The GNU 3DLDF Flipbook Page

Author: Laurence D. Finston

This copyright notice applies to the text and source code of this web site, and the graphics that appear on it. The software described in this text has its own copyright notice and license, which can be found in the distribution itself.

Copyright (C) 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 The Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of this license is included in the file COPYING.TXT

Last updated: December 19, 2021


Table of Contents

Top
Flipbook
Contact

Back to top
Back to main page

Flipbook

2005.09.07.

This is an example of a flipbook made using GNU 3DLDF, MetaPost, TeX, and dvips as a compressed (gzipped) PostScript file for downloading: flpld_3.ps.gz
This is the same example converted to PDF (Portable Document Format) with ps2pdf for viewing in your browser (if you have the appropriate plug-in) or downloading: flpld_3.pdf

The 3DLDF and TeX code for this example is in flpld_3.ldf and flpld_3.tex, respectively.

flpld_3.ps and flpld_3.pdf contain the front and back of a single sheet of paper, properly called the recto and the verso. I've left a bit of a margin around the box, because printers are generally not precise enough. In the actual PostScript output, there should be a centimeter of space at the top and left margins of the recto, and the same amount of space at the top and right margins of the verso. With a bit of luck, the boxes will match up when printed. This may require some adjustments; I haven't tested it yet.

By folding a sheet of paper four times, one gets two gatherings with 8 right-hand pages each. If the images have been placed properly on the sheet, the edges can be cut (like old-fashioned books), the left-hand side can be stapled, and you've got a little book. Half of the images are on each side of the original sheet, and half of the images on each side are upside-down.

To use these examples, always fold between the mid-points of the two (current) long sides. The paper is folded in the same way for portrait and landscape, but the upside-down images differ.

To use flpld_3.tex, you must have 16 images in EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) format. They should be of the same size, 6.5 × 4cm (width by height). The frames around the images are made using vrules in the TeX file, they are not part of the images themselves.

This example assumes you're using DIN A4 paper. Since the margins will have to be cut off anyway, it doesn't matter that much if you're using a slightly different size, such as 8.5 x 11in paper. However, you may have to adjust the \vsize (vertical size) and \hsize (horizontal size or line width) values, and the papersize \special for landscape mode.

You'll also need to replace flpld_3.<number> with the names of your EPS files.

To generate flpld_3.ps you must run the following sequence of commands:

3dldf flpld_3.ldf

mpost flpld_3.mp

tex flpld_3.tex

dvips -o flpld_3.ps flpld_3.dvi

You can now view flipbook.ps in Ghostview:

gv flipbook.ps

Or you can print it with lpr:

lpr -P flpld_3.ps

Or you can convert it to PDF:

ps2pdf flpld_3.pdf

If all has gone well, you can now print it out, staple the left side, cut the pages, and start flipping.

If you have more than sixteen images, you'll just have to copy the code below to make more pages in the same way, and staple the gatherings together.


Back to contents
Back to top
Back to main page