3.2. Create Own Figures and Shows

3.2. Create Own Figures and Shows

nw figure IMPORTANT! When a new figure is to be created, it is essential to ALWAYS click on “New Figure”. Otherwise the figure created before will be overwritten!

Fig.12 editing buttons
Fig.12: Buttons for editing

Different tools for drawing a picture in the central drawing window are provided:

 poly line “Poly-Line”
Standard active is the Poly-Line tool. With left mouse clicks in the drawing area, colored points will be set; with the right mouse button invisible (blanked) points will be set.
The created forms are vector graphics. So if an object shall be created that cannot be drawn with one line, but is “separate” to other object, a blank path need to be created, meaning a path the scanners of the laser move but without laser output. Use the right mouse button to set one or more blank points to do so.
This mainly applies if using the Poly-Line tool. If other drawing tools are used, blank lines usually are added automatically.
With holding the mouse button, the poly-line shape draws an end-to-end line with different positions in between. This tool is used e.g. to draw bent laser planes.

ellipse “Ellipse”
With this tool the “tunnel effect” is created. The circle or the ellipse, respectively, will be interpolated from a multi-cornered polygon. The number of points of the figure depends on its size. This impacts the “Morph” feature, so this must be kept in mind. The lines between the polygon points can be re-colored.

point “Point”
Drawing a point will create a still standing laser beam. Please use points very carefully! Point / “Hot Beams” are extremely dangerous, so use with care. Always respect your local laser safety regulations. Laserworld Showeditor automatically generates three points: Two invisible ones (blanked) and the one visible. With a right mouse click on the tool the number of repeated points per beam can be adjusted.

rectangle “Rectangle”
This tool is used to create rectangular “tunnels” within the laser show. The four sides can be colored as desired.

polygon “Polygon”
This tool is used to create polygon tunnels with plane sides. The number of corners can be changed with right mouse click on the tool. A polygon with very many corners will look like a circle. A polygon with four corners will display a rectangle; three corners display a triangle. The sides of the polygon can be colored separately.

line “Line”
This tool is used to create laser planes in your show. The line is generated with blanked points at start and end point.

freehand “Freehand”
This tool is used to draw freehand figures. Automatically blanked points at start and end will be set. Some parameters can be adjusted with right mouse click on the tool.

text “Text”
This tool is used to create texts. Please read the respective chapter below for more information.

bezier “Bezier Tool”
is used to create curves and Beziers. Please read the respective chapter in the main manual for more information.

The tools like Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon and Freehand are very easy to use:
-> click the left mouse button at center-position -> hold it
-> size the figure by dragging the mouse -> release the mouse button

The handling of the Bezier tool is more complex: Two control lines are created. These lines define the resulting Bezier curve (see respective chapter for more explanations).

The desired drawing color is easily chosen by a click on the color palette in the right upper corner of the software. The 20 “brightest” colors are available in a palette, more can be chosen from the color wheel or color cube. The view of the color selection can be altered via Options -> Others. The display of the cube can be changed by a click on one of the three radio buttons. The depth of the cube can be selected by the scrollbar. By using this it is also possible to select darker (more greyish) colors, too. Colors from the cube or wheel can be applied to the palette by simple drag-and-drop.

By using the “HAND” hand feature, points can be marked and repositioned with right click and drag. To select several points of the figure, drag open a marking square with left mouse buttons. To mark additional points, hold the “Ctrl”-key while marking points. To select ALL points of a picture (frame), you can also use the Edit -> Mark All Points.

In some cases it may be necessary to deactivate the grid for selecting points, as some may not be reachable otherwise. To do so, enter the value “1” into the textbox for the adjustment of the grid.

The features change color “Rotate”, “Change Color”, “Delete” and “Optimize” can be used similar. They immediately apply for the points marked.

magnifiying glass button The “Magnifying Glass” is used to magnify regions of the drawing window. Magnification can be done either by drag-zoom or use of the scroll wheel at the mouse. Left mouse click on the tool returns magnification to 100%. Right mouse clicks preserves the actual magnification settings.

All features are explained more in detail in the main manual.

Marked points can also be copied, cut and pasted – this works like in a normal text editor – shortcuts like “Strg-C” (copy), “Strg-X” (cut) and “Strg-V” (paste) do NOT work here, because they are used for the figure-to-key assignments.

In the case that a figure should consist of several single pictures (series of frames), which later can be displayed as an animated cartoon, a new empty frame (picture) via a click on “New Frame” must be created. Thus a new frame is generated after the existing ones. “Add Frame” will add an empty frame before the active frame.

The “Morph” is explained in the main manual.

A newly created figure can directly be visualized to the hardware (displayed by the laser projector) by a click on “Laser On”, or visualized in the simulation window.

Read more: 3.2. Create Own Figures and Shows

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