System Preferences

These settings correlate Sketchpad’s behavior with your particular computer, allow you to edit Sketchpad’s color menu, and allow you to change all preferences back to their original values.

To access the Advanced Preferences, hold down the Shift key before activating the Edit menu.

Ideal Normal Speed: This value sets the approximate speed represented by a value of 1.0 in the Motion Controller, or “normal” speed for a Movement button. You should modify the speed only if your computer is consistently too fast or too slow for your tastes when animating objects at a speed of 1.0 in the Motion Controller.

This value is "ideal" in the sense that Sketchpad attempts to reach it. If you're animating a particularly complex sketch or have a slower computer, animations may be slower than this.

Screen Resolution: This value sets the correspondence between the pixels on your computer screen and real-world length units. The normal value is 96 pixels/inch for Windows computers and 72 pixels/inch for Macintosh. You should modify this value only if it’s absolutely necessary that on-screen distances match Sketchpad’s measured distances. Changing this value may result in discrepancies when you paste Sketchpad pictures into other applications, which assume your screen resolution is fixed at 96 or 72 pixels/inch.

Math Symbol Font: Sketchpad needs a symbol font so that it can display certain mathematical symbols such as p and q. These symbols are normally found in the font called Symbol. If the Symbol font is not present on your computer, you can enter the name of a different font that contains the required symbols. If the Symbol font is missing or the alternative font you specify doesn’t contain the needed symbols, Sketchpad won’t be able to display those symbols correctly.

The Symbol font comes pre-installed on your computer.

Anti-Aliased Graphics: (This option is available only on newer computers). This setting determines the quality of the graphics displayed in your sketches. Sketchpad’s normal graphics quality balances the need for both mathematical accuracy and drawing speed. On newer computers, however, you may choose high-quality anti-aliased graphics, which display smoother lines and curves but take considerably longer to produce. For simple drawings or on very fast computers, the higher quality is usually worth the speed tradeoff. But on more complicated sketches or on slower computers, anti-aliased graphics can cause Sketchpad to feel less responsive, especially when you are animating or dragging objects. Depending on your visual tastes and the speed of your computer, therefore, you can choose any of three settings for anti-aliased graphics: Never, When Speed Permits, or Always. Choose Never for fastest performance. Choose Always for highest-quality, at the expense of speed. Choose When Speed Permits to have Sketchpad switch back and forth between anti-aliased and normal graphics depending on the complexity of the sketch and on your computer’s speed.

On Macintosh computers, anti-aliased graphics are available only with OS X. When Sketchpad is installed normally on a Windows computer, anti-aliased graphics are available on Windows XP, 2000, 98, and Me, but not on Windows 95 or NT4.

Edit Color Menu: This button displays either the Macintosh Color Picker or the Windows Edit Color Menu dialog box. These dialog boxes allow you to change the colors in the Color menu. You can use this feature to add your favorite shades of magenta, teal, or chartreuse. If you create a sketch with a dark or black background, you may want to add white to the Color menu.

Reset All Preferences: This button allows you to reset all Sketchpad preferences to their original values. Use it with care: you’ll lose all the preferences values you’ve set in any other way.