a braille text generator for drawbot

braille-generator.py

# a simple script to generate pdfs of (german) text converted to braille.
# this script need the drawbot app!
# This follows the DIN 32976

# a list of words 
words = [
    'This should output braille',
    ]

dot_s = 16    # the dot size 1.6mm 
g_wdth = 66   # the with of a character (including the spacing): 6.6mm
gap = 27      # the gap between the center of two dots: 2.7mm


factor = 0.2835  # this factor is to scale drawbots pixel units to mm units 

# the dictionary with the dots pattern for each character
abc  = {
	'A': (1,),
	'B': (1, 2),
	'C': (1, 4),
	'D': (1, 4, 5),
	'E': (1, 5),
	'F': (1, 2, 4),
	'G': (1, 2, 4, 5),
	'H': (1, 2, 5),
	'I': (2, 4),
	'J': (2, 4, 5),
	'K': (1, 3),
	'L': (1, 2, 3),
	'M': (1, 3, 4),
	'N': (1, 3, 4, 5),
	'O': (1, 3, 5),
	'P': (1, 2, 3, 4),
	'Q': (1, 2, 3, 4, 5),
	'R': (1, 2, 3, 5),
	'S': (2, 3, 4),
	'T': (2, 3, 4, 5),
	'U': (1, 3, 6),
	'V': (1, 2, 3, 6),
	'W': (2, 4, 5, 6),
	'X': (1, 3, 4, 6),
	'Y': (1, 3, 4, 5, 6),
	'Z': (1, 3, 5, 6),
	' ': (),
}

shifts  = {
	1 : (0, 0),
	2 : (0, 1),
	3 : (0, 2),
	4 : (1, 0),
	5 : (1, 1),
	6 : (1, 2),
}

def draw_glyph(char):
	dots = abc[char]
	for d in dots:
		x_s, y_s = shifts[d]
		oval(x_s * gap - dot_s/2, -y_s * gap - dot_s/2, dot_s, dot_s )


def draw_word(word):
	for char in word:
		draw_glyph(char)
		translate(g_wdth)


for word in words:
	PW = g_wdth * len(word)
	PH = gap * 2 + dot_s
	newPage(PW * factor, PH * factor)
	scale(factor)
	translate(dot_s/2, gap*2+dot_s/2)
	cmykFill(0, 0, 0, 1)
	draw_word(word.upper())
	# saveImage(f'braillepdfs/{word}__.pdf', multipage=False)