TechNote

FreeHand MX version 11.0.2 overview

Introduction

The FreeHand MX version 11.0.2 update modifies an existing FreeHand MX version 11.0.1 installed application. This update fixes several outstanding issues discovered since the release of FreeHand MX version 11.0.1 and improves support for Macintosh OS X 10.3.

Note: If you purchased and downloaded FreeHand MX from the Macromedia online store after February 25, 2004, you already received the updated version of FreeHand MX version 11.0.2. You can verify your version by one of the following methods:

Mac OS X
With FreeHand running, select the menu FreeHand MX > About Free Hand.
All Windows platforms
1. Locate the FreeHand MX.exe file (the default location is C:\Program Files\Macromedia\FreeHand MXa)
2. Right-click the FreeHand MX.exe and select Properties
3. Select the version tab to see the version number

Platforms supported

The FreeHand MX version 11.0.2 updated release is available for download for the following operating systems:

Mac OS X 10.2.6 (minimum)
Microsoft Windows 98se, Windows XP and Windows 2000

Release Notes

To learn more about the FreeHand MX version 11.0.2 update, please read the Release Notes.

Bug fixes for both Windows and Macintosh

Rounding Error: When the unit of measurement was set to points and a user entered 5m in the leading field, the conversion was not 14.1732, as it should be.
Displaced Text: Sub-selecting text on a path object, while using the align panel to align to page, caused the text to displace from the path.
Sub-path Issues:
- When trying to select a sub-path on a composite clipping path which contains a bitmap and has a stroke applied, the user could not select any sub-path by clicking on its stroke.
- Editing the attributes of a sub-path which is part of a composite path caused the Object Inspector to bounce back to the composite path as a selected highlight instead of the sub-path.
Pasting Attributes: When using Edit > Special > Copy Attributes, followed by the Paste Attributes within Text blocks, the pasting of the attribute caused the text to disappear and the text entries to be removed from the Object panel.
Envelopes Disappear: After applying envelopes to two separate text blocks, then grouping the objects together, followed by saving and closing, the user would find that the objects disappeared after reopening the file.
Magnify Lens Fills:
- Magnify lens fills used over vector objects exported to EPS file (with the selected objects only option checked), would export out a preview. However, the lens was empty when printed for output.
- 1x Magnify lens fills over vector objects would lose the fill after exporting the file as EPS, if snapshot was turned on.
- 3x Magnify lens fills over vector objects becomes a 1x magnify lens after exporting as EPS (with the selected objects only option checked), after turning on Snapshot and then Objects only.
Blended Objects: Opening a file with a blended object that contains two Composite paths which have a Basic Transparent Effect applied would cause a crash or error message.
Spot Colors: Spot to spot color gradients which have a raster effect applied did not print out on the correct spot plates.
Legacy File Issues:
- After opening a legacy file and saving in FreeHand MX, the guidelines no longer display.
- Opening legacy files containing a clipped path object which had a text runaround applied would cause the clipped object to display as invisible.
- Objects set to overprint in FreeHand 8 documents did not correctly have the overprint flag set when opening them in FreeHand MX.
Paths with Attached Text: Copies of paths with text attached to them, which have been moved, did not edit correctly when points were added to path with the Pen Tool by a click-drag method.
Text Styles: Text styles always reverted back to no stroke and no fill. This prevented selecting a color in the Swatches panel, which forced the use of a graphic style in order to change a color to spot values.
Lenses: Center point of lenses on a master page were incorrectly positioned, while there were other lenses on the master page and child pages. The lenses became corrupted when the document was saved, closed and reopened again.
Off-Page Objects: Objects off the edges of a master page printed on neighboring child pages. (PostScript printers only)
Trap Xtra: Composite paths created by the Trap Xtra became stroked with a black stroke if moved.
Master Page Symbols: If a master page symbol (with a simple object on it) was exported, and then imported into another document (via the Import command in the Options pop-up menu of the Library panel), FreeHand would crash on the Macintosh and in Windows, nothing was imported.
Text Style on Graphic: FreeHand would crash once the object was deselected if selecting a Text Style while a graphic object was selected.
Expand Stroke Xtra: Using the Expand Stroke Xtra on an object that has a bevel raster effect applied would make the object disappear.
Exporting Photoshop PSD: When exporting a Photoshop PSD, the anti-alias "none" option was not working correctly.
Extrude Tool: Using the Extrude Tool and then clicking on the center point of an extruded object to move the object around (while not move the vanishing point) did not work.
Anti-alias Preference: When converting an object to an image in FreeHand, the anti-alias options did nothing if the "Anti-alias redrawing" preference was selected. On Windows, after turning the preference off, the object was rasterized correctly with the correct anti-alias settings. On Macintosh, the object was always rasterized regardless of the preference setting.
Fill Area Unselectable: No portion of the fill area could be selected when in a group with either a raster or vector effects were applied.
Background Layers: Tiffs or objects having raster effects did not gray out when placed on the background layer.
Calligraphic Stroke: A Calligraphic Stroked object with a Ragged and Sketch vector effect applied, added too many points when the frequency setting of the Ragged effect was increased. The Calligraphic stroke was stretched out infinitely.
SWF Exports: Fixed errors in SWF exports that were optimized for size.
Blending: FreeHand crashed when blending a rectangle with a wave brush.
Auto Expand Text Block: Using the commands for Text/Convert Case on an auto expanding text block caused the text to overflow, instead of auto-expand.
Snap to Grid: The first point of an object would not snap to a grid, although subsequent points would.
Sub-path Updating: When editing a composite path using a calligraphic or brush stroke, the stroke did not update along with the path until the file was saved and reopened. Now editing the sub-path, correctly updates both the fill and the path.
Duplicate Layers: Copy/pasting to new document would sometimes create duplicate layers.
Large TIFFs: Files containing large one bit TIFF images would crash the application when saving.
Graphic Find and Replace: Using the Graphic Find and Replace method to remove overprinting on composite paths did not work

Windows-only Bug Fixes:

Gradient Fill: Magnifying to 32000% on a circle with no stroke and with a gradient fill set at an angle of 326 degrees would display a hard edge at the start and end of the gradient.
Memory Issue: FreeHand was not releasing memory when two or more documents were open. Eventually FreeHand ran out of memory and panels would no longer be displayed.
Printing One Copy: Printing one copy would produce two copies on PostScript and non-PostScript printers using certain steps.
Snapshot Option: When two objects that have lens fills were selected, the lens option for Snapshot should be grayed out.
TIFF Export: White banding displayed when exporting as TIFF image file.
Constrain Button: The Constrain button was disabled when added to one of the toolbars.
Kodak Color Management: The Kodak Digital Science color management system lost all options when certain ICM profiles were in the WINNT:SYSTEM32:SPOOL:Drivers:Color folder as well.
Expand Stroke Xtra: The Expand stroke Xtra failed to pick up the end cap in the dialog box, as it did in FreeHand 9.
Envelope Toolbar Docking: Docking the Envelope toolbar on the LEFT side of the application workspace caused the description to be cut off.
Magnification Setting: Error messages would occur when changing window magnification using the pop-up menu.
Reverting: Clicking on a page with the selection tool while a page was redrawing after being reverted would cause an unknown error occurred message. The document had to be complete closed in order to regain functionality.

Mac OS Bug Fixes:

Panther User Interface: Various Panther induced user interface bugs were fixed for this release. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only).
Combo Boxes: Combo boxes were clipping neighboring user interface elements. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Print Dialog: Print settings did not automatically display in FreeHand's print dialog, where clicking on the pull down field was required to get them to display. Several pull down menus in the advanced Print setup dialog box were also missing. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Panel Appearance: HTML and Setup panels did not have the gray/blue background appearance that other panels had. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Text Leading: The first line of text was set to 0 leading in a new document when adding columns. This caused the text to sit above the text block on the first line. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Icons: Icons could not be removed or re-arranged after customizing toolbars, once the icons were dropped onto the toolbar. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Printing Fonts to PostScript: Out of memory errors would occur when printing certain fonts to PostScript printers. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Envelope Preview: Preview for envelopes would only show up on the far left side of the screen. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Stroke on PostScript Font: Placing a stroke on any PostScript font caused a memory alert when the document was redrawn. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Option-R Character Insertion: Crash would occur after an Option-R character insertion. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Text Effects on PostScript Fonts: A forced redraw was required in order to see results when applying or modifying text effects on a text block with PostScript fonts. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Open Type (OTF) Fonts from Adobe:
- Some Open Type fonts from Adobe caused an out of memory error when previewing in the Print dialog box. (Lucida Std Bold Italic, Moonglow OTF) (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
- Some Open Type (OTF) fonts from Adobe would cause endless delays when typing. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
- Certain OTF fonts would display and print as black boxes when exported as EPS.
Printing with Certain Fonts: After upgrading to OS 10.3, FreeHand no longer printed when certain fonts were on the page. (Mac OS X 10.3.x/Panther only)
Alpha Channel: When exporting a GIF, the alpha channel would not be displayed.
Align and Transform: After aligning two objects (choose center for example) using the Align panel, switching to the transform tab then going back to the align tab, the align settings would not hold. The setting defaulted back to "no change".
Text Styles: Text toolbar would not correctly gray out non-available text styles.
Color Swatch: FreeHand would crash when dragging the "None" color swatch from the Asset panel to the right color chip in the gradient ramp within the Object panel.
EPS label: EPS exported files from FreeHand MX would label the EPS as a FH10 file creation.
Report Generator: The report generator always failed on the European version and sometimes failed on the English version. The report would be blank and display an error message if the page contained a raster or vector effect object.
Text Columns: Text would jump outside of the text bounding box area, when changing the column value.
EPS Groups: Files which contain a grouping of EPS files could not be clicked and moved. The individual components had been transformed and then the group also had "transform as unit" applied to them.
Floating Cursor: When selecting and dragging a color swatch, the cursor would mysteriously float away.
Export to PDF: Hairline path with a Transparent effect would crash on export to PDF files.
Legacy Files:
- FreeHand 11.0.1 MX would crash when trying to open an older file created in FreeHand MX version 11.0.
- FreeHand 7 or 8 files would fail to open in FreeHand MX when trying to open by means of double clicking on the desktop, dropping them on the dock,or by dragging them onto a FreeHand alias icon on a desktop.
- FreeHand file viewer would not read FreeHand 9 files.
Zooming: FreeHand would crash while zooming in on pages with placed bitmaps.
Swatches or Layers Tabs: FreeHand would crash frequently after clicking on Swatches or Layers tabs.
Color Control Xtra: Color Control Xtra would not work correctly in the Preview mode if you typed in the text fields and tabbed through the fields. However, the sliders did work as expected.
Popup Color Panel: Clicking on an item in the Options menu of the Popup Color Panel caused the Panel to close, but left the Options menu floating.
Object Panel: Dragging and dropping a "mixed selection" object preview from the Object Panel onto a selected object would cause FreeHand to crash.
Dashed Paths: Two-stroke dashed paths would not display properly at high magnification. They would not 'Convert to Image' properly at 300 ppi.
Unit of Measurement Sliders: If the unit of measurement was set to inches, the sliders in the Expand Stoke, Inset Path and others would only show a 0 or 1 value.
Show Path Option: Clip text on a path would print the path that the text was attached to, even though "Show path" option was turned off. (PostScript printers only)
Master Page Symbol: FreeHand crashed when importing a Master Page symbol which contained a Connector line.
Union: FreeHand crashed when performing a union on a complex object.
Mixer Panel: Tool Tips were missing for the Mixer panel.
Change to dialog text: Missing fonts dialog said " These fonts are not installed. Courier will be used for displaying and printing." The default font is Times, not Courier.
Inaccessible Files: When using a non-Administrator account in OS 10.2.8 and 10.3.x, .jpg, .psd and .gif files would be inaccessible.
Overprinted Text: Stroked, overprinted text that had been converted to paths would appear to rotate from a different position than the fill.
Preview Fills: Patterned or Tiled fills, when used as a graphic hose, would not preview in the graphic hose panel.
Multiple Master Font: Multiple master font would not image correctly at certain point sizes and may have failed to print.
Font Performance Issues: Certain fonts would create performance problems when used: Moonglow, Moonglow Bold, Warnock, Warnock Pro, WP Bold Italic. These fonts will no longer cause performance slowdowns when typing.
Redraw After Move: After moving 13,000 objects that were grouped and nested at various levels, the redraw from the move would take an unrealistic amount of time (10 to 12 minutes) to complete.
Legacy Tiled Fills: The display of legacy tiled fills has been improved when viewed without anti-aliasing on.
Guides: Guides would display as anti-aliased.
Incomplete Fonts: Crash or failure to print issues would occur when the user attempted to use incomplete or corrupt Type 1 fonts. FreeHand MX 11.0.2 will no longer display incomplete fonts in the font list.
Large Point Font Sizes: Certain Type 1 and Multiple Master fonts, Frutiger (Type 1) and Mezz (MultiMaster), would create strange baseline randomizations when using larger point sizes (150 pt) after applying a 50% horizontal scaling.