with a thin white shape and blur).
  • Produce a cloud/noise grayscale texture in a raster editor (Photoshop, or a free one) or download a rust texture. Export as a PNG.
  • Import that texture into Fireworks above the metal base. Use a blending mode (Multiply, Overlay or Soft Light) and lower opacity to let the metal show through. Mask or erase where you want less rust.
  • Add color by placing a desaturated orange/brown layer and clipping it to the rust texture, or tint the rust bitmap before import. For chips and scratches, draw vector strokes and soften with blur or use small raster shapes as highlights/shadows.

Notes and tips

  • was right that you will not get the exact Photoshop channel workflow purely with Fireworks; plugins that tried to mimic Photoshop filters existed but are uncommon. Using a small raster tool to generate one or two source bitmaps is usually faster than hunting for plugins.
  • FreeHand works well for crisp vector edges and masks, but not for generating cloud/noise textures. Make textures tileable if you need large areas, and keep multiple rust layers at different scales for realism.

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Member Avatar for mikeandike22

i am pretty sure that this is impossible to do in fireworks with the preset filters. making that metal texture requires filter unique to photoshop i am not sure if they make a plugin for fireworks that does any of those things and if they do it proably costs money.

Member Avatar for Blade10878

Man that really sux, I had a feeling though since i cant find anything that resembles a channels palette in Fireworks, or a filter that gives the "render clouds" look that you can get from photoshop. What about freehand? although I do not think it has a channels palette either.

Member Avatar for mikeandike22

i do not know anything about freehand

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