Does anyone out there use Macromedia Fireworks? Want to fade a photo from left to right - so right hand part gets increasingly transparent. Is there a way of doing this in Fireworks? - I've seen in done on other websites but, on Fireworks, have so far only managed to us the gradient tool to change from one colour to another - it doesn't seem to allow me to make transparent a colour.
It's easy. First you need a bitmap image. Then draw a shape over the image using the pen tool or rectangle/whatever tool. In that shape, put the gradient as you want. Change the transparency value to 0 on one side (upper "arrow" on the gradient window) and black in the other side. Next select both items, go to Modify > Mask > Group as mask and you'r done!
My method for doing this is to simply select the image in the layers box and click "add mask" at the bottom. Then I grab the gradient tool and drag it across the image (making sure the gradient is black and white)
Many thanks to both of you - this is something I've been wanting to know for ages. Hadn't realised where the opacity option was hidden - had found the gradient box but not the opacity!!
To find the opacity button, first make a shape and add a linear gradient to it. Then, in the Properties window that you go to change the colors (normally at the bottom of the screen) You have two or more sliders, that defines the colors. Above that sliders is the gradient rectangle, to see a preview of the effect. And above that, are another 2 sliders. That's the transparency sliders. You can see an image here: http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/7122/dptuts1.jpg