You can insert images into your IRIS Showcase documents. They must be in the standard Silicon Graphics' image format. Using snapshot and scanning in images are examples of ways to produce acceptable file types.

You can insert ASCII or RTF text files into your IRIS Showcase documents.

RTF stands for Rich Text Format. Many word processors let you save a text file as RTF. Whereas ASCII text is imported without any formatting, RTF carries over certain formatting characteristics. For example, text that was bold remains bold. If IRIS Showcase doesn't support the font used in the RTF file, it substitutes the Times font.

IRIS Showcase allows you to import 3D models in the IRIS Inventor file format and in AutoCAD's DXF format. For information on the IRIS Inventor file format, see the IRIS Inventor Programming Guide. For information on the DXF format, see the AUTOCAD Reference Manual, published by Autodesk, Inc.

You can insert AIFF files into IRIS Showcase documents. AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format. Your IRIX operating system software includes a program called Sound Filer. Use this if you need to convert an audio file into the AIFF format. See the IRIS Utilities Guide for information on using Sound Filer.

PICT is a drawing format used by some personal computers. IRIS Showcase lets you import them by choosing “PICT...” from the Insert rollover menu on the File menu.

Many applications save their output as EPS, which stands for Encapsulated PostScript. IRIS Showcase allows you to import these files, thereby making them a part of your document.

You can save text in IRIS Showcase as an ASCII file. Select or edit the Text object whose contents you'd like to save as ASCII, then choose “...As Text File” from the Save As rollover menu. If you select a Text object, all of the text in that block is saved in an ASCII text file. If you edit a Text object, the selected characters are saved. If you haven't selected any characters, IRIS Showcase saves all of the text in that block.

You can save a file as PostScript if you want to print it using lp (or lpr) or view the contents using the PostScript viewer. To do so, choose “...As PostScript” from the Save As rollover menu.

EPS stands for Encapsulated PostScript. You can save a page or selected objects in an IRIS Showcase file as an EPS file, then bring it into any other program that accepts EPS. To do so, choose “...As EPS” from the Save As rollover menu.

You can save 3D models as in the Inventor file format so that you can use them in other applications that support Inventor models. Select or edit the 3D container that holds the models you want to save. If you select a 3D container, the entire scene is saved; if you edit a 3D container, the selected models are saved. If you haven't selected any models, IRIS Showcase saves the entire scene.

You can save IRIS Showcase files as mail files. This allows you to mail them to others. To do so, choose “...As Mailable File” from the Save As rollover menu. The file becomes uuencoded.

You can create templates in IRIS Showcase. Once you're finished laying out the template, choose “...As Template File” from the Save As rollover menu. See Chapter 4 for details on creating a template.