Halloween themed border

Tim Doty wrote:
> There's no extraction or anything, its just the border file which is peculiar
> to PgS. See http://www.pagestream.org/showdocs.php?id=832 and
> http://www.pagestream.org/showdocs.php?id=1221 for more information.

Deron's explanation of saving borders says they get added to
'borders.library', which doesn't square with this thread at all. 8-(

Mind you, I'm attempting to make sense of borders *before* floundering
around in actual use of them with PgS.
--
Mike Wilson

Messages in this topic (0) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

On Thursday 04 October 2007, Mike Wilson wrote:
> Tim Doty wrote:
> > There's no extraction or anything, its just the border file which is
> > peculiar to PgS. See http://www.pagestream.org/showdocs.php?id=832 and
> > http://www.pagestream.org/showdocs.php?id=1221 for more information.
>
> Deron's explanation of saving borders says they get added to
> 'borders.library', which doesn't square with this thread at all. 8-(

When you save a border it gets added to SoftLogik/Engines/Borders.library --
however this file does not normally exist. Border distributed with PageStream
are in SoftLogik/Engines/Borders/ -- a directory. Each border file can hold
one or more borders and in fact those distributed with PageStream hold
several borders in one file.

After saving a new border I rename the resulting Borders.library file to
something more descriptive of what the border is.

As a complication, when you use the command "EXTENSION SAVEBORDERS" it will
save out every library known to PageStream into the Borders.library file. I'm
sure this was to simplify matters for Deron when he constructed the original
border sets. However, it also means that it can be pain to create a new
border separate from all of the others. One of the things my script does is
delete (from memory) all other borders so that it can be isolated. Mistakes
still happen, though, and it took a couple of tries to get the single border
file for all four variations without duplicate names appearing.

> Mind you, I'm attempting to make sense of borders *before* floundering
> around in actual use of them with PgS.

The borders as an object is fairly simple: you draw the object to the size you
want, set the "style" (select a border), set the border width, and maybe
change the colors. If it is a design element of use to you in a particular
case it just makes things simpler for you as a user.

You can do pretty much the same thing as the border command with Transform,
Duplicate and Distribute. For example, to create (without using a border) a
border of 1/4" squares draw a 1/4" square. Place it where you want the upper
left corner of the border to be. With it selected use menu Object/Transform
to replicate it to the right (offset horizontal 1/2", offset vertical 0") 8
times (or however many it takes to get the width you want). Do the same, but
with the left and right corners selected and using a vertical offset of 1/2"
and a horizontal offset of 0". Now you have the top and sides. You could
duplicate the top row of squares to the bottom, transform the lower left
corner across to the right or whatever. You now have a "border" of spaced
squares forming a rectangular outline.

What using a border gets you is not having to deal with calculating how many
squares (or whatever graphic you are using) is required to fill the length of
a side. It can also stretch pieces and use other techniques to make it fit
the requested space. If you later decide to use a different style (border)
all you have to do is change the border selection, PgS takes care of the
rest.

Borders are easier on the memory than trying to build the same effect
manually, but borders are limited to vector graphics and two colors.

Obviously I think borders are pretty cool though in fact I don't use them very
often. When I do use them they are *very* handy. For all the pain it takes to
get a complicated border to work right that is work only done one time. I
re-used a border recently -- originally it was on a US Letter page, portrait.
In the new use it is still US Letter, but landscape instead and with
different page margins. Although the border in question has some minor flaws
I seriously doubt anyone other than myself would see them.

And I'm working to improve the CreateBorder.py script. Specifically, it
supports automatically moving the pieces for adding them to the border and I
am extending that to work for paths which do not occupy the entire space
allotted them, and even work for paths which need to mesh with other pieces
but extend *past* the space allotted them on other sides. (If that doesn't
make sense, don't worry, it only matters if you are creating a border. But
trust me, the automove feature takes some significant pain out of border
creation.)

Tim Doty

Messages in this topic (0) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

Tim Doty wrote:

[snip]

Many thanks for that detailed reply. Lots of other readers got
enlightenment at the same time, I trust.
--
Mike Wilson

Messages in this topic (0) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

Mike Wilson wrote:
> Tim Doty wrote:
>
>>; There's no extraction or anything, its just the border file which is peculiar
>>; to PgS. See http://www.pagestream.org/showdocs.php?id=832 and
>>; http://www.pagestream.org/showdocs.php?id=1221 for more information.
>>
>
> Deron's explanation of saving borders says they get added to
> 'borders.library', which doesn't square with this thread at all. 8-(
>
> Mind you, I'm attempting to make sense of borders *before* floundering
> around in actual use of them with PgS.
>; --
> Mike Wilson
>
Hi Mike,

Let me clarify this. The borders extension behaviour:

When PageStream is run the extension will scan all files in the borders
folder and add all the borders in them them to the internal list. When
you are creating a border it adds it to the internal list. When you save
the borders, it just dumps the internal list to a single file.

So if you want to create a border the best plan of action is to remove
all files in the borders folder before running PageStream, add your
borders, and save them out. Then rename the file to whatever you want.
Then move the moved files back into the border folder.

Now, if you are not creating borders, you have no reason to save borders
(and you can't do that except by a script). 99.999% of users will never
save a border.

So are we square again?

Deron

--
Deron Kazmaier - support%40pagestream.org">supportpagestream.org
Grasshopper LLC Publishing - http://www.pagestream.org
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows

Messages in this topic (0) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

On Thursday 04 October 2007, Uffe Holst wrote:
[snip]
>; Pumpkins are probably more halloween than skulls.

Alright then, here you go:
http://www.rollanet.org/~drakki/PgS/Halloween%20Pumpkin%20Bundle

And don't ask what it took to get the Halloween Pumpkin Tone border...
(grumble, grumble, mumble, mumble)

Tim Doty

Messages in this topic (0) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

On Thursday 04 October 2007, PageStream Support wrote:
[snip]
>; So if you want to create a border the best plan of action is to remove
> all files in the borders folder before running PageStream, add your
>; borders, and save them out.

or even better, use my script Then there's no need to be moving borders
around just to create a new one.

I know, I know, you were talking to someone else. Pfft! (Now I just need to
make "automove" work for centered and edge-aligned pieces)

Tim Doty

Messages in this topic (0) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.