Fireworks Photo Resizing Quality Loss

[jerrydoe]

Well since I use everything Macromedia, I decided ealier this year to take the leap into fireworks instead of PSP. I love it except 2 things, font rendering and photo resizing of a high quality photo to a smaller size.

I have found a work around for font rendering issues. I simply have to create the text in PSP then import it into fireworks as a PNG. Then it's OK.

Anyway the reason for this post is I am having issues with a simple task, of resizing a photo in fireworks mx to a smaller size.

I hope I am in the correct place of the forum to ask for help on this.

Please could someone explain to me how to resize a high quality image smaller. This is an example of how I am doing it:

1)Open Large photo say 1600x1200
2)I want to make this high quality photo 499 Px wide and keep the same quality.
3)So I go to modify ->resize image, and type in what I want.
4) It resizes it and the quality is terrible. It does not seem to make any difference what I set the resolution to.

Please could someone educate me?

Thanks,
Jerry

[joepower]

Do you have the resample checkbox checked?

[webmistress25]

(I'm assuming you have Fireworks MX)
You can automatically re-size width and height dimensions when you do the following:

1. Click on Modify -> Canvas -> Image Size

or

1. Click File -> Export Preview
2. Select the "File" tab in the export preview box
3. Change the percentage or width and height of the image for your end result
4. You can also see the file size and download time (according to what's setup in your preference)on the right window of the box showing type (JPEG, GIF)
5. Export the file to your hard drive

To change the image file size you can change the quality of the JPEG or the Palette of colors when the main image is open by using the "Optimize" palette, which can be found under Window -> Optimize

Good luck, let me know if you need further help.

[whiterabbit]

Heres what I do:

File>New:

Width : whatever
Height : whatever
Resolution : 300 pixel/cm

Background : Transparent

File>Import

Your filename, drawn out to fill your canvas.

File>Export Preview

Format : JPEG
Quality : 100
Smoothing : No Smoothing
Sharpen Colour Edges : No
Progressive : Yes
Remove Unused colours : No
Export...sorted.

[kiumars]

Hello,

In addition to above, if destination is web, do not forget to change the resolution to 72 before resizing.

Best regards,
Kiumars

[cooper]

Hello jerrydoe,
First, you need to indicate what your target output medium is for this task. If you are doing print, stick with Photoshop. It's a better program for that type of work. If your photo is destined for the web, read the previous posters' replies as they have covered just about all the bases except for any extreme or odd conditions.

Good luck!

[jerrydoe]

Thanks everyone!

I figured it out-- In the image resize window I simply had to change the drop down menu to "soft". Before it was set to "nearest neighbor".

Now my images look perfect, and I can use fireworks optimization windows to help with the rest.

Thanks again for your respone,

Jerry

[info249]

kiumars has it. Most people new to Fireworks are fine resizing but forget to change the resolution to 72 so their resized image ends up being a much larger file size than it needs to be.

Watch Out! when you change the resolution to 72, the image size will change so make sure you change the resolution to 72 and then set your width/height dimensions.

[greeneagle]

When using “Export Preview” in Fireworks4 and MX The software automatically samples the picture and automatically determines the quality number that it sees as best optimized choice to not lose quality. Sometimes these are not right for your purpose or effect and require manual editing. Most of the time a jpeg will have good quality at 80% (a 20% reduction).

Gif’s are also easy to change by incrementing the maximum number of colors and/or “Loss”.

A small size change can make a huge digital size difference. ie... 600x600=3600 , 500x500=2500 a 31% reduction.

Hope this helps,
Ken

Another misnomer is that Gif’s are smaller than Jpg’s. We have side by side comparisons between Gifs and Jpg’s and a full discussion on optimization on our Custom Graphics page at: http://www.mountaineagleweb.com/CustomGraphics/Custom%20Graphics.htm

All graphics on that page are remastered using Fireworks.

[cooper]

Greeneagle-
That page is excellent! What a resource for educating your clients and prospective clients about image optimization for the web.
Have you considered expanding the "tutorial" to include a file that is best suited for GIF or PNG optimization like a logo or image with transparency?
:o)

Thanks for the link.

[greeneagle]

Thanks cooper

We have worked hard on our site to provide real value for our visitors free of of charge and without putting them through the "rigamoro" of signing in and having to become a member of an opt in mailing group.

We are in the process of adding about 100 topic specific pages to the "Webmaster Resources" and splitting the site into 3 distinct groups:
1)Web Design and Development
2)Marketing & Promotion
3)Webmaster Resources

All interlinked!

The problem is, that 2 days ago we found out that one of our top clients made $.25mil+ off of his site in the last few months and he gave us cart blanch for continued development proceedings and dropped several new products on us - What a juggling act! Also we have several prospects on the hook. Sometimes it's better to determine a niche market!

Trying to balance euphoria and reality right now!

The economy is picking up - I hope you and everyone else that reads this thread are successful in grabbing their piece of the pie this year!

Again thanks,

Provide value (GOOGLE Likes That!), Speak to your visitors like they are visitors, don't over optimize for the search engines and remember that keywords are no longer "key", keyphrases imbedded in content are!

Carry on and prosper in the new year!

Ken