Short:       SteamDraw
Author:      Stefan Kleinheinrich
Type:        gfx/edit
Version:     2.5


SteamDraw is a vector based 2D graphics program which saves and loads (limited)
files in SVG format.

New in 2.5:

Switched back to antigrain for rendering, improved stability over cairo based versions.

The GUI is aimed to be as intuitive as possible so I will only describe the basics here:

Main window:
On the left you have the toolbox where you select the basic tool to create and modify objects.

At the top you can choose the magnification and see the current pointer position (read only atm).

At the bottom yo can see the status of the magnet system. SteamDraw will lock the pointer
position to an existing object or the grid if the position hasn't been changed for a while.
This will be marked a red in black circle.

Toolbox window:
This will appear whenever a tool overs subtools (currently all except line). 
The green point shows where you start creating/editing an object, the red is the last point,
yellow for all in between.
Some tools also offer further options in context menus.

Object window:
On top you have a listtree of your objects, a string-gadget to assign/change the name of an 
object followed by gadget to create a new layer and to delete the selected object.
The attributes group will disapear on object ignoring them (layers, objects within a path etc).
Additional line-patterns can be added to the textfile in the SteamDraw directory.
Attributes are allways connected to the current/active objects, changing them after you have
created an object will change that object. Once you select an existing object or set the start
point for a new one attributes will point to that object.
The checkbox at the bottom allows you to carry the current object's setting over to any
object newly created afterward. New object will be created with default attributes if unchecked.
The tab Position&Size will allow you to monitor and modify the position of an object. Wether
the object is moved or resized depends on which values are locked. 
Note, these locks are ignored when creating or editing an object directly in the main window.

PNG Export window: (availble via menu project->export PNG)
More or less standard ASL-requester with some gadget for selecting the target resolution and
which part of the drawing should be rendered into the PNG.

Settings Window: (available via menu settings->SteamDraw)
While editing you can either have all items in the drawing selectable or just those that are
part of the current layer (or path/compound object). This has no effect on magnetism while
actually creating/moving/resizing objects.

The only other option to put a minimum delay between 2 redraws by the renderengine.

On machines with varable CPU&fan speeds (MacMini,PowerBook,iBook and possible MDD/FW800-towers) 
editing/ceating complex objects (like PicFill with FullHD bitmap)lead to rather annoying noise 
and reduced battery life. Settings at 60ms or lower should still feel smooth while keeping the 
fans down most of the time (offcourse depending on what other tasks you have running).

Contact:
skleinheinrich@t-online.de