[QuickTacBeta] QuickTac 4.0 documentation

[Lisa Yayla]

Hi David,

You might want to add after 

"To get an idea of how large the drawing area for the BMP should be. Make
a new fill in QuickTac. Go to Paint and open the fill up in it. That is
the drawing area available. "

something like 

     In Paint,  the drawing area will at first appear very small. Use the
magnifying tool, in Paint, to enlarge the are to draw comfortably.


Regards,
Lisa


David Holladay <david at duxsys.com> on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 7:09 PM 
wrote:
>As some of you may have noticed, I have tried to capture some of the
>issues discussed on this e-mail forum and combined them into a sort of
>starting documentation for QuickTac 4.0. Here is the URL: [
>http://www.tactileaudio.com/doc.htm ]http://www.tactileaudio.com/doc.htm
>
>Here is what the file looks like today:
>
>
>
>Some Notes on QuickTac 4.0
>
>
>
>
>
>What does QuickTac Do?
>QuickTac is a paint program building a grid of dots. Once an object is
>drawn, it may be "undone" but otherwise it is no longer an object but
>just existing dots. These dot pattens can be directly embossed, or saved
>into a file that can be read into Duxbury DBT or MegaDots. 
>
>Embosser Setup
>Embosser setup works like it does in Duxbury DBT, except that it is
>accessed through File, Page Setup in QuickTac instead of Global, Embosser
>Setup as in Duxbury DBT. One difference between embosser setup in
>QuickTac and in Duxbury DBT is that in QuickTac, you only see embosser
>models that can produce graphics. 
>
>Drawing Tools
>Drawing tools all appear on the toolbar and also in the Tool menu. Once
>any tool is selected, it displays its own step-by-step instructions to
>the right of the image. What has confused people most to date is the
>meaning of certain terms in the list of fills. QuickTac says "remove
>internal dots" for fill when it means that drawing a new shape will
>"white out" the interior. "No fill" means that the interior will retain
>whatever dots were already there before you began to draw. Please note
>that one of the line patterns available for all drawing tools is "remove
>bounding dots". That just means the dots for the object are removed
>rather than drawn. 
>
>Cut, Copy and Clear
>Cut, copy, and clear all work as they do in a basic "Paint" program. But
>you must remember that you are cutting, copying, or clearing a
>rectangular collection of dots, not an "object" as such. 
>
>Paste, however, is a bit odd. When you paste within QuickTac, the pasted
>dots will show up somewhere on your image. If they show up where you
>don't want them, then you must be sure that your next click is within the
>area that was just modified by the paste. Click and hold to drag the
>pasted dots around to where you want them. If you don't think to do that,
>and click somewhere else instead, then all is lost except to Undo. 
>
>Cutting and pasting between QuickTac and other applications is not
>presently supported. 
>
>There is one hidden feature. Shift-click any place, regardless of what
>tool is selected, to toggle a single dot. Any other "hidden features"
>that you might find are likely to be bugs. 
>
>And there is one "power feature" that does appear on the menus. If an
>area is selected, then you can choose "Save as Fill" from the Edit menu
>to save the selected pattern of dots for future use in filling new shapes
>that you create. 
>
>Importing BMP files into QuickTac
>•	Draw a BMP in say Paint. The BMP may need to be small in size to work
>with your embosser. 
>•	Save in the QuickTac folder 
>•	Open QuickTac and select Fill. The BMP will be listed under the fills.
>The BMP will repeat as a fill if too small for page, but if it is large
>enought will only get one version of it. 
>•	If you make a new fill. Open a new page or else the fill wont show in
>the drop down menu. 
>•	To get an idea of how large the drawing area for the BMP should be.
>Make a new fill in QuickTac. Go to Paint and open the fill up in it. That
>is the drawing area available. 
>Another approach is a direct import of an already made BMP. (Copy it to
>QuickTac folder). That worked too, but size seems to be important and
>which embosser you use. You can see the effect of if with the picture
>open in QuickTac (open Page set up and click on the different embossers).
>Changing orientation (portrait, landscape), can change how much you get
>in of the picture. 
>
>To reverse the procedure you can export: •	Draw in QuickTac. 
>•	Select and make a fill. 
>•	The fill will be the BMP of your drawing. 
>
>Importing and Exporting SIG files
>The .DXG is the default format when you save a file in QuickTac. (DuXbury
>Graphic) You can also "Save As" and select the alternative .SIG format.
>At the current time, Duxbury DBT itself has not been modified to accept
>the import of DXG files, hence you need to save your QT files as .sig
>files to import into Duxbury DBT. 
>
>Q and A
>Q: How do you do a raised line grid? 
>A: This is best done by hand, with the line tool, assisted by guide lines
>available through "View Grid". 
>
>Q: If you import a .sig file into DBT, does one need to change any of the
>controls or does DBT work out automatically what to do? 
>A: You do need to make sure that you are importing a file which is
>correctly sized. In other words, if you have designed something for let's
>say "11 inch Wide" paper, you will have a problem if you try to import it
>in to a "11 inch narrow" DBT document. 
>
>Q: How do you control the graphics resolution when you import a SIG file
>into DBT? 
>A: DBT "infers" the resolution at which to emboss the image from the
>image size. However, it sometimes infers something other than what you
>intend. In this case, position your cursor at the graphic and select
>Layout, Picture, and then the resolution you want. (The menu items are
>listed as for Index embosser resolutions, but also work for ET
>embossers.) The hard part of this procedure is positioning the cursor at
>the graphic. Ironically, this is most easily done in coded view. Place
>the cursor just before the [gd] code. If your image occupies the full
>page, you may also need to disable headers, footers, and page numbering
>in DBT. These can be re-enabled following the picture. DBT does not
>automatically suppress headers, footers, and page numbering to make room
>for a large graphic. Instead, it might omit the graphic. Carefully review
>your file before you emboss. 
>
>Q: What about BRG and BRF files? 
>A: These are imported and exported just like SIG files. Follow the
>instructions above for SIG files. 
>
>Q: Can I import a QuickTac SIG file into MegaDots? 
>A: Yes, but it helps to use the latest MegaDots software. Caryn has made
>some modifications to make this practical. [
>mailto:caryn at duxsys.com?subject=Please Send me help importin QuickTac 4.0
>files into MegaDots&body=Thanks for your help! ]Click here and send an
>email requesting instructions on importing graphics into MegaDots 
>
>
>
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Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla at statped.no