Re: [Gnome-print] Re: [Gimp-print-devel] An introduction to gnome-print(fwd)

[Michael Sweet <mike easysw com>]

Lauris Kaplinski wrote:
> ...
> 2. You cannot do anything similar to TTF, as there is no acess to
>    buffer (again)

TTF == TrueType Font?

PS Level 2 and 3 support TTF's as Type42 fonts...

> ...
> And that exactly IS the reason you cannot do anything advanced in
> PS, but have to render HUGE clent side bitmaps from almost
> everything.

No, you just have to be smart about how you send data to the printer.
Overlapping images can be composited by the printer with the
appropriate PS code.  You can also use patterns (screen transparency)
for faster prints.

In any case, you only need to render a client-side bitmap at the
resolution of your source images, as PS will handle the scaling/
interpolation for your (interpolation is only supported by high-
end continuous-tone devices...)

> P.S. Plotters usually cannot print bitmaps too - why there are
> image operators at all - pixels could also been drawn as tiny
> vector boxes ;)

Um, *pen* plotters can't do bitmaps easily, but raster plotters
(pretty much the only plotters on the market today) *do* handle
bitmaps, and quite nicely thank you.

> ...
> Can I count, that later, using mypath, it is rendered without
> intermediate path construction?

The path is not compiled, just the operators. i.e. the CODE you
provide to construct the path.

Want to save a path?  Assign it to a variable:

    newpath
    moveto lineto etc.
    /mypath save def

> ...
> stroke, fill, eofill - after invocation I need to know, that buffer
> really was changed. Then take this buffer, and do some magic.

Ok, so you want access to the page buffer; sorry, that isn't
available in PS...

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products                  mike@easysw.com
Printing Software for UNIX                       http://www.easysw.com