TAPP

Totally Automated Propaganda Producer

This package contains scripts to be used to produce marketing materials for the Carnegie Mellon University Computer Club.

A copy of this repository is available to club members at /afs/club.cc.cmu.edu/projects/tapp. Users can edit the data directory and run the scripts as needed.

Requirements

Before running these scripts, you must install pip, a Python package manager. If you'd like to keep TAPP's dependencies in their own virtual environment (or "venv"), separate from the rest of your Python toolchain, you'll also want the python3-venv package for your operating system.

Then, to create a venv and install all of the necessary modules on your system, run:

python3 -m venv .venv/ --prompt tapp
source .venv/bin/activate
pip3 install -r requirements.txt

If you use a venv, make sure to activate it before running any of TAPP's generators.

Alternatively, if you don't mind polluting your local user environment:

pip3 install --user -r requirements.txt

Produce All the Propaganda!

To produce all of the propaganda for a semester, check the variables at the top of the Makefile and run:

make

With the proper AFS permissions, the files can be published to the web using:

make publish

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Generating Individual Files

Talk Series

See data files such as data/2015-08_F15-talks.json for input reference. Use 0 as the cat value for weeks without a talk due to holidays, etc.

A cat value for each talk is required and relates to how it is colored on the posters; however, the categories array is optional and relates to how the schedule is rendered on the web. If the cat values are not logically contiguous (see Fall 2016 as an example), it is best to dispense with the categories.

Posters

Usage:

python3 -m tapp.talks.svg_gen -i foo.json -o bar.svg [-g]

The file 2015logo_light.svg must be in the same directory as the output file to display properly. Additionally, the filename given in the sponsor_logo field must be relative to the output file.

Use -g to generate a grayscale version more suitable for mass printing than the full-color version. In some browsers, logos may remain in color.

iCalendar File

Usage:

python3 -m tapp.talks.ics_gen -i foo.json -o bar.ics

Webpage

Usage:

python3 -m tapp.talks.php_gen -i foo.json -o bar.php

Club Overview Flyers

See data files such as data/2015-08_F15-flyer.json for input reference.

Usage:

python3 -m tapp.flyer.svg_gen -i foo.json -o bar.svg

The files 2015logo_light.svg and cmucc_qr.svg must be in the same directory as the output file to display properly.

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Printing SVGs

Generated SVGs are intended to be viewed and printed from Google Chrome. Talk Series posters are best printed to tabloid (17"x11") paper, landscape orientation, with margins set to 0.25" on the left and right, 0.2" on top, and 0" on bottom. Club Overview flyers are best printed to letter (8.5"x11") paper, portrait orientation, with the "minimum margins" setting. For the most consistent results, print to a PDF.

In some cases, when attempting to open the SVGs in other tools, the transcluded logos can cause issues. As a workaround, manually remove the <image> tags from the SVG output, and replace them using an SVG editor such as Inkscape. Ensure all required fonts are installed, resize to desired output size, and print.