inspiration/synfig-docs/ca/steps/linking.sgml

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<sect1 id="linking">
<title>Linking</title> 
<para>Now lets try linking. Lets say we always
want these two circles to be the same size. Select two circles, and then
select both of their Radius ducks(the cyan dot). Then right click on
either duck and a menu will pop up. Click on "Link". Boom. The parameters
are linked together. You can prove it to yourself by selecting just one
of the circles and changing its radius--the other one will change as
well. Neat stuff, eh?</para>

<para>Linking is a fundamental concept in Synfig. You can create links not only
between ducks, but also between parameters as well by selecting multiple
layers, right clicking on the parameter in the param tab, and selecting
"Link".</para>

<para>DIGRESSION: This is how outlines are attached to their regions-but
I'm getting ahead of myself. At the moment, the fundamental power and
flexibility of linking in Synfig Core is beyond what Synfig Studio
currently allows for. This will change in the future. Anyway, back
on track...</para>

<para>Lets say you want one of the circles to be a different color. If you look
in the toolbox below the tools, you'll see the foreground/background
color selector, the outline width selector, and some other stuff like
the default blend method and gradient. The foreground/background color
widget works exactly as you might expect--you can click on the foreground
color, and a modest color chooser will appear. Now to can change the
color pretty easily.</para>

<para>But sometimes you just want to click on a color and go. This is where
the palette editor tab comes in. It's functionality isn't quite 100% yet
(ie: saving and loading custom palettes hasn't been implemented yet),
but the default palette is pretty decent. Click on the Palette editor tab
and have a look--it's the one with the palette-ish looking icon. Clicking
on colors in here will immediately change the default foreground color.</para>

<para>That's all great, but we still haven't changed the color of the
circle. There are two ways to do this. The first way is that you select
the circle layer you want to modify, goto the params tab and double click
on the color parameter--a color selector dialog shows up and you just
tweak away. But lets say you already got the color you wanted selected as
the default foreground color. Easy. Just click on the "Fill tool" from the
toolbox, and then click on the circle in the canvas window. Boom. Circle
changes color. This works with more than just circles, but we'll get to
that in a sec.</para>

<para>Try playing around with the circles for a bit. Muck around with the
parameters, and see what happens. To get you started, play around with
feather a bit.  
</para> 
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