Feature request - import picture list

Question

It seems like it would be really nice to be able to create a file calling out a standard list of pictures to be placed with standard text references. That way if someone wanted to create a Gospel of Mark in a short run for feedback, it would be easy to pull in a set of pictures for it.
We have published New Testaments that used pictures we can’t post online in PDF, so we are remaking pdfs for online posting, it would be nice to have the option of dropping in a standard set of pictures.
I like the idea of loading a list of pictures into PTXprint and then tweaking it within the program, as you can do with the set pulled in from Paratext.
It seems like this should not be terribly hard to do.

Answer 1

Yes, @LorenHawthorne we are already thinking in this direction. Recently we gathered stats on which pictures are commonly used, and in which locations. Now we just need an easy-to-use mechanism for filtering those which are allowed in various kinds of publications. Permissions always complicates things, and for some pictures you need prior permission, and for others you don’t. And some illustrations have blanket permission granted for some organizations, and so on.

Answer 2

A nice starting point would be to give the user the mechanism to create a picture list to import. I think it would be on the user to choose pictures that they had permission for. We have a set of pictures that SIL people and those who work with us have permission to use without asking for permission that is fairly extensive. We aren’t allowed to put it out on the web accessible to the public, though. But for internal use, I could choose a set of pictures to use with a given book at given references and then do a relatively easy pour in.

Thanks for the response.

Answer 3

I’ve developed a work around to do this. Here is the general idea:

1. Collect the images to use.
2. Write a cc table to insert the \fig statements for them into the sfm text and also one to delete any \fig statements that were there already.
3. Make a copy of the Paratext project.
4. Run the cc tables on the sfm texts(first the delete table, then the add) and import the output files into the copy of the project you are working with.
5. Create a figures folder in the copied project and put the pictures in it.
6. Open PTXprint and go to the pictures tab and use the Generate button.

I can share the cc table I wrote with people on request. The pictures I’m using are free to use by SIL people or people working with SIL, but the collection can’t be posted online. We can post pdf files that have the pictures used in them, so I could also share the pictures with people who work with SIL. This is in the development stage. So far, I’ve only completed the sections for Matthew and Mark, but hope to have the other books that I’m adding pictures for done soon. It takes a bit of manual editing to get all the pictures added to the table.