136 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
136 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
+++
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title = "Document panel"
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[extra]
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order = 2
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The **Document panel** is the main content area where the artwork is displayed and edited using **tools** within the **viewport**. It's also where the **node graph** can be overlaid by pressing <kbd>Ctrl</kbd><kbd>Space</kbd>. The viewport is for interactive, visual editing of the **canvas**. The node graph is where you can inspect the underlying structure of the document and edit it in a more technical way if the need arises.
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There is one instance of the Document panel per open document file. Each has its own tab labeled with its file name. When a document has unsaved changes, an `*` is included at the end of the name.
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The Document panel is composed of three main areas:
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- The **top bar** runs across the top of the panel and provides controls and view options.
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- The **shelf** is the narrow vertical bar that runs down the left of the panel and lists a selection of tools or nodes.
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- The **table** fills the rest of the panel and contains the viewport and overlaid node graph.
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The content of each depends if the viewport or node graph is visible, as described in the two sections below.
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## Interactive viewport editing
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### Top bar
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While the viewport is visible, the left of the bar provides controls for the active tool and the right provides view options.
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#### Editing modes
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Only the default mode is currently implemented. Others will be added in the future and this dropdown is a placeholder for that.
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| <img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/editing-modes__2.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" onload="this.width /= 2" alt="The editing modes dropdown menu" /> | The default, **Design Mode**, is for directly editing the artwork.<br /><br />Once implemented, **Select Mode** will be where marquee selections are made to constrain the active tool's edits to a masked area of choice.<br /><br />Once implemented, **Guide Mode** will be for creating guides and constraint systems used for alignment and constraint-based layout. |
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#### Tool options
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Provides controls for the active tool. These change with each tool, and are blank for some.
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<p><img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/tool-options__2.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" alt="Example of the tool options for the Select tool" /></p>
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Pictured above is the tool options for the Select tool. It provides options related to its selection behavior and offers useful action buttons for modifying the selected layers with alignment, flipping, and (not-yet-implemented) boolean operations.
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<!-- Each tool's options are described in the [Tools](../../tools) chapter. -->
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Each tool's options will be described in the upcoming tools chapter.
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#### Viewport options
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Shows options for how the viewport is displayed and interacted with.
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<p><img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/viewport-options__2.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" alt="The viewport options" /></p>
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| Overlays | When checked (default), overlays are shown. When unchecked, they are hidden. Overlays are the contextual visualizations (like bounding boxes and vector points) that appear atop the viewport when using tools. |
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| Snapping | When checked (default), drawing and dragging shapes and vector points means they will snap to other areas of geometric interest from other layers, like corners or anchor points. When unchecked, the selection moves freely.<br /><br />Fine-grained options are available by clicking the overflow button to access its options popover menu:<br /><br /><img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/snapping-popover__2.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" onload="this.width /= 2" alt="Snapping options popover menu" /><ul><li>**Bounding Boxes** sets whether the *edges* and *centers* of the rectangle that encloses the bounds of each other layer is used for snapping.</li><li>**Geometry** sets whether the anchors and handles of vector paths are used for snapping.</li></ul> |
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| Grid | When checked (off by default), grid lines are shown to which drawn and edited shapes are snapped to. The initial grid scale is 1 document unit, helping you draw pixel-perfect artwork.<ul><li>**Origin** is the position where the repeating grid pattern begins from.</li><li>**Type** sets whether the grid pattern is made of squares or triangles.<br /><br />**Rectangular** is a square pattern:<br /><br /><img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/grid-rectangular-popover.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" onload="this.width /= 2" alt="Snapping options popover menu" /><br /><ul><li>**Spacing** is the width and height of the square grid cells.</li></ul><br /><br />**Isometric** is a triangle pattern:<br /><br /><img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/grid-isometric-popover.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" onload="this.width /= 2" alt="Snapping options popover menu" /><br /><ul><li>**Y Spacing** is the height between vertical repetitions of the grid.</li><li>**Angles** is the slant of the upward and downward sloped grid lines.</li></ul></li></ul> |
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| View Mode | **Normal** (default): The artwork is rendered normally.<br /><br />**Outline**: The artwork is rendered as a wireframe.<br /><br />**Pixels**: **Not implemented yet.** The artwork is rendered as it would appear when exported as a bitmap image at 100% scale regardless of the viewport zoom level. |
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| Zoom In | Zooms the viewport in to the next whole increment. |
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| Zoom Out | Zooms the viewport out to the next whole increment. |
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| Reset Tilt and Zoom to 100% | Resets the viewport tilt to 0°. Resets the viewport zoom to 100% which matches the canvas and viewport pixel scale 1:1. |
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| Viewport Zoom | Indicates the current zoom level of the viewport and allows precise values to be chosen. |
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| Viewport Tilt | Hidden except when the viewport is tilted (use the *View* > *Tilt* menu action). Indicates the current tilt angle of the viewport and allows precise values to be chosen.
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| Node Graph | Toggles the visibility of the overlaid node graph. |
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### Shelf
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This narrow bar runs vertically down the left side of the Document panel beside the table where the viewport is displayed.
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#### Tool shelf
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Located at the top of the shelf area, the **tool shelf** provides a selection of **tools** for interactively editing the artwork.
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| <img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/tool-shelf__2.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" onload="this.width /= 2" alt="The tool shelf" /> | The tool shelf is split into three sections: the **general tools** (gray icons), **vector tools** (blue icons), and **raster tools** (orange icons).<br /><br /><ul><li>**General tools** are used for assorted editing tasks within the viewport.</li><li>**Vector tools** are used for drawing and editing vector shapes, curves, and text.</li><li>**Raster tools** are used for drawing and editing raster image content. The grayed out icons are placeholders for upcoming tools.</li></ul> |
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#### Working colors
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The **working colors** are the two colors used by the active tool.
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| <img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/working-colors.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" alt="The working colors" /> | The upper circle is the **primary color**. The lower circle is the **secondary color**.<br /><br />There are two buttons located underneath: **Swap** which reverses the current color choices, and **Reset** which restores the primary color to black and the secondary color to white. |
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Various tools provide choices for using the primary and secondary colors as controls in the tool options. For example, many vector tools have **Fill** and **Stroke** options that use the current secondary and primary colors, respectively, as defaults:
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<p><img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/tool-options-fill-stroke-colors__2.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" alt="The Fill and Stroke controls for a vector tool's options" /></p>
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These options each allow choices of being driven by the primary working color, secondary working color, or a custom color set just for that tool.
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### Table
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The **table** contains the **viewport** bounded by rulers and scrollbars along its edges.
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#### Rulers and scrollbars
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The **rulers**, located along the top and left edges within the table, display the size and location of the viewport's visible region in canvas coordinates. The rulers can be hidden with the *View* > *Rulers* toggleable menu option.
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The **scrollbars**, located along the bottom and right edges within the table, allow scrolling the artwork to show different parts of the canvas in the viewport.
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#### Viewport
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The **viewport** is the view into the canvas. It is where the artwork is displayed and gets interactively edited using the tools.
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## Overlaid node graph editing
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Opening the overlaid node graph shows the structure of nodes and layers that compose the document artwork. It's a more detailed view of what the [Layers](../layers-panel) and [Properties](../properties-panel) panels show.
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**Nodes** are the entities with left-to-right input **connectors**.
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**Layers** are the larger entities shown with thumbnails and a bottom-to-top direction of data stacking. Their purpose is to composite sources of graphical data on top of one another in a **layer stack**. Layers take input from other nodes or layers via a connector on their left side. When that connector is fed by another layer stack, the Layers panel considers it a **group** because it combines one stack into another parent stack.
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Layers and nodes are wired together using **links** which send data between the outputs of nodes to the inputs of others. You can wire up a node by dragging from the output connector of one node to the input connector of its destination node. But note that forming cyclic graphs, where a loop can be traced along the links of a set of nodes, is not permitted. Graphical data flows into the **Output** node which then becomes rendered to the document viewport.
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### Top bar
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Provides several controls for the graph and selected node or layer. The options change based on what's selected.
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#### Node/layer controls
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When a layer or node is selected, these buttons will show up on the left side of the top bar:
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<p><img src="https://static.graphite.rs/content/learn/interface/document-panel/node-controls-buttons.avif" onerror="this.onerror = null; this.src = this.src.replace('.avif', '.png')" onload="this.width /= 2" alt="The node/layer controls" /></p>
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| Make<span> </span>Hidden/<br />Make<span> </span>Visible | Toggles the visibility state of the layer or node. This is equivalent to the eye icon button displayed beside each layer. If a node or layer is hidden, it gets bypassed in the data flow. <kbd>Ctrl</kbd><kbd>H</kbd> (macOS: <kbd>⌘</kbd><kbd>H</kbd>) is a shortcut for this toggle that can be used from the graph or viewport. |
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| Preview/<br />End<span> </span>Preview | Temporarily moves the graph output away from the Output node and the graph output is instead provided by the previewed node. While previewing, the node is styled with a dashed, brighter border. Ending the preview returns responsibility back to the Output node. This is a handy feature for viewing part of a graph without needing to disconnect the actual Output node and manually restore it later. Clicking a node or layer in the graph while holding <kbd>Alt</kbd> is a shortcut for toggling its preview. |
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### Shelf
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This narrow bar, which is currently empty, runs vertically down the left side of the Document panel beside the graph area. In the future, icons for categories of nodes will be listed here, allowing quick access and browsing.
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#### Working colors
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Same functionality as [explained for the viewport](#working-colors) (when the graph overlay is closed).
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