@@ -50,15 +50,22 @@ The simplest way to use +minicomic+ is to create a +Rakefile+ as follows: minicomic '.' -+minicomic+ will look for pages in a <tt>pages/</tt> folder in the given -directory (in this particular case, '.' meaning the directory where the -+Rakefile+ lives). Options can be included after the directory name, for -instance: ++minicomic+ will either look for pages in a <tt>pages/</tt> folder in the +given directory (in this particular case, '.' meaning the directory where the ++Rakefile+ lives), or for a <tt>pages.yaml</tt> file in the given directory. +Options can be included after the directory name, for instance: minicomic '.', :color => false (specific options will be discussed later) +There are two ways to define the files and options that will be used to +generate the comic: within the pages directory or by a definition +file called pages.yaml. <tt>pages.yaml</tt> takes precedence over +the <tt>pages/</tt> directory. + +=== within the pages directory + In the pages directory, +minicomic+ looks for SVG files named according to the following conventions: @@ -69,9 +76,9 @@ following conventions: <tt>inside-back.svg</tt>:: the inside back cover of the comic (optional) Page numbers start at 1 (page 1 is a right-handed page, and the first -interior page excluding the inside cover). The exact size of page documents -is not important; they will be scaled to fit the selected output format -(preserving aspect ratio). +interior page excluding the inside cover, unless <tt>:use_inside</tt> is true). +The exact size of page documents is not important; they will be scaled to fit +the selected output format (preserving aspect ratio). It is also possible to have two-page spreads in single files: @@ -81,6 +88,18 @@ It is also possible to have two-page spreads in single files: A two-page spread will be cut in half and each half placed on the appropriate page in the print output. +=== by definition file + +pages.yaml is a YAML file in the following format: + +<tt>- file: "page-one.svg"</tt>:: a single comic page +<tt>- blank: true</tt>:: a blank page +<tt>- { file: "full-cover.svg", page_name: "cover" }</tt>:: a comic page that is assigned to a particular special page in the comic (front-cover, back-cover, cover, inside-front, or inside-back) +<tt>- { file: "two-page-spread.svg", spread: true }</tt>:: a two-page spread + +Pages within the YAML file are numbered sequentially starting at page 1. Pages +that are assigned to special names do not count in the page number ordering. + == print output When generating output for print, +minicomic+ will round the number of @@ -93,18 +112,17 @@ size, and smaller graphics will be centered. There are several options which control how minicomic's print output is generated: -<tt>:format</tt>:: the format for the folded booklet; options are <tt>:half_letter</tt>, <tt>:a5</tt>, <tt>:b5</tt>, or a two-element array with dimensions in postscript points (default: <tt>:half_letter</tt>) +<tt>:paper</tt>:: the size of the paper the comic will be printed on; options are <tt>:letter</tt>, <tt>:legal</tt>, <tt>:tabloid</tt>, <tt>:a4</tt>, <tt>:a5</tt>, <tt>:b5</ii>, or a two-element array with dimensions in postscript points (default: <tt>:letter</tt>) <tt>:rasterize</tt>:: whether print output should be rasterized rather than being exported as PostScript -- PostScript will usually result in smaller files, but cannot support many Inkscape features like blur or transparency (default: +true+) <tt>:margin</tt>:: a nominal horizontal margin in PostScript points; the page images will be scaled down slightly to accomodate this margin (default: +13.5+, which is 3/16 of an inch) - -The required paper format will be the double the booklet's format, so -<tt>:half_letter</tt> requires US letter paper, <tt>:a5</tt> -requires A4 paper, and <tt>:b5</tt> requires B4 paper. +<tt>:use_inside</tt>:: if +true+, will set page 1 to be a left-handed page, on the opposite side of the cover (default: +false+) +<tt>:half_size</tt>:: if +true+, will double up the image on the page vertically to produce mini-minicomics (default: +false+) If the pages are rasterized, then the following options also apply to print: -<tt>:color</tt>:: <tt>true</tt>, <tt>false</tt>, or <tt>:monochrome</tt> -- whether the rasterized images should be full-color, greyscale, or monochrome (24-bit color, 8-bit greyscale, or 1-bit bitmap) (default: <tt>true</tt>) +<tt>:color</tt>:: <tt>true</tt>, <tt>false</tt>, or <tt>:monochrome</tt> -- whether the rasterized images should be full-color, greyscale, or monochrome (24-bit color, 8-bit greyscale, or 1-bit bitmap) (default: <tt>false</tt>) <tt>:dpi</tt>:: the target DPI for the rasterized page images (taking into account any scaling to accomodate the margins) (default: +200+) +<tt>:force_dpi</tt>:: if non-SVG images are loaded whose DPI is higher than the target <tt>:dpi</tt>, scale the image so that it uses the specified <tt>:dpi</tt> (default: +false+) === proof output @@ -144,7 +162,7 @@ This will generate a single PDF, <tt>print/duplex.pdf</tt>. When printing this PDF, if you're lucky, your printer it will deposit its output pages face-down and they will be ready for assembly (this is the norm). -Otherwise if it deposits its pages face-up, you will have reverse their order +Otherwise if it deposits its pages face-up, you will have to reverse their order before you can assemble the comic. == web output @@ -157,16 +175,20 @@ You can generate files for web upload via: The following options apply to web output: +<tt>:web_format</tt>:: the format for web output images; options are <tt>:png</tt> or <tt>:jpg</tt>/<tt>:jpeg</tt> (default: <tt>:png</tt>) <tt>:web_height</tt>:: the height, in pixels, of images for web output (width will be determined according to the page's aspect ratio) (default: 680) +<tt>:web_jpeg_quality</tt>:: the JPEG quality of the outputted JPEG files from 0-100 (default: 75) +<tt>:generate_thumbnails</tt>:: generate thumbnail images (default: +true+) <tt>:thumbnail_height</tt>:: the height, in pixels, of thumbnail images (default: 96) <tt>:color</tt>:: whether the generated images should be 24-bit color (+true+), 8-bit greyscale (+false+), or 4-bit greyscale (<tt>:monochrome</tt>) (default: <tt>true</tt>) === output files -When generating output for the web, +minicomic+ will generate a set of PNGs -and a corresponding set of JPEG thumbnails: +When generating output for the web, +minicomic+ will generate a set of either PNGs +or JPEGs and a corresponding set of JPEG thumbnails if <tt>:generate_thumbnails</tt> is +true+: -<tt>web/page-NN.png</tt>:: page +NN+ +<tt>web/page-NN.png</tt>:: page +NN+ as a PNG +<tt>web/page-NN.jpeg</tt>:: page +NN+ as a JPEG <tt>web/thumbnail-NN.jpeg</tt>:: thumbnail of page +NN+ For spreads, the filenames are similar, except instead of a single page number README 7bdf3c536f4505bc5269dba9c2d4d9c57204ccb9 John Bintz jcoswell@coswellproductions.org http://github.com/mental/minicomic/commit/26dec7365ea98b7a3020b049f27b7a59b5d10850 26dec7365ea98b7a3020b049f27b7a59b5d10850 2007-10-08T15:53:38-07:00 2007-10-08T15:53:38-07:00 update README with new options a9546d942f64c08ea6d87dbffb49846cb0ae2879 John Bintz jcoswell@coswellproductions.org