.ps files are large, and not vector-based

[Alvin Penner]

attached is a .svg file used as an example. It contains one spline and one word. The size is 3 K.

[Alvin Penner (apenner)]

attached is the .ps output from Inkscape 0.47. The size is 218 K. The file does not appear to be vector-based, looks like a bitmap. When generating the output, all checkboxes were left unchecked, at 90 dpi.

[Alvin Penner (apenner)]

attached is the output obtained from Inkscape 0.46 using the _non-Cairo_ .ps output, and leaving all options unchecked. The size is 1 K.

The vector-based character of the spline can be seen in the commands:
newpath
84.848485 112.96824 moveto
1030.303 103.87733 -254.54545 1343.2713 648.48485 979.63491 curveto
stroke

The text is also readable in the command:
0 0 moveto
(hello) show

In view of the file size benefit, and in view of the fact that Inkscape is a vector-based editor, it would seem reasonable to re-instate the original non_Cairo .ps output as an alternative to the Cairo output which is currently used. This would probably also help with Bug 375323, which has provoked a lot of interest.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

<text … style="…;opacity:0.66842100999999998;…" …>

afaik Postscript doesn't support opacity -> the text is rasterized. The file exported with 0.46 ignores the opacity and renders the text in black.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

PostScript export with Inkscape 0.47 r22583 (on OS X 10.5.8) after changing the style of both objects to 'opacity: 100%'

[Alvin Penner (apenner)]

    thanks, ~suv, for pointing out the opacity issue. I guess my preferences accidentally got messed up, I didn't realize I was using 66% opacity. So this is more of a wishlist item than a bug. Actually 2 wishlist items:

1. It is not intuitively obvious to a user that a change in opacity will lead to a change in format of storage, from vector-based to bitmap format, as well as an increase of a factor of 10 or more in the size of the file. I think it would be preferable to just ignore the opacity for .ps output and instead retain the vector format wherever possible.

2. For the text output, there should be an option to retain the original text-as-text output, since there are legacy programs still in use, as evidenced by Bug 375323, which depend on this format.