User Interface

Upon startup of ZooUI, the user is presented with the home scene:

ZooUI logo

The menus provide the following actions:

File menu:

  • New Tab (Ctrl+T) Open a new tab with a fresh scene

  • Close Tab (Ctrl+W) Close the current tab (does not close the last tab)

  • New Scene (Ctrl+N) Create a blank scene in the current tab

  • Open Scene (Ctrl+O) Open a saved scene in the current tab

  • Import Scene (Ctrl+I) Import objects from a saved scene into the current scene

  • Open Home Scene (Ctrl+Home) Return to the home scene

  • Save Scene (Ctrl+S) Save the current scene

  • Save Screenshot (Ctrl+H) Export the current viewport to an image

  • Open Local Media (Ctrl+L) Open media from a local file

  • Open new String (Ctrl+U) Opens an input window that allows you to insert text strings to be rendered on the interface. Newlines are considered making it possible to write paragraphs

  • Open new SVG (Ctrl+G) Open the SVG picker to insert an SVG shape

  • Open Media Directory (Ctrl+D) Open the media contained in a directory, and arrange it into a grid

  • Quit (Ctrl+Q) Exit the application

View menu:

  • Set Framerate Set the rendering framerate: 10 FPS, 20 FPS, 30 FPS, or 40 FPS

  • Adjust Sensitivity Set the movement/zoom sensitivity

  • Fullscreen (Ctrl+F) Toggle fullscreen mode

  • Render Order: Smaller on Top (Ctrl+R) Toggle whether smaller objects render above larger ones. When checked (default), smaller objects appear on top; when unchecked, larger objects render above smaller ones.

Settings menu:

  • Autosave Settings Configure autosave behavior including: - Enable/disable autosave (enabled by default) - Set autosave interval (1-1440 minutes) - Set maximum backups to keep per scene (1-1000) - Set backup directory expiration after inactivity (1-365 days) - Each scene gets its own backup directory: ~/.local/share/zooui/backups/<scene>_<hash>/ - Backup naming: yy_mm_dd_hh_mm_filename_hash.pzs - Oldest backups are automatically deleted when limit is reached - Inactive scene directories are deleted after expiration period - Autosave is active from application start

  • Zoom Settings Configure zoom level limits including: - Set minimum zoom level (default: -10) - Set maximum zoom level (default: +12) - Limits prevent crashes when inserting StringMediaObjects at extreme zoom levels - If minimum is set greater than maximum, values are automatically swapped - Default limits (-10 to +12) ensure font sizes remain ≥1 point for StringMediaObjects

Actions menu:

  • Copy SVG (Ctrl+C) Copy the currently selected SVG object to the clipboard

  • Paste SVG (Ctrl+V) Paste the copied SVG at the current mouse position (or center of the viewport)

  • Set Home Point (Ctrl+Alt+H) Save the current view position and zoom level as a home point. A cyan crosshair pulse appears at the viewport center as visual confirmation. The home point is per-tab and is cleared when a new scene is loaded.

  • Go to Home Point (Ctrl+J) Restore the view to the saved home point position and zoom level. Has no effect if no home point has been set.

  • OCR Screenshot (Ctrl+Alt+O) Enter OCR selection mode to extract text from the scene. Drag-select an area with the mouse; the selected region is captured and processed through Tesseract OCR. The detected text appears in a new String input dialog. Press Escape to cancel selection mode. Requires tesseract-ocr to be installed on the system.

Help menu:

  • About Show ZooUI copyright information

  • About Qt Show Qt about dialog

Mouse/Keyboard actions:

  • Left-click Select the topmost media under the cursor (by default, smaller objects appear on top of larger ones; this can be toggled via View → Render Order: Smaller on Top):

    • if there is no media under the cursor then the currently selected media will be deselected

    • if the Shift key is currently being held then no change will be made to the current selection

  • Shift+Left-click Add an object to the current multi-selection without deselecting previously selected objects. Clicking a selected object again with Shift held allows dragging all selected objects together.

  • Right-click Open a context dialog for the media object under the cursor:

    • StringMediaObject: Opens the Modify String dialog allowing you to edit the text content and change the color of the string

    • TiledMediaObject: Opens the Tiled Media Object Options dialog with image manipulation tools:

      • Rotate Left/Right: Rotate the image by 90° increments

      • Invert Colors: Apply color inversion effect

      • Black and White: Convert the image to grayscale

      Changes are previewed in the dialog and applied when clicking Apply.

    • SVGMediaObject: Opens the Modify SVG dialog allowing you to edit the SVG source or change to a different SVG shape

  • Click`n’drag Select and move the topmost media under the cursor

    • by default smaller objects are rendered above larger ones and will be selected first; this can be toggled via the View menu

    • if there is no media under the cursor then the currently selected media will be deselected and the entire scene will be moved

    • if the Shift key is currently being held then no change will be made to the current selection and the entire scene will be moved

  • Control+Left-click drag Draw a selection rectangle to select multiple media objects:

    • Hold the Control key

    • Click and drag with left mouse button to draw a green rectangle

    • Release to select all objects within the rectangle

    • Visual feedback: A green rectangle is drawn during the drag operation

    • Multiple selection: All selected objects are highlighted with green borders

    • Moving multiple objects: After rectangle selection, drag any selected object to move all selected objects together

    • Clicking between selected objects maintains the selection for dragging

  • Esc Deselect the currently selected media

  • Ctrl+Alt+O Enter OCR screenshot selection mode. The cursor changes to a crosshair. Click and drag to select a rectangular region. Upon release, the captured area is processed through Tesseract OCR and the extracted text is pre-filled into a new String input dialog. Press Escape to cancel the mode without capturing.

  • PgUp/PgDn or Scrollwheel Zoom the currently selected media

    • if there is no currently selected media, or if the Shift key is currently being held, then the entire scene will be zoomed

    • if the Alt key is currently being held, then the zoom amount will reduced allowing for finer control

    • Note: the point under the cursor will maintain its position on the screen

  • Arrow keys Move the currently selected media in the specified direction

    • if there is no currently selected media, or if the Shift key is currently being held, then the entire scene will be moved

    • if the Alt key is currently being held, then the move amount will reduced allowing for finer control

  • Space bar Move the point under the cursor to the centre of the screen

    • holding the Space bar allows panning by moving the cursor around the centre of the viewport

  • Del Delete the currently selected media

  • Ctrl+C Copy the currently selected SVG object to the clipboard

  • Ctrl+V Paste the clipboard content as an SVG object at the current mouse position (or center of the viewport)

  • Ctrl+Enter When inside an input dialog (new string, modify string, SVG picker, or modify SVG), accepts the dialog — equivalent to clicking the OK button.

  • Home Jump to the saved home point, restoring the saved view position and zoom level. Has no effect if no home point has been set.

  • Shift+Home Save the current view position and zoom level as the

    home point. A cyan crosshair pulse is displayed at the viewport center to confirm the action. The home point is cleared when a new scene is loaded.

  • Ctrl+↑ Within a PDF document, navigate to the previous page. The bottom-right corner of the new page aligns with the bottom-right of the viewport.

  • Ctrl+↓ Within a PDF document, navigate to the next page. The top-left corner of the new page aligns with the top-left of the viewport, letting you continue reading from the top.

  • Ctrl+Alt+G Within a PDF document, open a Go to Page dialog allowing you to jump directly to a specific page number.

Note

The Home Point feature (saving/restoring the current view) is distinct from the Open Home Scene Ctrl+Home menu item, which loads the default zooui/data/home.pzs scene file.

  • Scrollwheel + modifiers on an SVG shape Elongate (resize) the selected SVG object. Only works when a single SVG object is selected:

    • Ctrl + Scrollwheel on squares/circles/triangles: proportional scaling (both axes equally); on arrows/sticks: elongate length

    • Shift + Scrollwheel on squares/circles/triangles: scale X-axis only

    • Ctrl+Shift + Scrollwheel on squares/circles/triangles: scale Y-axis only