Merge Geometry. Excellon coordinate parse fix. New GCode generation algorithm. Improved status bar.

manual/editor.rst

@@ -1,7 +1,130 @@
 Geometry Editor
 ===============
 
+Introduction
+------------
+
 The Geometry Editor is a drawing CAD that allows you to edit
 FlatCAM Geometry Objects or create new ones from scratch. This
 provides the ultimate flexibility by letting you specify precisely
-and arbitrarily what you want your CNC router to do.
+and arbitrarily what you want your CNC router to do.
+
+Creating New Geometry Objects
+-----------------------------
+
+To create a blank Geometry Object, simply click on the menu item
+**Edit→New Geometry Object** or click the **New Blank Geometry** button on
+the toolbar. A Geometry object with the name "New Geometry" will
+be added to your project list.
+
+.. image:: editor1.png
+   :align: center
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`new_geometry`
+
+
+Editing Existing Geometry Objects
+---------------------------------
+
+To edit a Geometry Object, select it from the project list and
+click on the menu item **Edit→Edit Geometry** or on the **Edit Geometry**
+toolbar button.
+
+This will make a copy of the selected object in the editor and
+the editor toolbar buttons will become active.
+
+Changes made to the geometry in the editor will not affect the
+Geometry Object until the **Edit->Update Geometry** button or
+**Update Geometry** toolbar button is clicked.
+This replaces the geometry in the currently selected Geometry
+Object (which can be different from which the editor copied its
+contents originally) with the geometry in the editor.
+
+Selecting Shapes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+When the **Selection Tool** is active in the toolbar (Hit ``Esc``), clicking on the
+plot will select the nearest shape. If one shape is inside the other,
+you might need to move the outer one to get to the inner one. This
+behavior might be improved in the future.
+
+Holding the ``Control`` key while clicking will add the nearest shape
+to the set of selected objects.
+
+Creating Shapes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The shape creation tools in the editor are:
+
+* Circle
+* Rectangle
+* Polygon
+* Path
+
+.. image:: editor2.png
+   :align: center
+
+After clicking on the respective toolbar button, follow the instructions
+on the status bar.
+
+Shapes that do not require a fixed number of clicks to complete, like
+polygons and paths, are complete by hitting the ``Space`` key.
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   The FlatCAM Shell commands :ref:`add_circle`, :ref:`add_poly` and :ref:`add_rect`,
+   create shapes directly on a given Geometry Object.
+
+Union
+~~~~~
+
+Clicking on the **Union** tool after selecting two or more shapes
+will create a union. For closed shapes, their union is a polygon covering
+the area that all the selected shapes encompassed. Unions of disjoint shapes
+can still be created and is equivalent to grouping shapes.
+
+.. image:: editor_union.png
+   :align: center
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   The FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`geo_union` executes a union of
+   all geometry in a Geometry object.
+
+Moving and Copying
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The **Move** and **Copy** tools work on selected objects. As soon as the tool
+is selected (On the toolbar or the ``m`` and ``c`` keys) the reference point
+is set at the mouse pointer location. Clicking on the plot sets the target
+location and finalizes the operation. An outline of the shapes is shown
+while moving the mouse.
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   The FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`offset` will move (offset) all
+   the geometry in a Geometry Object. This can also be done in
+   the **Selected** panel for selected FlatCAM object.
+
+Cancelling an operation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Hitting the ``Esc`` key cancels whatever tool/operation is active and
+selects the **Selection Tool**.
+
+Deleting selected shapes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Selections are deleted by hitting the ``-`` sign key.
+
+Other
+~~~~~
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   The FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`scale` changes the size of the
+   geometry in a Geometry Object.
+
+