Draw Guide1Chapter
Introducing Draw
Drawing Vector Graphics in OpenOffice.org

This PDF is designed to be read onscreen, two pages at atime. If you want to print a copy, your PDF viewer shouldhave an option for printing two pages on one sheet ofpaper, but you may need to start with page 2 to get it toprint facing pages correctly. (Print this cover pageseparately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2005–2010 by its contributors as listed
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under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 orlater, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 orlater.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

AuthorsAgnes Belzunce
Martin Fox
Hazel Russman
Jean Hollis Weber
Linda Worthington

Daniel Carrera
Peter Hillier-Brook
Gary Schnabl
Claire Wood

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments
This chapter is based on an original French document written for
OpenOffice.org 1.x by Michel Pinquier (translated to English by AlexThurgood) and previous content revised by Jim Taylor. The chapter wasrevised for OpenOffice 2.0 by the authors listed above, and latertranslated into German by Wolfgang Uhlig; the German revisions werethen translated into English by Martin Fox and updated for OpenOffice
3.2.

Publication date and software version
Published 28 July 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright.................................................................................................2Introduction.............................................................................................4The Draw workplace................................................................................5Rulers.......................................................................................................6Status bar.................................................................................................7Toolbars....................................................................................................9Standard toolbar...................................................................................9Line and Filling toolbar........................................................................9Drawing toolbar..................................................................................10Color bar.............................................................................................10Choosing a color palette..................................................................10
Options toolbar...................................................................................12
Drawing grid and guides.......................................................................13
Floating and moving toolbars................................................................13
Customizing toolbars.............................................................................15

Introducing Draw

3Introduction
Draw is a vector graphics drawing tool, although it can also perform
some operations on raster graphics (pixels). Using Draw, you canquickly create a wide variety of graphical images.
Vector graphics store and display a picture as simple geometricelements such as lines, circles, and polygons rather than as acollection of pixels (points on the screen). This permits simpler storage
and supports precise scaling of the picture elements.
Draw is fully integrated into the OpenOffice.org (OOo) suite, and thissimplifies exchanging graphics with all components of the suite. For
example, if you create an image in Draw, reusing it in a Writer
document is as simple as copying and pasting the image. You can also
work with drawings directly from within Writer or Impress, using a
subset of the functions and tools from Draw.
Draw’s functionality is extensive, and even though it was not designed
to rival high-end graphics applications, it possesses significantly morefunctionality than the drawing tools that are generally integrated withmost office productivity suites.
A few examples of the drawing functions are: layer management,
magnetic grid-point system, dimensions and measurement display,connectors for making organization charts, 3D functions that enable
small three-dimensional drawings to be created (with texture andlighting effects), drawing and page-style integration, and Bézier
curves.
The Draw Guide is not a course book to be worked through frombeginning to end. Rather, it is a reference work in which you canbrowse for guidance on particular topics.
This document describes only the functions associated with Draw.
Some concepts, such as file management or the way theOpenOffice.org environment works, are mentioned only briefly; they
are covered in more detail in the Getting Started guide.

4

Introducing Draw

The Draw workplace
The main components of the Draw interface are shown in Figure 1.
The large area in the center of the window is where you make thedrawings. You can surround the drawing area with toolbars andinformation areas. The number and position of the visible tools varywith the task in hand and user preferences. Therefore, your setup may
look different. For example, many users put the main Drawing toolbar
on the left-hand side of the workspace—not at the bottom, as shown
here. The setup procedure is described in detail in Chapter 4 (Menusand Toolbars) in the Getting Started guide.
You can split drawings in Draw over several pages. Multipagedrawings are used mainly for presentations. The Pages pane, on theleft side of the Draw window in Figure 1 gives an overview of thepages that you create. If the Pages pane is not visible on your setup,
you can enable it from the View menu (View > Page Pane). To makechanges to the page order, just drag and drop one or more pages.
In Draw 3, the maximum size of a drawing page is 300 cm by 300 cm.

Figure 1: Initial Draw window

The Draw workplace

5

Rulers
You should see rulers (bars with numbers) on the upper and left-handsides of the workspace. If they are not visible, you can enable them byselecting them from the View menu (View > Ruler).
The rulers show the size of a selected object on the page (see the graydouble lines, highlighted in Figure 2). When no object is selected, theyshow the location of the mouse pointer, which helps to position
drawing objects more accurately.
You can also use the rulers to manage object handles and guide lines,
making it easier to position objects.
The page margins in the drawing area are also represented on therulers. You can change the margins directly on the rulers by dragging
them with the mouse.

Figure 2: Rulers show the size ofthe selected object
To modify the units of measurement of the rulers (which you can defineindependently), right-click on the desired ruler, as illustrated for thehorizontal ruler in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Rulers in a drawing

6

Introducing Draw

Status bar
The Status bar is located at the bottom of the screen (in all OOocomponents) and includes several Draw-specific fields, as identified inFigure 4.

Figure 4: Items on the Draw status bar
The Information field shows which action is being carried out, or which
object type is selected.
The Position field shows different information, depending on whether
objects are currently selected or not:• When no object is selected, the left number pair shows thecurrent position (in X,Y Cartesian coordinates) of the mouse
cursor.
• While an object is being resized with the mouse, the right number
pair shows the size of the object (width and height).

Note

The sizes are given in the current measurement unit (not to beconfused with the ruler units). This unit is defined in Tools >Options > OpenOffice.org Draw > General, where you canalso change the scale of the page. Another way to change thescale is to double-click on the number shown in the status bar.

• If an object is selected, the left number pair shows the X,Ycoordinates of the upper-left corner, and the right number pairdisplays the size of the object, as seen in Figure 4. These numbers
do not relate to the object itself, but to the selection outline,
which is the smallest possible rectangle that can contain thevisible part or parts of the object; see also Chapter 3 (Workingwith Objects and Object Points).
• When an object is selected, a double-click on this field opens thePosition and Size dialog, which is described in detail in Chapter 4(Changing Object Attributes).
Status bar7

In the Indicator field, an asterisk (*) is shown whenever any change ismade to the document but not yet saved to disk.
If you wish to digitally sign the document, a double-click or right-clickin the Signature field brings up the signature box. Note that adocument must be saved at least once before it can be signed. After itis signed, an indicator is present in this field.
The Slide field shows the sequence number for the current drawing
page, in addition to the total number of pages that you created so far.
This is useful when your drawing has a number of pages. If you selectan object, the field enclosed by parentheses shows the layer in which
the object resides within the drawing. In the example of Figure 4, theobject is on the Layout layer of Slide 1, and there is a total number ofone slide, so far.
The Template field shows which page template is being used for thecurrent page. If you saved several slide designs, you can select one forthe current page by double-clicking in this field (see Figure 5) andselecting Load after choosing a slide design.

Figure 5: Selecting a slide (page) design
The vertical bar in the middle of the Zoom slider represents a zoom
factor of 100%. To change the view magnification, drag the Zoom
slider, or click on the + and – signs, or right-click on the zoom level
percent to pop up a list of magnification values from which to choose.
Double-clicking on the zoom level percent to open the Zoom & View
Layout dialog.
8Introducing Draw

Toolbars
You can display or hide the various Draw toolbars, according to yourneeds. To display or hide a toolbar, click View > Toolbars. On themenu that appears, choose which toolbars you want to display.
You can also select the icons that you wish to appear on the toolbars.
Toolbars display a default selection of icons but you can choose to hidesome of these and display others. To change the visible icons on anytoolbar, click the arrow at the right-hand end of the toolbar and selectVisible Buttons. On the list of the available icons that appears, selector deselect the icons you want to be visible. A checkmark next to an
icon indicates that it is visible.
The tools available in the various toolbars are explained in thefollowing sections.

Standard toolbar
The Standard toolbar is the same for all OOo components and is notdescribed in detail here.
Figure 6: Standard toolbar

Line and Filling toolbar
The Line and Filling toolbar lets you modify the main properties of adrawing object: the icons and pull-down lists vary, according to thetype of object selected. For example, to change the thickness of a linewith the spinner, hover the mouse over the spinner and click the up or
down arrow to achieve the desired thickness.

Figure 7: Line and Filling toolbar
In the example above, the available functions enable you to change thecolor, style, and width of the line drawn or the fill color, style, and otherproperties of an object. The object must first be selected with a mouseclick. If the selected object is a text frame, the buttons for line styleand fill color are changed to Invisible.
When text is selected, the Line and Filling toolbar changes to the Text
Formatting toolbar, which is very similar to the Formatting toolbar inWriter. A more detailed explanation of the buttons on this toolbar canbe found in Chapter 4 (Changing Object Attributes).
Toolbars9

Figure 8: Text Formatting toolbar

Drawing toolbar
The Drawing toolbar is the most important toolbar in Draw. It contains
all the necessary functions for drawing various geometric and freehand
shapes and for organizing them on the page. It is described in detail inChapter 2 (Drawing Basic Shapes).
Figure 9: Drawing toolbar

Color bar
To display the Color bar, use View > Toolbars > Color Bar. Thetoolbar then appears at the bottom of the workspace and displays thecurrent color palette.

Figure 10: Color bar
This toolbar lets you rapidly choose the color of the various objects(lines, areas, and 3D effects) in your drawing. The first box in the panel
corresponds to transparency (no color).

Choosing a color palette
You can access several specialized color palettes in Draw, as well aschange individual colors to your own taste. This is done using the Area
dialog, reached by choosing Format > Area, as shown in Figure 11, or
the pouring can icon on the Line and Filling toolbar (Figure 7).
On the Area dialog, choose the Colors tab (Figure 12).
To load another palette, click on the Load Color List button (circled).
The file selector dialog asks you to choose one of the standard OOopalettes (files bearing the file extension *.soc). For example, web.soc
is a color palette that is particularly adapted to creating drawings thatare going to appear in Web pages. The colors will correctly display on
workstations with screens displaying at least 256 colors.

10

Introducing Draw

Figure 11: Displaying the Area
dialog from the menu bar
A more detailed description of color palettes and their options can befound in Chapter 8 (Tips and Tricks).

Figure 12. Changing the color palette.

Toolbars

11

Options toolbar
The Options toolbar lets you activate or deactivate various drawing
aids. The Options Bar is not one of the toolbars displayed by default. To
display it, select View > Toolbars > Options.

Figure 13: Options toolbar
The options are described in the table below and in greater detail inother chapters of the Draw Guide.
Table 1: Functions on the Options toolbar
Icon

Function
Rotation Mode after Clicking Object
Display (or hide the) Grid
Display (or hide the) Guides
Display (or hide Guides) When Moving
Snap to Grid
Snap to Guides
Snap to Page Margins
Snap to Object Borders
Snap to Object Points
Allow Quick Editing
Select Text Area Only
Double-click to edit Text
Simple Handles
Large Handles
Modify Object with Attributes
Exit All Groups

12Introducing DrawDrawing grid and guides
Draw offers a grid as a drawing aid. The grid can be turned on or off
by clicking on the Grid icon on the Options toolbar. The points of thegrid displayed on the screen are not shown on the printed drawing.
The color, spacing, and resolution of the grid points can be individuallychosen for each axis. This is described in more detail in Chapter 8 (inthe section titled “Configuring the grid”).
Guides are special “helper lines” that can be turned on or off by
clicking on the Guides icon on the Options toolbar. Draw offers a“Snap” function, with which you can place drawings exactly on theseguides or on a grid point, a page margin, or a border or point ofanother object. All snap functions are described in detail in Chapter 8(Tips and Tricks).
Showing the position of the object while moving it makes positioning
the object much easier. If the Guides function is activated, pairs ofvertical and horizontal lines enclosing the object are shown whilemoving the object. These lines extend to the edges of the drawing area.
This function is also described in detail in Chapter 8.

Floating and moving toolbars
Many toolbar icons are marked with a small arrow. The arrow indicatesthat this icon has additional functions. Click the arrow, and a submenu
appears, showing its additional functions (see Figure 14). Such anicon, and its associated submenu, can become a floating toolbar. Clickthe area at the top of the submenu, drag it across the screen to alocation you want, and then release the mouse button. Floating
toolbars can be redocked on an edge of the screen or within one of theexisting toolbar areas at the top of the screen, as described in Chapter
4 (Changing Object Attributes). The floating-toolbar capability iscommon to all components of OOo.

Note

When a submenu is made into a floating toolbar, the icon on theexisting toolbar remains in the toolbar and always shows the lastcommand you used. This means that the icon you see on yourscreen may differ from any icon shown in this Guide.

Floating and moving toolbars

13

Figure 14: An arrow next to an icon
indicates additional functions.

Tip

When you double-click on an icon on a floating toolbar, thecommand corresponding to that icon will run. You can thenrepeat this action as often as you like. To exit from this mode,press the Esc key or click on another icon (for example). This
may not work for every icon on every toolbar.

Similarly, click on the arrow on the title bar of a floating toolbar todisplay additional functions (see Figure 15).

Figure 15: An arrow on a floating toolbar indicatesthat there are additional functions available.
To show or hide icons defined for the selected toolbar, choose Visible
Buttons from the drop-down menu. Visible icons have a checkmark
next to them. Click on icons to select or deselect them.
In Draw, as in all OOo components, you can move a toolbar to a newposition by using the mouse. Hover the mouse pointer over the verticalcolumn of dots at the left end of the toolbar until the pointer changes
shape, and then drag-and-drop as desired.

14

Introducing Draw

Customizing toolbars
You can customize toolbars in several ways, in addition to thosedescribed in the previous section. For example, you can add functions
to a toolbar, move tools between toolbars, and create new toolbars. To
do this, choose View > Toolbars > Customize, select the Toolbars
tab (Figure 16) and the toolbar you want to change, and then selectthe desired buttons for that toolbar. Each toolbar has a different list ofbuttons. For details, see Chapter 14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org) in
the Getting Started guide. That chapter also describes how tocustomize menus.

Figure 16: Customizing a toolbar

Customizing toolbars

15