Help for Euclide
Content
How do I get started
You are in front of a blank sheet ; what can you do ?
The only single object you can build at first is a Fixed Point. Go to the Point menu and choose Fixed Point or
press P, or click on the fixed point button in Tool Bar.
Euclide is now waiting for you to click somewhere on the sheet : here the point will be created. Yet ? You created your first
object.
Fixed points are the only single objects that you can move with the mouse once you created them.
All other kind of single objects must be created from existing objects : you get the descripion by moving the mouse
pointer over buttons. Example : to build a Line - ( 2 points ), first : press L or go to the Lines menu
or click on the Line - 2 points button, then Euclide is waiting for you to click on 2 points. By points I mean
point objects : ie something that appear on the screen like a little colored circle.
Geometrical Objects
Here is the list of basic geometrical objects handled by Euclide, sorted by cathegory, as they appear on the
Tool Bar at left of the screen :
- The fixed points :
- Fixed point - This is a point you arbitrarily drop on the sheet by
left clicking. It can be moved subsequently by sliding it with the mouse.
- Fixed point restricted - This is a fixed point whose move is
limited to a line or a circle. Just drop it on the object you want it to be restricted on.
- The intersection points :
- Two lines intersection - Select two lines to define their
intersection point.
- Line-circle intersection - Select a line and a circle to
define their possible intersections.
- Two circle intersection - Select two circles to define their
possible intersections.
- Barycenter and midpoint :
- Barycenter - Click on the 'barycenter' button so that a
dialog box appear : then you have to define the number of points and the weights of each point.
Then, select the points on the sheet. Weights may be modified later by accessing the object's properties
( just double-clic on it ).
- Midpoint - Select two points to define their midpoint.
- Transformations :
- Translated point - Select a point and a vector to define
the translated point.
- 4th of parallelogram - Select 3 points to define the 4th point
of the parallelogram.
- Similitude or rotation/homothethy - Select two points : the
center of the similitude and the point to be transformed. A dialog box appears, asking you
the ratio and the angle of the similitude. These two parameters may be modified later by accessing
to the object's properties ( just double-clic on it ).
- Projected onto a circle - Select a point and a circle to define
the projected point onto the circle.
- Projeted onto a line - Select a point and two lines. The point
is projected on the second line parallel to first.
- Orthogonal projected - Select a point and a line to define the
orthogonal projected of the point onto the line.
- The lines :
- Lines between two points - Select two points to define the line
between these two points.
- Segments - Select two points to define the segment between these
two points.
- Orthogonal lines - Select a point P and a line D to define the
line orthogonal to D and passing through P.
- Parallel lines - Select a point P and a line D to define the
line parallel to D and passing through P.
- Bissector - Select three points A, B, C to define the triangle ABC's
bissector passing through A.
- Vectors :
- Vector defined by 2 points - Select 2 points A and B to define the
AB vector. A vector is a floating object : you can make it slide with mouse.
- Sum of 2 vectors - Select 2 existing vectors to define their
sum.
- Difference between 2 vectors - Select 2 existing vectors to define
their difference.
- Circles :
- Circle - Select 2 existing points : the center and the radius
of the circle.
- Tangent circle - Select a line D and a point P to define the
circle tangent to D, having P as center.
- Circle passing through 3 points - Select 3 points to define the
circle passing through these 3 points.
- Measures :
- Directed angle - Select 3 points A,B,C to define the measure
of the angle ( AB, AC ).
- Non directed angle - Select 3 points A,B,C to define the measure
of the geometrical angle BAC. An orthogonality mark appears if this angle is orthogonal.
- Length - Select 2 points to show the length between
these 2 points. In the properties dialog box of this measure, you can find the option
'Set this length as unit'. Check it so that other length measures are computed in ratio
with this one. This one will be the length 1.000
Usual Symbols
- To obtain an orthogonality mark, create a non directed angle measure.
- To obtain length equality marks, just create the matching
length measures.
Compound objects
A compound object is a figure made of several simple objects that Euclide builds for you once.
Find them in the menu Compound objects
- First step : choose one of these objects in the Compound Objects menu.
- Second step : Drag a region on the sheet by sliding the mouse pointer while keeping
left button down.
Properties, Colors, and objects Names
You may access to one object's properties by double-clicking on it.
Then you can modify the object's name and some specific properties such as pencil width.
To modify the color of an object, select the object and use the command
Edit/Change Color, or right-clic on the object and choose the
Color command of the contextual menu.
You can modify the default colors allocated to different objects in the
options box.
Examples
You can find some sheet samples by choosing
File/Open sample.
Options
The general options are in File/Settings :
- The default color of each kind of objects
- The mouse sensitivity : raise it to make objects easier to be caught.
- Angles in degrees : ...
Use the View / Background settings command to modify the background.
The Hide command
Edit/Hide allows you to hide objects but doesn't destroy them :
notice that once hidden, an object can't be accessed any more ( unless canceling the hide
command by typing Ctrl+Z ).
This function is usefull to erase some construction lines.
Export figures
Their is two ways to export a figure :
- Bitmap export ( export as image ) :
You may incoprporate a figure built with Euclide in any other application able to manage images
such as a word processor. You may :
- either export the image by using the clipboard : type Ctrl + C or use
the Edit/Copy ( Image ) command.
- either export it in an image file ( .bmp ) : type Ctrl + Shift + S
or use the File/Export as image command.
- Metafile export ( export as metafile ) :
Enhanced-Format Metafiles ( *.emf ) is a file format that contains the vectorial definition
of the figure. This format is independant of the resolution and needs less memory than bitmaps.
You may save a figure under this format by using the command 'File/Export as metafile' or
by typing Alt+Shift+S.