GFXArrows is a GIMP Plug-In for creating all sorts of pointers, oriented in any direction and with variable length tails, as new layers or layer masks, or drawn directly over the the original layer content.
Table of Contents
- The Main Window
- Image/Layer Options
- Drawing Options
- Drawing the selected arrow
- Closing and resetting the main dialog
- Undo the changes
- Samples
The GFXArrows main dialog consists of a
notebook with 3 pages: Arrow Options,Image/Layer
Options, and Draw Options. The
opening page, Arrow Options, is used to select an arrow head type, tail
length, and overall scaling. In the upper left is the Rotation
Angle Preview. When an arrow head has been selected,
a preview of the arrow will be drawn within the circular outline.
Clicking and dragging within the Preview will rotate the
arrow around the edge of the circular outline. Changes to the orientation
of the arrow in the Preview will cause the Angle
input
field (just to the right of the Preview) to be updated automatically.
Additionally you can type in specific degrees of rotation in that field.
Note that the maximum rotation value is 359 degrees while the minimum is
-359 degrees. Zero degress is also valid.
Selecting an arrow head is simple enough - just click on one of the icons in the Arrow Heads window just beneath the Preview window. When you click on an arrow head it will be outlined to show it has been selected and the preview will be updated with the new shape. Also, the Tail Length slider and input field will be reset to the defaults for the newly selected head.
Changes to the Tail Length slider will update the Preview window, causing the tail to be extended from the arrow head. The tail length can be quite long in relation to the size of the arrow head and can extend past the circular outline of the Preview window. However, the tail display is limited to the inside of the raised frame of the Preview window.
Below the Tail Length slider you will find an option for scaling the arrow. By default the scaling is set to 1.0. Below the Scaling option is the DPI option. Setting the DPI to something other than 72, which is the default value for most monitors, is probably only necessary for those who need to work in terms of printed materials and resolutions. You may also want to increase the DPI value if you can't create a bounding box large enough simply by increasing the scaling amount. The Size box, below the DPI option, shows the dimensions of the bounding box for the drawn arrow and tail. The number of inches will depend on the DPI setting. The default for the Bounding Box Size is to display the size in inches, but this can be changed to pixels using the accompanying options menu.
The computed size of the bounding box is dependent on 3 things: the scaling amount, the DPI setting, and the X and Y margins that can be specified in the Image/Layer Options page. For example, the default for DPI is 72 pixels and both margins default to 10 pixels which means the overall size of the bounding box will be 92x92 pixels (remember that the scaling default is 1.0).
Finally, in the upper right of this page you will find a button that allows you to choose the brush that will be used when the arrow is drawn in the Canvas window. The default brush used is Circle Fuzzy (07).
The second page of the GFXArrows dialog
allows you to specify options related to the layer and image into which
the arrow will be drawn. This page is divided into three sections:
Draw
To, Drawing Margins, and New
Layer Options. Each section is enclosed by a framed outline
so it should be easy to follow this next section.
The Draw To frame has three mutually exclusive buttons: New Layer, To Original, and To Mask. Selecting New Layer causes the arrow to be drawn on a new layer that will be positioned on top of all the other layers for the currently selected image (the current image can be set using the Available Images option menu at the top of this page). Selecting the To Original button will cause the arrow to be drawn over the currently active layer in the selected image. This option is destructive to the contents of the current layer so be certain this is really what you want to do. The other option, To Mask, will cause the arrow to be drawn to the mask of the active layer for the selected image. If a mask does not exist then one will be created for that layer. Keep in mind that a mask is a grayscale image so the current foreground color is not used in the mask.
If a new layer is to be created then the options in the New Layer Options frame become active. If To Original or To Mask is selected then these options cannot be modified (they are said to be "grayed out"). The first two options, Blend Mode and Opacity, allow you to specify the initial settings for the new layer just as you would otherwise do using the Layer and Channels dialog. The X and Y Offset options allow you to position the new layer within the selected image. These offsets are relative to the upper left corner of the Canvas Window for the currently selected image.
The Drawing Margins options allow you to add a bit of padding to the left and top of the bounding box in which the arrow will be drawn. Setting the margins may be necessary for some arrows under some rotational angles to prevent the ends of the tail or tips of the arrow head from being cut off.
The final page provides options for how
the arrow will be drawn or painted. This page has three sections,
plus two additional options. The three sections are Draw
With, Fill With, and Tail.
The Draw With options allow you to select the GIMP drawing tool to use.
The tool selected, one of Pencil, Paintbrush, Airbrush or Stroke Outline,
will use the currently selected brush from the Brush Selection dialog so
be sure you've chosen your brush..
The
Paintbrush tool has an additional option, Paintbrush
Fade Out which is identical in use to the Fade Out option
of the Paintbrush Tool Options dialog. It determines how quickly
the paintbrush fades as it draws. The default setting of 0 (zero)
means the paintbrush will not fade at all. Smaller values greater
than zero mean the paintbrush fades quickly as it draws. Larger values
mean it paints longer lines before it begins to fade. Similarly,
the Airbrush tool has an Airbrush Pressure
option
that functions the same as its Tool Options feature of the same name.
Both of these options are only active (modifiable) when their respective
tools are selected from the Draw With frame.
Arrows are drawn in two steps - first their outline is drawn using the selected drawing tool and then this outline is filled, or not, using the method specified by the Fill With frame. The default is to fill the arrow with the same color as its outline. Alternatively you can fill the outline with the currently selected Pattern, fill the outline with the pattern but leave off the drawn outline, or just outline the arrow shape.
The Tail options related to the drawing of the arrow's tail. The tail can either be drawn or not drawn depending on which option is set.
Once you've made all your modifications to the default settings of the dialog you can click on the Apply button at the bottom of the window. The arrow will be created fairly quickly even if its fairly large. If the arrow is drawn on a new layer then that layer will be named GFXArrow. An optional number is added to this name if more than one layer of GFXArrows have been created.
Closing and Resetting the Dialog
The GFXArrows dialog will not close after you click on Apply. It stays open so you can create multiple arrows during a single use. To close the dialog, select the File->Quit menu option. If you need to start over with the original, default settings you can simply click on the Reset button and all the original settings of the plug-in will be restored.
GFXArrows performs all its features as a single operation. This means a new layer added with the drawn arrow can be removed with a single CTRL-Z keystroke, even while the GFXArrows window is open.
Here are some example arrows made with GFXArrows. Keep in mind that GFXArrows works with the currently selected foreground color, currently selected brush and/or currently selected pattern so to get effects like these you need to play with those settings. For some of these samples, brushes from the Graphics Muse Tools CD were used, such as the small corner brush and the small drovel.
