[geeks] How can people put up with this....

Joshua D Boyd jdboyd at cs.millersville.edu
Thu Aug 8 13:51:06 CDT 2002


On Thu, Aug 08, 2002 at 01:15:23PM -0400, dave at cca.org wrote:

> Well, the original problem is that Distiller doesn't understand
> my postscript file. I've gotten around the problem by using ghostscript's
> ps2pdf utility, which is *generally* far inferior to Distiller, but
> did well in this case. (I had to rewrite a small section of the file
> for ps2pdf to get it right, but that was a matter of five minutes.)

Is distiller available on Unix now?  Or did you go buy a new machine.
 
> Now, instead of a 4K postscript file, I have a 600K PDF file that
> I can't edit.

No.  But you can edit the ps file, then regenerate.  There are always
tradeoffs.  An ideal shop could handle it either way.
 
> It will work, but I still don't see this as "progress".

Did your 4k PS file use any fonts?  I believe that font issues was the
biggest cause of people pushing for PDF printing.
 
> I'm experimenting with randomizing the edges of the type after it's
> all laid out, to get a "hand printed" look to it. Tricky, but should
> be worth the effort.

Nifty.  I keep meaning to get really into writing postscript, but other
than a simple task here or there, I'm not doing much.

How are you doing the randomizing?  Perlin noise, or "real" randomization?
Also, are you using your own typeface, an off the shelf typeface, or
just drawing the letter straight out as you go?  

Oh, forget those questions, and just explain your process if you will.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd



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