Re: Unit selection input

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Jason Maiorana wrote:

> 
>>> I would say so! Dia is slowly moving towards a point where it can be
> used
>>> for more cartography. If there where things like shapes (curved+line
>>> segments) with holes,
> 
>>Bezierlines can do shapes (kinda), but not holes per se.
> 
> I had mentioned this before, but unifying all the primitive shapes into
> a single shape class which is a set of contours with filling/winding
> rules
> (contour is a set of line and bezier/ or quadratic curves) would allow
> maximum flexibility with shape definition, but would require a revamped
> interface, and add overhead to the simpler shapes which dont need it.
> 
> Thats moving toward a unification of vector illustration being with
> diagramming, and Im aware that diagramming is dia's focus, though I
> think that
> the two are inherently similar.

Hmmm... this sounds like a thing for after version 1.0.

>>> Alpha support, more layering control, a built-in sheet editor, and
> text
>>> along contours would make it near perfect.
>>Layering control -- what in particular would you want more?  Sheet
> editor -- 
>>a cool thing that's been mentioned before, but nobody's done.  Text
> along contours
>>is very difficult unless we get the freetype stuff going (and even
> then,
>>I'm not sure).
> 
> well, the new XFree renderer is getting lots of attention, and windows
> has
> integrated alpha in their latest GDI- so it may come for free. I'm not
> sure if xft is up to par for getting rotated glyphs+ metrics, but it
> seems
> to be according to its docs.

If you feel like code, you shall be more than welcome to pick up the
FreeType code, it's all in CVS.  I've gotten stuck in the rendering part
and do other stuff right now.

-Lars

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause)| Hårdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I   |----------------------------
will defend to the death your right to say it."   | Where are we going, and
    --Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire  | what's with the handbasket?