InsightPoint

Version 3.0

Quick User Reference











Copyright © 2003 Icytec Group, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.





 

I. Introduction


InsightPoint is not one of those programs with which you'll have to spend hours before you're getting comfortable. As it is understood that most users do not want to even look at the user manual, a lot of efforts have been put into designing a user interface that help ease your designing and drawing experience with the shortest learning curve possible. We've tried to make it easy for everyone to understand so that when you open InsightPoint for the first time you are able to work on your project.

InsightPoint is an Integrated Development Environment for graphic design, illustration, and presentation. It is engineered to solve such a long-existing dilemma: your favorite presentation tool is incapable of producing vivid graphics when you need it or the graphic design tool simply can't help too much in presenting your brilliant ideas. Finally there is an application software that is able to seamlessly bring together the best of both worlds onto your desktop.

There is one thing we would like you know: InsightPoint creates slide shows in SVG format. SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics, an emerging vector graphics format which is now a recommended standard of World Wide Web Consortium. Why SVG? To name a few reasons:

Before you read further, it is recommended that this document is best viewed by Internet Explorer 5+.

 

II. Getting Familiar

Using the Main Toolbar

The main toolbar is located beneath the menu bar near the top of the application screen. Click on the icons for more details.

Create New Project Open File Open Folder Import Image as Slide Render XML Save Project Save Project As Create Slide Show Preview Slide Show (SVG) Print Preview Print Undo Redo Paset Clear All Edit Project Meta-Data Zoom In Zoom Out Turn On/Off Grid Enable/Disable Snap-to-Grid Enable/Disable Anti-Aliasing Turn On/Off Auto-Edit Mode Toolbar Picture

Working with the Status Bar

The status bar can be found near the bottom of the application screen.

Status Bar Picture 1 Status Bar Picture 2

The first segment of the status bar displays current cursor position on the active canvas. The second segment of the status bar gives information about status of your current drawing. For instance, when you are drawing a rectangle, the status bar displays information about the rectangle's height and width. Please note that the default unit for formatting length and distance is points. However, there are three units from which you can choose to format length in a message, and they are centimeters, inches and points. To change the unit of formatting, click on the second segment of the status bar, and choose a unit from the pop-up menu. The change will be reflected in future messages.

The last segment of the status bar mainly displays file saving progress status.

Using the Toolbox

The toolbox can be found on the left side of the application screen. The picture shown below was rotated by 90 degree. Click on the icons below to learn details about each individual tool.

Rounded Rectangle Tool Regular Polygon Tool Polyline/Curve Tool Ellipse Tool Text Shape Tool Image Tool Three-Point Arc Tool Pan Canvas Tool Rectangle Tool Line Tool Polygon Tool Circle Tool Text Tool Freehand Tool Grid Tool Dimension Line Tool Sub-Edit Tool Eraser Tool Extrude Tool Rotate Tool Scale Tool Horizontal Flip Tool Stretch Tool Trim Tool Marquee Selection Tool Edit Tool Paint Picker Tool Edit Path Node Move Tool Skew Tool Vertical Flip Tool Duplicate Tool Weld Tool Ungroup Tool Delete Gradient Tool Toolbox Picture

The toolbox contains dozens of drawing tools for creating, transforming and editing objects. Each tool in the toolbox can be selected or activated simply by clicking on it.

Working with Object Inspectors

You can use Object Inspectors to customize properties and styles of graphic elements or objects such as image, shape and text. They can be found at the right side of the main toolbar. Depending on the drawing tool you are using and/or the object that is currently under edit, different inspectors are activated. The picture shown below is a typical Object Inspector group that is displayed when you are to draw a new shape object.

Object Inspectors Picture

The General Inspector

The General Inspector applies to all objects. You can use the General Inspector to customize properties when you are creating new objects or editing existing objects. Like other inspectors, the General Inspector has two modes: normal mode and edit mode. It is in the normal mode when you are creating a new object, say, drawing a rectangle, and the properties such as brush (or line) paint, fill paint and line style defined by the General Inspector will be applied to the new object. The General Inspector is in edit mode when you are editing an object. In edit mode, the properties you change with the General Inspector will be applied to the selected object only. Some properties such as hyperlink and opacity can not be defined in the normal mode, and have to be edited through editing an object. The picture below is a demonstration of the General Inspector in edit mode:

Object Inspectors Picture

Please note that by default it automatically enters Edit Mode immediately after an object is created. You can turn off/on the auto-edit mode by toggling the icon on the main tool bar.

There are two ways of using the General Inspector to customize an object's properties.
To define the properties of to-be-created objects:
  1. Select an object creation tool (e.g., the Rectangle Tool) from the Toolbox.
  2. Use the General Inspector to define properties.
  3. Use the object creation tool to create an object on canvas. This newly created object will carry the properties defined in the above step.
  4. To draw another shape with the same properties, repeat steps 1 and 3. If it is in auto-edit mode, you can use the inspector to change the defined properties.
  5. To finish editing, right click on canvas.
To change the properties of existing objects:
  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Use the Edit Tool to select an object for editing.
  3. Use the General Inspector to redefine properties that need to be changed.
  4. The newly defined properties will be applied immediately to the object.
  5. To finish editing, right click on canvas.
  6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 to edit or change the properties of another object.
Please also note that you may choose to undo your modifications at any time.

The Transform Inspector

The Transform Inspector allows you to precisely transform objects, such as translating, rotating, scewing, and scaling. It is activated and available when you are editing an object. The picture below is a demonstration of the Transform Inspector in edit mode:

Object Inspectors Picture

For instance, to move an object using coordinates:

  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox. And use the Edit Tool to select an object for editing.
  2. Select the Transform Editor from the object inspector group panel.
  3. Select option "Move" from the pull down menu.
  4. Enter values of changes of x (horizontal) and y (vertical) coordinates.
  5. Click button "apply" and the object is translated accordingly. If you keep clicking the "apply" button, the changes are accumulative.
  6. To finish editing, right click on canvas.

The Filter Effect Inspector

The Filter Effect Inspector allows you to apply filters to any existing graphics element or object, and thus produces various photoshop-like effects. It is activated and available when you are editing an object. The picture below is a demonstration of the Filter Effect Inspector:

Filter Effect Inspector Picture

Efforts have been carried out to make sure the filters are consistent with the SVG filters. The filter primitives implemented here include: feColorMatrix, feComponentTransfer, feGaussianBlur, feConvolveMatrix, feMorphology. From these filter primitives, one may create far more complex effects.

If you are overwhelmed by the above terminologies, don't worry, you are not alone and we understand that. That is why we have carefully designed dialogs for interactive setting the filter effects.

Gaussian Blur Dialog Picture

For instance, to add a Gaussian blur effect:

  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox. And use the Edit Tool to select an object for editing.
  2. Select the Filter Effect Inspector from the object inspector group panel.
  3. Select option "filterByGaussianBlur" from the pull down menu.
  4. And the Gaussian Blur Dialog appears, as exemplified in the above picture. The dialog allows you to dynamically preview the blurring effect when you change the blur parameters ("dx" and "dy" here). And you don't need to understand what "dx" and "dy" mean, though understanding it may help. When you are satisfied with the result, click "Ok" and the filter effect will be added to the object.
  5. To remove a filter added in the previous step, click button "remove last" on the Filter Effect Inspector.
  6. To finish editing, right click on canvas.
Please note that excessive usage of filters on too many objects in a project may have negative impact on the program performance.

The Spatial Phase Inspector

When you bind paint to an object, the relative position of the paint to the object is fixed, in regardless of how you transform the object. There has to be some mechanism to displace or offset the paint. The Spatial Phase Inspector is thus introduced. "Spatial Phase" here refers to the relative position between an object's shape path and its fill/brush paints. The Spatial Phase Inspector is activated only when you are editing a geometric shape object with bound paint.

Phase Shift Picture       Phase Shift Inspector Picture

The above figure demonstrates the concept of phase shift. On the left is a rectangle filled with an image paint. The paint was then bound to the rectangle using Bind Paint Tool. In comparison, you can also see the result of shifting the spatial phase of the paint (dx = 26) using the Spatial Phase Editor.
The brief process works like this:
  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox. And use the Edit Tool to select an object with bound paint for editing.
  2. Select the Spatial Phase Inspector from the object inspector group panel. Please keep in mind that this inspector is activated only for geometric shape object with bound paint.
  3. Enter proper number for "dx" and/or "dy", and click button "apply". The change is accumulative, i.e., each click on "apply" adds current dx and dy values to previous changes. The trick here is you can simply enter 1 or -1 for "dx" (or "dy"), and then keep clicking "apply" while watching the incremental change of the paint shift until you are satisfied with the result.

The Winding Rule Inspector

The Winding Rule Inspector only applies to geometric shape objects, and it is activated only when you are editing a geometric shape object.

The "winding rule" or "fill-rule" is related to the algorithm that determines what region lies "inside" a shape's path. For a simple, non-self-intersecting path, it is intuitively clear what its inside is; however, for a more complex path, such as a path that intersects itself, its inside may not be so obvious.

The Winding Rule Inspector provides two options for how the inside of a shape is determined: non-zero and even-odd. The following figure illustrates the difference between non-zero amd even-odd fill rules.

Winding Rule Sample Picture       Winding Rule Inspector Picture


The brief process works like this:

  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox. And use the Edit Tool to select an object for editing.
  2. Select the Winding Rule Inspector from the object inspector group panel. Please keep in mind that this inspector is activated only for geometric shape object.
  3. Choose either option "non-zero" or "even-odd". The rendering speed for "non-zero" is generally faster than "even-odd".

The Font Inspector

The Font Inspector only applies to text and text shape objects. This inspector is activated when you are using the Text Tool or Text Art Tool or when you are using the Edit Tool to edit a text or a text art object. Using the Font Inspector to customize font style and/or line spacing is quite straight forward.

The Text Path Inspector

Text Path Inspector Picture       Text Path Demo Picture

The Text Path Inspector allows you to place a text or a text shape along the path of some shape.
The brief process works like this:
  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox. And use the Edit Tool to select a text or text shape object for editing.
  2. Select the Text Path Inspector from the object inspector group panel.
  3. From the "path" pull-down menu, select an item. Please note that each menu item represents a peer object on the canvas, which becomes highlighted when the item is selected.
  4. Click on button "update", the text is then laid out along a path similar to the selected shape. And note that later deleting the selected shape will not affect the text's layout.
  5. To remove a text path, click button "remove".
  6. To offset the start point of the text on the path, you can adjust the "align" slider, then click button "update".

The Text Orientation Inspector

The Font Inspector only applies to text and text shape objects. The Text Orientation Inspector allows you to specify if you want the text to be displayed in a vertical top-to-bottom fashion. And you can also further specify if the vertical writing should be arranged from left to right.

Text Orientation Demo Picture        Text Orientation Inspector Picture

Using the Text Orientation Inspector is quite straight forward. The above figures are a simple illustration of the usage of the text orientation effect.

Canvas And Ruler

Each newly created project is assigned a new canvas, as shown in the following picture.

Canvas And Ruler Picture

The title of a project is always defaulted to "Project", and when you save the project to a file, the title is changed to the file name. The zoom factor or the canvas is also displayed by the project title, e.g., "0.8:1.0". More details of working with canvas is described in a later section of Working with Canvas.

The horizontal ruler is located on the top side of the canvas and the vertical ruler is on the left side of the canvas. The two rulers meet at a small square at the top left corner of the canvas which displays current unit of measure. The default unit is inches. However, there are three units of measure from which you can choose, and they are centimeters, inches, and points. To change the unit of measure for the rulers, click on any location on a ruler, and choose a unit from the pop-up menu that appears. The new unit is then applied to both rulers.

Navigators for Pages, Layers and Styles

The structure of an InsightPoint project has been carefully designed to ensure maximum flexibility and easy control. Each project document is organized by means of pages or slides. And each page can be decomposed into layers for better control of the layout of objects.

Navigator Picture    

The navigators can be found on the right side of the application screen, as exemplified in the above figure. There are three navigators which are respectively for Pages, Layers, and Styles.

Pages Navigator

At the top of the the Pages Navigator are page controls, as shown in the figure below.

Slide Navigator Picture

You can click on these buttons to insert page before, insert page after, move up, move down, delete, or assign a unique ID to the current page. To work on a certain page or bring it to the active state, simply click on the thumbnail of that page.

At the bottom of the Pages Navigator, there is a button "Float". Clicking this button will "float" the Pages Navigator into a floating box by the side of other navigators. This becomes convenient when you wish to edit the style or layer of the pages.

Layer Navigator

The following two figures show typical status of the Layer Navigator. The Layer Navigator always displays (the switch taking place automatically) the layer structure of the currently active slide.

Layer Navigator Picture 1      Layer Navigator Picture 2

Some facts and techniques you should know:

Styles Navigator

The Styles Navigator hosts editing tools for dimension & background color, background theme and transition effect.
Canvas Dimension and Background Color
You may change dimensions of all page of the dimension of any single page any time. Simply click on button "Dimension & Bgcolor", and you will bring out the following editing panel, which explains itself.

Canvas Dimension and Background Editor
Background Themes
A background theme is a background template that can be applied to any page. The following figures show how a typical design theme navigator looks like.

Design Theme Selector Picture 1       Design Theme Selector Picture 2

InsightPoint features a dozen of preloaded visual themes, so you can pick the ones that best fit your presentation style. InsightPoint lets you easily switch between design themes, allowing you to change style of your design and/or presentation at any time. Simply select a design theme from the list, and a thumbnail view of the design theme will be displayed on the preview area as shown in the right figure in the above. Then you can decide how to apply to the selected background theme to your document: apply it to the currently active page or slide only, current and future pages of the project, or all pages. Click button "click to apply" and the selected design theme is applied accordingly. Quite easy, isn't it? Naturally, you can have different background themes for different pages, if you like.

What's more, after you apply a background theme to a slide or slides, you can further customize the look and feel of that background theme by changing the background of the drawing.

You will also like the idea that turning your designs into a custom background theme is just a couple clicks away. Simply click on the "create design theme" button as shown the above left figure, and you are on your way to turning the currently active page into a custom design theme. You will also have the choice to add the newly generated background theme to the system-defined design theme library for future automatically loading. Now you can distribute your custom background theme within your organization to ensure that every team member gives presentations that bear consistent characteristics of your organization.
Transition Effects
You can count on InsightPoint to help you move from one idea to the next in a smooth way, with about sixty transition effects available.

Design Theme Selector Picture 1       Design Theme Selector Picture 2

Click on button "Transition Effects" to display a list of transition effects, as shown in the above picture. Then select a transition effect from the list and decide how you would like it to be applied. You may also specify how long does the transition lasts. Use "0" for default transition duration. Click button "Click to apply" and the selected transition theme is applied accordingly.

Using the Library

The Graphic Elements Library

The graphic element library can help you draw some common symbols quickly. Creating your own library is also very simple.



The Library Navigator is located by the side of the other three navigators mentioned in the above. The above left figure is a snapshot of the Library Navigator. To view elements of some certain library, expand the viewer tree and double click on that specific library, and the library elements preview thumbnails are displayed in the preview panel as shown. To insert a certain library element into your drawing, simply hold down your mouse on that thumbnail and drag it to the desired location on canvas, and release your mouse button. After you release the button, the graphic element is placed in the desired location and the canvas enters the sub-edit mode. You can then edit properties such as brush paint, fill paint, line style and etc. of any sub-elements of the selected graphic element. You may also ungroup the sub-elements if the element contains more than one sub-elements.

You can also create your own library file from your current drawing project. By clicking on icon , you will be prompted a dialog box as shown the above right figure. From here, you can create a library file to share with your colleagues or simply for your own future reference.

To import a third-party library file, click on icon .

 

III. Working with Objects


Creating New Objects

Drawing a Rectangle

  1. Select the Rectangle Tool in the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button on canvas to start drawing, and drag the mouse.
  3. Release the mouse button to complete the rectangle.
To draw a perfect square, it is recommended to use the Regular Polygon Tool, and specify the number of sides to 4.

When you are using this tool, there is a special editor (as shown in the below figure) appearing to the bottom of the main toolbar. By clicking on the icon , you can turn on/off the ribbon mode. The ribbon drawing mode is handy for turning an object into ribbon-like shape. There is also a comparison example below.

Drawing a Rounded Rectangle

  1. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool in the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button on canvas to start drawing, and drag the mouse. As you drag, a rounded rectangle takes shape.
  3. Release the mouse button to complete.


When you are using this tool, there is a special editor (as shown in the above figure) appearing to the bottom of the main toolbar. You can use the editor to adjust the rounded rectangle's corner roundness, or, arc width and height.

Drawing a Straight Line

  1. Select the Line Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button on canvas to start drawing, and drag the mouse.
  3. Release the mouse button to complete the line.

Drawing a Regular Polygon

  1. Select the Regular Polygon Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button on canvas, and drag the mouse. As you drag, a regular polygon takes shape and changes interactively.
  3. Release the mouse button to complete.


When you are using this tool, there is a special editor (part of it is shown in the above figure) appearing to the bottom of the main toolbar. You can use the editor to specify number of sides and adjust its corner sharpness through changing the number of L/R ratio.

Drawing a Polygon

  1. Select the Polygon Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button at a desired location on canvas and drag the mouse. A new line segment of the polygon takes shape and changes interactively as you drag the mouse.
  3. Release the mouse button to finish current line segment.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to add another line segment to the polygon.
  5. To finish, double click on canvas or click icon Done Icon that appears to the bottom of the main toolbar. To cancel, click icon Cancel Icon.
  6. Right click on canvas to undo last line segment.

Drawing a Polyline/Curve

  1. Select the Curve Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. When you are using this tool, there is a special editor (as shown in the figure below) appearing to the bottom of the main toolbar.



    At any time during drawing the curve, you can specify from the editor what type of curve segments to draw: cubic bezier curve, quadratic bezier curve or straight line segment.

  3. Click on canvas to define the start point of the polyline/curve.
  4. Click on a second point and drag the mouse to define a new curve/line segment.
  5. Repeat the previous step to add another line/curve segment.
  6. You can always right click on canvas, or click icon Undo Segment Icon to undo the previous line/curve segment.
  7. To close path, click icon Close Path Icon.
  8. To finish, click icon Done Icon that appears to the bottom of the main toolbar. To cancel, click icon Cancel Icon.

Drawing a Circle, Arc, Chord, or Pie Shape

  1. Select the Circle Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button to start drawing, and drag the mouse. As you drag, a circle takes shape with its center being fixed at the start point.
  3. Release the mouse button to complete the circle.


When you are using this tool, there is a special editor (as shown in the above figure) appearing to the bottom of the main toolbar. You can use the editor to further specify what type of "circle" (regular circle, arc, chord, or pie) you would like to draw. And please don't forget to press key "Enter" if you choose to type in a number instead of adjusting the spinner for the angles.

Drawing an Ellipse, Arc, Chord, or Pie Shape

  1. Select one of the Ellipse Tools from the Toolbox.
  2. Follow similar guidelines for drawing a circle to draw an ellipse.

Drawing a Freehand Curve

  1. Select the Freehand Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to start the freehand drawing.
  3. Release the mouse button to finish.
You can use a freehand curve of wide line width (e.g., 12 points) and half opaque brush color to simulate a highlight marker (e.g., ).

Using the Text Tool

Basic Techniques:
  1. Select the Text Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Click on canvas where you want to position the text.
  3. A Text Input Panel appears above the status bar near the bottom of the application screen.
  4. Click inside the Text Input Panel and start typing.
  5. To finish, click icon Done Icon. To cancel, click icon Cancel Icon.
Tips:

Advanced Techniques:

     

The Text Tool comes with a built-in text parser that when enabled, understands the Simplified Text Mark-up Language (STML). When you use it properly, you can turn complex text editing task into a fun and easy experience. Take the following as an example, try typing x^{2}_{1}+y^{2}_{1} = z^{2}_{1} in the text input area, and check the "Parse" check box, you will notice that it's nicely formatted into an equation with "2" as the superscript, and "1" as the subscript. Note: However, if you do not use any scripting in the text, it is recommended that the "Parse" check box is left unchecked. Another example, {$m$x+y}, here {$m$...} means format anything enclosed as math formula, \sqrt{$m$x+y} mean square root x+y. The syntax is kind of a mix breed from XML and Latex. The templates on the input dialog can also help you quickly accomplish your equation/text tasks.
 

Using the Text Shape Tool

This tool is represented by the icon in the Toolbox. It is quite similar to the Text Tool, except that it creates hollow text, a blend of geometric shape and text.
Tips:
You may use the text shape to clip an image:

Importing an Image

  1. Select the Image Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. An image importing panel appears to the bottom of the main toolbar.



  3. Click on the button "Click to import image", and a file chooser dialog box pops up. Select an image file, and click button "Ok".
  4. On canvas, hold down the left mouse button at a start point, and drag the mouse to define a rectangular area for the image to fit in.
  5. Release the mouse button, and the image will be drawn into the defined rectangular area. Pay attention to the message displayed on the status bar. To preserve the original size of the image, check the "snap to original size" check box.
  6. To draw the image at a second location, just repeat steps 4 and 5. There is no need to go through steps 1 to 3 for the same image file. You may later transform (e.g. rotate or move) the image like other kinds of objects.


Drawing a Grid/Table

  1. Select the Grid Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. The grid/table editor appears to the bottom of the main toolbar.



  3. Use the grid editor to define rows and columns of the grid.
  4. On canvas, hold down the left mouse button at a start point, and drag the mouse to draw a grid/table of desired width and height.


Drawing a Three-Point Arc

  1. Select the Three-Point Arc Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Click (the first point) on canvas to define the center of the arc.
  3. Click (the second point) to define the long axis of the arc.
  4. Now as you move the mouse, an arc takes shape, click to finish the arc when you are satisfied.


Drawing a Dimension Line

  1. Select the Dimension Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. The dimension line editor appears to the bottom of the main toolbar.



  3. Use the dimension editor to define desired style and properties of the dimension line.
  4. Click (the first point) on canvas to define one end of the dimension line.
  5. Click (the second point) to define the other end of the dimension line.
  6. Now as you move the mouse, a dimension line takes shape, click to finish the dimension line when you are satisfied.
  7. You can use the General Inspector to redefine the arrowhead style for the dimension line.


 

Modifying Existing Objects

The Edit Tool

You can edit an object anytime you wish to change its properties. To edit an existing object:
  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object that you wish to change properties.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, click the left mouse button, and the object is locked into editing mode.
  4. Use the object inspectors located on right side of the main toolbar to redefine properties such as outline brush paint, fill paint, filter effect and etc..
  5. You may also translate the object by dragging the object from the center, resize the object by dragging the object from one of the eight handles that appears along the sides and corners of the object, rotate the object by dragging from outside of one of the corners of the object, or skew the object by dragging along the sides of the object.
  6. To finish editing, right click on canvas.

The Sub-Edit Tool

The only difference between the Edit Tool and the Sub-Edit Tool is how they handle a group object. The Edit Tool will treat a group-object as a single unit, and any property change will be apply to the whole group of objects. The Sub-Edit tool, however, is capable of singling out individual member (or sub-element) of the group object and apply change to that object only. To use the Sub-Edit Tool, Select from the Toolbox.

Using the Paint Picker

The Paint Picker Tool allows you to pick up paint from any object on a canvas, you can then subsequently apply the paint to other objects.
  1. Select the Paint Picker Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. Click the mouse over the paint/color that you would like to pick up.
  4. You can then drag the picked paint and drop (by releasing the mouse button) it over another object. And depending on where the paint is dropped (inside or at the shape path), the paint will be applied to either the brush or the fill of that object.


When you are using this tool, there is a special editor (as shown in the above figure) appearing to the bottom of the main toolbar. You can use the editor to indicate if the picked paint will be used for fill, brush or both in the future. There is also a sampler showing the value of the picked paint.

Using the Eraser Tool

The Eraser Tool becomes handy when you need to quickly erase some parts of an object.
  1. Select the Eraser Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. From the Eraser Editor that appears to the bottom of the main toolbar, specify the behavior of the eraser.




  3. Click and drag the mouse, and he objects intersects by the eraser curve will be erased accordingly.

Editing Path Nodes

This is a powerful tool that allows you to reshape a geometric object's path node by node:
  1. Select the Node Editing Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over a geometric shape object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, click the left mouse button, and the object is locked into node-editing mode. The nodes appear along the object's path.
  4. Hold down the left mouse button near a node to select it and drag the node to a desired location, then release the mouse button.



  5. Repeat step 4 to change another node of the path.
  6. To finish, click icon Done Icon that appears to the bottom of the main toolbar. To cancel, click icon Cancel Icon.

Extruding an Object

  1. Select the Extrude Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes selected, it is highlighted, and a small circle indicating the vanish point is also displayed. Keep moving the mouse the change the vanish point.
  4. Press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. An projection "copy" of the object changes with the mouse movement.
  5. Release the mouse button to finish the projection.

Moving an Object

  1. Select the Move Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. The object now moves along with the mouse pointer.
  4. Release the mouse button to complete.
Another way of translating an existing object is to edit it using the Transform Inspector.

Rotating an Object

  1. Select the Rotate Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. The object will become highlighted to indicate that it is selected. Press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. The object now rotates around the the mouse click point (rotating center as indicated by a small circle).
  4. Release the mouse button to complete.
Another way of rotating an existing object is to edit it using the Transform Inspector.

Scaling an Object

  1. Select the Scale Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. The object will become highlighted to indicate that it is selected. Press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. The object now scales (shrinks or grows) around the the vanish point as indicated by a small circle.
  4. Release the mouse button to complete.
Hints:

Skewing an Object

  1. Select the Skew Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. The object will become highlighted to indicate that it is selected. Press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. The object now skews around the the mouse click point (skewing center) as indicated by a small circle.
  4. Release the mouse button to complete.
Another way of skewing an existing object is to edit it using the Transform Inspector.

Flipping an Object Vertically

  1. Select the Vertical Flip Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, keep moving the mouse to a position around which you want to flip the object.
  4. Click the left mouse button, and the object is flipped vertically around the click point.

Flipping an Object Horizontally

  1. Select the Horizontal Flip Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, keep moving the mouse to a position around which you want to flip the object.
  4. Click the left mouse button, and the object is flipped horizontally around the click point.

Duplicating an Object

  1. Select the Duplicate Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. A new copy of the object is created and moving along with the mouse pointer.
  4. Release the mouse button to settle down the new copy.
To learn how to copy object to the clipboard for sharing with other applications, refer to the section "copying objects to the clipboard".

Stretching an Object

  1. Select the Stretch Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Select one of the stretch method from the stretch tool editor.



  3. Click on an object to select for stretch.
  4. When the object becomes highlighted, drag on one of the handle to stretch the object along a desired direction.
  5. Release the mouse button to finish this stage of stretch. You can drag on another handle for a second stretch.
  6. To finish stretching on the object, right click on canvas.
  7. Please note that stretching on image is not supported at this moment.

Welding Objects

The welding tool lets you connect several objects to create one object. If the objects you are welding have overlapped areas, the overlapped areas will be bound with other connected areas, creating a single continuous area with one outline.



When you are welding two objects together, one of them would act as the target object to which the other selected object is welded.

To weld objects together:
  1. Select the Weld Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Left click and drag the object that you would like to weld to some other object (target).
  3. Drop (release the mouse button) the object at the target where you would like them to weld together.

Trimming Objects

The trimming tool lets you cut a target object into pieces using other intersecting objects as trimmers. There is always one object acting as the target object from which intersections with the other object (trimmer) are trimmed.





To trim an object:
  1. Select the Trim Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Left click and drag the object that you would like to weld to some other object (target).
  3. Drop (release the mouse button) the object at the target where you would like them to weld together.


Please note that you can use the Trim Tool editor to specify if you would like to trim path or area and if you would like to keep the trimmed intersections.

Applying Gradient Paint

This tool allows you to apply linear gradient and radial gradient paints to objects, including texts.



  1. Select the Gradient Paint Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Use the the gradient paint editor appearing to the bottom of the main toolbar to define gradient type (linear or radial), the way to apply it to objects (brush and/or fill), padding method (simple pad, reflect or repeat), and gradient colors (the default colors are black and white). You can add as many colors as you want to the gradient. And use the space adjuster to specify how you would like the colors to be distributed between the start point and end point.



  3. Hold down the left mouse button at a location (start point) near the object which you wish to fill with a gradient paint, and drag the mouse.
  4. Release the mouse at a location on canvas where you would like it to be the end point of the gradient.
  5. When you are done, objects intersecting with the line between the start point and the end point will be filled with the defined gradient paint.

Deleting an Object

  1. Select the Delete Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, click the left mouse button and the object is deleted.
  4. To delete another object, repeat steps 2 and 3.
To delete objects on the current canvas all at once, click icon on the main toolbar.

Using the Tracer

The tracer tool can assist you quickly create a series of similar objects. When it is activated, it traces your mouse movements during your drawing and creates a series of objects accordingly. When a tool is traceable, e.g., the Circle Tool or the Rotate Tool, a tracer editor would appear along with that tool's editor. A sample tracer editor looks like this:



The following scenerio illustrates the concept of tracer:
  1. Select the Center-fixed Circle Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Click the Tracer icon on the editor that appears to the bottom of the main toolbar to enable the tracer. The customize the tracer parameters accordingly.
  3. Click and drag the mouse. A series of equal spacing, concentric circles will be then drawn on canvas.


Please note that the tracer tool is a toggle tool. To turn off the tracer, click the same button again.
The second image in the above is another example that was created by the apply Rotation+Tracer Enabled on a single object.

Ungrouping Objects

  1. Select the Ungroup Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object-group. Please note that only object groups will be highlighted when the mouse pointer moves over.
  3. When the object group becomes highlighted, click the left mouse button, and the objects in the group are ungrouped.
To learn how to group objects together, refer to the Marquee Selection Tool.

 

Using the Marquee Selection Tool

The marquee selection tool is a small tool set that encompasses some tools related to group of objects. To use the marquee selection tool:
  1. Select the Marquee Selection Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to define a rectangular region (marquee) on canvas. The objects intersecting with the defined region are selected.
  3. Release the mouse button. A pop-up menu (as shown in the below picture) appears.



  4. Select an option from the pop-up menu to perform a desirable task.
Details about these menu options are explained in the following.

Align Selection

As you can see from the above figure, the Align Selection menu item has a sub-menu, and what it basically does is to let you quickly and precisely align the selected objects. No more endless tweaking. When you select the option "Align into a Grid", you will also be prompted to specify number of rows for laying out the selected objects into a grid.

Copy Objects

This option allows you to copy the selected objects to the system clipboard, and you can later use the paste tool to paste them back onto the same canvas, or onto another canvas. When they get pasted, they appear as one single object group if more than one object was selected.

Copy as Image

The Copy as Image tool compiles the selected region (not including the locked objects) into an image, and then transfers the built image to the system clipboard. The image now becomes available to most programs that have implemented image cut-and-paste function. For example, you can paste the image to a word processor document. Of course, you may paste it back to the same canvas, however, this time as an image, not as an object group. Please note that the image is automatically assigned a white background. To get transparent-background image of the selected region, please select the option of Export Selection and export it to a PNG file.

Create (Custom) Pattern



A pattern is some kind of periodic texture paint built from one or more objects (a.k.a graphic elements). It is unique to InsightPoint that you can easily turn any of your designs into a custom pattern paint, and use that paint to fill and/or brush other objects. When a pattern is created, it becomes immediately available to all objects. It is also placed on the pattern palette of the Advanced Pattern Chooser for future reference. You may also create pattern out of a single object by right click on that object and select option "Create Pattern" from the pop-up menu.

Print Preview (Selection)

Sometimes it is desirable to print only selected part of your designs. This option allows you to print preview only the selected region, excluding the background and design theme, and you can then print from the preview panel.

Export Selection

This option allows you to quickly export only selected part of your designs, excluding the background and design theme, to an image file. When you choose this option, a file chooser dialog will pop up, prompting for a file to export. You can also select from the dialog's "Files of Type" pull-down menu to determine what kind of image format to export: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, or BMP. If you want the image to have a transparent background, PNG format is recommended.

Merge Objects

The merge tool lets you connect several objects to create one object. However, it differs from the Weld Tool in that the Weld Tool concerns about connecting areas enclosed by objects while this merge tool concerns about connecting paths of objects. Therefore while it is possible to merge together shapes whose enclosed areas are zero (e.g. single straight lines), it is not possible to do so with the Weld Tool. The merged object will retain the properties of the target object who has the lowest stacking order. To simplify the matter, you may just want to assign a lower layer number to the object that you wish to use as the target. The following figure compares the concepts of Weld, Trim, Merge and Group.



Group Objects

Objects grouped together behave like a unit. They transform such as move or rotate together without changing relative positions. And when you edit a group using the General Inspector, the new properties will be applied to all objects in the group. Therefore, if you want to change some property, say, fill paint of several objects all at once, you may group them together first, and then use the Edit Tool to change that property. You can then ungroup them for further editing of other properties. If you like several objects to animate together, you may also group them first, then use the SVG Animation Tool to add animation to the object group.

 

An Extra Tool Set You Should Know

When you are using one of the tools in the Toolbox, right click your mouse pointer on an object, you will notice a menu pop up, as shown in the following picture.



Bring Forward/Send Backward

The options of Bring Forward and Send Backward is related to rearranging the stacking order of the selected object, in regard to other objects on the same layer of the object. Selecting Bring Forward will bring the object to the front of all other objects on the same layer, and selecting Send Backward will put the object behind all other objects on the same layer.

Lock/Unlock an Object

All objects are created in the free state, that is, they can be freely transformed and changed. To prevent an object from being transformed or altered in any way, you may want to lock it. This becomes handy when you don't want an object to interfere with future changes made to the canvas. And if you want to make change to an object in the locked state, you have to unlock it first.

You can lock/unlock all objects on a layer through the Layer Navigator. Simply right click on the layer node and select option "Lock Layer" or "Unlock Layer" from the pop-up menu.

You can lock/unlock all objects on current canvas at once. Go to menu Project > Lock all objects to lock all objects. To unlock all objects, Go to menu Project > Unlock all objects.

Change An Object's Layer

Selecting the option of Send from layer... will send the object from current layer to another layer. For more information about layer, see the sections on layer manipulation and layer and stacking order.

Project to Another Page

This option allows you to quickly mirror the object onto another page. So whenever the object is changed on one page , it will be reflected on another page.

Copy to Another Page

This option allows you to quickly clone the selected object to another slide.

Copy to All Slides

This option allows you to quickly clone the selected object to all slides of the current project.

Project to All Pages

This option allows you to quickly mirror the object onto all pages. So whenever the object is changed on one page , it will be reflected on other pages.

Copy (Single) Object

This option allows you to copy the selected object to the system clipboard, and you can later use the paste tool to paste it back onto the same canvas, or onto another canvas.

Copy (Single Object) as Image

The Copy as Image tool compiles the selected object into an image, and then transfer the built image to the system clipboard. The image now becomes available to most programs that have implemented image cut-and-paste function. For example, you can paste the image to a word processor document. Of course, you may paste it back to the same canvas, however, this times as an image, not as an exact copy of the object. Please note that the image is automatically assigned a white background. To get transparent-background image of the selected object, please select the option of Export Single Object and export it to a PNG file.

Print Preview Object

Sometimes it is desirable to print only selected part of your designs. This option allows you to print preview only the selected region, excluding the background and design theme, and you can then print from the preview panel.

Export Single Object

This option allows you want to quickly export only selected part of your designs, excluding the background and design theme, to an image file. When you choose this option, a file chooser dialog will pop up, prompting for a file to export. You can also select from the dialog's "Files of Type" pull-down menu to determine what kind of image format to export: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, or BMP. If you want to have the image to have a transparent background, PNG format is recommended.

Create (Single Object) Pattern



The above picture illustrated creating pattern from a single object (actually a group-object formed by two objects). A pattern is some kind of periodic texture paint built from one or more objects (a.k.a graphic elements). It is unique to InsightPoint that you can easily turn any of your designs into a custom pattern paint, and use that paint to fill and/or brush other objects. When a pattern is created, it becomes immediately available to all objects. It is also placed on the pattern palette of the Advanced Pattern Chooser for future reference. To create pattern from a custom defined region (in contrast to a single object), use the Marquee Selection Tool

 

More about Object Properties

Paint

Besides using Gradient Paint Tool in the Toolbox, you may also use the General Inspector to customize an object's fill and/or brush paint. Click icon of the General Inspector to invoke the Color Chooser to define brush paint, and icon to define fill paint.

Bind/Unbind Paint to an Object

Most objects except image and freehand curve are created with paint unbound, which means that their fill/brush paints do not transform together with the object. For instance, the fill remains stationary when the object moves or rotates. If you are using a large image as a fill paint for a shape with paint unbound, then you are creating an effect of clipping different parts of the image when you transform the object.

When a paint is bound with an object, the paint will transform with the object, that is, the relative position of the paint inside the object will not change if you move or rotate the object. However, it also means the paint will also grow or shrink accordingly if you resize the object. The following picture illustrates the concept of binding paint.

To bind or undbind paint to an object, toggling the button on the General Editor when editing the object.



To modify the relative position of a paint bound to a geometric shape object, use the Spatial Phase Inspector to shift its relative position within the object.

Working with the Color Chooser



The Color Chooser dialog box pops up each time when you are performing a color-choosing task (changing background, brush/fill paint, and etc.). In the dialog box, you can select any color and adjust the color opacity. There are four ways to choose a color: Swatches, HSB, RGB, and Named Colors. When you choose a color using the Swatches panel, the color you choose will be recorded in the small "Recent" color palette.

When you are customizing an object's brush or fill paint, the button at the bottom left corner of the Color Chooser is also enabled. Clicking that button will bring out the Advanced Paint Chooser.

Working with the Advanced Paint Chooser

The Advanced Paint Chooser allows you to apply pattern or texture paints to objects. It is activated by a click on the "Advanced" button at the bottom left corner of the Color Chooser. However, the Advanced Paint Chooser is only available for defining brush and fill paint. You can notice that "Advanced" button is disabled when you are choosing color for object backgroundor canvas background.

In the Advanced Paint Chooser, you have three ways to define paint for an object:

  1. Use predefined patterns. Click on any one of the predefined patterns at the upper left of the dialog box, and the selected pattern will appear on the demo panel on the right side.



    By using the tools on the tiny toolbar beneath the demo panel, you can further fine tune the properties of a selected pattern. These properties are customizable: foreground color, line style, background color, anti-aliasing, and pattern period.
  2. Use an existing image on disk. Click on the picture button to the left of the texture opacity slider, a file chooser will then appear.



    Choose the image file that you want to use as the brush/fill paint. An icon representing the image will then be placed in the texture palette, so that in the future when you wish to use it again, you simply select the icon without the need to open the file for a second time. You can use the texture opacity slider to customize the image paint opacity.
  3. Use a custom defined pattern. This pattern could have been created by the Create Pattern Tool.


Customizing Line Style

InsightPoint has implemented a full-featured line style editor, which allows you to create sophisticated line styles for object paths. To define line style for an object's path:
  1. Go to the General Inspector when it is visible, and click icon . A menu listing some predefined line styles then appears.



  2. If you want to use one of the predefined line style, select it from the menu, and you are done. Or, if you need more seasoned line style, proceed to the following steps.
  3. Select option "More" from the menu. The Line Style Editor dialog box appears. Use of the editor is quite self-explained.
  4. Use the line width spinner to change the line width. Notice that whenever you make change to a property, the demo panel on the right side will be updated to let you preview the line style.
  5. To make a dash line, enter a number into the text field beneath button "add the dash", and click the button. A dash is added to the line style, and the button label changes to "add the gap". Enter a number in the text field and click the button again if you want a gap with length different from the dash. To reset the dash, click the "reset" button.
  6. The cap style and join style do not make much difference when the line is thin. To experiment with them, choose a thick line width, e.g., 10-point line width.

Adding/Removing Arrowhead

There are dozens of predefined arrowheads which you can choose to apply to object paths. The width, height and orientation of any one of the predefined arrowheads are also customizable. You can apply any number of arrowheads along an object's path. To apply arrowheads to an object's path:
  1. Go to the General Inspector when it is visible, and click icon . A menu listing predefined arrowheads then appears.

         

  2. If you want to use one of the predefined arrowhead, select it from the menu, and you are done. Select "None" for the default (i.e., no arrowhead). Or, if you need to further customize one of them, proceed to the following steps.
  3. Select option "More" from the menu. The Arrowhead Editor dialog box appears.
  4. Use of the ArrowHead Editor is quite self-explained. Select an arrowhead style from its style drop-down menu.
  5. Enter numbers into appropriate text fields to change width, height and orientation of the arrowhead.
  6. Click button "Ok" to apply the change. The next time when you draw an object, the arrowhead will be applied to the new shape. Or, if you are editing an object, the arrowhead will be applied to the object immediately.

Anti-Aliasing

Anti-Aliasing is a technique used to smooth out the jagged appearance, known as aliasing, in graphical elements such as tilted lines, curves, and circles.



To turn off anti-aliasing mode on canvas level: To toggle anti-aliasing mode on individual object level:

click icon on the General Inspector. However, toggling this command will not affect an object's appearance if the canvas's anti-aliasing mode is off.

Adding Hyperlink

You are possibly familiar with a web page link, which when activated or clicked, redirects you to another resource such as another web page, an image or even a video clip. The Hyperlink Tool allows you to create a link on an object, so when the object is viewed in a SVG compatible browser, you can click on it to access the resource to which the link points.

To assign a hyperlink to an existing object:

  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, click the left mouse button.
  4. The object is then selected for editing. And the General Inspector appears under edit mode.
  5. Click icon on the General Inspector, and a text dialog box pops up.
  6. Enter link information into the text box, and click button "OK" to create the link.
  7. To change the link on the object or create a link on another object, repeat steps 2 through 5.
To view SVG in action, please refer to the section of Previewing SVG Show for more information.

Adding Description

The description of an object is used as the tool tip when the object becomes an element of a graphic element library or when the project is deployed to a SVG file.

To assign a description to an existing object:

  1. Select the Edit Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. Move the mouse pointer over an object.
  3. When the object becomes highlighted, click the left mouse button.
  4. The object is then selected for editing. And the General Inspector appears under edit mode.
  5. Click icon on the General Inspector, and a text dialog box pops up.
  6. Enter description information into the text box, and click button "OK".

Layers and Stacking Order

By default, all objects are placed on layer 0. When two objects are drawn on the same layer, the second object is automatically stacked on the first one. This stacking order becomes apparent when two objects with opaque fills overlap.

Layers are invisible planes that stack on top of one another along the direction out of the screen. An object with a lower layer number always has a lower stacking order than those with higher layer numbers. For instance, an object on layer +1 is stacked over an object on layer -1.

When you draw a new object, that object is automatically added to the currently active layer, which is indicated by a (*) label by the corresponding layer-node on the Layer Navigator tree. To make a layer active, simply click on that layer node. The layer navigator is a great tool for you to organize objects into layers. Right click on each node for layer manipulation options. Double click a layer-node to focus your work on that single layer only.

 

IV. Canvas and Project

Working with Canvas

Changing Canvas Background

Changing Dimension

Please refer to the Canvas Styles Editor for more information.

Using Canvas Grid

Sometimes it may be desirable to turn on the canvas grid (grid size is adjustable) for precise placement of objects on canvas.
  1. Click icon on the main toolbar, or select menu Project > Show canvas grid.
  2. A small grid-spacing dialog pops up beneath the icon . Use it to adjust the grid spacing. The default spacing is 18 points, or a quarter inch. When you adjust the grid size, you will also see the change of grid on canvas interactively.
  3. This is a toggle tool. To turn off the grid, choose the same command again.

Snap to Grid

The Snap to Grid tool is complimentary to the above Grid tool. Once enabled, the mouse pointer motion on canvas will be automatically restricted to the nearest grid point (this becomes obvious when you also turn on the canvas grid).
  1. To turn on Snap-to-Grid, Click icon on the main toolbar, or select menu Project > Snap to grid.
  2. This is a toggle tool. To turn off the restriction, choose the same command again.

Zoom in, Zoom out

The Zoom Tools are used to magnify (zoom in) or shrink (zoom out) your VIEW of a canvas. However, they have no effect on your drawings. In drawing a small object, you may want to zoom in to have better view of its details. For a canvas with complex drawings, you may want to zoom out for faster rendering on screen.

To zoom in, keep clicking icon on the main toolbar, or choosing menu Project > Zoom in until the canvas is zoomed to a desired scale. The zoom scale factor can be found in the Canvas title, e.g., "Project 1.0:1.0". To zoom out, keep clicking icon on the main toolbar, or choosing menu Project > Zoom out. You can also press CTRL-PLUS keys to zoom in, and CTRL-MINUS keys to zoom out.
Important Notes:
One thing to bear in mind is that, for rendering speed purpose, texts are not zoomed to precise alignment. Therefore, to get a better idea how your text will look like on output, it is better to view it under a zoom factor of 1.0.

Undo, Redo

You can have up to 30 undo history stacks. To undo last drawing action, click icon on the main toolbar or choose menu Edit > Undo. To redo, click icon or choose menu Edit > Redo. You can purge the undo queue by choosing menu Edit > Purge undo queue. Doing so will prevent any previous action from being undone. Purging the undo queue may also help release some memory resources.

Panning a Canvas

A canvas is always positioned at the top left corner of the canvas frame at the time of creation. To pan the canvas:
  1. Click icon on the main toolbar.
  2. Press the left mouse button at any location on the canvas, and drag the mouse. You will notice the drift of the canvas. Release mouse button to complete.

Cleaning up a Canvas

Click icon on the main toolbar, or select menu Edit > Clear All. This will wipe out all objects on current working canvas.
If you mistakenly activate this command, use the Undo Tool to restore all objects.

Pasting from the Clipboard

You can find the Paste Tool either on the main toolbar or on the menu Edit > Paste from clipboard. Recently copied objects, image, or texts can be pasted to the current canvas using this tool. Please remember that if the pasted element contains more than one objects, these objects could have been grouped. To modify them individually, ungroup them first or use the Sub-Edit Tool.

About Auto-Edit Mode

Under auto-edit mode, every time immediately following the creation of a new object, e.g., a rectangle, the drawing enters edit mode. You can then translate the object by dragging the object from the center, resize the object by dragging the object from one of the eight handles that appears along the sides and corners of the object, rotate the object by dragging from outside of one of the corners of the object, or skew the object by dragging along the sides of the object. You may also use the Object Inspectors to change the properties such as line style, fill paint and etc..

To turn off/on the auto-edit mode, you can click the icon on the main tool bar.

Getting the Project to Deliver

Creating a New Project

  1. Choose menu File > New , or click icon on the main toolbar.
  2. Use the pop-up Master Layout Editor to set the style of the document such as dimension and background color.
  3. You may choose to set the document's meta data by clicking button "Next>>" at the bottom of the editor, or click button "Ok" to finish.

Open Folder

After you click on the "Open Folder" icon on the main toolbar, a file chooser dialog will pop up, prompting you to choose a file directory that contains the graphic files you would like to turn into slides. Click "Ok" after you select a directory, and a new project will be created based on the graphic files inside the selected folder.

Tun Image File into a Slide

Click on "Import Image" icon on the main toolbar, a file chooser dialog will pop up, prompting you to choose an image file that you would like to turn it into a single slide. Click "Ok" when you are done.

Render XML into graphics

Computers communicate in XML well, not human beings. InsightPoint provide the solution for you to render arbitrary XML file into vector graphics through your valid XSLT. To experiment how it works, copy the following files sales.xml (right click, and choose option "Save Target as...") and chart.xsl to a proper directory. Then click "Render XML" icon on the main toolbar. You will see a dialog pop up.

   

Click "Browse" and select the "sales.xml" file for the "XML source file" text field, and "chart.xsl" file for the "XSL style sheet" text field, then click "Ok", you will see the "sales.xml" is rendered into a graphics as shown in the above.

Working with Meta Data Editor



The Document Meta Data Editor is invoked by clicking icon on the main toolbar. It allows you to edit the document's meta-data such as document title, author(s), abstract and etc.. The information is used to generate html splash page when the project is deployed into a SVG slide show. You may also choose to generate a title slide by checking the option "create a title page".

Saving a Project

To save a new project:
  1. Choose menu File > Save or File > Save as, press keys CTRL-S, or click icon or on the main toolbar. The Saving dialog appears.
  2. Navigate to the desirable file folder, and enter a file name in the File Name text field.
  3. Click the Save button to save. To cancel, click Cancel button.
To resave a previously saved project:
Simply select menu File > Save, or press keys CTRL-S, or click click icon . No dialog appears, and the project is automatically saved to its original location. Note that the original file is actually overwritten. If you want to save the project to a different file, choose menu File > Save as or click icon click icon .
 

Opening a File

  1. Choose menu File > Open, or click icon on the main toolbar.
  2. Select a file, and click button "Ok" to open.

Previewing SVG Show

To preview your project's slide show, go to menu File > Preview slide show or click icon on the main toolbar.

You must have a SVG viewer plug-in installed in your web browser to view the slide show. It is likely that you already have one installed, however, in case you don't, you may download one here.

Creating Slide Show

  1. Select menu File > Create slide show, or click icon on the main toolbar. A file chooser dialog appears.
  2. Navigate to the desirable file folder, and enter a file name in the File Name text field.
  3. Click the Save button to save. To cancel, click Cancel button.
You may create your slide show in either SVG format or SVGZ format. The default is SVG format. To save it in SVGZ format, select "GZIP Compressed SVG (*svgz)" from the "Files of type" pull-down menu. When saved in SVG format, resource files such as external images and sound clips are stored separately under the same folder as the main SVG file. This offers great flexibility as later if you need to change a resource file (e.g., a sound clip), you don't need to edit or regenerate the SVG file. Simply replacing the old sound file with the new one with the same file name will do the trick. When saved in SVGZ format, everything is packed into a single, more compact file, and thus makes it more portable and easier to share with your colleagues or friends. You may also consider creating your slide show in SVGZ format if you intend to publish it on the Internet.

Print Previewing Slides

  1. Choose menu File > Print preview, or click the icon on the main toolbar.
  2. The current canvas will be turned into a print preview page. And at the top of the preview page is a print control panel.



Working with the print control panel:
You may also selectively print part of a canvas, please refer to the Marquee Selection Tool for more information.

Printing Slides

You may directly print current project slides/pages by clicking icon on the main toolbar or choosing menu File > Print. However, for a better control of printout, it is recommended to print through the print preview panel.

Exporting Slides to Bitmap Image Files

To export all slides to bitmap image files, select menu File > Export > All Slides > PNG (or JPEG).
To export current slide to a bitmap image file, select menu File > Export > Current slide > Bitmap.
To create bitmap thumbnail files for all slides, select menu File > Create thumbnail > All Slides.
To create bitmap thumbnail files for current slide, select menu File > Create thumbnail > Current slide.