On Tuesday 01 July 2003 17:12,Mike Thorn wrote:
I'm a little unfamiliar with PostScript, being new to Linux and
all. Can you tell me what that is and how your postscript file
interacts with GIMP?
For a short answer:
a Postscript file is a file in the Programing language called
postscript, that is human readable if open in a text editor, and
which is executed and generates a drwaing, when open in an apropriate
appllication. The GIMP can open Postscript files as drawings.
This script I made is one that renders an hexagon grid.
I also have a GIMP plugin taht can save gimp Paths in postscript files
that can be open in other such applications.
.
In long:
Postscript is a page description language, first devised, almost 30
yeras ago, to be used to print pages.
The idea is that the printers themselves should have a way to
interpret a postscript program, and the program do generate one or
more pages taht are to be viewed.
Well, what happens is that a pritner able to proccess a postscript
file does have to have not only a computer, but a lot of memory
built-in. So, in most Unixes, there is a postscript interpreter taht
functions as a printer driver, among other things.
All your GUI programs generate postscript files when they are
printing. These files are run automatically through the postscript
interpreter (unless you do have a postscript enabled printer), which
them sends printer data to the printer.
This postscript interprter built in Unix and Linux in particular is
the Ghostscript program. It's far more versatile than just a printer
driver. With a couple of simple commands in postscript one can make
beautiful vector drawings - and ghostscript allows saving them to a
lot of other picture formats.
The GIMP uses the Ghostscript program as a utility to open postscript
files as drawings transparently. So, a little program made in
postscript to generate a drawing, like an Hex Grid, can be open as if
it were a picture.
One of the advantages of it over a simple GIF or PNG with an hex grid,
is taht a postscript file is human readable (unless generated by a
program which deliberately obsfuscates it, like the Windows(tm)
postscript drivers or CorelDraw).
In particular, in this hex grid script I made, one can change the
number of hexes and their size, just by modifing three decimal
numbers on the last line of the file, with any text editor.
Regards,
JS
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