Laidout

Laidout in Brussels

9 June 2010

The annual Libre Graphics Meeting for 2010 was held in Brussels, Belgium, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go and meet many of the makers of the software I use all the time. There were about 170 people from 47 different countries, each day was action packed with interesting talks about lots of different programs and subjects. When navigating the streets of Brussels early in the morning trying to find the conference, you simply have to throw out any preconceived ideas about urban planning, and this really puts you in a great, open frame of mind when you finally get there and listen to the talks!

I presented Laidout and my interactive polyhedron unwrapper on the second day of the conference. People seemed to enjoy it. You can watch my talk, and all the other talks online, thanks to River Valley TV. The LGM was certainly inspiration to get me to spend more time developing Laidout!

Laidout 0.09 Released

21 February 2010

Laidout 0.09 has just been released. New this time around are importers for Scribus, Svg, and Passepartout files. Also the ability to pass in rudimentary commands, letting you import, reimpose, and export all from the command line, without opening up any windows.

Laidout 0.08 Released

15 September 2007

Laidout 0.08 has just been released. New this time around are several new exporters for Pdf, Scribus, and transparent images. Also there is now a paper tiler for making large prints of a group of things using many smaller pieces of paper.

Laidout 0.06 Released

21 April 2007

Laidout 0.06 has just been released. Really not so very much is new, but there are a few notable improvements, such as the ability to import and print out EPS files. This lets you use pages made with other programs inside a Laidout document. Also new is the ability to start Laidout from a template document.

Laidout 0.05 Released

4 November 2006

Laidout 0.05 has just been released. Only one month late this time, now you can work using preview images, so that you don't run out of memory moving around hundreds of huge tiffs. Also, you can now import multiple images at once from a file list. Plus the object tool now uses a three point transform for speedy positioning. See the website for more.

Laidout 0.04 Released

4 September 2006

So just in case anyone's watching, Laidout 0.04 has just been released. The biggest news for this much delayed release is a Palette window, in which you can select a color, and have that color immediately applied to whatever you're working on. Also, Laidout now uses icons, and the splittable window system has been improved.

Making zines with open source software

9 July 2006

Laidout development will be rather slow until mid-August. The development team (consisting of a one Tom Lechner) is spending most of his time finishing a book of cartoons (which he's put off finishing for about 6 months) in time to show off at the Portland Zine Syposium August 11-13 in Portland, Oregon (http://www.pdxzines.com). At the symposium I'll also be giving a workshop on how to make zines using all open source software including Laidout, Scribus, the Gimp, Inkscape, and more.

New screenshot of a rhombic triacontahedron

18 June 2006

This screenshot shows a Net Imposition as seen in the development version. This particular net is a 30 sided Rhombic Triacontahedron layout, that one might use to make spherical panoramas..