Xfig/C2/Simple-block-diagram/English-timed
From Script | Spoken-Tutorial
| Time | Narration |
| 00:00 | Welcome to the spoken tutorial on block diagram creation using Xfig. |
| 00:07 | In this tutorial, we will explain how to create block diagrams of the type given below. |
| 00:17 | We will see the tools required for this purpose: |
| 00:19 | I shall use Xfig, a block diagram manipulation tool. |
| 00:24 | I am using version 3.2, patch level 5. |
| 00:29 | I will also use the terminal and a 'pdf' browser. |
| 00:37 | I am creating this tutorial on Mac OS X. |
| 00:41 | Xfig works on Linux and Windows also. |
| 00:45 | Installation on Linux is the easiest of all. |
| 00:50 | The procedure to use Xfig is the same in all three. |
| 00:56 | It is recommended to use a three button mouse for Xfig. |
| 01:00 | But one or two button mouse can also be configured to work. |
| 01:07 | The user manual for Xfig is available on the web. |
| 01:16 | Let us see it. We can see the introduction to Xfig in this page. |
| 01:23 | We can see the Table of Contents of this manual, here. |
| 01:28 | Let us click on it. |
| 01:31 | We can see the details of the people who created Xfig, here. |
| 01:36 | Let us see this page. |
| 01:40 | I will now explain the screen configuration for this tutorial. |
| 01:46 | It has the slides, Xfig, internet browser – Firefox and the terminal. |
| 01:58 | This is the command I used to invoke Xfig on Mac. |
| 02:04 | These are arranged in an overlapping fashion, for easy switch from one to the other. |
| 02:10 | The listener can easily see the switch happening – no need for guess work. |
| 02:17 | Let us start with Xfig. |
| 02:20 | The left hand side of Xfig worksheet has the drawing mode panel. |
| 02:26 | The buttons on top half of this panel can be used to create different objects. |
| 02:33 | The ones in the bottom are used to work with them. |
| 02:39 | Using the buttons at the top, one can carry out File and Edit operations. |
| 02:46 | The space in the centre is known as the canvas. |
| 02:50 | This is where the figure will be created. |
| 02:53 | Let us now get started with drawing. |
| 02:55 | The first thing I will do is to put the grids on the canvas. |
| 03:01 | I do this by clicking on the Grid Mode button, at the bottom. |
| 03:05 | We can choose different grid sizes. I will choose the middle one. |
| 03:11 | Grids help align the different objects that we would place. |
| 03:16 | In this tutorial, by clicking I mean clicking the left mouse button and releasing it. |
| 03:21 | Similarly, selecting or choosing a button would mean that you have to click it with the left mouse. |
| 03:29 | If a different action is required, I will state it explicitly. |
| 03:34 | As our diagram should have a box, let us choose the Box symbol with sharp corners, from the left hand side panel. |
| 03:43 | We will go to the place where we want to place the box. |
| 03:50 | We will click the mouse at this point. |
| 03:53 | This selects the north west corner of the box. |
| 03:57 | Move the mouse to the opposite end until the box is of the size we want. |
| 04:12 | Once the box is of right size, we can click the mouse once again. |
| 04:16 | The box is now created. |
| 04:18 | We will now explain how to use the Edit feature of Xfig. Using this, we will increase the thickness of the box. |
| 04:26 | Let us press the Edit button in the left hand panel. |
| 04:31 | We see that all the key points of the box are displayed. |
| 04:36 | Let us click on any one of these points and thus select the box. |
| 04:41 | A dialog-box opens. |
| 04:43 | We will take the mouse to the Width box. |
| 04:47 | Make sure that the mouse pointer stays within the box. |
| 04:51 | Let us delete the default value of 1. |
| 04:55 | The contents of this box cannot be changed if the mouse is not inside the box. |
| 05:01 | If the mouse moves away at any time of entry in the box, please bring it inside and continue typing. |
| 05:07 | Let us now enter 2. |
| 05:13 | We click the Done. Let me show you this. |
| 05:17 | Click the Done and leave the dialog-box. |
| 05:20 | We see that the thickness of the box has increased. |
| 05:24 | We would now want to enter lines with arrows. |
| 05:28 | Let us choose the POLYLINE button from the left hand side panel. |
| 05:34 | The panel at the bottom is known as the Attributes panel. |
| 05:40 | Using the buttons present in this panel, the parameters of each object may be changed. |
| 05:45 | The number of buttons change depending on the chosen object. |
| 05:52 | Let us select the Arrow Mode button from the attributes panel. |
| 05:57 | Let us choose the second option in the dialog-box as this would give an arrow at the end point. |
| 06:04 | Let us click the Arrow Type button. |
| 06:08 | In the window that appears, we select the arrow head of our choice. |
| 06:14 | Let us click at the point where we want the line to start. |
| 06:23 | Let us move the mouse to the end point of the desired line. |
| 06:31 | Let us now click there with middle mouse button |
| 06:36 | The line is created with an arrow. |
| 06:39 | Remember, you have to press the middle button to complete the arrow. |
| 06:43 | Not the left or right button. |
| 06:45 | If you make a mistake, please click the Edit and press Undo. |
| 06:52 | Let us draw another line, at the output of the box, by copying. |
| 06:59 | Choose the COPY button from the left hand side panel. |
| 07:05 | Choose the line. |
| 07:09 | Move the mouse to the destination and click. |
| 07:15 | The line is copied. |
| 07:18 | Let us put some text now. |
| 07:21 | Let us click the Text box, indicated by T, from the left hand side panel. |
| 07:29 | Let us choose the font-size of the text. |
| 07:35 | Let us click the Text Size button from the attributes panel and obtain a dialog window. |
| 07:41 | Let us move the mouse to the value-box and keep the mouse there. |
| 07:46 | Let us delete the default value of 12 and enter 16. |
| 07:52 | Let us choose the button Set. |
| 07:56 | The dialog-box gets closed and the Text Size is now shown as 16 in the attributes panel. |
| 08:05 | We will centre align the text. |
| 08:08 | Let us click the Text Just button in the attributes panel. |
| 08:13 | A dialog-box opens. |
| 08:15 | Let us choose the middle one for centre alignment. |
| 08:21 | Let us click at the centre of the box. |
| 08:29 | I will type Plant and click the mouse. |
| 08:36 | The text is created. |
| 08:38 | I can move the text with the Move key on the left hand side panel, if required. |
| 08:50 | Let us now save this figure. |
| 08:52 | Let us click the File button at the top left hand corner of Xfig, hold and drag the mouse to Save and release. |
| 09:04 | As this is the first time, Xfig asks for the file name. |
| 09:09 | We can choose the directory and then the file name. |
| 09:12 | Let us type the name as "block" and choose Save. |
| 09:27 | The file gets saved as "block.fig". |
| 09:30 | You can see that name at the top. |
| 09:34 | Let us now export the file. |
| 09:36 | Let us click the File button once again, hold and drag the mouse to Export. |
| 09:47 | Click the box next to Language, hold and drag the mouse to PDF and release the key to select the PDF Format. |
| 09:59 | Now click the Export button. We get the file "block.pdf". |
| 10:05 | Let us open this file through the command open block.pdf from the terminal. |
| 10:18 | We now have the block diagram that we wanted. |
| 10:21 | We have completed our objective. We have the figure we want. |
| 10:30 | We have an assignment for you. |
| 10:33 | Substitute the box with different objects. |
| 10:36 | Create a rectangle using Polyline. Change the size and the direction of the arrows in the figure. |
| 10:43 | Move the text, line and box to different locations. |
| 10:48 | Export the file in 'eps' format and view it. |
| 10:51 | View the file "block.fig" in an editor and identify different components. |
| 10:58 | Create entirely different block diagrams. |
| 11:02 | We have now come to the end of this tutorial. |
| 11:06 | Spoken Tutorial is a part of the Talk to a Teacherproject, supported by the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT),MHRD,Government of India. |
| 11:18 | More information on this mission is available at:http://spoken-tutorial.org/NMEICT-Intro |
| 11:28 | I have downloaded a few more web pages. |
| 11:38 | The website for the spoken tutorial project is: http://spoken-tutorial.org/. |
| 11:48 | This project is explained by the video available at this link: "What is a Spoken Tutorial". |
| 11:57 | At this spoken-tutorial.org/wiki, we have listed the FOSS tools supported by our projects. |
| 12:12 | Let us also see the page devoted to Xfig. |
| 12:27 | We welcome your participation and also your feedback. This is Kannan Moudgalya, signing off. Thanks for joining. Goodbye. |
