J-Domain, JDraw Help

JDraw Help

JDraw is a pixel oriented graphics editor and easy to use. This document will help you to find your way around.
The following sections explain JDraw's various features:

  1. Supported Image Formats
  2. The Main Window
  3. The Colour Palette
  4. The Menu
  5. The Toolbar
  6. The Settings Dialog
  7. The Frame Settings Dialog
  8. Shortcuts

 

1. Supported Image Formats

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JDraw can read the following formats:

Images can be saved in the following formats:

To save a GIF or PNG interlaced, choose "Save As..." from the file menu, select the "GIF/PNG Images (Interlaced)" file filter and save your image.

 

2. The Main Window

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In JDraw a picture can consist of any number of frames. A picture is associated with a global palette of colours. Frames can either use this global or their own local palette.
Multiple frames can only be saved as GIFs or ICOs. When saving as PNG, only the current frame is considered.


JDraw's Main Screen Sections

The picture above enumerates the main screen sections of JDraw.

  1. The Toolbar consists of buttons, that are either shortcuts to menu elements or represent drawing tools. Its various buttons are explained in section 5.
  2. The Preview window shows the currently edited frame in its original size.
  3. The Drawing Pane displays the current frame in the current grid width. When scrolled to a different portion of the image, the preview is updated correspondingly. How to draw is the topic of section 5.2, which introduces the various drawing tools.
  4. Each frame that is part of the current picture has its own Frame Tab. To edit a specific frame just click on its symbol at the bottom of the drawing panel.
  5. Some tools support gradient colour fill. The Gradient Panel shows the selected filling form. (See section 3.2)
  6. Each frame uses either a local or the picture's global Colour Palette. Colour selection and related topics are covered in section 3.

 

3. The Colour Palette

The colour palette displays the colours that the current frame uses - named "main palette" - and the current gradient filling form - named "gradient palette". While the main palette always relates to the current frame, the gradient settings are global and don't change, when a different frame is selected. The next two sections describe the two palettes.

3.1 - The Main Palette Top

The main palette is either the picture's global palette or a local one, that is only used by a subset of the picture's frames. The blue title bar reflects the palette's visibility. You can click this bar to open the menu bar's palette menu as a context menu.

Each colour in a palette is represented by a small box filled in the corresponding colour. Such a palette entry can have the following decorations:

A tiny white box in the upper left corner means the colour is the current foreground colour. It's associated with the left mouse button when drawing.
To select the current foreground colour, left-click on a palette entry.
A tiny black box in the lower right corner means the colour is the current background colour. It's associated with the right (or middle) mouse button when drawing.
To select the current background colour, right-click on a palette entry.
A white rectangle around the box means the colour is the frame's background. This colour shines through transparent pixels, if "Colour" is selected as the transparency representation (see the corresponding menu item).
To select the frame's background colour, right-click on a palette entry while pressing the Ctrl-key.
If the box is completely filled with a pattern of tiny gray tiles the colour is the frame's transparent colour.
To select the transparent colour, left-click on a palette entry while pressing the Ctrl-key.
A colour that's not fully opaque is represented by two triangles. The upper left triangle is the transparent pattern, the lower triangle shows the colour itself.

Edit a colour To edit a colour's RGB and alpha values double-click a palette entry. This opens the colour editor dialog which - hopefully - is self-explanatory.

3.2 - The Gradient Palette Top

"Gradient fill" means to smoothly change from one colour to another. The gradient palette let's you choose these two colours and set the direction of the colour change.

The two boxes to the right and left of the gradient palette represent the two colours that define the gradient fill. Double-click them to modify their RGB and alpha values.

Select one of the boxes between the two gradient colours to specify the direction of the gradient fill. From left to right and row by row these can be the following:

  • Top to bottom
  • Left to right
  • Upper left corner to lower right corner
  • Lower left corner to upper right corner
  • Top to middle
  • Left to middle
  • Upper left corner to middle
  • Lower left corner to middle

The "Cycle" check box affects the fill patterns in the second row. After reaching the middle, the colour change is repeated back to the starting colour.

The "Invert" check box applies to all patterns and swaps the two selected colours with each other.

 

4. The Menu

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File Menu
New

Creates a new 32x32 picture using the default palette.

Open...

Asks for a file name and loads the selected picture.

Search Images...

Opens a new window. Here you can choose a file filter and the directory that will recursively be searched for images. Just hit the "Search" button to begin. The images that are found will be displayed by small thumb nails. Left-click on such a thumb nail to open yet another window displaying the image at full size. If you want to edit it in JDraw, choose "Open" in this window.

Save

Saving as GIF or ICO will ask you to reduce colours, if the picture's palettes use more than 255 colours.
Note - Saving as PNG refers only to the current frame. Saving multiple frames in a PNG is not supported.

Save as...

Asks for a file name and saves the picture.

Save compressed

Compresses the picture before it's saved. (see the corresponding menu item)

Settings...

Brings up JDraw's setting dialog. (see The settings dialog)

Last Files...

Let's you reopen one of the last ten images you previously worked on.

Exit

Quits JDraw

Edit Menu
Undo

Undoes the last drawing action.
Note - Only the primitive tool actions can be undone. Complex functions like colour reduction or changing the frame settings cannot be undone.The undo function is somewhat untrustworthy after a complex change. So save often. :)

Redo

Redoes the last undone action.

Resize...

Asks for the new dimension and resizes the picture (without scaling it).

Crop Image

Crops the image to the currently selected clip (see tools section).

Scale Image...

Asks for the new dimension and scales the picture. You can choose between smooth, average and fast scaling. Scaling can increase the size of your palette.

Flip Clip Horizontally

Flips the currently selected clip horizontally (see tools section).

Flip Clip Vertically

Flips the currently selected clip vertically (see tools section).

Rotate Clip 90º

Rotates the currently selected clip 90º clock-wise. (see tools section).

Compress

Removes all unused colours in the picture's palettes. Removes local palettes if they do not differ from the global palette.

Reduce to 255 colours

Combines similar colours until all frames of this picture use maximally 255 colours.

Reset Alpha Values

Replaces all (semi-)transparent colours with their opaque equivalent.

View Menu
Increase Zoom

Increases the current grid size by 1.

Decrease Zoom

Decreases the current grid size by 1.

Set previous Zoom

Sets the previous grid size.

Maximum Zoom

Sets the maximum grid size (25x25 pixels)

Minimum Zoom

Sets the minimum grid size (1x1 pixels, displays the picture in its original size)

Hide Grid/Show Grid

Shows or hides the grid lines.

Hide Views/Show Views

Shows or hides the palette and tool panels.

Transparency as Colour/as Pattern

Specifies what is visible, if a pixel is transparent. If "Pattern" is selected, the pictures background is displayed as tiny gray tiles. If "Colour" is selected the picture's background colour shines through transparent pixels.

View Animation...

Displays the current picture as an animated GIF. Behaves like a preview, if the picture contains only a single frame.

Frame Menu
Add Frame

Adds a new frame to the picture.

Remove Frame

Removes the current frame from the picture.

Rotate...

Asks for a rotation angle (-360º..+360º) and rotates the current frame.

Insert Image...

Asks for a file name, reads the corresponding image and pastes it into the current frame.

Grayscale...

Grayscales the current frame. You're asked to set two parameters that define how strong the effect will be.

Frame Settings...

Opens the "Frame Settings" dialog. See section 6.

Palette Menu
Create/Discard Local Palette

Either creates a local palette for the current frame or discards it to use the picture's global palette.

Add Colour

Adds a new colour to the frame's palette.

Swap Colours

Replaces all pixels in the current foreground colour with the background colour and vice versa.

Remove Colour

Removes the current foreground colour from the frame's palette. All pixels in this colour are replaced with the palette's first colour (#0).

Sort Colours

Sorts the palette by the colours' HSB values (HSB=hue, saturation, brightness).

Remove unused colours

Removes all unused colours in the current palette. All frames using this palette are considered.

Reduce to 255 colours

Combines similar colours until the current palette uses maximally 255 colours. All frames using this palette are considered.

Reset Alpha Values

Replaces all (semi-)transparent colours in the current palette with their opaque aquivalent. All frames using this palette are considered.

Help Menu
About...

Displays JDraw's About dialog to tell you about Source Forge and J-Domain.

Help...

Displays this document as online help.

 

5. The Toolbar

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The tool bar consists of menu shortcuts and tool buttons. The following two sections explain these elements.

5.1 Menu Shortcuts Top
Shortcut to the Save menu item.
Shortcut to the Open menu item.
Shortcut to the Undo menu item.
Shortcut to the Redo menu item.
Shortcut to the Add Frame menu item.
Shortcut to the Remove Frame menu item.
Shortcut to the View Animation menu item.
Shortcut to the Crop menu item.
5.2 Tools Top

Note - Initially JDraw was designed to support GIF pictures only. GIF allows only one transparent colour and no semi-transparency. The various tools may have strange effects when you work with many (semi-)transparent colours.

The pixel tool let's you draw single pixels. Click and drag the mouse over the draw panel to set pixels. Pressing the left mouse button sets pixels in the current foreground colour, the right mouse button sets the background colour.

The fill tool fills an enclosed image area with the foreground colour (left-click) or the background colour (right-click).
If you Ctrl-click, the whole image is considered and not just an enclosed area. This can be helpful if you want to replace a couple of similar colours in one go.

The colour picker selects a colour when you click on a pixel in the drawing panel. Left-clicking sets the foreground colour, right-clicking the background colour.

The line tool draws lines. Click into the drawing panel and drag the mouse to the line's end point. Doing this using the left mouse button draws the line in the foreground colour, the right mouse button uses the background colour. The line tool supports antialiasing.

The rectangle tool draws rectangles. Click and drag to specify the rectangle's dimension. Again the left mouse button uses the foreground, the right button the background colour.

The filled rectangle tool draws either solid or gradient filled rectangles. In solid filling the left mouse button uses the foreground, the right button the background colour. The filled rectangle tool supports gradient filling.

The oval tool draws ovals. Click and drag to specify the oval's dimension. Again the left mouse button uses the foreground, the right button the background colour.

The filled oval tool draws either solid or gradient filled ovals. In solid filling the left mouse button uses the foreground, the right button the background colour. The filled oval tool supports antialiasing and gradient filling.

The clip tool let's you copy and move portions of an image within a frame or between different frames. Click and drag to specify the clip's dimension. When releasing the mouse button the selected clip is represented by a red-white rectangle.
If you move the mouse close to the clip's borders, the cursor changes; you can now click and drag to change the clip's size. You can move the clip around by clicking inside and dragging. To paste the clip into the image, double click within the clip. You can define a different clip by clicking outside the active clip and dragging.
The clip tool enables the
crop, flip horizontally, flip vertically and rotate menu items.

The text tool let's you place text into your image. When clicking on the text tool, a font dialog is displayed, that - hopefully - is self-explanatory. After selecting a font, a clip containing your text is displayed within the current frame. You can move it around by clicking inside and dragging. To paste the clip into the image, double-click within the clip. To create a new text clip, just click the text tool again.
The text tool enables the crop menu item and supports antialias and gradient filling.

The Gradient toggle button enables or disables gradient filling. It can only be selected (deselected), if a tool supporting gradient filling is active. When selected, the current tool uses the specified gradient pattern.

The Antialias toggle button enables or disables the antialias mode. It can only be selected (deselected), if a tool supporting antialias is active. "Antialiasing" means that lines and curves are smoothed by setting extra pixels that reduce the contrast between back- and foreground. When selected, the penguin looks even cuter and the current tool draws in antialias mode, which might enlarge the frame's palette.

 

6. The Settings Dialog

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The settings dialog let's you configure JDraw. The settings are stored in JDraw's configuration file (<user-home>/jdraw<version>.dat).

Right now only the quality of JPEGs can be configured. The quality default value is 100 (highest quality). Fill Tolerance...

This opens a small dialog that let's you specify how tolerant the fill tool will be. Enter the maximal values that a colour may deviate in its red, green, blue and alpha values to be replaced in the filling process. If all values are zero, the fill tool will only replace the colour that you click on.

 

7. The Frame Settings Dialog

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The frame settings dialog let's you copy or remove frames, reorder them and specify how they are displayed in an animated GIF.

Copy a frame - To copy a frame, select it it in the frame list and either click the Copy button or press Ctrl+C. You can also copy it by drag and drop while pressing the Ctrl key.
The frame's copy will share its palette. This means that palettes are never duplicated.

Paste a frame - You can paste a previously copied frame by pressing the Paste button or pressing Ctrl+V.

Remove a frame - Select the frame you want to remove in the frame list and press the Remove button.

Move a frame - Drag and drop the frame within the frame list.

Animation settings - For each frame you can specify how its previous frame is treated ("Disposal method") and for how long the frame is displayed, before the next animation frame is selected ("Time delay in 1/100 seconds").

Icon settings - Window's .ico files can store multiple images that can vary in their dimensions. JDraw only knows one dimension: the picture's size. If you want to have an icon with a different size than the pictures', enter its dimension in the "Icon width" and "Icon height" fields of the corresponding frame.

Commiting changes - Your changes are applied to the picture whenever you press the OK or Apply buttons.

Cancelling changes - You can cancel your changes up to the moment when you last pressed the Apply button.

 

8. Shortcuts

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General Functions
Cancel Dialog/Activate Pixel Tool Pressing the escape key cancels an active dialog if one is present. Else the pixel tool is selected.
Main Palette Functions
Select foreground colour Left-click palette entry
Select background colour Right-click palette entry
Select frame's background colour Ctrl+Left-click palette entry
Select frame's transparent colour Ctrl+Right-click palette entry
Edit colour Double-click palette entry
Gradient Palette Functions
Select fill colours Double-click left or right colour.
Tool Functions
Select pixel tool 1
Select fill tool 2
Select colour picker tool 3
Select line tool 4
Menu Shortcuts
Open... Ctrl+O
Save Ctrl+S
Save as... Ctrl+A
Undo Ctrl+Z
Redo Ctrl+Y
Resize... Ctrl+R
Scale Image Ctrl+C
Flip Clip Horizontally H
Flip Clip Vertically V
Rotate Flip 90º R
Compress Ctrl+K
Increase Zoom + (plus)
Decrease Zoom - (minus)
Previous Zoom 8
Maximum Zoom 9
Minimum Zoom 0
Hide/Show Grid Ctrl+G
Hide/Show Views Tab
Transparency as Colour/Pattern Space
View Animation Ctrl+V
Frame Settings Ctrl+E
Remove Colour Ctrl+D
Swap Colours Ctrl+M
Help Ctrl+H

 

We hope you enjoy working with JDraw. Please report bugs and tell us about ideas for new features!

Contact us! jdomain@users.sourceforge.net
jdraw@j-domain.de