Release Notes for MECCA 2000 version 5.23.  Dec/11/2014


Fixed:

1. Text could not be color graduated if it was placed along a path
   (m2kbin).

2. Corrected a potential problem in typdrv when printing RGB colored
   rasters (typdrv).

3. Added handling for non-CFF TT/OT fonts that were not designed for
   use with Postscript printers (otfconv, ftolg).


Changed/New:

1. The Parts button label now includes "effective part counts", when
   parts have been defined, or loaded from a drawing file (m2kbin,
   m2k, m2kprocs.tcl, parts.tcl, tclIndex).

2. New raster image converter "pamtoix" deployed, will replace ppmtoix
   over time (pamtoix, m2k, typdrv, preview, combinefile.tcl).

3. Added support for "COPY=" control to the mark-up FIGURE command
   (galeyc, pmunu, gpcdump, typdrv).

   When batch-composing to Level 3 Postscript printer (or to a PDF file),
   if the same drawing file content is repeatedly used throughout a document,
   the "COPY=SAVE" and "COPY=FLASH" combination can result in significant
   output file size reduction.

   To use it, first do a "set up" with the "COPY=SAVE":

       \FIGURE name=abc.g ... copy=save \END

   please note that this setup command does not result in any part of
   drawing file (abc.g) being imaged.

   Then, whenever and whereever you want it, "place" the figure with
   "COPY=FLASH":
  
       \FIGURE name=abc.g ... copy=flash \END
   
   Notes:
       a. The "name=" is the tag for identification, and is required in all
          cases.  A "COPY=FLASH" can only be used when there was a prior
          "COPY=SAVE" with the same drawing file name.

       b. All other attributes for a "placement" FIGURE command, if omitted,
          will be copied from the orginal "setup" version.  You can of course
          explicitly specify desired attributes (POS, LA, LB; but not WIDTH
          nor DEPTH) in a placement FIGURE command.

          That is, different POS= modes can be specified for each placement
          FIGURE command as desired.

       c. The "standard" version of FIGURE command, one that does not use
          "COPY=", still works as before: each use of such command will
          output complete drawing file content.

          As an example of comparison: suppose the referenced drawing file
          has a color raster image, and is called by FIGURE on 10 pages (as
          background image, for example):

          The "standard" ten FIGURE commands will result in the image pixels
          described 10 times.  The new 11 FIGURE commands will result in those
          pixels described only once, then referenced 10 times.

          Therefore, the output file size reduction greatly depends on the
          contents of the drawing file.  The more raster images it has, the
          greater size reduction in the output Postscript/PDF file.

          Please note that this size reduction is only effective when the
          output is Poscript/PDF, it is not in effect if output is MECCA
          drawing format (.g) file.