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ARC DRAW 1½ - USER NOTES Introduction These notes describe the main features of ArcDraw 1½ - all the options are described, although it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the original version of ArcDraw. Note that files produced by ArcDraw 1½ are fully compatible with the original and other programs using Draw files, although obviously the background feature will not be recognised by others. Running Before running, the latest versions of the shared C library (CLib) and the floating point emulator (FPE) must be loaded. Employees and associates of Computer Concepts (who seem to object to writing applications in high- level languages) may as well stop reading now. Double-click on the application icon, or a saved Draw file, in the normal way. If AD1½ is not yet running, it will be loaded and the drawing will appear in a new window. If it is, the drawing will be loaded into a new window. In both cases, unless the option to not do so has been set, a tool window will also appear for each document window. To create a new blank document, click Select on the icon bar icon once AD1½ has been loaded. To load a Draw file from the filer or saved from another application, drag it to the icon bar icon. A settings file is loaded when the application is run up. This contains such information as the display colours, preference settings (see below), default page size and grid settings and default text and path styles. If a message appears complaining that this file is not present, use one of the default save options to create the file. Merging and saving To merge a drawing with another, load the first and then drag the second into the drawing window; the two drawings will be combined. If the appropriate option has been set, the bottom left corner of the loaded drawing will be placed at the pointer position where the mouse button was released. If it is not set, the bottom left corners of the drawings will be aligned without regard to the pointer position. To create a sprite object, drag a sprite file into a drawing window; the object will appear at the pointer position at its true size. If the sprite file contains more than one sprite, the first one will be used. To create a text area object, drag a text file into a drawing window; the object will be created with the text columns set to standard sizes. If the file does not have a standard header, one will be supplied. If an existing text area object is selected when a text file is loaded, the text in that area will be replaced by the contents of the file without changing its size or position. The following options appear on the Save menu. All but one of them lead to 'Save as' windows which are used in the normal way: Drawing Saves the complete drawing as a Draw file. Selection Saves the selected objects as a Draw file, plus the drawing header and font information if required. Only available in Select mode when at least one object is selected. Sprites Saves the selected objects as a sprite file. Select mode must again be active, and all the selected objects must be sprites. Text area Saves the text contained in the selected area as a text file. A single text area object must be selected. If the text did not have the standard header when it was loaded, it will be saved with it. Ascii Saves the selected objects in dump format. This may not be available in released versions; it is intended for future interfacing with other programs. Defaults Saves the current preference settings, and the current drawing's settings and default styles, as the permanent default. This default will be used for any new drawings created, and will be saved on disc so that it can be used next time AD1½ is run up. Preferences Selecting the "Preferences" option from the icon bar menu opens the setting window. The display colours for various items are shown; to change them, step through the palette colours using the up or down arrows. The other options available are: Auto paper size When set, the paper size is automatically set (based on the drawing dimensions) whenever a drawing is loaded. If this is not set, the paper size will be taken from the default settings. Show tools When set, the tool window is automatically opened when a drawing window is opened. Merge at pointer When set, and a Draw file is dragged into an existing drawing window to merge the two drawings, place the loaded drawing at the pointer position. If this is not set, the bottom left corners of the drawings will be aligned. Quit after printing Set this if it is required to unload AD1½ after it has been loaded at the printer driver's request, when a Draw file is dragged onto the printer icon. If this option is not set, it will remain loaded after printing has finished. If this option is set, the application will unload itself after one copy has been printed. Note that this option only has effect when it is saved as the default... Confirm delete many If this is set, a Yes/No confirm box will pop up every time more than one object, or a group, is to be deleted. The objects will only be deleted if Yes is chosen. Interactive help If this is set (which only has effect when it is saved as the default), interactive help will be enabled (if the !Help application is also running). If this option is not set, interactive help is not available but loading time and memory usage will be reduced. To implement the settings, click OK; these will persist until the application is quit. If any colours have been changed, the display will be redrawn. To save the options permanently, click Save; the default drawing style will remain as before. To save a drawing style as the default along with the preferences, use "Save/Settings" from the document menu as described above. The toolbox The toolbox contains various icons to select the drawing mode, display controls and a message display. From left to right, the tool icons are: Create line/curve These four tools create paths of that type, in the same way as the original Draw did. They can be clicked when idle, to set the type of the initial segment, or while drawing to change the current segment to that type. The two 'closed' tools insert extra line segments, of the same type as that last placed, when a path or subpath is completed. Move Inserts an invisible move into a path, starting a new subpath. Can only be used when path entry is already in progress, and the previous segment was not a move. Ellipse Creates an ellipse or circle. Click Select to mark the centre, then Select again to define the size. Box Creates a rectangle or square. Click Select to mark one corner, then Select again to mark the diagonally opposite corner. Polygon Creates a regular polygon. Click Select to define the centre, then drag out the circle on which the corners will be placed (the circumcircle for those of you who like big words). Click Select again to define the size. The number of sides is set by the option on the "Create" menu. Text Creates a text object. Click Select to position the caret, then type. The text can be edited during entry, using the same keys as for text editing. Press Return to terminate entry; unless the font being used is the system font, the caret will be moved down ready for the next line of text. The line spacing can be set using the "Leading" option on the "Text Style" menu. Edit Enters edit mode, for changing existing paths or text. Select Enters select mode. Abandon Abandons an operation in progress. The other control buttons in the tool window are: Ortho When selected, pointer movement is restricted to 90° or 45° movement (rectangular grid) or 30° movement (isometric grid) while dragging. This can be used, for example, to force the ellipse or box tools to create a square or circle. It will also force the path create modes to draw horizontal or vertical lines, and Select mode dragging to also be constrained. When not selected, the pointer moves freely. Zoom When selected, displays at the preset zoom setting; when not, at actual size. Click Adjust to pop up the zoom setting box (this is also available from the "Settings/Zoom" menu). The message display shows various (hopefully) helpful messages. Select mode Select mode is fairly similar to the original. Click Select over an object to select it; double-click Select over a selected object to find a deeper one. Click Adjust to add an object to, or remove it from, the selection. Click Select over a blank area of the diagram to clear the selection. Starting over a blank area, drag Select to enclose a box of objects and select them all; drag Adjust to enclose a box of objects and add them to or remove them from the selection. Each selected object will appear with four 'handles', one on each corner: to move that corner, drag the handle with Select. Drag any handle with Adjust to rotate the object about its centre; drag with Select over the body of an object to move it. Note that the sensitive area of an object extends a distance on each side equivalent to the size of a 'handle'. This avoids a problem with the original where it was very difficult to select or move objects consisting of a horizontal or vertical thin line. See the later sections for Select and Arrange menu options. Edit mode Edit mode is used to change existing paths or text. Enter Edit mode by clicking on the toolbox icon, then select an object by clicking Select on it. To start editing, click Adjust over the object, or over an unselected object to select and then edit that. Double-click Select to find a deeper object. If the object over which Adjust is clicked is a text object, the caret will appear. Text can now be typed and amended; the following control keys can be used: Left,Right Move the caret. Ctrl-Left Move to the beginning of the text. Ctrl-Right Move to the end of the text. Backspace or Delete Delete the character to the left of the caret. Copy Delete the character to the right of the caret. Return Finish editing and update the text object with the changes made. Escape Abandon text editing and do not change the text. Note that 'System Font' text cannot be edited on screen; it will be shown in a dialogue box. The standard Wimp editing keys can be used. If the object over which Adjust was clicked is a path, it will be redrawn in thin lines with a marker over each point and a different coloured marker over curve control points. The initial position for a new subpath is shown as an open circle, other points as a filled square. To select a point, click Adjust over it; it and its associated segment (if there is one) will be highlighted. The Edit menu options apply to this point and segment. Drag Adjust over the point, or over a curve control point, to change its position. To finish path editing and update the original object, click Select. To restore the original object without changing it, click Abandon or any of the toolbox icons. See the later section for Edit menu options. Create Path mode Select a toolbox icon to start path creation, then click Select to place the initial point. Move the line or curve as required, and click Select to place points. The segment type (line, curve or move) can be changed by clicking on the appropriate toolbox icon; no more than one successive move can be created at a time, and the path cannot start or end with a move. Double-click Select to place the final point. If one of the closed path tools is chosen, an additional segment will be placed to close the subpath when the path is finished or a new subpath is started (with a move). Click Adjust to remove the last-entered point. When curves are being drawn, their control points will be initially aligned so that the transitions are smooth. Misc menu Options that don't fit in anywhere else. File Opens a dialogue box giving information about the document currently being edited. Print Opens the Print dialogue box, allowing the drawing to be printed via a RiscOS printer driver. Specify the number of copies, ensure that the printer is online and click OK to start printing. Set bgn'd Only available when in Select mode and some objects are selected. Moves the selected objects to the back, and marks them as unselectable background; their position or appearance cannot be changed until they are unmarked. This feature is intended for such things as sheet borders or drawing grids, which are used as a backdrop to a drawing on top. If some background objects exist already, the new objects will be added to that background. The objects that are in background are saved in the drawing file, and will remain so when the file is loaded again. However, if the file is edited using the original Draw, this information will be lost. Clear bgn'd Only available when a background is set; unmarks all the background objects and makes them selectable again. Settings menu These options set operating or display parameters. Page size Allows the paper size to be set. Click on the up or down arrows to choose from a range of standard sizes. Choose "Portrait" for paper this way up: ÍÊÊÊÊÄ Â Â Â Â Â Â ÅÊÊÊÊÌ or "Landscape" for this way up: ÍÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÄ Â Â Â Â ÅÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÌ Select the "As printer" option to take the paper size from the currently loaded printer driver; this option is obviously not available if no driver is loaded. If the printer driver size is being used, choose "Show limits" to show the paper margins on the drawing. The paper dimensions are shown in the currently selected units. Units Select "Inches" or "Centimetres" from the menu as required. All user measurements are shown and input in these units. Grid Sets the screen and lock grids. In this version of Draw, the grid that drawing is constrained to can be finer (or coarser!) than the grid that is shown on screen. This gets around the problem that a grid giving the required drawing resolution cluttered up the screen and took a long time to redraw at low magnifications in the original. The screen grid setting sets the spacing of the visible dots, in user units. The lock grid setting specifies how much finer than the screen grid the lock grid is. For example, if the screen grid is set to '1' (inch) and the lock grid multiplier to '5', then the lock grid will be at 0·2" spacing and all drawing will be confined to this. Choose the "Show screen grid" option to show the screen grid points in the drawing window. If this is set, "Auto adjust" can be chosen to coarsen the grid at low magnifications, so that it does not overwhelm the drawing or take a long time to redraw; note that this affects the screen display only. Choose the "Snap to lock grid" option to constrain all pointer movements to the lock grid. When this is not set, the pointer moves freely. Select "Rectangular" or "Isometric" to use a grid of that type. This setting also affects the angle that movement is constrained to when Ortho is selected. Zoom Standard 'Magnifier' box for setting the preset magnification that will be used when the Zoom button in the toolbox is selected (this can also be opened by clicking Adjust over the button). Show tools Choose this to display the toolbox window for that drawing. The option is ticked when the toolbox is open; to remove the toolbox, use its close icon. Show XY Choose this to display the position window for that document, showing the position of the pointer in user coordinates. (0,0) is at the bottom left corner of the paper. To remove the display, use the window's close icon; the option is ticked when the position display is on. Create menu This menu mostly duplicates the toolbox icons. Line Creates a line segment. Curve Creates a curve segment. Move Starts a new subpath. Auto-close When ticked, closes subpaths when the path is finished or a new subpath is started. Box Creates a rectangle. Ellipse Creates an ellipse. Text Creates a text object. Polygon Creates a regular polygon. Enter the required number of sides in the entry box leading from this option. Select menu Apart from the first, these options are available when in Select mode and an appropriate object or combination of objects is selected. Select all Selects all selectable (i.e. non-background and not font table) objects in the drawing. Clear Unselects the current selection. Copy Makes a copy of the selected objects, slightly offset from the originals. The copied objects remain at the same 'depth' as the source objects, in contrast to the original where they were added at the front of the drawing. Delete Irretrievably deletes the selected objects from the drawing. Front Moves the selected objects to the front of the drawing, obscuring any non-selected objects that they overlap. Back Moves the selected objects to the back of the drawing, going behind any non-selected objects but in front of the background if one is set. Group Combines all the selected objects into a group. Ungroup Dissolves the selected group. A single group object must be selected; it reverts to individual objects. Arrange menu These options manipulate the selected objects in Select or Edit modes. Rotate/Skew Leads to a dual-function dialogue box for entry of the required angle. "Rotate" rotates all the selected objects about the centres of their own bounding boxes. Specify the angle in degrees, and select "Clockwise" or "Anticlockwise" as required. "Skew" displaces each point of the object horizontally, a distance depending on the height above or below the object's centre (so squares turn into parallelograms, etc.). The limit on the angle in this case is ±85° (think about tangents of large angles if you want to know why): "Clockwise" displaces points above the centre to the right and ones below the centre to the left, while "Anticlockwise" does the reverse. Reverse X Mirrors the selected objects left-to-right. Reverse Y Mirrors the selected objects top-to-bottom. Only path objects (and groups containing them) can be rotated, skewed or mirrored. Snap to grid Aligns the selected objects to the lock grid. For sprite or text objects, the bottom left corner is aligned. For path objects, each point in the path is aligned to the grid. This option is only available whether or not grid lock is enabled. Alignment Leads to a dialogue box with three functions. With "Align" selected, the specified point on each object is aligned to the same point on the leftmost (for horizontal alignment) or lowest (for vertical alignment) object; both types of alignment can be performed at the same time. With "Distribute" selected, the objects are moved so that the specified points are spaced evenly between same points on the leftmost and rightmost (for horizontal distribute) or the highest and lowest (for vertical distribute) objects. With "Space out" selected, the objects are moved so that the space between the objects is constant, rather than the reference points on the objects being spaced equally. There must be enough room between the two extreme objects to fit in all the others without overlapping. Note that Distribute and Space out are only available if three or more objects are selected. Horizontal and vertical distribution or spacing can be selected at the same time, although sometimes the results are not quite what would be expected. Scaling Leads to a dialogue box applying various kinds of scaling. The default is "Magnify": all object dimensions, text point size and line width are all scaled by the entered factor. With "Magnify" deselected, "X scale", "Y scale" and "Line width" can be selected independently; "X scale" and "Y scale" apply to dimensions and text point size, while "Line width" applies to path outlines. The scaling is applied about the object's centre. Size/Position Allows the size and positioning of a single object to be altered. At most one each of the horizontal and vertical position and size fields can be selected and altered. Changing the left, right, top or bottom position moves the object; changing width or height scales the object about its centre. Edit menu These options are available when in path edit mode, and a point has been selected (highlighted). If the point chosen is the first point in a path, only "Coordinate" is available. Move Changes the current line segment to a move, if possible. Line Changes the current segment to a line. Curve Changes the current segment to a (initially straight) curve. Open Makes the current subpath open. If it was closed, the subpath is opened and the last point moved away from the first. Closed Makes the current subpath closed; the last point is moved to coincide with the first point. Insert point The current segment is replaced with two, each of the same type (line or curve) as the original. Delete point The current segment is deleted, and the two adjacent segments moved to close the gap. Coordinate Leads to a dialogue box allowing the coordinates of the current point to be changed. Straighten Straightens the current curve segment (but does not change it into a line). Smooth joins Aligns the control points of the current curve segment so that the transitions at the start and end points are smooth. Horizontal Moves the end point of the current segment so that the line becomes horizontal. For a curve, this moves the end point but leaves the curve control points in the same relation to the curve as they were originally. Vertical Moves the end point of the current segment so that the line becomes vertical. Text Style menu The Text Style menu has two functions. In Select or Edit modes, it sets the style for the selected text objects or columns. In text create mode, it sets the default style that will be used for new text objects (only when text entry is not in progress). Font name Selects the font family to be used for text objects. Unless you have some unusually-named fonts, only the family name (first component of the name) will appear on this menu. See later for more information on fonts. Font style Sets the font enhancement. Only those options for which fonts are available in the current family can be selected. Not available for 'System Font' text. Size/Height Sets the size of the text, in points (1/72 inch). If "Same as size" is selected, the size chosen will be used for both width and height and can be specified by choosing a preset size or entering it in the box. If "Height other" is selected, the width can be set as above while the height can be set independently by entering that in its box. Text colour Sets the foreground colour to be used for the text; the 'inside' of the characters is normally displayed using this colour. If the current palette allows, the text will be anti-aliased using a number of steps between this colour and the text background colour. Text colour and background colour apply to text areas as well as text objects. Background Sets the text background colour. This is normally white, but can be varied to control the anti- aliasing effect. Leading Only available when the default text style is being set; controls the amount that the caret will be moved down when Return is pressed to terminate a text object, ready for the next one. This is set in points. Path Style menu The Path Style menu also has two functions. In Select or Edit modes, it sets the style for the selected path objects. In path create mode, it sets the default style that will be used for new path objects (this can be done while path creation is in progress). Line colour Sets the colour that will be used to draw path outlines. Fill colour Sets the colour that will be used to fill the insides of paths (what is considered to be 'inside' is controlled by the "Winding rule" option). Line width Sets the width to be used when drawing outlines, measured in points. Select a preset size, or enter the width in the box. If "Thin" is selected, the thinnest line that the screen or printer is capable of displaying will be used. Line pattern Sets the line style to be used for outlines; either solid or one of four preset dash patterns. Caps/Joins Sets the way in which the ends of open paths and line joins are displayed. The join, starting cap and ending cap can all be set independently. Note that the triangle cap width and are entered in multiples of half the line width (i.e. twice the value that the original would require): this is to allow finer control over the width and length. Winding rule Controls what is considered to be the 'inside' of a path when filling. See the original Draw manual for an explanation. Special menu These options are available in Select and Edit modes, when an appropriate object is selected. Stroke path Replaces the currently selected path with a new one obtained by 'outlining' the outline. This is a bit difficult to explain, but the outcome is that filling the resulting path gives the same appearance as outlining the original path. Thick lines are therefore converted into boxes (with caps, arrowheads, etc. included). Filling the result with "None" and outlining it in a colour gives a new path following the outline of the original. The best way of finding out what this does is to try it. The results are sometimes not what would be expected, due to the peculiarities of the Draw module. The result is also affected by the selected winding rule. Text to path Converts the selected text object into a group of paths (one for each character). Initially, the appearance does not change, but the object can now be rotated or reversed and the path style rather than the text style applies. This may not give very good results for small font sizes, and is only available for fonts which are defined as outlines. Resize sprite Resets the bounding box of a sprite object so that the sprite appears at actual size (i.e. the size that it was set to when it was first loaded). Keystroke equivalents Any mouse action in a window causes it to grab the input focus from then on. The following keystrokes apply to that window, except when text is being entered or edited: Control-A Select all selectable objects Control-B Move selected objects to the back Control-C Copy the selected objects Control-F Move selected objects to the front Control-G Form selected objects into a group Control-J Pop up the "Alignment" dialogue box Control-R Pop up the "Rotate/Skew" dialogue box Control-S Pop up the "Scaling" dialogue box Control-U Ungroup the selected group Control-X Delete the selected objects Control-Z Clear the selection Print Pop up the "Print" dialogue box f3 Pop up the "Save drawing" dialogue box Up,Down,Left,Right When dragging, move the pointer by one pixel (if grid lock is off) or one grid step (if grid lock is on) Escape Abandon an operation in progress Font Handling AD1½ tries to handle fonts as intelligently as possible. There are two menus associated with this, "Font name" and "Font style". Normally, the name menu lists the font family name (the first component of the pathname) while the style menu gives the valid styles for that selected family. The following weights are understood: .Light Lighter than normal .Book Slightly lighter than normal .Medium .Standard Standard weight .Bold Darker than normal .Heavy Much darker than normal and the following slopes: .Normal .Roman Upright .Italic .Oblique Slanted which should cover most of the fonts in common use (if a font has only one component in its name, standard weight and upright is assumed). If a font is installed on the system with an style attribute which is not known, then that attribute will appear on the name menu as a separate family. For example, if the fonts 'Oxford.Demi' and 'Oxford.Demi.Italic' are installed (where 'Demi' is not a recognised weight), they will appear on the name menu as "Oxford-Demi" with "Normal" weight and slopes of "Roman" and "Italic" on the style menu. There is a limit of 100 fonts which can be used (however, unlike some programs I could name, AD1½ should not crash if more than this are installed - only the first 100 will be used). If this limit, or the styles which are known about, causes problems then let me know and I'll change it for the next version. Bugs, Features and Cautions The following are the dropoffs, bugs and omissions that I know about in the current version: 1. The little-known facility in the original to directly copy selected objects between drawings (by using the "Select/Copy" menu option) is not supported. More than one document at a time can be in Select mode. 2. Line pattern changes are not applied to path objects which are members of groups. 3. Printing of large 'System Font' text (does anybody?) can be a few pixels out sometimes. This text, or sprites, can sometimes go very wrong under certain combinations of screen modes and print resolution (I suspect that this is a bug in Acorn's C library). 4. AD1½ cannot load DXF files in the way that the original version of Draw could. Use the original to convert DXF files, if you really want to. 5. The only major facility missing which was present in the original is the "New view" option to open two windows on the same drawing. Sorry about this, but by the time I got around to thinking about implementing this the fundamental program structure didn't permit it to be implemented (too many extensive changes were required). Anyway, I never have enough room on my screen for one view, let alone two, and switching magnification is much more convenient... 6. Sometimes the pointer shape is not set or reset correctly when entering or leaving a window. If this happens, force a redraw of the screen by pressing f12, then Return. There are a number of anomalies in RiscOS's handling of pointer leaving and entering events, which is why the shape change does not always work properly. 7. If a drawing with background objects is merged with another, the background objects in the merged one lose their background status. Unforeseen errors are sometimes reported as "Internal error" or "Fatal error" and a message. If you get one of these, let me know what happened (in the case of "Fatal" and your masterpiece being lost, after you've counted to ten and calmed down) with as much information on what happened as possible, namely: Machine type, OS version and memory available Version of AD1½ and Shared C Library being used Type of monitor and screen mode being used What was being done at the time Error message or other symptoms Whether interactive help was in use Is the problem repeatable? Is the problem confined to just one drawing? Any unusual modules which may be installed (e.g. screen savers) If the problem relates to text, details of fonts installed Finally... I hope you like using and are satisfied with AD1½. If so, tell your friends. If not, or if you have any suggestions for improvements or suggestions, please contact me; I will try to fix bugs and incorporate reasonable ideas in forthcoming versions. Standard boring Copyright Notice: All program code and the contents of the supporting files are copyright © myself (Jonathan Marten) 1990. No rights are taken or implied over any drawings or other works which may be produced using this application. ArcDraw 1½ is "Shareware". You are free to give this application to anyone you please via any medium, provided it is delivered with all the supplied files, unaltered. If you wish to post it on your bulletin board or include it in your shareware library then that is fine. You may not sell this application, except that shareware libraries may make a nominal charge to cover disc duplication and postage. You have permission to use any part or the whole application in a project you intend to place in the public domain, as long as I am fully credited. If you wish to use this application as part of a system or other application that is for sale (for however much and for whatever reasons) or released as copyright material then my express permission in writing must be obtained. I maintain copyright on all the material supplied and reserve the right to amend these conditions in cases of misuse. A great many hours of work have gone into the development and maintenance of this application, and I would like to keep supporting it. Although I have supplied the application free, donations will be gratefully received (amount at your discretion). If you send a blank disc as well, I will return it with any useful PD or my own software that I may have lying around. If you do send something, you will be notified of any upgrades available (or I will send you the upgrade, if and when available, if you supply a blank disc for that). Disclaimer: Apart from using their excellent C compiler and RiscOS library, this application has no connection with Acorn. Any confusion caused by the use of the term "Draw" or similar is regretted. This software is supplied "as is"; no warranty, express or implied, of the merchantability of this software or its fitness for any particular purpose is given. In no circumstances shall any provider or distributor of this software be liable for any damage, loss of profits, or any indirect or consequential loss arising out of the use of this software or inability to use this software. Background: I decided to develop this application after using Acorn's original Draw for quite a number of drawings and finding some problems with it (none of them serious, but quite a few of them annoying). The hardware and software that I used was as follows: Original '440 with 20Mb hard disc Acorn C release 3 compiler, debugger and RiscOS library My version of Make (available on NCS Careware disc #1) An expanded version of MicroEmacs (originally from David Pilling) Some of David Pilling's C Tools (notably 'ctags') 'Old Faithful' BBC B with Lancaster Kermit, for remote debugging Various other tools such as Paint and FormEd Most of the operations have the 'look and feel' of the original Draw, and this was indeed where most of the inspiration came from. The 'Distribute' and 'Space out' facilities and the four-way object handles were inspired by Macintosh Draw II. The 'Text to path' facility was inspired by (but not copied from) Data Store's FontFX application, which is recommended for achieving even more exotic font effects. The grid options and appearance were copied from Racal-Redac's Visula system. The font name/style system, the background facility, polygon create and the "Skew" option was entirely my own work (honest!). The name is in anticipation of a version 2 of Draw being produced by Acorn in the future... I can be contacted by or at: Snail-Mail: 11 Carmarthen Close Farnborough Hampshire GU14 8TJ Phone: (0252) 542431 (at reasonable hours) Email: jmarten@compulink.co.uk jmarten@cix.UUCP ...!ukc!slxsys!cix!jmarten Arcade BBS: 387 Jonathan Marten July 1990