LXFree

Copyright © 2018-2020
Claude Heintz Design

The Toolbar

The tools in LXFree, like those in many other applications, allow you to draw and manipulate graphics by clicking and dragging the mouse. To show the toolbar, choose the Tools command from the View menu.

You select the tool you want to use by clicking on the icon on the left side of the toolbar or press the corresponding number key on the keyboard.

The first tool is the selection arrow. It is used to edit existing graphic objects either by selecting them for some operation or by moving or resizing them directly. The remaining 7 tools are used to draw different types of graphic objects. Click on a tool in the above picture to get a description of what it does.

You create a graphic using one of the 7 drawing tools by clicking and dragging. Once you let up on the mouse, the tool will switch to the selection arrow. The newly created graphic being will be selected for further editing. If you want to draw a number of the same shapes in succession, double-click the tool icon and that tool will remain active until you choose something else. Newly created shapes will not be selected when a tool has been "locked on" in this manner.

Next to the tools matrix is a popup menu of options that change the behavior of the tools.

The text tool can be set to create one of three types of text objects. The Line and Rectangle tools also can be set to draw 3D alternatives to the regular 2D shapes. To get a longer description of the optional types of graphics created by a tool, look at the information for that tool.

"Click-to-draw mode" changes how the drawing tools create new graphics. When this mode is enabled, instead of clicking and dragging to draw graphics, individual clicks define the boundaries of the object being drawn. For example, the first click with the line tool in this mode sets a point. The next click draws a line from the first point to the second. When a tool is locked on while this mode is enabled, subsequent graphics are drawn from the end point of the previous object.

Reshape mode allows you to edit the control points of a path graphic.

Points for a number of settings can be selected by choosing an option from the Next Click Sets and then clicking on a specific location on the drawing. Choosing one of these commands puts the selection into a special mode for the next click. To exit the special mode without selecting a point, press the esc key.

Towards the middle of the toolbar there are convenience buttons for zooming in and out. There are also two pull down menus that let you select the current layer or select a saved view.

Further to the right of the toolbar is the navigator panel which shows the coordinates of the cursor. When the cursor is being dragged, the navigator also shows the distance the cursor is offset from where it was first clicked.

At the right side of the toolbar is the hide/show Inspector button.