of knowledge on this list. Collectively, I think CF-Talk comprises
all there is to know about ColdFusion and its applicatoins.
Anyway, Jim, I spoke to the client today again and he has a vector
version of the map graphic. It's either a Illustrator file or a
Freehand file, either way I can import it into Freehand and then work
on it from there. I think image files can go directly into
Flash2004Pro from Freehand. Or if not, saving it to EPSformat will
allow it to be imported into almost anything. But having a vectorised
drawing will most definitely cut down the amount of work i have to do,
and if i'm careful it'll make sure i dont have to verify the accuracy
of every detail, because it's the client's work not mine.
Cheers
Mike Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
AFP Webworks
http://afpwebworks.com
.com,.net,.org domains from AUD$20/Year
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 00:52:50 -0400
Subject: RE: Displaying a dynamic map - how?
To: CF-Talk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
You don't have to tell me how much of a pain the ass maps can be. ;^)
The New Year's Eve site I do (www.firstnight.org
<http://www.firstnight.org/> ) needs a fairly complex map of Boston with
locations and special markers which of course change every year. I've been
doing the site going on nine years and the map is always one of the most
challenging aspects.
If you do what to vectorize it then I would first try to eliminate as much
detail as you can from the map. For the conversion process you don't need
any of the text, doted lines or cars for example. You might then posterize
the image to cut down on the number of colors (it'll make for a cleaner
trace).
This looks like a surveyors map - you might want to see if you can get a
hold of the pure lot map without the trees - that would make things much
simpler.
In fact if you might see if there's a digital original. It doesn't look to
me like this was hand-drawn - many of the features are exact clones of each
other. (Of course I still want to date Jessica Rabbit so my grasp of what's
real and what's generated is tenuous at best). At the very least see if you
can snag a higher resolution version to do the trace.
After the trace most programs offer a "node reduction" tool (hopefully
automated) that will simplify the vector at the cost of some detail.
Once you've got the trace you could just use the lot shapes as an overlay
using the real map as the base layer. If you did go with Flash you could
make some very nice transparency effects using them.
It's tedious as hell, but do the kind of thing you're talking about you're
going to have get into this map pretty deeply anyway and a lot of this stuff
just needs to be done by hand.
Jim Davis
[Todays Threads] [This Message] [Subscription] [Fast Unsubscribe] [User Settings] [Donations and Support]
