Macromedia Freehand (and its chief competitor, Adobe Illustrator) is a professional level vector drawing program used primarily by map publishers and graphic designers.
Vector-drawing programs use mathematical formula to draw lines instead of using x,y pixel coordinates like bit-map paint programs (Paint Shop Pro; Photoshop, etc.)
The advantage of vector-drawing is that you can scale your work to any size you need with no loss of resolution. In other words, you can take a drawing, enlarge it to 300% and not worry about "the jaggies" inherent with bit-map files when you print it out.
So, for gaming purposes, you could zoom in to a portion of a large scale map, copy that portion, and enlarge it to make a more detailed smaller scale map.
Plus, if you need bit-map files (.gif; .jpg; .png; etc.) for posting on the web, you can export to those necessary formats.
All in all, for the price ($99 to $149 US), its a superior program for drawing than any bit map paint program. The only thing Photoshop does better is photos..
Originally posted by Lt Cmdr Matt Thanks, I have the program on the shelf here and wanted to know what it did.
If you decide to start using the program, keep in mind that the secret to mastery is the Pen tool and the manipulation of Bezier curves through manipulation of the curves Bezier point handles.
(This allows you to trace organic shapes. So, you could do a drawing by hand in pencil or pen, scan it as a screen rez bit-map (.tif) file, place it on the Freehand background layer as a tracing guide, and then trace over it (on another layer) with the pen tool to convert your drawing into vector art.)
Just keep in mind that holding down the option key (in Mac) allows you to manipulate and retract the Bezier handles.
Your best bet, though, is to have someone familiar with the program SHOW you how to use the Pen tool. You can learn in 15 minutes what two hours with the instruction manual didn't teach me.
Moderator
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
