Chain Links

O.K. Folks!

This one's just for pure and simple fun. An optical illusion of the best kind!

The techniques described in this tutorial can be adapted quite simply to allow the creation of the ever-present "twisted wires" effect. It's just a matter of chopping 'em up correctly! So, to create a "chain-link" effect:

Open a new canvas in Fireworks (around 400Wx200H), and select the "Elipse" tool. Draw a suitably chunky elipse on your canvas (around 200Wx120H should do for a start!).

Click EDIT>CLONE, then MODIFY>TRANSFORM>NUMERIC TRANSFORM. Set the "Scale" option in the drop-down, and type 60 in the scale size box. Make sure that the "Constrain Proportions" box is ticked! The resulting image should be something like this:

Next, hold the Shift key and click the outer elipse to include it in the selection. Then click MODIFY>COMBINE>PUNCH, to get this:

With me so far? O.K., now click EDIT>CLONE and click/drag the top "clone" image right/down like so:

While it is still selected, click EDIT>COPY to copy this image to the clipboard (We'll need it later!). Now select the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle covering the lower half of the clone, just like this:

I've made it a contrasting colour so that you can see the correct positioning of the box. We are going to use this box as a punch tool to chop the clone in half (It is not possible to do this using the Knife tool), so, while the box is still selected, press Shift and click the clone to include it in the selection. Now press MODIFY>COMBINE>PUNCH to end up with this:

And a final time, press Shift and click the original oval to include it in the selection, then press MODIFY>COMBINE>PUNCH and you'll have something like this:

With me still? O.K., from this point on, no picture clues from me! I love this bit - talk about "optical illusions"! Heh!

Remember the oval that you copied to the clipboard a while back? Let's have it back on the canvas by clicking EDIT>PASTE. Now click MODIFY>ARRANGE>SEND TO BACK. Doesn't look too special at the moment, does it? But why don't you now apply some fills and stuff (like Inner Glow, Drop Shadow etc.) and see what happens!

Have fun!