[Previous] [Up] [Next]
Go backward to Order of objects
Go up to General Concepts
Go forward to The current selection

The different object types

When you click the left mouse button, Ipe will start creating a geometric object for you. Which kind of object this will be depends on the current object type. The object type is set using one of the buttons in the lower left corner. Some object types have several variants (e.g. circles can be entered by giving center and a point on the boundary, or by giving two diametral points, or by giving three points on the boundary). You can select the variants using the choice field above the object type buttons. Note that there are two object types that have no button here, namely the bitmap type and the group type. Both object types cannot be created directly.

  The mouse explainer in the upper right corner of the Ipe window tells you the function of the mouse buttons at any time. In particular, it tells you about the current object type. The variant selected for a given object type will remain in effect even when you leave this object type and come back to it later. Note that you can also specify the default variant for some object types in your configuration file.

  The next chapter will deal with the different object types in detail. As a general rule, the clicking the left mouse button starts creation of an object and adds more points to it, and the middle mouse button serves to place the final feature of the object and thus to terminate the creation. Text objects deviate from this scheme. While creating a text object, the mouse buttons serve to cut and paste text. You have to press M-e or RET to end text creation mode. (This makes sense since you have your hands on the keyboard anyway.)


[Previous] [Up] [Next]