[sdiy] cool tool for panel designs
Peter Grenader
peter at buzzclick-music.com
Sun Feb 6 21:54:25 CET 2005
The bottom line, picture files used for imaged text and graphics which
require sharp lines are iffy at best Stick with vector information -
vector based EPS files. You can convert them to PDF format which can be
read by Corral (sp?) Draw, which widely used by plating shops. takes care
of the whole Mac/PC file debacle.
- P
harrybissell wrote:
> People are confusing DOTS per inch with "Points"
>
> "point" has NOTHING TO DO WITH AS COMPUTER OR AN MONITOR !!!
>
> Maybe all those who keep saying 'dpi' should be sentenced to
> setting the type for their business cards, by hand... from
> big drawers of 'movable type' :^P
>
> I did this in print shop in 1968, when hand set type was
> already obsolete. But it WILL teach you what 'point' means !!!
>
> H^) harry
>
> Peter Grenader wrote:
>
>> Coming in on the middle of this (or maybe the end)... The 72 dot/inch
>> standard is for COMPUTER MONITOR PREVIEWING ONLY as that's the pitch of most
>> screens. If you want to image graphics using a bit file for a face plate,
>> you need to go to 240 DPI minimum. This is the printing standard for single
>> plate (single color) work. Trust me, I was an art director for 15 years and
>> blew enough lousy film to encase the wall of China.
>>
>> harrybissell wrote:
>>
>>> Hi JH
>>>
>>> not "dpi"
>>>
>>> Think little bits of metal type, stacked by hand to get the printed effect
>>> you want. The way it was done 50 years ago... then you will have the idea
>>> of the 'point' standard
>>>
>>> Sort of like the carryover from Roman chariot wheelbase to some modern
>>> train track gauges :^P
>>>
>>> H^) harry
>>>
>>> "JH." wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks to all who have told me about points.
>>>> I knew about DPI stuff for printing, but didn't know there
>>>> was a standard of 72.
>>>>
>>>> But anyway: I think the placement of the numbers around the tick marks is
>>>> less than perfect. When I make my panels step by step in
>>>> Frontplattendesigner,
>>>> I often adjust the placement by hand, because the "default" position (as
>>>> rotated
>>>> around the center hole, and then around the number's own center point to
>>>> get th eright orientation back) may look good for _some_ numbers, but
>>>> not for all.
>>>> For instance, if you have a "-8", the "optical gravity" (if there's
>>>> omething
>>>> like that) is not the default center point at all.
>>>>
>>>> JH.
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Don Tillman" <don at till.com>
>>>> To: "JH." <jhaible at debitel.net>
>>>> Cc: <mverbos at earthlink.net>; <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
>>>> Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 5:18 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] cool tool for panel designs
>>>>
>>>>>> From: "JH." <jhaible at debitel.net>
>>>>>> Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 00:05:09 +0100
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Looks great -
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But what do they mean with "radius in points" ??
>>>>>
>>>>> Hey JH,
>>>>>
>>>>> "Point" is a measurement unit used in the printing industry, most
>>>>> typically to specify the height of a font. A point is 1/72 of an
>>>>> inch. (For you metric folks, that's 28.35 points per centipede.) A
>>>>> typical font might be 12, 15 or 18 points in height.
>>>>>
>>>>> This tool is really just plugging parameters into a simple PostScript
>>>>> program that draws the dial. And then it uses some convertomatic code
>>>>> to present the other output forms. PostScript uses points as it's
>>>>> default measurement unit, which makes sense given its application.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have long recommend doing panel design by learning the PostScript
>>>>> language, writing out the panel in raw PostScript, and sending that to
>>>>> a laser printer. Here are a couple postings from a few years ago,
>>>>> including an example that looks similar to the code generated by the
>>>>> tool.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Don
>>>>>
>>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> Date: Wed Oct 31 09:35:50 -0800 2001
>>>>> From: Don Tillman <don at till.com>
>>>>> To: apogeesunset at juno.com
>>>>> CC: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>>>>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] Front panel labeling
>>>>>
>>>>> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 08:36:05 -0800
>>>>> From: Casey J Crane <apogeesunset at juno.com>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for all the response to my front panel label question. Don
>>>>> Tillman suggested I use "Raw Postscript" What do I need for that ?
>>>>> Special software ?
>>>>>
>>>>> So, Basically, what is postscript ?
>>>>>
>>>>> PostScript is a "page description language", the language that most
>>>>> laser printers use to print stuff. The technology is owned by Adobe,
>>>>> but most of it is based on work from Xerox PARC (like almost all
>>>>> modern computer technologies).
>>>>>
>>>>> PostScript is a very simple stack based language. (If you use an HP
>>>>> calculator you're half way there.) The syntax is a little hard to
>>>>> read, but no compiler is needed. The exciting thing about it is the
>>>>> set of functions that are available for doing all sorts of 2D graphics
>>>>> operations on paper output and the fact that you can build up and
>>>>> customize these operations for your needs. Line drawing, filling,
>>>>> rotation, translation, scaling, colors, curves, regions... everything
>>>>> you need, because that's what the printer uses to print everything
>>>>> you normally print.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best way to learn is to pick up a copy of the "PostScript Lanaguage
>>>>> Tutorial and Cookbook" and the "PostScript Language Reference
>>>>> Manual". (These are somewhat old, they may have been replaced with
>>>>> something with a similar title.) The physical books are nice to have,
>>>>> but you can also download a free copy of the reference manual from
>>>>> Adobe.
>>>>> http://www.adobe.com
>>>>>
>>>>> Just use your favorite text editor to write the PostScript code (I use
>>>>> Emacs with PostScript mode!) and ship it to your printer.
>>>>>
>>>>> To save trees while you try things out I highly recommend a program
>>>>> called "GhostScript" which will do a screen display.
>>>>> http://www.ghostscript.com
>>>>>
>>>>> Adobe Photoshop can read PostScript and render it beautifully, but
>>>>> doesn't provide any debugging help. With PhotoShop you can make gif
>>>>> files to include your artwork in a web page; I've used this technique
>>>>> for a number of the articles on my web site.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Don
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Don Tillman
>>>>> Palo Alto, California, USA
>>>>> don at till.com
>>>>> http://www.till.com
>>>>>
>>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> Date: Tue May 28 11:26:17 -0700 2002
>>>>> From: Don Tillman <don at till.com>
>>>>> To: amajorel at teaser.fr
>>>>> CC: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>>>>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] dial graduations
>>>>>
>>>>>> Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 15:33:48 +0200
>>>>>> From: Andre Majorel <amajorel at teaser.fr>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2002-05-23 21:25 -0700, Don Tillman wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> From: "Michael Ruberto" <frankentron at hotmail.com>
>>>>>>>> Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 21:46:25 -0400
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I am in the process of designing front panel graphics for all
>>>> of
>>>>>>>> my modules so I can have them laser etched. the biggest
>>>> problem
>>>>>>>> so far is creating the tick marks to go around the knobs. I am
>>>>>>>> doing it "by hand" in photoshop but it is really quite time
>>>>>>>> consuming. is hand drawing these the only way to go?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This is very easy to do in raw PostScript.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Interesting. Would you care to post a code fragment, for those
>>>>>> of us who don't mumble PostScript in their sleep ?
>>>>>
>>>>> (Hey, you wouldn't ask this of that guy who suggests doing everything
>>>>> with a PIC!)
>>>>>
>>>>> Below is a PostScript program for drawing three dial scales, complete
>>>>> with center crosses. See, it's easy.
>>>>>
>>>>> Note that there are several very cool features about this approach.
>>>>> It's accurate in the sense that you can say "I want this switch
>>>>> *here*", where here is the measurement you specifcy with respect to any
>>>>> other point you specify. You can parameterize stuff, so that if you
>>>>> decide later to change the style of something you only have to change
>>>>> one parameter. And you have complete control over everything.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----------------
>>>>> initgraphics
>>>>>
>>>>> %% scale to inches
>>>>> 72.0 72.0 scale
>>>>>
>>>>> %% draw the center cross
>>>>> /center-cross-size 0.25 def
>>>>>
>>>>> /draw-center-cross {
>>>>> gsave
>>>>> 1.0 72.0 div setlinewidth
>>>>> -0.5 center-cross-size mul 0.0 moveto
>>>>> +0.5 center-cross-size mul 0.0 lineto
>>>>> 0.0 -0.5 center-cross-size mul moveto
>>>>> 0.0 +0.5 center-cross-size mul lineto stroke
>>>>> grestore
>>>>> } def
>>>>>
>>>>> /dial-inside-radius 0.5 def
>>>>> /dial-outside-radius 0.75 def
>>>>> /dial-arc 270 def
>>>>>
>>>>> %% draw a dial here
>>>>> %% stack:
>>>>> %% n divisions
>>>>> /draw-dial {
>>>>> gsave
>>>>> currentpoint translate
>>>>> draw-center-cross
>>>>> 0 1 2 index
>>>>> {
>>>>> gsave
>>>>> 1 index div dial-arc mul dial-arc 0.5 mul sub rotate
>>>>> 0.0 dial-inside-radius moveto
>>>>> 0.0 dial-outside-radius lineto stroke
>>>>> grestore
>>>>> } for
>>>>> grestore
>>>>> pop
>>>>> } def
>>>>>
>>>>> 1.5 72.0 div setlinewidth
>>>>>
>>>>> %% draw a few dials
>>>>> 2.0 8.0 moveto 10 draw-dial
>>>>> 4.0 8.0 moveto 10 draw-dial
>>>>> 6.0 8.0 moveto 10 draw-dial
>>>>> showpage
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----------------
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Don
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Don Tillman
>>>>> Palo Alto, California, USA
>>>>> don at till.com
>>>>> http://www.till.com
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>
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