Table of Contents
Table of Contents
GdnPlanner may be used to create simple 2D plans of your garden or flat (see image Garden example).
It provides the library with basic shapes for garden (on the left in the image) and main drawing area. Library may be extended with shapes created by the user, and new libraries may be created.
For each shape user may specify any number of custom properties (see image Properties).
Table of Contents
Select Ctrl+N key combination or toolbar button may be used to create new project. New project window is shown in image New project.
item from menu to create new project. AlsoFrequently user has some 'official' documents for the garden, and the document may contain the plan. In that case it is helpful to scan the plan page and use it as a background to draw plan. Select Background file selection dialog. See example in the image Background image.
item from menu to add background image, then choose the graphics file in theIn many cases background image does not fit the plan area. So, the plan should be resized.
Select Resize plan).
item from menu to adjust plan size. Markers on the screen will indicate current plan size (see imageUse mouse to drag the markers and adjust plan size. Repeat steps if necessary. Final state is shown in image Resized plan.
Now it is time to set the scale of our plan. Select Calibrate). Release mouse button, enter distance (in meters) in the displayed Calibrate dialog and press OK. In our case the distance is known from the background image (see red circles in image Calibrate).
item from menu. Draw line using mouse between two points with known distance between them (red arrows in the imageNow all distances will be displayed in accordance to the scale set during the calibration. Distance usually is displayed in status bar at the bottom of the application window. For example, try to select some area on the screen with mouse to see the distance (see image Distance display).
Now it is a good time to save the project. Select
gdn
.
Select Esc key to cancel line drawing. Incorrect position of some vertex can be fixed in future (see below). Line width, color and pattern may be selected from menu or from toolbar. Let's draw two lines over garden borders as shown in image Borders (borders are not drawn on walls an on gates).
item from menu to draw polyline (open polygon). Also toolbar button may be used to draw polyline. Each click with left mouse button adds a vertex. Do not keep mouse button pressed while drawing the line. Use right mouse button click to finish. UseTo adjust vertex position select the line shape and click with left mouse button on the selected line. Application will switch to vertex editing mode (see image Vertex edit mode). In this mode it is possible to:
move each vertex - just drag it with mouse;
add new vertex - use right mouse button to call context menu, then select Insert key;
item. Or just pressdelete vertex - put mouse over the vertex, call for context menu and select Ctrl+D keys.
item. Or just pressNext step is to add shapes for house, garage and WC - all of them are shown on the plan background image. The house shape will be created using polygon (closed polyline, last vertex is connected with the first vertex). Such closed shape may be filled. Fill color and fill pattern may be selected from
menu or from toolbar. Vertexes are added to polygon in the same way as to the line, and vertex editing is possible in the same manner.Select
item from menu to draw polygon. Also toolbar button may be used to draw polygon. After drawing the polygon around the house the fill color was selected from menu. Also roof is added as some lines. Garage and WC are also drawn like a filled polygon.After that the text House was placed over the house shape. Select from menu to add text. Also toolbar button may be used to add text. After that click with left mouse button at the point where the text should be displayed. Enter the text in the Add text dialog and press OK. Text font may be set via menu or toolbar button.
The result is shown in image Polygon and Text.
At this stage all data from the background image are used, and it may be removed. Select No background.
background from menu. Result is shown in imageOther shapes may be added to project:
Rectangle. Select Ctrl is pressed during mouse drag then square will be added. Rectangle vertexes may be edited in the same way as polygon and polyline - after such editing rectangle may be transformed to polygon;
item from menu to draw rectangle. Also toolbar button may be used to draw rectangle. Click left mouse button at the top left corner of rectangle and drag mouse till the bottom right corner of the rectangle. Release mouse button. New rectangle shape will be added. IfEllipse. Select Ctrl is pressed during mouse drag then circle will be added;
item from menu to draw ellipse. Also toolbar button may be used to draw ellipse. Ellipse is specified using bounding rectangle. Click left mouse button at the top left corner of bounding rectangle and drag mouse till the bottom right corner of the rectangle. Release mouse button. New ellipse shape will be added. IfArc. Select Arc.
item from menu to draw arc. Also toolbar button may be used to draw arc. Arc is specified using bounding rectangle. Click left mouse button at the top left corner of bounding rectangle and drag mouse till the bottom right corner of the rectangle. Release mouse button. New arc shape will be added. Arc is a part of ellipse, it is defined by 3 points and axial ratio of ellipse. Axial ratio may be changed by resize of arc, 3 points may be re-located in the editing mode similar to polygon vertex editing - see imageShape may be selected. Selected shape is indicated by green dotted rectangle and markers (see image Borders). Some markers may be not shown if resize is not supported in that direction. Normally shape is selected by mouse click. Hold the Ctrl key pressed while clicking the mouse to select more than one shape. Also shapes may be selected by rubber band. Press and hold left mouse button and move the mouse - rubber band will be displayed on the screen (see image Distance display). On mouse button release the shapes inside the rubber band will be selected. Choose item from menu or use key combination Ctrl+A to select all shapes on the screen.
Shape geometry may be edited in the following way:
Move. Choose
item from menu or use toolbar button. Select shape(s), click left mouse button on one of them and drug. Selected shape(s) will be moved.Resize. Choose
item from menu or use toolbar button. Select shape, click left mouse button on one of the markers around the shape and drug the marker. Selected shape will be resized. Hold Ctrl key to keep ratio on corner markers.Rotate. Select
item from menu or use toolbar button. Select shape. Markers change the color, cursor over marker change the shape to . Click left mouse button on one of the markers around the shape and drug the marker. Shape will be rotated.Edit vertex. Polyline, polygon vertexes (see image Vertex edit mode) and arc control points (see image Arc) may be edited after the second click on the selected shape.
Selected shapes may be grouped. Select Ctrl+G also works.
item from menu or use toolbar button to group shapes. Key combinationSelected group may be un-grouped. Select Ctrl+U also works. Polyline (not polygon!) may be split into pieces also with ungroup command - select polyline to split and call ungroup command.
item from menu or use toolbar button to ungroup shapes. Key combinationShapes can overlap. Select Alt+<Right arrow>to display selected shape(s) over other shapes. Select item from menu or use key combination Alt+<Left arrow>to display selected shape(s) under other shapes.
item from menu or use key combinationLet's perform some actions on our example project:
group all shapes related to house (select with rubber band and press Ctrl+G);
group all shapes on the screen into one group (press Ctrl+A to select all, press Ctrl+G to group);
rotate the group until top border is oriented horizontally (use rotate mode).
The result is shown in image Rotated plan.
Application supports libraries of predefined shapes. Default
library file extension is gdnlib
. Library with
basic shapes for garden is located in examples
directory. examples
directory on Windows is
available in the application installation directory.
examples
directory on Linux is available in
/usr/share/gdnplanner
directory.
Select examples
directory in displayed Open
Library file dialog and select
garden.gdnlib
file. Press OK.
Library will be displayed (see image Garden library).
Select a Car item in the library and drag-n-drop it to garage. Select newly added Car shape and rotate it to fit in garage, as shown on image Car in garage.
In the same way other items from library may be added to the plan to get very close to the garden plan shown on image Garden example.
Library editing and adding new items to the library is described in Libraries section.
The following tools are available for shape formatting in Format tools):
menu (see imageLine width
Line pattern
Line color
Fill pattern
Fill color
Font
Also the tools may be used via Format toolbar. Current value of the tool is used for all new shapes. Select shapes and apply new tool value to set it to the selection. Value is updated for all children shapes if shape is a group.
Another useful tool Shape toolbar. It sets the format tool values to the values of the selected shape.
is available in menu and inEach shape may have tooltip. Select shape and call Edit property dialog will be displayed - tooltip is one of the shape properties, see Add custom properties. Call the dialog for Car shape as shown in image Tooltip. Enter tooltip text and press Save.
from menu or use toolbar button.Tooltip will be displayed when user moves mouse over the item (see image Car tooltip).
Shapes that may be filled (polygon, rectangle, ellipse, circle) support background image. This property is widely used in Garden library - almost all library items have background image.
Select shape and call Edit property dialog will be displayed - background image is one of the shape properties, see Add custom properties. Call the dialog for Car shape as shown in image Car background image.
from menu or use toolbar button.Use ... button to select different image file for the background image. All images are stored in project file. So, if big image is selected then it is scaled to 200x200 size (keeping aspect ratio) and used as a background image.
Tooltip and background image are just custom properties with predefined names. User may define other custom properties as described in Add custom properties.
For each shape user may specify any number of custom properties. Custom property consists of:
name - string to identify the property. Property names may duplicate. Property name should not be empty. In case if value has measurement units it is useful to add the unit name to this property, for example "Height (cm)";
type - string ("string property example"), integer (42, -1), decimal (3.14, -1.23e-1), date & time (2016-01-01 00:00:01), logical (yes, no) and image. Image size is automatically reduced to 200x200 keeping aspect ratio;
value - property value of the specified type;
description - optional string to clarify property meaning.
Some custom property names have special meaning for the application:
tooltip (string) - shows shape tooltip, see Add tooltips and background images;
background_image (image) - shows shape background image (if supported for this type of shapes), see Add tooltips and background images;
shape_type (string) - item name in library. All shapes added to project from the library will have the same value of this property as item in the library. Generated automatically for each item in the library, but may be changed by the user;
shape_lib (string) - library name. Just for reference where the shape may be found. Generated automatically for each item in the library. No reason to change by the user;
shape_icon (image) - icon of the item in the library. Generated automatically for each item in the library, but may be changed by the user;
Let's add Year of manufacture property to our Car shape. Do the following to add the custom property to the shape:
select shape;
select Edit properties dialog will be displayed (see image Custom properties dialog);
item from menu or use toolbar button.Click Add... button. Property Wizard dialog will be displayed (see image Property Wizard). Predefined property section allows to add tooltip and background image. Selection of this option will navigate to correspondent dialogs from Add tooltips and background images. To add other property select Custom property and specify property type. Select Integer in our case. Click Next;
Next wizard page will be displayed (see image Integer property). Enter values and press Finish;
Edit properties dialog will be displayed with new property in the list (see image Edit new property). Selected property may be edited in Details: section of the dialog. Also selected property may be deleted using Delete... button;
Press OK to save changes into the shape.
Select gdn
.
Select
item from menu to save the project in different file.It is possible to export project to image. Select Save image dialog (see image Exported image).
item from menu and specify image file name inAlso it is possible to print project using
item from menu.Table of Contents
Select New library.
item from menu to create new library or press toolbar button. New library will be created as shown in imageIf you work with many libraries then it may be useful to specify library name and description. Press Edit library button on library's toolbar. Edit library settings dialog will be displayed (see image Library settings). Enter library name and description, then press OK.
Library name will be displayed in the dock window caption, but some combinations of OS/Window manager do not support this. Also library name is shown under the library toolbar, and description is shown as a tooltip for library name.
Do the following to add the shape to the library:
Select shape;
Select Library toolbar.
item from menu or press toolbar button in applicationSelected shape will be added as an item to the library. Item name and icon are generated automatically. Follow instructions in Edit item in library to modify them.
Shape custom properties are describer in Add custom properties. The same properties editor is available for library items. Select the item in the library and press toolbar button on the library toolbar above the list of library items.
Select library item and press F2 to edit in-place the item text. You may also edit the value of shape_type property in the properties editor.
Select library item and call context menu (right mouse button click). Select shape_icon property in the properties editor.
item from context menu to edit item's icon in the library. You may also edit the value of