Stack mode
Stacking one or more .eps files to create collages
To use this option you supply either individual files or else
a library file
with the names of all the files required for the collage. Then the
number of columns required is chosen and the collage is viewed,
copied to a file or printed. Text added to the graph will be ragged
right justified with mutiple spaces suppressed and at a width
determined by the collage width. Line breaks can be forced if that
is required, e.g. for tabbing.
The type of files required
This option works best with a set of SIMFIT PostScript files that
all have
the default portrait style and the same y:x aspect ratio, and where
they have all been clipped to the same aspect ratio.
If you have
.eps files that have been clipped incorrectly, differentially scaled,
saved in landscape orientation, saved in several different aspect
ratios, or prepared from another application, there could be
complications. Editps will attempt to re-scale and re-position
any .eps files supplied so that plots fit into constant width
windows, but this will not always give a sensible result with files
that are not in portrait orientation with identical
3:4, 1:1 or 4:3 aspect ratios.
Clipping, aspect ratios and collage windows
When you save a graph from program Simplot you can choose to clip
to 3:4 (horizontal), 1:1 (square) or 4:3 (vertical) format and,
to prepare a collage, the best results will be achieved when all
graphs have the same aspect ratios and clipping frames. For
maximum versatility, however, you can alter the default windows
used for
stacking to correspond with the desired aspect ratio. The way this
works is that the horizontal dimensions of the collage windows
will be the
same, but the vertical dimension will vary for the alternative
aspect ratios.
To make an arbitrary collage with .eps files of any shape,
you should use Editps in
Overlay mode, then add any title and text in Stack mode
(with 1 file).
Adding figure captions
If a sub-figure has an associated cation then it will be shown
under the plot. The default captions are blank but you can choose
default
options like Fig.1, Fig. 2, etc. or set the captions
individually. Note that you can input special prefixes
to generate captions like Example A, Example B and so on, or
you can suppress all captions.
If the captions on all sub-figures in a row are suppressed,
then the row of graphs between that row and the next one will be
moved closer together, which is desirable with large numbers
of files. Of course, the captions must not violate the rules
of PostScript. This means that if you want Fig. 1(a, Fig. 1(b
or similar, with unbalanced parentheses, you have to use
Fig. 1\(a, Fig. 1\(b, etc.
The figure captions can include
text formatting commands but must not contain incorrect
PostScript character strings.
Adding a collage title
You can use an edit box to create a collage title which can have
multiple lines if required.
If you leave any title line blank then that title line will be suppressed,
but any non-blank
title lines will be printed. As with the captions you have to obey PostScript
rules about unbalanced parentheses, but text formatting commands
can be used.
Adding text
You can type in any text which will be ragged right justified and
printed underneath the collage.
Muliple spaces will be ignored as will your own line breaks.
This text can use text formatting commands
which are explained in the section on using Editps in Create mode and
summarised in the section about formatting commands.
Note that, in order to include formatting commands to change
characters within words without introducing interword spaces, you must
use parentheses to indicate literal strings, e.g. {ma}{ntilde}{ana}{ }
in sentence in Spanish.
Collage dimensions
You can alter the left hand margin and top of the paper position
to make your collage any size you want. The re-scaling parameter
only changes the overall size of the collage, not the position of
the top and left hand margin. If you make a collage that is too
large to fit on the default paper size (A4), e.g. by requesting
more than 3 columns, you will not be able to see all the collage
in Gsview/Ghostscript. The remedy is to shrink the collage to
half size, say, by setting the overall scaling factor to 0.5, say.
Centralising
If the number of files to be plotted does not fill out the bottom
row of the collage, you can choose to centralise the files in the
last row, or they can be printed in left-justified mode.
Landscape collages
To create a landscape collage, just make a portrait file and use
editps in Edit mode to rotate and translate as required.
Adding page numbers to collages
If a collage file that has been created by Editps is read into Editps and
the option to overlay is
selected, then page numbers or any arbitrary text can be added to the
collage by creating an extra text file interactively.
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