[Pro] Graphic quality-imported logo

Sometime around 7/10/09 (at 16:26 -0400) IanB said:

The best way that I’ve found of avoiding ragged edges and/or
fuzziness is to use QuickDraw GX graphics created in LightningDraw.

Ahh, LightningDraw! I really liked that app. I have a boxed copy
somewhere in the attic. QuickDraw GX was going to be the future, once
upon a time. Damn that Gil Amelio…

k


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Hi Ian
You make a good point-sadly I no longer have classic (or OS Tiger) to use your suggestion. My loss.

On a different point it looks as though you have used my client’s logo on your site as a demo. If so, please would you remove it-it isn’t my work (I didn’t design it) and I don’t have permission to let it circulate-the link I posted was a temporary demo for this forum only. Thank you.

Are there any OS Leopard (or dare I say Windows?) alternatives to LightningDraw?


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

The boxed version of LightningDraw GX was the first thing I bought on the Internet. The bundled GX fonts still work perfectly in OSX apps. It’s sad that Mr Amelio didn’t also enable GX graphics to be supported in OSX.

Sorry about the logo. I was just trying to be helpful. Uploaded files are deleted automatically by the host.

Alternatives? Anything that creates Flash files. You could try Expression 3.3. On Windows, I’ve read good things about Xara, but haven’t used it.


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Sometime around 8/10/09 (at 07:54 -0400) IanB said:

It’s sad that Mr Amelio didn’t also enable GX graphics to be supported in OSX.

Gil Amelio was history long before Mac OS X of course. It would be
tempting to see this as yet another thing callously axed by Steve
Jobs, but although the whole GX issue was handled incredibly badly
I’d say it probably was the right thing to do. In hindsight. Through
gritted teeth.

Although it killed off so many innovative and exciting apps. :frowning:

k


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Hi
As i started this thread and it was about graphics, maybe I can raise this related issue. It is embarassingly basic.
I have a page with a header and have applied a fillmaster action. Fine.
I have a graphic in the header and have attached a rollover action. Also fine.
I then place another graphic (button, just a rectangle. in the header and apply a rollover action. Not fine. Been on this all day-got nowhere. It applies the action to the header not the graphic item. This means when I try to use two button images as the rollover I have all sorts of display issues such as the action-generated graphic fill of the header obscuring one of the rollover buttons.
I have tried with css and table layout, switching over to tables to create the set of aligned images for the buttons then switching back (as css has to be off to get all images in the stack appearing in the actions palette for rollover. Tried other freeway files etc. I am failing miserably to carry out the most basic task. What CAN I be doing wrong?


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Just to also add that today Freeway has crashed eight times and taken my work with it. I have restarted my iMac but it still keeps crashing. Don’t know if this is connected?


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Hi Martin,

Can you let our support department know what you did leading up to the
crashes please. If you could send them a copy of a crash report too
that would be great. they are stored in your Home/Library/Logs/Crash
Reporter folder.

Many thanks,

Joe

On 8 Oct 2009, at 16:09, Martin Bullivant wrote:

Just to also add that today Freeway has crashed eight times and
taken my work with it. I have restarted my iMac but it still keeps
crashing. Don’t know if this is connected?


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

OK Joe will do.
As my old gran used to say…
There’s summat rum ere…
Will send the reports through
Martin


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Just a note to say that I have uninstalled and reinstalled Freeway… and so far I am not having the bizarre misbehaviour issues I hit recently. I am suspicious that my installation of the software had somehow become compromised… Would explain a lot!
Crash reports have been sent to Softpress and there has been excellent customer service and support over this. Perhaps the reports will show us something?


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Ian-you said that anything that creates Flash files can provide sharp vector output-I have Flash CS4 but not yet learned how to use it-Have tried but results looked poor. What do I need to know to open a file and export it using Flash? Do I just open it (as a gif/png/etc and export it? Doesn’t sound right… Is there a quick set of steps to do this? Or is it a full on complex Adobe-Flash type job?


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

‘…it probably was the right thing to do.’

For whom? I spent my own good money on the apps, so it wasn’t right for me. Of course, Apple’s strategy has been shown to be correct, but isn’t it strange, that 15 or so years after the web became practical, users are still having problems creating clear, sharp graphics for web sites? If anything, OSX’ fuzzy rasterised look has made these tasks harder. Apple ditched a decent vector solution, QDGX, in favour of a bitmap-based structure. They should have kept everything vector until the end of the process and then rasterise, but what do I know?

GX needed improvement, but it was basically sound. If Apple had created an X-Code for QDGX and built GX into their own apps, it should have done as well as OSX.

‘Although it killed off so many innovative and exciting apps. :-(‘

Can you expand on this?


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

“What do I need to know to open a file and export it using Flash?”

You will need an Illustrator file—a version of the logo saved as in AI format. Exporting a gif/png won’t solve the problem. For the sharpest results, you need to keep everything vector and let Freeway do the rasterising.

I don’t have the latest Adobe software and don’t know the Flash application, but the following should work:
Open the Illustrator file in Flash. If it opens as a vector file, go to the Export menu and select ‘Flash .swf’. Click OK. You should now have an swf (vector) version of the logo.

Drag the .swf file into a Freeway document and preview in Safari. Freeway will generate a bitmap (probably a GIF) version of the logo. In the browser, the logo should look identical to the original Illustrator image.

If you can’t get this to work, Expression 3.3 imports Illustrator drawings up to version 8 and Exports to the Flash .swf format. To get the file into Expression, you’ll probably have to Export the logo in the Illustrator Legacy format. According to this document:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/332/332136.html
Illustrator Legacy files are compatible with several versions of Illustrator, including v8.

Expression 3.3 can be downloaded from various sites. You will probably have to register with Microsoft.


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Thanks I’ll try it.
One other issue I’m having is that for a reason I don’t understand every so often items in the left hand site/pages panel get a very fine cross in them and I can’t find the item on the editable page any more-still shows up in some form in preview but I can’t do anything with t… can’t find any clue in the manuals or online as to what this cross means and its making my life miserable. Can anyone explain???


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

‘Šit probably was the right thing to do.’

For whom?

For Apple and for the Mac industry, and
therefore, in the end, for us. Moving the Mac’s
foundations and technologies onto established and
open industry standards was more important in the
long run.

If anything, OSX’ fuzzy rasterised look has made these tasks harder.

Actually, antialiasing has the curious effect of
making things seem higher resolution. :slight_smile:

Apple ditched a decent vector solution, QDGX,
in favour of a bitmap-based structure. They
should have kept everything vector until the end
of the process and then rasterise

That’s largely what does happen in OS X. The
imaging technologies at the heart of the Mac OS
are a form of Display PostScript and are closely
related to PDF.

Can you expand on this?

The GX development community was coming up with
cool stuff - it was very exciting. But it isn’t
really something worth dwelling on, except to say
that Freeway’s roots lie in this area.
Anyway, the same thing happened with OpenDoc.
That was amazing technology, truly stunning.
And dead as a dodo.

k


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

Still on graphics related issues…
I am in difficulties with rollovers… If I create a header, then fill it with a graphic, then place another smaller graphic item then duplicate it and apply a rollover in order to create a navigation button, , I find that sometimes FW applies the action to that button graphic, and at other times to the graphic in the background. What am I doing stupid this time? I have tried it in both css and tables mode (need to be in tables mode for the graphic buttons to show up in the actions palette) but I can’t see why this seems to happen one time and not the next???


freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options