GSoC 2008 UniConvertor and GraphicsMagick integration
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Rationale --------- Scribus is a serious DTP application and therefore has to deal with many different fileformats. While it already supports quite a few formats many others are still lacking or incompletely supported. UniConverter which is "a universal vector graphics translator"[1] can help for vector formats and GraphicsMagick which is a branch of the famous ImageMagick does the same for raster formats[2]. Motivation ---------- My motivation for doing this project is that I think it will be a huge benefit for Scribus and I like this kind of work (gluing two programs together). I did this last year with LaTeX and from the feedback I received it was a great success. So I want to do something similar this year and hope it will be as good or even better than last time. Overview -------- I'll write an import/export filter that uses UniConverter and GraphicsMagick to read and write all the formats supported by these programs. Details ------- ** UniConverter ** * Previous experience I've not worked with UniConverter before, so this information is based on a short research only and the implementation details are likely to change. * Implementation The import plugin will either call UniConverter directly and get "raw" commands to create the vector objects or it will use UniConverter to convert to an intermediate format such as SVG and then read this format. The same applies to the export filter, but here it might be possible that some of the feature supported by Scribus are not supported by the output format and so the user has to get a message. * Existing work The SVG plugin can serve as a base for the new import plugin. * Userinterface The list in File->Import gets pretty long, so it might be good to merge these entries to a better interface, perhaps with autodetection of the fileformat and manual override. ** GraphicsMagick ** * Previous experience I have used ImageMagick, the base of GraphicsMagick a lot. I customized the bash script based dvd-menu-tool dvdwizard[3] at a time when it was less powerful than today. I had to rewrite a lot of the graphics code which relies on ImageMagick. I've also a bit of experience with imageframe loaders, because I came across this part of Scribus' code when working on my LaTeX frames project. * Implementation As GraphicsMagick deals with raster graphics an import filter for image frames is required here. With libgraphicsmagic++, a C++ library for the GraphicsMagick functions, the integration should be pretty easy. * Existing work The QT image file loaders can serve as a base. * Userinterface No new userinterface is required, but a way to show previews for the new filetypes has to be found. ** Other changes ** * Build system The build system has to be updated to look for UniConverter and GraphicsMagick. Benefits to Scribus ------------------- By using these libraries it is no longer necessary to write a new filter for each new fileformat, but we can profit from the formats added to shared libraries. For example Inkscape[4] also uses UniConverter starting with version 0.46 [5]. So new fileformat should be usable faster. Use cases --------- Importing all kinds of vector and raster formats. Deliverables ------------ - Import plugin for UniConverter - Export plugin for UniConverter - Import only plugin for GraphicsMagick (or integrated into the main code) - Better structured "File->Import" menu if found to be required - Documentation Timeline -------- * April 14: Accepted student proposals announced on the Google Summer of Code home page. Community Bonding Period: Students get to know mentors, read documentation, get up to speed to begin working on their projects. I can start coding at this point, as I am already familiar with the scribus development process. * May 26: Students begin coding for their GSoC projects; At this point I should have read the required documentation and probably the basic functionality for UniConverter ready. * July 7: Mentors and students can begin submitting mid-term evaluations. UniConverter should be fully working now and work on GraphicsMagick is started or about to be started. * July 20: End of semester Around this time there will be some exams at university, so expect me to be learing a bit more and coding a bit less. No exact dates are available yet. * August 11: Suggested 'pencils down' date. Take a week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc. Now the GraphicsMagick part should be completed too. The time lost with the exams should be no problem, as this part of the work should take much less time and I also spent the "Community Bonding Period" coding. * August 18: Firm 'pencils down' date. Mentors, students and organization administrators can being submitting final evaluations to Google. Links ----- [1] http://sk1project.org/modules.php?name=Products&product=uniconvertor [2] http://www.graphicsmagick.org/ [3] http://dvdwizard.wershofen.net/ [4] http://www.inkscape.org [5] http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes046