Software that makes placemats

Organise events to meet up and drink Port.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

The effect of the boolean TastingNotesCirclesBehindFitAndCentreInRow can be seen in the following two-frame GIF.
Image
I prefer the bigger circles (radius 87.7 rather than 77.7); others don’t.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

At the Bell AHB and RAYC did not like the layout of the circles on the TN sheets.
Image Image Image Image Image
(Circles are usually fainter, at 0.2× the ink density of the glasses sheets, but on a small bitmap that was too faint, so here have been darkened to 0.5×.)

IIRC, the original complainants liked the first two sheets, diagonals \ and /, but not next two verticals |, and I don’t recall a comment on the fifth. Perhaps they could say more, and others could concur or otherwise.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

My comment was that it caused my OCD to react badly when I was met with lines of circles which did not continue from the same point when moving to the next sheet in the tasting notes.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

AHB wrote:continue from the same point when moving to the next sheet in the tasting notes.
Does that mean that you would have been happy with an ordering like the following? (With obvious changing of which glasses on which sheets.)
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Note to self: 0→1→0→½→½→1→1→½→0 gives the eight page types seen in the draft of the Taylor placemats for 22 March 2013, but in an order satisfying the ‘Bridgeman condition’.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

jdaw1 wrote:Does that mean that you would have been happy with an ordering like the following?
Note to self: 0→1→0→½→½→1→1→½→0 gives the eight page types seen in the draft of the Taylor placemats for 22 March 2013, but in an order satisfying the ‘Bridgeman condition’.
Yes! This would have been much more comfortable for my aesthetics!
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

jdaw1 wrote:0→1→0→½→½→1→1→½→0
Or 0→1→1→0→½→½→1→½→0.
Or 0→1→1→0→½→1→½→½→0.
Do express a preference or I’ll have to choose. (Obviously, 0=Left, 1=Right, and ½=Centre.)
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Depends on how many pages of tasting notes there are.

But say I prefer 0->.5->1->0.5->0
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
PhilW
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by PhilW »

Peronally I much prefer the diagonals over the verticals (and am not one of those previously expressing such view). I think probably because much of the page already contains grid-based elements, and the diagonal layout with circles adds good counterpoint. I also prefer the slightly larger circles which overlap the horizontal lines to the smaller ones which fit within; these are both purely aesthetic judgements.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

PhilW wrote:Peronally I much prefer the diagonals over the verticals (and am not one of those previously expressing such view). I think probably because much of the page already contains grid-based elements, and the diagonal layout with circles adds good counterpoint. I also prefer the slightly larger circles which overlap the horizontal lines to the smaller ones which fit within; these are both purely aesthetic judgements.
I agree with your first point (diagonals), and for the reason you give. Which suggests 0→1→0→½→1→1→½→½→0.

I agree with your second point (larger rather than smaller), but the consensus was otherwise.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

As illustrated in the following example, the default arrangement is now 0→1→0→½→1→1→½→½→0→0↻ (which includes all nine elements of {0, ½, 1} × {0, ½, 1}).
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
If there are more than nine TN sheets, the default pattern starts again at the beginning. Henceforth his should be considered a desideratum.

Parameters used to make this example:

Code: Select all

/Circlearrays [
	1  1  6 9 mul {[ exch 2 string cvs ]} for
] def
/Titles [ Circlearrays {0 get} forall ] def
/Belowtitles [ Circlearrays length {()} repeat ] def

/Names [
	[(JDA) {-0.08 Kern} (W)]
] def

/TastingNotesCirclesBehind true def
/TastingNotesCirclesBehindFadingFactor 0.35 def

/HeaderLeftText (TastingNotesCirclesBehind: a test) def
/HeaderCenterText [] def
/HeaderRightText [
	(www) {-0.092 Kern} (.jdawiseman.com)
] def

/VoteRecorders false def
/NonDecanterLabelGlassesNumCopies 0 def
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

I’m considering adding two more parameters:
CopyrightOfPlacematsText
CopyrightOfPlacematsLink
with default values
(This work by Julian D. A. Wiseman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence.)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- ... deed.en_GB) (here clickable)

Are there any objections, particularly to the choice of default values? (And if anybody knows how to use pdfmark to add a machine-readable CC licence to a PDF, please reveal. [Edit: question asked])
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

No objection from me.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

The author of [url=http://www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemat.html#placematcopyright]the manual[/url] wrote: Recent changes

December 2012
Addition to log page:
Image
That link, clickable: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.en_GB.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

jdaw1 wrote:As illustrated in the following example, the default arrangement is now 0→1→0→½→1→1→½→½→0→0↻ (which includes all nine elements of {0, ½, 1} × {0, ½, 1}).
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
If there are more than nine TN sheets, the default pattern starts again at the beginning. Henceforth his should be considered a desideratum.

Parameters used to make this example:

Code: Select all

/Circlearrays [
	1  1  6 9 mul {[ exch 2 string cvs ]} for
] def
/Titles [ Circlearrays {0 get} forall ] def
/Belowtitles [ Circlearrays length {()} repeat ] def

/Names [
	[(JDA) {-0.08 Kern} (W)]
] def

/TastingNotesCirclesBehind true def
/TastingNotesCirclesBehindFadingFactor 0.35 def

/HeaderLeftText (TastingNotesCirclesBehind: a test) def
/HeaderCenterText [] def
/HeaderRightText [
	(www) {-0.092 Kern} (.jdawiseman.com)
] def

/VoteRecorders false def
/NonDecanterLabelGlassesNumCopies 0 def
I do like this new default
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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DRT
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

AHB wrote:I do like this new default
I like it so much I don't know how I managed to live without it.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Roy Hersh has given the software a plug, on page 5 of issue 73 (December 2012) of his newsletter.
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

jdaw1 wrote:Roy Hersh has given the software a plug, on page 5 of issue 73 (December 2012) of his newsletter.
Excellent 88)
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Andy Velebil »

DRT wrote:
jdaw1 wrote:Roy Hersh has given the software a plug, on page 5 of issue 73 (December 2012) of his newsletter.
Excellent 88)
+1
This months newsletter with this plug is available for free on the FTLOP home page. Though you do have to register on the site, which is also free.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Indeed, the pictures sent to RAH for that page also recently appeared on his Facebook account (in case you were wondering about their source).
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

On [url=http://fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?p=83382#p83382]FTLoP[/url] Eric Menchen wrote:O.k., I'll throw this out there for Julian or an expert on this. I once made a sheet where there was one row across. I went to make a new sheet based on that, but I see the baseline has changed significantly, so I should probably use the new baseline ... How so I make an 11x17, landscape, with one row of six glasses across the top. I want there to be blank space below. Any pointers? (FYI, the 6 are 1955, 1970, 1977, 1985, 1992, and 2000 Taylor Image )
New version has extra possible values for use in PermittedPackingStyles: /TopRow /MiddleRow /BottomRow.
Later, on [url=http://fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?p=83873#p83873]FTLoP[/url] Eric Menchen wrote:
Julian D. A. Wiseman wrote:Please always start from the latest version. Things improve.
Understood. But I was hacking, and my attempts to hack the new one weren't working so well, so I started with something I had already modified before. But the new version is really cool with the error report at the end when you render it.
The used arrangement was /Gaia on US Ledger = 11″×17″ = /USL2.
Even later, on [url=http://fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?p=83889#p83889]FTLoP[/url] Eric Menchen wrote:My reason for using 11x17, and also for wanting to try to run the circles across the top was to accommodate a dinner plate. After we tasted the Port, I cooked up duck breasts served with a Port-cherry sauce. People could keep drinking what they had left with the dinner. With the Gaia arrangement it was necessary to move the glasses slightly, but you could still keep them arranged and know which was which.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Somebody asked me about the placemats. I sent an email of which a slightly edited version follows, perhaps for future reuse.
jdaw1 wrote:You asked about the placemats. It is all completely free (not even freemium the version on the website is the same thing I use). Start at the manual, at www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemat.html.

A little scrolling down brings you to a green box entitled Making Your First Placemat: Advice for Beginners. That has all the instructions, and even a link to the program at www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemat.ps.

Don’t decide to start this one day before the tasting. You’ll be too busy. Please do have a play and experiment and test much further in advance.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

+TitleMaxHeightProportionInnerRadius, the default value of which might lessen how often it is worth changing FontSizesRatioTitlesMin.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Following discussion at the Doty Cup, default value of TastingNotesCirclesBehindFadingFactorIfAllBlack changed to 0.125 (from 0.1).
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Glenn E. »

Since the last time that I made placemats for a large tasting (18 glasses) on USL2 (11" x 17"), a parameter has changed so that the software now defaults to put only 6 glasses on each sheet. That is rather silly.

My first thought was that GlassesOnSheets would be the culprit, but I find the code for that indecipherable. To wit:

/GlassesOnSheets [
[ 0 Titles length 1 sub /e exch def /s exch def s 1 e {dup e lt e s sub 6 ge and {dup s sub e s sub 1 add dup 6 div ceiling cvi 3 -1 roll 3 copy mul exch idiv 4 1 roll 1 add mul exch idiv ne {][} if} if} for ]
] def % /GlassesOnSheets

How can I tell the current version of the software to please put all 18 glasses on a single sheet of USL2? We have done it before and we did not find the spacing to be too tight.

Worst case I can simply re-use an old version of the software, but I would prefer to keep up-to-date.
Glenn Elliott
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Code: Select all

/GlassesOnSheets [ 
	[ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ]
] def
or

Code: Select all

/GlassesOnSheets [ 
	[ 0 1 17 {} for ]
] def
I also don’t like the default of GlassesOnSheets. But, mostly, people want glasses divvied over however many sheets it takes, up to six glasses on each. The default does that. Please suggest an alternative parameterisation that would capture the two possible modes: auto ≤6; and truly custom.

Edit: Maybe something like

Code: Select all

/GlassesOnSheetsMode /SpreadOverSheets def    % /SpreadOverSheets /Custom
/GlassesOnSheetsMaxPerSheet 6 def    % For all glasses on one sheet set to a big integer
/GlassesOnSheetsCustom [  [ 0 1 2 3 ]  [ 4 5 6 7 ]  [ 8 9 10 11 ]  ] def
That seems to come much closer to the intuition of what’s wanted, and keeps some nasty code out of the parameters. Objections?

Actually, maybe ‟GlassesOnSheets” could have a better name. Suggestions?
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