Printoxx User Guide v.2.8
Printoxx
is a free open source Linux program for making a photo montage (arrangement
of images and text), which may be printed or saved as an image.
License and Warranty
Printoxx
is licensed under the GNU General Public License V3 (Free Software
Foundation). Printoxx is not warranted for any purpose, but if you find
a
bug, I will try to fix it.
Origin and Contact
Printoxx originates
from the author's web site at http://kornelix.squarespace.com/printoxx
Other web sites may
offer it for download. Modifications may have been made.
If you have questions,
suggestions, or a bug to report, contact kornelix@yahoo.de
Using
printoxx
Start printoxx from the menu or with the command:
printoxx.
The window will show a blank layout. Use the [print]
button
to select the dimensions for the printed output. These can be a
standard paper format (letter, A4, etc.) or a custom format where you
supply the print width and height in centimeters. Select the
orientation, portrait or landscape. Press the [OK] button when done,
and the window layout will resize to match the chosen format
width/height
ratio. Use the button [+image]
to choose
images files to place on
the layout. In the file selection dialog, click an image file,
then click somewhere on the layout. The image is depositied on the
layout. You can also drag and drop an image from the file selection
dialog or from an open Nautilus browser. Drag the image to the desired
position in the layout. Drag any corner of the
image to make it bigger or smaller. To rotate the image,
use the [rotate] button. To add a simple frame around the image, use
the [frame] button.

Use the button [+text] to add blocks of text to the layout. Enter
text, then click on an empty spot on the layout. The text is deposited
on the
layout. Drag the text into final position. Drag from either end of the
text to
change its size. Move the text and images around and change their sizes
as desired. If "transparent" is selected when the text is deposited,
the text background will be transparent (for writing on top of an
image). Blocks of text may also be dragged into the layout from
applications that support this functionality (gedit, evince). Text may
also be rotated the same way as an image.

Use the toolbar [pack]
button to pack and align the images. Images that are nearly packed
together (with only small gaps or overlaps) are shifted to eliminate
the gaps and overlaps. Where image corners almost come together, the
images are shifted or resized into alignment. This cannot be generally
perfect unless the images have the same dimensions in the layout, but
straight lines of images can be achieved in most cases, without the
need for fine mouse tweaking. [pack] can be used
repeatedly if the initial adjustments cause additional adjustments to
be needed.
Use the toolbar [print] button
to re-enter the print dialog, and choose [print] to print the completed
layout. The printed image will be scaled to fit within the chosen
format, and the image width/height ratio will be preserved. If a custom
format is used, the width and height should be within the physical
paper width and
height. Margins are variable and
depend on the printer. You may be able to reduce the margins by using a
custom format with dimensions greater than the paper size.
Use the [save]
button to save the layout as an image file (jpeg). Use the [trim] button to reduce the layout to fit the images.
The
button [index] shows a thumbnail index window with images in the
current directory. You can click on a thumbnail image and then click on
the layout window to add the image to the layout. The
navigation buttons in the thumbnail window can be used to move
around in your image library.
Further
Tips
1. Later images can overlap those added earlier. Click on an image to bring it to the top.
2. Text strings are actually images of text, and are handled the
same as images.
3. An image or text can
be deleted by right-clicking on it.
4. The [rotate] button applies to the last image or text
inserted, clicked, or moved.
5. The dialogs for
adding images and text may be used in parallel.
Translations
See the text file TRANSLATIONS ( /usr/local/share/doc/printoxx/ ) for
guidance on how to create or modify a translation.