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How sketchnotes fit into my personal knowledge management

| pkm, drawing

Text from sketch
  • worth doing even if you don't feel like you can draw well
    • really, I just draw stick figures
  • good for your own thoughts and other people's
  • own thoughts:
    • non-linear
    • visual metaphors & organizers can be helpful
    • can be a launchpad for more details
  • other people's thoughts: distill key points from a talk, book, etc. using my understanding
  • visual cues make it easy to see important things first
  • doodling is fun
  • IDs help with linking (ex: 2024-10-17-02)
  • How I use sketchnotes:
    • Flesh out an idea, especially during non-computer time
    • Sketch talks or books to make them easier to review
    • Optical character recognition (Google Cloud Vision API, etc.) to blog text: I edit this to provide a good text alternative in blog posts
  • My evil plan
    • Sketchnotes are very shareable
      • People are always looking for visuals to add.
    • When people share them, they usually tell me about it
    • I get to find out what else people are thinking about & learning from.
    • More learning! More fun!
    • It's also a nice way to give back to people who've shared what they learned
      • Then they might share more!

I've been enjoying using sketchnotes as an idea launchpad for audio braindumps or blog posts, as a quick way to review the key points of a book or talk, and as a way to participate in the larger conversation. It's easy for me to link to sketches and extract the text within them.

Someday I'll probably improve my ability to search for the text within sketches. Right now, I just go by filenames and the text in my blog posts. I can probably make something that goes through the text annotations in the JSON files from Google Cloud Vision, or maybe I can turn them into a text file that can be updated when I write a blog post. Hmm, that actually sounds pretty straightforward, I should go do that…

Examples of my evil plan working:

Mwahaha!

View org source for this post

Animating SVG topic maps with Inkscape, Emacs, FFmpeg, and Reveal.js

| emacs, drawing, org, ffmpeg, video

tldr (2167 words): I can make animating presentation maps easier by writing my own functions for the Emacs text editor. In this post, I show how I can animate an SVG element by element. I can also add IDs to the path and use CSS to build up an SVG with temporary highlighting in a Reveal.js presentation.

Text from the sketch
  • PNG: Inkscape: trace
  • Supernote (e-ink)
  • iPad: Adobe Fresco

Convert PDF to SVG with Inkscape (Cairo option) or pdftocairo)

  • PNG / Supernote PDF: Combined shapes. Process
    1. Break apart, fracture overlaps
    2. Recombine
    3. Set IDs
    4. Sort paths -> Animation style 1
  • Adobe Fresco: individual elements in order; landscape feels natural

Animation styles

  • Animation style 1: Display elements one after another
  • Animation style 2: Display elements one after another, and also show/hide highlights
    • Table: slide ID, IDs to add, temporary highlights -> Reveal.js: CSS with transitions

Ideas for next steps:

  • Explore graphviz & other diagramming tools
  • Frame-by-frame SVGs
    • on include
    • write to files
  • FFmpeg crossfade
  • Recording Reveal.js presentations
  • Use OCR results?

I often have a hard time organizing my thoughts into a linear sequence. Sketches are nice because they let me jump around and still show the connections between ideas. For presentations, I'd like to walk people through these sketches by highlighting different areas. For example, I might highlight the current topic or show the previous topics that are connected to the current one. Of course, this is something Emacs can help with. Before we dive into it, here are quick previews of the kinds of animation I'm talking about:

animation-loop.gif
Figure 1: Animation style 1: based on drawing order

Animation style 2: building up a map with temporary highlights

Getting the sketches: PDFs are not all the same

Let's start with getting the sketches. I usually export my sketches as PNGs from my Supernote A5X. But if I know that I'm going to animate a sketch, I can export it as a PDF. I've recently been experimenting with Adobe Fresco on the iPad, which can also export to PDF. The PDF I get from Fresco is easier to animate, but I prefer to draw on the Supernote because it's an e-ink device (and because the kiddo usually uses the iPad).

If I start with a PNG, I could use Inkscape to trace the PNG and turn it into an SVG. I think Inkscape uses autotrace behind the scenes. I don't usually put my highlights on a separate layer, so autotrace will make odd shapes.

It's a lot easier if you start off with vector graphics in the first place. I can export a vector PDF from the SuperNote A5X and either import it into Inkscape using the Cairo option or use the command-line pdftocairo tool.

I've been looking into using Adobe Fresco, which is a free app available for the iPad. Fresco's PDF export can be converted to an SVG using Inkscape or PDF to Cairo. What I like about the output of this app is that it gives me individual elements as their own paths and they're listed in order of drawing. This makes it really easy to animate by just going through the paths in order.

Animation style 1: displaying paths in order

Here's a sample SVG file that pdfcairo creates from an Adobe Fresco PDF export:

pdftocairo -svg ~/Downloads/subed-audio.pdf ~/Downloads/subed-audio.svg
Sample SVG
subed-audio.svg

Adobe Fresco also includes built-in time-lapse, but since I often like to move things around or tidy things up, it's easier to just work with the final image, export it as a PDF, and convert it to an SVG.

I can make a very simple animation by setting the opacity of all the paths to 0, then looping through the elements to set the opacity back to 1 and write that version of the SVG to a separate file. From how-can-i-generate-png-frames-that-step-through-the-highlights:

my-animate-svg-paths: Add one path at a time. Save the resulting SVGs to OUTPUT-DIR.
(defun my-animate-svg-paths (filename output-dir)
  "Add one path at a time. Save the resulting SVGs to OUTPUT-DIR."
  (unless (file-directory-p output-dir)
    (make-directory output-dir t))
  (let* ((dom (xml-parse-file filename))
         (paths (seq-filter (lambda (e) (dom-attr e 'style))
                            (dom-by-tag dom 'path)))
         (total (length paths))
         (frame-num (length paths))
         result)
    (dolist (elem paths)
      (dom-set-attribute elem 'style
                         (concat
                          (dom-attr elem 'style)
                          ";mix-blend-mode:darken")))
    (with-temp-file (expand-file-name (format "frame-%03d.svg" (1+ frame-num)) output-dir)
      (xml-print dom))
    (dolist (elem paths)
      (dom-set-attribute elem 'style
                         (concat
                          (dom-attr elem 'style)
                          ";fill-opacity:0")))
    (dolist (elem paths)
      (with-temp-file (expand-file-name
                       (format "frame-%03d.svg"
                               (- total frame-num))
                       output-dir)
        (message "%03d" frame-num)
        (dom-set-attribute elem 'style
                           (concat (dom-attr elem 'style)
                                   ";fill-opacity:1"))
        (push (list (format "frame-%03d.svg"
                            (1+ (- total frame-num)))
                    (dom-attr elem 'id))
              result)
        (setq frame-num (1- frame-num))
        (xml-print dom)))
    (reverse result)))

Here's how I call it:

(my-animate-svg-paths "~/Downloads/subed-audio.svg" "/tmp/subed-audio/frames" t)

Then I can use FFmpeg to combine all of those frames into a video:

ffmpeg -i frame-%03d.svg -vf palettegen -y palette.png
ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i frame-%03d.svg -i palette.png -lavfi "paletteuse" -loop 0 -y animation-loop.gif
animation-loop.gif
Figure 2: Animating SVG paths based on drawing order

Neither Supernote nor Adobe Fresco give me the original stroke information. These are filled shapes, so I can't animate something drawing it. But having different elements appear in sequence is fine for my purposes. If you happen to know how to get stroke information out of Supernote .note files or of an iPad app that exports nice single-line SVGs that have stroke direction, I would love to hear about it.

Identifying paths from Supernote sketches

When I export a PDF from Supernote and convert it to an SVG, each color is a combined shape with all the elements. If I want to animate parts of the image, I have to break it up and recombine selected elements (Inkscape's Ctrl-k shortcut) so that the holes in shapes are properly handled. This is a bit of a tedious process and it usually ends up with elements in a pretty random order. Since I have to reorder elements by hand, I don't really want to animate the sketch letter-by-letter. Instead, I combine them into larger chunks like topics or paragraphs.

The following code takes the PDF, converts it to an SVG, recolours highlights, and then breaks up paths into elements:

my-sketch-convert-pdf-and-break-up-paths: Convert PDF to SVG and break up paths.
(defun my-sketch-convert-pdf-and-break-up-paths (pdf-file &optional rotate)
  "Convert PDF to SVG and break up paths."
  (interactive (list (read-file-name
                      (format "PDF (%s): "
                              (my-latest-file "~/Dropbox/Supernote/EXPORT/" "pdf"))
                      "~/Dropbox/Supernote/EXPORT/"
                      (my-latest-file "~/Dropbox/Supernote/EXPORT/" "pdf")
                      t
                      nil
                      (lambda (s) (string-match "pdf" s)))))
  (unless (file-exists-p (concat (file-name-sans-extension pdf-file) ".svg"))
    (call-process "pdftocairo" nil nil nil "-svg" (expand-file-name pdf-file)
                  (expand-file-name (concat (file-name-sans-extension pdf-file) ".svg"))))
  (let ((dom (xml-parse-file (expand-file-name (concat (file-name-sans-extension pdf-file) ".svg"))))
        highlights)
    (setq highlights (dom-node 'g '((id . "highlights"))))
    (dom-append-child dom highlights)
    (dolist (path (dom-by-tag dom 'path))
      ;;  recolor and move
      (unless (string-match (regexp-quote "rgb(0%,0%,0%)") (or (dom-attr path 'style) ""))
        (dom-remove-node dom path)
        (dom-append-child highlights path)
        (dom-set-attribute
         path 'style
         (replace-regexp-in-string
          (regexp-quote "rgb(78.822327%,78.822327%,78.822327%)")
          "#f6f396"
          (or (dom-attr path 'style) ""))))
      (let ((parent (dom-parent dom path)))
        ;; break apart
        (when (dom-attr path 'd)
          (dolist (part (split-string (dom-attr path 'd) "M " t " +"))
            (dom-append-child
             parent
             (dom-node 'path `((style . ,(dom-attr path 'style))
                               (d . ,(concat "M " part))))))
          (dom-remove-node dom path))))
    ;; remove the use
    (dolist (use (dom-by-tag dom 'use))
      (dom-remove-node dom use))
    (dolist (use (dom-by-tag dom 'image))
      (dom-remove-node dom use))
    ;; move the first g down
    (let ((g (car (dom-by-id dom "surface1"))))
      (setf (cddar dom)
            (seq-remove (lambda (o)
                          (and (listp o) (string= (dom-attr o 'id) "surface1")))
                        (dom-children dom)))
      (dom-append-child dom g)
      (when rotate
        (let* ((old-width (dom-attr dom 'width))
               (old-height (dom-attr dom 'height))
               (view-box (mapcar 'string-to-number (split-string (dom-attr dom 'viewBox))))
               (rotate (format "rotate(90) translate(0 %s)" (- (elt view-box 3)))))
          (dom-set-attribute dom 'width old-height)
          (dom-set-attribute dom 'height old-width)
          (dom-set-attribute dom 'viewBox (format "0 0 %d %d" (elt view-box 3) (elt view-box 2)))
          (dom-set-attribute highlights 'transform rotate)
          (dom-set-attribute g 'transform rotate))))
    (with-temp-file (expand-file-name (concat (file-name-sans-extension pdf-file) "-split.svg"))
      (svg-print (car dom)))))

2023-10-split.svg
Figure 3: Image after splitting up into elements

You can see how the spaces inside letters like "o" end up being black. Selecting and combining those paths fixes that.

Combining paths in Inkscape

If there were shapes that were touching, then I need to draw lines and fracture the shapes in order to break them apart.

Fracturing shapes and checking the highlights

The end result should be an SVG with the different chunks that I might want to animate, but I need to identify the paths first. You can assign object IDs in Inkscape, but this is a bit of an annoying process since I haven't figured out a keyboard-friendly way to set object IDs. I usually find it easier to just set up an Autokey shortcut (or AutoHotkey in Windows) to click on the ID text box so that I can type something in.

Autokey script for clicking
import time
x, y = mouse.get_location()
# Use the coordinates of the ID text field on your screen; xev can help
mouse.click_absolute(3152, 639, 1)
time.sleep(1)
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+a")
mouse.move_cursor(x, y)

Then I can select each element, press the shortcut key, and type an ID into the textbox. I might use "t-…" to indicate the text for a map section, "h-…" to indicate a highlight, and arrows by specifying their start and end.

Setting IDs in Inkscape

To simplify things, I wrote a function in Emacs that will go through the different groups that I've made, show each path in a different color and with a reasonable guess at a bounding box, and prompt me for an ID. This way, I can quickly assign IDs to all of the paths. The completion is mostly there to make sure I don't accidentally reuse an ID, although it can try to combine paths if I specify the ID. It saves the paths after each change so that I can start and stop as needed. Identifying paths in Emacs is usually much nicer than identifying them in Inkscape.

Identifying paths inside Emacs

my-svg-identify-paths: Prompt for IDs for each path in FILENAME.
(defun my-svg-identify-paths (filename)
  "Prompt for IDs for each path in FILENAME."
  (interactive (list (read-file-name "SVG: " nil nil
                                     (lambda (f) (string-match "\\.svg$" f)))))
  (let* ((dom (car (xml-parse-file filename)))
         (paths (dom-by-tag dom 'path))
         (vertico-count 3)
         (ids (seq-keep (lambda (path)
                          (unless (string-match "path[0-9]+" (or (dom-attr path 'id) "path0"))
                            (dom-attr path 'id)))
                        paths))
         (edges (window-inside-pixel-edges (get-buffer-window)))
         id)
    (my-svg-display "*image*" dom nil t)
    (dolist (path paths)
      (when (string-match "path[0-9]+" (or (dom-attr path 'id) "path0"))
        ;; display the image with an outline
        (unwind-protect
            (progn
              (my-svg-display "*image*" dom (dom-attr path 'id) t)
              (setq id (completing-read
                        (format "ID (%s): " (dom-attr path 'id))
                        ids))
              ;; already exists, merge with existing element
              (if-let ((old (dom-by-id dom id)))
                  (progn
                    (dom-set-attribute
                     old
                     'd
                     (concat (dom-attr (dom-by-id dom id) 'd)
                             " "
                             ;; change relative to absolute
                             (replace-regexp-in-string "^m" "M"
                                                       (dom-attr path 'd))))
                    (dom-remove-node dom path)
                    (setq id nil))
                (dom-set-attribute path 'id id)
                (add-to-list 'ids id))))
        ;; save the image just in case we get interrupted halfway through
        (with-temp-file filename
          (svg-print dom))))))

Sorting and animating the paths by IDs

Then I can animate SVGs by specifying the IDs. I can reorder the paths in the SVG itself so that I can animate it group by group, like the way that the Adobe Fresco SVGs were animated element by element.

Reordering paths
(my-svg-reorder-paths "~/proj/2023-12-audio-workflow/map.svg"
                      '("t-start" "h-audio" "h-capture" "t-but" "t-mic" "h-mic"
                        "t-reviewing" "h-reviewing"
                        "t-words" "h-words" "t-workflow" "h-workflow"
                        "t-lapel" "h-lapel"
                        "mic-recorder" "t-recorder" "h-recorder"
                        "t-syncthing" "h-sync"
                        "t-keywords" "h-keywords" "t-keyword-types"
                        "t-lines" "h-lines"
                        "t-align" "h-align"
                        "arrow"
                        "t-org" "h-org" "t-todo" "h-todo" "h-linked"
                        "t-jump" "h-jump"
                        "t-waveform" "h-waveform"
                        "t-someday"
                        "h-sections"
                        "t-speech-recognition" "h-speech-recognition"
                        "t-ai" "h-ai"
                        "t-summary"
                        "extra")
                      "~/proj/2023-12-audio-workflow/map-output.svg")
(my-animate-svg-paths "~/proj/2023-12-audio-workflow/map-output.svg"
                      "~/proj/2023-12-audio-workflow/frames/")
Table of filenames after reordering paths and animating the image
frame-001.svg t-start
frame-002.svg h-audio
frame-003.svg h-capture
frame-004.svg t-but
frame-005.svg t-mic
frame-006.svg h-mic
frame-007.svg t-reviewing
frame-008.svg h-reviewing
frame-009.svg t-words
frame-010.svg h-words
frame-011.svg t-workflow
frame-012.svg h-workflow
frame-013.svg t-lapel
frame-014.svg h-lapel
frame-015.svg mic-recorder
frame-016.svg t-recorder
frame-017.svg h-recorder
frame-018.svg t-syncthing
frame-019.svg h-sync
frame-020.svg t-keywords
frame-021.svg h-keywords
frame-022.svg t-keyword-types
frame-023.svg t-lines
frame-024.svg h-lines
frame-025.svg t-align
frame-026.svg h-align
frame-027.svg arrow
frame-028.svg t-org
frame-029.svg h-org
frame-030.svg t-todo
frame-031.svg h-todo
frame-032.svg h-linked
frame-033.svg t-jump
frame-034.svg h-jump
frame-035.svg t-waveform
frame-036.svg h-waveform
frame-037.svg t-someday
frame-038.svg h-sections
frame-039.svg t-speech-recognition
frame-040.svg h-speech-recognition
frame-041.svg t-ai
frame-042.svg h-ai
frame-043.svg t-summary
frame-044.svg extra

The table of filenames makes it easy to use specific frames as part of a presentation or video.

Here is the result as a video:

(let ((compile-media-output-video-width 1280)
      (compile-media-output-video-height 720))
  (my-ffmpeg-animate-images
   (directory-files "~/proj/2023-12-audio-workflow/frames/" t "\\.svg$")
   (expand-file-name "~/proj/2023-12-audio-workflow/frames/animation.webm")
   4))

Animation of SVG by paths

The way it works is that the my-svg-reorder-paths function removes and readds elements following the list of IDs specified, so everything's ready to go for step-by-step animation. Here's the code:

my-svg-reorder-paths: Sort paths in FILENAME.
(defun my-svg-reorder-paths (filename &optional ids output-filename)
  "Sort paths in FILENAME."
  (interactive (list (read-file-name "SVG: " nil nil (lambda (f) (string-match "\\.svg$" f)))
                     nil (read-file-name "Output: ")))
  (let* ((dom (car (xml-parse-file filename)))
         (paths (dom-by-tag dom 'path))
         (parent (dom-parent dom (car paths)))
         (ids-left
          (nreverse (seq-keep (lambda (path)
                                (unless (string-match "path[0-9]+" (or (dom-attr path 'id) "path0"))
                                  (dom-attr path 'id)))
                              paths)))
         list)
    (when (called-interactively-p)
      (while ids-left
        (my-svg-display "*image*" dom (car ids-left))
        (let ((current (completing-read
                        (format "ID (%s): "
                                (car ids-left))
                        ids-left nil nil nil nil (car ids-left)))
              node)
          (add-to-list 'ids current)
          (setq ids-left (seq-remove (lambda (o) (string= o current)) ids-left)))))
    (if ids ;; reorganize under the first path's parent
        (progn
          (dolist (id ids)
            (if-let ((node (car (dom-by-id dom id))))
                (progn
                  (dom-remove-node dom node)
                  (dom-append-child parent node))
              (message "Could not find %s" id)))
          (with-temp-file (or output-filename filename)
            (svg-print dom))))
    (nreverse (seq-keep (lambda (path)
                          (unless (string-match "path[0-9]+" (or (dom-attr path 'id) "path0"))
                            (dom-attr path 'id)))
                        (dom-by-tag dom 'path)))))

Animation style 2: Building up a map with temporary highlights

I can also use CSS rules to transition between opacity values for more complex animations. For my EmacsConf 2023 presentation, I wanted to make a self-paced, narrated presentation so that people could follow hyperlinks, read the source code, and explore. I wanted to include a map so that I could try to make sense of everything. For this map, I wanted to highlight the previous sections that were connected to the topic for the current section.

I used a custom Org link to include the full contents of the SVG instead of just including it with an img tag.

#+ATTR_HTML: :class r-stretch
my-include:~/proj/emacsconf-2023-emacsconf/map.svg?wrap=export html

my-include-export: Export PATH to FORMAT using the specified wrap parameter.
(defun my-include-export (path _ format _)
  "Export PATH to FORMAT using the specified wrap parameter."
  (let (params body start end)
    (when (string-match "^\\(.*+?\\)\\(?:::\\|\\?\\)\\(.*+\\)" path)
      (setq params (save-match-data (org-protocol-convert-query-to-plist (match-string 2 path)))
            path (match-string 1 path)))
    (with-temp-buffer
      (insert-file-contents-literally path)
      (when (string-match "\\.org$" path)
        (org-mode))
      (if (plist-get params :name)
          (when (org-babel-find-named-block (plist-get params :name))
            (goto-char (org-babel-find-named-block (plist-get params :name)))
            (let ((block (org-element-context)))
              (setq start (org-element-begin block)
                    end (org-element-end block))))
        (goto-char (point-min))
        (when (plist-get params :from-regexp)
          (re-search-forward (url-unhex-string (plist-get params :from-regexp)))
          (goto-char (match-beginning 0)))
        (setq start (point))
        (setq end (point-max))
        (when (plist-get params :to-regexp)
          (re-search-forward (url-unhex-string (plist-get params :to-regexp)))
          (setq end (match-beginning 0))))
      (setq body (buffer-substring start end)))
    (with-temp-buffer
      (when (plist-get params :wrap)
        (let* ((wrap (plist-get params :wrap))
               block args)
          (when (string-match "\\<\\(\\S-+\\)\\( +.*\\)?" wrap)
            (setq block (match-string 1 wrap))
            (setq args (match-string 2 wrap))
            (setq body (format "#+BEGIN_%s%s\n%s\n#+END_%s\n"
                               block (or args "")
                               body
                               block)))))
      (when (plist-get params :summary)
        (setq body (format "#+begin_my_details %s\n%s\n#+end_my_details\n"
                           (plist-get params :summary)
                           body)))
      (insert body)
      (org-export-as format nil nil t))))

I wanted to be able to specify the entire sequence using a table in the Org Mode source for my presentation. Each row had the slide ID, a list of highlights in the form prev1,prev2;current, and a comma-separated list of elements to add to the full-opacity view.

Slide Highlight Additional elements
props-map h-email;h-properties t-email,email-properties,t-properties
file-prefixes h-properties;h-filename t-filename,properties-filename
renaming h-filename;h-renaming t-renaming,filename-renaming
shell-scripts h-renaming;h-shell-scripts renaming-shell-scripts,t-shell-scripts
availability h-properties;h-timezone t-timezone,properties-timezone
schedule h-timezone;h-schedule t-schedule,timezone-schedule
emailing-speakers h-timezone,h-mail-merge;h-emailing-speakers schedule-emailing-speakers,t-emailing-speakers
template h-properties;h-template t-template,properties-template
wiki h-template;h-wiki t-wiki,template-wiki,schedule-wiki
pad h-template;h-pad template-pad,t-pad
mail-merge h-template;h-mail-merge t-mail-merge,template-mail-merge,schedule-mail-merge,emailing-speakers-mail-merge
bbb h-bbb t-bbb
checkin h-mail-merge;h-checkin t-checkin,bbb-checkin
redirect h-bbb;h-redirect t-redirect,bbb-redirect
shortcuts h-email;h-shortcuts t-shortcuts,email-shortcuts
logbook h-shortcuts;h-logbook shortcuts-logbook,t-logbook
captions h-captions t-captions,captions-wiki
tramp h-captions;h-tramp t-tramp,captions-tramp
crontab h-tramp;h-crontab tramp-crontab,bbb-crontab,t-crontab
transitions h-crontab;h-transitions shell-scripts-transitions,t-transitions,shortcuts-transitions,transitions-crontab
irc h-transitions;h-irc t-irc,transitions-irc

Reveal.js adds a "current" class to the slide, so I can use that as a trigger for the transition. I have a bit of Emacs Lisp code that generates some very messy CSS, in which I specify the ID of the slide, followed by all of the elements that need their opacity set to 1, and also specifying the highlights that will be shown in an animated way.

my-reveal-svg-progression-css: Make the CSS.
(defun my-reveal-svg-progression-css (map-progression &optional highlight-duration)
  "Make the CSS.
map-progression should be a list of lists with the following format:
((\"slide-id\" \"prev1,prev2;cur1\" \"id-to-add1,id-to-add2\") ...)."
  (setq highlight-duration (or highlight-duration 2))
  (let (full)
    (format
     "<style>%s</style>"
     (mapconcat
      (lambda (slide)
        (setq full (append (split-string (elt slide 2) ",") full))
        (format "#slide-%s.present path { opacity: 0.2 }
%s { opacity: 1 !important }
%s"
                (car slide)
                (mapconcat (lambda (id) (format "#slide-%s.present #%s" (car slide) id))
                           full
                           ", ")
                (my-reveal-svg-highlight-different-colors slide)))
      map-progression
      "\n"))))
I call it from my Org file like this:

#+NAME: progression-css
#+begin_src emacs-lisp :exports code :var map-progression=progression :var highlight-duration=2 :results silent
(my-reveal-svg-progression-css map-progression highlight-duration)
#+end_src

Here's an excerpt showing the kind of code it makes:

<style>#slide-props-map.present path { opacity: 0.2 }
#slide-props-map.present #t-email, #slide-props-map.present #email-properties, #slide-props-map.present #t-properties { opacity: 1 !important }
#slide-props-map.present #h-email { fill: #c6c6c6; opacity: 1 !important; transition: fill 0.5s; transition-delay: 0.0s }#slide-props-map.present #h-properties { fill: #f6f396; opacity: 1 !important; transition: fill 0.5s; transition-delay: 0.5s }
#slide-file-prefixes.present path { opacity: 0.2 }
#slide-file-prefixes.present #t-filename, #slide-file-prefixes.present #properties-filename, #slide-file-prefixes.present #t-email, #slide-file-prefixes.present #email-properties, #slide-file-prefixes.present #t-properties { opacity: 1 !important }
#slide-file-prefixes.present #h-properties { fill: #c6c6c6; opacity: 1 !important; transition: fill 0.5s; transition-delay: 0.0s }#slide-file-prefixes.present #h-filename { fill: #f6f396; opacity: 1 !important; transition: fill 0.5s; transition-delay: 0.5s }
...</style>

Since it's automatically generated, I don't have to worry about it once I've gotten it to work. It's all hidden in a results drawer. So this CSS highlights specific parts of the SVG with a transition, and the highlight changes over the course of a second or two. It highlights the previous names and then the current one. The topics I'd already discussed would be in black, and the topics that I had yet to discuss would be in very light gray. This could give people a sense of the progress through the presentation.

Code for making the CSS
(defun my-reveal-svg-animation (slide)
  (string-join
   (seq-map-indexed
    (lambda (step-ids i)
      (format "%s { fill: #f6f396; transition: fill %ds; transition-delay: %ds }"
              (mapconcat
               (lambda (id) (format "#slide-%s.present #%s" (car slide) id))
               (split-string step-ids ",")
               ", ")
              highlight-duration
              (* i highlight-duration)))
    (split-string (elt slide 1) ";"))
   "\n"))

(defun my-reveal-svg-highlight-different-colors (slide)
  (let* ((colors '("#f6f396" "#c6c6c6")) ; reverse
         (steps (split-string (elt slide 1) ";"))
         (step-length 0.5))
    (string-join
     (seq-map-indexed
      (lambda (step-ids i)
        (format "%s { fill: %s; opacity: 1 !important; transition: fill %.1fs; transition-delay: %.1fs }"
                (mapconcat
                 (lambda (id) (format "#slide-%s.present #%s" (car slide) id))
                 (split-string step-ids ",")
                 ", ")
                (elt colors (- (length steps) i 1))
                step-length
                (* i 0.5)))
      steps))))

(defun my-reveal-svg-progression-css (map-progression &optional highlight-duration)
  "Make the CSS.
map-progression should be a list of lists with the following format:
((\"slide-id\" \"prev1,prev2;cur1\" \"id-to-add1,id-to-add2\") ...)."
  (setq highlight-duration (or highlight-duration 2))
  (let (full)
    (format
     "<style>%s</style>"
     (mapconcat
      (lambda (slide)
        (setq full (append (split-string (elt slide 2) ",") full))
        (format "#slide-%s.present path { opacity: 0.2 }
%s { opacity: 1 !important }
%s"
                (car slide)
                (mapconcat (lambda (id) (format "#slide-%s.present #%s" (car slide) id))
                           full
                           ", ")
                (my-reveal-svg-highlight-different-colors slide)))
      map-progression
      "\n"))))

As a result, as I go through my presentation, the image appears to build up incrementally, which is the effect that I was going for. I can test this by exporting only my map slides:

(save-excursion
  (goto-char (org-babel-find-named-block "progression-css"))
  (org-babel-execute-src-block))
(let ((org-tags-exclude-from-inheritance "map")
      (org-export-select-tags '("map")))
   (oer-reveal-export-to-html))

Ideas for next steps

  • Graphviz, mermaid-js, and other diagramming tools can make SVGs. I should be able to adapt my code to animate those diagrams by adding other elements in addition to path. Then I'll be able to make diagrams even more easily.
  • Since SVGs can contain CSS, I could make an SVG equivalent of the CSS rules I used for the presentation, maybe calling a function with a Lisp expression that specifies the operations (ex: ("frame-001.svg" "h-foo" opacity 1)). Then I could write frames to SVGs.
  • FFmpeg has a crossfade filter. With a little bit of figuring out, I should be able to make the same kind of animation in a webm form that I can include in my regular videos instead of using Reveal.js and CSS transitions.
  • I've also been thinking about automating the recording of my Reveal.js presentations. For my EmacsConf talk, I opened my presentation, started the recording with the system audio and the screen, and then let it autoplay the presentation. I checked on it periodically to avoid the screensaver/energy saving things from kicking in and so that I could stop the recording when it's finished. If I want to make this take less work, one option is to use ffmpeg's "-t" argument to specify the expected duration of the presentation so that I don't have to manually stop it. I'm also thinking about using Puppeteer to open the presentation, check when it's fully loaded, and start the process to record it - maybe even polling to see whether it's finished. I haven't gotten around to it yet. Anyhow, those are some ideas to explore next time.
  • As for animation, I'm still curious about the possibility of finding a way to access the raw stroke information if it's even available from my Supernote A5X (difficult because it's a proprietary data format) or finding an app for the iPad that exports single line SVGs that use stroke information instead of fill. That would only be if I wanted to do those even fancier animations that look like the whole thing is being drawn for you. I was trying to figure out if I could green screen the Adobe Fresco timelapse videos so that even if I have a pre-sketch to figure out spacing and remind me what to draw, I can just export the finished elements. But there's too much anti-aliasing and I haven't figured out how to do it cleanly yet. Maybe some other day.
  • I use Google Cloud Vision's text detection engine to convert my handwriting to text. It can give me bounding polygons for words or paragraphs. I might be able to figure out which curves are entirely within a word's bounding polygon and combine those automatically.
  • It would be pretty cool if I could combine the words recognized by Google Cloud Vision with the word-level timestamps from speech recognition so that I could get word-synced sketchnote animations with maybe a little manual intervention.

Anyway, those are some workflows for animating sketches with Inkscape and Emacs. Yay Emacs!

View org source for this post

2023-12-30-01 Daily moments

| drawing, life

Text from sketch

Inspired by Arne Bab (who mentioned being inspired by my sketches) I've been drawing daily moments since 2023-03-20. Nothing fancy, just a quick reminder of our day.

I draw while the kiddo watches a bedtime video. Sometimes she suggests a moment to draw, or flips through the pages and laughs at the memories.

I also have my text journal (occasionally with photos) and my time tracker. It doesn't take a lot of time to update them, and I like what they let me do.

I like this. It makes the path visible. I'm looking forward to seeing what this is like after years

I used to draw and write monthly reviews. I'd like to get back to those. They help with the annual reviews, too.

  • phone: review sketches, jot keywords on phone
  • computer: draw sketch, braindump, blog

Right now I put 12 days on one A5.

  • Week? nah, not really needed
  • More details? longer to review, though. Redirect drawing to monthly notes

Still working on shaping the day/week more proactively. A+ likes to take the lead, so maybe it's more like strewing.

Moments: https://sketches.sachachua.com/tags/moment

If you're viewing this on my blog, you might be able to click on the links below to open them in a viewer and then swipe or use arrow keys to navigate.

Here are older ones.

ArneBab's post: "My best thing today in sketchnotes"

View org source for this post

Rename, recolor, and file my sketches automatically

| geek, supernote, python, drawing

I want to make it easier to process the sketchnotes I make on my Supernote. I write IDs of the form yyyy-mm-dd-nn to identify my sketches. To avoid duplicates, I get these IDs from the web-based journaling system I wrote. I've started putting the titles and tags into those journal entries as well so that I can reuse them in scripts. When I export a sketch to PNG and synchronize it, the file appears in my ~/Dropbox/Supernote/EXPORT directory on my laptop. Then it goes through this process:

  • I use Google Cloud Vision to detect handwriting so that I can find the ID.
    • I retrieve the matching entry from my journal system and rename the file based on the title and tags.
    • If there's no matching entry, I rename the file based on the ID.
  • If there are other tags or references in the sketch, I add those to the filename as well.
  • I recolor it based on the tags, so parenting-related posts are a little purple, tech/Emacs-related posts are blue, and things are generally highlighted in yellow otherwise.
  • I move it to a directory based on the tags.
    • If it's a private sketch, I move it to the directory for my private sketches.
    • If it's a public sketch, I move it to the directory that will eventually get synchronized to sketches.sachachua.com, and I reload the list of sketches after some delay.

The following code does that processing.

Download supernote-daemon

supernote-daemon source code
#!/usr/bin/python3
# -*- mode: python -*-

# (c) 2022-2023 Sacha Chua (sacha@sachachua.com) - MIT License

# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
# obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files
# (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction,
# including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge,
# publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software,
# and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
# subject to the following conditions:

# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
# included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
# EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
# MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
# NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
# BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
# ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
# CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
# SOFTWARE.


import os
import json
import re
import requests
import time
from dotenv import load_dotenv
# Import the Google Cloud client libraries
from google.cloud import vision
from google.cloud.vision_v1 import AnnotateImageResponse
import sys
sys.path.append("/home/sacha/proj/supernote/")
import recolor   # noqa: E402  # muffles flake8 error about import
load_dotenv()


# Set the folder path where the png files are located
folder_path = '/home/sacha/Dropbox/Supernote/EXPORT/'
public_sketch_dir = '/home/sacha/sync/sketches/'
private_sketch_dir = '/home/sacha/sync/private-sketches/'

# Initialize the Google Cloud Vision client
client = vision.ImageAnnotatorClient()
refresh_counter = 0

def extract_text(client, file):
    json_file = file[:-3] + 'json'
    # TODO Preprocess to keep only black text
    with open(file, 'rb') as image_file:
        content = image_file.read()
    # Convert the png file to a Google Cloud Vision image object
    image = vision.Image(content=content)

    # Extract handwriting from the image using the Google Cloud Vision API
    response = client.document_text_detection(image=image)
    response_json = AnnotateImageResponse.to_json(response)
    json_response = json.loads(response_json)
    # Save the response to a json file with the same name as the png file
    with open(json_file, "w") as f:
        json.dump(json_response, f)


def maybe_rename(file):
    # TODO Match on ID
    json_file = file[:-3] + 'json'
    with open(json_file, 'r') as f:
        data = json.load(f)

    # Extract the text from the json file
    text = data['fullTextAnnotation']['text']

    # Check if the text contains a string matching the regex pattern
    pattern = r'(?<!ref:)[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'
    match = re.search(pattern, text)
    if match:
        # Get the matched string
        matched_string = match.group(0)
        new_name = matched_string
        from_zid = get_journal_entry(matched_string).strip()
        if from_zid:
            new_name = matched_string + ' ' + from_zid
        tags = get_tags(new_name, text)
        if tags:
            new_name = new_name + ' ' + tags
        ref = get_references(text)
        if ref:
            new_name = new_name + ' ' + ref
        print('Renaming ' + file + ' to ' + new_name)
        # Rename the png and json files to the matched string
        new_filename = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(file), new_name + '.png')
        rename_set(file, new_filename)
        return new_filename


def get_tags(filename, text):
    tags = re.findall(r'(^|\W)#[ \n\t]+', text)
    return ' '.join(filter(lambda x: x not in filename, tags))


def get_references(text):
    refs = re.findall(r'!ref:[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}', text)
    return ' '.join(refs)


def get_journal_entry(zid):
    resp = requests.get('https://' + os.environ['JOURNAL_USER']
                        + ':' + os.environ['JOURNAL_PASS']
                        + '@journal.sachachua.com/api/entries/' + zid)
    j = resp.json()
    if j and not re.search('^I thought about', j['Note']):
        return j['Note']


def get_color_map(filename, text=None):
    if text:
        together = filename + ' ' + text
    else:
        together = filename
    if re.search('r#(parenting|purple|life)', together):
        return {'9d9d9d': '8754a1', 'c9c9c9': 'e4c1d9'}  # parenting is purplish
    elif re.search(r'#(emacs|geek|tech|blue)', together):
        return {'9d9d9d': '2b64a9', 'c9c9c9': 'b3e3f1'}  # geeky stuff in light/dark blue
    else:
        return {'9d9d9d': '884636', 'c9c9c9': 'f6f396'}  # yellow highlighter, dark brown


def rename_set(old_name, new_name):
    if old_name != new_name:
        old_json = old_name[:-3] + 'json'
        new_json = new_name[:-3] + 'json'
        os.rename(old_name, new_name)
        os.rename(old_json, new_json)


def recolor_based_on_filename(filename):
    color_map = get_color_map(filename)
    recolored = recolor.map_colors(filename, color_map)
    # possibly rename based on the filename
    new_filename = re.sub(' #(purple|blue)', '', filename)
    rename_set(filename, new_filename)
    recolored.save(new_filename)


def move_processed_sketch(file):
    global refresh_counter
    if '#private' in file:
        output_dir = private_sketch_dir
    elif '#' in file:
        output_dir = public_sketch_dir
        refresh_counter = 3
    else:
        return file
    new_filename = os.path.join(output_dir, os.path.basename(file))
    rename_set(file, new_filename)
    return new_filename


def process_file(file):
    json_file = file[:-3] + 'json'
    # Check if a corresponding json file already exists
    if not os.path.exists(json_file):
        extract_text(client, file)
    if not re.search('[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2} ', file):
        file = maybe_rename(file)
    recolor_based_on_filename(file)
    move_processed_sketch(file)


def process_dir(folder_path):
    global processed_files
    # Iterate through all png files in the specified folder
    files = sorted(os.listdir(folder_path))
    for file in files:
        if file.endswith('.png') and '_' in file:
            print("Processing ", file)
            process_file(os.path.join(folder_path, file))


def daemon(folder_path, wait):
    global refresh_counter
    while True:
        process_dir(folder_path)
        time.sleep(wait)
        if refresh_counter > 0:
            refresh_counter = refresh_counter - 1
            if refresh_counter == 0:
                print("Reloading sketches")
                requests.get('https://' + os.environ['JOURNAL_USER'] + ':'
                             + os.environ['JOURNAL_PASS']
                             + '@sketches.sachachua.com/reload?python=1')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Create a set to store the names of processed files
    processed_files = set()
    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        if os.path.isdir(sys.argv[1]):
            folder_path = sys.argv[1]
            daemon(folder_path, 300)
        else:
            for f in sys.argv[1:]:
                process_file(f)
    else:
        daemon(folder_path, 300)

It uses this script I wrote to recolor my sketches with Python.

I'm contemplating writing some annotation tools to make it easier to turn the detected text into useful text for searching or writing about because the sketches throw off the recognition (misrecognized text, low confidence) and the columns mess up the line wrapping. Low priority, though.

My handwriting (at least for numbers) is probably simple enough that I might be able to train Tesseract OCR to process that someday. And who knows, maybe some organization will release a pre-trained model for offline handwriting recognition that'll be as useful as OpenAI Whisper is for audio files. That would be neat!

Recoloring my sketches with Python

Posted: - Modified: | supernote, drawing

[2024-09-29 Sun]: Fix rgb in recolor.py

The SuperNote lets me draw with black, dark gray (0x9d), gray (0xc9), or white. I wanted to make it easy to recolor them, since a little splash of colour makes sketches more fun and also makes them easier to pick out from thumbnails. Here's the Python script I wrote:

Download recolor.py

#!/usr/bin/python3
# Recolor PNGs
#
# (c) 2022 Sacha Chua (sacha@sachachua.com) - MIT License
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
# obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files
# (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction,
# including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge,
# publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software,
# and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
# subject to the following conditions:

# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
# included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
# EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
# MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
# NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
# BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
# ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
# CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
# SOFTWARE.

import numpy as np
import os
import csv
import argparse
from PIL import Image

DARK_GRAY = 0x9d
GRAY = 0xc9
HEADER_GRAY = 0xca
WHITE = 0xfe

color_dict = {}

def color_to_tuple(color_dict, s):
    if s in color_dict:
        s = color_dict[s]
    s = s.lstrip('#')
    if (s == '.'):
        return (None, None, None)
    elif (len(s) == 2):
        return (int(s, 16), int(s, 16), int(s, 16))
    else:
        return tuple(int(s[i:i + 2], 16) for i in (0, 2, 4))

def load_color_dict(filename):
    dict = {}
    with open(os.path.expanduser(filename), newline='') as csvfile:
        reader = csv.reader(csvfile, delimiter=',', quotechar='"')
        for row in reader:
            dict[row[0]] = row[1]
    return dict

def remove_grid(input):
    if isinstance(input, str):
        im = Image.open(input).convert('RGB')
    else:
        im = input
    data = np.array(im)
    freq = get_colors_by_freq(input)
    print(freq)
    return Image.fromarray(data)

def map_colors(input, color_map):
    if isinstance(input, str):
        im = Image.open(input).convert('RGB')
    else:
        im = input
    data = np.array(im)
    red, green, blue = data[:, :, 0], data[:, :, 1], data[:, :, 2]
    for from_c, to_c in color_map.items():
        from_r, from_g, from_b = color_to_tuple(color_dict, from_c)
        to_r, to_g, to_b = color_to_tuple(color_dict, to_c)
        mask = (red == from_r) & (green == from_g) & (blue == from_b)
        data[:, :, :3][mask] = [to_r, to_g, to_b]
    return Image.fromarray(data)

def set_colors_by_freq(input, color_list):
    if isinstance(input, str):
        im = Image.open(input).convert('RGB')
    else:
        im = input
    data = np.array(im)
    red, green, blue = data[:, :, 0], data[:, :, 1], data[:, :, 2]
    sorted_colors = get_colors_by_freq(input)
    freq = iter(color_list.split(','))
    for i, f in enumerate(freq):
        if f != '.':
            to_r, to_g, to_b = color_to_tuple(color_dict, f)
            by_freq = sorted_colors[i][1]
            if isinstance(by_freq, np.uint8):
                mask = (red == by_freq) & (green == by_freq) & (blue == by_freq)
            else:
                mask = (red == by_freq[0]) & (green == by_freq[1]) & (blue == by_freq[2])
            data[:, :, :3][mask] = [to_r, to_b, to_g]
    return Image.fromarray(data)

def color_string_to_map(s):
    color_map = {}
    colors = iter(args.colors.split(','))
    for from_c in colors:
        to_c = next(colors)
        color_map[from_c] = to_c
    return color_map

def get_colors_by_freq(input):
    if isinstance(input, str):
        im = Image.open(input).convert('RGB')
    else:
        im = input
    colors = im.getcolors(im.size[0] * im.size[1])
    return sorted(colors, key=lambda x: x[0], reverse=True)


def print_colors(input):
    sorted_colors = get_colors_by_freq(input)
    for x in sorted_colors:
        if x[0] > 10:
            if isinstance(x[1], np.uint8):
                print('%02x %d' % (x[1], x[0]))
            else:
                print(''.join(['%02x' % c for c in x[1]]) + ' %d' % x[0])


def process_file(input):
    print(input)
    if args.preview:
        output = None
    else:
        output = args.output if args.output else input
        if os.path.isdir(output):
            output = os.path.join(output, os.path.basename(input))
    im = Image.open(input).convert('RGB')
    if args.colors:
        im = map_colors(im, color_string_to_map(args.colors))
    elif args.freq:
        im = set_colors_by_freq(im, args.freq)
    else:
        print_colors(im)
        exit(0)
    if args.preview:
        im.thumbnail((700, 700))
        im.show()
    elif output:
        im.save(output)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description='Recolor a PNG.',
        formatter_class=argparse.RawTextHelpFormatter,
        epilog="If neither --colors nor --freq are specified, "
        + "display the most frequent colours in the image.")
    parser.add_argument('--colors', help="""Comma-separated list of RGB hex values in the form of old,new,old,new
    Examples:
    9d,ffaaaa,c9,ffd2d2 - reddish
    c9,ffea96 - yellow highlighter
    c9,d2d2ff - light blue
    """)
    parser.add_argument('--freq', help="Color replacements in order of descending frequency (ex: .,ffea96). .: use original color")
    parser.add_argument('--csv', help="CSV of color names to use in the form of colorname,hex")
    parser.add_argument('--preview', help="Preview only", action='store_const', const=True)
    parser.add_argument('input', nargs="+", help="Input file")
    parser.add_argument('--output', help="Output file. If not specified, overwrite input file.")

    args = parser.parse_args()
    color_dict = load_color_dict(args.csv) if args.csv else {}
    for input in args.input:
        process_file(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), input))

I don't think in hex colours, so I added a way to refer to colours by names. I converted this list of Copic CSS colours to a CSV by copying the text, pasting it into a file, and doing a little replacement. It's not complete, but I can copy selected colours from this longer list. I can also add my own. The CSV looks a little like this:

lightgreen,cfe8d3
lightyellow,f6f396
lightblue,b3e3f1
y02,f6f396
w2,ddddd5
b02,b3e3f1
...

It doesn't do any fuzzing or clustering of similar colours, so it won't work well on antialiased images. For the simple sketches I make with the SuperNote, though, it seems to work well enough.

I can preview my changes with something like ./recolor.py ~/sketches/"2022-08-02-01 Playing with my drawing workflow #supernote #drawing #workflow #sketching #kaizen.png" --csv colors.csv --freq .,lightyellow --preview , and then I can take the --preview flag off to overwrite the PNG.

Here's what the output looks like:

View org source for this post

One month with the SuperNote A5X

| supernote, drawing

I've had my SuperNote A5X for a month now, and I really like it.

Text from my sketch

I use it for:

  • untangling thoughts
  • sketchnoting books
  • planning
  • drafting blog posts
  • drawing

A- uses it for: (she's 6 years old)

  • practising cursive
  • doing mazes and dot-to-dots
  • drawing
  • reading lyrics

Things I'm learning:

  • Exporting PNGs at 200% works well for my workflow. I rename them in Dropbox and upload them to sketches.sachachua.com.
  • Carefully copying & deleting pages lets me preserve page numbers. I use lassoed titles for active thoughts and maintain a manual index for other things.
  • Layouts:
    • Landscape: only easier to review on my laptop
    • Portrait columns: lots of scrolling up and down
    • Portrait rows: a little harder to plan, but easier to review
  • Many books fit into one page each.
  • Google Lens does a decent job of converting my handwriting to text (print or cursive, even with a background). Dropbox → Google Photos → Orgzly → Org
  • Draft blog posts go into new notebooks so that I can delete them once converted.
  • The Super Note helps me reclaim a lot of the time I spend waiting for A-. A digital notebook is really nice. Easy to erase, rearrange, export… It works well for me.
  • Part of my everyday carry kit

Ideas for growth:

  • Settle into monthly pages, bullet journaling techniques
  • Practise drawing; use larger graphic elements & organizers, different shades
  • Integrate into Zettelkasten

I put my visual book notes and visual library notes into a Dropbox shared folder so that you can check them out if you have a Supernote. If you don't have a Supernote, you can find my visual book notes at sketches.sachachua.com. Enjoy!

Trying out the SuperNote A5X

| geek, drawing, supernote

W- was happy with his SuperNote A5X, so I ordered one for myself on July 18. The company was still doing pre-orders because of the lockdowns in China, but it shipped out on July 20 and arrived on July 25, which was pretty fast.

I noticed that the org-epub export makes verse blocks look double-spaced on the SuperNote, probably because <br> tags are getting extra spacing. I couldn't figure out how to fix it with CSS, so I've been hacking around it by exporting it as a different class without the <br> tags and just using { white-space: pre }. I also ended up redoing the templates I made in Inkscape, since the gray I used was too light to see on the SuperNote.

It was very tempting to dive into the rabbithole of interesting layouts on /r/supernote and various journaling resources, but I still don't have much time, so there's no point in getting all fancy about to-do lists or trackers at the moment. I wanted to focus on just a couple of things: untangling my thoughts and sketching. Sketchnoting books would be a nice bonus (and I actually managed to do one on paper during a recent playdate), but that can also wait until I have more focused time.

I've had the A5X for five days and I really like it. Writing with the Lamy pen feels like less work than writing with a pencil or regular pen. It's smooth but not rubbery. I've still been drawing in landscape form because that feels a little handier for reviewing on my tablet or writing about on my blog, but I should probably experiment with portrait form at some point.

So far, I've:

sketched out my thoughts
I used to use folded-over 8x14" to sketch out two thoughts, but scanning them was a bit of a pain. Sometimes I used the backs of our writing practice sheets in order to reduce paper waste, but then scanning wasn't always as clean. I really like using the SuperNote to sketch out thoughts like this one. It's neat, and I can get the note into my archive pretty easily.
sketched stuff from life
This is easier if I take a quick reference picture on my phone. I could probably even figure out some kind of workflow for making that available as a template for tracing.
received many kiddo drawings
A- loves being able to use the eraser and lasso to modify her drawings. Novelty's probably another key attraction, too. She's made quite a few drawings for me, even experimenting with drawing faces from the side like the way she's been seeing me practice doing.
received many kiddo requests
A- likes to ask me to draw things. She enjoys tracing over them in another layer. More drawing practice for both of us!
used it to help A- practise coding, etc.
A- wanted to do some coding puzzles with her favourite characters. I enjoyed being able to quickly sketch it up, drawing large versions and then scaling down as needed.
played a game of chess
I drew chess pieces just to see if I could, and we ended up using those to play chess. I should share these and maybe add other games as well.
referred to EPUBs and PDFs
I put our favourite songs and poems on it. I've also started using org-chef to keep a cookbook.
doodled sketch elements
boxes, borders, little icons, people… Probably should organize these and share them too.

I've figured out how to publish sketches by using my phone to rotate them and sync them with my online sketches. Now I'm playing around with my writing workflow to see if I can easily post them to my blog. At some point, I think I'll experiment with using my phone to record and automatically transcribe some commentary, which I can pull into the blog post via some other Emacs Lisp code I've written. Whee!