[Bf-docboard] less graphics
Alex Heizer
bf-docboard@blender.org
Thu, 02 Jan 2003 13:58:08 -0600
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Hey Bart,
Bart Veldhuizen wrote:
>On Thu, 2003-01-02 at 16:22, Alex Heizer wrote:
>
>>>That is correct. We need to create stylesheets for each transformation
>>>of DocBook/XML --> PDF, HTML or whatever. I'm not sure how difficult
>>>this would be for the PDF version though, but we may be able to find
>>>someone who likes to dig into this.
>>>
>>I'll work with Matt (I'll see if he's still interested in working on
>>this) on making a design for the pages (overall layout, etc.)
>>and make some graphics standards suggestions. We'll make up designs
>>for a printed book as well as a Web site, which will mirror the
>>printed design, but be more Web-friendly. If someone who knows more
>>about working with DocBook/XML wants to help out, that would be cool
>>too.
>>
>
>I think that at this moment it would be better to direct our efforts
>towards getting the content right. While current PDF and HTML output
>doesn't look great but rather ok-ish, I think that people will ignore
>that if there is something they can learn :)
>
>We're making great progress now, but we've only been really at work for
>a week and a half - I predict it will take a few more months before the
>book is 'publisheable' or 'complete' (whatever that means in an open
>source project ;-).
>
The thing I was concerned about was more about establishing a few
standards before everyone makes their 20 million screenshots and
renders. In the last PDF I downloaded from the sources, there were
already around 70 images, and most of the pages don't have their images
yet. Once the standards are set, you can make whatever format you want.
It's a lot easier to make a 5k PNG from a 10MB EPS than the other way
around, so you make printable images the default, then scale and
compress a version from that for Web or a PDF.
As for the design, I'm okay with content, but I can do design and
graphics. So, even though I can work on some sections, once I get done
with those the only thing I could contribute is design. But that's not
so important at this stage, I agree, just wanted to let you know why I
was pushing the design. :)
But this is the stage we need to be worrying about the graphics, so that
people will only have to do something once. Rather than have the images
generated on the fly from a .blend file, it may be easier in the long
run to have someone do all the graphics work, making the images, since
I'm not sure you can automate cropping to make it look good 100% of the
time. Having someone spending a little extra time in the beginning could
save a lot of time and effort if it ever does get to be more than just
on a Website (meaning PDF or print).
Alex
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Hey Bart,<br>
<br>
Bart Veldhuizen wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:1041536191.2588.23.camel@ferro">
<pre wrap="">On Thu, 2003-01-02 at 16:22, Alex Heizer wrote:<br><br></pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">That is correct. We need to create stylesheets for each transformation<br>of DocBook/XML --> PDF, HTML or whatever. I'm not sure how difficult<br>this would be for the PDF version though, but we may be able to find<br>someone who likes to dig into this.<br></pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">I'll work with Matt (I'll see if he's still interested in working on<br>this) on making a design for the pages (overall layout, etc.)<br>and make some graphics standards suggestions. We'll make up designs<br>for a printed book as well as a Web site, which will mirror the<br>printed design, but be more Web-friendly. If someone who knows more<br>about working with DocBook/XML wants to help out, that would be cool<br>too.<br></pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!----><br>I think that at this moment it would be better to direct our efforts<br>towards getting the content right. While current PDF and HTML output<br>doesn't look great but rather ok-ish, I think that people will ignore<br>that if there is something they can learn :)<br><br>We're making great progress now, but we've only been really at work for<br>a week and a half - I predict it will take a few more months before the<br>book is 'publisheable' or 'complete' (whatever that means in an open<br>source project ;-).</pre>
</blockquote>
The thing I was concerned about was more about establishing a few standards
before everyone makes their 20 million screenshots and renders. In the last
PDF I downloaded from the sources, there were already around 70 images, and
most of the pages don't have their images yet. Once the standards are set,
you can make whatever format you want. It's a lot easier to make a 5k PNG
from a 10MB EPS than the other way around, so you make printable images the
default, then scale and compress a version from that for Web or a PDF.<br>
<br>
As for the design, I'm okay with content, but I can do design and graphics.
So, even though I can work on some sections, once I get done with those the
only thing I could contribute is design. But that's not so important at this
stage, I agree, just wanted to let you know why I was pushing the design.
:)<br>
<br>
But this is the stage we need to be worrying about the graphics, so that
people will only have to do something once. Rather than have the images generated
on the fly from a .blend file, it may be easier in the long run to have someone
do all the graphics work, making the images, since I'm not sure you can automate
cropping to make it look good 100% of the time. Having someone spending a
little extra time in the beginning could save a lot of time and effort if
it ever does get to be more than just on a Website (meaning PDF or print).<br>
<br>
Alex<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:1041536191.2588.23.camel@ferro"></blockquote>
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