Fireworks: Exporting assets for mobile, multiple sizes

Question

Just curious what peoples tips and tricks are for exporting mobile assets for apps with Fireworks quickly, efficiently and crisply? For multiple device sizes. Also, do you recommend keeping an asset library in one file?

Answer 1

I may not do it the most efficient way but it works for me:

• Select each separate element with your Pointer Tool and either hit F10 or go to View > Crop Document. This resizes the canvas to the dimensions of the desired asset. Make sure any conflicting layers are hidden. The canvas also has to be at the highest resolution asset dimensions so that you can convert to different sizes. For iOS you need an even amount of pixels so you can apply 50% scaling when exporting. For Android you need to be able to divide the original asset by 75% scaling (going from XHDPI to HDPI), 50% scaling (XHDPI to MDPI), and 37.5% scaling (XHDPI to LDPI).

• I would then recommend setting the Export Wizard to a Keyboard Shortcut via Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (i.e. I use F9). That way you can just quickly press F9 > Enter > Enter > Enter and you will be in the Image Preview and Export screen.

• It depends on how the code is set up to handle assets but usually I have all my assets as separate exported images in one folder for each platform. If it's iOS I have one folder with Non-Retina Assets (i.e. - Button.png), Retina Assets (i.e. Button@2x.png), and Retina 568h Assets (if needed, i.e. Button-568h@2x). Then for Android I have 4 separate folders within an Android folder for XHDPI, HDPI, MDPI, LDPI. All of the file names end up being the same, and usually are better off as all lower case with no special characters or spacing in the name, underscores are ok.

• Side Note: Be careful when saving the asset through the Export Wizard, sometimes the Save dialog defaults the Export setting to HTML and Images instead of Images Only.

Some questions for elaboration: What kind of devices are you exporting for? What resolutions are you supporting? What version of Fireworks are you using?

Edit: Grammar