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Macromedia Freehand 10

Macromedia Freehand 10 is all about improving work flow software updates. The new features include master pages, a common Macromedia user interface, increased dependence on symbols, and tighter integration with Flash. And if you've ever used Freehand or any other Macromedia software before, the one change that you'll really appreciate is the common user interface; so beloved of a good office suite. FreeHand is the first product with this feature. And now has the look 'n feel of Flash, Fireworks and Dreamweaver. The new menu structure places shared commands in the same location. And also includes standardized keyboard shortcuts.

One great new feature is the revamped colour panels. Another is the enhanced pen tool. For example, you can now directly select a colour from a standard set of swatches on the tool box. The Bezier pen tool also has smart cursors that provide feedback about adding, deleting, and closing points on a path.

FreeHand's strength lies in its ability to create and manipulate pages within the pasteboard with master pages. If you are wondering what are these, don't! Master pages, a familiar term to anyone who owns a desktop publishing program, allow you to repeat design elements on any number of associated document pages (referred to as child pages).

Any modifications made to a master page flow through to all of its children or related pages. Freehand 10 can create as many as 32,000 master pages, store them in the Library. And export them to be used in other projects. This can really speed up the document creation process. Though master pages were originally intended as a desktop publishing tool, they function just as well when prototyping a Web site or story boarding an animation. Phoof! seems a lot already; I promise there is more to come.

FreeHand 10 lets you export simple animations in Flash format. And also lets you assign pre-scripted Flash actions (such as GoTo, Play, Stop, or Load Movie) to objects inside FreeHand. Although these actions represent the most basic Flash operations, they allow you to create interactive, navigable movies directly from FreeHand. You no longer need to separately edit the Flash file.

Choosing the parameters and triggers appropriate to each action is a snap, thanks to the new Navigation Panel, which presents all available options in easy-to-use drop-down lists. And of course these simple navigation commands become much more powerful when they are combined with FreeHand's existing ability to animate the layers and/or pages in a drawing.

However, due to the differing development schedules of Flash and FreeHand, Flash 5 doesn't support native FreeHand 10 files. Until Macromedia publishes a new FreeHand filter for Flash you have to export the current document as a FreeHand 9 file or SWF movie.

FreeHand 10 also has a robust collection of drawing tools with two new functions. The Contour Gradient option generates an interior halo effect that follows the perimeter of any object. The result looks more like a blend than a linear or radial gradient fill. We also liked the user-definable Perspective Grid tool for generating 1-, 2-, or 3-point perspective by snapping objects to grid lines.

FreeHand now offers symbol-based brush and spray strokes. This let’s you brush or spray objects along a path, creating complex images with a simple drawing motion. FreeHand will also automatically repeat the image to form a pattern or morph the image to follow the curvature of a line. The Brush Stroke feature requires that you convert an object (or a group of objects) into a symbol before you can use it as a stroke style much on the lines of Flash. This, along with the new master page functionality, is an indication of the increasingly important role that symbols play within Freehand.

FreeHand 10 makes editing a symbol (or a master page) a simple, straightforward operation by providing a special editing window. Changes made to the symbol here are automatically updated to all instances in the document. This is certainly reminiscent of Flash's approach to symbol editing. And it is a welcome change from the awkward work flow in FreeHand 9, which forced you to release an instance of the symbol, modify the instance, and then use the instance to replace the symbol in the Library.

The new Print Area tool extends existing flexibility by allowing you to draw a selection area around a portion of the workspace. This lets you fit multiple pages on a single sheet of paper or enlarge a small area of a drawing to examine it in detail.

FreeHand is the program to buy if you want a powerhouse drawing tool that can function as a front end for Flash, or that can build highly structured, easily updated documents. But surprised me was that a Web-aware company like Macromedia could ignore Web graphics. Aside from the ability to export a page as HTML, create simple Flash animations, and assign URLs to objects, there are no built-in Web graphics tools. You can't create rollover buttons or image maps, and there's no Web optimization preview or pre-flighting. Macromedia obviously doesn't want FreeHand to compete with Fireworks, its Web graphics editor.

Vaishali Singh
[email protected]

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