A Calligraphy Grid in ConTeXt/LMTX

This project is a generator of grids for medieval calligraphy in ConTeXt/LMTX and MetaPost.

Files included

.
├── doc
│  └── context
│     └── third
│        └── pauta
│           ├── env-pauta.tex
│           ├── pauta-example.pdf
│           ├── pauta-example.tex
│           ├── pauta.pdf
│           └── pauta.tex
├── tex
│  └── context
│     └── third
│        └── pauta
│           ├── t-pauta.mkxl
│           └── t-pauta.pdf
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
└── VERSION

Use

1. Clone this repository: git clone https://github.com/conradolandia/pauta.git, or download as zip.
2. If cloning:
   1. Copy the doc and tex folders to your \ConTeXt{=tex} tree and rebuild your database with context --generate. You can find more details about the process on the \ConTeXt{=tex} wiki. Alternatively, call context with the --path flag, and provide it with the path of this folder, i.e: context --path=/home/user/pauta. Alternatively still, simply place t-pauta.mkxl on the same directory as the file importing it.
3. Invoke the \Pauta macro as many times as you want pages. Each invocation can have a different configuration. Each invocation will create one single page.
4. The data about the hand¹ is autogenerated by the module and set into the top or the bottom, following the user configuration.
5. Warning: This module takes over the top and bottom typesetting areas², and does not reset them properly yet. So if your document includes other content on those areas you will need to reset again to your liking by manually invoking \setuptoptexts/\setupbottomtexts. This will be hopefully improved in the future.

Generating the example file

Review and run the lua script build.lua. You will need pandoc and a recent LMTX distribution to compile the documentation, but all the documentation you will have is already in this file and the comments in all the other files, so check them out. If you don't have a standalone lua interpreter, you can run it with luametatex like so:

luametatex --luaonly build.lua

build.lua lives in its own repository. You can also use to build your own projects.

Configuration Parameters

All parameters are optional. Defaults are as follows:

\Pauta[
  hand=, % Hand name. If not defined, will not show info on the left side of the top / bottom
  handInfo=, % Some extra info for the hand. If not defined, will not show info on the right side of the top / bottom
  infoPosition=bottom, % Where to show the extra info (top | bottom)
  infoLeft={\setup{pauta:content:leftmark}}, % If defined, will override autogenerated hand info on the left side of the bottom / top
  infoRight={\setup{pauta:content:rightmark}}, % If defined, will override autogenerated hand info on the right side of the bottom / top
  displayNibs=false, % Show nib-width marks (true | false)
  displayAngleMarks=false, % Display dotted guides for the nib angle (true | false)
  nibWidth=3mm, % Pen nib width (must include units, or it will default to big points)
  nibAngle=35, % Nib working angle in degrees
  ascenders=3, % Number of ascender lines (in nib widths)
  xHeight=4, % Number of x-height lines (in nib widths)
  descenders=3, % Number of descending lines (in nib widths)
  adjustment=0, % Sometimes it's necessary to adjust the height, because it can be longer than TextHeight. Still not sure why it happens but it happpens... a value of 1 or 2 should solve it.
  mainColor={s=.4}, % Main color (lines that separate sections)
  secondaryColor={s=.6}, % Secondary color (lines separated by a nib width)
  tertiaryColor={s=.8}, % Tertiary color (nib width marks on the left margin and dotted angle lines)
]

Code Examples

Example 1: Basic Usage

\usemodule[pauta]

\startdocument
\Pauta[
  hand={Carolingian},
  handInfo={Tours school, VIII\high{th} century},
  infoPosition=top,
  displayNibs=true,
  displayAngleMarks=true,
  nibWidth=3mm,
  ascenders=2,
  xHeight=3,
  descenders=2,
  adjustment=0,
  mainColor={s=.6},
  secondaryColor={s=.8},
  tertiaryColor={s=.8},
]
\stopdocument

Example 2: Multiple Pauta Instances

\usemodule[pauta]

\startdocument
\Pauta[
 hand={Carolingian},
 handInfo={Tours school, VIII\high{th} century},
 infoPosition=top,
 displayNibs=true,
 displayAngleMarks=true,
 nibWidth=3mm,
 ascenders=2,
 xHeight=3,
 descenders=2,
 adjustment=0,
 mainColor={s=.5},
 secondaryColor={s=.6},
 tertiaryColor={s=.7},
]

% Overriding the top / bottom info:

\Pauta[
 infoLeft={An excercise in Visigothic script},
 infoRight={from an Spanish manuscript, VII\high{th} century},
 infoPosition=bottom,
 displayNibs=true,
 displayAngleMarks=false,
 nibWidth=2mm,
 ascenders=4,
 xHeight=3,
 descenders=4,
 adjustment=1,
 mainColor={s=.3},
 secondaryColor={s=.4},
 tertiaryColor={s=.5},
]
\stopdocument

Footnotes

1. This a way of saying the font in fancy calligraphic terms. ↩

2. Check out the layout article in the wiki for more information about \ConTeXt{=tex} typesetting areas. ↩