NAME idraw - drawing editor
SYNOPSIS idraw [options] [file]
DESCRIPTION Idraw is a drawing editor that lets you create and edit drawings made up of graphics like text, lines, splines, rec- tangles, 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 typ- ing 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 draw-
ing area's left side is a set of drawing tool icons, and
above the drawing area is a set of pull-down menus contain-
ing 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 visi-
ble. 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 typ-
ing 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 con-
strains 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 con-
strains each control point to lie on either
the vertical or the horizontal axis with the
preceding point. Each left-click adds a con-
trol 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, Pat- tern, FgColor, BgColor, Align, and View above the drawing area contain commands for editing the drawing and for con- trolling idraw’s execution. The File menu contains the fol- lowing 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 for-
mat; 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 edit-
ing 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 opera-
tion 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 clip-
board.
Paste Paste copies of the graphics in the clipboard
into the drawing. Together, Cut, Copy, and
Paste let you transfer graphics between draw-
ings 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, cen-
timeters, or inches. Scalings are specified
in terms of magnification factors in the hor-
izontal 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' fore-
ground 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 com-
mand.
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 spac-
ing.
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 bit-
map, a 4x4 bitmap, a grayscale number, or the
string ``none''. You specify the 16x16 bit-
map 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 hexade-
cimal 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 exam-
ple, ``idraw.pattern8:8421'' defines a diago-
nally hatched pattern.
initialfgcolor Specify the foreground color that will be
active on startup. Give a number that iden-
tifies 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 sys-
tem 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 iden-
tifies 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.
WEB PAGE http://www.vectaport.com/ivtools/idraw.html