Glossary
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## Glossary

3D container

  An object that holds the 3D models you create. A 3D container is similar to a block of text. A block of text is an object that contains words; a 3D container is an object that holds models. To create a 3D container, you click the Create icon in the 3D gizmo; then move the cursor into the drawing area.

active setting

  The setting used when you create a new object in IRIS Showcase. For example, when you select blude from the color palette and helvetica from the text gizmo, you change the active setting. Any graphics objects you draw are blue, any text you text is blue and helvetica.

active window

  The only window that recognizes input (activity) from the keyboard and mouse; only one window is active at a time. Make a window active by placing the cursor within its boundaries.

align

  This IRIS Showcase command lets you line up objects. You can align objects to each other, to a grid, or sequentially.

ASCII text

  An ASCII file contains text only. When you save a file as ASCII text, you save only the characters, not the size, the font, the style, the color, or the format.

aspect ratio

  The ratio of the width to the height of an image in IRIS Showcase. Maintaining the original aspect ratio of an image prevents it from being distorted.

bevel

  A line that determines the shape of certaim 3D models and gives it depth. The 3D gizmo contains a palette of bevels; these affect models you create using the beveled modeling tools.

bounding box

  A box that appears around selected 3D models. The box shows the three sides or faces of a model — the top and bottom, left or right, and front and back sides. You can use the sides of the box to move the model. You can use the green squares that surround the box to resize the model.

button

  On a mouse, a button is a switch that you press with a finger. In a window on your screen, a button is a labeled rectangle that you click using the cursor and mouse.

CD-ROM disk (CD)

  A flat metallic disk that contains information that you can view and copy onto your own hard disk; you cannot change or add to its information. CD-ROM is short for compact-disk: read-only memory.

choose

  To press the left mouse button to bring up a pop-up menu, move the cursor to highlight the command that you want to run, then release the button.

click

  To hold the mouse still, then press and immediately release a mouse button.

color palette

  The collection of colors that you can use in IRIS Showcase.

command line option

  Options that let you specify how you want to run an IRIX command. See the man page for a command for a list of the available command line options.

console

  The window that appears as a stowed icon each time you log in; IRIX reports all status and error messages to this window.

cross-section

  A shape that determines the profile, or side view of certain 3D models. Think of the cross-section as a cookie cutter or disk in a cookie press. The shape of the cookie varies depending on the shape of the cutter or disk through which the dough is pressed. For example, a line with a circular cross-section resembles a tube; a line with a star-shaped cross-section resembles a shooting star.

  The 3D gizmo contains a palette of cross-sections; they affect models you create using the tubular modeling tools.

cursor

  The small red arrow on the screen that echoes the movements of the mouse. It changes shape depending on its location on the screen.

cut

  To remove objects or text from the page and place them in a cut buffer.

DAT

  A magnetic tape from which you can read and to which you can copy audio and digital information.

default printer

  The printer to which the system directs a print request if you do not specify a printer when you make the request. You set the default printer using the Print Manager.

defaults

  A set of behaviors that Silicon Graphics, Inc. specifies on every system. You can later change these specifications, which range from how your screen looks to what type of drive you want to use to install new software. For example, when you run IRIS Showcase, the Master gizmo opens by default You can change the default settings using the Preferences gizmo.

delete

  To permanently remove an object from an IRIS Showcase page. You can't retrieve objects you delete by choosing .

disk use

  The percentage of space on your disk that contains information.

double-click

  To hold the mouse still, then press and release it twice, very rapidly. When you double-click an icon it opens into a window; when you double-click the Window menu button the window closes.

drag

  To press and hold down a mouse button, then move the mouse. This drags the cursor to move icons or to highlight menu items.

drawing area

  The area in IRIS Showcase in which you draw or place objects.

edit

  In IRIS Showcase you edit an object when you want to alter individual elements of the object – letters and words in a Text object, points in a Graphics object, and models in a 3D container.

EPS (Encapsulate PostScript)

  You can save your IRIS Showcase files as EPS and import them into other programs that accept EPS files.

field

  An area in a window in which you can type text.

file

  A container in which you store information such as text, programs, or images you create using an application.

form

  A window that contains buttons that you must click and/or editable fields that you must fill in.

gizmo

  IRIS Showcase groups sets of related commands and tools into gizmos. For example, all of the tools that let you check spelling and search for words are in the Spell/Search gizmo. You access gizmos from the Gizmos menu.

graphics object

  A Graphics object is an object you create using one of the 14 drawing tools available in IRIS Showcase.

grid

  Rows of uniformly spaced vertical and horizontal dots you see in the IRIS Showcase drawing area. You can align objects to a grid.

hyperscript

  Something that lets you create on-screen presentations such as educational tours, on-line help, and information kiosks. A hyperscript consists of one or many actions that are tied to an event — a page turn, the clicking of an object, or the opening or closing of a file. For example, you can create a hyperscript that does the following when a person clicks an object on the page: turns to the next page, plays an audio clip, and runs a demo program.

import

  To insert another file into IRIS Showcase. You can insert ASCII text files, images, 3D models, PICT files, and other IRIS Showcase files.

input focus

  Only one window at a time recognizes mouse movement and typing. The window that does is said to have the input focus.

IRIS

  Any graphics workstation manufactured by Silicon Graphics, Inc.

IRIX

  Silicon Graphics, Inc.'s version of the UNIX operating system. See also system software.

IRIX processes

  Tasks that IRIX carries out to keep the system running correctly or to complete an explicit command. Each process has a unique process ID number.

icon

  A small picture that represents a stowed or closed file, directory, application, or IRIX process.

justify

  To line up text with the left and right margins.

Kb (Kilobyte)

  A standard unit for measuring the information storage capacity of disks and memory (RAM and ROM); 1000 bytes make one Kilobyte.

launch

  To start up an application, often by double-clicking an icon.

leading

  The amount of space between lines of text or between paragraphs. Leading is measured in points. Each point is 1/72nd of an inch.

link

  A mechanism for associating one piece of information with another. In IRIS Showcase you can link an object to another object, page, program, or file.

lock

  An IRIS Showcase command that prevents you from accidentally moving or editing an object.

Mb (Megabyte)

  A standard unit for measuring the information storage capacity of disks and memory (RAM and ROM); 1000 Kilobytes make one Megabyte.

material

  A model's appearance is determined by the material from which it is made. The material determines the the color of the model, whether the model looks plastic or metallic, whether the model appears rough or smooth, and whether the model is opaque or transparent. The 3D gizmo contains several palettes of materials.

menu

  A list of operations or commands that the IRIS can carry out on various objects on the screen.

notifier

  A form that appears when the system requires you to confirm an operation that you just requested, or when an error occurs.

object

  Everything you place on the page in an IRIS Showcase file is considered an object – the graphics you draw, text you type, 3D containers you create, and images you import.

opacity

  An IRIS Showcase setting that determines whether objects are opaque or see-through.

open

  To double-click an icon, or to select an icon then choose “Open” from a menu in order to display a window that contains the information that the icon represents.

Print Manager

  A tool that you use to set up printer software and monitor jobs that you send to the printer. You access it through either the System toolchest or the System Manager, where it is called the Printer tool.

page notes

  Each page in an IRIS Showcase file can have a separate page of notes associated with it. You create page notes using the Page Notes command.

paragraph

  A paragraph is defined by a carriage return, so it can be one letter, one word, or several pages.

paragraph format

  The leading, tab settings, margin settings, and justification for a paragraph. In a IRIS Showcase file you control these with the Text Ruler gizmo.

pattern palette

  The collection of patterns that you can use in IRIS Showcase.

pin

  An IRIS Showcase command that prevents you from accidentally moving an object.

point

  A unit for measuring font size and leading. One point is 1/72nd of an inch.

pop

  Windows on the screen and objects in the IRIS Showcase drawing area can overlap each other. You can pop a window so it appears on top of other windows; you can pop an object so it appears on top of other objects.

push

  Windows on the screen and objects in the IRIS Showcase drawing area can overlap each other. You can push a window so it hides behind other windows; you can push an object so it appears below other objects.

queue

  A list of print jobs waiting to be printed on a particular printer.

quit

  To stop running an application.

scene

  The models inside of a 3D container.

select

  To position the cursor over an icon then click the (left) mouse button. Once an icon is selected, it is the object of whatever operation you select from a menu.

sequentially

  A method of aligning objects in IRIS Showcase that you lets create uniform spacing between the bottom of one object and the top of another or the right edge of one object and the left edge of another.

shell

  A window into which you type IRIX commands.

shell script

  A program that issues and interprets a sequence of IRIX commands.

shuffle

  To change the order in which windows are stacked on the screen.

Text object

  A Text object is a block of text you create using one of IRIS Showcase's text tools.

template

  A one-page file that gets inserted on each new page you add. Templates help regulate the format of your documents.

texture

  An image or pattern that you apply to the surface of a 3D model. The 3D gizmo contains a palette of sample textures. For example, you can apply a marble texture to a cylinder to make it resemble a column.

trackball

  A sphere that surrounds 3D models, allowing you to rotate them.

UNIX

  A multiuser, multi-tasking operating system from AT&T upon which Silicon Graphics Inc.'s IRIX operating system is based.

WorkSpace window

  The main window for working with icons and customizing your view of the file system. You place files and directories from all over the file system here for easy access; placing them in the WorkSpace does not change their actual location in the file system.

wildcard

  A character, usually an asterisk (*), that you use alone to specify all files and directories that are available, or with a few other letters to specify a group of files and directories that have a common element in their names. For example, to specify all files and directories that begin with the letters “ch”, you would type: `ch*`

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