Using Vector Tool to redesign bitmap image

There are many situations in which you'll find yourself wanting to redesign a bitmap image with vectors tools. Perhaps you scanned a photo of a building but the image is too small and making it larger will degrade the quality. Perhaps you want to practice drawing vector images that look three-dimensional, using lots of gradations, shading, and highlights. Or perhaps you started with (or your client gave you) a prefabricated web page composed entirely of bitmap images and you need to change the texture or coloring—and pronto. In all these situations, the solution is to use the bitmap image as a kind of "pattern" and then employ vector tools to redraw the various pieces of the image. As you experiment with this process you'll be surprised to learn that—with textures, patterns, and effects—an image made up of vector shapes can have a very definite bitmap and three-dimensional "look" in Fireworks MX. This tutorial uses, as an example, a pre-made web page designed by Scott Balay of Eyeland Studio. All the pieces of this page are bitmaps and difficult to manipulate or change once they are opened in Fireworks MX. I'll show you how to take one of the more difficult pieces of this web page and redraw it as a vector. You'll then be able to resize it or change the effects as you like. The techniques you learn here can be used for any bitmap-tracing project in your workload. Note: The sample PSD file is provided to you courtesy of Eyeland Studio. You are free to use it. This particular interface is part of the Photoshop Foundry CD which has 120 interfaces and more.

Sample files Before you begin, download these samples files to help you follow along with the tutorial:

Windows Macintosh bitmap_vector.zip (2.5 MB) bitmap_vector.sit (2.5 MB)

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