You can use an existing animated GIF file as part of your Fireworks animation. There are two ways of using the file: you can import the GIF into an existing Fireworks file, or you can open the GIF as a new file.

When you import an animated GIF, Fireworks converts it to an animation symbol and places it in the currently selected frame. If the animation has more frames than the current movie does, you can choose to automatically add more frames.

Imported GIFs lose their original frame delay settings and assume the frame delay of the current document. Because the imported file is an animation symbol, you can apply additional motion to it. For example, you can import an animation of a man walking in place and then apply direction and motion properties to have the man walk across the screen.

When you open an animated GIF in Fireworks, a new file is created and each frame in the GIF is placed in a separate frame. Although the GIF is not an animation symbol, it does retain all the frame delay settings from the original file.

After the file is imported, you need to set its file format to Animated GIF to export the motion from Fireworks.

To import an animated GIF:

  1. Select File > Import.
  2. Locate the file and click Open.
  3. Click Yes to add additional frames to your animation.

If you click Cancel, only the first frame of the animated GIF is displayed. Although the whole document is imported, you must add additional frames to view it.

To open an animated GIF: