Re: GSL shell release 0.9.6 plus standard Lua module

[Francesco Abbate <gslshell@...>]

2010/1/4 KHMan <keinhong@gmail.com>:
> If the target is users who require high-quality vector-style graphics,
> remember that Cairo is competition. Cairo can output to PDF as well, so
> AFAIK, AGG can render high quality output but the end result must be a
> bitmap. Artists with an interest in vectorial art will probably go for
> Inkscape. Academics drawing charts and plotting graphs then may prefer a
> tool that dovetails with their document toolchain. Much competition abound.
>
> So, what you are aiming for seems to be a subset who needs high-quality
> vector-style bitmap output, possibly for art and not high-performance
> animation, and desires scripting to boot.
>
> Do note that AGG news items have not been updated since 2007. If you greatly
> desire feedback and adopters, I fear...

Well, first of all I don't think that we have competitors but only allies :-)

I believe that Cairo is an high quality library but it is *big*. What
we aim for is a small library for 2D good-quality interactive graphics
and I think that AGG is an excellent choice. The idea is to have
something agile to produce, with a well designed Lua API, 2D graphics
with an option for interactivity. The output should be in a window or,
as an option, in a file in PMG format. I think that for producing
vectorial graphical files like SVG, PDF or PS AGG is simply the wrong
tool.

I believe that what we can do is to abstract the rendering canvas so
it can be, transparently a window or a PNG file and provides a set of
API to drawing into the canvas. In interactive mode you can open a
'canvas' of type 'window' and draw in it in real time and in off-line
mode you will open a canvas of PNG type.

I have to think about the drawing model, if you draw once and get the
final results or if you store the drawing elements and render them
on-demand. Probably will be the former model but I have to think about
it...

Francesco