Graphics

PTC Arbortext Layout Developer divides graphics into two types, referred to as object graphics (.og tags) and raster graphics (.rg tags). These terms refer to vector graphics and bitmap graphics, respectively. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer treats these two graphic types differently as it uses two different methods to display them.

• Object graphics use PTC Arbortext Layout Developer’s own vector drawing functionality to render the graphics. SVG and CGM are the two most common types of graphic that are treated as object graphics. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer can import these formats and display them either inline or in frames. SVG XML instances created in PTC Arbortext Layout Developer can also be displayed as graphics, which supports the dynamic creation of graphics from content. In the Arbortext Publishing Engine and Arbortext Styler integrations, CGM and SVG graphics are converted to EPS before they reach PTC ALD during publishing. They are then treated as raster graphics.

A vector graphic drawing tool is provided in the PTC Arbortext Layout Developer— Desktop product interface, which allows you to create your own graphics. The vector tool features straight, curved, and freehand lines, regular shapes, and other typical vector tools. You can create your own lines and apply text to the path of those lines. It is also possible to use the outline of a character as a vector path. A number of samples that demonstrate the vector tool are provided with the PTC Arbortext Layout Developer— Desktop installation.

• Raster graphics can also be displayed inline or in frames. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer supports most bitmap graphic formats including TIFF, JPG, GIF, PNG, EPS, and BMP. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer can also treat a PDF as a graphic, letting you place a PDF page on a document page. PDF import also allows you to specify the specific page from a multi-page PDF that should be imported.

As already mentioned, graphics can be displayed inline or in frames. In Arbortext Styler stylesheet driven output, graphics in the text are displayed inline. Graphics assigned as backgrounds to page regions are displayed as part of the frame. Each method allows scaling of raster graphics in the horizontal and vertical axes. Vector graphics can be scaled when used inline, but not in frames. Scaling values can be:

• Fit to measure — scales the graphic to fit the amount of space available

• Absolute size — when the graphic must be a specific size

• Percentage of the original graphic’s size

• Preserve aspect ratio — ensure the ratio of horizontal to vertical is kept as the original graphic when one dimension has a scale

These properties only affect the display of the graphic in PTC Arbortext Layout Developer. They do not change the graphic file. This means that the same graphic can be displayed with different scaling at different places in a document without having to maintain multiple instances of the same graphic.

Graphics can either be linked to the PTC Arbortext Layout Developer document, which is the most usual case, or loaded into the document. The use of linked files keeps the document size to a minimum and allows the graphic to be updated externally without having to update the document itself. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer also supports OPI printing, where a low-resolution graphic is used for proofing and a high-resolution graphic is used when outputting the final document.

When creating PDF output, it is possible to specify a print option that retains the color profile information included in linked graphics. You can instruct PTC Arbortext Layout Developer to pass the graphic directly through to the PDF generation library. This option can also be used to ensure graphic transparent backgrounds are maintained.