Dear John,
I think you are asking the impossible! I believe that really complicated visual
images such as photos of "people playing volleyball on the beach" are not
replicable in a tactile format. The detail is simply far too complicated to be
useful. I think we need to get "real" about what is and what is not possible
within the realm of current technology and future technological development. I
think that this process is particularly difficult for those of us who have never
been able to see and thus have no visual memory. Personally, I have difficulty
reading anthing more than a bar graph or a very simple map. For some of us
there is really a huge learning curve that goes right along with the problem of
producing the raised image.
Harold Snider
John Miller wrote:
> Hello,
> Robert Jaquiss and Curtis Chong created raised-line drawings
> using the Phaser 600 and the tactile image enhancer of research graphs
> presented to me
> by my colleagues. They modified the graphs in no way at all, and just
> raised up what they got.
> The tactile image enhancer resolution was just too low for the task at hand.
> Although the phaser 600 results were promising, folks had feedback
> at the NFB convention for how they could be made more legible.
> I tell you, though, that if I have to do a half hour prep per drawing,
> force my colleagues to print graphs without grid lines and so-on, or have
> an assistant spend 30 minutes
> cutting and painting braille fonts per graph, I'm better off asking my
> colleague what he drew
> or having my assistant free hand a raised-line drawing.
>
> So to the thought experiment.
> If an author wanted to include in a text document some bit-mapped images
> and accompanying raised-line drawing information, say, in a
> tactile graphics standard format, what would the author's content be for
> the standard?
> The first thing I would like to know if you handed me a 100 page document
> with some graphs in it
> is the location of the graphs.
> How tall and how wide is each graphic? On which page is it?
> Within the format of each graphic, I would like the text labels in an overlay
> separable from the graphic itself.
> I should be able to make a tactile image minus any confusing text labels.
> If grid lines are present, I should have the option to suppress them.
> The overlay should include characteristics that distinguish different lines:
> if they are dotted, made with stars, red, green, or whatever.
> Of course, along with the text in the overlay would be its x-y location.
> I hsitate to suggest a field that includes the mathematical function of the
> thing drawn,
> but sometimes when you go from the image of y = x^2 and thru all the
> resizing and resolution issues,
> just telling the machine the analytical expression will generate the best
> results.
> Last of all, a notes field, where the author might add
> "This is a picture of about a thousand folks playing volleyball on the beach.
> Business as usual in San Diego".
>
> I'd like to open it up and ask all of you what you think
> a tactile image standard would need so that SW could generate
> files ready for braille where the results would make you happy more times
> than sad.
> Cheers,
> John
>
> *******************************************************************
> * John Miller *
> * CMRR-0401 *
> * University of California, San Diego *
> * 9500 Gilman Drive *
> * La Jolla, CA 92093-0401 *
> * *
> * phone: (619) 822-2326 *
> * fax (619) 534-2720 *
> * email: jmiller@ucsd.edu *
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