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. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Research Scientist phone: 713-348-6166 The Connexions Project http://cnx.rice.edu fax: 713-348-3665 Rice University MS-375, Houston, TX 77005 GPG Key fingerprint = F023 82C8 9B0E 2CC6 0D8E F888 D3AE 810E 88F0 BEDE ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
