How to Create a Bouncing Ball in Fireworks

Aren’t those bouncing balls so cute? Wish you could make them? No problem. In Fireworks you can create bouncing balls with a little patience and time. I think bouncing balls are a real attention grabber. In this guide I will show you how to create the ball and how to make the ball bounce. So let’s start out with creating the ball.

Creating a Ball in Fireworks

Step 1 – Open your Fireworks program.

Step 2 – Create a New Canvas about 450 x 200 pixels.

Step 3 – Change the Background of the Canvas to #EFEFEF (light gray). You can use what color you like, but this is the color I’ll be using in my example.

Step 4 – In your Tools Panel click on the Ellipse Tool (circle).

Step 5 – Hold down Shift and draw a circle on the canvas. Make it about the size of a penny. Note: Shift keeps the circle perfectly round.

Step 6 – Click on your circle so that it is highlighted.

Step 7 – Look down in your Properties Panel find where it says Solid, Drop that menu down and click Gradient > Radial.

Step 8 – Click on the paint bucket tool to change the two colors of the ball. In my example I used #BBEEFD for the color on left which is the light color and #006699 for the one on the right which is the dark color.

Step 9 – In the Tools Panel select the Pointer Tool and click the ball to highlight it.

Step 10 – Now right click on the ball and select Convert to Symbol. The Symbol Properties Dialog Box will pop up. Name your Symbol – Ball and select Graphic for Type. Click OK

Step 11 – Click on the ball to highlight it again. Right Click and select Edit > Copy.

Step 12 – Right Click on your Canvas and select Edit > Paste. It will paste it directly on top of your first ball. So take your pointer and drag the ball down to the bottom center. You will need five balls, so copy and paste three more balls. Lay the balls out like this:

O O
O O O

You are finished creating your ball. Now we need to make it bounce.

Step 1 – Click on one of the Balls. Now hold Shift down and click on the other balls so that they are all highlighted.

Step 2 – Go to the top of your Fireworks window and click Modify > Symbol > Tween Instances. A dialog box will pop up. Put 2 steps, Check Distribute to Frames, and click OK.

Step 3 – In the top of your Fireworks window click Window > Frames to open your Frames Panel. There are a total of four frames in the panel.

Step 4 – We need to slow the ball down some because it will bounce so fast right now that your eyes will get crossed. 🙂 In your Frames Panel Double Click on the 7 or what ever number is beside Frame 1. Enter a value of 20. You need to enter the same value in all of them. You can change the speed to suit your taste.

And there we have it. Click the Play button in the Properties Panel to view your ball. Feel free to play around with the colors and add more balls next time. Please see the images to get a graphic look at how to create bouncing balls in Fireworks.