Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

This forum is for discussing all things Port (as in from PORTugal) - vintages, recommendations, tasting notes, etc.

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Julian D. A. Wiseman
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

Testing a deeper black: does CMYK print as a deeper black than RGB? Please print the first page of each and report back. Thank you
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Roy Hersh
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Roy Hersh »

Hopefully Glenn will add our local tasting placemats and even the incredible Madeira tastings that take place in NY every year. Thanks Julian!
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

Roy Hersh wrote:Hopefully Glenn will add our local tasting placemats and even the incredible Madeira tastings that take place in NY every year.
I maintain a list of placemats, which includes (some of) those not made by me and not used by me. Very willing to include more of those used by RAH and friends.

But I would like the new black tested on a variety of printers. Please include your printer.
Julian D. A. Wiseman wrote:Testing a deeper black: does CMYK print as a deeper black than RGB? Please print the first page of each and report back. Thank you
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Roy Hersh
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Roy Hersh »

But I would like the new black tested on a variety of printers
So are you saying it is true that Orange is the New Black?
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

Roy Hersh wrote:So are you saying it is true that Orange is the New Black?
Screens tend to work in a colourspace called ‘RGB’, which is about adding light to an otherwise unlit screen. Printers tend to work in a colourspace called ‘CMYK’, which is about absorbing light on otherwise-white paper. These colourspaces work differently. (Much geekiness is being suppressed: be grateful.) I’m testing changing the pure-black, which is much of most pages, from RGB to CMYK. Does that cause any problems? Please tell me.

There is no ‘O’ in ‘RGB’, nor in ‘CMYK’.
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Roy Hersh
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Roy Hersh »

Sorry for a silly American TV show reference in an otherwise serious thread. :salute:
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Eric Menchen »

Julian D. A. Wiseman wrote:Testing a deeper black: does CMYK print as a deeper black than RGB? Please print the first page of each and report back. Thank you
Are you actually overlaying inks to make black? On the color laser printers I've used (and other technologies for that matter going back 20+ years), this sometimes gives a richer black, but also one that sacrifices sharp edges. Some programs and printers will even recognize that you're making black and swap out for black ink, and sometimes even if you aren't going 100% (under color removal). But I'm guessing with raw PostScript in the PDF you can probably avoid this, at least on PostScript printers. I guess I should try your test pages using both PostScript and non-PostScript printer drivers, too?
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

Eric Menchen wrote:Are you actually overlaying inks to make black? On the color laser printers I've used (and other technologies for that matter going back 20+ years), this sometimes gives a richer black, but also one that sacrifices sharp edges. Some programs and printers will even recognize that you're making black and swap out for black ink, and sometimes even if you aren't going 100% (under color removal). But I'm guessing with raw PostScript in the PDF you can probably avoid this, at least on PostScript printers. I guess I should try your test pages using both PostScript and non-PostScript printer drivers, too?
The text in the Circlearrays is typically just under 8pt, so can have very fine lines. Using multiple colours would risk a slight registration (=offset) error. Hence my CMYK page uses 0 0 0 1 setcmykcolor. If I were printing a substantial contiguous area of black, it should be richened with a little of the CMY, and (apparently) a mite less K. But the fine edges force the 0 0 0 1 decision.

Black on the RGB page is the obvious 0 0 0 setrgbcolor = 0 setgray.

If you have expert knowledge, and my reasoning is wrong, please do correct it.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Eric Menchen »

Julian D. A. Wiseman wrote:If you have expert knowledge, and my reasoning is wrong, please do correct it.
I can't argue with what you've written. My expert knowledge in this field is 25+ years old, so fuzzy at best.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

Roy Hersh wrote:Thanks Julian, for bumping this forward. :clap:

Whenever you release a new version of the software or a year or two passes by, please feel free to do the same and no permission is needed for this.
As there might be people unaware of this software, I hope a re-statement of its purpose and non-cost is still allowed.
jdaw1 wrote:A good tasting might consist of ten bottles and six or seven people. Most of an hour is spend carefully sampling and commenting on the vintages, before this enjoyable task is supplanted by the also enjoyable tasking of drinking. As readers of this bulletin board surely know, it can be a fine way to spend an evening.

But it is very important not to become confused about which glass is which. Hence when I host such an evening, a placemat is prepared for each guest, carefully identifying the place for each glass. And I have written a small PostScript program that makes such placemats and matching decanter labels, a program that is published at www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemat.html, with example output at www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemat.pdf. It takes a little technical skill to operate it, but not much.

And it's free: £0 = $0 = €0 = ¥0.
(Since that was written 11¼ years ago, the “small” program has become quite large, and I am no longer its only user. But still completely free and open source.)

Share and enjoy that which is useful drinking technology.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

I’ll use the existence of a new decorative feature, Droplets, as an excuse to bump this thread and remind people that this splendid software is still free and open-source.

Droplets flow around the page, attracted by positive charges, repelled by negative charges:
Image
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

I’ve decided that the code should exist in a proper repository, to allow submission and discussion of issues, to allow others to contribute to the PostScript, and for better death-proofing. Hence ∃ github.com/jdaw1/placemat.

Two issues ask a question of GitHub experts (Software licence; Documentation: HTML or Markdown or other?). If you can answer, please do.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

The move to GitHub is complete. If you have published links to this software, please update them to:
http://github.com/jdaw1/placemat/
http://github.com/jdaw1/placemat/blob/main/PostScript/placemat.ps
http://raw.githubusercontent.com/jdaw1/placemat/main/PostScript/placemat.ps
as appropriate.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by David Spriggs »

Julian D. A. Wiseman wrote: Sat Feb 13, 2021 11:36 am The move to GitHub is complete. If you have published links to this software, please update them to:
http://github.com/jdaw1/placemat/
http://github.com/jdaw1/placemat/blob/main/PostScript/placemat.ps
http://raw.githubusercontent.com/jdaw1/placemat/main/PostScript/placemat.ps
as appropriate.
Nice!! It's now professional style [cheers.gif]
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

Everybody loves a pork pie tasting.
20210904_Pork_Pies_2.png
20210904_Pork_Pies_2.png (410.41 KiB) Viewed 4422 times
These pork-pie placemats were made by an abuse of the parameters, and there is discussion about whether their production should be regularised. Comment welcome, ideally in issue 153.


Failing to get image in post. It’s at www.jdawiseman.com/2021/20210904_Pork_Pies_2.png.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

At a recent tasting the TN sheets looked terrible. Various possibilities need to be tested on multiple printers, as requested in issue 155. If you are willing to use your printer, please read and heed.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Eric Menchen »

Julian D. A. Wiseman wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 2:05 pm At a recent tasting the TN sheets looked terrible. Various possibilities need to be tested on multiple printers, as requested in issue 155. If you are willing to use your printer, please read and heed.
I would think printer driver and OS might also be important, in particular if the printer itself doesn't natively support PostScript.

Anyway, I printed one out. I think I might have your postal address, or you can e-mail it to me to make my life easier.
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Re: Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

Post by Julian D. A. Wiseman »

Eric Menchen wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:23 amAnyway, I printed one out.
Thank you, received, and results added to issue 157.
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