[1]Tux Paint
version 0.9.15
A simple drawing program for children
Copyright 2004 by Bill Kendrick
New Breed Software
[2]bill@newbreedsoftware.com
[3]http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/
June 14, 2002 - October 24, 2004
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About
What Is 'Tux Paint?'
Tux Paint is a free drawing program designed for young children (kids
ages 3 and up). It has a simple, easy-to-use interface, fun sound
effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who helps guide children as
they use the program. It provides a blank canvas and a variety of
drawing tools to help your child be creative.
License:
Tux Paint is an Open Source project, Free Software released under the
GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free, and the 'source code'
behind the program is available. (This allows others to add features,
fix bugs, and use parts of the program in their own GPL'd software.)
See [4]COPYING.txt for the full text of the GPL license.
Objectives:
Easy and Fun
Tux Paint is meant to be a simple drawing program for young
children. It is not meant as a general-purpose drawing tool.
It is meant to be fun and easy to use. Sound effects and a
cartoon character help let the user know what's going on, and
keeps them entertained. There are also extra-large
cartoon-style mouse pointer shapes.
Extensibility
Tux Paint is extensible. Brushes and "rubber stamp" shapes can
be dropped in and pulled out. For example, a teacher can drop
in a collection of animal shapes and ask their students to
draw an ecosystem. Each shape can have a sound which is
played, and textual facts which are displayed, when the child
selects the shape.
Portability
Tux Paint is portable among various computer platforms:
Windows, Macintosh, Linux, etc. The interface looks the same
among them all. Tux Paint runs suitably well on older systems
(like a Pentium 133), and can be built to run better on slow
systems.
Simplicity
There is no direct access to the computer's underlying
intricacies. The current image is kept when the program quits,
and reappears when it is restarted. Saving images requires no
need to create filenames or use the keyboard. Opening an image
is done by selecting it from a collection of thumbnails.
Access to other files on the computer is restricted.
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Using Tux Paint
Loading Tux Paint
Linux/Unix Users
Tux Paint should have placed a laucher icon in your KDE and/or GNOME
menus, under 'Graphics.'
Alternatively, you can run the following command at a shell prompt
(e.g., "$"):
$ tuxpaint
If any errors occur, they will be displayed on the terminal (to
"stderr").
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Windows Users
[5][Icon]
Tux Paint
If you installed Tux Paint on your computer using the
'Tux Paint Installer,' it will have asked you whether you wanted a
'Start' menu short-cut, and/or a desktop shortcut. If you agreed,
you can simply run Tux Paint from the 'Tux Paint' section of your
'Start' menu (e.g., under "All Programs" on Windows XP), or by
double-clicking the "Tux Paint" icon on your desktop.
If you installed Tux Paint using the 'ZIP-file' download, or if you
used the 'Tux Paint Installer,' but chose not to have shortcuts
installed, you'll need to double-click the "tuxpaint.exe" icon in
the 'Tux Paint' folder on your computer.
By default, the 'Tux Paint Installer' will put Tux Paint's folder in
"C:\Program Files\", though you may have changed this when the
installer ran.
If you used the 'ZIP-file' download, Tux Paint's folder will be
wherever you put it when you unzipped the ZIP file.
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Mac OS X Users
Simply double-click the "Tux Paint" icon.
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Title Screen
When Tux Paint first loads, a title/credits screen will appear.
[6][Title Screenshot]
Once loading is complete, press a key or click on the mouse to
continue. (Or, after about 30 seconds, the title screen will go away
automatically.)
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Main Screen
The main screen is divided into the following sections:
Left Side: Toolbar
The toolbar contains the drawing and editing controls.
[7][Tools: Paint, Stamp, Lines, Shapes, Text, Magic, Undo, Redo, Eraser,
New, Open, Save, Print, Quit]
Middle: Drawing Canvas
The largest part of the screen, in the center, is the drawing
canvas. This is, obviously, where you draw!
[8][(Canvas)]
Right Side: Selector
Depending on the current tool, the selector shows different
things. e.g., when the Paint Brush tool is selected, it shows
the various brushes available. When the Rubber Stamp tool is
selected, it shows the different shapes you can use.
[9][Selectors - Brushes, Letters, Shapes, Stamps]
Lower: Colors
A palette of available colors are shown near the bottom of the
screen.
[10][Colors - Black, White, Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue,
Purple, Brown, Grey]
Bottom: Help Area
At the very bottom of the screen, Tux, the Linux Penguin,
provides tips and other information while you draw.
[11](For example: 'Pick a shape. Click to pick the center, drag, then let
go when it is the size you want. Move around to rotate it, and click to
draw it.)
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Available Tools
Drawing Tools
Paint (Brush)
The Paint Brush tool lets you draw freehand, using various
brushes (chosen in the Selector on the right) and colors
(chosen in the Color palette towards the bottom).
If you hold the mouse button down, and move the mouse, it
will draw as you move.
As you draw, a sound is played. The bigger the brush, the
lower the pitch.
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Stamp (Rubber Stamp)
The Stamp tool is like a rubber stamp, or stickers. It lets
you paste pre-drawn or photographic images (like a picture
of a horse, or a tree, or the moon) in your picture.
As you move the mouse around, an outline follows the mouse,
showing where the stamp will be placed.
Different stamps can have different sound effects. Some
stamps can be colored or tinted.
Stamps can be shrunk and expanded, and many stamps can be
flipped vertically, or displayed as a mirror-image, using
controls at the bottom right of the screen.
(NOTE: If the "nostampcontrols" option is set, Tux Paint
won't display the Mirror, Flip, Shrink and Grow controls for
stamps. See the "[12]Options" documentation.)
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Lines
This tool lets you draw straight lines using the various
brushes and colors you normally use with the Paint Brush.
Click the mouse and hold it to choose the starting point of
the line. As you move the mouse around, a thin 'rubber-band'
line will show where the line will be drawn.
Let go of the mouse to complete the line. A "sproing!" sound
will play.
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Shapes
This tool lets you draw some simple filled, and un-filled
shapes.
Select a shape from the selector on the right (circle,
square, oval, etc.).
In the canvas, click the mouse and hold it to stretch the
shape out from where you clicked. Some shapes can change
proportion (e.g., rectangle and oval), others cannot (e.g.,
square and circle).
Let go of the mouse when you're done stretching.
Normal Mode
Now you can move the mouse around the canvas to
rotate the shape.
Click the mouse button again and the shape will
be drawn in the current color.
Simple Shapes Mode
If simple shapes are enabled (e.g., with the
"--simpleshapes" option), the shape will be
drawn on the canvas when you let go of the
mouse button. (There's no rotation step.)
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Text
Choose a font (from the 'Letters' available on the right)
and a color (from the color palette near the bottom). Click
on the screen and a cursor will appear. Type text and it
will show up on the screen.
Press [Enter] or [Return] and the text will be drawn onto
the picture and the cursor will move down one line.
Click elsewhere in the picture and the current line of text
will move there, where you can continue editing.
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Magic (Special Effects)
The 'Magic' tool is actually a set of special tools. Select
one of the "magic" effects from the selector on the right,
and then click and drag around the picture to apply the
effect.
Rainbow
This is similar to the paint brush, but as you
move the mouse around, it goes through all of
the colors in the rainbow.
Sparkles
This draws glowing yellow sparkles on the
picture.
Mirror
When you click the mouse in your picture with
the "Mirror" magic effect selected, the entire
image will be reversed, turning it into a
mirror image.
Flip
Similar to "Mirror." Click and the entire image
will be turned upside-down.
Blur
This makes the picture fuzzy wherever you drag
the mouse.
Blocks
This makes the picture blocky looking
("pixelated") wherever you drag the mouse.
Negative
This inverts the colors wherever you drag the
mouse. (e.g., white becomes black, and vice
versa.)
Fade
This fades the colors wherever you drag the
mouse. (Do it to the same spot many times, and
it will eventually become white.)
Chalk
This makes parts of the picture (where you move
the mouse) look like a chalk drawing.
Drip
This makes the paint "drip" wherever you move
the mouse.
Thick
This makes the darker colors in the picture
become thicker wherever you drag the mouse.
Thin
Similar to "Thick," except dark colors become
thinner (light colors become thicker).
Fill
This floods the picture with a color. It lets
you quickly fill parts of the picture, as if it
were a coloring book.
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Eraser
This tool is similar to the Paint Brush. Wherever you click
(or click and drag), the picture will be erased either to
white, or to the background picture, if you began the
current drawing with a 'Starter' image.
A number of eraser sizes are available.
As you move the mouse around, a square outline follows the
pointer, showing what part of the picture will be erased to
white.
As you erase, a "squeaky clean" eraser/wiping sound is
played.
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Other Controls
Undo
Clicking this tool will undo the last drawing action. You
can even undo more than once!
Note: You can also press [Control]-[Z] on the keyboard to
undo.
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Redo
Clicking this tool will redo the drawing action you just
"undid" with the 'Undo' button.
As long as you don't draw again, you can redo as many times
as you had "undone!"
Note: You can also press [Control]-[R] on the keyboard to
redo.
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New
Clicking the "New" button will start a new drawing. You will
first be asked whether you really want to do this.
Note: You can also press [Control]-[N] on the keyboard to
start a new drawing.
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Open
This shows you a list of all of the pictures you've saved.
If there are more than can fit on the screen, use the "Up"
and "Down" arrows at the top and bottom of the list to
scroll through the list of pictures.
Click a picture to select it, then...
* Click the green "Open" button at the lower left of
the list to load the selected picture.
(Alternatively, you can double-click a picture's icon
to load it.)
* Click the brown "Erase" (trash can) button at the
lower right of the list to erase the selected
picture. (You will be asked to confirm.)
* Or click the red "Back" arrow button at the lower
right of the list to cancel and return to the picture
you were drawing.
'Starter' Images
Along with pictures you've created, Tux Paint can provided
'Starter' images. Opening them is like creating a new
picture, except that the picture isn't blank. 'Starters'
can be like a page from a coloring book (a black-and-white
outline of a picture, which you can then color in), or
like a 3D photograph, where you draw the bits in between.
'Starter' images have a green background in the 'Open'
screen. (Normal images have a blue background.) When you
load a 'Starter,' draw on it, and then click 'Save,' it
creates a new picture (it doesn't overwrite the original
'Starter,' so you can use it again later).
If choose to open a picture, and your current drawing hasn't
been saved, you will be prompted as to whether you want to
save it or not. (See "[13]Save," below.)
Note: You can also press [Control]-[O] on the keyboard to
get the 'Open' dialog.
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Save
This saves your current picture.
If you haven't saved it before, it will create a new entry
in the list of saved images. (i.e., it will create a new
file)
Note: It won't ask you anything (e.g., for a filename). It
will simply save the picture, and play a "camera shutter"
sound effect.
If you HAVE saved the picture before, or this is a picture
you just loaded using the "Open" command, you will first be
asked whether you want to save over the old version, or
create a new entry (a new file).
(NOTE: If either the "saveover" or "saveovernew" options are
set, it won't ask before saving over. See the "[14]Options"
documentation.)
Note: You can also press [Control]-[S] on the keyboard to
save.
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Print
Click this button and your picture will be printed!
Disabling Printing
If the "noprint" option was set (either with
"noprint=yes" in Tux Paint's configuration
file, or using "--noprint" on the
command-line), the "Print" button will be
disabled.
See the "[15]Options" documentation.)
Restricting Printing
If the "printdelay" option was used (either
with "printdelay=SECONDS" in the configuration
file, or using "--printdelay=SECONDS" on the
command-line), you can only print once every
SECONDS seconds.
For example, with "printdelay=60", you can
print only once a minute.
See the "[16]Options" documentation.)
Printing Command
(Linux and Unix only)
The command used to print is actually a set of
commands that convert a PNG to a PostScript and
send it to the printer:
pngtopnm | pnmtops | lpr
This command can be changed by setting the
"printcommand" value in Tux Paint's
configuration file.
See the "[17]Options" documentation.)
Printer Settings
(Windows only)
By default, Tux Paint simply prints to the
default printer with default settings when the
'Print' button is pushed.
However, if you hold the [ALT] key on the
keyboard while pushing the button, as long as
you're not in fullscreen mode, a Windows print
dialog will appear, where you can change the
settings.
You can have the printer configuration changes
stored by using the "printcfg" option, either
by using "--printcfg" on the command-line, or
"printcfg=yes" in Tux Paint's own configuration
file ("tuxpaint.cfg").
If the "printcfg" option is used, printer
settings will be loaded from the file
"userdata/print.cfg". Any changes will be saved
there as well.
See the "[18]Options" documentation.)
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Quit
Clicking the "Quit" button, closing the Tux Paint window, or
pushing the "Escape" key will quit Tux Paint.
(NOTE: The "Quit" button can be disabled (e.g., with the
"--noquit" command-line option), but the [Escape] key will
still work. See the "[19]Options" documentation.)
You will first be prompted as to whether you really want to
quit.
If you choose to quit, and you haven't saved the current
picture, you will first be asked if wish to save it. If it's
not a new image, you will then be asked if you want to save
over the old version, or create a new entry. (See "[20]Save"
above.)
NOTE: If the image is saved, it will be reloaded
automatically the next time you run Tux Paint!
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Loading Other Pictures into Tux Paint
Since Tux Paint's 'Open' dialog only displays pictures you created with
Tux Paint, what if you want to load some other picture or photograph
into Tux Paint to edit?
To do so, you simply need to convert the picture into a PNG (Portable
Network Graphic) image file, and place it in Tux Paint's "saved"
directory. ("~/.tuxpaint/saved/" under Linux and Unix, "userdata\saved\"
under Windows, "Library/Preferences/tuxpaint/saved/" under Mac OS X.)
Using 'tuxpaint-import'
Linux and Unix users can use the "tuxpaint-import" shell script which
gets installed when you install Tux Paint. It uses some NetPBM tools
to convert the image ("anytopnm"), resize it so that it will fit in
Tux Paint's canvas ("pnmscale"), and convert it to a PNG ("pnmtopng").
It also uses the "date" command to get the current time and date,
which is the file-naming convention Tux Paint uses for saved files.
(Remember, you are never asked for a 'filename' when you go to Save or
Open pictures!)
To use 'tuxpaint-import', simply run the command from a command-line
prompt and provide it the name(s) of the file(s) you wish to convert.
They will be converted and placed in your Tux Paint 'saved' directory.
(Note: If you're doing this for a different user - e.g., your child,
you'll need to make sure to run the command under their account.)
Example:
$ tuxpaint-import grandma.jpg
grandma.jpg -> /home/username/.tuxpaint/saved/20020921123456.png
jpegtopnm: WRITING A PPM FILE
The first line ("tuxpaint-import grandma.jpg") is the command to run.
The following two lines are output from the program while it's
working.
Now you can load Tux Paint, and a version of that original picture
will be available under the 'Open' dialog. Just double-click its icon!
Doing it Manually
Windows, Mac OS X and BeOS users must currently do the conversion
manually.
Load a graphics program that is capable of both loading your picture
and saving a PNG format file. (See the documentation file "PNG.txt"
for a list of suggested software, and other references.)
Reduce the size of the image to no wider than 448 pixels across and no
taller than 376 pixels tall. (i.e., the maximum size is 448 x 376
pixels)
Save the picture in PNG format. It is highly recommended that you name
the filename using the current date and time, since that's the
convention Tux Paint uses:
YYYYMMDDhhmmss.png
* YYYY = Year
* MM = Month (01-12)
* DD = Day (01-31)
* HH = Hour, in 24-hour format (00-23)
* mm = Minute (00-59)
* ss = Second (00-59)
e.g.:
20020921130500 - for September 21, 2002, 1:05:00pm
Place this PNG file in your Tux Paint 'saved' directory. (See above.)
Under Windows, this is in the "userdata" folder. Under Mac OS X, this
is in "Library/Preferences/tuxpaint/" in your home directory.
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Extending Tux Paint
If you wish to add or change things like Brushes and Rubber Stamps used
by Tux Paint, you can do it fairly easily by simply putting or removing
files on your hard disk.
Note: You'll need to restart Tux Paint for the changes to take effect.
Where Files Go
Standard Files
Tux Paint looks for its various data files in its 'data' directory.
Linux and Unix
Where this directory goes depends on what value was set for
"DATA_PREFIX" when Tux Paint was built. See INSTALL.txt for
details.
By default, though, the directory is:
/usr/local/share/tuxpaint/
If you installed from a package, it is more likely to be:
/usr/share/tuxpaint/
Windows
Tux Paint looks for a directory called 'data' in the same
directory as the executable. This is the directory that the
installer used when installing Tux Paint e.g.:
C:\Program Files\TuxPaint\data
Mac OS X
Tux Paint stores files in your account's "Libraries" folder, under
"Preferences", e.g.:
/Users/Joe/Library/Preferences/
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Personal Files
You can also create brushes, stamps, fonts and 'starters' in your
own directory for Tux Paint to find.
Linux and Unix
Your personal Tux Paint directory is "~/.tuxpaint/".
That is, if your home directory is "/home/karl", then your
Tux Paint directory is "/home/karl/.tuxpaint/".
Don't forget the period (".") before the 'tuxpaint'!
Windows
Your personal Tux Paint directory is named "userdata" and is in
the same directory as the executable e.g.:
C:\Program Files\TuxPaint\userdata
To add brushes, stamps fonts, and 'starters,' create subdirectories
under your personal Tux Paint directory named "brushes", "stamps",
"fonts" and "starters" respectively.
(For example, if you created a brush named "flower.png", you would
put it in "~/.tuxpaint/brushes/" under Linux or Unix.)
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Brushes
The brushes used for drawing with the 'Brush' and 'Lines' tools in
Tux Paint are simply greyscale PNG images.
The alpha (transparency) of the PNG image is used to determine the
shape of the brush, which means that the shape can be 'anti-aliased'
and even partially-transparent!
Brush images should be no wider than 40 pixels across and no taller
than 40 pixels high. (i.e., the maximum size can be 40 x 40.)
Just place them in the "brushes" directory.
Note: If your new brushes all come out as solid squares or rectangles,
it's because you forgot to use alpha transparency! See the
documentation file "PNG.txt" for more information and tips.
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Stamps
All stamp-related files go in the "stamps" directory. It's useful to
create subdirectories and sub-subdirectories there to organize the
stamps. (For example, you can have a "holidays" folder with
"halloween" and "christmas" sub-folders.)
Images
Rubber Stamps in Tux Paint can be made up of a number of separate
files. The one file that is required is, of course, the picture
itself.
The Stamps used by Tux Paint are PNG pictures. They can be
full-color or greyscale. The alpha (transparency) of the PNG is used
to determine the actual shape of the picture (otherwise you'll stamp
a large rectangle on your drawings).
The PNGs can be any size, but in practice, a 100 pixels wide by
100 pixels tall (100 x 100) is quite large for Tux Paint.
Note: If your new stamps all have solid rectangular-shaped outlines
of a solid color (e.g., white or black), it's because you forgot to
use alpha transparency! See the documentation file "PNG.txt" for
more information and tips.
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Description Text
Text (".TXT") files with the same name as the PNG. (e.g.,
"picture.png"'s description is stored in "picture.txt" in the same
directory.)
The first line of the text file will be used as the US English
description of the stamp's image. It must be encoded in UTF-8.
Language Support
Additional lines can be added to the text file to provide
translations of the description, to be displayed when Tux Paint is
running in a different locale (like French or Spanish).
The beginning of the line should correspond to the language code
of the language in question (e.g., "fr" for French, and "zh_tw"
for Traditional Chinese), followed by ".utf8=" and the translated
description (encoded in UTF-8).
There are scripts in the "po" directory for converting the text
files to PO format (and back) for easy translation to different
languages. Therefore you should never add or change translations
in the .txt files directly.
If no translation is available for the language Tux Paint is
currently running in, the US English text is used.
Windows Users
Use NotePad or WordPad to edit/create these files. Be sure to save
them as Plain Text, and make sure they have ".txt" at the end of
the filename...
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Sound Effects
WAVE (".WAV") files with the same name as the PNG. (e.g.,
"picture.png"'s sound effect is the sound "picture.wav" in the same
directory.)
Language Support
For sounds for different locales (e.g., if the sound is someone
saying a word, and you want translated versions of the word said),
also create WAV files with the locale's label in the filename, in
the form: "STAMP_LOCALE.wav"
"picture.png"'s sound effect, when Tux Paint is run in Spanish
mode, would be "picture_es.wav". In French mode, "picture_fr.wav".
And so on...
If no localized sound effect can be loaded, Tux Paint will attempt
to load the 'default' sound file. (e.g., "picture.wav")
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Stamp Options
Aside from a graphical shape, a textual description, and a sound
effect, stamps can also be given other attributes. To do this, you
need to create a 'data file' for the stamp.
A stamp data file is simply a text file containing the options.
The file has the same name as the PNG image, but a ".dat" extension.
(e.g., "picture.png"'s data file is the text file "picture.dat" in
the same directory.)
Colored Stamps
Stamps can be made to be either "colorable" or "tintable."
Colorable
"Colorable" stamps they work much like brushes - you pick the
stamp to get the shape, and then pick the color you want it to
be. (Symbol stamps, like the mathematical and musical ones, are
an example.)
Nothing about the original image is used except the transparency
("alpha" channel). The color of the stamp comes out solid.
Add the word "colorable" to the stamp's data file.
Tinted
"Tinted" stamps are similar to "colorable" ones, except the
details of the original image are kept. (To put it technically,
the original image is used, but its hue is changed, based on the
currently-selected color.)
Add the word "tintable" to the stamp's data file.
Sometimes you don't want the white or gray parts of an image
tinted (see for example the dry erase marker stamp in the
default stamp package). You can add the word "notintgray" to the
stamp's data file to accomplish this. Only areas with saturation
over 25 % are then tinted.
Unalterable Stamps
By default, a stamp can be flipped upside down, shown as a mirror
image, or both. This is done using the control buttons below the
stamp selector, at the lower right side of the screen in
Tux Paint.
Sometimes, it doesn't make sense for a stamp to be flippable or
mirrored; for example, stamps of letters or numbers. Sometimes
stamps are symmetrical, so letting the user flip or mirror them
isn't useful.
To make a stamp un-flippable, add the option "noflip" to the
stamp's data file.
To keep a stamp from being mirrored, add the option "nomirror" to
the stamp's data file.
Windows Users
You can use NotePad or WordPad to create these file. Be sure to
save it as Plain Text, and make sure the filename has ".dat" at
the end, and not ".txt"...
Pre-Mirrored Images
In some cases, you may wish to provide a pre-drawn version of a
stamp's mirror-image. For example, imagine a picture of a fire truck
with the words "Fire Department" written across the side. You
probably do not want that text to appear backwards when the image is
flipped!
To create a mirrored version of a stamp that you want Tux Paint to
use, rather than mirroring one on its own, simply create a second
".png" graphics file with the same name, except with the string
"_mirror" before the filename extension.
For example, for the stamp "truck.png" you would create another file
named "truck_mirror.png", which will be used when the stamp is
mirrored (rather than using a backwards version of 'truck.png').
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Fonts
The fonts used by Tux Paint are TrueType Fonts (TTF).
Simply place them in the "fonts" directory. Tux Paint will load the
font and provide four different sizes in the 'Letters' selector when
using the 'Text' tool.
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'Starters'
'Starter' images appear in the 'Open' dialog, along with pictures
you've created. They have a green button background, instead of blue.
Unlike your saved pictures, however, when you select and open a
'starter,' you're actually creating a new drawing. Instead of being
blank, though, the new drawing contains the contents of the 'starter.'
Additionally, as you edit your new picture, the contents of the
original 'starter' affect it.
Coloring-Book Style
The most basic kind of 'starter' is similar to a picture in a
coloring book. It's an outline of a shape which you can then color
in and add details to. In Tux Paint, as you draw, type text, or
stamp stamps, the outline remains 'above' what you draw. You can
erase the parts of the drawing you made, but you can't erase the
outline.
To create this kind of 'starter' image, simply draw an outlined
picture in a paint program, make the rest of the graphic transparent
(that will come out as white in Tux Paint), and save it as a PNG
format file.
Scene-Style
Along with the 'coloring-book' style overlay, you can also provide a
separate background image as part of a 'starter' picture. The
overlay acts the same: it can't be drawn over, erased, or affected
by 'Magic' tools. However, the background can be!
When the 'Eraser' tool is used on a picture based on this kind of
'starter' image, rather than turning the canvas white, it returns
that part of the canvas to the original background picture.
By creating both an overlay and a background, you can create a
'starter' which simulates depth. Imagine a background that shows the
ocean, and an overlay that's a picture of a reef. You can then draw
(or stamp) fish in the picture. They'll appear in the ocean, but
never 'in front of' the reef.
To create this kind of 'starter' picture, simply create an overlay
(with alpha transparency) as described above, and save it as a PNG.
Then create another image (without transparency), and save it with
the same filename, but with "-back" appended to the name. (e.g.,
"reef-back.png" would be the background ocean picture that
corresponds to the "reef.png" overlay, or foreground.)
The 'starter' images should be the same size as Tux Paint's canvas. In
the default 640x480 mode, that is 448x376 pixels. If you're using
800x600 mode, it should be 608x496. (It should be 192 pixels less
wide, and 104 pixels less tall than the resolution.)
Place them in the "starters" directory. When the 'Open' dialog is
accessed in Tux Paint, the 'starter' images will appear at the
beginning of the list with a green background.
Note: 'Starters' can't be saved over from within Tux Paint, since
loading a 'starter' is really like creating a new image. (Instead of
being blank, though there's already something there to work with.) The
'Save' command simply creates a new picture, like it would if the
'New' command had been used.
Note: 'Starters' are 'attached' to saved pictures, via a small text
file that has the same name as the saved file, but with ".dat" as the
extension. This allows the overlay and background, if any, to continue
to affect the drawing even after Tux Paint has been quit, or another
picture loaded or started. (In other words, if you base a drawing on a
'starter' image, it will always be affected by it.)
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Further Reading
Other documentation included with Tux Paint (in the "docs"
folder/directory) include:
* [21]AUTHORS.txt
List of authors and contributors
* [22]CHANGES.txt
Summary of changed between releases
* [23]COPYING.txt
Copying license (The GNU General Public License)
* [24]INSTALL.txt
Instructions for compiling/installing, when applicable
* [25]OPTIONS.html
Detailed instructions on command-line and configuration-file
options, for those who don't want to use Tux Paint Config.
* [26]PNG.txt
Notes on creating PNG format images for use in Tux Paint
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How to Get Help
If you need help, feel free to contact New Breed Software:
[28]http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/
You may also wish to participate in the numerous Tux Paint mailing
lists:
[29]http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/lists/
References
Visible links
2. mailto:bill@newbreedsoftware.com
3. http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/
4. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/COPYING.txt
12. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
13. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/README.html#save
14. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
15. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
16. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
17. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
18. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
19. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
20. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/README.html#save
21. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/AUTHORS.txt
22. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/CHANGES.txt
23. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/COPYING.txt
24. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/INSTALL.txt
25. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/html/OPTIONS.html
26. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/PNG.txt
27. file:///home/kendrick/Development/tux/tp/tuxpaint/docs/TODO.txt
28. http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/
29. http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/lists/
