It’s not often I find something that thrills me enough to write a blog article – but today I found it. If you use Fireworks for your web design graphics, you should download and install this wonderful Fireworks extension called “Smart Punch” by John Dunning.

Sometimes you need to use one object as a kind of cookie-cutter tool on another object. In Fireworks, this is achieved by selecting both objects and selecting Modify -> Combine Paths -> Punch.

But if one of the objects is a bitmap (like a photo) – you get an error message telling you that both objects must be paths. I’ve run into this several times, I do the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result. It never works.

I did some searching and found this simply wonderful extension that literally let me do what I wanted to do without triggering the warning.

Note that it’s found under Commands-> Objects -> Smart Punch (I had to search for a while).

Enjoy!

If you found this article helpful, please take a moment to share it with your friends, it will be much appreciated. Thanks! Jill