- Jonathan N. Little wrote:

Okay, yes TTFs are vector...

Thanks for the clarifications as this vectoring thing, from a philosophical
perspective, is important if we print *directly* to the final medium.

Does that mean that TT fonts in PowerPoint should print directly to media
the same as those same TT fonts in Inkscape would print directly to media?

What about the borders though? I would think that the borders and lines in
PowerPoint would NOT be vectored, so I would think that the borders and
lines would print better directly to media with Inkscape.

Is that correct?

but if you output to raster which is what to
do when you create a bitmap JPG or BMP. You will get a ragged-edge
pixelated image ...

I see. So in the case of PowerPoint, if we're not printing directly to
media, then we are rasterizing the image when we save as an image format
that the tiler can read.

But isn't that the same situation with Inkscape since Inkscape doesn't do
tiling either so Inkscape has to output the file to an image format that
the tiler would accept.

...Posterazor or any other image tiler app uses which
will not remove the pixelation in the final output.

Yes. Once pixelated, always pixelated. I agree.

So the goal is not to save to an image format, and just tile out of the
creation program, right?

Yes you can mitigate
the issue but a the cost of increasingly large file sizes. And still the
output will not be as sharp as vector.

I'm all for vectors. That's not the issue.

What I seek is a vector program that can easily tile.

Maybe LibreOffice was it, but if that's the case, there are huge gradients
in this term "easy" as I couldn't get LibreOffice to tile as easily as the
tilers do it (e.g., Posterazor).

A vector graphic can be scaled without changing the file. You can scale
from postage stamp to tractor-trailer size and remain clear and sharp.
Note, what I am talking about is *graphic* designs, (curves, fills,
gradients), not photographs.

Yes. We all agree on the scaling.

The problem is theory and practice don't always meet at the home.

At home, the printer is 8.5x11 so when we want 12x18, we have to tile.

So vectors go to hell once we tile.

What we need is a free vector graphics program that easily tiles.
I tried two of them, neither of which tiled easily.

In order to move vector graphics from the realm of theory to the realm of
the real home, we'd need a free vector graphics program that easily tiled.

Which one do people recommend?