Interacting with TYPO is simple; there is a small set of elementary
actions which are used (almost) uniformly throughout
the TYPO commands.
Each exception will be stated explicitly.
These elementary actions include:
Depressing the right button will (almost always) abort a command at any
stage.
Depressing the middle button will usually complete a command or a selection
currently in progress (unless in the middle of dragging).
A string of text, such as a character name,
is input by typing it on the keyboard,
terminating it with the RETURN or LINE FEED key.
File names are entered using the File Selection Window.
For commands requiring a single character input (e.g. when specifying
an ASCII character for the Character->Open Character command),
RETURN or LINE FEED is not required.
When preceded by a backslash,
characters can also be input by their decimal code (e.g. '\65'),
by their octal code (e.g. '\0101'), by their hexadecimal code
(e.g. \0x41), or by their name (e.g. \backslash).
This is particularly useful for nonprintable characters or non-ASCII codes.
Note that, if a character name/code begins with a backslash,
the input must be terminated by RETURN or LINE FEED.
The maximal character value is 32,767 decimal.
Some commands auto-expand a name
(e.g. Character->Open Character with a character name)
if the SPACE bar or the ESCAPE key is hit,
as much as is possible in a unique way.
The user is presented with the file selection pop-up window.
On the left, all the directory names within the current directory
are shown; on the right, all the file names are shown.
Clicking at a directory will behave as if that directory has become the current
directory.
Clicking at a file name will make that file name the candidate for loading;
the name will automatically be copied into the Selection line.
Clicking OK will cause that file to be loaded.
File names can also be selected according to a certain pattern.
In that case, the pattern is written in the Filter line.
Legal pattern characters are (similarly to the UNIX shell)
the asterisk, denoting any string, the question mark, denoting any character,
and braces, denoting a comma-separated list of alternative strings.
After a filter pattern is entered, the Filter button must be pressed.
In that case, only the file names matching the pattern are listed.
For font input/output, file formats can be loaded as well;
TYPO will automatically convert the font on loading/saving.
In those cases, conversion options can be specified with the Options
button and are specified in the section on
conversion options.
The internal conversion command generated by the current parameter setting can
be previewed with the Preview button; this button is, however,
intended only for the technically oriented user.
A pop-up menu is associated with all the menus in the TYPO
control panel,
(the Foreground/Background menu,
the Active Fonts menu, etc.),
all the tools in the toolbox marked with an arrow,
and all the command menus in the command menu bar.
Menus are opened by depressing the right mouse button
anywhere over the menu header or the menu choices, if these are visible.
All the choices of TYPO have an associated pop-up menu.
Dragging the mouse into a pop-up menu field will
make that field the tentative choice.
Releasing the right mouse button will make that the current choice, and,
if any action is associated with it, such as in a command menu, will
execute that action.
Dragging the mouse outside the pop-up menu and releasing the right button
there causes the pop-up menu choice to be aborted and ignored.
Clicking the left mouse button at a menu header will re-choose the current
choice of that menu (for command menus, in particular, the last chosen
command in that menu is repeated).
The kind of selection is determined by which tool is chosen from the
Toolbox.
A curve or a point is selected as follows.
First the left mouse button is depressed over the first object (curve or point)
to be selected.
Then the mouse is dragged until another object (curve or point) is
hit, and all the objects from the initial to the last one
become highlighted as the tentatively selected objects.
Dragging the mouse over another object will make that the tentative last
object.
Releasing the left mouse button will complete the selection.
If the right mouse button is depressed during the selection process
(i.e. while the left one is still depressed), the selection gets aborted.
In the same way, a contour or contour sequence can be selected
by pressing the mouse over the first desired contour and releasing it over
the last desired contour.
Pressing the SHIFT key during _I(selection)
will extend (or shorten) the previous selection if this is possible.
Pressing the CONTROL key during _I(selection) will add the new selection
to the previous one. If neither SHIFT nor CONTROL is depressed,
any previous selection is discarded and only the new selection is valid.
Many commands involve positioning.
Positioning of any object can be done with the mouse or the arrows.
Dragging the mouse with the left button down will drag the object on
the screen, releasing the left button will assign the object a tentative
position at the pointed location.
Depressing the middle button will complete the positioning action
and will finalize the result, whereas
depressing the right button will abort positioning.
Hitting one of the eight arrows (R7 through R15)
will move the object by one screen pixel in the corresponding direction.
If the SHIFT key is down at the time an arrow is hit,
the movement is by 10 pixels and, if the CONTROL key is down,
by 50 pixels. SHIFT and CONTROL being down together cause a movement
of 250 pixels.
Mouse dragging during the positioning process can be restricted.
If the SHIFT key is down at the time
the left mouse button is depressed, dragging is horizontal only.
If the CONTROL key is down instead, dragging is only vertical.
Commands that accept numerical values display a slider on which to determine
the value. Determining this value is done by positioning the
slider bar, as described above; however, only the horizontal arrows
may be used to single-step the slider.
In addition, if the button R11 is hit (the button at the center of
all the arrows), then the slider is reset to its initial value
(the value that it has right after TYPO is started up).
Sliders usually appear together with a menu containing the choices
Coarse and Fine.
Choosing Fine will act like a magnifying glass in the
vicinity of the slider position; that vicinity is blown up and much more
precise choices become possible.
A particular way of selecting in either a raster or a curve character
is using a lasso or a rectangle.
In the case of a lasso, a free form shape is drawn by the user.
Everything inside that shape is selected.
In the case of a rectangle, the user draws a rectangle by pressing
the left mouse button at one corner,
and releasing that button at the opposite corner.
In both cases, any previous selection is extended with SHIFT or CONTROL
as described for Selections.
The toolbox contains selection tools,
modification tools,
raster painting tools,
curve painting tools,
viewing tools, and
guide line tools.
For curve characters, a selection is marking some curve points
(auxiliary or end points).
For raster characters, a selection is marking some area of that character.
The selected lasso/rectangle are highlighted (typically in the red color),
as are all the selected points/curves of a curve character.
A selection is typically followed by a command operating on the selected
parts of a character.
The command will also operate on the base point if the
Edit Base Point Menu is set to Yes.
The selection tools applicable to both raster and curve characters are
the Lasso and the Rectangle tools.
Pressing the SHIFT key during _I(selection)
will extend (or shorten) the previous selection if this is possible.
Pressing the CONTROL key during _I(selection) will add the new selection
to the previous one. If neither SHIFT nor CONTROL is depressed,
any previous selection is discarded and the new one will be in its place.
The Lasso Selection Tool is used to select
an arbitrary shape in the current (raster or outline) character.
Depress the left mouse button, draw an arbitrary shape,
and release that button. The selected area is that inside the drawn shape.
The Rectangle Selection Tool is used to select
a rectangular shape in the current (raster or outline) character.
The left mouse button is depressed at the desired location for one
corner of the window. Then the mouse is dragged with the left button down
until the desired location for the opposite corner is reached.
Releasing the left mouse button will define the window.
Particular commands require a position in addition to selected character parts.
For example, rotating a (part of a) character requires priorly selecting
the curves to be rotated, as well as the position of the rotation center.
This position is called the focus and is selected with the Focus Tool.
Note that focus selection does not discard
the present character parts selection.
This tool applies to both curve and raster characters.
A sequence of curve points is selected by depressing the left mouse button
over the first point, and releasing it over the last point.
The current selection is shown throughout the selection process.
Note that the start/end points need not be curve end points; they can be
auxiliary points as well.
The direction in which a curve was drawn is of no importance to the selections;
a selected point sequence may include the closeup point.
A sequence of curves is selected by depressing the left mouse button
over the first curve, and releasing it over the last curve.
The current selection is shown throughout the selection process.
The direction in which a curve was drawn is of no importance to the selections;
a selected curve sequence may include the closeup point.
This tool is similar to the
Curve Points Selection Tool tool;
curves are selected instead of points.
A sequence of contours is selected by depressing the left mouse button
over the first contour, and releasing it over the last contour.
Just clicking it above a particular contour selects that single contour,
consisting of all the visible curves connected to each other.
The current selection is shown throughout the selection process.
This tool is similar to the Curves Selection Tool;
entire contours are selected instead of individual curves.
Presently, there is only one group of modification tools,
the Shift Point tools.
Pick up a point with the Shift Point tool to drag it freely to
any new desired position.
Pick up a point with the Shift Point/Slopes Tool to drag it,
keeping the incoming and outgoing slopes.
If the point to be moved is a curve end point, the neighboring
points get moved by the same amount to preserve the slopes.
If the point is an auxiliary point, then its neighboring end point stays
stationary. Moreover, this auxiliary point and the (end or auxiliary)
point on the other side of its neighboring end point
are rotated around the end point.
Pick up a point with the Shift Point Along Tangent Tool to drag it
along a tangent.
If the point is an end point, it has more than one tangent. In this case,
the user must have selected the appropriate tangent prior to using this tool.
Pick up a point with the Shift Point/Slopes Tool to drag it
along a tangent, preserving the incoming and outgoing slopes.
If the point to be moved is a curve end point, the neighboring
points get shifted as well.
If the point is an auxiliary point, then it is moved along the tangent,
as with the Shift Point Along Tangent Tool.
A series of tools can be used to paint into the current raster character.
Most of the tools are visible in the toolbox.
Some tools are, however, grouped together in one place in the toolbox,
as a menu.
These groups are marked by a little arrow in
the lower right corner of the tool icon. To execute such a hidden tool,
make a menu choice.
For example, to use the Line Pencil Tool,
depress the right mouse button,
move over the second entry in the displayed pop-up menu,
and release the right mouse button.
To paint single pixels, select the Pencil Tool.
Then depress the left mouse button where you want to start painting.
Pixels are painted into every location touched by the mouse as long
as the left button is down.
Painting is terminated when the left mouse button is released.
Pressing the right mouse button while painting will abort,
leaving the character as it was before beginning this painting operation.
If the current pen is not at its default setting
(see Painting with Pens), a single pen image is painted.
To paint a straight line, select the Line Pencil Tool.
Then depress the left mouse button where you want the line to begin.
Drag the mouse until the desired line end location is reached.
There, release the left mouse button to paint the line.
Pressing the right mouse button while painting will abort the operation.
This tool is located under the Pencil Tool.
To choose the Line Pencil Tool from the toolbox,
click the right mouse button over the Pencil Tool,
choosing the Line Pencil Tool from the emerging pop-up menu.
If the current pen is not at its default setting
(see Painting with Pens), the line is painted
with the current pen instead.
To erase pixels, use the Eraser Tool.
This tool acts like the Pencil Tool,
only white pixels are drawn instead of black ones.
A rectangle can be created with the Center Rectangle Tool
by first moving the mouse to the desired center
of the rectangle. There, the left mouse button is depressed. Dragging the
mouse out of the center will determine a corner of the rectangle.
When the mouse button is released, the rectangle dimensions have been
determined. It is now possible to rotate the rectangle around its center
by dragging the rotation circle which is initially located on the upper
right corner of the rectangle.
Alternatively, numerical values can be entered into the displayed input window,
pressing the Apply button subsequently.
Clicking the mouse on the OK button will finalize the painted rectangle,
Abort will resume the character in effect
before this rectangle paint operation.
The Corner Rectangle Tool operates like the
Center Rectangle Tool,
with the exception that, initially, a corner is determined rather than the
center. Then, the opposite corner is dragged out of the initial corner.
The Center Ellipse Tool works just like the
Center Rectangle Tool,
painting an ellipse instead of a rectangle.
The Corner Ellipse Tool works just like the
Corner Rectangle Tool,
painting an ellipse instead of a rectangle.
Curve characters have a variety of painting tools.
These can roughly be grouped into curve drawing tools,
spline drawing tools, and outline tracing tools.
The curve drawing tools are used to draw individual curves,
point by point,
optionally connected to the predecessor curve with a smooth connection.
The spline drawing tools
are used to generate a sequence of smoothly connected Bézier curves.
The outline tracing tools are used to paint a temporary raster shape
(using either any of the pen tools, of the rectangle tools,
or of the ellipse tools, described above).
Then, a curve outline is matched to this shape (the latter is then discarded).
The raster painting tools also applicable to curve characters are the
Pencil Tool, the Line Pencil Tool,
the Corner Rectangle Tool,
the Center Rectangle Tool,
the Corner Ellipse Tool, and the
Center Ellipse Tool.
These tools paint, just like in their raster version,
a raster shape (kept only temporarily).
Then, a curve outline is fitted to this shape,
matching the border of the raster image,
and inserted into the curve character.
The temporary raster image is then discarded.
The simplest way to draw a curve character is by drawing one curve after
the other, curve point after curve point.
Drawing curves by their points is done with the curve drawing tools.
These come in two groups.
One group contains the basic tools,
and one contains the tools that enforce smooth connection between the
predecessor curve and the curve to be painted
(i.e. the two curves meet at zero or 180 degrees).
Before using these tools, an initial curve end point must be selected in the
current character where drawing is to begin.
This is not necessary if the character is empty.
Subsequently, the user places each new curve point by depressing the
left mouse button, dragging the mouse to the new position,
and releasing the left mouse button.
At any point of time, the user can switch from one Curve Drawing Tool
to another.
A Bézier curve is drawn with the Bézier Curve Drawing Tool.
Following the initial start point, three points must be placed;
the two auxiliary points, and the new end point.
After placing each auxiliary point,
a straight line is appended to mark the new point.
When the curve is complete, i.e., the new end point has been placed,
the lines get replaced by the new Bézier curve.
After the Bézier curve is complete, the new end point becomes the
initial point for the next curve.
If the new end point is the start point of the whole curve contour,
the end point gets closed up to the start point, and a closed
contour is formed.
The toolbox switches now automatically to the
Movement Drawing Tool,
to place the start point for the new contour.
Subsequently, the toolbox automatically switches back to the
Bézier Curve Drawing Tool.
The user can now draw Bézier curves in the new contour.
An arc is drawn with the Arc Drawing Tool.
Following the initial start point, two points must be placed;
one auxiliary point, and the new end point.
The second auxiliary point is determined mathematically.
After placing the auxiliary point,
a straight line is appended to mark the new point.
When the arc is complete, i.e., the new end point has been placed,
the lines get replaced by the new arc.
After the arc is complete, the new end point becomes the
initial point for the next curve.
If the new end point is the start point of the whole curve contour,
the end point gets closed up to the start point, and a closed
contour is formed.
The toolbox switches now automatically to the
Movement Drawing Tool,
to place the start point for the new contour.
Subsequently, the toolbox automatically switches back to the
Arc Drawing Tool.
The user can now draw arcs in the new contour.
A straight line is drawn with the Line Drawing Tool.
Following the initial start point, the new end point must be placed.
After the new line has been placed, the new end point becomes the
initial point for the next curve.
If the new end point is the start point of the whole curve contour,
the end point gets closed up to the start point, and a closed
contour is formed.
The toolbox switches now automatically to the
Movement Drawing Tool,
to place the start point for the new contour.
Subsequently, the toolbox automatically switches back to the
Line Drawing Tool.
The user can now draw lines in the new contour.
A movement is drawn with the
Movement Drawing Tool similarly to drawing a straight line
with the Line Drawing Tool.
The Smooth Bézier Curve Drawing Tool acts like the
Bézier Curve Drawing Tool, with the difference that the first
auxiliary point is enforced to lie on the straight line
that connects the initial start point to its predecessor.
This enforces a smooth connection between the curve to
be drawn and the predecessor curve.
The Smooth Arc Drawing Tool acts like the
Arc Drawing Tool, with the difference that the first
auxiliary point is enforced to lie on the straight line
that connects the initial start point to its predecessor.
This enforces a smooth connection between the arc to
be drawn and the predecessor curve.
The Smooth Line Drawing Tool acts like the
Line Drawing Tool, with the difference that the new
end point is enforced to lie on the straight line
that connects the initial start point to its predecessor.
This enforces a smooth connection between the line to
be drawn and the predecessor curve.
The Spline Drawing Tool enables the user to draw splines.
These are curves which are not only smoothly connected,
but the slope variation also blends from one curve into the other
(mathematically, this is called second order continuity).
The user just places the individual curve end points.
No auxiliary points are placed,
since these are automatically determined by the computer.
Splines are particularly pleasing optically.
The user must priorly have an append point selected
if the character is nonempty.
Note that, upon closing the spline
(i.e. drawing a curve with the contour start point as its end),
the Movement Drawing Tool becomes chosen automatically.
After the movement is drawn, the Spline Tool becomes chosen again.
If the user wants to describe an initial or final slope to splines
(such as in the outline leaving the stem rightwards
on top of the letter D), the Spline Slope Tool must be used.
The user places a point.
The line connecting the start point with the new point is the initial tangent.
After the user has placed this point, the toolbox switches to the
Spline Drawing Tool.
Similarly, at the end of a contour, the Spline Slope Tool may be
used again.
A new point will be placed which will be the end of the spline.
The line connecting the previous point to the new point
will determine the slope at the end of the spline,
and the previous point gets discarded.
The toolbox will then switch to the
Smooth Line Drawing Tool.
Viewing tools are tools that do not modify the characters;
they rather change only the appearance of the characters which are currently
visible in the Character Window.
The The Magnification Tool is used to zoom into
a particular area of the character.
The user clicks the left mouse button on the spot that is of interest;
the foreground and the background characters will be displayed
double their current sizes with the point clicked at remaining in its place.
This command actually is very much like the Window->Zoom command,
where the mouse click defines the point of interest,
and the zoom factor is multiplied by 2.
Note that the focus remains unchanged.
The The Foreground Magnification Tool acts like the
Magnification Tool,
but zooms into the foreground character only.
The The Reduction Tool is used to zoom out of a particular area,
i.e., to get an overview of more of the character.
The user clicks the left mouse button on the spot that marks the area
of interest;
the foreground and the background characters will be displayed
half their current sizes with the point clicked at remaining in its place.
This command actually is very much like the Window->Zoom command,
where the mouse click defines the the point of interest,
and the zoom factor is multiplied by 2.
Note that the focus remains unchanged.
The The Foreground Reduction Tool acts like the
Reduction Tool,
but zooms out of the foreground character only.
Typically, a character is larger than the Character Window.
To view parts of the foreground character which are not presently visible,
the character can be scrolled with the Hand Tool (or with the
Window->Scroll command.
The left mouse button is depressed over the character position to be
grabbed.
Moving the mouse with the left button down will scroll the character such that
the grabbed position will be moved together with the mouse.
Scrolling continues until the left mouse button is released.
To scroll both the foreground and the background characters simultaneously,
the Hand Tool is used. This tool can also be applied if the
foreground character is a raster character and the background character
is an outline character, or vice versa.
Guide lines are created, changed, or deleted with the
guide line tools.
Guide lines, as well as these tools, are described in
Guide Lines.
For curve characters, a selection is marking some curve points
(auxiliary or end points) or curves.
A selection is typically followed by a command
operating on the selected points or curves.
For raster characters, a selection is marking some area of that character.
The selected lasso/rectangle are highlighted (typically in the red color),
as are all the selected points/curves of a curve character.
A selection is typically followed by a command operating on the selected area.
A command will also operate on the base point if the
Edit Base Point Menu is set to Yes.
Pressing the SHIFT key during a selection
will extend (or shorten) the previous selection if this is possible.
Pressing the CONTROL key during selection will add the new selection
to the previous one. If neither SHIFT nor CONTROL is depressed,
any previous selection is discarded and the new one will be in its place.
In addition to the toolbox, there are several other menus in the
control panel;
the Foreground/Background Menu, the
Curve Detail Menu,
the Pens Menu, the Edit Base Point Menu,
and the Active Fonts menu.
The tools in the toolbox and the menu commands in the
command menu bar usually refer to the current character.
Additionally, another character can be loaded in the background.
This background character can, then,
be viewed together with the character in the foreground.
To operate on the background character, it has to be made
the current character. This is done with the
Foreground/Background Menu.
Initially, the current character is the foreground character.
In the Foreground/Background Menu, the current character
can be determined to be the background character.
The same menu also determines whether the tools in the toolbox
and the commands in the command menu bar refer
to the character itself or its guide lines.
Guide line commands are described in the section on
Guide Lines.
The Curve Detail menu determines whether to display only the curves,
or to also show the curve points or curve tangents.
The Curve Detail menu applies to curve characters only.
Curve points in the current character and in the background character
can be marked either by little crosses or by tangent lines connecting each
Bézier control point to its end point, or by both.
The possible menu choices are:
- Curve points are invisible
- Curve end points are marked
- Curve (end and control) points are marked
- Tangents are shown
- Curve points are marked and tangents are shown
If a choice is made from this menu,
it will affect the current character.
The Pens menu choice can be changed.
The Pens menu applies to raster characters only.
It determines which among
the currently loaded pens is used for free hand painting
or as a fancy-shaped eraser.
In particular, the first choice in this menu is a single-pixel pen
initially to be used for Pencil painting
(see also Raster Painting).
The possible menu choices are the currently loaded pens.
The toolbox is described in detail in the Toolbox chapter.
The Edit Base Point menu governs whether the base point is to
be changed by an editing operation.
If, for instance, a Transform->Shift command is issued, the base
point will also be shifted if this menu is set to Yes.
If it is set to No, the base point will remain unchanged.
The current font is the one presently highlighted in the
Active Fonts menu.
A new current font is determined by choosing
its name in the Active Fonts menu.
If that particular font is a multiple master font
then the ordinal of the current master is displayed before the font name,
followed by a colon. Masters are numbered starting from 1.
To choose a new current master, first position the mouse over the
Active Fonts menu and depress the right mouse button.
This will pop up a menu containing all the font names.
Move the mouse over the desired font and drag the mouse to the
right. This will display a pop-up menu containing all the masters of that font.
Releasing the right mouse button over a particular master will make
that master the current master and its font the current font.
An example is shown in the following figure. The font narkissim.cf
contains two masters.
The second master will be chosen from the Active Fonts menu
in the following figure.
Selecting among two masters |
A menu command can be issued by choosing a command from one of the menus
in the command menu bar.
Some choices refer to sub-menus, in which more commands are grouped together.
In that case, the mouse must be moved to the right out of the main menu,
keeping the left mouse button depressed. The sub-menu will appear, and a
command can be chosen from it in the standard way.
A choice referring to a sub-menu is denoted by a little arrow head
at its right.
Finally, the function keys on your keyboard can be
assigned commands. This is described in
the section on Function Key Definitions.
The frame menu is the menu obtained when depressing the right
mouse button over the border of the TYPO frame.
The Close action for the frame menu is identical to
the File->Exit command in the File menu.
Note that Function Key Definitions are somewhat limited by
OpenWindows. The window system definition will usually dominate.
For example, Front will alternatingly expose/hide the TYPO frame,
and Open will open/close the frame.
The Lasso Selection Tool
The Rectangle Selection Tool
The Focus Tool
The Curve Points Selection Tool
The Curves Selection Tool
The Contour Selection Tool
The Shift Point Tool
The Shift Point/Slopes Tool
The Shift Point Along Tangent Tool
The Shift Point/Slopes Along Tangent Tool
The Pencil Tool
The Line Pencil Tool
The Eraser Tool
The Center Rectangle Tool
The Corner Rectangle Tool
The Center Ellipse Tool
The Corner Ellipse Tool
Bézier Curve Drawing Tool
Arc Drawing Tool
Line Drawing Tool
Movement Drawing Tool
Smooth Bézier Curve Drawing Tool
Smooth Arc Drawing Tool
Smooth Line Drawing Tool
Spline Drawing Tool
Spline Slope Tool
The Magnification Tool
The Foreground Magnification Tool
The Reduction Tool
The Foreground Reduction Tool
The Foreground Hand Tool
The Hand Tool