0.2 Phy1004: manual creation of tactile graphics  (Page 3/6)

• Exploration using touch alone.
• Exploration using the IVEO Hands on Learning System with a ViewPlus touchpad, which adds sound to the mix.

Several combinations available

Depending on available resources, individual students might find themselves combining either of the two embossing methods with either of the two explorationmethods. The files that I will provide for many of the modules will be designed to satisfy all four possiblecombinations.

However, my guess is that most students will find themselves in a situation where they are limited to manual embossing and exploration by touch only when they first beginstudying the modules in this collection. Therefore, I will limit the discussion in this module to the use of the svg files for manual embossing. I will explain how to use the svgfiles for the other three combinations in future modules

Manual embossing

If there is at least one sighted person who is willing to assist you, you should be able to use thesvg files that I will provide to create manually-embossed tactile graphics for the images in this collection. I will refer to that sighted person as "yourassistant" in the following discussion.

Description of the scenario

This scenario assumes that you don't have access to an embossing printer and you don't have access to the computer and touchpad resourcesnecessary to support the IVEO system. Therefore, you will need to arrange for an assistant to manually emboss the images for you. You will also need to explore theembossed image by touch alone, using the supplementary information that I will provide in this module.

The file named 1.svg

For this scenario, you will need to extract and print the file named 1.svg from the zip file mentioned earlier . You could use the free IVEO Viewer software to print it on an ordinary non-embossing printer.However, since this scenario has no IVEO involvement, it isn't necessary to use the IVEO Viewer software to print it. A simple alternativeapproach is to

• Ask the your assistant to open the file named 1.svg in either Firefox 5 (or later) or Internet Explorer 9 (or later).
• Set Page Setup on the File menu to Portrait or Landscape as appropriate.
• Select Print Preview
• Use the print scaling capabilities of the browser to make the image as large as will fit on a single page.
• Print the file.

Another alternative

Another alternative, (which may do a better job of maintaining the actual size of the graphic than either browser mentioned above), is to print thefile using a free svg drawing program named Inkscape (see (External Link) ).

Inkscape can appear to be rather daunting when it first appears on the screen. However, the process of opening a file in Inkscape and printing the file can allbe handled by making simple selections from the File menu.

More importantly, as I mentioned earlier, if your printer can accommodate paper that is wider than 8.5 inches, the Inkscape program can also be used to enlarge the image inthe svg file to provide you with a larger tactile graphic image.