X-Git-Url: https://git.pterodactylus.net/?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=synfig-docs%2Fen%2Fsteps%2Ffirststeps.sgml;fp=synfig-docs%2Fen%2Fsteps%2Ffirststeps.sgml;h=6f53169b6db3459a2eb4f2020398136c92ddc79e;hb=a095981e18cc37a8ecc7cd237cc22b9c10329264;hp=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hpb=9459638ad6797b8139f1e9f0715c96076dbf0890;p=synfig.git diff --git a/synfig-docs/en/steps/firststeps.sgml b/synfig-docs/en/steps/firststeps.sgml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f53169 --- /dev/null +++ b/synfig-docs/en/steps/firststeps.sgml @@ -0,0 +1,69 @@ + + + +First Steps + Lets create something +so that we can tweak with it. Now that you have a new composition open +and the properties dialog is out of the way, go over to the toolbox and +click on the circle tool(If you don't know which one it is, just mouse +over them until you find the one with the tooltip that says "circle"). + +The second you click on the circle tool, you should notice that the tool +options tab changed. But we'll get to that later. + + Some laptop users might experience trouble where click-drag on + the canvas when using the circle tool doesn't seem to do anything + or produce insanely huge circles. The problem is that Synfig has + detected the touchpad and enabled that device (incorrectly!) To fix + this: click File->Input devices... In the resulting dialog window, + select 'Disabled' for your touchpad device. After this change, + your external mouse and the touchpad will work as expected. + + With the circle tool selected, you can now create circles in the + canvas window. This pretty much works exactly as you might expect + it to. Go ahead and create two (or more, if you fancy) circles. If + by accident you just clicked on the canvas instead of clicking and + dragging(with mouse button pressed) to draw the circle, you end up + creating a circle with 0 radius and it is effectively invisible! No + need to worry, you can easily fix this. In the Params dialog, you + can change the parameters of the selected object. If you just made + a 0 radius circle, it should be the current selected object. you can + change its radius to some value other than 0, say 10, and manipulate + it to your liking with the canvas ducks later. + + Now go back to the toolbox and click on the normal tool (the blue + circle with the arrow on it). After you do this, click on one of your + circles. You will then see a bounding box(which is kinda useless + at this point in time, but I digress), a green dot at the center, + and a cyan dot on the radius. Those dots are called ducks. If you + want to modify the circle, grab a duck and drag it around. Easy! + + So you can select a layer by clicking on it. If you want to select + more than one layer, hold down CONTROL while you are clicking--this + works in both the canvas window and the layer tab. Try it! + + You can also select multiple ducks. You can do this in several + ways. First, you can hold down CONTROL and individually click the + ducks that you want selected, but this can be tedious. However, there + is a much faster method--just create a selection box by clicking the + mouse and dragging it over the area of ducks that you want selected. + + Go ahead and select two circles, and select all of their ducks. With + several ducks selected, moving one duck will move all of the + ducks. This behavior is dependent on the normal tool. Thus, a + more descriptive name for this tool might have been the "move" or + "translate" tool. + + The Rotate and Scale tools work much like the Normal tool, except in + the case where you have multiple ducks selected. It is much easier + to just try it than read about it. Select a few circles, select all + of their ducks, and try using the rotate and scale tools. + + Note that, unlike the normal tool, the other duck manipulation tools + DO have options associated with them. If a particular tool isn't + doing what you want, take a look in the tool options tab to see if + it is set up like you want it. +&linking.sgml; +&steplayers.sgml; +&shapes.sgml; +