[softwarelist] Re: Imposition signatures?

In <URL:news:local.opro> on Wed 30 May, Ovation Pro List wrote:
> Anthony Hilton wrote:
> > In <URL:news:local.opro> on Tue 29 May, David Pilling wrote:
> >>> Or would we have to start with the scripts in the
> >>> imposition applet to work out what they're doing and proceed from
> >>> there?
> >> Of course looking at what has been done may help. Nick Kaijaks did an
> >> enhanced print format - he is one of the few people to get their heads
> >> around the complexities.
> 
> Yes, I suspect that if you search the mailing list archives for the term 
> 'synapse snapper' you'll probably find me writing about imposition :-)
> 
> > The Imposit applet is Nick Kaijacks' work. He may, of course, have
> > decided that it was sensible to provide what he did and that anything
> > more complex is a pre-press system which already exists on other systems
> > and can process PS or PDF files but isn't appropriate to add on to a
> > single DTP app.
> 
> That gives me too much credit I think - I just amended half-section 
> handling for the booklet script and did some work on additional formats 
> for things like work-and-turn.
> 
> I do recall spending a chunk of one bank holiday weekend about 9 years 
> ago starting to try to do something more automated, and then giving it 
> up as a job for someone who can write proper code rather than hacking 
> around scripts...
> 
>  >>IF (asked to write imposition script) THEN
>  >>PUT (fingers in ears)
>  >>GOTO (door)
>  >>RUN (away screaming)
>  >>ENDIF
> 
> Yeah, proper code like that...
> 
> I'm scratching my head trying to remember anything useful after so long. 
> I think the trickiest thing to get your head around is the relationship 
> between the different elements: paperpage, paperpagearea, paperarea, 
> papermaxarea. The names make it rather too easy to lose track of which 
> thing you're trying to stick on the page where.
> 
> As a curious aside, I've found myself doing almost the same job at work 
> doing some Java code using the iText PDF-creation library. PDFs have a 
> concept of a Form XObject, which you can 'rubber-stamp' onto the page, 
> which I've been using to impose multiple business cards onto a sheet. 
> What goes around...
> 
> Anyway, I lose track of whether it's true of OPro imposition as well, 
> but with iText, you get real fun when you start rotating and scaling. 
> The coordinate origins are generally not where you expected. I think 
> this may have bitten me back then on RISC OS too.
> 
> I don't know about a flow chart, but much trial and error with a virtual 
> printer (SPrinter or PDF) certainly helps to understand the effects of 
> changes.

Thanks for the input Nick. I've been playing with PSUtils and cannot get it
to even do what Booklet printing does in Opro. It looks like it should but I
can only get 2 of the 4 pages per side, adding the other 2 with what I think
is the same syntax generates syntax errors :-(

When specifying positions for multi-page impositions in PSUtils the paper
origin is bottom left, and even when rotated the location for the imposed
page references the bottom left of that page. 

Anthony

-- 
ajh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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