Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Mari Voipio]

Hello all,

any graphic experts around who can bump me past a stupid hinder on my
way to understanding MPgraphics?


I'm trying to create a system of describing certain type of braiding
patterns (fingerloop braiding), based on what has been used in the
field before me - but they did it all manually either by pen or
computer, and I just do not fancy doing 40+ patterns by hand in
Inkscape, especially as my pattern recipe book keeps expanding and I'm
planning on that, too.

I think Metapost could be the solution, because I need simple shapes
and sometimes complicated but well-regulated paths/arrows to go
between them; I'm just being a clueless newbie, too much in the
WYSIWYG vector graphics mode to really know what to do.


Mostly with the examples in the Metafun manual I've managed to get as
far as to my basic building block, two circles joined by a curve:


\startMPpage
path p, q, r ;

p := fullcircle scaled 8mm ;
q := p shifted (0cm,24mm) ;
r := center p .. (12mm,12mm) .. center q ;

pair pr, qr ;

pr := p intersectionpoint r ;
qr := q intersectionpoint r ;

r := r cutbefore pr cutafter qr ;
r := r cutends 0.2mm ;

draw r withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ;
draw p withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill p withcolor white;
draw q withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill q withcolor black;
\stopMPpage



However, I don't seem to be able to find the answers to the next questions:

a) I need to be able to stack four of these on top of each other and
then four mirrored ones next to them (all-in-all a 2 x 4 grid/block),
and probably a 1-block space between the two columns. I realize I can
do that with "shift", but should I make my single 'building block' a
group, a buffer or overlay or something else? Keeping in mind that I
will have to be able to draw a path/arrow on top, so I need to know
where they are.
(At some point I need to expand to more columns, but the number of
rows is still 4 as we have humans have just four aligned fingers per
hand - thumbs aren't counted - but one can add hands i.e. people to
work wider braids.)


b) The circles p and q can be filled with the same colour or two
different colours, and each of the blocks in a pattern can have
different fill colour (e.g. two totally black, two totally white, two
half-and-half with either black or white on top). The pen/outline
colour should stay as black, which means that I can't implement the
symbol example in the Metafun manual (the smiley that is totally
switched from black to red).
I don't mind having different blocks for monocoloured and bicoloured
versions, but it would be nice to be able to say something like
\usesloop[lh,blue] for 'take a single-coloured left-hand loop in blue'
instead of having to dig deeper into the MP code every time.

I assume the answer is "use variables", but how?



I used millimeters here because it just feels more natural to me,
that's what textile crafts does (when not based on inches like
quilting and scrapbooking...). The measurements won't be shown
anywhere - these are graphs or pictograms, not real pictures - so I
can still switch to using something else. Besides, if the "building
block" approach works, there isn't that much to be changed, get the
first block right and the rest can be calculated from there.



Any ideas on how I can achieve the ease that surely exists somewhere there?
I'll take plain Metapost or a combination of Metapost and Metafun +
ConTeXt as I'll use ConTeXt anyway to achieve multi-format output with
a minimum of fuss.



Help thankfully received, as always,

Mari



PS. Today's craft related metaphor: I feel just like I was staring at
a messed up skein of yarn: I know  that I'm now holding one of the
ends, I thus can start to untangle the knot - and the more I pry
loose, the less there's left to sort out. However, in the beginning
the process tends to be very slow and awkward...
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Hans Hagen]

On 23-4-2012 19:34, Mari Voipio wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> any graphic experts around who can bump me past a stupid hinder on my
> way to understanding MPgraphics?
>
>
> I'm trying to create a system of describing certain type of braiding
> patterns (fingerloop braiding), based on what has been used in the
> field before me - but they did it all manually either by pen or
> computer, and I just do not fancy doing 40+ patterns by hand in
> Inkscape, especially as my pattern recipe book keeps expanding and I'm
> planning on that, too.
>
> I think Metapost could be the solution, because I need simple shapes
> and sometimes complicated but well-regulated paths/arrows to go
> between them; I'm just being a clueless newbie, too much in the
> WYSIWYG vector graphics mode to really know what to do.
>
>
> Mostly with the examples in the Metafun manual I've managed to get as
> far as to my basic building block, two circles joined by a curve:
>
>
> \startMPpage
> path p, q, r ;
>
> p := fullcircle scaled 8mm ;
> q := p shifted (0cm,24mm) ;
> r := center p .. (12mm,12mm) .. center q ;
>
> pair pr, qr ;
>
> pr := p intersectionpoint r ;
> qr := q intersectionpoint r ;
>
> r := r cutbefore pr cutafter qr ;
> r := r cutends 0.2mm ;
>
> draw r withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ;
> draw p withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill p withcolor white;
> draw q withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill q withcolor black;
> \stopMPpage
>
>
>
> However, I don't seem to be able to find the answers to the next questions:
>
> a) I need to be able to stack four of these on top of each other and
> then four mirrored ones next to them (all-in-all a 2 x 4 grid/block),
> and probably a 1-block space between the two columns. I realize I can
> do that with "shift", but should I make my single 'building block' a
> group, a buffer or overlay or something else? Keeping in mind that I
> will have to be able to draw a path/arrow on top, so I need to know
> where they are.
> (At some point I need to expand to more columns, but the number of
> rows is still 4 as we have humans have just four aligned fingers per
> hand - thumbs aren't counted - but one can add hands i.e. people to
> work wider braids.)
>
>
> b) The circles p and q can be filled with the same colour or two
> different colours, and each of the blocks in a pattern can have
> different fill colour (e.g. two totally black, two totally white, two
> half-and-half with either black or white on top). The pen/outline
> colour should stay as black, which means that I can't implement the
> symbol example in the Metafun manual (the smiley that is totally
> switched from black to red).
> I don't mind having different blocks for monocoloured and bicoloured
> versions, but it would be nice to be able to say something like
> \usesloop[lh,blue] for 'take a single-coloured left-hand loop in blue'
> instead of having to dig deeper into the MP code every time.
>
> I assume the answer is "use variables", but how?

something:

\startMPpage

def MyShape =
     image (
         path p, q, r ;

         p := fullcircle scaled 8mm ;
         q := p shifted (0cm,24mm) ;
         r := center p .. (12mm,12mm) .. center q ;

         pair pr, qr ;

         pr := p intersectionpoint r ;
         qr := q intersectionpoint r ;

         r := r cutbefore pr cutafter qr ;
         r := r cutends 0.2mm ;

         draw r withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ;
         draw p withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill p 
withcolor white;
         draw q withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill q 
withcolor black;
     )
enddef ;

for i=0 step 2cm until 8cm :
     for j=0 step 4cm until 12cm :
         draw MyShape shifted (i,j) ;
     endfor ;
endfor ;

\stopMPpage


there are picture variables, so

picture pp ; pp := image(...) ;

can be used

> I used millimeters here because it just feels more natural to me,
> that's what textile crafts does (when not based on inches like
> quilting and scrapbooking...). The measurements won't be shown
> anywhere - these are graphs or pictograms, not real pictures - so I
> can still switch to using something else. Besides, if the "building
> block" approach works, there isn't that much to be changed, get the
> first block right and the rest can be calculated from there.

mm are okay, alternative use no dimension, just numbers and scale 
afterwards:

currentpicture := currentpicture xsized 10cm ;

or so.

> PS. Today's craft related metaphor: I feel just like I was staring at
> a messed up skein of yarn: I know  that I'm now holding one of the
> ends, I thus can start to untangle the knot - and the more I pry
> loose, the less there's left to sort out. However, in the beginning
> the process tends to be very slow and awkward...

beware, metapost is addictive once you get better in it,

(btw, a talk about this will fit nicely in the upcoming eurotex theme)

Hans

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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Mari Voipio]

On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 20:34, Mari Voipio <mari.voipio@iki.fi> wrote:
> a) I need to be able to stack four of these on top of each other and
> then four mirrored ones next to them

OK, I really was being stupid - I had already managed to do a "shift"
inside a single 'block', somehow I just didn't see that I could do the
same to the blocks:



\startMPpage


picture ll ; % left-hand loop
ll :=
	image (
		path p, q, r ;

		p := fullcircle scaled 4mm ;
		q := p shifted (0mm,10mm) ;
		r := center p .. (5mm,5mm) .. center q ;

		pair pr, qr ;

		pr := p intersectionpoint r ;
		qr := q intersectionpoint r ;

		r := r cutbefore pr cutafter qr ;
		r := r cutends 0.2mm ;

		draw r withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; % the connecting curve
		draw p withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill p
withcolor black ; % upper shank
		draw q withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill q
withcolor black ; % lower shank
		);


draw ll ;
draw ll shifted (0mm,20mm) ;
draw ll shifted (0mm,40mm) ;
draw ll shifted (0mm,60mm) ;


\stopMPpage


> Keeping in mind that I
> will have to be able to draw a path/arrow on top, so I need to know
> where they are.

My little brain got an overflow from all this abstract thinking, but
then it dawned on me that I could use the millimeter grid recipe in
the MetaFun manual (p. 214) to draw a grid behind my pattern drawing.
Now placing the arrows should be a walk in the park...



> b) The circles p and q can be filled with the same colour or two
> different colours, and each of the blocks in a pattern can have
> different fill colour
>
> I assume the answer is "use variables", but how?

Gaah, I still cannot figure it out!
A real example: one of my own patterns has white up and down on first
loop, black up white down on second, white up and down on third and
blue up and down on fourth. So I'd need

draw ll ; % and fill both circles with white
draw ll shifted (0mm,20mm) ; % and fill lower circle with white,
shifted/upper circle with black
draw ll shifted (0mm,40mm) ; % fill both circles with white
draw ll shifted (0mm,60mm) ; % fill both circles with blue


What is the shortest way of doing this? I don't mind writing
definitions earlier in the file, but I'd rather keep this part as
short as possible to be able to see the pattern at one glance. The
main problem comes from the bicoloured loops as I can't just apply the
same fill on both. And on the whole I'd prefer to make sure I apply
the fill only locally per each half-loop and not all over the place...



Getting closer,

Mari


PS. I don't have any photos of the above braid, but here's a typical
fingerloop braid that I did and need to document:
http://www.lucet.fi/2012/04/sydamellista-hearty/
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Peter Rolf]

Hi Mari,

Am 30.04.2012 23:40, schrieb Mari Voipio:
> On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 20:34, Mari Voipio <mari.voipio@iki.fi> wrote:
>> a) I need to be able to stack four of these on top of each other and
>> then four mirrored ones next to them
> 
> OK, I really was being stupid - I had already managed to do a "shift"
> inside a single 'block', somehow I just didn't see that I could do the
> same to the blocks:
> 
> 
> 
> \startMPpage
> 
> 
> picture ll ; % left-hand loop
> ll :=
> 	image (
> 		path p, q, r ;
> 
> 		p := fullcircle scaled 4mm ;
> 		q := p shifted (0mm,10mm) ;
> 		r := center p .. (5mm,5mm) .. center q ;
> 
> 		pair pr, qr ;
> 
> 		pr := p intersectionpoint r ;
> 		qr := q intersectionpoint r ;
> 
> 		r := r cutbefore pr cutafter qr ;
> 		r := r cutends 0.2mm ;
> 
> 		draw r withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; % the connecting curve
> 		draw p withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill p
> withcolor black ; % upper shank
> 		draw q withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; fill q
> withcolor black ; % lower shank
> 		);
> 
> 
> draw ll ;
> draw ll shifted (0mm,20mm) ;
> draw ll shifted (0mm,40mm) ;
> draw ll shifted (0mm,60mm) ;
> 
> 
> \stopMPpage
> 
> 
>> Keeping in mind that I
>> will have to be able to draw a path/arrow on top, so I need to know
>> where they are.
> 
> My little brain got an overflow from all this abstract thinking, but
> then it dawned on me that I could use the millimeter grid recipe in
> the MetaFun manual (p. 214) to draw a grid behind my pattern drawing.
> Now placing the arrows should be a walk in the park...
> 
> 
> 
>> b) The circles p and q can be filled with the same colour or two
>> different colours, and each of the blocks in a pattern can have
>> different fill colour
>>
>> I assume the answer is "use variables", but how?
> 
> Gaah, I still cannot figure it out!
> A real example: one of my own patterns has white up and down on first
> loop, black up white down on second, white up and down on third and
> blue up and down on fourth. So I'd need
> 
> draw ll ; % and fill both circles with white
> draw ll shifted (0mm,20mm) ; % and fill lower circle with white,
> shifted/upper circle with black
> draw ll shifted (0mm,40mm) ; % fill both circles with white
> draw ll shifted (0mm,60mm) ; % fill both circles with blue
>
> 
> What is the shortest way of doing this? I don't mind writing
> definitions earlier in the file, but I'd rather keep this part as
> short as possible to be able to see the pattern at one glance. The
> main problem comes from the bicoloured loops as I can't just apply the
> same fill on both. And on the whole I'd prefer to make sure I apply
> the fill only locally per each half-loop and not all over the place...
>
donno what is the shortest way, but this looks at least handy...


\startMPinclusions

patternsize:= 20mm;

def lhl(expr ca,cb,sx,sy) =
     picture lefthandloop;
     lefthandloop := image (
         path p, q, r ;
         p := fullcircle scaled 4mm ;
         q := p shifted (0mm,10mm) ;
         r := center p .. (5mm,5mm) .. center q ;
         r := r cutbefore (p intersectionpoint r) cutafter (q
intersectionpoint r) ;

         draw r withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; % the
connecting curve
         fill p withcolor ca;
         draw p withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; % upper
shank
         fill q withcolor cb;
         draw q withpen pencircle scaled 0.2mm withcolor black ; % lower
shank
         );
     draw lefthandloop shifted (sx*patternsize,sy*patternsize);
enddef;

\stopMPinclusions


\startMPpage

lhl(white,white,0,0);
lhl(white,black,0,1);
lhl(white,white,0,2);
lhl(blue ,blue ,0,3);

\stopMPpage




Best wishes, Peter
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Mari Voipio]

On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 9:04 PM, Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> wrote:
> beware, metapost is addictive once you get better in it,

It is. :-)

This one is to both you and Peter, because your snippets together
helped me adjust from WYSIWYG vector graphics to MetaPost - not that
I'm that far yet, but I understand a lot more than I did.

http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/


The fingerloop braiding patterns are still under construction, but I
think I now know a lot better what I need to do there. And my
fingerloop braiding suite idea was well received, so it looks like
ConTeXt will be present at Braids 2012 in August
(http://www.braidsociety.com/confer.htm); not as a talk, but as
finished materials, in poster form and, obviously, on my computer.


> (btw, a talk about this will fit nicely in the upcoming eurotex theme)

I think I already happened to promise that to Taco... I guess the
title of my talk is now "TeXtile craft" or "TeXtiles" or something
like that. You still time to make a wish or two. :-)


Definitely hooked on MetaPost,

Mari
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Mari Voipio]

PS. I got this link from a friend who'd struggled with an event
registration system, but it SO applies to my MetaPost project:

http://www.howtogeek.com/102420/geeks-versus-non-geeks-when-doing-repetitive-tasks-funny-chart/


(Scary, I seem to count as "geek"now...)
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[luigi scarso]

On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM, Mari Voipio <mari.voipio@iki.fi> wrote:
> http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/
"""
ConTeXt, developed by the Dutch company Pragma Advanced Document
Engineering, is not open source software,
"""
Hm, I'm not sure that it's correct.
-- 
luigi
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Wolfgang Schuster]

Am 06.05.2012 um 11:16 schrieb luigi scarso:

> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM, Mari Voipio <mari.voipio@iki.fi> wrote:
>> http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/
> """
> ConTeXt, developed by the Dutch company Pragma Advanced Document
> Engineering, is not open source software,
> """
> Hm, I'm not sure that it's correct.

ConTeXt is licensed under the GPL, you can find the information in this document: http://pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/mreadme.pdf

Wolfgang

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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[luigi scarso]

On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Wolfgang Schuster
<schuster.wolfgang@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> Am 06.05.2012 um 11:16 schrieb luigi scarso:
>
>> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM, Mari Voipio <mari.voipio@iki.fi> wrote:
>>> http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/
>> """
>> ConTeXt, developed by the Dutch company Pragma Advanced Document
>> Engineering, is not open source software,
>> """
>> Hm, I'm not sure that it's correct.
>
> ConTeXt is licensed under the GPL, you can find the information in this document: http://pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/mreadme.pdf
yes I know: another useful link is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:ConTeXt

I think we can say that, at least today,
"ConTeXt  is not open source software"
is wrong,
but maybe there are  older versions for which this statement is  still true.

-- 
luigi
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Pontus Lurcock]

On Sun 06 May 2012, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:

> 
> Am 06.05.2012 um 11:16 schrieb luigi scarso:
> 
> > On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM, Mari Voipio <mari.voipio@iki.fi> wrote:
> >> http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/
> > """
> > ConTeXt, developed by the Dutch company Pragma Advanced Document
> > Engineering, is not open source software,
> > """
> > Hm, I'm not sure that it's correct.
> 
> ConTeXt is licensed under the GPL, you can find the information in this document: http://pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/mreadme.pdf

There was previous discussion and clarification on this at
http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12431/using-context-commercially
and
http://archive.contextgarden.net/message/20110301.213750.c7a55835.en.html .

Pont
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Hans Hagen]

On 6-5-2012 13:33, Pontus Lurcock wrote:
> On Sun 06 May 2012, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:
>
>>
>> Am 06.05.2012 um 11:16 schrieb luigi scarso:
>>
>>> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM, Mari Voipio<mari.voipio@iki.fi>  wrote:
>>>> http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/
>>> """
>>> ConTeXt, developed by the Dutch company Pragma Advanced Document
>>> Engineering, is not open source software,
>>> """
>>> Hm, I'm not sure that it's correct.
>>
>> ConTeXt is licensed under the GPL, you can find the information in this document: http://pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/mreadme.pdf
>
> There was previous discussion and clarification on this at
> http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12431/using-context-commercially
> and
> http://archive.contextgarden.net/message/20110301.213750.c7a55835.en.html .

In the past (previous century, first releases) there hqad been some 
restrictions (i've forgotten which) that had to do with the fact that a 
third party was using context for a project and that we got notice that 
lawyers of that company would claimed copyright of context because it 
had become part of their workflow ... so, we had to make sure that by 
making context public it could not be used against us (like: we take 
context, add a few lines, and now it's ours). Then someone convinced us 
that people who 'd do such things would probably get themselves outcast 
from any community anyway, i.e. that there is some protection is being 
part of the tex community.

I think that there are still some recomendations with respect to not 
using the same filenames for patched files (simply because tex is always 
a large file infrastructure and we don't want to be bothered with 
support for such patched). AFAIK that is not much different than with latex.

Anyhow, license discussions are mostly wasted on me.

Hans


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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Hans Hagen]

On 6-5-2012 10:53, Mari Voipio wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 9:04 PM, Hans Hagen<pragma@wxs.nl>  wrote:
>> beware, metapost is addictive once you get better in it,
>
> It is. :-)
>
> This one is to both you and Peter, because your snippets together
> helped me adjust from WYSIWYG vector graphics to MetaPost - not that
> I'm that far yet, but I understand a lot more than I did.
>
> http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/

Best change that in:

ConTeXt, developed by the Dutch company Pragma Advanced Document 
Engineering, is open source software and avaliable as stand alone 
distribution (www.contextgarden.net) and is also part of regular tex 
distributions (like texlive).

It can be used commercially (within the rules of gpl etc etc) which I'm 
sure of some folks do. Of course you could joke that 'commercial usage 
is permitted given that a donation is made to the context group so that 
those involved can meet every now and then to discuss its usage and 
present recent work like yours).

(btw, I always wonder if the gpl restrictions also apply to the makers 
too ... i.e. if I extend context for a project should I then also make 
those extensions public ... quite a hassle if that would be true.)

Hans

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                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
     tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
                                              | www.pragma-pod.nl
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Martin Schröder]

2012/5/6 Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>:
> (btw, I always wonder if the gpl restrictions also apply to the makers too
> ... i.e. if I extend context for a project should I then also make those
> extensions public ... quite a hassle if that would be true.)

The copyright holders are free to use any license. So we have the
"free" ConTeXt used by anybody but Pragma and the "non-free" version
sold by Pragma to its customers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_license

Best
   Martin
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Hans Hagen]

On 6-5-2012 14:53, Martin Schröder wrote:
> 2012/5/6 Hans Hagen<pragma@wxs.nl>:
>> (btw, I always wonder if the gpl restrictions also apply to the makers too
>> ... i.e. if I extend context for a project should I then also make those
>> extensions public ... quite a hassle if that would be true.)
>
> The copyright holders are free to use any license. So we have the
> "free" ConTeXt used by anybody but Pragma and the "non-free" version
> sold by Pragma to its customers.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_license

Ok. Not that we ever sold something (if needed we install it as part of 
a service). Of course we do make non public styles but I suppose that a 
'free' context user can do that as well.

Hans


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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Mari Voipio]

On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> wrote:
>> http://www.lucet.fi/textiles/
>
>
> Best change that in:
>
> ConTeXt, developed by the Dutch company Pragma Advanced Document
> Engineering, is open source software and avaliable as stand alone
> distribution (www.contextgarden.net) and is also part of regular tex
> distributions (like texlive).


OK, done. And I added some more stuff that I forgot originally.

Don't know if I should split the page into smaller units - but somehow
I feel that those who'll be interested in it, are capable of reading
more than one screenful. We'll see what this turns into.
Today I used my new skills with frames and the Lucida OT Handwriting
to create insides for a Mother's Day card as I needed something that
is exactly the right size. :-D



Thank you,

Mari
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Re: Metapost/Metafun Q: using variables and "building blocks"?

[Mari Voipio]

On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 4:52 PM, Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> wrote:
> You have seen this one, haven't you? Posted by Don Knuth:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVuggGxeBVk
>
> So that's your next challenge.

Yes, I've seen it, had to watch the whole thing, it is so fascinating.

If I ever decide to invest in such a machine, it'll be an expensive
one that allows me to digitize my own graphics (not just ready-made
sets), preferably as vectors. In which case doing *that* isn't so much
of a challenge any more.

I've coveted one of those for a while, but currently cannot justifty
getting one, neither for fun nor for my tiny craft business as that
one is concentrated on the pre-steam era. However, I'm planning to use
MetaPost to create blackwork charts, I've got the feeling that it'll
give me neater results than any existing software. And I won't be
stuck with one OS, either. :-)


Mari
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