The Graph Editor

Control Bar

• Show Canvas switches to the Drawing Canvas.
• In the Graph Selection box you select the graph to be displayed in the editing area.
  Note that the graph number has a * attached, if the graph is the initiator.
• New Graph creates a new graph with no segments.
• Remove Graph deletes the currently displayed graph.
• Make Initiator makes the currently displayed graph the initiator of the fractal.

Graph Segments

• The segments of the graph are displayed in the editing area.
• The grey bar in the middle of the editing area is the so called base segment. The base segment is not a segment of the graph, but represents a segment to be replaced by the graph during drawing of the fractal. The base segment starts at point (0, 0) and ends at (1, 0). Orientation and length of the graph’s segments relative to the base segment determine, how the replacing graph is scaled and oriented relative to a segment during recursive replacement.
• Segments are drawn as arrows with the end point of the segment as arrowhead to visualize their orientation.
• Numbers in circles display the number of the generator graph which is applied on the segment during drawing of the fractal. A filled circle means, that the generator is applied on the segment with mirrored orientation.
• Selected segments are displayed with red color (see Selecting Segments).
• Segments are displayed gray (pink, while selected), if the visibility of the segment is set to off An invisible segment is not drawn, when the fractal is drawn. It can however be replaced during recursive replacement, if it has a generator.

Selecting Segments

• To move or edit a segment, it has to be selected first.
• A segment is selected by clicking somewhere near the segment. Clicking while holding the SHIFT key lets you select more than one segment. Clicking aside of the segments deselects all segments. Clicking on a selected segment while holding the SHIFT key, deselects that segment only.
• Another way of selecting segments is to draw a selection rectangle by holding the mouse button and moving the mouse. When the mouse button is released all the segments inside of the rectangle are selected.

Moving Segments

• Segments are moved by moving their start and/or end point.
• While the cursor is moved near the start or end point of a selected (red) segment, a small red circle is displayed around that point. If now the mouse button is pressed, the cursor changes to a pointing hand symbol and the point can be dragged by moving the mouse. While the segment point is dragged, the segment’s length and orientation change accordingly. When the mouse button is released, the segment point stays on the cursors new position.
• More than one point can be dragged at a time, if the points’ segments are selected and the points are next to each other.

Drawing Segments

• Double clicking on the editing area changes the cursor to a crosshair and starts drawing a new segment with a start point at that position. Moving the cursor drags the end point of the new segment, while it’s length and orientation changes accordingly.
• A single click stops dragging the segment by setting it’s end point to the cursor position and immediately starts drawing a new segment with a start point at the end of the previous segment.
• A double click stops dragging the segment by setting it’s end point to the cursor position and switches back to selection mode.

Scale of the Editing Area

• The scale of the display changes dynamically, to make the whole graph fit inside the editing area.
• This can be observed, when a point is dragged near the border of the editing area.
• The length of the gray base segment is a good indicator for the current scale of the display.

Popup Menu

• Right clicking on the editing area opens a popup menu.
• If no segment is selected, this menu has only one action Select All, which selects all the segments.
• If one or more segments are selected, the popup menu displays additional actions, which are allways applied on all the selected segments. The first three actions (Connect, Disconnect and Split) are helpers for editing, while the next four (Set Generator, Reverse, Visibility and Mirror) set the properties of the segment.
• Connect works with two or more selected segments by setting the start point of one segment to the end point of the previous segment (order of selection is important). Connected segments share this point of connection. This means, that both segments will be moved, when this point is moved, even if only one of them is selected.
• Disconnect lets each of the selected segments have it’s own start and end point. The result of this action is not immediately visible, but can be seen, when moving previously connected segments.
• Split divides each of the selected segments in a number of new segments, where the number can be choosen from the submenu. This lets you quickly create a bunch of segments which are oriented in a straight line.
• Set Generator lets you choose the generator graph for the selected segments. The generator is applied on the segment during recursive replacement. After choosing a generator, its number is displayed in a circle on the segment. A segment without a generator is not replaced during drawing of the fractal, instead it is immediately drawn.
• Reverse simply reverses the selected segments by switching start and end point.
• Visibility on/off toggles the visibility of the selected segments. The default is on. An invisible segment is not drawn, when the fractal is drawn. It can however be replaced during recursive replacement, if it has a generator. An invisible segment without a generator is useless. Invisible segments are displayed in gray (pink, while selected).
• Mirror toggles the mirror property of the selected segments on or off. As a default segments have their mirror property set to off. When a segment with mirror on is replaced by a generator graph, the replacing graph is applied with mirrored orientation (mirrored on the segment’s axis). Mirrored segments have their generator number displayed in a filled circle.
• Delete removes all the selected segments from the graph.

Status Line

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