Drawing 2D-Primitives

The KIllustrator Handbook
Prev | Chapter 3. Usage | Next

# 3.2. Drawing 2D-Primitives

The procedure to draw any 2D-Primitive, consists of the following steps:

1. Select the type of object which can be drawn

2. Draw the object

The second step varies with each of the different 2D-Primitives. Therefore these are dealt with separately in the following where the operation is shown with the icon button to be pressed to select that function.

## 3.2.1. Freehand tool

In order to draw a freehand line, one proceeds as follows:

1. left-click (and hold) on the canvas where the freehand line is to begin

2. draw the line by moving the mouse with the left mouse button still pressed

3. release the left mouse button when the final point of the line is reached

## 3.2.2. Polyline tool

With this tool lines, polylines, and polygons may be drawn.

### 3.2.2.1. Lines

To draw a line:

1. left-click on the canvas at the point where the line is to start

2. release the left mouse button and draw the line by moving the mouse

3. right-click on the canvas at the point where the line is to finish.

### 3.2.2.2. Polylines

A polyline is a series of connected lines. In order to draw a polyline, proceed as follows:

1. left-click at the point where the polyline is to start

2. release the left mouse button and draw the first line

3. left-click at the point where the current line ends and the next line starts

4. release the left mouse button and draw the next line

5. continue with previous two steps until the final line is drawn, then terminate this line with a click of the right mouse button

### 3.2.2.3. Polygons

To draw a polygon follow the steps in drawing polylines. To close the polygon hold down the SHIFT key while clicking the right mouse button to automatically close the polygon. A line from the last left-click to the first left click is automatically drawn.

## 3.2.3. Bezier curve tool

Drawing Bezier curves is often a problem, however KIllustrator makes it easy. Proceed as follows:

1. left-click on the canvas at the point of origin of the Bezier curve

2. determine the rise of the curve segment at this point with the help line - left-click when satisfied

3. left-click at the end point of this line segment

4. position the help line to achieve the desired rise, if further curve segments are to be drawn, left-click otherwise right-click to complete the curve

## 3.2.4. Rectangle tool

In order to draw a rectangle:

1. left-click (and hold) on the canvas at the point where a corner point of the rectangle is to be

2. draw the rectangle by moving the mouse while holding down the left mouse button

3. release the left mouse button to complete the rectangle

To draw a square, press and hold down the CTRL key while drawing the rectangle.

## 3.2.5. Regular polygon tool

This tool allows the simple drawing of equilateral triangles, squares, and higher order regular polygons. It is much simpler to use this tool for drawing regular polygons than the polyline tool. The procedure here is the following:

1. left-double click on the regular polygon tool button

2. a dialog opens where the polygon parameters are set

3. make the appropriate adjustments

4. left-click the OK button when finished

5. left-click (and hold) on the canvas at the point of origin *

6. scale the polygon to the desired size by moving the mouse while holding down the left mouse button

7. release the left mouse button when the desired size is achieved

* In this case the point of origin should only be used as a guide. For precise alignment of the polygon use the selection tool.

## 3.2.6. Ellipse tool

In order to draw an ellipse, proceed as follows:

1. left-click (and hold) on one corner point of the bounding box * of the ellipse

2. draw the ellipse by moving the mouse while holding down the left mouse button

3. release the left mouse button when the ellipse is the desired size

If a circle is to be drawn instead of an ellipse, hold the CTRL key down while drawing the ellipse.

* The bounding box of the ellipse is a rectangle which is just big enough to contain the ellipse - the edges of the rectangle are tangents (parallel to the x- and y-axes) of the ellipse.

## 3.2.7. Text tool

This tool adds text to your KIllustrator drawing. The steps are are follows:

1. left-click on the canvas where the text is to begin

2. type the text

The input is continued until a new tool is selected, or a new point on the canvas is chosen to place more text by step 1.

Prev | Home | Next
Usage | Up | Transformation of 2D-Primitives