Using FOTO with Fireworks MX : Color Glow Pro

In this tutorial, you will learn how to harness the power of one of the members of the new command set from Phireworx. Color Glow Pro is a powerful command, and is one of five of the members of FOTO.

Color Glow Pro, adds a complex series of filters and layer manipulations of the original image to give a powerful glow to the image. Not only do you have control of the degree of glow applied, but you can specify optional glow tinting for added effect.

Before launching straight into the tutorial, if you haven’t yet purchased FOTO 1.0, now is an excellent opportunity to do so.

Setting up the Workspace

1 Open an image of your choice in Fireworks MX. It is preferable that the content of the image is either a portrait or other such photograph that has varied hues and content such as a photo of loved ones.
2 Select the Marquee tool from the Bitmap section of the Tools Panel.

Harnessing the power of Color Glow Pro

1 From the Commands menu, select Aftershape > Color Glow Pro. You should be presented with the interface shown below.Try playing with the interface and watch the preview window to get a feel for what Color Glow Pro can do for your image. Set the amount of Color Glow to apply by either entering into the text input below the Color Glow dial of moving the dial from left to right. In the example shown below, the amount of glow applied was set to 2.00, and the amount of tint to be applied was set to 100% with a light red tint. When you are happy with your selection, press ok.NOTE: The preview window only gives an approximate preview of the effect.

Increasing the Glow Amount

You can easily alter the amount of glow applied by moving the Color Glow dial at the top of the interface. Lets try to increase the amount of glow to produce a more pronounced effect.

1 Follow the previous steps to select your subject and launch the Color Glow Pro. Move the Color Glow dial to the far right, which is maximum glow, and select OK.NOTE: Color Glow will remember your settings from the previous application, so if you have followed the earlier steps in the tutorial, you should only have to alter the Color Glow Dial.

You will notice that the effect is now much more pronounced than before, but doesn’t destroy your underlying main image that you started from.

Altering the amount of Tint

Altering the amount and color of the tint, can have a massive difference on the final outcome of your composition.

1 Follow the previous steps to select your subject and launch the Color Glow Pro. Move the tint slider to a position of your liking, and alter the amount of Color Glow and final opacity for the tint. Select OK.In this example, a subtle alien-esque green was chosen and the amount of color glow decreased.

Increasing the amount of tint and degree of glow will further strengthen the final effect

2 Increase the amount of color glow and tint opacity to their maximum values and select OK.

As you can see the effect becomes slightly more surreal when maximum strength is applied. Changing the settings and playing with the command is the only way to truly harness the power of Color Glow Pro, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

Applying Color Glow Pro to Selected Areas

You don’t have to apply the effect to the whole of an image, you can also apply the effect to distinct areas for more subtle effects.

1 Open an image in Fireworks MX
2 Select the Lasso tool in the Bitmap section of the Tools Panel
3 Start by selecting one of the eyes
4 Hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and draw additional selection marquees on the other eye as shown below. Hold down Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) to subtract, if needed, from the selections.

5 Soften the edge of the pixel selection. Choose Select > Feather and enter a value ofbetween 5 to 10 pixels
6 Select Commands > Aftershape > Color Glow Pro

7 Select a Color Glow value of around 3, a light orange tint with a Tint Opacity of 40%Select OK.

And now you have a slightly scary looking set of eyes for our Phireworx model!!

Conclusion

Color Glow Pro is a powerful command and is a new breed of Fireworks MX extensions. Experimentation is the key to getting the mot out of these type of command, and hopefully you have been guided through some of the hidden facets of the Color Glow Pro Fireworks MX Command, and feel inspired to explore the power of Color Glow Pro.