Drawing for Children Mark Overmars version 1.4 Introduction The program Drawing for Children is a drawing program that is especially suited for small children. Children don’t need to be able to read to use the program. Also, rather than asking the user to set all sorts of options it simply gives a large number of different ways of drawing. The best way to learn what the program can do is to simply play with all the buttons. There are normal drawing commands, like drawing lines, circles, etc. but also many weird ones to draw railroads, pipes, bubbles, grass, etc. Just experiment to make the weirdest pictures. There are many different pens, stamps, and even some sort of building blocks. There are different ways to ‘erase’ the picture and all sorts of effects are possible. One thing is important to remember when experimenting: in most cases the left mouse button does something else than the right mouse button. So don’t forget to try the right mouse button as well. Even though this documentation is not necessary to use and understand the program I will still give an overview of the options. When starting the program you see a window with the following parts: At the top there are the most important buttons. Their function will be described below. (If you leave the mouse pointer on a button a short message appears describing its function.) For most buttons there are various possibilities. They will appear on the left of the drawing area. With the two arrow buttons you can scroll through the options. At the left top of the window you can choose the colour. There are two colours, the fill colour and the line colour. The two larger coloured regions indicate these colours. Below them you find the different choices. By pressing the left mouse button you change the fill colour and with the right mouse button you change the line colour. (You can also click on the large coloured regions. In this case a window appears in which you can choose the colour.) Below you find an overview of the different buttons on the top row and what they do. I will only give brief descriptions. To find out the details, just try them out. Undo the last action By pressing this button you undo the last action, that is, you restore the picture to the situation before the last time you clicked on one of the buttons at the left. For example, if you filled a couple of regions and then press the undo button, all fills will be removed! Sketching This button gives a large number of ways of sketching. There are pens of different thickness, pens that draw multiple colours, pens that draw shapes like stars, squares, etc., pens that draw roads, and so on. You can also fill areas, create grass and bubbles, and even make drawings that are mirrored in 2, 4 or 16 directions. The only way to find out all the possibilities is to try. It is important to remember that in many cases the left mouse button does something else then the right mouse button. For example a different colour is used, shapes are filled or not, the grass is larger, etc. Special shapes After pressing this button you can draw a number of special shapes, like stars, houses, etc. (Again try left and right mouse button.) Drawing symbols Here you can draw simple symbols like lines, arrows, circles, rectangles, etc. While you hold down the mouse button you only see an outline. Once you release it the symbol is drawn. With the left mouse button the symbols are filled. With the right mouse button they are not. Erasing your picture Here you find a number of different ways of erasing your picture, creating different backgrounds. With the second button you can erase part of the picture. (Don’t forget trying the right mouse button!) Stamps Here you can add a huge number (almost 150) different small pictures to your picture. There are animals, cars, etc. Choose the picture you want to add at the right of the window. When you press the right mouse button the picture will be mirrored. To make it easy to place the picture at the right place. Simply hold the mouse button and drag it to the right position. The picture is only places when you release the mouse button. Text After pressing this button you can enter texts. At the left you can choose style of the font (e.g. bold, italic, or underlined). Next, indicate the start position in the picture and type in the text on the keyboard. End the text with . As long as you did not end the text you can change its position in the picture using by clicking the mouse somewhere. You can even hold the mouse and drag the text to the correct position. If you use the right mouse button the text will be larger. Effects With this button you can apply all sorts of effects to your picture. You can mirror it horizontal and vertical, slant it, change the colour copy it 2, 4 or 16 times, create a tunnel, and reduce or enlarge part of the picture. Finally, using the pair of scissors, you can cut a rectangular part out of the picture and place it somewhere else (or at multiple places). (By using the right mouse button you only copy the piece and leave the original.) Building blocks Here you can build pictures out of building blocks. There are different shapes: squares, triangles, parts of circles, etc. They are automatically aligned in the picture which makes it easy to use. If you use the right mouse button they will be mirrored. If you hold the mouse button you can drag them to the right position. Printing the picture When pressing this button a small window appears. Here you can indicate whether the picture is printed normal size or larger, such that it fills the whole page. After you press the correct format the picture will be printed on the default printer. Note that, because this is a large image, the printing takes long!! Load a picture Here you can load a picture you stored earlier. You are shown a set of small images of the existing pictures. Use the arrow buttons at the left or right to scroll through the images. Click on the picture you want to load. If you click on an empty image, a new, empty picture will be created. If you press the Cancel button no picture will be loaded. If you made a mistake (for example you wanted to save your picture rather than load it) you can always press the Undo button described above. All pictures are stored in a folder Pictures in the working directory. The BMP format is used. For each picture there is the full version called PictXX.BMP, where XX is the number, and the small version called SmallXX.BMP. You can use these pictures in other drawing programs. You can also add pictures you created with other programs to this folder by giving them a name PictXX.BMP. (There is no need to also create the SmallXX.BMP file. This will be done by the program.) You can then edit them further. They will be scaled to the right size. Save the picture Pressing this button you can save the picture for later use. You will again be shown the existing pictures. You can either overwrite one of them by clicking on it or save the picture in a free slot by clicking on an empty image. (If there are no empty images in the current screen, use the button with the arrow to the right until you find one.) Help Pressing this button you get some information about the version of the program and the fact that it is freeware. Exit By pressing this button you exit the program. System requirement This program requires a modern PC running Windows95. The program works best when using a screen resolution of at least 800*600 although it also runs on a 640*480 screen or on a larger resolution. The more colours you have the more colours can be used.