★ APPLICATIONS ★ CREATION GRAPHIQUE ★ EASYDRAW|Computing with the Amstrad) ★ |
| Easydraw | Applications Creation Graphique |
EASYDRAW is a powerful graphics utility which you lean use to create your own spectacular titles, pictures or games backgrounds. You can even build up a picture, save it part-finished to tape or disc, reload it at a later date and improve it until it suits your needs. The picture you have created and saved can be used in your own programs either by loading straight to the screen or loading into the reserved memory for recall when needed. The off-screen pictures shown on these pages took only minutes to produce, but of course it will take you longer until you become familiar with the facilities available. A brief resums of the capabilities of each option is shown in Table I. You would be well advised to read the instructions in stages. There are 19 options and each needs practice to understand it fully and become proficient with its use. Read the guide to EasyDraw's functions down to the Beam option first. Then try drawing different coloured horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. Once you understand these first five functions, build upon your knowledge by reading each subsequent option and practising it until you understand them all.
The following tips on drawing circles and polygons will help to make life a little easier for the first time user:
 Figure 2  Figure 3 User's Guide to EasyDraw's functions To change the drawing colour press Shift + the corresponding letter key opposite the colour block. Ink change Cursor control The arrow keys control the cursor, and coupled with Shift will jump the cursor 20 pixels for faster movement. Cursor jump Ctrl + J will alter the size. Enter the horizontal and vertical size. Beam Ctrl + B toggles Beam on/off to draw lines, and cursor jump can be implemented. Alternatively Ctrl + Copy toggles the Copy key to draw but only when it is held down. With the latter option cursor jump cannot be implemented to draw - only to move. Tab setting The Tab key "sets" the cursor position which is memorised and indicated in yellow above the permanently displayed X, Y coordinates of the current cursor. Lines can be drawn to Tab from any position, either on or off the screen. Draw single line to Tab Shift + Tab draws a line from the current cursor position to the previously set Tab position. Draw to Tab Ctrl + D toggles this option to draw a line to Tab with every move of the cursor - including any cursor jump implementation. This is useful for drawing several lines to Tab and avoids having to press Shift + Tab for each line as in draw single line. Fill Place the cursor inside any shape and Ctrl + F will fill it to the nearest vertical line under arrow key control as the cursor is moved vertically. Erase Selecting background colour A with the Beam, Draw to Tab, or Fill options will remove foreground colours. For full screen erasure press Shift + Clr. Quick circle Use the arrow keys to place the centre, press Ctrl + Q and either enter a radius > 4 or press 0. The latter enables the left or right arrow keys to move a second cursor with which the radius can be set by pressing Enter. Circles, ellipses and polygons Use the arrow keys to position the shape, then press Ctrl + Clr and input both horizontal and vertical radii using the same options as in quick circle. Input the start position, a number between 0 and 1 (.5 will start to draw from the bottom of the shape). This is calculated using decimal fractions on a clockwise circle. Input the number of sides. If this number is less than 20 you will be prompted for a delay. This is only needed if a part shape is required so that pressing the spacebar can halt the plotting. Answer 0 or 1 to the prompt for clockwise or anti-clockwise plotting. Tab move The Tab setting can be made to move with the cursor by pressing Ctrl + Tab. Coupled with Draw to Tab parallel lines can be drawn using cursor jump to create a grid. This also works in the circle /polygon routine but must be set before Ctrl + Clr. Shape memory Ctrl + M stores and numbers upto 40 shapes to be recalled and drawn at any size. Press Tab, and while drawing a continuous line press Tab again at every change in direction (only Tab settings are memorised). Check your shapes using the redraw option before you save using Ctrl + S. Ctrl + L will load a new shape file from memory. Redraw shape Ctrl + R and enter shape number and magnitude required (from . 1 upwards), to enlarge or reduce the original. Type at cursor Press Ctrl + T to enter text, numbers or Ctrl graphics at the cursor position. Go back to options Ctrl + G will return you to the opening options for a mode change or to load a picture from memory. Save screen Ctrl + ? saves the screen to tape or disc. Load screen A saved screen can be loaded into memory using either the option at the start of the program, or Ctrl + L at any time.
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