Re: Open items

On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 10:12:53PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> Magnus Hagander wrote:
> >
> > Another discussion was about binary files in the tree (not being source
> > files - the source is a binary .AI file (AFAIK that's Adobe
> > Illustrator)). The question was raised wether ImageMagick could do this
> > conversion - it can't. Doesn't support AI. Also, it would introduce yet
> > another build dependency in order to create a single file. I don't see
> > much other way than stuffing the icon in there (possibly along with the
> > .AI file if you'd need to change it manually). It is, after all, just a
> > resource and not code.
>
> These binary files are almost never going to be changed so I see no
> problem with adding them to CVS, and putting whatever source we can into
> CVS. If we can't we just document how we created the binary. Can you
> export the image to tiff format or something so we can modify it laster
> if we need to, or perhaps gimp format?

Actually, you'll find that Adobe Illustrator AI files are not a 'binary'
file at all: they're a particular flavor of PostScript. In fact, I just
used the pstoedit tool to convert this particular one (the PostgreSQL
elephant head logo) into an xfig file, then from there back to
postscript. It's not ideal: apparently, Illustrator and Xfig have
slightly different spline curve implementations, so the lines get a bit
bumpy after the pass through xfig. So, it's not really a set of tools
I'd recommend to attempt to automate the 'build some icons' step: that
still takes an artist.

However, the AI file _is_ an editable source doc. I've hand hacked
Postscript in the past. I'd recommend keeping it in CVS, along side the
hand-build icons. If someone wants to hack on icons at some later date,
the AI/postscript file is a useful starting point (preferred, actually:
it's vector). Eventually, an SVG doc will probably be the way to go.

Further investigation show that pstoedit can use GNU libplot to generate
_lots_ of different formats, including SVG and fig, via a different
path. From _that_ fig file, xfig can generate a postscript file that
renders _identically_ to the AI file. So, the AI is a useful source.

Ross
--
Ross Reedstrom, Ph.D. reedstrm(at)rice(dot)edu
Research Scientist phone: 713-348-6166
The Connexions Project http://cnx.rice.edu fax: 713-348-3665
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