File talk:Steelmark logo.svg

Image history and creation notes
I originally created this logo as a 436x435 pixel PNG file on 7 February 2006. It was re-created on 2 April 2010 as a scalable vector graphics (SVG) file. The basic geometry of the logo was created with AutoCAD 14, running on Microsoft Windows 98SE, then further processed in Adobe Illustrator 9 on Windows 98SE and Inkscape 0.46 on Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux). RGB color values from the original were preserved, but the outer diameter of the gray ring was reduced to 96% of the former, giving it a slimmer, lighter appearance. The "Steel" text is based on Swiss 721 BT Bold, a Bitstream True Type font, that was converted from text to a shape in Adobe Illustrator, then stretched vertically by 10% in Inkscape. The three astroid shapes were generated as a set of short line segments from the parametric equations in True BASIC, saved as a DXF file. The DXF file was imported into AutoCAD 14 and the curves were overlaid with non-uniform rational Bezier splines, and then converted to closed, filled paths in Adobe Illustrator 9.&mdash;QuicksilverT @ 23:02, 2 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Today I discovered how to set the preview size of SVG images in Wikipedia, so that images under the Fair Use Rationale meet the "low resolution" criterion. Before saving the image, or a copy of the image, in Inkscape, apply a Transform/Scale operation, set the units to "px" (pixels), check the "Scale proportionally" box, then set the width to something small and reasonable, 220 pixels in this case.  Today's re-upload changed the preview size from 674 pixels to 220 pixels.&mdash;QuicksilverT @ 20:25, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Astroids aren't astroids
After I created the SVG image, using the information in the Steelmark article that described the four-pointed stars as "astroids", a special case of hypotrochoid, I was troubled by the way the figures looked too "fat" compared to samples of the AISI Steelmark logo and the Steelers football team logo, which was adapted from the AISI original. I concluded that since the Steelmark logo was created long before CAD systems came into common use, it was likely that the astroid-like shapes were probably created with the help of French curves and a bit of artistic license. Rather than trying to discover what mathematical curve might define the shapes, I imported a sample Steelers logo raster graphics image into Inkscape and manually fitted a Bézier spline to it. The final result looks much more convincing and authentic. &mdash;QuicksilverT @ 05:20, 26 October 2010 (UTC)