Drawing and pass-through¶
Am_sketch is a transparent layer over every window. At any moment it is in one of two modes, and the mode decides where your mouse clicks go.
The two modes¶
Drawing mode — the pen draws. A left-button drag over any window becomes a stroke (or a shape, a selection, a text box — whatever tool is picked), and the program underneath never sees the click.
Pass-through mode — the clicks go through. Everything you drew stays on screen, but every click, scroll and drag reaches the program underneath: change the slide, scroll the page, press a button.
| Switch | How |
|---|---|
| Toggle between the two | Ctrl+Shift+C, or Ctrl+Alt+P |
| Draw | Click any tool on the ring — picking a tool always switches drawing on |
| Pass through | Click the active tool's slot again |
| Either, by name | The tray menu: Drawing mode / Pass-through mode |
A short message near the bottom right says which mode you are in.
A rhythm that works in class
Draw your point, press Ctrl+Shift+C to move to the next slide, press it again to draw on that one. Clear between slides with Ctrl+Shift+X.
What is always clickable¶
Am_sketch's own windows — the ring, the properties panels, the Help, Preferences and Layers windows, the colour picker — take your clicks in either mode.
In drawing mode, only the left button is held back from other programs. Right and middle clicks reach the overlay, where some tools use them (a middle-drag changes the brush size, for instance).
Hide and show¶
Ctrl+Shift+D — Show / hide overlay — hides everything you drew in one go, and the overlay stops listening to the mouse and keyboard altogether. The ring stays where it is. Press it again and it all comes back exactly as it was.
Ctrl+Shift+H — Hide trace paper — hides the drawing surface on the screens Am_sketch works on: the trace paper and the drawings on it. Press it again to show them.
Which screens¶
Am_sketch covers every monitor by default. In Preferences → General → Screens you can untick a monitor: on that one Am_sketch behaves as if it were not running — clicks, the pen and the keyboard go straight to your programs, and nothing is drawn there. At least one monitor always stays on.
Plugging a monitor in or out, or changing a resolution, is picked up while Am_sketch runs.
The tray menu¶
Right-click the Am_sketch icon in the system tray:
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Drawing mode (Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Alt+P) | Switch to drawing mode |
| Pass-through mode | Switch to pass-through mode |
| Help | Open the Help window |
| Check for updates... | Open Help on its update page and check now |
| Hide overlay (Ctrl+Shift+D) | Hide or show everything you drew |
| Quit | Close Am_sketch |
Closing the Help, Preferences or Layers window never quits Am_sketch; only Quit here, or the Close slot on the ring, does.
The temporary brush and eraser¶
From any tool — even in pass-through mode — hold Win+Ctrl+Shift and:
- drag with the left button for a quick brush stroke,
- drag with the right button to erase.
Let go and you are back in the tool and mode you were in.