The left column of the display contains the Pixel Editor and Sample windows, which are loaded with the fill pattern of the current layer when the editor is started. The remaining windows contain default fill patterns. The first two pattern boxes always contain empty and solid fill, however the other 16 can contain any pattern. There are 64 internal pattern registers, 16 of which are displayed at any one time. A menu button below the pattern boxes allows each of the four banks of patterns to be displayed. Any of these pattern registers, with the exception of solid and empty, can be used for storage of other patterns.
Patterns are moved between the various boxes and layers in the layer table by drag/drop. Press and hold the left mouse button while the pointer is over the box or layer entry that is the source of a pattern, and release the button after moving the mouse pointer over the destination box or layer table entry.
The following transfers are possible:
Note that the new pattern set for a layer will not be visible in the drawing windows until they are next redrawn (press Ctrl-R, or click with button 2 near the center of the window to redraw the window).
The color used do display patterns in the pop-up is the color of the current layer. Initiating a drag from a layer in the layer table will change the current layer (and hence the color) to that layer.
The 64 ``default'' fill patterns can be saved in an xic_stipples file in the current directory with the Dump Defs button. If this file is found in the library search path, it will be used to initialize the pattern registers when Xic starts. A system default xic_stipples file is provided in the startup directory.
The Outline button, in the lower left of the pop-up, determines whether or not a solid outline is drawn around objects which use the pattern, once it is transferred to a layer. Set this to the desired state before dragging a pattern to a layer.
The pixel map can be one of four sizes: 8x8, 8x16, 16x8, or 16x16. The size selector button, located next to the Outline button, changes the size of the current pixel map. The size is automatically set when a pixel map is loaded into the editor.
The pixels in the pattern can be edited in the Pixel Editor box. The basic operation is to toggle the state of the pixel by clicking on it with button 1, but more complex possibilities exist. A hold and drag will operate on all of the pixels enclosed in or intersecting the defined rectangle, which is ghost-drawn. The operations are indicated in the table below.
Button | Figure | Shift | Ctrl | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | solid box | toggle | set | unset |
2 | open box | toggle | set | unset |
3 | line | toggle | set | unset |
If Shift or Ctrl is held down before button 1 is pressed, the action will be as for button 2. The three columns from the right indicate the state of the modifier keys on button release which produces the stated effect on the pixels. The Ctrl press overrides Shift if both are pressed.
Pressing the arrow keys while the pop-up has the keyboard focus permutes the pixel editor bitmap in the direction of the arrow. This is valuable for allowing layers with similar patterns to show through one another.
Pressing the Dismiss button in the Fill Pattern Editor will retire the editor. This has the same effect as pressing the Set Fill menu button a second time.