LibreOffice-Suite-Draw-6.3/C2/Drawing-Basic-Objects/English

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Visual Cue Narration
Slide: Title Slide Welcome to the Spoken tutorial on Drawing Basic Objects.
Slide: Learning objectives In this tutorial, we will learn to:
  • Draw some more basic shapes
  • Use the Shapes deck options for drawing objects
  • Select, move and delete an object
  • Use the Rulers
  • Change the size of an object with the Rulers and
  • Use the Align toolbar to position objects on the page.
Slide: System Requirements This tutorial is recorded using,
  • Ubuntu Linux OS version 18.04 and
  • LibreOffice Suite version 6.3.5
Slide: Object Let us first define what an object is.
  • The term object denotes shapes or groups of shapes.
  • In Draw, objects are used for lines, squares, arrows, flowcharts and so on.
Slide: Objects All the shapes shown in this slide are referred to as objects.
Switch to Water-Cycle.odg Let’s open our Water-Cycle.odg file which we created earlier in this series.
Slide: Code Files
  • This file has been provided to you in the Code files link on this tutorial page.
  • Please download and extract the file.
  • Make a copy and then use it for practising.
Place the cursor over the cloud >> Click on it. We will first learn how to select an object.

Let’s say, we want to select the cloud.

To do so, simply click on it.

Point to the 8 handles. We can see eight handles on the cloud object.
Point to the 8 handles. Handles are small squares on the sides of the selected object.
Point to the handle >> click left mouse button and drag length first >> then drag breadth Using the mouse, click on any of the side handles.

Then drag to increase or decrease the size of the object.

Press Ctrl+ Z keys twice. Undo these changes by pressing Ctrl and Z keys twice.
Point to the corner handles We can even scale both dimensions using the corner handles.

When we do that, the proportions are maintained.

Click on Image >> resize using the corner handle >>

Drag to the top right corner

Resize the object by clicking a corner handle and dragging the mouse, like this.

After resizing, click on the cloud object, drag and place it next to the sun object, like this.

Press Ctrl + S keys Press Ctrl + S keys to save the file.
Cursor on the page. Let us add some more objects to our drawing.
Click on Shapes icon in the Sidebar Click on the Shapes icon in the Sidebar.

This is the shortcut to open all the shapes at once.

The Shapes deck expands and displays many shape objects to choose from.

Select Rectangle Under Basic Shapes, select Rectangle.
Move the cursor to the page.

Point to the cursor.

Hold and drag the left mouse button to draw a rectangle.

Release the mouse button.

Now move the cursor to the page.

You will see a plus sign with a capital I.

Hold the left mouse button and drag to draw a rectangle, as shown here.

Now release the mouse button to complete the rectangle.

Press Ctrl + S keys Press Ctrl + S keys to save the file.
Cursor on the page. Next, let us draw some arrows.

This is to show the rising of water vapour from the ground to the cloud.

Shapes >> Insert Line In the Shapes deck, under Lines and Arrows, select Insert Line.
Move the cursor to the page.

Wait until a plus sign with a slash is seen.

Move the cursor to the page.

You will see a plus sign with a slash.

Hold the left mouse button and drag . Hold the left mouse button and drag from top to bottom, as shown.

Now release the mouse button to complete the line.

Point to the two handles. A line has two handles.
Right-click for the

context menu >> Line.

Now, let us add an arrowhead to this line.

Right-click on the line to view the context menu.

Then click on the Line option.

Point to Line dialog box The Line dialog box opens up.

Several tabs and options are seen here.

Click on Arrow Styles tab

Click on the Arrow Style drop-down

Now, click on the Arrow Styles tab at the top.

Under Organize Arrow Styles options, click on the Arrow style drop-down.

Scroll the drop-down option


Select the option >> “Small arrow” >> Click on OK.

Scroll to see all the available Arrow styles.

Select the option named Small arrow and click on the OK button.

Point to both ends of the line This will add the selected style to the line.
Click anywhere else on the workspace

Point to both the arrowheads

Click anywhere else on the workspace to deselect the line object.

There are arrowheads on both ends of the line.

Point to the upper end of the line. But we need an arrowhead on only one end of the line.
Press CTRL + Z. So first we will undo this change by pressing

CTRL + Z keys.

Right-Click on the “Line

Click on Line option.

Right-click again on the line to view the context menu.

Now, click on the Line option.

Click on Line tab

Point to the fields under Arrow Styles

In the Line dialog box, click on the Line tab.


Here, under the Arrow Styles section we can see various fields.

Point to the two drop-down boxes.

Start style and End style.

Look at the Start Style and End Style fields.

These are the arrow styles for each end of the line.

Highlight both Start Style and End Style Both show the default style as none.
Click on the Start Style drop down and select “Arrow”. Click on the Start Style drop-down and select Arrow.
Point to the preview box Immediately the preview box shows our selection.
Point to the End style drop down box. Leave the End style drop-down box as it is.
Click on OK button.

Click anywhere on the page.

Click on the OK button at the bottom right.

Now, click anywhere on the page to see the arrow clearly.

Point to the arrowhead at the top end of the line. An arrow has been drawn, with an arrowhead at the top end of the line.
Point to Arrows icon and expand the drop-down to show the shapes Arrows can also be added from the Drawing toolbar on the left.
Shapes >> Line Starts with Arrows Next, in the Shapes deck, under Lines and Arrows, select Line Starts with Arrow.
Move the cursor to the Draw page.

Hold the left button of the mouse and drag from up to down.

Move the cursor to the Draw page.

Hold the left mouse button and drag from the top to bottom, as shown.

Release the mouse button to complete the line.

Add one more arrow in the same manner. Let us add one more arrow in the same manner.
Press Ctrl + S keys Press Ctrl + S keys to save the file.
Slide: Assignment As an assignment
  • In your file “MyPractice”, draw a line.
  • Select Line and open the Line dialog box.
  • Under the Line Properties field, change style, color, width and transparency for lines.
  • Under the Arrow Styles field, change the arrow style as per your preference.
Cursor on the page. Next, we’ll draw a star.
Shapes >> 5-point star. In the Shapes deck, scroll down to the bottom.

Under Stars, select 5-point star.

Place the cursor next to the cloud.

Hold the left mouse button>> drag to the left to draw a star

Point to the star

Now place the cursor next to the cloud.

Hold the left mouse button and drag to draw the star.

Release the mouse button to complete the star.

Click anywhere on the workspace

Click on the x mark at the top right

Click anywhere on the workspace to deselect the star.

Now close the Shapes deck by clicking on the cross(x) mark at the top right.

Only Narration Next let us learn how to move and delete objects.
Select the triangle by pressing the left mouse button >> drag it to the top of the rectangle.

Let go of the mouse button.

To move an object, just select and drag it with the mouse to the desired location.

Then release the mouse button.

Select the triangle >> press the Up arrow key 4 times and Left arrow 2 times. We can also use the up, down and side arrow keys on the keyboard to move an object.
Select the star >> press Delete key To delete an object, just select it and then press the Delete key on the keyboard.
Press Ctrl + S keys Press Ctrl + S keys to save the file.
Slide: Ruler and Align Toolbar Next, we’ll learn about the Rulers and Align toolbar.
  • Rulers are used to set up page margins, and modify the units of measurement.
  • The Align toolbar is used to position the objects.
Switch to Water Cycle.odg

Point to the rulers at the top and left hand side of the page.

Let us switch back to the drawing page.

Rulers are displayed at the top and left side of the Draw workspace.

Right-click on the ruler on the top >>

Point to the list of measurement units.

Let’s set the measurement units for a particular ruler.

Right-click on the top Ruler.

We can see a list of measurement units.

Point to centimeter

Click on the unit “Inch”.

Point to top ruler

By default centimeter is selected as the unit of measurement.

Click on the Inch option.

The measurement unit for the top ruler is now set to inches.

Right-click on the Ruler on the left >>

Click on the unit “Inch”.

Point to both the rulers.

Similarly, let us set the measurement for the ruler on the left to Inch, also.

Objects are drawn to scale only when units of measurement for both rulers are same.

Point to the white part of both the rulers. Notice that the active ruler is shown in white color.
Point to the end of the rulers on the top and the left. Ends of the ruler represent page margin values that are set in “Page Setup”.
Point to rulers. Let us see how the Rulers display the measurements of objects.
Select the cloud.

Point to the start and the end of the small black lines on the ruler.

Select the cloud.


Two small start and end markers on both the rulers define the edges of the cloud.

Move the left top marker upwards. If we move these markers on the ruler, the size of the object changes accordingly.
Slide: Ruler
  • Rulers show the size of an object on the page
  • They also enable us to position an object on the page and
  • Display page boundaries.
Slide: Align toolbar Let us move on to the Align toolbar now.
  • Align Objects toolbar helps to align the selected object.
  • It aligns the object to the left, right, top, bottom, center and centered positions.
Go to the View menu and select Toolbars.

From the sub-menu select Align Objects.

Let us enable the Align Objects toolbar.

To do so go to the View menu and select Toolbars.

From the sub-menu select Align Objects.

Only narration Let us now see how an object is aligned when we use different Align options.
Select the cloud in the Draw page.

Go to the Align toolbar >> Select Left.

Point to show that the cloud is aligned to the left.

Make sure that the cloud is selected.

On the Align toolbar window, click the icon named Left.

The cloud is aligned to the left of the page.

Go to the Align toolbar >> Point to the Centered and Centre options. Let us now understand the difference between the options Centered and Center.
Select the sun.

Go to the Align toolbar >> Click on the Center icon

Point to show that the sun

Point to the top and bottom margins of the page.

Let’s select the sun object.

Now, in the Align toolbar, click on the Center icon.

The sun object is aligned to the horizontal centre position on the page.

That means the object is centred exactly between the top and bottom margins of the page.

It does not move the object with respect to the page-width.

Go to the Align toolbar >> Click on the Centered icon.

Point to show that the sun is aligned to the centre of the page.

Drag the cursor across the page-width.

Now, from the Align toolbar, let us select the Centered icon.

The sun object is now aligned to the vertical centre position on the page.

It moves the object with respect to the page-width of the page.

Point to the sun Since we selected both options, the sun object is now exactly in the middle of the page.
Move the objects Now, let’s move the objects to their correct positions as per our sample drawing.
Press Ctrl + S keys >> close the file Save and close the file.
Only Narration This brings us to the end of this tutorial.

Let us summarize.

Slide: Summary In this tutorial we learnt how to:
  • Draw some more basic shapes such as lines, arrows, rectangles and stars
  • Use the Shapes deck options for drawing objects
  • Select, move and delete an object
  • Use the Rulers
  • Change the size of an object with the Rulers and
  • Use the Align toolbar to position objects on the page.
Slide: Assignment As an assignment:
  • Open MyPractice.odg file
  • Add a page
  • Draw these two objects.
  • Move them using the arrow keys.
  • Select any object you have drawn and delete it.
  • Use the Rulers to measure the size of the object.
  • Then use the Align toolbar and align the objects to the centre of the page.
Slide: About Spoken Tutorial Project
  • The video at the following link summarises the Spoken Tutorial project.
  • Please download and watch it
Slide: Spoken tutorial workshops
  • We conduct workshops using spoken tutorials and give certificates.
  • For more details, please contact us.
Slide: Forums Please post your timed queries in this forum.
Slide: Acknowledgement Spoken Tutorial project is funded by Ministry of Education (MoE), Govt. of India
Slide: Thank you This tutorial was originally contributed by DesiCrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in 2011

The script for this tutorial was written by Nikita Misal from IIT Bombay.

And this is Madhuri Ganapathi along with the Spoken Tutorial team signing off.

Thank you for watching.

Contributors and Content Editors

Madhurig, Pravin1389