- Start Pizzicato and select the palette named Test
palette in the Tools menu, which we created
in the previous lesson:

- With the right mouse button, click inside the palette and
select the New tool
item. The following
dialog box appears:

When you create a new symbol, Pizzicato automatically creates
an identifier for it. It is a number used to refer to the symbol
in the Pizzicato symbol library. The symbols created by the user
have a number between 4000 and 5999. The original provided
symbols have a number between 2000 and 2999. The internal tools
of Pizzicato have a number between 1 and 999.
As we explained when we studied the various tools, a shortcut
can be used to activate a tool or a symbol on a palette. It is
here that these shortcuts can be defined. Each tool or symbol may
contain one or two shortcuts. The two text boxes entitled Shortcut
1 and Shortcut 2 are used to specify the ASCII code (it is a common language for the coding of
characters) of the computer keyboard key. Here is a table of the
codes with the corresponding characters you can use in these text
boxes:
32 |
Space |
48 |
0 |
64 |
@ |
80 |
P |
96 |
' |
112 |
p |
33 |
! |
49 |
1 |
65 |
A |
81 |
Q |
97 |
a |
113 |
q |
34 |
" |
50 |
2 |
66 |
B |
82 |
R |
98 |
b |
114 |
r |
35 |
# |
51 |
3 |
67 |
C |
83 |
S |
99 |
c |
115 |
s |
36 |
$ |
52 |
4 |
68 |
D |
84 |
T |
100 |
d |
116 |
t |
37 |
% |
53 |
5 |
69 |
E |
85 |
U |
101 |
e |
117 |
u |
38 |
& |
54 |
6 |
70 |
F |
86 |
V |
102 |
f |
118 |
v |
39 |
' |
55 |
7 |
71 |
G |
87 |
W |
103 |
g |
119 |
w |
40 |
( |
56 |
8 |
72 |
H |
88 |
X |
104 |
h |
120 |
x |
41 |
) |
57 |
9 |
73 |
I |
89 |
Y |
105 |
i |
121 |
y |
42 |
* |
58 |
: |
74 |
J |
90 |
Z |
106 |
j |
122 |
z |
43 |
+ |
59 |
; |
75 |
K |
91 |
[ |
107 |
k |
123 |
{ |
44 |
, |
60 |
< |
76 |
L |
92 |
\ |
108 |
l |
124 |
| |
45 |
- |
61 |
= |
77 |
M |
93 |
] |
109 |
m |
125 |
} |
46 |
. |
62 |
> |
78 |
N |
94 |
^ |
110 |
n |
126 |
~ |
47 |
/ |
63 |
? |
79 |
O |
95 |
_ |
111 |
o |
|
|
By placing for example the number
"78" in one of the text boxes, your tool will be
activated using the capital letter N.
For keyboards with the 12 function keys, the
following codes are also valid, according to the key pressed,
with the Control key, the SHIFT key or both:
Key alone |
+ Control |
+ SHIFT |
+ Control + SHIFT |
241 |
F1 |
225 |
F1 |
209 |
F1 |
193 |
F1 |
242 |
F2 |
226 |
F2 |
210 |
F2 |
194 |
F2 |
243 |
F3 |
227 |
F3 |
211 |
F3 |
195 |
F3 |
244 |
F4 |
228 |
F4 |
212 |
F4 |
196 |
F4 |
245 |
F5 |
229 |
F5 |
213 |
F5 |
197 |
F5 |
246 |
F6 |
230 |
F6 |
214 |
F6 |
198 |
F6 |
247 |
F7 |
231 |
F7 |
215 |
F7 |
199 |
F7 |
248 |
F8 |
232 |
F8 |
216 |
F8 |
200 |
F8 |
249 |
F9 |
233 |
F9 |
217 |
F9 |
201 |
F9 |
250 |
F10 |
234 |
F10 |
218 |
F10 |
202 |
F10 |
251 |
F11 |
235 |
F11 |
219 |
F11 |
203 |
F11 |
252 |
F12 |
236 |
F12 |
220 |
F12 |
204 |
F12 |
By placing the code "215", you need
to hold the SHIFT key and to press on the keyboard F7 key to
activate the shortcut. Take care that the F10 key is not always
available (Windows uses it as a system key to access menus) and
will not necessarily work correctly as a shortcut.
- In the first text box, fill in the code
"122", which corresponds to lower case letter
"z". It will be the shortcut of our Symbol
1.
The menu located just below is entitled Shortcut
working method. It is used to specify how shortcuts will
influence the tool or the symbol. Four modes are available:
- Disabled: it is the default
choice. The shortcuts are disabled and will influence
neither the palettes nor the score.
- Activate palette: in this case,
the use of the shortcut will activate the tool or the
symbol in its palette. It is as if the user had clicked
to select the tool.
- Acts without palette activation:
the tool or the symbol is not selected on the palette but
the shortcut acts directly in the score, at the location
of the mouse cursor.
- Act and activate palette: the
tool or the symbol is selected on the palette and the
shortcut acts directly in the score, at the location of
the mouse cursor.
Select the Activate palette item.
The Icon type menu selects or
create the drawing that will represent the tool or the symbol on
the palette. For a graphic symbol, the drawing in the palette is
not necessarily the same as the one that will appear on the
score. In general it is the same but when the score symbol is
rather large, it is possible to represent it in a simplified form
on the palette. This menu selects the drawing which will
represent the symbol on the palette. Three choices are available:
- Implicit: for a Pizzicato basic
tool, the internal icon of Pizzicato is used. For a
graphic symbol, this choice indicates that the symbol
will be represented by the same drawing than on the
score.
- Bitmap: allows to draw the icon
dot per dot.
- Vectorial: allows to draw the
icon as a combination of forms, lines and texts.
Click OK. The palette becomes:

To call this dialog box again, click on the
tool (the selected tool in black here above) with the right mouse
button (Option-click on Mac), then select the Tool properties
item.
With this dialog box, you have access to all
shortcuts of the original tools and symbols. You can modify them
as you want but when you read a lesson, take it into account
because the manual is based on the standard shortcuts. Take care
not to modify the shortcuts of the notes and rests, because they
are subject of a special treatment in Pizzicato.
We will create a picture to represent this
symbol on the palette. In the Icon type menu, select the
Bitmap item. Call the graphic editor by clicking in the Edit...
button. Let us see now how to use it.
The screen displays this window:
A bitmap drawing is defined by the colour of each one of its
dots, laid out in lines and columns. The dimension of the icons
in our palette had been fixed at 20 x 40. We thus have a drawing
formed by 20 lines of 40 dots. The central grid represents this
drawing in zoom. The upper part contains two drawing tools and 16
colours. The selected tool is the cursor (top left corner).
Two colours can be activated among the 16, the drawing colour
and the background colour. A double square shows the selected
colors:

Initially, the drawing colour is black (internal square) and
the background colour is white (external square). By clicking in
one of the 16 colours, you modify the drawing colour and update
the internal square to show that it is active. By clicking on one
of the colours by holding down the SHIFT key, you select the
background colour.
When you click in one of the grid little squares, Pizzicato
colours this square with the drawing colour, but only if this
square does not contain this colour yet. With black as drawing
colour, click on several consecutive squares. They become black:

If you click in a square which has already the selected
drawing colour, the square is coloured with the background and
thus becomes white again in our case. You can then easily correct
the drawing.
Notice the small line that appears just to the right of the
colours palette. It is normal size picture. As the all grid was
white, it was impossible to see it until now.
If you wish to colour several consecutive squares, it is not
necessary to click each time. You can click the first square,
hold down the mouse button and move the mouse on all the squares
you want. It is the same principle as a pencil. You press and you
drag it. When you want to stop the line, you simply release the
mouse. Do the following drawing by applying this principle:

On the right side of the colours, you can observe the drawing
in its real size:

Let us notice that when you make a line by clicking and
dragging, it is the first clicked square that determines the
colour used for the full line. If you click on white (or another
colour than the drawing colour), all the line will be coloured in
black (drawing colour). If you click on black (drawing colour),
all the line will be coloured in white (background colour).
A second tool is used to quickly fill a rectangle in the
drawing. Click on the tool:

Click in the red colour, then place the mouse cursor like
this:
Click and drag to the right and slightly down. A rectangle is
coloured by following your movement. Release the mouse to have
the following rectangle:

Close this window. You can also close it using the return key (on
Mac, this window has no closing box, use the return key to close
it). Click OK and use the ESC key to disable
the symbol. The test palette now contains our symbol, represented
by the drawing we just made:

Moreover, by typing lower case letter "z", this
symbol is selected on the palette.