Summary
Modes
Edit mode: this is used to edit, re-size or rotate .eps files.
Stack mode: collects .eps files together to make a collage
with a title, captions and legend.
Overlay mode: arranges .eps files together in
arbitrary positions and sizes in order to generate composite graphs or
graphs with insets. Also used to add page numbers to collages.
Create mode: makes free standing .eps files.
Transform mode: creates .pdf, .jpg, .tif, .pcx, .bmp files
from .eps files.
Formatting commands: these introduce font changes, superscripts,
subscripts, accented characters and plotting symbols into collage
captions, titles or legends or into free standing .eps files.
Using Editps
Program Editps provides a simple yet powerful method for
manipulating PostScript files that conform to the EPSF standard.
Such files can be generated from SIMFIT but, for
histology sections, scanned photographs, logos or bit maps,
any standard image manipulation package can be used.
If you do plan to mix SIMFIT graphs with histology sections or
photographs, you should get your image manipulation program
to output EPSF standard image files that are clipped to an
aspect ratio of 3:4, 1:1 or 4:3, with accurate BoundingBoxes.
Such files can be edited, stacked to create collages, overlayed
to generate composite graphs, or transformed into other popular
graphics file formats. In addition, PostScript files consisting of
just text, plotting symbols and lines can be generated. Captions,
titles and descriptive text can be added to collages, and
page numbers or other textual details can be added to overlays.
Using Editps it is
possible to take one or several PostScript files and create a
new file in any size or orientation. This can then be printed on any
printer, or incorporated into any document using any word
processor, slide show program or document preparation system.
However, the files supplied must conform to the EPSF standard
and must have correct BoundingBoxes. All PostScript files
generated by the SIMFIT package are consistent with this format.
To use Editps successfully you must have the GSview/Ghostscript
package installed on your PC, and SIMFIT must be configured to
use it.
Note that
the original .eps files you read into Editps for editing, stacking,
overlaying or transforming are not altered in any way.
The EPSF standard
PostScript is a graphics language which is very convenient
for scientific graphics, since it stores the graphical data
in vector format. This means that the files are compact, they can
be edited in a text editor, and they can be viewed or printed at
any size and at the maximum resolution of the peripheral.
PostScript files have the extension .ps, but those that only consist
of one page and that conform to certain conventions have the extension
.eps.
However, the most important feature of .eps files for the user is that
they
should have a BoundingBox specifying the dimensions of the
graph or text. BoundingBoxes in .eps files are used by EDITPS
to re-size, move,
rotate, etc. Clearly, if the BoundingBox dimensions are incorrect,
the graph will not be re-scaled correctly.
So you should always use program GSview
in the suppress-clip, show-BoundingBox mode, then you will
be able to see the graph
overlayed on the page size selected, but with the BoundingBox also
displayed as a dotted rectangle. If the dotted rectangle does not
surround a graph correctly, then re-name the file as a .ps file and
use GSview to transform to .eps which will automatically add a
correct BoundingBox to the resultant .eps file.
GSview can also be used to add a preview to the file if you need to see
the graph as you prepare your document, or want to print at low resolution
but, for the highest possible resolution, you should print the
final version of your document using a PostScript printer if possible.
SIMFIT .eps files
PostScript files generated by the SIMFIT package not only conform
to the EPSF standard, they also have a unique feature; they are
written in a special structured manner which allows you to edit them
in a text editor. This feature also allows EDITPS to edit text
strings on graphs. Note that Editps will work perfectly with any
SIMFIT PostScript file but not all the functions provided will
work with arbitrary PostScript files.
PostScript octal codes
SIMFIT allows you to use all the characters in the standard
fonts, not just the ones directly accessible from the keyboard,
but to do this you have to resort to using the octal codes.
These PostScript octal codes can be viewed at any time from the
menus in Overlay mode or Create mode, which use GSview to
display the SIMFIT document pscodes.ps. If you intend to create
special effects or print all the characters and pictures in the standard
fonts, you
should print out a copy of the file pscodes.ps for reference, using GSview
if you do not have a PostScript printer.
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