Drawing with OpenOffice Draw

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Start OpenOffice Draw from the main menu in the Office submenu. Or you can open a drawing from Writer by clicking File and selecting New->Drawing. An open drawing window is shown in Figure 13-6.

Figure 13-6. OpenOffice Draw.


When you create a new drawing, the page is blank. The object toolbar and the main toolbar (left) offer selections related to drawing. The object toolbar specifies black lines with blue filler, which can be changed by selecting from the drop-down list.

In the figure, a rectangle has been added to the drawing. The rectangle shape tool opens by long-clicking the fourth icon down on the main toolbar. The fly-out menu is torn off in the figure and moved closer to the drawing. The rectangle is selected, showing its handles. Drag the handles with the mouse to resize the rectangle. The cursor is inside the rectangle, but is a crosshair, rather than a pointer. The crosshair allows you to drag the rectangle anywhere on the drawing page. The left and the top of the window are numbered rulers. Markers move on the rulers to identify the location of the cursor. Currently, the markers show the cursor at 3,3.

The two shape buttons below the rectangle button allow you to add ovals and circles and 3D shapes. The large T icon adds a text box where you can insert text.

Below these buttons are buttons that allow you to add lines to the drawing. Long-clicking the first line button opens a fly-out menu with some line styles you can select, as shown on the right. More line choices are available on the object toolbar. Drop-down lists allow you to set the width and style of the lines, such as continuous, dashed, dotted, etc. You can select a style of arrowhead to add to either end of the line. Click the arrowhead button to the left of the line style drop-down list to see a fly-out menu, shown on the left.

When you have more than one shape on the drawing page, you can align them. Select all the shapes you want to align using shift-click. Long-click the align button on the main toolbar and select an alignment method from the fly-out toolbar shown to the right.

You can group shapes together, so that they move together when you drag them. Select all the shapes to group using shift-click. Right-click the shapes and select Group. The shapes are now a single group, moving as one. You can still edit a single shape in the group. Right-click the group and select Enter Group. You can now select one shape and change it, without ungrouping the shapes.

You can flip and rotate a shape or group of shapes. Right-click the shape to be rotated and select Flip. Select Vertically or Horizontally. To rotate, right-click the shape and select Position and Size. Click the Rotation tab to see the window to the right. You can select the axis around which to rotate. (The center is the default.) Then, select the degree of rotation, such as 90 degrees. Remember, you can undo any changes, so feel free to experiment.

You can save your drawing in one of several graphics formats. Click File and select Export to save as HTML, PDF, Flash, .bmp, .jpg, .png, and other formats.

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    Spring Into Linux
    Spring Into Linux
    ISBN: 0131853546
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 362
    Authors: Janet Valade

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