release notes

In version 2.500, the emphasis lays on new features that will help you to get the best layout in your designs. Below you will find a more technical description of the changes that were made. To understand how these affect the functioning of the software, we recommend you to read the modified, extended and newly added manual sections.

Important technical changes

– A new technique is implemented to ensure the computer identification leads to unique and secure registration. This requires you to re-register. The version indication will change; future versions will have only numbers like 2.50.00.10
– The Liblouis braille table engine 3.17 is implemented. The many braille tables for different languages supported by Liblouis allow for replacing the TactileView braille tables. When registering the software you will be asked to select a Liblouis braille table as your main braille table. Documents created with TactileView braille tables will be converted to use Liblouis equivalent brailletables on opening.

Improvements and extensions

-Images in the TactileView catalog have a unique number referred to as image ID. After download of the image from the catalog, this image ID will be included/printed as part of the design. The default position can be changed in the context menu / design elements.
Entering this image ID on the ‘TellID’ page will bring up the description for the particular image.
For screen reader users the description provides additional information related to the image.
– The portal menu Create map is repaired and works in combination with the newly built Route tactile website (www.routetactile.com)
– The front-end and back-end for the TactileView website has been made more secure by a transition from HTTP to HTTPS protocol including software and website interaction.
– For downloading files from the TactileView website a new method has been implemented, resulting in a more smooth proces.

– The page to download an image from the catalog contains less navigation elements and the download button is combined as part of the image. The selected image will automatically feed into TactileView. For maps from the RouteTactile map creation system a similar mechanism is implemented.
– The motorised drawing arm (MDA) product is supported. See for product information MDA. For a manual see MDA manual.
– A new tool ‘Colour substitute’ is introduced. This tool can change areas with the same colour into textured tactile areas, as configured in custom profiles. It also allows to change colours in alternative coulours or to add audio styles to colours. Custom profiles can be created, modified or deleted in the settings menu. Colour substitution works with bitmap images such as JPG, PNG, TIF and GIF.
– The tools Filters, Detect shape, Colour substitute and Draw graph are extended with a hints section in the toolbars and context menus respectively.
– When launching the software a ‘Blind access’ message will pop up, providing hints on how to operate TactileView using a screenreader.
– The object list is extended. Each object can be provided with an alias/ text description for easy identification for screenreader users via the toolbar/context menu or via the object list. Object properties, including the object alias, are presented in columns which can be sorted. The elements in the object list can be modified via their context menus. Individual objects can be sketched with the MDA to support incremental drawing of an entire design.

– Object markers and label type markers have a transparency setting in menu general to ease aligning objects and textlabels.
– The maximum size of the characters that can be created with the drawing tool Letter and numbers is now set to a higher value of 400 pixels. This works only for fonttypes that allow for scaling.
– Circle objects can have a tactile centre indication, as well as a centre textlabel indicator.
– The draw graph tool is extended with a logarithmic scale type. More example grids have been added and categorised in the respective scale types (linear, logarithmic, degrees and radians) and separated in sub categories design orientation (landscape/portrait).
– The selection tool has an additional function that allows to eliminate the surplus of white space. The selected area will shrink, only the content is retained. It helps to position the content. Once an area is selected, it has to be de-selected before using other tools.
– Tool tips and mouse shapes are optimised.
– The Language reset icon is modified and in the language setting dialogue a button ‘set language to English’ is added in order to reset the software interface to English.
– The texture fill preview now shows the true size of the texture once printed in the selected measurement units (centimeter/inch). The input of the texture size is improved.
– All dialogs containing settings for measurements have the indication of the selected unit of measurement as set in the Settings menu / General (pixel, inch or centimeter)

Lay-out aspects

– This version sees the introduction of the new braille grid and enhanced measurements grid. These are shown in light green on screen and are used for convenient and accurate alignment of braille texts or object in your design. The size of the alignment grids can be limited to a specified area in the design by enabling the alignment frame. See the manual section Alignment frame and grids for more details.

– TactileView supports a wide range of different embossers, resulting in a vast number of different paper sizes and their corresponding printable area for the particular printer. Therefore, when opening a saved file or a design from the TactileView catalog, the design size would not necessarily match the paper size. Moreover, changes in design orientation would also lead to a design that would not match the paper orientation and had to be adjusted manually to make it fit.
In the new release version, the design will be adjusted automatically in all of these cases. When the design is too large in any direction, any excess white space around the edges will now be trimmed automatically; if the design is too small in any direction, the design will be extended to match the paper size. Note that this will not affect the contents of the design.
See also: Changing design orientation and size and Paper size vs. design size.

– The dot view mode has been adapted for better accuracy and reduced delay when editing the design. Colours are depicted in greyscale for ViewPlus to display variable dot height. For Index and Brailletec embossers, the positioning is improved to avoid overlap (less chance of tearing the paper). The unintended overlap of white space behind text labels with adjacent objects has also been solved.
See also: Design mode: dot view/line view.

– Composition signs such as capital signs and number signs are now indicated with a light grey background, to notify the designer of the space these signs occupy. This is especially useful when the braille is hidden on screen, when previously only a blank space would be visible.
See also: Braille tables – Inherent braille properties

– Imported images and figures (‘Import’ option from the left vertical toolbar, previously ‘Add figure’) are no longer placed in the top left corner of the design, but will be placed at the desired position by clicking in the design after selecting the image.
See also: Import (image from file, svg and figure)

– An inserted image can now easily be replaced by selecting ‘Replace with image on clipboard’ from the properties toolbar of a selected image. This will replace the current image with the image file on the clipboard, retaining the original position and corresponding to the size of the original image.

Other improvements

– A new drawing tool for creating curving lines and shapes has been added, which gives you full control to create any desired shape. ‘Draw Path – Curved Shape’ can be found in the left vertical toolbar and incorporates the previous drawing tool ‘Free-hand line’. As this is now used to draw curved objects, the Polygon tool has been simplified to only include straight lines. For a full explanation of this drawing tool, see .

– The latest up-to-date braille tables have been implemented with Version 3.0.0 of the Liblouis braille translator. This new version includes support for UEB. Some of the braille tables have been updated and require you to select a replacing braille table; TactileView will automatically guide you in choosing the correct new table.

– The objects ‘Draw letters and digits’ and ‘Mammoth braille’ can now be edited by double clicking after they have been placed in the design.

– When processing production requests (teleprinting), the original braille table(s) of the document can now be retained. When opening the production request, you will be prompted with a choice between changing text labels to your own main braille table, retaining the original tables or saving the braille table of the document as your main braille table.

– The dialog for entering or editing a text label has been extended with information about the number of braille characters and lines of text. This is especially useful when operating TactileView with a screen reader.

– Tooltips have been added for convenient adjustment of the word wrap (text label width) in the design. The marker allows for dragging the word wrap length to any position before entering text.

– For new text labels, the last used braille table is selected. To avoid confusion, after closing and relaunching TactileView, your main table will now be used for new text labels instead of the last used table in your previous design session.

– Other text label improvements: empty labels are removed automatically; the position in the design is more stable when editing the word wrap length; you can use Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End to navigate to the beginning and end of a label.

– The purple markers on the corners of the design have been removed, as all functionality is already available with the remaining purple markers on the sides and blue marker on the lower right corner.

– Importing svg images has been improved to extend the range of supported elements.

– The status of the right-up marker (enabled or disabled) will now be saved in TactileView designs.

– The drawing tools in the left vertical toolbar can now be activated with keyboard shortcuts. The list of shortcut keys can also be edited via Settings > Keyboard shortcuts. See: Keyboard shortcuts.

– The Shift key can be used for accurate positioning of objects and text labels by moving them only horizontally or vertically; in the new release, this will also include diagonal movement (i.e. the positioning can thus be restricted to multiples of 45 degrees). This also works for moving individual anchor points in polygon or path objects.

– The table object has been revised, whereby adding or removing rows/columns has been simplified and menu driven design for tables has been improved.

– The line textures for objects have been improved to give better tactile results as well as a more convenient line style dialog.

Printing aspects

– Important: Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT) requires a service update in order to support the Index V4 and V5 with high resolution graphics. Selecting ‘Check for Updates’ from the Help menu in DBT will bring you to the required updates (under Supplemental Downloads).

– Support for the Brailletec Puma, as well as the ViewPlus EmBraille and Columbia embossers has been added.

– Variable relief height has been clarified when a document is opened with an embosser selected that does not support different dot heights.

– Printer driver installation (File > Install braille printer) has been simplified to include clear instructions for all supported embosser models.

– The method of positioning of the braille dots for the range of Index embossers has been revised. The resolution has been doubled (from 50 to 100 DPI) and the algorithm has been enhanced. This has resulted in a higher accuracy for the tactile graphics produced on an Index embosser.

– Paper tearing that occurred with Index embossers has also been addressed. This happened mostly in designs with thicker lines, causing the braille dots to overlap. This weakens the paper and causes it to tear. By revising the dot placement algorithm, this has now been significantly improved.

– Designs were previously rotated unintentionally when printing on 11,5×11 inch paper. This has been fixed in this release by limiting the orientation of designs to portrait for this specific paper size, as the 0.5 inch difference in height and width is negligible.

– The printable area for the 8.5*12 inch paper size has been decreased slightly to avoid the printing of a blank sheet as part of the document.

– Index has released an important new version of the firmware for their V4 embossers; see the Index website for download and instructions. Make sure to update your V4 embosser, as this release solves a number of printing issues that also had their effect in TactileView:
• The printable area for the 8.5*12 inch paper size has been decreased slightly to avoid the printing of a blank sheet as part of the document.
• When printing a design on A4 or , ‘Error 213’ could occur; this has now been solved. TactileView also provides a temporary solution for V4 embossers to avoid this error when the firmware has not been updated yet.

Bug fixes

– Altitude lines in triangles will always be shown, even for obtuse triangles,  when selected.

– Empty formula labels are no longer shown above graphs.

– The order of the values along the axis of an empty mathematical grid has been fixed.

– Some problems when launching TactileView without internet access solved.

– Capital sign in title text label is now displayed correctly in a new document.

– When a text label was selected, the right-up marker could not be operated; this has now been fixed.

– You can now correctly select, overwrite and navigate within text when editing a text label in the design. You can also select text by dragging and selecting with the mouse.

– Some issues with placing or moving the caret to edit a text label have been solved.

– Text label transparency is now retained in a saved document.

– The caret position has become more accurate for editing a rotated text label in the document by double clicking. Please keep in mind that not all embossers support rotated braille text retaining the default distance between the braille dots.

– Drawing a polygon has been improved when the polygon is rotated.

– A number of drawing tools, such as circles and triangles, no longer functioned correctly via ‘Menu driven design’ or the Drawing tools menu; these issues have been fixed. All options for drawing a graph are now also available via ‘Menu driven design’.

– Error when applying filters to an image copied from Microsoft Paint (or any other 24 bit image) has been solved.

– When the text label tool was selected, the braille table could be selected prior to placing a new label. For regular text labels, the braille table did not always match the table that was ultimately used for the label. For labels with braille keyboard input and certain input method for mathematical text labels, braille table selection was not applicable and is no longer shown in the respective properties toolbar.

– The drawing tool ‘Detect shape’ has been improved so the properties such as line style or fill style will be preserved when readjusting the detection criteria.

– The registration procedure has become more efficient and intuitive.

– Text label alignment did not function correctly when the title label was deleted.

– Some drawing tools (Filters, Graph and Import) could not be deselected with the Escape key.

– The output on some embossers for the small ticks along the axes of a graph has been improved.

– The size and position of ‘Letters and digits’-objects will no longer be distorted after saving or scaling the design.

– The default green indicators in a triangle that mark the corners, equivalent angles and right angles are no longer fused when the triangle is fused with the bitmap.

– The Select Area tool has been extensively reworked to improve functionality such as copying, cutting, moving and deleting the elements within the selection.

– When the visibility of the line is set to ‘White line’ or ‘None’, a red dashed line now used for all objects to signify their presence.

The software has been tested and prepared for Windows 8. The support for a touchscreen, one of the elements of the Windows 8 interface, is implemented.
Drawing objects with your finger or zoom in/out (pinching) or rotating objects has never been so easy.

The TactileView drivers have been prepared for 64-bit Windows. Especially the combination with the Index embossers Version 4, has gone through an extensive testing procedure. See the ‘Index’ section below.

File menu

In the file menu the option ‘Import SVG’ is added. This allows you to import files with file format SVG. To clarify: The ‘Open’ option will open files in TactileView format (BPX), JPG, PNG, TIF and GIF.
The File menu option ‘Print Multiple Documents’ has been changed to select and print a list of designs more easily. This can be done by selecting multiple designs from a folder or by creating firstly a .txt-file with the file names.
When files in the print list could not be found (either due to a misspelled file name or wrong document location), the list can be changed by selecting a replacing file and saving the corrected print list.

Settings menu

In the Settings menu, the ‘Braille Tables’ option has been extended with the inclusion of the LibLouis braille translation. This is an open source system for the use of various braille tables in different languages, including contracted braille. With the incorporation of this system, TactileView can now apply multiple braille tables in the same document.
Settings – Braille tables: First of all, create your own list of braille tables that you want to apply when creating or editing a design. As you enter a new text label or edit an existing one, you can then select a braille table that you like to apply to the selected text label.
In order to get an overview of the different braille tables that are applied to present the text labels in the current document, the function ‘Braille table overview’ in the toolbar or context menu of the design can be selected. This will present the names of the braille tables in a specific colour. The respective labels in the design will have markers with the corresponding colour.
The presentation of the textlabels in normal font is based on the number of braille characters. In other words, when a textlabel has braille contractions, a smaller fonttype is used in order to avoid overlapping in the design.

Graphs menu

A new option has been added to the Graphs menu: ‘Functions and Formulas. Here you can find a list of all the mathematical functions and constants that can be used in a formula.
Also a list of sample formulas is available in this menu option. All settings can be changed to create the formula that suits your needs. This option uses the same underlying technique as in the Grids and Graphs menu. This option presents a list of Grids and Graphs, based on a number of sample formulas.
The grids an formula list contains quite a number of settings to be able to create a tactile usable graph.
The names of the grids are localized.

Index printers

Although Index Braille AB provides drivers for its printers, you should install a TactileView driver.
After you have installed the standard driver from Index, the TactileView printer driver can be installed via the TactileView program, menu option File – Install Braille printer.
Depending on your printer model:
For Index printer model V4 select the type: Index Printer (V4 0.5 mm).
The printer port must be set to the same value as is selected by the Index driver.
Make sure you have the latest Index firmware version 1.4.2 build 60 uploaded to the embosser.
For models Version 3 select the type: Index Printer (V3 0.5 mm).
Note 1. If you connect an other Index Printer to the same physical USB port, the USB port number will change and you have to make the same change for the TactileView printer driver. The easiest way to do this is to install the TactileView driver again with the new port setting.
Note 2. The paper format selected in the printer should always be in portrait position. TactileView rotates a design that is in landscape format to portrait format before sending the output to the printer.

A few esthetical changes have been made to the icons in the toolbars and they are separated in groups with similar functions.
The colour scheme has been extended with a green colour that is used to add information to certain objects. This colour is used in the design and in the corresponding tool icons in the toolbar. The green indicators on the screen will not be printed in the design, unless specified.
The icons for the tool ‘Add Text Label’ and ‘Draw Letters and Digits’ have been adjusted to explain the two different tools to avoid confusion. (You mainly want to have text in the design with the proper Braille characters. Users tend to select the draw character at first sight).
The selection tool has got a few more options: ‘Add to bitmap’ and ‘Mirror vertically or horizontally’. These are also available for figures in the design.
Two new objects have been added: triangles and tables.
The triangle object enables you to create a triangle with preset properties like a right angle or 2 or 3 equal sides. When you select a triangle in the design you will see green indicators for the type of the triangle and characters A, B en C to indicate the corners. Via an option in the context menu you can have these indicators printed as well. Extra lines from any of the 3 angles to the opposite side (altitude, median line and bisector) can be selected to be drawn automatically.
The table object allows you to create a tactile framework divided into rectangles. The context menu will allow you to adjust the size of the table or add or remove specific rows or columns.
In the individual cells you can place other objects from the left vertical toolbar. You still can change the properties of the elements in the cells from the respective tool bar.
‘Show or hide order of objects’ will list the order in which the objects have been added to your design. Especially when you want to make sure that overlapping objects are well presented either transparent or not, you may find this feature useful. The numbers in the middle of the objects will turn green or orange, corresponding with the transparency icon / setting in the objects context menu. An orange number shows that the object is not transparent and that you see the contour lines of the object while the underlying object is (partly) covered, whereas green indicates that the object is transparent and the objects below can be seen through it.
The option ‘Create Map’ in the Portal menu is restored. Not only can you create street maps, but also maps of larger areas, even up to the whole world. The option will establish a contact with the RouteTactile website where you can also select various layers to define the map of choice, depending on the zoom level.
The help option ‘Sounds’ has been relocated to the Settings option ‘TactileView digital pen’, in which the playback volume can be set relative to the other sound and speech output signals.
More printer options have been added. You can now use the Index V4 range of embossers.
The software has been extended with the Index V4 range of embossers. Especially the resolution of 0.5 mm will create very nice shapes and curves. In order to use your Index V4 embosser, please make sure that your unit is equipped with firmware version 1.4.2 or higher.
You may find firmware upgrade instruction at Index website:
http://www.indexbraille.com/en-us/support/knowledge-base/service/firmware-upgrade-v4-embossers-1-2-x-and-higher
In this case it is enough to select a “minor upgrade”.
To access these downloads from www.indexbraille.com the user has to register and be logged in on the site.

Registration and settings menus

In this release, the registration procedure of the software has been reorganised to guide users through the different necessary steps. The registration of the computer and user are now presented during the (first) launch of the software. During registration/configuration, the user will be prompted with a number of settings dialogs that are important for a good personal configuration. We also give the option to register for the TactileView newsletter to stay up to date.
These dialogs are also available in the settings menu, where they have been re-arranged to match the order during the first launch of the software. The new Help menu item Welcome once again will bring up the same series of settings dialogs as during registration.
The customer code and the printer identification code or teleprint code are needed for the user registration and are verified on the TactileView website. When these codes have not yet been entered, the software will run in demonstration mode. This is visually indicated in the design with green watermarks.
A new item Sign up for newsletter has been added to the settings menu to sign up for our mailing list. In these newsletters we provide useful inspiration for the use of the software, as well as information about our other solutions and tools for tactile graphics.

Changes in screen setup

A number of changes have been made to the layout of the software to facilitate easier and more efficient use of the different functions in the software.
In the top toolbar, located below the options in the main menu, icons have been added to show details about your current software version and registration. Another icon gives quick access to the newsletter.
A second tool bar has been introduced in order to have more functions available with one mouse click. In this second toolbar you will also find icons for software functions that previously were available only via menus. These include access to braille tables, language options, page formatting, screen elements (including the placement order of objects, previously located in the left toolbar), composing a map and the TactileView catalog.
The left vertical toolbar, which contains the drawing tools, has been extended with Functions and formulas and Filters, which both only were available via menus. Because of the increasing number of icons that this toolbar contains, it may be longer than the available height in the software window. To ensure that all icons remain visible, the left toolbar will now be resized if necessary to fit within the size of the window. This also applies for the toolbar that is showing all the context menu options.

Functions and formulas in the left toolbar

The Functions and Formulas activates the similar option of the Graphs menu. This dialog has been adapted to provide a clear and efficient method of creating a tactually suitable graph.
In the dialog for changing a formula, y= has been added to show this part of the equation. Extra messages will indicate when the syntax of the formula is incorrect. The text label that is representing a formula can be given a different contents than the formula syntax.

Filters in the left toolbar

The menu option Filters has been added to the left vertical toolbar as well. Selecting this toolbar icon will bring up an overview of the available filters in the right vertical toolbar, in which they are represented by a series of icons from which you can make a selection. Some of the filters will have a slider that is used to select the filters value. This slider was previously located in the top right corner of the screen, but will now appear right next to the selected filter. The slider for the resolution of the design has been relocated in the toolbar of the design, which appears when nothing is selected.
Before, the design could only be mirrored vertically and rotated clockwise. These filters have now been complemented with two new filters: horizontal mirroring and anti-clockwise rotation.

Mouse wheel for thickness of pencil/eraser

The drawing tools Pencil and Eraser, which can be used for bitmap based drawing, are now more convenient in use. When you have selected the tool, simply use the scroll wheel to change the line thickness or eraser width. This in fact works the same as rotating a selected object.

New method for text label input

The drawing tool Add text label has been extended with a new text input method. The regular way to create a new text label is to type the regular characters on the keyboard, which are subsequently translated to the corresponding braille characters based on the selected braille table.
The new input method works the other way around and allows you to enter the six braille dots directly as they are used in braille characters, similar to a brailler. For this, you simultaneously use a combination of the six home row keys left and right on the raised indicators on your keyboard (on qwerty keyboards these are SDF for braille dot positions 3,2,1 and JKL for 4,5,6).
The text representation on the screen might not always be correct for this input method because the braille table you use when typing the braille characters might differ from the braille table that is used by default for the translation of the braille characters back to regular text.
You can select your preferred input method in the right toolbar before you add a new text label to the design. The default input method is the standard keyboard input. Once a text label has been added to the document, the input method cannot be changed later on.
The icons representing the input methods have dots with different colours. These coloured dots are also placed on the left hand side of the text label. This colour will tell you with which method the text label was entered. This is especially useful as an indication for possible misspellings in a document that you have created earlier on, caused by an incorrect back translation to regular text when you have used the new braille character input for a text label.
This coloured dot also presents a tooltip which will give a summary of the text labels properties.

Text label alignment

The tool to add a text label to the design also has a new option to switch text label alignment on or off. When placing a new text label or moving an existing one, a dashed line will indicate the alignment with the top and left side of other labels. When the mouse pointer is within a distance of 8 pixels, this line will act as a magnet for convenient horizontal and vertical.

Relief height

Not all braille embossers support the use of differences in relief height, which can be selected for line height, surface height and texture height for all objects. These settings for relief height are now only available if it is supported by your embosser.

Index drivers

Previously, a TactileView version of the drivers for the Index embossers was needed. This release is now fully compatible with the regular Index drivers for V3 and V4 embossers. Make sure that your embosser has the latest version of the firmware to make it compatible with the TactileView software.

This version no longer contains an expiration date. When new software versions or updates appear, you will be notified via our newsletter. You can also choose to automatically check for availability of new versions during the launch of the software. You can find this option in the Help menu under Update TactileView Components.

For those of you that want to print Japanese braille, you can install a library made by Extra. A software key to use this Japanese library is required.

New textlabel type for mathematical equations

In version 1.990 a new type of textlabel was introduced with which the braille characters could be entered directly using a combination of six keys on the keyboard. This type of textlabel is indicated with an orange bullet, whereas regular textlabels have a green bullet.
In version 2.00 a third type of textlabel is introduced for mathematical equations. These textlabels require some extra knowledge, as in mathematics more specialized notation is used, both in braille and in regular text.
An easy way to enter an equation is to use a math editor such as MathType. This way, you can enter the equation with all the familiar mathematical symbols and notations, such as division lines, square roots, etc. ‘Behind the scenes’ this equation from the math editor is processed in MathML.
The equation is translated into braille in TactileView. A braille table that corresponds with a mathematical braille notation is applied, such as Nemeth, Marburg or Unified English Braille. This determines the correct braille characters that represent the equation.
Alternatively, when you do not have a math editor installed, you can also use the linear input method for mathematical textlabels, in which you enter the equation as you would do in Excel. These will be processed in MathML and then presented in the selected notation.
In the design, this type of textlabel is indicated with a blue-grey bullet. The label is also underlined to indicate which characters belong to the equation. The image of the equation is added ‘on top’ of the braille, which makes it easy to read the content of the equation.
You can also directly create a graph based on the equation. This can be done either directly while entering and placing the equation in the design, or later on after the label has already been placed.
In the Settings menu a new option has been added to select the default math notation as well as the availability of MathType. Visit the Design Science website for more information about MathType: www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype

Graphing options extended

The Functions and Formulas option in the left toolbar now has a new submenu. In this submenu some of the options that can be found in the main menu Graphs are available more conveniently. A new function in this list is to directly add a default empty graph paper to the design, which can be used as a basis for your own desired grid or graph.
Just like the mathematical textlabels, the formulas for these graphs can now be entered using MathType as well as the linear input method. The textlabels that list the formulas in a graph also have new presentation options, including the new mathematical braille notations and free text.
In the formula dialog buttons to make changes to the axis and general grid settings have been added for more convenience. This way, the tactile usability of the graph and/or the grid can be adjusted for the range that the equation is covering.

Registration procedure simplified

The registration and configuration of the software has been simplified. A three step configuration wizard has been added, in which you can register the software using your software product code (SPC), select and prepare a printer/embosser and configure the software settings for an optimal workflow. Note for users of a previous version: the customer code and printer identification code are no longer required during registration. From now on you will only need these two codes when you want to make use of the teleprinting functionality and remote printer sharing facilities.

Importing SVG files improved

The functionality for importing Scalable vector graphics (SVG’s) has been extended with new scaling options. This enables a wider range of different types of SVG to be used in a TactileView design. You get the choice to either drag the red rectangle to determine the size of the SVG image in the design, or to enter the scale factor to uniformly reduce or enlarge the image size.

TactileView designs can now be inserted in Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT) documents! You can read more in our software manual section on TactileView and DBT.

Version 2.200 also saw the introduction of dot view as an alternative to the line view. You can find out all the details in the software manual section on dot view and line view.

Apply filters on a selected area

Previously, filters could only be applied on the entire design. In version 2.200, filters can now be applied on a selected area. To apply this, choose ‘Select Area’, then ‘Select Rectangle’. In the design, make a selection of the area on which you wish to apply a filter. Once you have made your selection, you will find the list of available filters in the right vertical toolbar.

8 dot braille supported

In previous TactileView versions, only 6 dot braille was available. In version 2.200 the 8 dot braille tables from the list of LibLouis braille tables is also supported. For example, this allows you to use braille notation in your designs matching the braille on a braille display. 8 dot braille can also be entered with braille keyboard input when your keyboard supports pressing up to 8 keys simultaneously.

When an 8 dot braille table is selected, you can choose to reduce the line height for lines of text that do not contain braille characters with dots 7 and 8. The line height will then be reduced to the size of 6 dot braille to save space. You can determine your preferences and select an 8 dot braille table via menu Settings > Braille Tables.

Mathematical notation in braille

In the previous release of TactileView, mathematical notion in braille was introduced. The list of available notations has now been extended with LaTeX and Dedicon (for Dutch users) as output in braille. You can simply enter your equation and automatically convert this into the selected mathematical braille notation.

You can select your preferred mathematical by choosing ‘Mathematical notation (equation editor) from the Settings menu. When your preferred notation method is not in this list, you can use the ‘linear text’ option to display the equation in your braille table as it is entered.

Adding or removing an area

Adding or removing a vertical or horizontal area in the design has been simplified. You can find this function by choosing ‘Select Area’, then ‘Insert or Remove Space’ (previously, this was one of the functions of the rectangular selection). To make a horizontal or vertical selection, click in the design for the first position, then hold and release for the second position; alternatively, you can also click two times to determine the two horizontal or vertical edges of your selection.

Two green dotted lines will show the edges of the selected area. You can drag these lines to adjust them. On these lines, a green plus and red minus sign allow you to add or remove the selected area of the design. By moving with your mouse over these signs, you will see a preview of adding or removing the area. Once you are satisfied with the placement of the selection, simply click on the plus or minus sign to confirm.

Embosser support extended

– Enabling printer support has been extended, including the Phoenix Gold model.

– Index Braille has released a new version of the printer driver for their V3 model range. This means that for both the V3 and V4 models, you can now use their printer driver for tactile graphics and no longer need to install the TactileView driver for V3 models.

– Print results for ViewPlus printers have been improved to give sharper lines and avoid small unwanted dots due to noise in the design.

Smaller changes

– The functionality for inserting svg images has been improved; for example, texts in svg’s are automatically converted into braille, including rotation when supported by your embosser. In the left vertical toolbar with drawing tools, inserting svg’s, other image files or figures have been grouped together.

– In TactileView designs, the right-up marker is automatically printed by default as a convenient indication of the page orientation for the VIP reader. This right-up marker is now visible on screen as well. It can be switched on or off when necessary by clicking on the red marker in the top right corner of the design.

– The size of the pen or eraser tool can now be changed using a horizontal slider. Alternatively, you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse while holding Shift to adjust the tool size. We have also added the choice between a round or square shape for more accuracy.

– The ‘Text label presentation’ dialog in menu Settings has been divided into ‘Text label presentation: on screen’ and ‘Text label presentation: on print’ to make a clearer distinction. Please keep in mind that these two representations can differ: e.g. you can choose to hide braille on screen for improved readability, but the braille will still be embossed when you do not disable it on print as well.

– When adding text labels, you can now type the contents directly in the design instead of in a text field in a dialog. This gives you better feedback about the placement and alignment of the braille text. The remainder of the options that were available in this dialog, such as braille table selection, can still be accessed via the right vertical toolbar.

– When you open an image file (.jpg, .png, svg, …) as a new document, the image will no longer be fused with the bitmap but will be inserted as a figure. This gives more control over the size and position of the image.

– Image files can now be copied directly from any folder in Windows Explorer and paste it in your design as a figure. You can also browse for any saved image file by selecting ‘Add figure’ from the drawing tools toolbar, then choosing ‘Import image from file’. You can also find this option in the File menu.

– The horizontal toolbars have been rearranged slightly to give easier access to functions that beforehand were only available using the menus.

– A selected area can be rotated or mirrored by clicking on one of the four small icons around the selection. Combined with the aforementioned filters, this gives a more direct way of manipulating the contents of your design.

– Text labels automatically have a small white area behind the braille which covers all elements in the design to ensure there is enough space to properly read braille. However, in some cases such as text labels spanning multiple cells in a table, it can be useful to remove this white space. A transparent label is indicated with a white centre in the green, orange or blue-grey bullet in front of the label. Keep in mind that with the white space removed, lines can interfere with the braille text, so ensure there is sufficient spacing around the text label and no overlap with any lines.

– When placing blue dots, you can determine the size by scrolling with the mouse wheel while holding down Shift. The cursor will indicate the size of the dots that will be placed.

– For polygons and freehand lines, you can now choose between straight and curved lines between the anchor points. This allows you to make use of nice rounded curves in your designs.

– When you draw a polygon or freehand line you have the choice to close the shape (by clicking on the first marker) or to leave the shape open without a connection between the first and last markers (press Escape or choose ‘Finalize the polygon’ from the toolbar or context menu). When the polygon is open, you can easily continue drawing by clicking on one of the two green plus signs at either end point of the open polygon.

– Empty text labels will be removed automatically when deselected.

– For more convenient zooming using Ctrl+scroll wheel, the design will now stay centered on the position of the mouse.

– An additional step was added to the Configuration wizard in which the use of external software (currently MathType and Duxbury Braille Translator) can be configured.

– For some specific applications (e.g. printing on swellpaper) applying a colour to an object can be useful. You can give the blue object a colour by selecting Fill Style: Colour. To remove this colour, select white as fill style.

– The textures that can be applied to objects have been improved for better consistency and tactile usability. The ‘Fill Style: Texture’ dialog has been adjusted to make it easier to determine the right properties for the texture.

– Extra markers were placed on the edges of a triangle which allow you to scale the entire triangle, maintaining the proportions/angles.

– Previously, when a texture or line style was selected for an object, any newly drawn objects would get the same texture or line style. In the new version this is no longer the case in order to avoid having to manually switch off these properties for new objects.

– The command for rotation of objects or text labels has been changed slightly from only using the scroll wheel to holding down Shift+scrolling. This avoids repeated unintentional rotation when you want to scroll through the document. Use Ctrl+Shift+scroll wheel for more accurate rotation per 1 degree.

– The latest releases of the Liblouis braille tables (Liblouis 2.6.3 and Liblouisudtml 2.6.0) have been included.

Bug fixes

– Some problems with fusing or moving a table with text labels inserted have been solved.

– Mirroring a selection multiple times no longer causes incorrect rotation of the selected area.

– Some issues with processing production requests (teleprinting) solved and functionality extended.

– Transparency in images copied from web pages no longer

– Some issues with alignment when printing on certain paper sizes using Index printers have been fixed.