[reportlab-users] Issues related to setting parameters of graphs, lines, and rectangles, and they are not printing correctly

[J. R. Carroll]

Ha!

Yes, you are correct, I have no clue what I've walked into - thankfully I
have a cadre of component coders contributing cogent and coherent counsel
and are catering to my chagrined compulsion (if you were keeping count that
was 10 C's - hey, I gotta keep myself entertained somehow, a victory was
won today for alliteration).

What started out this morning as trying to discover print vs "what looks
decent on a render" vs "what looks decent given any random monitor
settings" has no changed significantly (keep reading)!  Thankfully, the
grid is not meant for graphic artists - it's for medical practitioners.
 With that said the only balance I am seeking right now is "what can be
clearly read on the screen without looking too harsh on the eyes" & "what
shows up on the paper without contrasting too harshly with the waveform I
am drawing on top of it", rather than "exact color" matching.

My current route, and I'd love to hear if you all think this is
an amenable solution, is to use watermarks.  Apparently, postscript (and Im
hoping reportlab has it - haven't looked yet as I have been refactoring my
code all day) allows for flagged watermarks that allow for "screen only"
and "print only".  If that is the case, that'll probably be my solution -
paint these grids with one "screen only" watermark and then at the time of
print, substitute a "print only" watermark.  Best of both worlds!

Have I fallen off the deep-end?  If so, please feel free to put me out my
misery by setting me straight.  If this is a possible solution - any
pitfalls or gotchas I should watch-out for along the way?

-J


----


J. R. Carroll
Independent Researcher through Hurtz Labs
Research Methods, Test Development, and Statistics
www.jrcresearch.net
Cell:  (650) 776-6613
Email: jrcarroll at jrcresearch.net
          jrcarroll at hurtzlab.com
          jrc.csus at gmail.com





On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 2:42 PM, Tim Roberts <timr at probo.com> wrote:


> J. R. Carroll wrote:

> >

> > The next problem:  now we have to find a balance between "what looks

> > good on the screen" and "what looks good on print" (in both grayscale

> > and color).

>

> I'm not sure you really grasp what an incredible swamp you have wandered

> into.  Watch out for rodents of unusual size.

>

> When you say "what looks good on the screen", do you mean "as displayed

> by whatever PDF reader application you happen to be using, on whatever

> monitor you happen to be using, at whatever color temperature it happens

> to use, at whatever brightness the monitor is set, at whatever gamma

> value it has, with whatever ambient light happens to be present"?

>

> Color matching is quite literally a science into itself, and it is a

> complicated science at that.  The number of variables is virtually

> infinite.  Besides the variability in monitors (and there are

> calibrators to help with that) and ambient light, different PDF reader

> applications interpret the Postscript instructions in different ways.

> MacOS tries to do sophisticated color matching adjustments based on the

> monitor attributes.  Windows has that ability, but the application has

> to request it.

>

> As long as you define your goals clearly, you can achieve good results.

> But you will never, for example, be able to create a PDF that looks the

> same on the screen as it does on an arbitrary printer.  It's just not

> possible.

>

> --

> Tim Roberts, timr at probo.com

> Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

>

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>

>

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