Vector Graphics

Hello All,

Just wondering what everyone would recommend for a Vector Graphics package to use along with PageStream. I'm using V4 on the Amiga, but either PC or Amiga software is fine with me... just something that will work and show a preview image when inserting an object into PageStream document.

Thanks,
Gord Clink
APATCO Technologies
http://www.apatco.com

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.

The basic drawing tools provided within PGS itself are decent, but if
you're looking for something with a bit more power, then you might want
to check out Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org).

It's actually an SVG editing tool, but I've used it for some pretty
amazing results; while it probably doesn't have quite the raw power of
Adobe Illustrator, it certainly isn't bad, especially for the price
(free).

SVG is an acronym for Structured Vector Graphics, and is
developed by the W3C to serve as a standardized alternative to
Flash. Currently, only beta builds of Firefox seem to support it
natively; other browsers may require plug-ins.

I know Windows, Linux and Mac OS X versions are freely available, and it
would not surprise me if somebody out there has ported it to Amiga
platforms as well; sadly, my Amiga has been dead for a while, and I've
moved on to Linux--my A4000 is just too expensive, both in terms of
money and time, for me to resuscitate and keep running.

Linux builds are generally better obtained through your
distributor vendor, rather than direct from the project page.

Finally, while its native format is SVG, it does support a variety of
output formats, including ps, eps, Adobe Illustrator 8, and Open
Document Drawing (odg). However, I've never used any of these export
formats, so I don't know how *well* it supports them.

You may also want to take a look at Xara-LX, but it's got a steep
learning curve (*very* powerful, though). http://www.xaraxtreme.org/

This is the Open Source version of a formerly commercial
illustration package; if you can wrap your brain around how it
works, it can produce absolutely stunning artwork (I've studied
pictures that I would swear were photographs).

On Tue, 2008-06-03 at 16:59 -0500, Gord L. Clink wrote:
> Hello All,
>;
> Just wondering what everyone would recommend for a Vector Graphics
> package to use along with PageStream. I'm using V4 on the Amiga, but
> either PC or Amiga software is fine with me... just something that
>; will work and show a preview image when inserting an object into
>; PageStream document.
>
> Thanks,
> Gord Clink
> APATCO Technologies
> http://www.apatco.com
>
> IMPORTANT NOTICE
> This email (including any attachments) is confidential, may be legally
> privileged, and is for the intended recipient only. Access,
> disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on any of it by anyone
> else is prohibited and may be a criminal offence. Please delete if
> obtained in error and email confirmation to the sender.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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.

Hi Gord,

There are a number of ways to do this on Amiga and Windows. If you are
printing to a postscript printer, then something that will export EPS
files with a bitmap preview would be good. Best would be something that
exported in Adobe Illustrator format.

Depending on what Amiga OS version you have, you might look for an old
copy of a DR2D vector editor.

What drawing features are you looking for?

Deron

> Hello All,
>;
> Just wondering what everyone would recommend for a Vector Graphics package to use along with PageStream. I'm using V4 on the Amiga, but either PC or Amiga software is fine with me... just something that will work and show a preview image when inserting an object into PageStream document.
>
> Thanks,
> Gord Clink
> APATCO Technologies

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

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.

David Breakey wrote:
> The basic drawing tools provided within PGS itself are decent, but if
> you're looking for something with a bit more power, then you might want
>; to check out Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org).
>
>
> Finally, while its native format is SVG, it does support a variety of
> output formats, including ps, eps, Adobe Illustrator 8, and Open
>; Document Drawing (odg). However, I've never used any of these export
> formats, so I don't know how *well* it supports them.
>
>

That would be interesting to know how well it works with Adobe
Illustrator EPS output as PageStream does not (yet) support SVG.

Deron

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

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.

Hi Deron,

I'm just looking for something to convert some bitmap line drawings to vector so that they will print jagged free. I would also like them to have a preview image so I can see it in my pagestreem layout. I guess something with a trace feature would be nice, but if not, I can just trace the images manually.

Gord Clink
APATCO Technologies
http://www.apatco.com

IMPORTANT NOTICE
This email (including any attachments) is confidential, may be legally privileged, and is for the intended recipient only. Access, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on any of it by anyone else is prohibited and may be a criminal offence. Please delete if obtained in error and email confirmation to the sender.

________________________________

From: PageStreamSupport%40yahoogroups.com">PageStreamSupportyahoogroups.com on behalf of PageStream Support
Sent: Tue 6/3/2008 6:18 PM
To: PageStreamSupport%40yahoogroups.com">PageStreamSupportyahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PageStreamSupport] Vector Graphics

Hi Gord,

There are a number of ways to do this on Amiga and Windows. If you are
printing to a postscript printer, then something that will export EPS
files with a bitmap preview would be good. Best would be something that
exported in Adobe Illustrator format.

Depending on what Amiga OS version you have, you might look for an old
copy of a DR2D vector editor.

What drawing features are you looking for?

Deron

> Hello All,
>;
> Just wondering what everyone would recommend for a Vector Graphics package to use along with PageStream. I'm using V4 on the Amiga, but either PC or Amiga software is fine with me... just something that will work and show a preview image when inserting an object into PageStream document.
>
> Thanks,
> Gord Clink
> APATCO Technologies

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

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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.

PageStream Support wrote:
&gt; David Breakey wrote:
&gt;
>>; The basic drawing tools provided within PGS itself are decent, but if
>&gt; you're looking for something with a bit more power, then you might want
>;> to check out Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org).
&gt;>
&gt;>
>>; Finally, while its native format is SVG, it does support a variety of
>&gt; output formats, including ps, eps, Adobe Illustrator 8, and Open
>;> Document Drawing (odg). However, I've never used any of these export
&gt;> formats, so I don't know how *well* it supports them.
&gt;>
&gt;>
>>;
>
> That would be interesting to know how well it works with Adobe
> Illustrator EPS output as PageStream does not (yet) support SVG.
>
> Deron
&gt;
>

Yes, Inkscape can export as EPS, and CorelDraw can, most of the time,
import the EPS.
Maybe PGS can import the EPS also, but I only see a crossed frame.

So I normally export a SVG as a PDF in Inkscape (or CorelDraw) and
import this in PGS.
PGS won't import gradients inside the PDF documents.

CorelDraw can export also as AI (Adobe Illustrator), which can also be
imported in PGS.
The best one, AI or PDF, I use.

Theo

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.

Gord L. Clink wrote:
&gt; Hi Deron,
&gt;
> I'm just looking for something to convert some bitmap line drawings to vector so that they will print jagged free. I would also like them to have a preview image so I can see it in my pagestreem layout. I guess something with a trace feature would be nice, but if not, I can just trace the images manually.
>

You might like to look at this

http://www.groombridge34.de/sites/rschuetz/xtrace.html

&gt; Gord Clink
&gt; APATCO Technologies
> http://www.apatco.com
>
> IMPORTANT NOTICE
&gt; This email (including any attachments) is confidential, may be legally privileged, and is for the intended recipient only. Access, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on any of it by anyone else is prohibited and may be a criminal offence. Please delete if obtained in error and email confirmation to the sender.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: PageStreamSupport%40yahoogroups.com">PageStreamSupportyahoogroups.com on behalf of PageStream Support
> Sent: Tue 6/3/2008 6:18 PM
> To: PageStreamSupport%40yahoogroups.com">PageStreamSupportyahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [PageStreamSupport] Vector Graphics
>
>
>
> Hi Gord,
&gt;
> There are a number of ways to do this on Amiga and Windows. If you are
> printing to a postscript printer, then something that will export EPS
> files with a bitmap preview would be good. Best would be something that
> exported in Adobe Illustrator format.
>
> Depending on what Amiga OS version you have, you might look for an old
> copy of a DR2D vector editor.
>
> What drawing features are you looking for?
>;
> Deron
&gt;
>>; Hello All,
>;>
>;> Just wondering what everyone would recommend for a Vector Graphics package to use along with PageStream. I'm using V4 on the Amiga, but either PC or Amiga software is fine with me... just something that will work and show a preview image when inserting an object into PageStream document.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Gord Clink
&gt;> APATCO Technologies
>

Messages in this topic (7) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

Far and away the *easiest* such utility I've found is the one built into
Inkscape, and it seems to do a fairly decent job of converting a bitmap
into a vector format, so long as you don't then want to edit it ...

Sad to say, however, that as soon as you start trying to scale up the
resulting vector image, it starts getting a bit ... weird.

Stand-alone tools for bitmap-to-vector tracing include:

* http://potrace.sourceforge.net
* http://autotrace.sourceforge.net

I believe one of these two is the one embedded into Inkscape, but I'm
not certain of that.

Honestly, after a fair bit of experience with them, I'd say you might be
better off recreating your bitmap images from scratch, rather than
relying on tools like these (unless you're dealing with very simple
bitmaps, like corporate logos and so forth).

While they do a surprisingly good job when the results are kept at the
original scale, increasing the size of the resulting vector graphic
tends to reveal flaws.

Do *not* try to use these to convert photographic images; I've *never*
found the results to be usable, unless you *want* the abstract, pop-art
look.

All that said, I've never used any of the commercial equivalents, so I
don't know how the above compare.

Finally, a resource that might be useful is:

http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

I've recently found this to be *very* handy to identify a font, for
which I only have a bitmap copy.

On Tue, 2008-06-03 at 20:40 -0500, Gord L. Clink wrote:
&gt; Hi Deron,
&gt;
> I'm just looking for something to convert some bitmap line drawings to
> vector so that they will print jagged free. I would also like them to
> have a preview image so I can see it in my pagestreem layout. I guess
&gt; something with a trace feature would be nice, but if not, I can just
>; trace the images manually.
>
> Gord Clink
&gt; APATCO Technologies
> http://www.apatco.com
>
> IMPORTANT NOTICE
&gt; This email (including any attachments) is confidential, may be legally
> privileged, and is for the intended recipient only. Access,
> disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on any of it by anyone
&gt; else is prohibited and may be a criminal offence. Please delete if
> obtained in error and email confirmation to the sender.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: PageStreamSupport%40yahoogroups.com">PageStreamSupportyahoogroups.com on behalf of PageStream
> Support
> Sent: Tue 6/3/2008 6:18 PM
> To: PageStreamSupport%40yahoogroups.com">PageStreamSupportyahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [PageStreamSupport] Vector Graphics
>
> Hi Gord,
&gt;
> There are a number of ways to do this on Amiga and Windows. If you
> are
> printing to a postscript printer, then something that will export EPS
> files with a bitmap preview would be good. Best would be something
> that
> exported in Adobe Illustrator format.
>
> Depending on what Amiga OS version you have, you might look for an
> old
> copy of a DR2D vector editor.
>
> What drawing features are you looking for?
>;
> Deron
&gt;
> > Hello All,
>; >
> > Just wondering what everyone would recommend for a Vector Graphics
> package to use along with PageStream. I'm using V4 on the Amiga, but
> either PC or Amiga software is fine with me... just something that
>; will work and show a preview image when inserting an object into
>; PageStream document.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Gord Clink
&gt; > APATCO Technologies
>
> --
> Deron Kazmaier - support%40pagestream.org">supportpagestream.org <mailto:support%
> 40pagestream.org>
> Grasshopper LLC Publishing - http://www.pagestream.org
&gt; <http://www.pagestream.org>
> PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Messages in this topic (9) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

I WOULD AGREE.

HOWEVER, WHAT I'VE FOUND THIS USEFUL FOR IS TO IDENTIFY A FONT USED IN A
BITMAP, SO I COULD THEN RECREATE IT AS A VECTOR GRAPHIC ITEM; I RECENTLY
HAD TO DO THIS WITH A LOGO, AND NOBODY COULD REMEMBER THE ORIGINAL
TYPEFACES USED AS WE NO LONGER HAD CONTACT WITH THE ORIGINAL DESIGNER.

UNFORTUNATELY, I HAD TO MATCH IT PRECISELY, AS THIS WAS FOR COMPANY USE,
AND I'M NOT FAMILIAR ENOUGH WITH FONT FAMILIES, MYSELF, TO BE ABLE TO
MATCH IT ON SIGHT; THIS TOOL WAS ABLE TO NARROW DOWN THE CANDIDATE LIST
DRASTICALLY, JUST BY PROVIDING IT THE BITMAP SAMPLE THAT I DID HAVE.

ON WED, 2008-06-04 AT 16:07 -0400, HENRY G BELOT WROTE:
&GT; DAVID:
&GT;
> > ...FINALLY, A RESOURCE THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL IS:
> >
>; > HTTP://WWW.MYFONTS.COM/WHATTHEFONT/
>; >
>; > I'VE RECENTLY FOUND THIS TO BE *VERY* HANDY TO IDENTIFY A FONT, FOR
> > WHICH I ONLY HAVE A BITMAP COPY....
> >
>
> LOOKS INTERESTING, BUT ALSO LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF BOTHER TO ME€”SPEAKING
> JUST FOR MYSELF. WHEN A PARTICULAR FONT IS IMPORTANT*, I TEND TO BUY IT
> RATHER THAN TRYING TO FIND A LOOK-ALIKE IN ONE OF THOSE CATCH-ALL
> COLLECTIONS YOU FIND IN STORES OR A FONT DONE BY A HOBBYIST. AS LONG AS
> YOU ONLY NEED ONE OR TWO FOR A PROJECT, IT'S NOT THAT EXPENSIVE.
>
> THERE ARE SEVERAL OUTFITS THAT SELL COMMERCIAL FONTS AND MANY OF THEM
> ALLOW YOU TO TAP INTO A BROAD RANGE OF "PRESTIGE" LIBRARIES. HERE'S ONE:
> HTTP://WWW.LINOTYPE.COM/. I FIND THAT WITH A PRINTED EXAMPLE OF A FONT I
> NEED, IT TAKES ONLY FIVE OR TEN MINUTES, IF THAT, TO FIND AN EXACT
> MATCH. IT'S A MATTER OF FOCUSING ON ONE OR TWO CHARACTERS WITH
> DISTINCTIVE ATTRIBUTES AND MATCHING THOSE TO THE SAMPLES PROVIDED ON THE
> SITE. THAT'S CERTAINLY LESS TIME THAN I WOULD SPEND SCANNING IN AN
> EXAMPLE AND USING THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OF WHATTHEFONT WOULD TAKE
> ME, ESPECIALLY SINCE I'D STILL HAVE TO FIND A SOURCE FOR THE FONT.
&GT;
> JUST MY TWO CENTS.
&GT;
> HB
>
> *FOR ME "IMPORTANT" USUALLY MEANS MATCHING A FONT SOMEONE ELSE HAS
> USED IN A PIECE I NEED TO REPLICATE OR EXTEND. I'M NOT SOMEONE WHO
> HAS TO HAVE THIS OR THAT FONT FOR AN ORIGINAL PIECE. I'VE ACQUIRED
> ENOUGH FONTS OVER THE YEARS€”MANY PRELOADED ON COMPUTERS I'VE
>; PURCHASED€”THAT I CAN USUALLY GET THE "FEEL" I WANT WITHOUT HAVING
&GT; ONE PARTICULAR FONT TO ACHIEVE IT. UNLESS YOU'RE IN ADVERTISING, THE
> READERS AREN'T LIKELY TO NOTICE OR CARE.
&GT;
>
> ------------------------------------
&GT;
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
&GT;
>
>
>

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