Colours in area fill patterns replaced with black
Here's a bug that's been annoying me for a while: In recent (5.2.11 and newer) versions of Therion (on WinXP sp3), colours used in area fill patterns are replaced with black. The simple test case attached demonstrates the effect: In v 5.2.10 and earlier, you get a square filled with a red cross-hatch pattern, while in 5.2.11 and later the fill pattern is black. I initially suspected that the change from Metapost 0.641 to 1.201 bundled with the Windows install of Therion might be to blame as I first noticed this bug around that time, but a little testing indicates that both Therion 5.2.9 and 5.2.10 use Metapost 1.201 and don't exhibit this bug. Duncan.
On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Duncan Collis <duncan.collis@gmail.com> wrote:
In recent (5.2.11 and newer) versions of Therion (on WinXP sp3), colours used in area fill patterns are replaced with black.
Actually it is a feature. Patterns are uncoloured now (see PDF reference for Uncolored tiling patterns) to allow the application of symbol-color command on patterns. Now you need to define just the shape of all symbols in Metapost and color of any symbol in layout, which is much more flexible. It wouldn't work for patterns consisting of more than one colour, but nobody has complained so far.
I initially suspected that the change from Metapost 0.641 to 1.201 bundled with the Windows install of Therion might be to blame as I
There is some influence of Metapost version, though. Version older than 1.000 doesn't (easily) support passing the colour information for patterns so they are all rendered black regardless of symbol-color setting. Martin
Thanks, Martin!
Actually it is a feature. Patterns are uncoloured now (see PDF reference for Uncolored tiling patterns) to allow the application of symbol-color command on patterns.
Now you need to define just the shape of all symbols in Metapost and color of any symbol in layout, which is much more flexible. It wouldn't work for patterns consisting of more than one colour, but nobody has complained so far.
OK, makes sense (although according to the manual symbol-color is a new command in 5.3, while as far as I can tell, pattern fills have been black-only since 5.2.11). Anyway, the manual specifies: symbol-colo[u]r <point/line/area/group/special> <symbol-type> <colour> so in my test piece I tried: symbol-color area u:test [1.0 0 0] and I get the following error message: unknown symbol specification -- area u:test What am I doing wrong? Duncan
OK, makes sense (although according to the manual symbol-color is a new command in 5.3, while as far as I can tell, pattern fills have been black-only since 5.2.11). Anyway, the manual specifies:
Manual (and the file CHANGES) documents only stable releases (major version numbers).
symbol-color area u:test [1.0 0 0]
and I get the following error message:
unknown symbol specification -- area u:test
Currently it does not work on user-defined types, we will try to fix it. BTW, you should use [100 0 0] to get red colour. Martin
Currently it does not work on user-defined types, we will try to fix it.
That's not a big problem for me because apart from in the sample I sent I'm not using user-defined symbols, I'm redefining the existing ones. A couple of area fills that I use have a background of one colour and a pattern of another colour, which seems to still work.
BTW, you should use [100 0 0] to get red colour.
Oops, yes... I was still thinking in Metapost. One further question: in my Metapost symbol definitions, should I leave out the withcolor statements in pattern definitions, or does it make no difference? Duncan.
On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 4:03 AM, Duncan Collis <duncan.collis@gmail.com> wrote:
One further question: in my Metapost symbol definitions, should I leave out the withcolor statements in pattern definitions, or does it make no difference?
No difference, the color settings are ignored when patterns are processed. Martin
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Duncan Collis -
Martin Budaj