<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Mozilla/4.04 [en] (X11; I; SunOS 4.1.3_U1 sun4m) [Netscape]"> <TITLE>Introduction</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <a href="contents.html"><img src="images/xfig-title.png" alt="XFIG Users Manual" border=0></a> <P>[ <img src="images/usflag.png" alt=""><B>English Version</B> | <A HREF="japanese/index.html" target="_top"><img src="images/japaneseflag.png" alt="" border=0> Japanese Version</A> ] <p> <a href="contents.html">Table of Contents</a> <HR> <table width=100% > <tr> <td> <H1>Introduction</H1></td> <td><img src="images/xfig_splash_logo.png" alt="" align=right></td> </tr> </table> <p> <B>Xfig</B> is an interactive drawing tool which runs under <A HREF="http://www.opengroup.org/tech/desktop/x" target=_new>X Window System</A> Version 11 Release 4 (X11R4) or later, on most UNIX-compatible platforms. It is <A HREF="authors.html#xfig">freeware</A>, and available via <A HREF="installation.html">anonymous ftp</A>. <P> In <B>xfig</B>, figures may be drawn using objects such as <A HREF="drawing.html#circle">circles</A>, <A HREF="drawing.html#box">boxes</A>, <A HREF="drawing.html#polyline">lines</A>, <A HREF="drawing.html#spline">spline curves</A>, <A HREF="drawing.html#text">text</A>, etc. It is also possible to <A HREF="drawing.html#picture">import images</A> in formats such as GIF, JPEG, EPSF (PostScript), etc. Those objects can be <A HREF="drawing.html">created</A>, <A HREF="editing.html#delete">deleted</A>, <A HREF="editing.html#move">moved</A> or <A HREF="editing.html">modified</A>. <A HREF="attributes.html">Attributes such as colors or line styles</A> can be selected in various ways. For text, <A HREF="attributes.html#font-panel"> 35 fonts</A> are available. Text can also include <A HREF="drawing.html#compose-char">Latin-1 characters</A> such as "<IMG SRC="images/a-umlaut.png" ALT="a umlaut" >" or "<IMG SRC="images/c-cedilla.png" ALT="c cedilla" align=top>". <p> Here is a screen image of <B>xfig</B>. Click on the image below for larger version (349k). <BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="screen_image_map.html"><IMG SRC="images/screen-image_sm.png" ALT="[Screen image of xfig]" border=0></A> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>And here are some example figures extracted from the <B>xfig</B> distribution. Click on them to see a larger version. <BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="images/watch.png"> <IMG SRC="images/watch_sm.png" ALT="[Watch]" border=0></A> <A HREF="images/power-supply.png"> <IMG SRC="images/power-supply_sm.png" ALT="[Power Supply]" border=0></A> <A HREF="images/3dhouse.png"> <IMG SRC="images/3dhouse_sm.png" ALT="[3D House]" border=0></A> <A HREF="images/greenpig.png"><IMG SRC="images/greenpig_sm.png" ALT="[greenpig.png]" border=0></A> <A HREF="images/transit.png"> <IMG SRC="images/transit_sm.png" ALT="[transit.png]" border=0></A> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P> <B>Xfig</B> saves figures in its native <I><A HREF="fig-format.html">Fig format</A></I>, but they may be <A HREF="printing.html#export">converted into various formats</A> such as PostScript, GIF, JPEG, HP-GL, etc. <B>xfig</B> has facility to <A HREF="printing.html#print">print figures to a PostScript printer</A>, too. <P>There are <A HREF="installation.html#related-apps">some applications</A> which can produce output in the <I>Fig format</I>. For example, <B>xfig</B> doesn't have a facility to create graphs, but tools such as <B><A HREF="installation.html#gnuplot">gnuplot</A></B> or <B><A HREF="installation.html#xgraph">xgraph</A></B> can create graphs and export them in <I>Fig format</I>. Even if your favorite application can't generate output for <B>xfig</B>, tools such as <B><A HREF="installation.html#pstoedit">pstoedit</A></B> or <B><A HREF="installation.html#hp2xx">hp2xx</A></B> may allow you to read and edit those figures with <B>xfig</B>. If you want to import images into the figure but you don't need to edit the image itself (like <A HREF="screen_image_map.html">this example</A>), it is also possible to <A HREF="drawing.html#picture">import images</A> in formats such as GIF, JPEG, EPSF (PostScript), etc. <P>Most operation are performed using the mouse, but some operations may also be performed using <A HREF="accelerators.html">keyboard accelerators</A> (shortcuts). Use of a three-button mouse is recommended, but it is also possible to use a two-button mouse (if you have a two-button mouse and your X server doesn't emulate a three-button mouse, press the Meta (or Alt) key and right mouse button together to simulate mouse button 2). Normally, mouse buttons 1 to 3 are assigned to the left, middle, and right buttons respectively. <P><B>xfig 3.2.X</B> and <B>fig2dev 3.2.X</B> include code for internationalization, it allows use of local characters (e.g., Japanese) in <B>xfig</B>. It uses standard internationalization (I18N) mechanism of X11R5, and known to work for Japanese and Korean at this time. See <a href="i18n.html">Internationalization</a> about this. <hr> <H2><A NAME="starting-xfig">Starting xfig</a></H2> <B>xfig</B> is started by the <TT>xfig</TT> command. <PRE> <TT>xfig </TT> [ <I>options</I>... ] [ <I>filename</I> ]</PRE> <I>options</I> are <A HREF="options.html">command line options</A> which may be used to customize <B>xfig</B>. It is also possible to use <A HREF="options.html#resources">X resources</A> instead of specifying command line options each time when starting <TT>xfig</TT>. <P>If <I>filename</I> is given, the file will be loaded when <B>xfig</B> is started. <hr> <H2><A NAME="display-windows">Display Windows</A></H2> The following components comprise the <A HREF="screen_image_map.html"><B>xfig</B> window:</A> <DL> <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="main_menus.html">Main Menus</A>: <DD> Has buttons for global operations; such as <A HREF="main_menus.html#file-menu">load/save file</A>, <A HREF="printing.html#print">print</A> or <A HREF="printing.html#export">export</A> figures, <A HREF="main_menus.html#exit">quit <B>xfig</B></A>, etc. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="drawing.html">Drawing Mode Panel</A>: <DD> Has buttons for drawing operations; such as <A HREF="drawing.html#circle">circle</A>, <A HREF="drawing.html#box">box</A>, <A HREF="drawing.html#polyline">polyline</A>, <A HREF="drawing.html#text">text</A>, etc. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="editing.html">Editing Mode Panel</A>: <DD> Has buttons for editing operations; such as <A HREF="editing.html#move">move</A>, <A HREF="editing.html#copy">copy</A>, <A HREF="editing.html#delete">delete</A>, <A HREF="editing.html#scale">scale</A>, <A HREF="editing.html#edit">edit attributes</A>, etc. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="attributes.html">Attribute Panel</A>: <DD> Has buttons to set attributes of objects; such as <A HREF="attributes.html#pen-color">color</A>, <A HREF="attributes.html#line-width">line width</A>, <A HREF="attributes.html#line-style">line style</A>, <A HREF="attributes.html#text-font">text font</A>, <A HREF="attributes.html#text-justification">text justification</A>, etc. There are also buttons for global settings such as <A HREF="attributes.html#zoom-scale">zoom scale</A> or <A HREF="attributes.html#grid-mode">grid mode</A>. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="miscellaneous.html#mouse-indicator">Mouse Function Indicator</A>: <DD> The function of each mouse button is displayed here. This changes with the mode of the operation (drawing, editing, etc.) to reflect the function of each mouse button. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="panning.html#rulers">Rulers</A>: <DD> Graduations in the selected units (e.g. inches or cm) are displayed on top (horizontal) and side (vertical) ruler. The rulers are also used for scrolling the canvas. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="layers.html#depth_panel">Depth Panel</A>: <DD> This panel shows the <a href="attributes.html#depth">depths</a> of all objects on the canvas. The user may hide or show any depth by clicking on the checkboxes next to the depth number. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A HREF="panning.html#units">Units</A>: <DD> The scale of the drawing is displayed here, e.g. 1cm = 3m. It is also used to change the units and/or scale. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <A NAME="message-panel">Message Panel:</A> <DD> Various messages are displayed here. For example, the size of objects will be displayed here when entering objects. <DT> <img src="images/redballdot.png" align=bottom alt="-"> <a name="canvas">Canvas:</a> <DD> Area to draw figures. The canvas may be scrolled with the <A HREF="panning.html#rulers">top and side rulers</A> or the arrow keys on the keyboard. </DL> <HR> [ <a href="contents.html">Contents</a> | Introduction | <a href="authors.html">Credits</a> ] </BODY> </HTML>
distrib
>
Mandriva
>
current
>
i586
>
media
>
main-updates
>
by-pkgid
>
e7b6544b58727dacb0569c05124bc590
>
files
>
2956
