timb.us wrote:

Whenever I share a vector file that requires non-standard (or non-free) fonts, I always convert the text into outline strokes (which turns it from editable text into vector paths) so anyone I share it with doesn’t need the font. Just a tip I thought I’d share. Otherwise, it’s looking good. 😀

Seconded. Plus, if you export to SVG you will eliminate any dependency on a particular version of Adobe Illustrator, or on Adobe-anything really.

What I'd love is a way to convert my vector stuff from Photoshop CS6 (yes, I use Photoshop for vector work...) into SVG, or indeed into anything at all that some other program can reliably read. Including Adobe's own tools. The "Export Paths to Illustrator" feature is just plain broken, and seemingly there's nothing else that even tries. 🙁

VileRancour wrote:

timb.us wrote:

Whenever I share a vector file that requires non-standard (or non-free) fonts, I always convert the text into outline strokes (which turns it from editable text into vector paths) so anyone I share it with doesn’t need the font. Just a tip I thought I’d share. Otherwise, it’s looking good. 😀

Seconded. Plus, if you export to SVG you will eliminate any dependency on a particular version of Adobe Illustrator, or on Adobe-anything really.

What I'd love is a way to convert my vector stuff from Photoshop CS6 (yes, I use Photoshop for vector work...) into SVG, or indeed into anything at all that some other program can reliably read. Including Adobe's own tools. The "Export Paths to Illustrator" feature is just plain broken, and seemingly there's nothing else that even tries. 🙁

Yes, that was the other thing I was going to mention: SVG

That way pretty much any vector editor can open it (Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, AutoDesk Graphic, etc).

As for your Photoshop Vector issue, I have an idea... If you’re using Windows, install a PDF Print Driver! (There are some free commercial versions if you do a Google search, however some of them install adware and toolbars so be careful; they’re almost always based on Ghostscript anyway, so if you do a search for “Ghostscript PDF Printer” you should find plenty of how-to guides, it can be tricky to get working just right but I’ve done it so it’s possible.)

Once you’ve got the PDF Printer setup, open your image in Photoshop and go to File -> Print, select the newly installed PDF Printer and save the PDF somewhere. So long as there were no raster elements visible on the Photoshop canvas the PDF *should* only contain vector paths. There are several websites (http://www.cloudconvert.com being one) that will let you upload a PDF and convert it to an SVG file; alternatively you can download the free vector editor Inkscape, which will open PDF files and export SVG.

Since the PDF format is based off Postscript, it’s inherently a vector format! I’ve used this method with DipTrace (a schematic capture and PCB layout tool) to export circuit board layouts and schematics in a form I could bring into my vector editor (AutoDesk Graphic), since DipTrace can only natively export in Gerber format (which is used by the machines that manufacturer PCBs).

Note, you’ll lose all your layers, their names, etc. and the PDF process might double up some paths, add a white background shape and do some other odd stuff that you’ll have to cleanup in Inkscape before exporting, but it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. At least you’ll have it in a neutral format!

That’s one thing I love about macOS, the entire display subsystem is based on PDF (internally all windows and their content are represented as Display Postscript elements) which means anything you see on screen can be exported as a vector document (by using the built-in “Save as PDF” option in the print dialog).

^ Nice idea!

I do have 'Bullzip PDF Printer' installed, so I gave that a go... my test illustration wasn't very simple, but not that complex either (about 70 shapes). Yet somehow the PDF was over 7MB, and both Inkscape and SumatraPDF completely choked on the thing while trying to open it (Inkscape hogged my CPU for 3 minutes and gave up after consuming 6 GB of RAM).

Actually just saving as PDF from Photoshop (without using the print driver) produced a slightly smaller file that Inkscape could open.. although some strokes were missing, and it still crashed when I tried to edit stuff. 😁 But the principle is sound, and I can think about a few workarounds to try. Thanks for the tip.

Blasphemy! Windows vector logos belong in the WMF format

VileRancour wrote:

^ Nice idea!

I do have 'Bullzip PDF Printer' installed, so I gave that a go... my test illustration wasn't very simple, but not that complex either (about 70 shapes). Yet somehow the PDF was over 7MB, and both Inkscape and SumatraPDF completely choked on the thing while trying to open it (Inkscape hogged my CPU for 3 minutes and gave up after consuming 6 GB of RAM).

Actually just saving as PDF from Photoshop (without using the print driver) produced a slightly smaller file that Inkscape could open.. although some strokes were missing, and it still crashed when I tried to edit stuff. 😁 But the principle is sound, and I can think about a few workarounds to try. Thanks for the tip.

Ah. I haven’t used Photoshop since CS2, so I didn’t know it has native PDF export now. Good to know!

Some of your strokes may not be missing, instead there may be a white filled box layered over them. You may need to seperate compound paths on some elements as well. Like I said, it’s not ideal but should work.

You might try CloudConvert’s PDF to SVG converter and see if Inkscape can handle those files better. (Worst case, send me the PDFs and I’ll convert them to SVG with AutoDesk Graphic; I’ve worked on 100+MB PDFs in it without trouble.)

I love doing vector art. I find it somehow relaxing to just sit and draw with precision. Awhile back I was working on recreating vintage test equipment for a web based waveform viewer/converter app. (I wanted a mode where you could view the waveform files on simulated oscilloscopes right in the browser; the user could click the knobs and dials to change the scale, just like a real scope.)

I only have a closeup of the screen here on my iPad, but I recreated the entire front panels of several scopes (with 1mm precision), I’ll have to dig up the whole collection and post at some point. I’m currently working on drawing a Compaq Portable, for use as a website UI (a file listing site, with navigation shown Norton Commander style on the screen).

timb.us wrote:

You might try CloudConvert’s PDF to SVG converter and see if Inkscape can handle those files better. (Worst case, send me the PDFs and I’ll convert them to SVG with AutoDesk Graphic; I’ve worked on 100+MB PDFs in it without trouble.)

Well that didn't directly help, but it led me to understand the problem. In the PDF, paths are saved as vectors, but their fills (at least gradient fills, which is what my test file uses) are saved as bitmaps. Which is clearly an issue of Photoshop being lazy and/or brain-dead, because there's no trace (hurr) of bitmaps in this document. Oh well.
Since that's how Photoshop saves and/or prints the data, I doubt any kind of automatic process could fix it. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and learn how to use a real vector editor. 😁

I love doing vector art. I find it somehow relaxing to just sit and draw with precision. Awhile back I was working on recreating vintage test equipment for a web based waveform viewer/converter app. (I wanted a mode where you could view the waveform files on simulated oscilloscopes right in the browser; the user could click the knobs and dials to change the scale, just like a real scope.)

I've always been more of a pixel art guy, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do - and yeah, it's fun. For this wallpaper I used vectors only... plus here's a recent "isometric" PCjr mock-up, which I did mainly because this guy didn't:

I’m currently working on drawing a Compaq Portable, for use as a website UI (a file listing site, with navigation shown Norton Commander style on the screen).

Cool, should be neat to see. (What website would that be?)

Made a couple o' IBM NetVista icons. Feel free to use them, convert them to ICO, etc.

VileRancour wrote:

Well that didn't directly help, but it led me to understand the problem. In the PDF, paths are saved as vectors, but their fill […]
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timb.us wrote:

You might try CloudConvert’s PDF to SVG converter and see if Inkscape can handle those files better. (Worst case, send me the PDFs and I’ll convert them to SVG with AutoDesk Graphic; I’ve worked on 100+MB PDFs in it without trouble.)

Well that didn't directly help, but it led me to understand the problem. In the PDF, paths are saved as vectors, but their fills (at least gradient fills, which is what my test file uses) are saved as bitmaps. Which is clearly an issue of Photoshop being lazy and/or brain-dead, because there's no trace (hurr) of bitmaps in this document. Oh well.
Since that's how Photoshop saves and/or prints the data, I doubt any kind of automatic process could fix it. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and learn how to use a real vector editor. 😁

I love doing vector art. I find it somehow relaxing to just sit and draw with precision. Awhile back I was working on recreating vintage test equipment for a web based waveform viewer/converter app. (I wanted a mode where you could view the waveform files on simulated oscilloscopes right in the browser; the user could click the knobs and dials to change the scale, just like a real scope.)

I've always been more of a pixel art guy, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do - and yeah, it's fun. For this wallpaper I used vectors only... plus here's a recent "isometric" PCjr mock-up, which I did mainly because this guy didn't:

I’m currently working on drawing a Compaq Portable, for use as a website UI (a file listing site, with navigation shown Norton Commander style on the screen).

Cool, should be neat to see. (What website would that be?)

Damn, you’d think Adobe would be able to get PDF exports right since they invented the format and all... You could always delete the bitmaps and refill the paths in Inkscape, but it will be a PITA.

Wow, both the wallpaper and isometric drawing are incredible! I’ve always had a really hard time drawing anything that requires perspective like that (I just can’t visualize in 3D), so hats off to you. 😀

The Compaq Portable will be for the retro portion of my personal site. I’m currently uploading about 10GB worth of manuals, ROMs, DOS shareware/freeware, etc. and wanted a cool navigation method. When I did the waveform viewer I mentioned in my last post, I spent a lot of time figuring out how to do real-time glow effects, distortion and motion blur using SVG overlays and HTML5 Canvas Animation to simulate the distinct look of an Oscilloscope. I can use a lot of that to simulate a CRT as well, which is my plan. (You know, it would be cool to apply this to a browser based version of DOSbox; you could pick your computer skin, monitor type, etc. and it would apply the CRT effects. Hmm, I might have to look into this.)

*cough*PCbi on that last idea*cough*

Thank you all for the tips. I'll keep that all in mind when I release them. In the meantime, I created a couple of variations of the same wallpaper using the new logo (minus the Windows flag. Credit belongs to someone else).

leileilol wrote:

*cough*PCbi on that last idea*cough*

Yes, sort of like that but not in 3D. I fleshed out the idea a bit over the weekend and already have a basic resolution independent skeuomorphic UI (in other words, SVG vector graphics) framing out an instance of PCjs (which is a PC-XT and AT emulator that runs real-time in your browser), so it shouldn’t be too hard polish. Once I’ve got some good looking graphics done, I’ll make a new thread about it. 😀

Any S3 Virge Dx/GX wallpapers people have kicking around? Nothing surfaced on a quick search. Thanks!

timb.us wrote:

https://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=45574&t=1 […]
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Fun fact, the logo of Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC, is in fact a lissajous curve as pictured here!

American me thinks of Watch_Dogs and "Movies Anywhere" instead.

You're right. The Movies Anywhere logo does ring a bell (I'm American as well).

So i tried with my photoshop skills and made these Intel Pentium wallpapers.
They're in resolutions (4:3:1024x768,1280x1024,1600x1200 ;16:9: 1280x720, 1366x768, 1600x900, 1920x1080).

Download link to pack: https://mega.nz/#!AIUkWA6A!ihhPIA8J1_ofOkZOqp … wq6XMhU-_KYonu4

They look bad in these thumbnails below but after clicking on them reveals the real ones without much compression(if you want download whole pack above).

King_Corduroy wrote:

Fuck this has got to be the most ugly bunch of wallpapers I've ever seen. Where is this from it's too tacky to be an American software release. 🤣

Hahaha, I have no idea where it originated from aside from what the description says on the site link. A lot of them are pretty disgusting and just down right weird but there are some good ones I would say. This was at a time where digital art was really hitting its stride and anyone with a powerful enough PC could use programs like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or PhotoImpact and just mess around with various effects on images. Some people made questionable pictures like a wallpaper of just a man's bare chest being tiled all over the screen but others made some interesting ones like fractals and abstract patterns. Its an interesting time capsule to say the least.

May I present, the "684-Collection"
It is a dump of the wallpaper-cd that I burned in 2005, and the wallpapers are all collected between 2000 and 2005.
As the name say. It contains 684 wallpapers, all in a zipped file. Mostly anti-ms and pro-linux/unix.

Anyway... Enjoy. 😀
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cIQvD0bRlx9G … iew?usp=sharing

Should specify some of those wallpapers are NSFW

oeuvre wrote:

Should specify some of those wallpapers are NSFW

Well... I did not see any that are too bad at all.
If someone has any problem, then I would say that they have a really wierd mindset. There is no pornography or decapitation or something like that. Those wallpapers are more like in the style of mid-00's box art.

Edit:
Who uses their work hours for Vogons anyway? I mean. If I had a worker going onto Vogons during the time I was paying the person for doing a job, I would really be mad and issue a warning. Continue to do so, would result in the person getting fired.