Here's Wikipedia's take on tactile graphics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactile_graphic > On Mar 31, 2022, at 06:02, Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > OP here, > > I'm curious about the mentioned swellpaper, though I confess, its been > years since I had access to an inkjet printer(not much use for one > when you can't make use of hardcopies and all of one's coursework is > submitted digitally, and the need for one hasn't come up in the years > since I finished my bachelor's degree), so that would be at least two > pieces of hardware I'd need to purchase... how do you transfer images > from the normal paper to the swell paper? Tangentially, I'm reminded > of some stuff that was used for one project during one of my art > classes in highschool... it was essentially kitchen sponge that came > in roughly letter or A4 sized sheets, but which had been compressed to > remove the air pockets. Moisture would cause it to swell up, and the > damp spots would stay swelled once dried... drawing with dry media > like pencil or crayon would result in no swelling, drawing with a felt > tip pen or marker would leave raised lines, and paint would leave > areas quite spongy... and of course, plain water could be used to > swell things up further... wish I knew what the stuff was called, even > though it would be kind of useless for any kind of automated > process... and I have doubts the moisture content in printer ink > varies enough to be noticeable if you successfully sent a sheet of the > stuff through a inkjet printer. > > I do recall sifting through Amazon's customer questions on a few > Kricut models a few years back... never purchased one, likely due to > either not being able to find a clear answer on whether they are > Linux supported, generic enough support isn't needed, or locked down > to the point reverse engineering would be required to get it to work > with Linux or confirming the model that would have fit my budget falls > into that third category... Still, I'd be interested in hearing how > things go when you get around to trying it out. > > And yeah, a laser cutter/engraver is definitely on my list of things > I'd want in my dream workshop... though everything I've ever heard > suggest they start expensive and that speed comes at a premium... > though slow and steady might be a hard limitation there to avoid > melting where you don't want it when working with plastic or metal and > avoiding things catching fire when working with wood or other > combustible media... or at least, I've read that an issue that comes > up when laser cutting thicker sheets of acrylic are edges being less > than crisp from where some of the plastic beyond the cut gets > melted... > > And while tech Kickstarters that catch my attention always seem to > have starting prices in the "I literally can't buy anything else > during the paycycle the pledge is collected" or even "I'd have to go > delinquent on all my bills to cover this" territory, I'd be all over a > campaign that offers a streamlined method for producing tactile > drawings of any kind... though, considering how many Kickstarters I've > backed have included .stl files among their digital rewards and how > often 3D printers, and knowing engrave/emboss algorithms(albeit, > designed to generate grayscale images resembling what the source image > would look like engraved/embossed rather than calculating actual depth > data) have been a somewhat common feature inimage editing software > since at least the WinXP if not Win9x days(I started using Linux as my > primary OS not long before Vista came out), the thought of a "2.5d" > printer that's essentially a 3-d printer optimized for printing bas > reliefs that fill most of the buid plate and using algorithms to > calculate depth from jpegs and pngs or directly taking the depth map > from stereoscopic cameras to generate the bas reliefs to print... but > yeah, it feels like tactile technology is lagging behind audio and > visual technology by a disturbing extent. > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list