... | ... | @@ -47,9 +47,9 @@ The dot spacing has an impact on the maximum resolution, thicknesses and lengths |
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|| legend symbols left aligned, right-hand captions
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|| minimum symbol size: 25mm height x 12.5mm width | corresponds to 10 x 5 dots.
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|| symbol group order: area-textures, line-styles, point-symbols, alphabetic keys, numeric keys
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|| order inside groups corresponding to occurence in reading direction
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|| order inside groups corresponding to occurrence in reading direction
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|| symbols on equivalent scale on both sheets
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| **Gridlines** | only if necessary for context, with recommended grid size of 20mm | corresponds to 8 dots
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| **Grid Lines** | only if necessary for context, with recommended grid size of 20mm | corresponds to 8 dots
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|| lower resolution than axis tick marks possible
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|| clearly distinguishable from other diagram contents | problem: few line-styles available, consider 'negative' lines
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|| grid should be explained in legend
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... | ... | @@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ A set of basic recommended textures for tactile graphics (Prescher, D. and Borns |
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![Braille textures](uploads/34f08c85d60fec2ab8717b1fb0252106/textures.PNG)
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The original purpose of the textures - to create distinguishable areas on a tactile graphic - is of course relevant for this specific use case, but it has to be extended further. Since it is hard to add reqular gridlines to a braille diagram, the texture should also be suitable to give an implicit scale, so that the dimensions of a tactile object can also be determined if the object is far from the nearest axis. (For example in a bar chart.)
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The original purpose of the textures - to create distinguishable areas on a tactile graphic - is of course relevant for this specific use case, but it has to be extended further. Since it is hard to add regular grid lines to a braille diagram, the texture should also be suitable to give an implicit scale, so that the dimensions of a tactile object can also be determined if the object is far from the nearest axis. (For example in a bar chart.)
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For this purpose, a texture needs to include a distinguishable consistent component, that is orthogonal to the coordinate systems axis and can be aligned with the axis units. For this reason, the full_pattern (no distinguishable components inside), the diagonal_line textures (not orthogonal) as well as the stair_pattern (orthogonal but not consistent) aren't suited.
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... | ... | @@ -113,13 +113,13 @@ Further settings like the grid spacing can be enabled for this mode. |
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#### Floating Dot Mode
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The floating dot mode works by defining single dots inside a two-dimensional cartesian coordinate system. While in the graphics mode the sent input respresents the states of dots with predefined positions, in this mode the input represents the positions of dots with a predefined state (active). Dot positions in this mode are basically not bound to any grid at all, aside from the minimum technical resolution of the embossing hardware, which for example is around 50 micrometers for the Index Everest-D V4.
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The floating dot mode works by defining single dots inside a two-dimensional cartesian coordinate system. While in the graphics mode the sent input represents the states of dots with predefined positions, in this mode the input represents the positions of dots with a predefined state (active). Dot positions in this mode are basically not bound to any grid at all, aside from the minimum technical resolution of the embossing hardware, which for example is around 50 micrometers for the Index Everest-D V4.
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Similar to the graphics mode, this mode is also entered by sending a specific control sequence. The input must be an ASCII formatted list of points in the coordinate system although there can be exceptions for some specific models. Again, further special settings can be applied.
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### Consequences
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The existence of different operational modes deeply impacts the design of concepts and software in this project. It means, that there is no way to build a single concept or a single implementation that will give optimal results on every embosser. It is however possible to design a single basic concept and implementation that may not be giving optimal results, but will be working on every embosser. By keeping an extendable software design, better results can be achieved on specific models by futher specialization. This principle of an generalized extendable approach should be a guideline for the whole conceptual design and software design.
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The existence of different operational modes deeply impacts the design of concepts and software in this project. It means, that there is no way to build a single concept or a single implementation that will give optimal results on every embosser. It is however possible to design a single basic concept and implementation that may not be giving optimal results, but will be working on every embosser. By keeping an extendable software design, better results can be achieved on specific models by further specialization. This principle of an generalized extendable approach should be a guideline for the whole conceptual design and software design.
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It can be achieved by designing a basic solution under the assumption that only an unevenly spaced grid comprised of braille characters and lines (text mode operation) is available and the subsequent specialization towards an equidistant grid of arbitrary resolution.
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... | ... | @@ -140,12 +140,12 @@ In the chapter [Software Design](Software-Design) an overview on this pipeline i |
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To keep this chapter purely about the conceptual part, a short analysis will be done to differentiate the various elements of the braille diagrams and in which group each element belongs: shared reusable elements or diagram type specific ones. It is also important to keep in mind that while this text will only deal with the implementation of three diagram types - namely line diagram, bar chart and scatter plot - a main goal is to keep the software extendable for all sorts of diagrams.
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A lot of known diagram types including their associated legends are potentially using the following elements indepent from the actual diagram type:
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A lot of known diagram types including their associated legends are potentially using the following elements independent from the actual diagram type:
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- Texts (e.g. for titles, captions, explanation texts)
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- Textures (e.g. in bar charts, pie charts)
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- Axes (e.g. in line diagrams, scatter plots)
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Other elements seem to be more specifc to the actual diagram type:
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Other elements seem to be more specific to the actual diagram type:
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- Curves (line diagrams)
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- Straight Lines (radar charts)
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- Points (scatter plots)
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... | ... | |