@jesse: The aforementioned wireframe version now has the correct label placement, though the character label on the left side palm key is different to all the others. It has 1 & ! rather than M & @, like all the others. Do you want that duplicated, or should I leave that label as a clone, like the rest?
The previous colors wereā¦not chosen, so much as randomly applied. No need to preserve it
Thatās an artifact. Iād started off using ā1ā as the key label and only realized it was wrong when I got to a wider letter on my labeling, before going back and redoing the alignment with āMā as a placeholder for a wide character.
My color choices were made for similar reasons. Hereās a version done more deliberately. I thought it would make sense to combine the inner and outer outlines of the base profile of each key into a single path, and to represent the webbing and stems with fill instead of stroke. Hereās what it looks like now (showing only word labels to keep it less cluttered):
Hereās what it looks like without the positioning guides:
1 Like
Funny you used the word ācloneā for duplicate, since Inkscape has a feature called āCreate Linked Clonesā that takes advantage of entity references in XML and the transformation matrix in the SVG spec to allow you to have multiple versions of a shape without adding too much extra size to the file, and rotate, scale, stretch, and shift these shapes as you wish. And of course, linked clones can have linked clones.
The idea behind ālinkedā is that the original can be edited (for example, simplifying node usage) and the clones will automatically follow suit, saving work.
Saw nothing in https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keyboardio/model01_legends/master/template/keycap_template.svg in reference to this, so I assume it has not been used, although I have not yet looked through the versions in this thread to be sure. I will have to do that to understand what is going on, for example whether it is late enough in the revision process for incorporating this into the workflow to be worth it.
Also, what format are layouts finally converted to for the keycap printing machine to use?
1 Like
Ok, thatās really interesting and potentially very useful.
As of now, it looks like PDF, but Iāve just been discovering that itās a PDF with ta different layout than the one weāve been using. They, sadly, got confused by us placing things on the keyboardās layout. Instead, weāre going to need to put them in the layout of the key painting jig, which isā¦somewhat transformed from the keyboard layout. I should be able to post samples this week, but Iām waiting to make sure that weāve actually got them right first.
(As of right now, itās about an hour of my time to manually transform the layout into what the laser shop needs. If we can create a template that links them together, itād make my day.
1 Like
When I rebuilt the SVG, I did use clones, which were certainly useful at the time, but once certain parameters are settled, they actually can be more of a hindrance than a help.
1 Like
Iād be happy to give it a shot, if you think that would help.
2 Likes
Let me make sure the template format is going to work right first. Then Iād be thrilled to have the help.
1 Like