More Decimal Places for Page Size and Bleed

[rubiksolver]

Is it possible to have have more decimal places for the page size and bleed options? For example, a standard bleed size in the U.S. is .125 inches. As it stands now, Xara rounds this up or down to two decimal places. Some of the ad agencies I use have automated pre-flight software that will only accept a .125" bleed so I need to use other software to resize the pdf as a final step. I also occasionally do print ads that require the page size to have 3 or more decimal places.

I remember this question being asked on the forum before, but I wanted to ask again when I saw this from the 23.2 release notes: "The number of decimal places shown in the UI is no longer linked to Windows settings, which caused some user confusion. It now defaults to 2 decimal places and can be changed in the registry if required."

[handrawn]

there is a thread here: https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...Decimal-Places

[Acorn]

Is it possible to have have more decimal places for the page size and bleed options? For example, a standard bleed size in the U.S. is .125 inches. As it stands now, Xara rounds this up or down to two decimal places. Some of the ad agencies I use have automated pre-flight software that will only accept a .125" bleed so I need to use other software to resize the pdf as a final step. I also occasionally do print ads that require the page size to have 3 or more decimal places.

I remember this question being asked on the forum before, but I wanted to ask again when I saw this from the 23.2 release notes: "The number of decimal places shown in the UI is no longer linked to Windows settings, which caused some user confusion. It now defaults to 2 decimal places and can be changed in the registry if required."

RS, Xara doesn't round up or down the actual value is unchanged. It is just its display value is rounded. Xara saves all its measurements in millipoints so 1" is 72,000mp.

For example 1 metre is 2834650mp in Xara but precisely 2834645.6692913mp, giving an accuracy of 99.99984722245427125041892297109%.

Your 0.125" is stored as 8,996mp. It should be 9,000mp so accurate to 99.9555%. So if you want to be 100% accurate, work in millipoints or type in 9000mp instead of 0.125".

Acorn

[handrawn]

interestingly if, with 4 dec places active, I type in a value of 0.125 inches and then change units to mp it shows a value of 9001

This is flakey; as you say to get real acuracy you need to start, and stick with, mp otherwise you are never going to be able to rely on the display reading...

[Acorn]

interestingly if, with 4 dec places active, I type in a value of 0.125 inches and then change units to mp it shows a value of 9001

This is flakey; as you say to get real acuracy you need to start, and stick with, mp otherwise you are never going to be able to rely on the display reading...

handrawn, that doesn't feel right to me. I tried.125in and got a display of 9000.1mp.

Acorn

[handrawn]

double checked and as in my screenshot it shows 9001

I don't suppose demo mode will affect that, it is updated to latest july 4 23 version...

I have always suspected xara's rounding can sometimes also be a function of the high/width ratio... but no evidence, just a feel

I would not normally use the program to this degree of accuracy though...

EDIT - anyways, mp do not have decimal places at all in xara; you cannot go below a mp unitary value in the program, right ?

[Acorn]

handrawn, I have (had) my setting for 3 d.p., and I do still get 9000.1mp with a direct input of 0.125in but this is for a Rectangle.
When I convert it to Editable Shape, it changes to 9001mp. You cannot input 9000mp directly.
As close as you can get is 8999 or 9001mp. I have even input 8999 + 1.45mp ==> 8999mp and 9001 - 1.45mp ==> 9001.

I "managed" to get the Perimeter to exactly 36000mp when my square was at 45deg.
I also achieve 9000mp when I input 90000mp and scaled by 10%.

I had flagged these and other anomalies to Xara several times in the past. I am sure is it down to the floating point implementation that MS Windows offers.
I had always assumed Xara used integer arithmetic for speed.

1mp does seem to be the Planck Length of the Xara universe; no fractional ones saved, just appearing in empirical observations.

Acorn

[handrawn]

thanks, you have elucidated my vaguely held feelings

bottom line:

use xara if I wanted something really accurate: probably not...

[Acorn]

thanks, you have elucidated my vaguely held feelings
bottom line:
use xara if I wanted something really accurate: probably not...

I don't know. If were are hair-splitting, a hair-breadth is 1/48" or 1500mp. A split hair would be 1/96" or 750mp.
What's ±1mp between friends?
People still use 22/7 for π(pi), 98.74% accurate.
Try using 355/113 instead. This is 99.99999% accurate.
Xara is in the middle with 99.85% for hair but usually far more accurate.

For SVG renders, Xara exports in pixels, accurate to 2 d.p.; 0.01px is 7.5mp - 100 times more accurate than a split hair.

Acorn

[handrawn]

its not the core accuracy that worries me, it's the flakeyness of the UI...