Tux Paint
version 0.9.19
A simple drawing program for children
Copyright 2002-2007 by Bill Kendrick and others
New Breed Software
bill@newbreedsoftware.com
http://www.tuxpaint.org/
June 14, 2002 - December 4, 2007
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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 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
[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.
[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.
[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!
[(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.
[Selectors - Brushes, Letters, Shapes, Stamps]
Lower: Colors
A palette of available colors are shown near the bottom of the
screen.
[Colors - Black, White, Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Purple,
Brown, Grey]
(NOTE: You can define your own colors for Tux Paint. See the
"Options" documentation.)
Bottom: Help Area
At the very bottom of the screen, Tux, the Linux Penguin,
provides tips and other information while you draw.
(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 set of rubber stamps 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 the canvas, an outline follows
the mouse, showing where the stamp will be placed, and how
big it will be.
There can be numerous categories of stamps (e.g., animals,
plants, outer space, vehicles, people, etc.). Use the Left
and Right arrows to cycle through the collections.
Some stamps can be colored or tinted. If the color palette
below the canvas is activated, you can click the colors to
change the tint or color of the stamp before placing it in
the picture.
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.
Different stamps can have different sound effects and/or
descriptive (spoken) sounds. Buttons at the lower left (near
Tux, the Linux penguin) allow you to re-play the sound
effects and descriptive sounds for the currently-selected
stamp.
(NOTE: If the "nostampcontrols" option is set, Tux Paint
won't display the Mirror, Flip, Shrink and Grow controls for
stamps. See the "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.
Alternatively, press [Tab] and the text will be drawn onto
the picture, but the cursor will move to the right of the
text, rather than down a line, and to the left. (This can be
useful to create a line of text with mixed colors, fonts,
styles and sizes: Like this.)
Clicking elsewhere in the picture while the text entry is
still active causes the current line of text to move to that
location (where you can continue editing it).
International Character Input
Tux Paint allows inputting characters in
different languages. Most Latin characters
(A-Z, n, e, etc.) can by entered directly. Some
languages require that Tux Paint be switched
into an alternate input mode before entering,
and some characters must be composed using
numerous keypresses.
When Tux Paint's locale is set to one of the
languages that provide alternate input modes, a
key is used to cycle through normal (Latin
character) and locale-specific mode or modes.
Currently supported locales, the input methods
available, and the key to toggle or cycle
modes, are listed below. Note: Many fonts do
not include all characters for all languages,
so sometimes you'll need to change fonts to see
the characters you're trying to type.
* Japanese -- Romanized Hiragana and
Romanized Katakana -- right [Alt]
* Korean -- Hangul 2-Bul -- right [Alt] or
left [Alt]
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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. Then, depending on
the tool, either click and drag around the
picture, or simply click the picture once, to
apply the effect.
Each 'Magic' tool's instructions are contained
within the "magic-docs" folder.
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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.)
* Click the blue "Slides" (slide
projector) button at the lower left to
go to slideshow mode. See "Slides",
below, for details.
* 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 "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 "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!
On most platforms, you can also hold the
[Alt] key while clicking the 'Print' button
to get a printer dialog, as long as you're
not running Tux Paint in fullscreen mode. See
below.
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 "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 "Options" documentation.)
Printing Commands
(Linux and Unix only)
Tux Paint prints by generating a
PostScript representation of the
drawing and sending it to an external
program. By default, the program is:
lpr
This command can be changed by
setting the "printcommand" value in
Tux Paint's configuration file.
If the [Alt] key on the keyboard is
being pushed while clicking the
'Print' button, as long as you're not
in fullscreen mode, an alternative
program is run. By default, the
program is KDE's graphical print
dialog:
kprinter
This command can be changed by
setting the "altprintcommand" value
in Tux Paint's configuration file.
For information on how to change the
printing commands, see the "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 "print.cfg" in your personal
folder (see below). Any changes will
be saved there as well.
See the "Options" documentation.)
Printer Dialog Options
By default, Tux Paint only shows the
printer dialog (or, on Linux/Unix,
runs the "altprintcommand", e.g.,
"kprinter" instead of "lpr") if the
[Alt] key is held while clicking the
'Print' button.
However, this behavior can be
changed. You can have the printer
dialog always appear by using
"--altprintalways" on the
command-line, or "altprint=always" in
Tux Paint's configuration file. Or,
you can prevent the [Alt] key from
having any effect by using
"--altprintnever", or
"altprint=never".
See the "Options" documentation.)
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Slides
The "Slides" button is available in the
"Open" dialog. It displays a list of your
saved files, similar to the "Open" dialog,
but without listing 'Starter' images.
Click each of the images you wish to display
in a slideshow-style presentation, one by
one. A digit will appear over each image,
letting you know in which order they will be
displayed.
You can click a selected image to unselect it
(take it out of your slideshow).
A sliding scale at the lower left of the
screen (next to the "Play" button) can be
used to adjust the speed of the slideshow,
from slowest to fastest. Choose the leftmost
setting to disable automatic advancement --
you will need to press a key or click to go
to the next slide (see below).
When you're ready, click the "Play" button to
begin the slideshow. (Note: If you hadn't
selected ANY images, then ALL images will be
played in the slideshow.)
During the slideshow, press [Space], [Enter]
or [Return] or the [Right Arrow], or click
the "Next" button at the lower left, to
manually advance to the next slide. Press
[Left] to go back to the previous slide.
Press [Escape], or click the "Back" button at
the lower right, to exit the slideshow and
return to the slideshow image selection
screen.
Click "Back" in the slideshow image selection
screen to return to the "Open" dialog.
Quit
Clicking the "Quit" button, closing the
Tux Paint window, or pushing the [Escape] key
will quit Tux Paint.
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 "Save" above.)
NOTE: If the image is saved, it will be
reloaded automatically the next time you run
Tux Paint!
NOTE: The "Quit" button and [Escape] key can
be disabled (e.g., by selecting
"Disable 'Quit' Button" in Tux Paint Config.
or running Tux Paint with the "--noquit"
command-line option).
In that case, the "window close" button on
Tux Paint's title bar (if not in fullscreen
mode) or the [Alt] + [F4] key sequence may be
used to quit.
If neither of those are possible, the key
sequence of [Shift] + [Control] + [Escape]
may be used to quit. (See the "Options"
documentation.)
Sound Muting
There is no on-screen control button at this
time, but by pressing [Alt] + [S], sound
effects can be disabled and re-enabled (muted
and unmuted) while the program is running.
Note that if sounds are completely disabled
(e.g., by unselecting "Enable Sound Effects"
in Tux Paint Config or running Tux Paint with
the "--nosound" command-line option), the
[Alt] + [S] key sequence has no effect.
(i.e., it cannot be used to turn on sounds
when the parent/teach wants them disabled.)
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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:
Windows
Inside the user's "Application Data" folder,
e.g.: "C:\Documents and
Settings\(user name)\Application
Data\TuxPaint\saved\"
Mac OS X
Inside the user's "Library" folder:
"/Users/(user name)/Library/Application
Support/Tux Paint/saved/"
Linux/Unix
Inside a hidden ".tuxpaint" directory, in the
user's home directory:
"$(HOME)/.tuxpaint/saved/"
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.)
When Tux Paint loads an image that's not the same size
as its drawing canvas, it scales (and sometimes smears
the edges of) the image so that it fits within the
canvas.
To avoid having the image stretched or smeared, you can
resize it to Tux Paint's canvas size. This size depends
on the size of the Tux Paint window, or resolution at
which Tux Paint is run, if in fullscreen. (Note: The
default resolution is 800x600.) See "Calculating Image
Dimensions", below.
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.)
Calculating Image Dimensions
The width of Tux Paint's canvas is simply the width of
the window (e.g., 640, 800 or 1024 pixels), minus 192.
Calculating the height of Tux Paint's canvas requires
multiple steps:
1. Take the height of the window (e.g, 480, 600 or
768 pixels) and subtract 144
2. Take the result of Step 1 and divide it by 48
3. Take the result of Step 2 and round it down
(e.g., 9.5 becomes simply 9)
4. Take the result of Step 3 and multiply it by 48
5. Finally, take the result of Step 4 and add 40
Example: Tux Paint running at fullscreen on a 1440x900
display.
* The canvas width is simply 1440 - 192, or 1248.
* The canvas height is calculated as:
1. 900 - 144, or 756
2. 756 / 48, or 15.75
3. 15.75 rounded down, or 15
4. 15 * 48, or 720
5. 720 + 40, or 760
So the canvas within a 1440x900 Tux Paint window is
1248x760.
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Further Reading
Other documentation included with Tux Paint (in the "docs"
folder/directory) include:
* "Magic" Tool Documentation ("magic-docs")
Documentation for each of the currently-installed
"Magic" tools.
* AUTHORS.txt
List of authors and contributors.
* CHANGES.txt
Summary of changed between releases.
* COPYING.txt
Copying license (The GNU General Public License).
* INSTALL.txt
Instructions for compiling/installing, when
applicable.
* EXTENDING.html
Detailed instructions on creating brushes, stamps and
starters, and adding fonts, to extend Tux Paint.
* OPTIONS.html
Detailed instructions on command-line and
configuration-file options, for those who don't want
to use Tux Paint Config.
* PNG.txt
Notes on creating PNG format bitmapped images for use
in Tux Paint.
* SVG.txt
Notes on creating SVG format vector 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:
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/
You may also wish to participate in the numerous Tux Paint
mailing lists:
http://www.tuxpaint.org/lists/
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