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Christoph's Graphic Corner

All You Can Eat!

 

It's six years ago now, that I nearly left Calamus. When a system becomes obviously obsolete it's time for a change. Then Invers, the Calamus company, developed the Bridge module which was able to export PDF. I was thrilled how easy it was to export almost anything I had done with Calamus to PDF with a mouse click - and I stood with Calamus.

Some time went by and Invers came out with CALIPSO (CAL Import PostScript Objects). I was not so pleased because I hardly managed to import any EPS. Well, you could do some tricks to make it work and I wrote a MyAtari article about this import hassle.

I am personally proud of one little thing: when I became a beta-tester of Porthos - the PDF browser - I asked if it would be able to save CVG vector graphics. Wolfgang Domröse said he did not have the format discription. I got it by chance 12 years before and mailed it to him. Through this, Porthos became able to export vector graphics and pictures, too. Porthos was nice to have, but with export capabilities it became part of the Calamus work-flow.

Now the PDF browser mutated into a Calamus import module which rocks.

[Screen-shot: Calipso 3 information dialog]

You can import any PDF and the whole thing will be loaded into Calamus.

[Screen-shot: Import progress bar]

The text becomes vector graphics, that's the only sad thing, but still looks exactly like it should. Even a difficult PDF with lots of vector information comes out superb.

[Screen-shot: Imported page]

Any logo, any frame, it's all there. There is no converting any more. Just imagine you get a PDF document on-line, which you are asked to fill out. You open it with Calamus, fill out the form, export it with Bridge as PDF again and mail it away - that's pretty cool. Or you need a logo from a company - just get a PDF from its web site and you have it in no time.

Now, I am happy to say, Calamus on the import side not an island any more. For beginners it's still some work to get into the Calamus concept, but even with lots of modules it's cheaper than Quark (which is, by the way, the German word for chester) Express - and much more power without the price.

christoph@myatari.net

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MyAtari magazine - Feature #2, April 2004

 
Copyright 2004 MyAtari magazine