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, 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.
SEE ALSO
drawtool(1)
idraw(1)