OpenOffice.org Productivity Suite is a very useful software suite that has word processing, data base, spreadsheet, drawing programs & more.
While our focus is on the Drawing program, please feel free to explore & use the other aspects of the Productivity Suite. OpenOffice.org is distributed by Sun Microsystems, all of their copyright information applies. THE COPYRIGHT INFORMATION OF ALL DESIGNERS & DIGI-TECH MUST BE PRESERVED WHEN USING THIS SOFTWARE. Any misuse is considered a violation of copyright law. Designer copyright information can be found in the files as well as online on our website & in the text document included with pattern files.
PRINT THIS PAGE FIRST FOR REFERENCE
DOWNLOADING PROGRAM & ADD-ON SOFTWARE:
Go to the line that has the large green arrow that says that you want to download the suite & follow the directions indicated as you progress. Use the SAVE , NOT OPEN, when given the choice by your download wizard. Also please pay attention to location on your computer where the download will be going to. You will need that information later for installation & the download of the add-on software. Once you have completed the download, which may take 15-20 minutes, even if using high speed internet connection, you will want to go to that location on your computer & double click the icon for the program which will start the installation wizard. Just proceed through it using the defaults that it gives you. Now you are ready to download the add-on software that will allow you to import PDF files into the Drawing program that is part of the Productivity Suite software. Without it, you will not be able to open PDF files.
Once you have downloaded the main program go to the following link & download the added extension add-on: http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/extensions.jsp The one that you want is the first on the list & is called SUN PDF IMPORTER EXTENSION BETA. This will install the add-on that will allow you to open PDF files into the OpenOffice.org Drawing program for resizing. Without this additional add-on you will not be able to open PDF files inside the Drawing program. When you have downloaded the add-on software , which will be almost instantly in comparision to the productivity suite, now you will go to the location that you downloaded the add-on to & install it.
Double click the icon for the add-on to start installing it. This also takes a very short time. When you start the installation, just follow through the instructions & accept the defaults that it gives you until you have finished. If you currently have the Productivity Suite open you may need to close it first & then re-open it in order for the PDF Importer software to work correctly. Note: If you notice that you've now entered the area called Star Office, don't worry, it is just another area of Sun Microsystems.
HOW DO I GET HELP:
There is a help guide for the entire Productivity Suite. You do not need to print this off. It is avaialable in PDF form which you can use Acrobat Reader to view while exploring the programs. Acrobat Reader is often pre-installed on many computers or available for free at www.adobe.com if your computer does not have the most recent version. There is also a help menu as part of each program that can be accessed from within each program to help you with specific commands. If you need help downloading or using the drawing program please refer to the help section on the OpenOffice.org website or email me directly, jessica@digitechpatterns.com
STEP BY STEP - OPENING & USING THE DRAWING PROGRAM:
You should allow the download to place an icon on your desktop for the main OpenOffice.org Suite. Now click to open the programs. Select the Draw program from the menu of programs available. There are many other useful programs that are also included in this suite, such as text writing, presentation, data base, & spreadsheet programs. You are also welcome to use any of these programs & they do open & save to many, many other program formats that are more universally known.
Once you have opened the Draw Program. Click on File > Open > Then select one of the PDF files that you've downloaded. Now play around to resize it & print it.
In depth instructions can be found in the manual for the Draw program at the link above, but I will provide a few key commands.
1) Keyboard strokes CTRL + A will select all items, so that you can resize everything at once. You can also select all of a design by going to EDIT > SELECT ALL.
2) Once you have the image selected you can put your cursor over one of the lines of the image & RIGHT click for a menu that will pop up to give you the resizing option (POSITION & SIZE). This command can also be found under the FORMAT command on the top menu bar. By using this command you can select to resize the image proportionately or with the height & width sized independently. Use this to obtain an exact size. You will want to select the box that says "KEEP RATIO" , if you want to scale the design's height & width proportionately. You can also resize by clicking on & holding while dragging one of the green squares called GRIPS, that show that the image is selected. If you hold down the SHIFT key you will be resizing proportionately. If you do not hold down the shift key then the image will size height & width will size independently.
3) You may select just the pattern to resize & not the copyright information if you like. If parts of the image are able to be selected separately you may want to select the entire pattern & then select MODIFY > GROUP, so that when you select the items that the entire pattern will all be selected & resized at once. You may find that you can only scale the design to a certain extent while it is GROUPED. If this happens you need to select the design then go to MODIFY >UNGROUP. Then you will be able to resize the selection further. If for some reason you are still limited you can go to MODIFY > BREAK with the object selected & it will give you all the little points or arcs & lines that make up the pattern. Now if you select all of the pattern you will be able to resize/scale the pattern as large as you need. I personally scaled several drawings to at least 30"x30". If you need something larger & have trouble please feel free to email me. I also recommend that you re-group the objects before you go to print them, as it will be easier to move them around.
You may want to make a separate group for the copyright & designer information separately from the actual design, so that you can resized the design without resizing the companion text & copyright information. You can then move it out of the way while you are resizing the patterns & move it back into view for printing. It is necessary for you to retain the copyright information & include it with your printing somewhere with the pattern. It does not have to be as large as the original information & can be reduced in size as long as it is readable & included somewhere in at least one of the printed pages of a multipage print setup. Not doing so could be considered a violation of copyright law. The copyright information needs to be retained as part of the original file &/or zip file contents. Please email jessica@digitechpatterns.com if you need clarification on this issue.
To MOVE a selection. You must have it selected & then you will want to click & hold on a line of the object that you want to move. If you are not right on a line you may not be able to move it & if you click & hold on one of the dashed selection lines or grips you will just end up stretching the selection in that direction. For an alternative to MOVE try moving the pattern using the X,Y coordinate system explained below to align patterns for printing.
4) The line thickness & line type may be adjusted. There is a "line width" selection box that is in the toolbar first up from the image area. You can type in whatever line width you would like so that you can get the thickness that you want for printing. I recommend .05 to .1 depending on the complexity of the design.
5)To print you can see off to the side what part of the pattern will be printing. If there is a light gray line that is much smaller than the selected page size that is just the imported margin that came with the PDF. You can make the margins smaller by going to FILE > PRINTER SETTINGS > then type in the corrected margins. Usually .4 for each margin works out well or marginless printing if you have that ability. There are other types of adjustments that you can make if you like. Just be sure that the size of the pattern is larger than a normal page & that the box in printer settings is NOT checked that says that the image should be resized to fit page. Our purpose is to be able to print patterns that are larger than a normal page on multiple tiled sheets of paper & then be able to tape them together. This way customers can easily download, resize, & print patterns that are larger than a regular size piece of paper. The program will only allow you to pick paper sizes that your printer is capable of printing. If you want to print from a roll of paper you need to have a printer that accepts rolls.
You can move the pattern around on the page so that the part you need is what is going to be printing. There is also an ALIGNMENT command that you can use that will line up the pattern where you would like on your page. I did ALIGN LEFT to start out so that the left edge of the pattern is on the furtherst left edge at the margin line. You can manually move the pattern over to print the rest, or if you go back to the POSITION & SIZE command you will see that there is boxes that indicate the X & Y position of the pattern & where it is judging that X,Y coordinate to be from. In this program the upper left corner of the page is indicated at x,y = 0,0. If you type in a negative X coordinate the pattern will move to the left. This is helpful for the next step. NOTES ON X,Y coordinates: X,Y are the system of location that is used for 2D coordinates in the cartesian coordinate sytem. If you enter a lower or negative X # whatever you have selected (has to be selected ) will move to the left (your left as you look at the screen). Entering a higher or positive X # then the selection will move right, a positive or higher Y # moves the selection up & a negative or lower Y # will move the selection down, all of these movements are in relation to the current x,y = 0,0 location. You can change this in the Position & Size window also, but you won't need to for basic program use. For more information please refer to the HELP section on the menu bar & type in the command or item that you have a question about. X, Y( & Z )coordinates are extensively used in computer aided design & operation of computer aided machinery.
Once you have one page printed. I would like you to move the pattern over & print the next section. Continue in this manner until all of the pattern has been printed & there should be a little bit of an overlap so that the pattern pages can be lined up. If the pattern is a Motif or Panto that is larger than 10" height then you will also need to move the pattern up or down & print those pages so that you have a complete pattern printed.
EXAMPLE: To move the pattern over by exact coordinates you go to the box with the Position of X: type in a negative number to move the pattern to the left. For example we know that a normal page is 8.5" so if I type in -7.5 in the Position X box then I will have appx a 1" overlap on the printed pattern, less the amount of the margin.
You will be able to see if the pattern overlaps into the enough into the next printed page once you click "OK" in the POSITION & SIZE window. This makes your movement of the pattern exactly the amount you need to move it over & get the most out of your paper while still having enough overlap that you can line everything up when taping together. You would use the Position Y box if your pattern is larger in height than a normal page.
There is almost no limit to how large you can make your pattern working this way as long as you are willing to move the pattern around to print the parts & then tape together you can do as large as you'd like.
If you have a printer that can do larger page sizes then you can set your printer settings to reflect the larger page & then you would not have to move the pattern around as much in order to print it completely.
If you have questions please refer to the help sections if it is a general question or directly to Digi-Tech if it refers to a pattern you have purchased from www.digitechpatterns.com. Email to jessica@digitechpatterns.com & reference your order number in your email.
