1.0 Overview
        1.1  Getting Started
        1.2  The Status Line

     2.1.1 Lines, Circles, Ellipses, Squares, Rectangles and Freehand Objects
     2.1.2 Arcs
     2.1.3 Single pixel
     2.1.4 Text
     2.1.5 Random Polygons
     2.1.6 Equilateral Polygons
     2.1.7 Images

    2.6.1 Move
    2.6.2 Copy
    2.6.3 Remove
    2.6.4 Split

3.0 Menu Options
        3.1  The File Choices
        3.2  The Edit Choices
        3.3  The View Choices
        3.4  The Grid Choices
        3.5  The Options Choices
        3.6  Size & Scale Choices
        3.7  Special Effects
        3.8  Help Choices

4.0 Animation
       4.1  Spin Control
              4.1.1 Spinning Groups
       4.2  Track Creation
       4.3  Track Assignments
              4.3.1 Tracking Groups

Intended Audience
This document is intended for use by licensed customers of ePatha Software' Express Designer product set. It contains information for using the Basic Design Interface, Light edition.

© 2004 ePatha Software, LLC  -  San Rafael, CA  USA
Send any questions or comments to: aex@epatha.com

Conventions Used

ED Light refers to: Express Designer, Light edition
BDI  refers to the Basic Design Interface (GUI)
CLI  refers to your platform's Command Line Interface
Text in ThisType refers to on screen buttons
Text in ThisType refers to top level menu items
Text in ThisType refers to specific menu selections, or input field labels
Text in ThisType refers to file names
Text in ThisType refers to text you enter into the CLI
Text in ThisType refers to text generated by the CLI

1.0 Overview
ED Light is part of the larger, Express Designer product set. It is an inexpensive software package created to satisfy the more limited needs of many amateur and professional designers - from model builders to architects. It provides a 2D graphics alternative to the high priced CAD and drawing products.

From a more technical perspective, ED Light is 100% Java, so it will run on any OS that supports
the Java Runtime Environment, which includes 99% of all computers (PC, Mac, Linux, Unix, etc.). It requires only Java version 1.3, or above, which is freely available to anyone. While the Java runtime environment adds some overhead, the product runs well in a PC windows environment, using only a 300Mhz processor and 64MB of memory.

Architecturally, ED Light employs both vector and raster methodologies to create and maintain its discretely drawn, or included, objects. A complete drawing is often achieved by including custom developed (drawn) objects with pre-existing (GIF or JPEG) images. The resulting combination can be saved as an ED Light file, printed, or exported to any of 3 image types (BMP, GIF or JPEG). All, or any part, of a drawing can also be exported, then read back in as a single image.

Pre-existing images, like other drawn objects can be re-sized, flipped over, mirrored, turned, rotated or split into sections. Images can be static (saved within the main drawing as they were when first included) or dynamic (pulled in as they are at the time when the main drawing is loaded). All drawn objects can be re-colored and some, like polygons, can be reshaped. Full font editing is also included for text objects.

Drawings and grids can be expressed independently in any scale (British, Metric, even astronomical). Saved drawings can be imported as part of other drawings with accurate scale conversions automatically performed as required. A tape measure, an easy scale definition tool and a scale sensitive read-out box complete the group of scale related functions.

In addition, animation of any object, or group of objects, can be realized by spinning the object(s) at its center, or moving the object(s) along a track, previously defined by you.
 

1.1 Getting Started
ED Light uses only one interface (the BDI). To start ED Light 's you must tell your installed Java program to start it. Assuming ED Light installed correctly, PC users can just double-click on the  icon (i.e. ExpressBDI shortcut). Users on other platforms will have to start it from their platform's CLI, and enter:

java com.epatha.aex.bdi

or,

jre com.epatha.aex.bdi

Basic Design Interface

Depending upon your platform and its display settings, you may not be able to see the whole window, or it may be too small to see easily.  If you don't see all the widgets above, try stretching it's frame until they all become visible. If the text is too small, you can alter it via the Alter Base Font... (from the Options menu). The default base font is Arial, 11 point.

1.2 The Status Line
The bottom section of the bottom toolbar is the status line, which contains two subsections. The leftmost subsection contains the object counters: two numbers separated by a colon (:). The left number shows current count of visible (drawn) objects and the right number shows the total number of objects in the drawing.
The right subsection (the remainder of the status line), is the Information Area. This shows informational messages warnings, errors and help text. New users should pay close attention to this area.
 
 

2.0 Object Basics

Top Toolbar

Once the BDI is visible, you can just press your mouse button and begin drawing lines. To draw any other type of object, just select one from the Object Type Selector pull down list. Many of the object types also make use of the Line Width Selector (just next to the Object Type Selector) and the Fill Indicator (the 2nd check box in the bottom toolbar). If the Fill Indicator is selected, the object is drawn with its shape filled in by the palette's currently active color, or texture.  If the Fill Indicator is not selected, the object is drawn as outlines of the currently active palette, with the line thickness specified by the Line Width Selector.

The following table shows the relationship between object type, line width and fill usage:

2.1 Basic Drawing Rules for Primitives
All of the 18 choices in the Object Type pull down list are considered to be primitive objects. There are also additional object types, called complex objects, which are composed of a permanently linked sets of primitive objects. These complex objects cannot be loaded independently by ED Light's BDI, so they are not included in the Object Type list. They can, however, be implicitly loaded when included as part of an existing document created by a different edition of Express Designer. But, regardless of the edition, the BDI can only display  complex objects. It can never create new ones, or edit existing ones. Therefore, this section describes only how to create primitive objects..

2.1.1 Lines, Circles, Ellipses, Squares, Rectangles and Freehand Objects
To draw any of these, just press your left mouse button (click) anywhere in the drawing area and drag the mouse in the appropriate direction, until the object is the desired size and shape. When the mouse button is released, these objects are added to the drawing.

When drawings are saved that contain static images, the expanded image is stored in the drawing file itself, which will increase the size of the drawing file by the original size of the image file. It will also take a little longer to load these files, since ED Light must first make a temporary copy of each file in your current working directory. Be sure to check the information line, which will show the progress of the load and indicate when it's ready for you to draw the image frame (usually just a second or two). Note, when you close your drawing these temporary image files are automatically deleted, but on some platforms animated GIF files will remain. At that point, of course, they can be deleted manually.

The main benefit of static images is that the drawing files containing them can be copied anywhere and will always contain the images you used with them.

There are also secondary attributes associated with Rounded Rectangles, Equilateral Polygons and Text. These secondary attributes can be modified via the Options menu. Once changed, they affect all new objects of that type, until they are reset. The 3 secondary attributes comprise the center section of the Options menu.

Options Menu

The first of these entries - Set Rounded Corner Arc % - allows you to set the percent (%) of arc used in the rounded rectangle and square objects. The greater the value, the more the corners are rounded - 100% would be a circle. The options go from 10 - 90 %. The default is 10%. Generally these 10% increments are sufficient, but if a more precise number is needed, the exact percent can be set from the Edit menu, when editing a specific rounded object.

The second entry - Set Equal Polygon Side Count - specifies the number of sides to use when creating an Equilateral Polygon. Options range from 3 to 32.

The third entry - Set Text Font - brings up a Font Selection Box, which will show all the fonts on your platform.

Select the FontName and Size to see an example of the font. Optionally, select the Bold and/or Italic check boxes. When done chick OK, or Cancel.

2.3 Palette Choices
Except for images, all primitive objects are drawn in the palette entry selected. The entry is determined by selecting one of the 16 choices shown at the bottom of the window. This method allows quick access to your most commonly used solid colors, color gradients and textures. These choices constitute your active palette. The top row (8 choices) comprises your solid & gradient color choices. The bottom row comprises your texture choices. You can reset any of the colors, gradients or textures, just by clicking on the button you want to change. If you clicked on a top row button, the Color Plus Selection Box will appear. Clicking on a button in the bottom row, will cause the Texture Selection Box to appear.

With the Color Plus Selector, you can choose the appropriate color or color gradient. The color selection box appears with 56 solid color boxes and one color gradient box. Initially, one of the boxes is set to the color, or gradient, of the button you clicked on and that box is selected (indicated by a black and white square drawn within it).

 To select a different solid color, just click on the color you want and click OK. If you don't see a color you want, click on the closest choice, then use the red, green and blue adjustment slider bars to alter it. The Color Picker will remember any new colors you create. You can also use the bottom (white) slider bar to alter all three colors in unison. If wish to lock a color slider at its current location, click the check box to the left of it. Then the bottom slider will only adjust the other two colors in unison.

To select a gradient color, you need to declare 2 solid colors to smear. To do that, select a solid color as above, then click on the Set Left Color button. Select a second color in the same way, then click on the Set Right Color button. Of course you can reverse that order if you like. The current gradient color will be reflected in the long horizontal box just below the solid colors. To make the gradient your current selection, be sure to click on it, before you click OK, or the last solid color you selected will become the current selection.

Once you decide on a color, or gradient, just click OK and the attached button on the BDI will change to the new selection, thereby adjusting your active palette. To use the new selection, be sure to click on the indicator beside the button.  

To select a new texture, just click on the image that you like in the Texture Selector and press OK. Use the scroll bar to scroll through all the choices (note: the number of choices available is shown as Pattern Count). You can add or change these patterns yourself, by creating small, new GIF or JPEG files and copying them to the right location. To find out more see the Advanced Features Document.

The Fill Style box within the Texture Selector determines how the image patterns will be distributed across various shapes. When Fill Style is set to Tile (the default), the selected pattern will be repeated over and over across a shape. To stretch a texture over an area, rather than repeating it, select the Stretch check box.

As with colors, once you decide on a texture and Fill Style, just click OK and the attached button on the BDI will change to the new selection, thereby adjusting your active palette. To use the new selection, be sure to click on the indicator beside the button.

2.4 Object Selection
Each object in a drawing, whether primitive or complex, is identified by its ordinal number. The numbers are automatically assigned as each new object is added, starting from 1 and continuing until the maximum object value is reached. To see all the ordinal number assignments, select the Object ID's option from the View menu. To see what your maximum object value is, click the About option in the Help menu. To adjust the maximum value see the Advanced Features Document.

In order to edit, move, delete, copy or split an object, you must first select the object of interest.  Objects can be selected in one of two ways.

Usually, the easiest method is to click on the Select button, then click on the object of interest.  When ED Light  identifies the object you clicked on, its ID is automatically entered into the Selected Object Indicator. If it cannot find an object at the point you clicked, you will hear a beep and a message will appear in the Information Area. In that case just try to click on an object again. If you have trouble selecting this way, you may want to activate Loose Selection Criteria from the Options menu. This will apply a more relaxed algorithm in determining the object.

The second method requires you know the object's ordinal number. In that case you can key the ID directly into the Select Object Indicator.

Regardless of the method used, the selected object is now ready for modification and the Undraw/Redraw Indicator is updated to reflect the number of objects that were added after the selected object. This makes it easy to un-draw back to the level of the selected object if you need to.

2.5 Using Groups
A powerful new feature, introduced in version 1.3, is the concept of Groups. A Group is any collection of 2 or more objects. Once created, the entire Group is treated as one object for the purposes of moving, copying, deleting, altering colors or textures, and animation. For all purposes, except animation, only one Group can exist at any time and it can be either active or inactive.

To create a Group, simply click on the New button within the Group section of the bottom toolbar. You will automatically be setup to draw a rectangle. Draw a rectangle, as you normally would, around all the objects you want in the Group. Don't worry about including unwanted ones at this point. When you complete the rectangle, your new Group is created and activated (as indicated by the ACTIVE check box). At this time, if you included unwanted objects in the Group, click on the Trim button and a box will appear showing all the object numbers in the Group. Just deselect those objects that do not belong in the Group, then click OK. For Groups that contain many objects, a Row check box is added to allow you to deselect all the objects in that row with a single click.

While a Group is active, you will notice several restrictions are imposed. First, only the Move, Copy and Remove buttons are enabled. Also the Object Type and Line Width Selectors are disabled, forcing you to perform only Group activities at this time. The Edit menu is also restricted to the entries shown below

Trim Box

 

Edit Menu with Group Active

To inactivate a Group, just de-select the ACTIVE check box and all menu and button choices will go back to normal. Note that the Group still exists and can be reactivated by simply selecting the ACTIVE check box again.

You can create a new Group at any time by following the procedure explained above again. Or, you can group all the objects in your drawing (while the current Group is inactive) by choosing the Select All option from the Edit menu.
 

2.6 Actions on Selected Objects
Once an object, or Group, has been selected, you can use the 3 main button based actions (Move, Copy, and Remove) located on the top toolbar. If a Group is not active, meaning only one object is selected, you can also use the Split button.

2.6.1 Move
To move the selected object, click the Move button, then click anywhere on the drawing and drag to the new location. You don't have to click on the object to begin the move, since the BDI already knows which object you're moving. Also, when the Move button is first pressed, the Copy button becomes a Cancel button and the cursor becomes a move cursor. At this point you can either cancel the operation or complete the move.

2.6.2 Copy
To copy the selected object, click the Copy button, which will then turn into the Insert button. At that point, you can alter the object it will be copied after, by keying the ID directly into the Select Object Indicator. For example, to make a copy of object #2 and place that copy in the object stack after object #5 (making the copy object #6), you select object #2, click Copy, then enter 5  into the Select Object Indicator and click Insert.
Note: the position (X/Y coordinates) of the new object will be set to the point where you last released the mouse button, plus 10 pixels to the right and 10 pixels down. Now, since the Copy becomes the Insert button, you can make multiple copies stacked and offset from each other, just by clicking the same button over and over.

2.6.3 Remove
To delete the selected object, just click on the Remove button. If the object is not the last one added, you will see a warning box appear to confirm the delete. For convenience, you can always remove a newly created object right after it's been created and you will not get a warning box. Or you can disable such future warnings by selecting the, Do not warn me of this again option on the warning box.

2.6.4 Split
To split a single object into 2 parts, use the Split button. When the button is pressed, the Copy button becomes a Cancel button and the cursor becomes a cross hair. At this point you can cancel the operation or you can click and drag a line across the selected object at any point. The object will then be split along the line you drew. If your split line does not cross the selected object, you will hear a beep and a message will appear in the Information area. At that point you can try again, or cancel the operation.

2.7 Using UnDraw & ReDraw
Use the UnDraw and ReDraw buttons to block the viewing of the most recent objects in the drawing. The number of objects un-drawn, or re-drawn with a single click, is contained in the UnDraw/ReDraw Indicator. Any value in the Undraw/Redraw Indicator. is ok, since, if it's invalid, it will calculate a valid one first - i.e. it will reset to 1, or the number of objects in the drawing, depending on the need.
Important: The un-drawn objects are not deleted, they are just unseen. At this point, you can either insert new objects or replace existing ones.

Notice, that once objects are un-drawn, the Copy button again becomes an Insert button. If you want to insert a new item just below the stack of un-drawn objects, click the Insert button, then draw the new object in the usual way. Each time you click Insert you can add another object.

If you want to replace the last un-drawn object with a different one, just create a new object. Each new object created will replace a corresponding old object.

When done inserting or replacing, click ReDraw to redraw all the remaining objects. When using these functions pay special attention to the object counters on the status line.

Example: if you have 10 objects and UnDraw 4 of them, you will only see the first 6 objects. At that point you can replace object #7 just by creating a new object. If you create another new object that would replace #8, and so on. If, however, you wanted to insert a new object between #6 and #7, you would click Insert and the next object drawn would be inserted at that place in the object stack and your drawing would now have a total of 11 objects.

2.8 Miscellaneous

2.8.1 The Auto Move Option
Accurate placement of newly created objects often requires that you move an object right after you create it.  To automatically go into move mode after each object creation, select on the AutoMove option on the bottom toolbar. Remember, you will be required to move every object you create.

2.8.2 Audio Confirmation
To enable audio confirmation of all your actions, select the Enable Audio option in the SpecialFX menu. Different sounds are initiated for different actions. You can change these sounds by loading your own .wav audio files into the Audio directory under your installation root. See the Advanced Features Manual for information on how to do this.

3.0 Menu Options

3.1 The File Choices
ED Light offers 10 file choices. Most are typical for any application. 

File Menu

 

• View/Update...  Use this to view and/or update any file created by the BDI.


• Import...  Allows you to incorporate other BDI drawings into your current document. If selected, you will be presented a file selection box, followed by a import offset choice box. Offset values are in pixels where the coordinate value (0, 0) represents the topmost, leftmost pixel in the drawing.

In addition, if the imported drawing has a scale setting that is different than the scale setting of the main drawing, you will be prompted by a scale choice box, like the one below. See the Size and Scale section for more information on scaling.

File Import Scale Change



• Export... Allows you to save all, or part of, your current drawing in one of 3 industry standard graphic formats: GIF, JPEG or BMP.

If selected, you will first be presented with a set of export choices representing 3 types of  options: file type, image size and special options.
The file type requires no explanation, except that when GIF is selected, it can be transparent or non transparent, depending on the Include Background Color option.

For Image Size, select Full Size to export the entire drawing. Select Crop-to-Frame to export the entire visible drawing. Select Crop-to-Minimum to export the smallest rectangle that will include all drawn objects, ignoring any unused space from around the objects. Select Dynamic Crop to allow you to draw a rectangle of your own, which will then become the exported image's boundary.

Whichever size is selected, it will be expanded around the edge by the number of pixels specified by GraceValue (a parameter you can change from the Options menu). The default GraceValue is 10 pixels.

Select the Include Background Color option to include the current background color around and under the objects in the drawing. If this option is not set, the image will be generated with a white background, unless the file type is GIF. In that case the background will be transparent -. the background around and under the drawing will be invisible.

Select Include Grid Lines to include those grid lines and labels that are visible at the time of export.

Make your selections and click OK or Cancel.
If you selected Dynamic Crop, click and drag the special rectangle around the area you wish to export.
Finally, you will be presented a file selection box where you can specify the file name and location.

Export Options


All the file options above, use a file selection box, similar to the one shown here.

File Selection Box


• Save can be used to save the drawing if it's already been assigned a file name. To save as a different name, or if a file name has not yet been assigned, use Save As... With either method you may also be asked how you want to store your dynamic image file names. These names can either take the form of an explicit, physical  file location, or as references that are relative to the location of the main drawing file.
• Clear All removes all the objects from your drawing, while leaving Drawing Size and Pixel Scale intact.


• Print You must have a graphics printer assigned as the default printer for this to work. If you do, select Print and the print options box will be displayed. For Image Size, select Full Size to export the entire drawing. Select Crop-to-Frame to export the entire visible drawing. Select Crop-to-Minimum to export the smallest rectangle that will include all drawn objects, ignoring any unused space from around the objects.

Whichever size is selected, it will be expanded around the edge by the number of pixels specified by GraceValue. The default GraceValue is 10 pixels. Select the Include Background Color option to include the current background color around and under the objects in the drawing. If this option is not set, the image will be generated with a white background.

Select Include Grid Lines to include those grid lines and labels that are visible at the time.

Print Options

Click the OK and your printer options box should appear. Make any changes there and click OK to finalize the print job. If your drawing is larger than a single page, it will be printed in the drawing order shown in the table below.
Printing Order

Edit Menu

² Conditional, when scaled.
³ Via Alter Font menu item
º Except for animated GIF images

When changing Size or Shape, you will see grab points: little red and yellow squares () you click on to drag the point to a new location. For polygons, there are as many grab points as there are lines drawn, less one (the initial point). When editing the shape of a polygon, the Copy button will become the Done button. You can then alter the location of any number of the grab points and press Done when complete. Equilateral Polygons can be re-sized only until they are reshaped. Once they have been reshaped they become Random Polygons and can no longer be re-sized.

Most of the other edit options present a dialog box when clicked. There you can change values, like Color and LineWidth and click OK, or Cancel, when done. Other options, like FillObject and Embossed are boolean options (either on or off ) and take effect as soon as they are clicked.

Turn provides a quick method to rotate an object 90° to the right. This results in four possibilities: 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°.

To rotate an object to a specific angle, select Rotate... and the rotation tool will appear.

 3.3 The View Choices
View Menu

The initial menu has 8 viewing options, plus a Primitives view option that allows inclusion, or restriction, of all 20 object types.

• The Top and Bottom Toolbar options, allow you to see the drawing without those toolbars encumbering the view.
• Show Coordinates will display the starting and ending, X and Y, pixel locations while you're drawing new objects.
• The  Object ID's are available to view the ordinal object number associated with each object.
• Read Out Box creates a separate widow which gives you a read out of new objects as you draw them, or old objects, as you move them. Dimensions are always given in the scale size of the drawing. Note, this window always pops to the top of the window stack when its in use, making read out easy to see.
• When you select Object Boundries, the fully delineated area of an object is outlined in the most recently selected solid color. This shows the area you must click in to select it.

Read Out Box

3.4 The Grid Choices
Grid Menu

The grid menu provides access to all of the grid and grid label choices. There are 3 methods used to draw a grid. Draw Over All will draw the grid over the top of all objects shown. Draw Under All will draw the grid under all of the objects, while Draw Under New/Selected will draw the grid just under the selected object, or the new object being drawn. Off, plus the above 3 options, enable/disable these grid choices. When any of these 4 choices is selected, the other choices are automatically de-selected.

The grid can also be labeled. The units used to label the grid are dependent on the Pixel Scale selected from the Size&Scale menu (see Size and Scale Choices). If no pixel scale is selected, the labels are given in pixels and the last option in the Grid menu (Set Grid Scale Size...) is disabled. The grid size can be selected in pixels, or if available, in other units as specified from the Set Grid Scale Size... option. The units used are always displayed in the upper left corner of the drawing when the Label Grid option is selected. Labels are initially displayed in the same color as the grid. To alter the color of the labels only, use the Change Grid Label Color option.

Set Grid Pixel Size offers 20 choices for the grid size, ranging from 5 to 100 pixels. The default is 10.

The Set Grid Scale Size... becomes available after a scale size has been determined for the drawing (see Size and Scale Choices).
If available and selected, the Grid Scale Size Box appears where you can select the unit type and number of units that constitute a grid space. If the unit and/or type is either too large or too small in relation to the drawing's pixel size, an error box will appear telling you of the problem. You can set the grid scale in British or Metric units, regardless of the scale type used to set the scale size of the drawing. ED Light will accurately make any necessary conversions.
The Include yards in measurements check box pertains to British units and is not selected by default. If selected, values shown in the Read Out Box and Tape Measurements will include yards. For example, with yards enabled a display might appear as:  3 yards, 2 feet 9 inches. That same measurement without yards enabled would be:  11 feet 9 inches:

3.5 The Options Choices
Options Menu

Like the Coloration selection in the Edit menu, both the Change Background Color and Change Shadow Color selections will bring up a limited version of the Color selection box. This version only allows selection of a solid color. Select your color and click OK.  The Change Background Color fills all the unoccupied areas with the selected color. The Change Shadow Color will apply its color to grid lines and shadows of old locations, when an object is being moved.

The Import Background Colors is a check box item. If enabled, the background and shadow colors from an imported file are used in the base document. Otherwise, those colors will remain as they were set by you in the main drawing.

The next 3 items alter attributes for subsequently drawn objects of specific types, as discussed in Additional Attributes.

Alter Base Font... allows the user to set the font that ED Light uses to display all menus, buttons, messages, etc. Like Set Text Font... it is implemented by the Text Font Selection Box.

The Alter Grace Value... option sets a value in pixels that is used by the Export and Print functions to define a border area around objects. It is also used to include an extra area around the reshape and re-size selection boxes, so grabbing them requires less accuracy.

The Use Loose Select Criteria is a check box item that allows a more lenient method of selecting an object using the point and click method (see Object Selection). If enabled, selection is easier and faster in most cases, but may result in incorrect selections when many objects overlap in a small area.

The Enforce CO Lineage Check is meaningful only in the Standard, Professional and Enterprise Editions. When enabled, it checks whether the Complex Objects you're trying to include, from loaded or imported drawings, are valid in your environment.

Log Activities is a check box item that allows you to track all your activity in a separate log file. When selected the first time, a File Selection Box will appear allowing you to specify a file to be used for saving this information. If it is later deselected and subsequently selected again, this dialog box will not appear and additional actions will be collected in the same file you originally specified. For more information on the format of the log file, see the Advanced Features Manual.  

 

3.6 Size & Scale Choices
Size and Scale Menu

Zoom Level allows you to select the level of magnification applied to the document as a whole. Be aware, however, that magnifying a drawing significantly can require large amounts of memory and become problematic. The greater the magnification, the greater the memory usage.

Drawing Size... allows you to set the physical size of the drawing, in pixels. The choices are :

• Adjust-to-Fit  (the default) where the drawing size is set to the total displacements of all the objects.
• Adjust-to-Frame  where the drawing size is set to the size of the BDI frame.
• Set-to-Size  where you enter the specific width and height, in pixels.

Drawing Size

The scale of a drawing refers to the measurement represented by a pixel, or group of pixels. There are 2 ways to set the drawing's scale. Pixel Scale... which allows you to set the drawing's pixel value directly. Or Easy Scale... which allows you to draw a scale line and define the size that scale line represents, indirectly setting the pixel value.

To define the pixel value directly, select Pixel Scale... and fill out the scale Pixel Scale Box. The Include yards in measurements check box pertains to British units and is not selected by default. If selected, measurements include yards. For example, with yards enabled a display might appear as:  3 yards, 2 feet 9 inches. That same measurement without yards enabled would be:  11 feet 9 inches:

Easy Scale... is usually easier to use and it automatically resets the value of the Pixel Scale and leaves a special "scale object" in the drawing. Only one of these special object types can exist on any one drawing. If Easy Scale... is selected a second time it will automatically delete the first scale entry when the new scale has been established.
To use, just select Easy Scale... then click and drag to form a horizontal line. This will cause a special type of line to be drawn, which looks like a tape measure (a wide yellow line with black borders). When you release the mouse to complete the line, the Easy Scale Box will appear where you can define what measurement that scale line represents.

Easy Scale

Once you've defined your scale using Easy Scale, use can still go back and adjust the pixel size directly through Pixel Scale, but the special scale object will not be altered accordingly, so it is not recommended.

The default scale is pixels (i.e. no scale). A document's scale becomes particularly important when you're importing a document with a different scale than the scale of your base document. In that case ED Light will re-scale the imported objects so they display in their actual size according to the current document's scale. This has the effect of making imported objects appear bigger, or smaller, than they were in the source document. If the differences in scale are too great, however, you will be forced to either ignore the scale of the imported document or cancel the operation.
 

The next 2 menu items ( Position Tool and Scroll Bars) define the method by which you maneuver around a drawing that is larger than the BDI's frame. This happens when the drawing size is set to a value larger than the frame, or when a drawing has been magnified, via the zoom feature. Select one method or the other. Do not enable both. While this will work, movement will be very slow and jumpy.

Position Tool... allows you to maneuver around a document  in a more elegant way than scroll bars by allowing you to move directly to any place on the document. It works by creating a scaled down image of the entire document in a small, separate  window, then drawing a movable rectangle inside of it, where the ratio of the rectangle to the small window is in the same proportion as the BDI frame is to the full document size. Then click and drag the rectangle in the Position Tool. As you move it, the BDI frame moves over the whole document proportionally. You can also re-size the Position Tool, just like any other window. There is, however a minimum size. It's best to do a little experimenting on this to get the hang of it. We think you'll find it easy and fun to use. Here's how the Position Tool looks on a document sized 1180x1480, where the BDI frame is about 700 x 450 :

Position Tool

Scroll Bars applies vertical and horizontal scroll bars to allow you to move around the document in the more standard way.

Tape Measure allows you to measure distances in terms of the drawing's scale (or pixels, if no scale was defined). When this option is enabled, you can click and drag a tape measure across your drawing and see accurate distances in terms of the units that were assigned in the Pixel Scale Box (or pixels). The measurement shows up in the information line and in the Read Out Box, if enabled. You cannot select or draw new objects while this option is enabled. See the map example on how you can measure distances between any 2 points on a map.
 
 

3.7 Special FX

SpecialFX Menu

The SpecialFX menu drives the animation and audio features.

The Enable Audio selection creates different sounds and dialog, depending on the actions you take. For example a mouse down action signals a bell tone. All of these sounds are generated from a set of .wav files that come with the product. You can substitute your own sounds if you like by using your own .wav files. To find out how to do this, see the Advanced Features Manual.

The remainder of the selections on this menu relate to animation.
Track Control... allows you to define paths on which objects will travel.
Track/Object Assignment... allows you to define which objects will run on which tracks and how fast they will travel.
Spin Objects... allows you to spin an object about it's center at varying speeds.
Pause All Motion, as the name implies, allows you to temporarily stop all the moving objects. All motions resume when this option is deselected.

For a complete discussion of these functions see the Animation chapter.

3.8 The Help Menu
Help Menu

About reveals information about your installation of ED Light.

About Box

The 3 remaining selections provide direct access to the documentation set of ED Light, via a simple Java based browser. This same information can also be viewed by any HTML browser by loading the pages found in the Documentation directory, under your installation's Root Directory (see line 5 in the About example above). The only exception to this rule, is the Examples document, which provides a Load Me Now link that will only work from the Java browser provided. Standard browsers will not know what to do with these links.
 

4.0 Animation
Animation provides another powerful new feature of version 1.3. Both individual objects and Groups can be set into motion to demonstrate actions, problems, features, etc. of your designs and drawings. You can even create working devices, like a clock (see the RealClock example). ED Light provides you with 2 basic types of motion: Spinning and Tracking. Spinning causes an object to rotate about its center. Tracking causes an object to move along a pre-defined path, or track. Spinning can be done in a single step - i.e. set the spin options for a given object and click the Start button. Tracking requires a 2 step process. In step one you define from 1 to 3 tracks. Then, in step two, you assign objects to a given track, similar to the way the spin function assigns objects. The following sections explain in more detail.

From a technical perspective it is important to note that each motion assignment, whether Spinning or Tracking, creates a new processing thread. These threads sleep for a timed interval (the delay time) then wake up and make the appropriate adjustment to the object(s) in motion, then go back to sleep. So multiple assignments of very fast moving (short delay) threads may begin to have a noticeable impact on your computer's ability to handle other functions.

4.1 Spin Control
When Spin Objects... is selected from the SpecialFX menu, an assignment box appears, which allows you to determine which objects will spin, their absolute and virtual speed and the direction in which they will rotate.

Spin Control Box

To spin an object, first determine which object you want to spin, either by pressing the Prev and Next buttons, or just entering the object number into the Spin Object field.

Next, select the absolute delay (sleep) time by choosing the time metric (Minutes, Seconds or Seconds/100 -i.e. hundredths of a second). Then move the slider bar to the desired level. The setting will appear in the Click Delay field, which cannot be altered directly.  The longest delay possible is 60 minutes and the shortest delay is 1/100 of a second.

Then, adjust the virtual speed - aka. Degrees per Click. This option adjusts just like the Click Delay slider, but sets the number of degrees the object turns at the end of each delay cycle.

Note that delay times shorter than 1/10 of a second are not encouraged, since the human eye cannot see those speeds. To achieve a faster virtual speed, increase the number of degrees per click. This will create the illusion of a faster speed, while reducing CPU overhead.

Set the direction of spin via the Clockwise and Counter Clockwise check boxes, then press the Start button. At that point the selected object will begin to spin, the Start button will be disabled, the Stop button will be enabled and the SPINNING label will be displayed in bright green.

To spin other objects, just set the Spin Object, as above, to the desired object. Make changes to speed and direction, if required, and click Start. 

Also note that whenever an object displays the SPINNING label in bright green, you can dynamically adjust both the Click Delay and Degrees per Click sliders and observe the spin changes in real time. To reverse the direction, however, you must first click the Stop button, then alter the direction and restart it.

4.1.1 Spinning Groups
If a Group is currently active, selecting Spin Objects... will produce a modified Spin Control Box.

Group Spin Control Box

This box will control the current Group just like the normal Spin Control Box controls individual objects, with two noticeable differences. First the Spin Object controls are disabled, since you are already dealing with a previously defined Group. Second, the bright green GROUP ACTIVE  label replaces the disabled SPINNING label and when the the Group is actually spinning, it's again transformed to GROUP SPINNING. So the word GROUP is always apparent in bright green as a reminder you're dealing with a whole Group.

Another very important point is that Spinning Groups are persistent. In other words, once a Group starts spinning the Group's makeup cannot be changed by deactivating it from the BDI's bottom toolbar, or creating a new Group. If another Group is created, while the first Group is still spinning, you will no longer be able to stop or alter the first Spinning Group, except by using the Pause All Motion option in the SpecialFX menu. Therefore, setting multiple groups into motion is not recommended, as this could become quite confusing and unmanageable.

4.2 Track Creation
ED Light allows you to define 3 separate, active tracks. Each of these tracks can be in the form of a line, a circle or a freehand object.

Track Control

To create a track, select Track Control... and the Track Control Box appears in front of the lower part of the BDI window. This box is different from most of the product's other boxes in that it is non-modal. That is, it will allow access to the main BDI window, without closing this box first. This is done to allow you to draw your track, or path, on the main window while the Track Control Box remains in control of your activities.

Next, select the Track Type you want to create, from the choices of Line, Circle or Freehand. Then, for future reference, enter a name for the track you want to create and click the Create button. At this point ED Light will disable all of the BDI menus and buttons and set its drawing style to the Track Type you specified. You are now ready to draw the track on the main BDI drawing area.

Draw your track just like you would do for a normal line, circle or freehand. You may use any part of the BDI drawing area and the track may be any size you wish. The location (starting position) of the track on the BDI drawing area doesn't matter, because when you assign an object to it, its track movement will always be relative to the object's original location. It works as if the starting point of the track is first moved to the starting position of the object, just before movement begins.

When you release the mouse button, all the appropriate BDI menus and buttons will be re-enabled and the drawing object will be reset to whatever it was before creating the track. A reduced depiction of the track will be displayed in one of the drawing boxes in the Track Control Box. The name you entered will appear just under it and the Delete button, next to the name, will be enabled.

Up to 3 tracks can be created in this way. When you're done, click Close. You can return to Track Control any time to view or delete these tracks, or add new ones.

4.3 Track Assignments
If at least one track exists and there is at least one object to assign to it, the Track/Object Assignment... menu item will be enabled for use under the SpecialFX menu. When you select it, the Track Assignment Box will appear.

Track Assignment

The top half of the Track Assignment Box looks similar to the Spin Control Box and works in a very similar way. To start an object along a track, you select the object, the time metric and the absolute speed (delay time). Then select the Jumps per Click, which is measured in pixels, rather than in degrees as with Spin Control. But the result is the same in that it defines object's the virtual speed along the track.

You must also select the Track to which you want to assign this object. They are identified here by name. Finally, you need to tell ED Light what to do when the moving object comes to the end of a track. The choices here are pretty self explanatory - Stop, Start Over or Reverse.

Other characteristics of track assignments are virtually the same as with Spin Control.

• Delay times shorter than 1/10 of a second are not encouraged, since the human eye cannot see those speeds. To achieve a faster virtual speed, increase the number of Jumps per Click. This will create the illusion of a faster speed, while reducing CPU overhead.
• When the Start button is pressed movement will begin, the Start button will be disabled, the Stop button will be enabled and the MOVING label will be displayed in bright green.
• To track another object, start this procedure again by selecting a new object.
• Whenever the MOVING label appears in bright green, you can dynamically adjust both the Click Delay and Jumps per Click sliders and observe the movement changes in real time. To alter the track assignment or end-of-track option, however, you must first click the Stop button, make your changes then restart it.

4.3.1 Tracking Groups
Like Spin Control, if a Group is currently active, selecting Track/Object Assignment... will produce a modified Track Assignment Box.

Group Track Assignment Control Box

This box will control the current Group just like the normal Track Assignment Box controls individual objects, with two noticeable differences. First the Track Object controls are disabled, since you are already dealing with a previously defined Group. Second, the bright green GROUP ACTIVE  label replaces the disabled MOVING label and when the the Group is actually moving, it's again transformed to GROUP MOVING. So the word GROUP is always apparent in bright green as a reminder you're dealing with a whole Group.

Also, like Spinning Groups, Moving Groups are persistent. In other words, once a Group starts moving the Group's makeup cannot be changed by deactivating it from the BDI bottom toolbar, or creating a new Group. If other Groups are created, they can also be set into motion separately, resulting in many, different moving Groups. Since, this could become quite confusing, it is also not recommended.