using the keyboard

Unlike most high-resolution artwork, textmode artwork is drawn primarily using the keyboard. Because characters are laid individually, you will become quite familiar with using the F-keys to lay characters on the canvas. There are also a variety of keyboard shortcuts that allow you to perform almost any task possible in the menus.

Laying CHARACTERS


Figure 4.7: The Block Characters



There are really only 8 block characters that are used for drawing ANSI the F9 and F10 included on the character set palette are useful for details though.

To draw a block you simply press a function key on the keyboard. The character set palette pictured above the Block Characters diagram (which was drawn in Tundradraw :) contains a simple group of objects.

On the top you see the function keys F#, and immediately below the function key you see a character. Pressing the function key above the character will drop the character onto the canvas. Simple eh?

The block will be placed on the canvas immediately under the cursor, which is a blinking line. To move arround the canvas, you can use the arrow keys.

 

Insert mode

By default, the canvas is in "overwrite" mode. This means that any block that you lay while the cursor is over an existing block will end up replacing the existing block. You can change this behavior by putting the canvas into "insert" mode. This is done by pressing the Insert key (sometimes labeled Ins) on your keyboard. While in "insert" mode, any block that you insert will cause blocks under and to the right of the cursor to be shifted over by one column to the right. You can switch back into "overwrite" mode by pressing the Insert key again.

 

Backspace vs. Delete

The difference between backspace and delete is similar to the difference between the insert and overwrite modes. Pressing the Backspace button will delete the character to the left of the cursor, but will not affect any of the other characters in the row. On the other hand, pressing the Delete button will delete the character immediately under the cursor AND will shift characters to the right of the cursor over to the left by one column.

 

Block Mode Operations (Selections)

 

You can save a signficant amount of time when working with a group of characters by performing a block operation on a selection. While a number of the block operations you would expect, such as cut/copy/paste, are present, there are other operations that will help you save a time, such as various methods of filling a block of the canvas with characters and colors.

 

Creating a Selection with the Keyboard

For many artists, it is easier to make a selection using the mouse, but some prefer to keep their hands on the keyboard to work more quickly. You can create a selection on the canvas by pressing and holding Shift and then moving the arrow keys. You will notice that the block of the canvas you have selected has its colors inversed. After making your selection, the application's status bar is updated with a list of operations that you may now perform on the block.

 

Moving a Block

After making your selection, you can press the M key to begin moving the block. You can now move characters in your selection by using the arrow keys. When you have chosen the new location for your block of characters, press the Spacebar to finish the move.

 

Quick Copying a Block

The quick copy is useful to, as the name implies, quickly copy a block of characters to another location on the canvas. It does not use the clipboard, rather, the copying is done interactively on the screen. Press the C key to being a quick copy. Similar to the move command, you can position the new location of your copy by using the arrow keys. When you have positioned the copy, you can press S to stamp the characters and continue copying to another location, or Spacebar to paste the block and finish the copying operation.

 

Erasing a Block

You can easily erase a block of characters by pressing the E key. As with backspace, erasing a block only deletes the characters in the selection, and does not affect any other characters on the canvas.

 

Filling a Block

There are several types of fills that you can perform on a block. These are:

The fills that affect only the color do not change the character. The Fill Character operation brings up a dialog prompting for a new character, then fills with that character, but uses the colors already on the canvas in that location.

Press the F key to start a fill. You will see a new popup menu appear under the cusor. This menu contains all of the operations listed above. You can then use the arrow keys to move through the options, and press Enter to select one, or use the keyboard shortcut for each option:

A - Fill Attribute
C - Fill Character
B - Fill Both Character and Attribute
F - Fill Foreground Color
K - Fill Background Color

Fill Character and Fill Both Character and Attribute both popup a new dialog prompting you for a character with which to fill. Simply press the key on the keyboard that you wish to use for the fill, and press Spacebar to dismiss the dialog and execute the fill.

There is short-shortcut for performing the Fill Both Character and Attribute operation. Instead of pressing the F key to bring up the fill menu, press the Ctrl key and the F-key of the character you wish to use for the fill. Note that this only works for characters in the F-key character set.

 

Flipping a Block

Sometimes you will want to save time when creating a symmetrical object by copying a portion of the object, and then performing a Flip X or Flip Y operation on the portion that you just copied. Flip X flips the contents of the block horizontally, Flip Y flips the contents of the block vertically. When you have a selection, you can perform a Flip X by pressing the X key, and a Flip Y by pressing the Y key.

 

Undo/Redo

 

If you have ever used a word processor or any kind of text editor, you are undoubtedly very familiar with Undo/Redo. All of the commands listed above, both laying characters and block mode operations, can be undone and redone. In fact, they can even be undone and redone over a network connection! As of this writing, TundraDraw is the only ANSI editor that allows you to undo/redo in a network session. In addition, you can undo almost infinitely (well, until you run out of memory, anyway.)

Undo and Redo function just as they do in most other applications. Press Ctrl and Z to undo the last operation. Press Ctrl and Y to redo the last undone operation. Simple!

Choosing Colors

 

Choosing colors is almost always easier to do with the mouse, by clicking on the swatches in the palette, especially in 24-bit mode where that is the only option. In 4-bit mode, however, you can choose colors with the keyboard, if you desire. Press Ctrl and the Left or Right arrow keys to cycle through background colors. Press Ctrl and the Up or Down arrow keys to cycle through foreground colors.

There are some other color shortcuts to help you save time as well. Press Alt and U to pick up the color under the cursor. Press Alt and X to swap your current foreground and background colors. (But remember, in 4-bit mode, only the top colors in the palette toolbar can be used as background colors.)

Changing the Character Set

 

There are 17 character sets supported by TundraDraw. You can change the current character set by pressing Alt and the number 1 through 0 or Ctrl and the number 1 through 7 on the keyboard. After doing so, you will see the character set preview now contains a new set of characters that you can use with the F-keys.

Other Shortcuts

 

TundraDraw makes use of some other standard keyboard shortcuts, as listed below: