Drawing geometric shapes

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

Chapter 7: Getting Started with Draw

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• The Draw workspace
• Positioning objects
• The basic drawing shapes
• Drawing geometric shapes
• Selection modes
• Selecting objects
• Moving and dynamically adjusting an object’s size
• Editing objects
• Special effects
• Combining multiple objects
• Pictures and 3D objects

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Geometric shapes include basic shapes, symbol shapes, block arrows, flowcharts, callouts, and stars.

The figure below shows part of the Drawing toolbar with the icons necessary for the following sections. They open floating toolbars with the relevant work tools. The use of all these tools is similar to that of the Rectangle tool, even though they produce different geometric shapes.

Part of the main Drawing toolbar

Basic shapes

The Basic Shapes icon makes available the range of tools for drawing basic shapes.

If you choose the rectangle tool from this toolbar, it looks the same as a rectangle drawn using the Rectangle tool on the Drawing toolbar. The only differences you will see are in the information field in the status bar.

Symbol shapes

The Symbol Shapes icon brings you to an array of tools for drawing the various symbol shapes.

Block arrows

The Block Arrows icon opens the Block Arrows toolbar .

Flowcharts

The tools for drawing flowcharts are accessed by clicking on the Flowcharts icon .

The creation of flowcharts, organization charts, and similar planning tools are described in Chapter 9 (Organization Charts, Flow Diagrams, and More) in the Draw Guide.

Callouts

With the Callouts icon , you can open the Callouts toolbar.

Stars and banners

These tools are associated with the Stars icon .

You can add text to all these shapes. See Chapter 2 (Drawing Basic Shapes) and Chapter 10 (Advanced Draw Techniques) in the Draw Guide for details.