Aug 24 2009
Adobe Fireworks: “Save As” PNG Not The Same As “Export As” PNG
The Aspire UI library uses bitmap PNG image files for component skinning. This means that the component skins can be easily edited/replaced by using any graphics editing software capable of saving in PNG format.
When using Adobe Fireworks, it is important to remember that the raw file format used by the software is PNG. When you save a Fireworks document, you create/overwrite a PNG file and this resulting file will contain author-time editing settings such as guide lines, layers, paths, symbols, etc. This file is many times bigger than what the actual image itself should be if only the image data is saved, and is unlikely to be what you would want distributed/deployed with your Flash application.
Instead of saving the Fireworks document, use the “Image Preview…” command (CTRL+SHIFT+X) to bring up the Image Preview dialog, then choose “PNG 8″, “PNG 24″ or “PNG 32″ (8, 24, 32 bits) from the Format options. Export from this dialog to get the flattened PNG image file. Once you have chosen the Format from this dialog (and dismissed the dialog by clicking Export or OK), you can subsequently call the “Export…” command (CTRL+SHIFT+R), and the last chosen image file format (and other Export settings) will be used.
Thanks really important info.
Or use “save as” menu item , and select flattened png as the format which gets rid of the authoring data. This is for FW CS4.
Thanks sunny. This is a good clarification to people who might get confused with the Fireworks using its native file format as png. It is the same png file format but with lots of custom data like the Pages, Layers, States, vector and many other Fireworks specific data.
You have mentioned it absolutely correct. The Fireworks png file is created by designers to finalize on the design and then the final image is flattened out using the Image Preview dialog or the Export workflow.