Bitmap is not bitmap (on Mac)

[Atcold]

Opening this issue following the discussion on #39 about the "bitmap" option generating "vectorial" graphics on Mac.

Suggested fix: let the user choose between SVG, PDF, and PNG.
If PDF is not available (on Windows), then disable it in the menu.

[Jonathan-LeRoux]

Sorry for letting this open so long.

I think the real difference between all these formats is how PowerPoint handles the objects, and that's basically either as "Picture" or as "Shape". This changes how the user can interact with them, so I think it's still important to keep them separate. Plus, having PDF under "Picture" and SVG under "Shape" allows the user to use the trick you mentioned to obtain a good aspect ratio in SVG, i.e., first generate as PDF, then convert to SVG.

I'm thus thinking of implementing this as follows:

• Replace "Rasterize selection" with "Convert to Picture", and "Vectorize selection" with "Convert to Shape". I'm a bit sad of losing the word "selection", but I'm hoping it's clear enough (in particular that this can be applied to multiple objects, a whole slide, or sets of slides).
• On Mac, the user will be able to choose between PDF and PNG in a new "Create Picture output as" menu under Main Settings, and between SVG via DVI or SVG via PDF (no change) under a renamed "Create Shape output as" menu.
• On Windows, there will be no change except for renaming "Create Vector output as" to "Create Shape output as" (no new "Create Picture output as" menu because only option is PNG).

Does that sound reasonable?

[Atcold]

Yup, it does. Also, if there is space, you could have "convert selection to picture" and "convert selection to shape".
Btw, I've been flexing your plug-in with countless colleagues at multiple institutions. I think I owe you a YouTube video tutorial. Let me know if you have a list of features you'd like me to showcase.

[Jonathan-LeRoux]

I tried both with and without "selection" and the version with it doesn't look as clean:

Thanks a lot for popularizing IguanaTex! I admit that a YouTube video tutorial is something I should have done a long time ago, but never got to do (and probably don't have the necessary talent for...). So if you could do one, that would be fantastic!
Apart from the obvious ones, some of the probably lesser known/used features are the batch edit under "Regenerate selection", the templates in the edit window, and the keyboard shortcuts ("accelerators"). There's also the fact that one can add some of the macros to the Quick Access Toolbar, but unfortunately that only works on Windows due to a Microsoft bug (I haven't checked recently but they hadn't fixed it a couple months ago).

[Atcold]

Maybe, let's create a draft over the Christmas break?
How shall we coordinate?

[Jonathan-LeRoux]

Re: the video
Let's maybe work on a script either in a Google Docs or Spreadsheet? I don't have much experience writing video scripts but we can at least come up with a list of points to hit (how to install on Mac/Win, basics, fancier things like psfrags, external editor, latexmk, templates, keyboard shortcuts...), and then start fleshing them out.

Re: Picture/Shape and PNG/PDF support on Mac
I'm pretty much done implementing the PNG support on Mac. Doing this made me realize that ImageMagick was not always necessary, even on Windows, because most engines can be switched to output a DVI which can then be converted to PNG via dvipng. So I took the occasion to allow users on both Win/Mac not to specify a path to ImageMagick, in which case I just force DVI output. The only "major" case where PDF is absolutely needed is with platex (Japanese LaTeX), and of course if any package requiring PDF is used. I'll have to explain that clearly in the README.

I still need to do more tests, but it looks like the cropped PDF that is the default on Mac looks slightly different from the output of dvipng, with a different aspect ratio. I'll compare with LaTeXiT as well.

[Jonathan-LeRoux]

I spoke too fast. dvipng can't process the XDV files that xelatex outputs and chokes on fonts in the DVI files that lualatex outputs. This only leaves pdflatex for which we could force DVI output, but that is literally what "latex (DVI)" is. To avoid confusion, I'll just raise an error saying "ImageMagick is required with all engines except latex (DVI) for PNG output". At least the code won't break anymore if no ImageMagick path is specified.

[Jonathan-LeRoux]

Here is a beta version of v1.61, which includes the following changes:

• (Win/Mac) Changed Bitmap/Vector naming to Picture/Shape, to reflect the actual difference in how PowerPoint handles each type of display. The naming also better suits the fact that Picture displays on Mac are PDF and thus cannot be described as Bitmap. (Fixes Bitmap is not bitmap (on Mac) #41)
• (Win/Mac) Raise an error if user tries to use a combination of engine and output which requires ImageMagick without its path pointing to a file that exists (i.e., PNG output with all engines other than "latex (DVI)").
• (Mac) Implemented PNG support for Mac
• (Win/Mac) Fixed bug that could occur when using dvipng and there exists already a PNG file from a prior run.

[Jonathan-LeRoux]

Closing this issue as it is now fixed in Release v1.61.