idraw1

Usage

Overview

Idraw is a drawing editor that lets you create and edit drawings made up of graphics like text, lines, splines, rectangles, polygons, and ellipses. Drawings are stored in files that can be printed on a PostScript printer. You can can open an existing drawing when starting up idraw by typing a file name on the command line.

Idraw displays a portrait or landscape view of an 8.5 by 11 inch page in its drawing area. In a column along the drawing area's left side is a set of drawing tool icons, and above the drawing area is a set of pull-down menus containing commands. A panner in the lower left corner lets you pan and zoom the the drawing area. Along the top is a set of indicators that display editing information.

Drawing tools

You must engage a tool before you can use it. You engage a tool by clicking on its icon or by typing the character below and to the right of its icon. The icon of the drawing tool that's engaged appears in inverted colors. Once engaged, you use the tool by clicking the left mouse button in the drawing area.

The Select, Move, Scale, Stretch, Rotate, and Alter tools manipulate existing graphics. Magnify makes a part of the view expand to fill the entire view. Text, Line, Multiline, Open Spline, Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon, and Closed Spline create new graphics. Each tool works as follows:

Select

Select a graphic, unselecting all others. A graphic is selected if its handles are visible. Handles are small inverse-video squares that either surround the graphic or demarcate its important points (such as the endpoints of a line). If you hold down the shift key, Select extends the selection: it selects the unselected graphic (or unselects the selected graphic) you clicked on but does not unselect other selections. Clicking anywhere other than on a graphic unselects everything; you may also drag a rubberband rectangle around a group of graphics to select all of them at once. Shortcut: the right mouse button invokes Select while the mouse is in the drawing area.

Move

Move graphics from one spot to another. Shortcut: the middle mouse button invokes Move while the mouse is in the drawing area.

Scale

Scale graphics about their centers.

Stretch

Stretch graphics vertically or horizontally while tying down the opposite edge.

Rotate

Rotate graphics about their centers according to the angle between two radii: the one defined by the original clicking point and the one defined by the current dragging point.

Alter

Modify a graphic's structure. This tool's effect is described below for each graphic.

Magnify

Magnify a portion of the drawing specified by sweeping out a rectangular area. Idraw will magnify the area to occupy the entire screen, if possible.

Text

Create some text. Left-click to position the first line of text, and then type as much text as you want. You may use emacs-style keystrokes to edit the text as well as enter it. You can leave text editing mode by typing ESC or by simply clicking somewhere else. The Alter tool lets you edit the text in an existing text graphic.

Line

Create a line. The shift key constrains the line to lie on either the vertical or the horizontal axis. You may left-click with the Alter tool on either endpoint of a line to move the endpoint to a new location.

Multiline

Create a set of connected lines. The shift key constrains each segment to lie on either the vertical or the horizontal axis. Each left-click starts a new segment (i.e., adds a vertex); each right-click removes the last vertex added. The middle button finalizes the multiline. The Alter tool lets you move, add, and remove vertices from an existing multiline.

Open Spline

Create an open B-spline. The shift key constrains each control point to lie on either the vertical or the horizontal axis with the preceding point. Each left-click adds a control point; each right-click removes the last control point added. The middle button finalizes the spline. The Alter tool lets you move, add, and remove control points from an existing open spline.

Ellipse

Create an ellipse. The shift key constrains the ellipse to the shape of a circle. The Alter tool does not affect ellipses.

Rectangle

Create a rectangle. The shift key constrains the rectangle to the shape of a square. The Alter tool lets you move the rectangle's corners independently to form a four-sided polygon.

Polygon

Create a polygon. The shift key constrains each side to lie on either the vertical or the horizontal axis. Each left-click starts a new segment (i.e., adds a vertex); each right-click removes the last vertex added. The middle button finalizes the polygon. The Alter tool lets you move, add, and remove vertices from an existing polygon.

Closed Spline

Create a closed B-spline. The shift key constrains each control point to lie on either the vertical or the horizontal axis with the preceding point. Each left-click adds a control point; each right-click removes the last control point added. The middle button finalizes the spline. The Alter tool lets you move, add, and remove control points from an existing closed spline.

Pull-down menus

The pull-down menus File, Edit, Structure, Font, Brush, Pattern, FgColor, BgColor, Align, and View above the drawing area contain commands for editing the drawing and for controlling idraw's execution. The File menu contains the following commands to operate on files:

New

Destroy the current drawing and replace it with an unnamed blank drawing.

Revert

Reread the current drawing, destroying any unsaved changes.

Open...

Specify an existing drawing to edit through a FileChooser(3I), which lets you browse the file system easily.

Save As...

Save the current drawing in a file with a specific name.

Save

Save the current drawing in the file it came from.

Print...

Send a PostScript version of the drawing to a printer or to a file. The bold rectangular outline (called the page boundary) appearing in the drawing area indicates the portion of the drawing that will appear on the printed page.

Import Graphic...

Create a graphic from the information in a file and insert it into the current drawing. Idraw can import images from files in the following formats: TIFF; PostScript generated by pgmtops, ppmtops, and idraw; X bitmap format; and Unidraw format.

Quit

Quit idraw.

The Edit menu contains the following commands for editing graphics:

Undo

Undo the last editing operation. Successive Undo commands undo earlier and earlier editing operations.

Redo

Redo the last editing operation. Successive Redo commands redo later and later editing operations up to the first operation undone by Undo. Undone operations that have not been redone are lost as soon as a new operation is performed.

Cut

Remove the selected graphics from the drawing and place them in a temporary storage area called the clipboard.

Copy

Copy the selected graphics into the clipboard.

Paste

Paste copies of the graphics in the clipboard into the drawing. Together, Cut, Copy, and Paste let you transfer graphics between drawings simply by cutting graphics out of one view and pasting them into another.

Duplicate

Duplicate the selected graphics and add the copies to the drawing.

Delete

Destroy the selected graphics.

Select All

Select every graphic in the drawing.

Flip Horizontal, Flip Vertical

Flip the selected graphics into their mirror images along the horizontal or vertical axes.

90 Clockwise, 90 CounterCW

Rotate the selected graphics 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.

Precise Move..., Precise Scale..., Precise Rotate...

Move, scale, or rotate graphics by exact amounts that you type in a dialog box. You can specify movements in pixels, points, centimeters, or inches. Scalings are specified in terms of magnification factors in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. Rotations are in degrees.

The Structure menu contains the following commands to modify the structure of the drawing, that is, the order in which graphics are drawn:

Group

Nest the selected graphics in a newly created picture. A picture is just a graphic that contains other graphics. Group allows you to build hierarchies of graphics.

Ungroup

Dissolve any selected pictures.

Bring To Front

Bring the selected graphics to the front of the drawing so that they are drawn on top of (after) other graphics.

Send To Back

Send the selected graphics to the back of the drawing so that they are drawn behind (before) other graphics.

The Font menu contains a set of fonts in which to display text. When you set the current font from the menu, you will also set all the selected graphics' fonts to that font. A font indicator in the upper right corner displays the current font.

The Brush menu contains a set of brushes with which to draw lines. When you set the current brush from the menu, you will also set all the selected graphics' brushes to that brush. The nonexistent brush draws invisible lines and non-outlined graphics. The arrowhead brushes add arrowheads to either or both ends of lines, multilines, and open splines. A brush indicator in the upper left corner displays the current brush.

The Pattern menu contains a set of patterns with which to fill graphics but not text. Text always appears solid, but you can use a different color than black to get a halftoned shade. When you set the current pattern from the menu, you will also set all the selected graphics' patterns to that pattern. The nonexistent pattern draws unfilled graphics, while the other patterns draw graphics filled with a bitmap or a halftoned shade.

The FgColor and BgColor menus contains a set of colors with which to draw graphics and text. When you set the current foreground or background color from the FgColor or BgColor menu, you will also set all the selected graphics' foreground or background colors. The ``on'' bits in the bitmaps for dashed lines and fill patterns appear in the foreground color while the ``off'' bits appear in the background color. A black and white printer will print a halftoned shade of gray for any color other than black or white. The brush, pattern, and font indicators all reflect the current colors.

The Align menu contains commands to align graphics with other graphics. The first graphic selected stays fixed while the other graphics move in the order they were selected according to the type of alignment chosen. The last Align command, Align to Grid, aligns a key point on each selected graphic to the nearest point on idraw's grid (see below).

The View menu contains the following commands:

New View

Create a duplicate idraw window containing a second view of the current drawing. The second view may be panned, zoomed, and edited independently of the first. Any number of additional views may be made in this manner. Changes made to a drawing through one view appear synchronously in all other views of the same drawing. You may also view another drawing in any idraw window via the Open command.

Close View

Close the current idraw window. Closing the last idraw window is equivalent to issuing a Quit command.

Normal Size

Set the magnification to unity so the drawing appears at actual size.

Reduce to Fit

Reduce the magnification until the drawing fits entirely within the view.

Center Page

Center the view over the center of the 8.5 by 11 inch page.

Orientation

Toggle the drawing's orientation. If the editor was formerly showing a portrait view of the drawing, it will now show a landscape view of the drawing and vice versa.

Grid on/off

Toggle idraw's grid on or off. When the grid is on, idraw draws a grid of equally spaced points behind the drawing.

Grid Spacing...

Change the grid spacing by specifying one or two values in the units desired (pixels, points, centimeters, or inches). If two values are given (separated by a space), the first specifies the horizontal spacing and second the vertical spacing. One value will specify equal horizontal and vertical spacing.

Gravity on/off

Toggle gravity on or off. Gravity constrains tool operation to the grid, whether or not the grid is visible.

X defaults

You can customize the number of undoable changes and the font, brush, pattern, or color menus by setting resources in your X defaults database. Each string of the form ``idraw.resource:definition'' sets a resource. For example, to customize any of the paint menus, set a resource given by the concatenation of the menu's name and the entry's number (e.g., ``idraw.pattern8'') for each entry that you want to override. All menus use the number 1 for the first entry.

You must set resources only for the entries that you want to override, not all of them. If you want to add entries to the menus, simply set resources for them. However, don't skip any numbers after the end of the menu, because the menu will end at the first undefined resource. To shorten a menu instead of extending it, specify a blank string as the resource for the entry following the last.

Idraw understands the following resources:

history

Set the maximum number of undoable changes (20 by default).

initialfont

Specify the font that will be active on startup. Supply a number that identifies the font by its position in the Font menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

fonti

Define a custom font to use for the ith entry in the Font menu. Give three strings separated by whitespace. The first string defines the font's name, the second string the corresponding print font, and the third string the print size. For example, ``idraw.font3:8x13bold Courier-Bold 13'' defines the third font entry.

initialbrush

Specify the brush that will be active on startup. Give a number that identifies the brush by its position in the Brush menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

brushi

Define a custom brush to use for the ith entry in the Brush menu. The definition requires two numbers: a 16-bit hexadecimal number to define the brush's line style (each 1 bit draws a dash and each 0 bit produces a gap), and a decimal integer to define the brush's width in pixels. For example, ``idraw.brush2:ffff 1'' defines a single pixel wide solid line. If the definition specifies only the string ``none'', then it defines the nonexistent brush.

initialpattern

Specify the pattern that will be active on startup. Give a number that identifies the pattern by its position in the Pattern menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

patterni

Define a custom pattern to use for the ith entry in the Pattern menu. You can specify the pattern from a 16x16 bitmap, a 8x8 bitmap, a 4x4 bitmap, a grayscale number, or the string ``none''. You specify the 16x16 bitmap with sixteen 16-bit hexadecimal numbers, the 8x8 bitmap with eight 8-bit hexadecimal numbers, the 4x4 bitmap with a single 16-bit hexadecimal number, and the grayscale number with a single floating point number. The floating point number must contain a period to distinguish itself from the single hexadecimal number, and it must lie between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 corresponds to a solid pattern and 1.0 to a clear pattern. On the printer, the bitmap patterns appear as bitmaps, the grayscale patterns appear as halftoned shades, and the ``none'' patterns never obscure any underlying graphics. For example, ``idraw.pattern8:8421'' defines a diagonally hatched pattern.

initialfgcolor

Specify the foreground color that will be active on startup. Give a number that identifies the color by its position in the FgColor menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

fgcolori

Define a custom color to use for the ith entry in the FgColor menu. Give a string defining the name of the color and optionally three decimal numbers between 0 and 65535 following the name to define the red, green, and blue components of the color's intensity. The intensities override the name; that is, idraw will look the name up in a window system database of common colors only if you omit the intensities. You can define shades of gray by using equal proportions of each primary color. For example, ``idraw.fgcolor8:Indigo 48896 0 65280'' defines a color that is a mixture of red and blue.

initialbgcolor

Specify the background color that will be active on startup. Give a number that identifies the color by its position in the BgColor menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

bgcolori

Define a custom color to use for the ith entry in the BgColor menu. The same rules apply to background colors as to foreground colors.