joeba@lll-lcc.UUCP (Joe Barello) (07/25/90)
SUMMARY OF BaNG MEETING #4, July 18, 1990 By Declan McCullagh declan@portia.stanford.edu GETTING THE MOST OUT OF DISPLAY POSTSCRIPT Ken Anderson, Manager, Developer Support Group, Adobe Systems The first part of the BaNG meeting was a one-hour talk about Display PostScript given by Ken Anderson of Adobe's Developer Support Group. Targeted at the entire audience, not just NeXT programmers, it covered a wide range of topics regarding efficient PostScript programming. During the course of the talk, Ken demonstrated a variety of sample programs which illustrated various programming techniques needed under NextStep. The first PostScript programming technique mentioned was the use of NextStep's "pswrap" procedure, which allows programmers to "wrap" a standard C function around a body of PostScript code. Ken showed the audience Adobe's DrawLine demo, which provided timing information for pswrap code execution compared to execution of the same PostScript code not in a pswrap; the pswrap code consistently executed about 25% faster. In Adobe's port of Adobe Illustrator to the NeXT computer, over 80% of their PostScript code was placed in pswraps. Next, Ken demonstrated the use of the User Path cache. This 300K cache remembers the most frequently-used images and stores them as lists of trapezoids. Using two sample PostScript drawings, he compared traditional "Red Book" drawing to drawing with the cache enabled; with the cache turned on, redrawing was up to three times as fast. Ken also talked about the new PostScript language definition known as PostScript Level II. This new standard will replace Adobe's "Red Book" reference, and include a number of performance optimizations such as improved object caching, faster pattern rendering, automatic stroke adjustment, and image compression. In addition, multiple compression algorithms will be available, each performing better on a different kind of bitmapped data. He suggested that Level II will be available in printers in early 1991 and will also be included in future NeXT system software. To receive information about the new PostScript Level II standard and other technical information, Ken recommended that programmers apply as Adobe Developers. It costs $195 per year to be a developer, and Adobe supplies training through developer seminars, distributes technical notes, and provides 40% discounts on OEM PostScript printers and Adobe software. Also at the meeting, Adobe distributed seven technical papers on Display PostScript, similar to what a registered Adobe Developer would receive. These technical notes can be accessed through electronic mail by using Adobe's mail server. TOUCHTYPE Glenn Reid, Independent NeXT Developer The next talk was given by Glenn Reid, who previously worked at both NeXT and Adobe. He demonstrated the use of his TouchType application, which should prove to be an enormous boon to people with serious typesetting needs. TouchType is unlike any other text-manipulation program to date. It takes the traditional "draw program" metaphor used by programs like TopDraw and Adobe Illustrator and extends it to encompass selective editing of individual characters of a text object. To TouchType, text objects are not grouped as sequences of characters, but as individually movable letters. For instance, the "a" in "BaNG" can be moved independently of the rest of the word, yet TouchType still remembers that the "a" is associated with the other three letters. Perhaps the best feature of this program is the ability to do very accurate and precise kerning (the ability to place characters closer together to create a more natural effect). TouchType supports intelligent automatic kerning and very intuitive, manual kerning done with a horizontal slider or by direct character manipulation. It also incorporates useful features such as sliders to change font sizes, character leading, and character widths, and an option which returns characters to a single base line. TouchType, only six weeks in development, should be available in early August, with a tentative price of $249. BaNG members were given the opportunity to purchase the software for $150. DIAGRAM! Jonathan Schwartz and Roger Rosner, Lighthouse Design The last demonstration was by Lighthouse Design, which showed the BaNG audience their Diagram! application. Like TouchType, Diagram! is revolutionary in the way it takes a traditional object-manipulation metaphor and extends it with a new action paradigm. When launched, Diagram! restores the user's last used workspace, recovers any documents being edited, and sets up the object palette and object inspector. Then, the user has the option to drag objects from the object palette, place them in the drawing space, and draw connections between these objects with either straight lines or splines. The novel concept behind Diagram! is that after a connection is made, the object's position on the page can be changed, and the connection lines follow the object, rubberbanding to accommodate the new position. This single feature lends itself to a multitude of "white board" applications, such as organizational charts, project diagrams, business graphics and network diagrams. Diagram! also allows users to import TIFF and EPS files into documents, lock items to the background, annotate images with text and graphics, and link objects to documents so that opening a link in Diagram! will launch the application needed to open the linked file. In addition, a possible future Lighthouse Design product is "The Exploder," a object-oriented database for the NeXT. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next BaNG meeting will be Wednesday, August 15th, at 6:30 PM. More information to come. The LaST Lock, a high-security device for the NeXT Computer, is now available from Prevail (408) 296-6550 for $195. It is comprised of industrial strength steel security cables and cold rolled black steel plates which attach the monitor to the cube and both to a plate which can be bolted to any fixed surface. Registered BaNG members will receive official BaNG literature, a subscription to BaNG's quarterly newsletter, a BaNG T-Shirt, and notification of pending BaNG events. For more information, please contact BaNG at one of the addresses below. CONTACTS ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED 1585 Charleston Road, P.O. Box 7900 Mountain View, CA 94039-7900 (415) 961-4400 To access the mail server, send a message with a body of "help" to ps-file-server@adobe.com. TOUCHTYPE Right Brain Software 20 Medway Road Woodside, CA 94062 (415) 851-1785 heaven!glenn@next.com DIAGRAM! Lighthouse Design, Ltd. 6516 Western Avenue Chevy Chase, MD 20815-3212 (800) 366-2279, (301) 907-4621 lighthouse!diagram@uunet.uu.net BaNG INFORMATION P.O. Box 8858 Stanford, CA 94309 (415) 780-2877 (Voicemail) BaNG-request@meta-x.stanford.edu