Release notes for MECCA 2000 version 5.04.  Mar/16/2010


Fixed:

1. TIFF conversion program tiff2ix could not handle compressed TIFF images
   in top-down scanline order (tiff2ix).

2. Corrected the problem that box background may not display under certain
   zoom factors (m2kbin).

3. For viewing EPS content (as a raster image), the conversion process did
   not account for the possibility that the EPS may reside in a read-only
   directory, and tried to create a temporary raster file there (eps2ix).


New/Changed:

1. Updated some raster image processing programs to improve speed (imgrote,
   imgtrim, imgmirr, imgchres, imgcrop, imggrow, imgrotea, ppmtoix,
   pngtoix, ixtobmp, bmptoix).

2. A box having inside color -1, will be grouped if the inside layer is
   not turned off and the grouping function picks it up (m2kbin).

   This has always been the case, however, now the box inside will show
   as solid white, rather than "nothing" (color -1) before.

3. Added 2D bar code Data Matrix (m2kbin, typdrv, gpcdump, barcodes.tcl,
   bar2d.tcl, dmtx.tcl, query.tcl, tclIndex, barcodes.ini.dmtx, 2Dbc.menu,
   barcodes.menu).

   Please read "v5.04dmtx" in this directory for more information.

4. RGB raster images now output as RGB by default (typdrv, print.tcl,
   bcompose).

   Before, an RGB color image was converted to CMYK on output, and required
   a tray option "RGB2RGB" to prevent that behavior.

   Now, for composite output to devices at level-2 or higher that support
   RGB images, no conversion is made.

   Conversion will be made only if:

   a. output is to separations; or
   b. CMYK conversion is forced.

   The "force CMYK" conversion is now an option in the Print dialog, as
   the check-button "RGB as CMYK".  This may be useful for printing to
   soft proof, or for certain printers who lack proper level-2 tools and/or
   equipment to handle RGB color images.

   To set "force CMYK" elsewhere:
   a. use the -cmyk option with bcompose;
   b. set "rgb2cmyk: 1" in plot options file to typdrv.

5. Added anti-aliased text character rendering mode (m2kbin, window.tcl).

   The new mode is selected with "AA" text mode, in the Window dialog.  When
   selected, text characters are rasterized with anti-aliased gray pixels
   along certain curved boundaries, which are blend with background to smooth-
   out (or soften) such edges, creating a "cleaner" visual look.

   Please note:

   a. This rasterization makes use of the FreeType2 run-time library, an
      open-source software library by the FreeType Project (www.freetype.org).

   b. Small text characters are not anti-aliased.

   c. There is a huge cost associated with this rendering mode:

      For each character to be displayed (it is entirely or partially inside
      the drawing window):

      * rasterize the character to 8-bit grayscale bitmap;
      * the character's background tile (in color) is obtained;
      * compose the character's pixels with the background;
      * send the resulting color bitmap to the display.

      As with X Windows, the round-trip "old background" and "new tile" traffic
      cannot be avoided.  Add the extra time that it takes to compose each and
      every pixel in a character's tile, the AA rendering mode can be very slow
      compared to the Normal mode.

   d. If character hinting is enabled, FreeType2 rasterizer may produce
      character shapes different from that produced by the traditional X11
      rasterizer.  Therefore, character hinting has been disabled for AA
      mode rendering.

   If your workstation has plenty of horsepower, such that you prefer Anti-
   aliased text display as default, you can add this line to your ~/.m2k.tcl
   file:

	set m2Kdata(textmode) aa

::Addendum::
http://www.amgraf.com/updates/m2k/v504A.txt