Vector graphics tool in Netbeans IDE - converts to Java2D code

Java 2D
#1

Hi,

There’s a new tool that should be released soon as a module in Netbeans which will let us draw vector graphics. It is said to be a ‘mini-photoshop or illustrator’ :smiley: (http://cld.blog-city.com/the_imminent_arrival_of_something_really_javacool.htm)

Apparently the module can turn the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) files you make in Netbeans into Java2D code. (http://www.curious-creature.org/2007/09/07/the-secret-behind-nimbus/)

This could be a neat way to create interesting, smooth, antialiased, scalable sprites that can be drawn with Java2D.

#2

Yep, I’ve seen it in action, and it’s pretty sweet =)

Dmitri

#3

Sounds to me like embedding data within class files - and in a really inefficient manner at that!

Maintenance of such data would be hideous - adjusting what is effectively artwork by tweaking lines of code ???
If you want to do that sort of crazyness, you should go and port some badly written mobile games.

#4

You don’t tweak the code you tweak the original data, with the editor,
and regenerate the code.

Just like any art in your app - you don’t tweak the images produced
by your artists in photoshop by hand, do you? =)

Dmitri

#5

And having a few lines of code that produce, say, a desired gradient is way more efficient
than having a huge image that does just that, btw.

Dmitri

#6

Then you store the data in a standardized vector format,
use an already established editing tool to manipulate the data,
and use an already written Java api through which the vector data can be rendered.

The process proposed above is repellant for so many reasons:-

  1. They’ve created a custom editor which does an inferior job of already well established tools (reinventing an inferior wheel)
  2. They export to java source code which allows, perhaps even encourages post-export modifications - atleast output java bytecode, so manual tweaking is more obviously discouraged.
  3. They generate code that targets a specific api - java2d - restricting the usefulness of the entire tool chain for other applications.

Modularity does not appear to have been considered at all.

#7

Those are good points.

#8

Meaning that such tool will not be applicable to all situations. But it turned out
to be pretty useful for the folks working on Nimbus…

Dmitri

#9

i know this is an old thread, but does anyone know what the state of this tool is?

also, what about nimbus on MacOS. will it be available anytime soon?

thanks!

#10

Nimbus is absolutely hideous. I hope they get an actual GUI expert guy to design the next one.

Cas :slight_smile:

#11

why do you think so. i actually like it more than metal, ocean, etc.

and now that it is so easily skinnable, there is lots of potential in swing!

#12

Good question, I’m not sure. If you really want svg to java2D code though, Kirill Grouchnikov made one in his flamingo project (http://www.pushing-pixels.org/?p=424)

#13

They actually did… It was designed by contracted UI company for Solaris.

Dmitri

#14

Nimbus is pretty nice, EXCEPT the scrollbars. How could anybody in their right mind change an aspect of the userinterface that is widely agreed upon to have a certain shape.

#15

+10
Those scrollbars could actually make me avoid an otherwise quite nice LAF.

By the way, although hideous out of the box, Metal can look really nice when you twiddle a bit with it (making the fonts not bold, use it together with swingx, and remove as many borders as you can) and it’s fast too.

#16

Is it just me or is L&F much less of an issue these days? A few years ago and the Swing/Metal L&F made a java app look very out of place. Now we’ve got much more apps using non-standard L&F (firefox, opera, iTunes, windows media player, Word, etc.) that users have got much more used to seeing different controls in each app.

#17

Hi Dmitri,

Any news on what’s happening with this Netbeans vector graphics to Java2D code tool?!

It’d sure come in handy to me right now, drawing stuff in Inkscape and trying to convert to Java2D code is pretty painful.

Thanks,
Keith

#18

It’s still nowhere near as nice and clean as the Alloy L&F. Why they didn’t just buy that off of the Alloy developers I’ve no idea.

Cas :slight_smile: