Export to wmf
1476I just tried to export the following plot (from a Student forum topic) to wmf (Windows Metafile) in Standard Maple,
with(plots):
a := plot((x^2-2)/(x-sqrt(2))):
b := pointplot([sqrt(2), 2*sqrt(2)+0.05],
symbolsize = 15, symbol = circle, color = blue):
c := pointplot([sqrt(2), 2*sqrt(2)+0.05],
symbolsize = 10, symbol = solidcircle, color = white):
display(a, b, c);
It has a black background! Also, the picture is smaller size, 256x256 instead of 400x400.
Other problems - copying from Standard Maple and pasting to Notepad before copying from Notepad and pasting here, all :s were copied as ;s, and ; at the end wasn't copied at all (but it was selected.)
Also - why I had to add 0.05 in the pointplot commands - the point was located lower than it should.
Also - why I tried to export to wmf - because all other export options that I tried before that, produced low quality pictures with the point located lower than it should and with jagged lines.
Another thing - when I copied from My files and pasted here the html code for the picture, it had two </a> at the end instead of one.
Alec
- to Robert Israel:
yes,
27 min 26 sec ago - to acer:
Yes, it is
41 min 23 sec ago - I agree
49 min 45 sec ago - simpler
1 hour 2 min ago - Not that way
1 hour 21 min ago - Eigenvectors
1 hour 31 min ago - Thanks, acer,
I find another
2 hours 39 min ago - interesting idea
5 hours 42 min ago - interesting
5 hours 44 min ago - The answers
8 hours 52 min ago
- Job offer / Stellenangebot: Technischer Support Maple
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- The actual architecture
- new package adoption
- Conjectures ripe for Maple experimentation
- overloaded operators
- poll: change in Maple that you want most?
- The future of FourierTrigSeries package
- Maple 12.01 is now Available
What version?
What version of Maple are you working with Alec?
David Clayworth Maplesoft GUI Developer
Maple 12
That was from Maple 12 on 32-bit Vista, build 347164. I don't have an access to the development version.
Alec
below the origin
The point alone here:
with(plots): b := pointplot([0, 0], symbolsize = 15, symbol = circle, color = blue): c := pointplot([0, 0], symbolsize = 10, symbol = solidcircle, color = white): display( b, c);is displayed with its center below the origin in the Standard GUI, while centered in the Classic GUI.
black and white eps from Standard
Here is another one with black background, but obtained by plotting to PostScript device in Standard Maple,
plotsetup('ps', 'plotoutput' = "plotBW.ps", 'plotoptions' = "color=none,portrait,noborder"); plot(x^2, x = -1 .. 2);Alec
back and grey
?plot,ps states:
I find confusing this last sentence. Sounds to me as if "gray", "grey" and "none" were the same, ie grey scale. But (using Standard GUI):
plotsetup('ps', 'plotoutput' = "sin3dBW.ps", 'plotoptions' = "color=none,portrait,noborder"); plot3d(sin(x)*sin(y), x = 0..Pi,y=0..Pi);produces a mesh on black background, while
plotsetup('ps', 'plotoutput' = "sin3dgrey.ps", 'plotoptions' = "color=grey,portrait,noborder"); plot3d(sin(x)*sin(y), x = 0..Pi,y=0..Pi);produces a surface image in grey scale.
Axes
With color=grey, the axes, with tickmarks and numbers, still were white in the previous (parabola) plot - i.e. it was just a parabola without axes and with a hole in it at 0. Does it work in 3D plots the same, if axes are specified?
Alec
white axes
Yes
plotsetup('ps', 'plotoutput' = "sin3dgrey.ps", 'plotoptions' = "color=grey,portrait,noborder"); plot3d(sin(x)*sin(y), x = 0..Pi,y=0..Pi,axes=boxed);show the white axes and tickmarks, only visible against the grey background of the surface
Testing
Testing? Isn't that what customers are for?
Alec
Known bug
This reversal is a known bug which may not be fixable. In general the B&W and grey options are a hangover from an earlier era when it was common to generate graphs in black and white. In these days when color is common, and even most black and white printers accept color postscript the options are really not that useful.
"none" is intended to give 2-color black and white printout.
David Clayworth Maplesoft GUI Developer
Known
Well, if it is known, wouldn't it have sence to at least mention about that on the help page, together with the fact that the default option is color now?
Alec
Tech support
I just tried to reproduce the problem in the original post and it works fine for me. Could you try the export to WMF in a new worksheet, before trying any other export? If that doesn't work maybe you could report this to tech support, Alec?
David Clayworth Maplesoft GUI Developer
Uploaded
David, I just uploaded the file. It is 135_wmf.zip It was produced in a newly opened Standard Maple, in Document mode, without doing anything else before that, by copying and pasting the code from my original post.
None (or almost none) of the bugs that I reported were fixed, so it would be better if somebody else reported the bug. I stopped doing that a couple of years ago.
Alec
Tech support
Alec I assure you that bugs are not prioritized based on who reports them. If you report it it will be given the same priority as if anyone else does. Of course if you don't report it, we're not going to know to fix it.
Reporting a bug does not guarantee it will be fixed of course, and if we are unable to reproduce it then we won't be able to do anything with it.
David Clayworth Maplesoft GUI Developer
That's OK with me
That's OK with me. It is more fun with the bug in then out.
Alec
hmm
alec once said:
Why the change of heart?
No change
No change. It's just the bug submitting requires some time that I don't have. I don't feel that it is my "duty". I think it is the "duty" of people working at Maplesoft and getting paid for that.
If you are implying that the fact that I am not participating in beta is my fault - I don't think so.
Alec
Not reporting bugs
It's obviously your right not a report a bug if you don't feel like it. It's also your right to write about bugs you have found on public forums if that's what you want. If you actually want Maple to be improved (rather than just talking about it) I would recommend reporting bugs you find. It's much harder for the "people working at Maplesoft" to fix bugs if we are not told about them.
David Clayworth Maplesoft GUI Developer
Internet sites
Some time ago, when I reported few bugs found by Vladimir Bondarenko and posted on his web site, I was told that I don't have to do that - his web site is in the list of sites monitored by Maplesoft, and there is a person entering bugs from there to Maplesoft database.
Now, that's interesting - Vladimir Bondarenko's site is monitored and this site is not?
About "talking" - I prefer doing stuff rather than talk about it. And I don't like such accusations. If this is considered to be an example of something that I was "talking" about and not doing, I can just stop "talking", at least on this site. Frankly, I don't completely understand how I got involved into this again instead of doing something useful.
Alec
for me it is ok
looked at it in PaintShop and ACDC (both older versions): white background, red line,
and could even convert it to a *.gif (which only needs 10% of size)
From the file that I uploaded?
Axel,
You mean the file that I uploaded, or the export produced on your computer?
Alec
yes, the uploaded file
Alec,
yes, the uploaded file (just repeated the download). May be a problem with your viewer?
Gruß
Edited: executing your code (from the initial post) in M12 and exporting as wmf is OK as
well (w.r.t. colors, however blurred and ~ 1.4 MB)
Paint
I open it in standard Paint (in Accessories) in Vista, and it has a black background. I made the png posted using Paint (saving the wmf file in the png format.).
It is interesting that you got so different size of the output in the same Maple version. Was it in XP or in Vista? In the document mode?
Edit: Just looked at it in Paint in Windows XP. Also black background. In Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (in XP) it looked better - without any background. In Microsoft Office 2007 Picture Manager (in Vista) it also looked like if the picture didn't have any background. Probably, that explains the situation - the wmf file seems to be lacking the background, and some viewers replace it with their own backgrounds, while Paint (the default wmf viewer and editor in Vista and the default wmf editor in XP) shows the black background.
Alec
viewer
It was in a standard document (behaviour does not depend on saved
or fresh one) using M12 on Win XP SP2 using a conventional PC with
TFT (connected analog, no special graphical card, not a 'wide' one).
Resolution is 1280*1024 in 32 Bit with larger font display, 113 dpi.
MS Office is a small version 2000.
My standard viewer is ACDC (which blurrs a bit), never from Microsoft.
The exported image has size 610*610 and uses 4 colors. I converted
this wmf to gif and it looks like it appears for me as in Maple -
and I do not have the problem with the 'shifted point', it is only
shifted due to the code. In format png it is ok as well.
Maple certainly uses local settings and the graphical subsystem.
Find the gif below, converted from the wmf.
background
Axel,
Background still doesn't seem to be white. Did you try to open it in Paint?
Builds for XP and for Vista seem to be different.
Alec
PS You didn't upgrade to SP3? -Alec
no background
It has no background, I converted using Paint Shop with "GIF87A non-interlaced" as file format
the zipped original is appended (file format can be seen as first entry using a text editor).
It only got a background through the board here (a bit unreasonable).
Using Paint (Version 5.1 coming with WIN XP) shows it in white as well.
Updates & Microsoft ... I do avoid it as far as possible (at home) and so far I am not aware of
good reasons, why SP3 would give me something essentially better. It took me some effort
to kick off several standards in XP to feel better and I am afraid of re-doing after an upgrade
(or worse: side effects). And I am not sure, whether the tools I need for cleaning up XP would
be available for SP3 (for example "xp antispy" or "clearprog"). And I do not want to have a new
Internet Explorer (which I almost never use) or mailer setting or similar. Or indexing switched
on again.
More or less my odd thinking is that security holes in MS exist in new versions as well - but
new attacks will try that, while old ones meanwhile essentially are healed through tools. And
avoiding MS for some standard file types (like pictures, videos etc) is part of that for me :-)
Download 102_alec_wmf_display_problem.zip
View file details
A plea to report bugs
I would urge all users to report bugs when they see them. It really does help us develop a better product.
There are indeed people at Maplesoft who try to monitor the forums and record bugs, but frankly, bugs can get easily missed. Many bugs are exposed in lengthy threads after much discussion about whether certain behaviour is truly buggy or not. Other bugs are mentioned in passing in discussions about unrelated topics. I much prefer to have a bug reported directly by the person who had encountered it than have it reported second-hand.
Apart from those employees who maintain MaplePrimes, there are several Maplesoft developers who participate regularly. However, it is a bad idea to rely on us to record bugs. First, monitoring MaplePrimes is not part of our offiicial duties, though we are definitely encouraged to participate. Our primary duty is to develop and maintain Maple itself. Many of us participate on our own time or we take time away from our development work to do so. Our managers generally trust us to use our time wisely and as we see fit, but alas, there are deadlines to meet and bugs to fix. So developers come and go, and they participate when they have time, which is not always.
There is no obligation to you, as a user, to report a bug, and mentioning the bug on MaplePrimes is certainly better than not reporting it at all, as there is a chance someone will see it and report it for you. However, the only guaranteed way to tell us about a bug is to use the "Submit Software Change Request" link or contact Maplesoft Support.
Paulina Chin
Maplesoft
loyalty
Paulina,
I agree with what you said. And I don't feel very comfortable when people from Maplesoft active on this site, have to enter the bugs in the database, because it is also not there duty.
My personal problems with Maplesoft are related to the fact that while I was loyal to Maplesoft for many years, Maplesoft was not loyal to me.
Alec
Pleas for friendlier bugtracking
were made in recent months in several (sub)threads:
SCRs
Did you report it?
SCR
vote on bugs
As Jacques said:
Ie, users need "some reward" for reporting. At the minimum "see" that their reports are considered seriously, the bugs are assigned a proper priority and solved in a reasonable time
Reward for reporting
I definitely agree that it makes sense to offer "some reward" for good reporting of new bugs.
Personally, I would suggest something like either $5 credit/bug, or 1 week license extension for every 5 bugs (or both), etc. For a company which needs its users to upgrade (like so many other software companies) for its continued survival, one good way to encourage customer loyalty is for the company to be loyal to its users. The relationship can be a rewarding partnership, even if it is between a paying customer and a for-profit company.