Kids Cube/1_Art.iso/pep/chapt5.txt

Text File | 1994-06-22 | 8KB | 156 lines

<Chapter 5:  Collecting Elements>
     The commands in the COLLECT menu allow you to select multiple
elements from the open object, and then to convert them into a group, a
filled region, or an object. (You can also delete all the selected
elements). Use the six commands at the top of the menu (ALL, EXCEPT,
SINGLE, INSIDE, TOUCHING, and PROPERTIES)  to specify which elements you
want to collect. The commands can be used in combination to select and
deselect multiple elements in a variety of ways as described below. The
three commands at the bottom of the menu (OBJECT, GROUP, and DELETE)
terminate the selection process and specify the operation to be performed
on the selected elements. To abort the collection process at any time,
type Q (for QUIT) or ESC to return to the top menu.

<Section 5.1:  All>
     The COLLECT/ALL command causes all elements in the open object to be
selected.

<Section 5.2:  Except>
     Use the COLLECT/EXCEPT command to switch from selecting elements to
un-selecting and back again. It is a multiple choice command and has two
values: OFF (elements chosen by the user are being selected) and ON
(elements are being un-selected).

     If EXCEPT is OFF, only elements not yet selected can be chosen by the
user, and once chosen they become selected. If EXCEPT is ON, only elements
already selected can be chosen, and once chosen they become no longer
selected.

     For simplicity, the discussion below assumes that EXCEPT is OFF and
elements are being selected. However, the same procedures apply if you
have turned EXCEPT ON, and are un-selecting elements previously collected.

     For example, to select everything except one particular element,
first use the ALL command to select everything. Then turn EXCEPT ON, and
use the SINGLE command to de-select the one exceptional element.

<Section 5.3:  Single>
     Use the COLLECT/SINGLE command if you want to select individual
picture elements, one at a time. When you press the command letter, a
cross-hair cursor appears; position the cursor and press RETURN. PEP finds
the picture element nearest to the cursor and displays a box around that
element. (This element is also displayed in the preview window.) Press
RETURN again to accept, or SPACE to reject this choice. If you accept it,
the boxed element is added to the collected elements and the cross-hair
reappears in preparation for selecting another element. If you reject the
boxed element, PEP finds the next closest and displays a box is around it.
During this process, an element once collected is not available for
selection later.

<Section 5.4:  Inside>
     The COLLECT/INSIDE command provides one method for selecting several
elements at once. To use it, press the command letter, position the
cross-hair cursor, and press RETURN. The crosshair cursor is replaced by a
stretchable box cursor whose upper left corner is located at the chosen
point. Stretch this box so that it surrounds the elements you want to
select and press RETURN again. All elements contained entirely inside the
box are selected. The cross-hair cursor reappears in preparation for
repeating the process.

<Section 5.5:  Touching>
     The COLLECT/TOUCHING command provides a second method for selecting
several elements at once. The selection process is exactly the same as for
the INSIDE command above with one exception: now all elements are selected
which intersect the box cursor, whereas, with the INSIDE command, selected
elements were required to be entirely inside the box. Note: an element is
considered to be touching a specified rectangle if the smallest box
containing the element intersects the rectangle, even if the element
itself does not intersect. In <[FIG01]>, the straight line A qualifies as
touching the stretchable box cursor B because a box C drawn around A would
intersect with B.

<Section 5.6:  Properties>
     By using the COLLECT/PROPERTIES command you can limit the selection
process to certain types of elements or elements with certain properties.
For example, you can restrict attention to red elements or to lines only.
This is a multiple choice command with two values: DISABLED (all elements
are available for selection) and ENABLED (only elements matching the
properties template are available for selection). When the template is
first enabled, a new menu is displayed to show the current template and to
allow the user to change it.

     After you set a property in the template, only elements having that
property can be selected. If two or more properties are used, only
elements having both properties can be selected. You should be careful not
to use contradictory properties, as then no selection can happen at all.
For example, if the template specifies a fill pattern, only filled regions
can be selected. If a justification is specified, only text labels can be
selected. Thus if both are specified, no selection can take place as no
element can have both properties.

     To turn off a field in the template, choose the value NONE for that
field.

<Section 5.6.1:  Element>
     Use the COLLECT/PROPERTIES/ELEMENT command to restrict selection to
elements of a certain type. Press the command letter to display a menu of
choices. The choices are: LINE (all types of lines are accepted),
HORIZONTAL (only horizontal lines are accepted), VERTICAL, STRAIGHT,
RIGHTANGLE, CURVE, GROUP (both types of groups are accepted: PLAIN and
FILLED), PLAIN (only plain groups are accepted), FILLED (only filled
regions are accepted), OBJECT, TEXT, and NONE.

<Section 5.6.2:  Justify>
     Use the COLLECT/PROPERTIES/JUSTIFY command to restrict selection to
text labels with a certain justification. It is a multiple choice command
with five values: CENTER, LEFT, RIGHT, EVEN and NONE.

<Section 5.6.3:  Font>
     Use the COLLECT/PROPERTIES/FONT command to restrict selection to text
labels using a certain font. It is a multiple choice command with seven
values: the six possible fonts and NONE.

<Section 5.6.4:  Pattern>
     Use the COLLECT/PROPERTIES/PATTERN command to restrict selection to
filled regions with a given fill pattern. Press the command letter to
display a menu of 17 choices: the 16 fill patterns and NONE.

<Section 5.6.5:  Color>
     Use the COLLECT/PROPERTIES/COLOR command to restrict selection to
elements with a given color. Press the command letter to display a menu of
17 choices: the 16 colors and NONE.

<Section 5.6.6:  Rotation>
     Use the COLLECT/PROPERTIES/ROTATION command to restrict selection to
text labels and objects having a given rotation. Press the command letter
to display a menu of 9 choices: the 8 rotations and NONE.

<Section 5.6.7:  Name>
     Use the COLLECT/PROPERTIES/NAME command to restrict selection to
objects of a given type. Press the command letter to display a menu of
object names including /NONE/.

<Section 5.6.8:  Initialize>
     The COLLECT/PROPERTIES/INITIALIZE command resets every entry in the
template to NONE. In this state, every element in the open object will
match the template.

<Section 5.7:  Object>
     The COLLECT/OBJECT command terminates selection and converts all
selected elements into an OBJECT. Press the command letter and type in a
name for the object. A MODIFY-OBJECT menu is then displayed. See Chapter
<[4]> for descriptions of each of the commands in this menu. To return to
the PEP main menu, simply QUIT from the MODIFY-OBJECT menu.

<Section 5.8:  Group>
     The COLLECT/GROUP command terminates selection and converts all
selected elements into a GROUP. A MODIFY-GROUP menu is then displayed. See
Chapter <[4]> for descriptions of each of the commands in this menu. To
return to the PEP main menu, simply QUIT from the MODIFY-GROUP menu.

<Section 5.9:  Delete>
     The COLLECT/DELETE command terminates selection and deletes all
selected elements from the open object. PEP continues to display the
COLLECT menu. The UN-DELETE command <[3.1]> in the main menu can be used
to recover the deleted material.