RE: R-beta: edit figs with xfig?
Ted Harding (Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk)
Thu, 20 Nov 1997 22:53:53 -0000 (GMT)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.OSF.3.95.971120154228.23860B-100000@io.uwinnipeg.ca>
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 22:53:53 -0000 (GMT)
From: Ted Harding <Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
To: Bill Simpson <wsimpson@uwinnipeg.ca>
Subject: RE: R-beta: edit figs with xfig?
On 20-Nov-97 Bill Simpson wrote:
> Question for R users under unix:
> Do you ever edit figs created by R using xfig or some other program? I
> tried to edit a figure with xfig (a program which I find quite horrible
> by
> the way) and it said it couldn't read it in. I guess xfig has no
> capability of reading postscript files?
>
> Can anyone tell me how to do it, or perhaps suggest another freeware
> structured drawing program for use in touching up postscript figs output
> by R?
>
> Thanks very much for any help.
>
> Bill Simpson
Bill: I know of no general way whatever of editing a PostScript file except
by opening it in a text editor and using your grey matter (no more than you
can expect to modify any program by sending its output to some
viewer/editor).
Only if R's PS graphics output has a very well defined and rigid structure
could you expect that to be possible, I think, and I never heard of a
program which could do such a thing.
You could always convert the PS to one of the bitmap formats (using e.g.
ghostscript) and try editing the bitmap with one of a number of suitable
programs, but that doesn'r sound like a happy way to spend the day.
A better option, if it is possible, would be to output an R graphic as a
"pic" file (preprocessor to [g]troff, which can then be used to generate PS
output). "Pic" files are easy to edit once you've got the hang of it;
but you can lose a number of PostScript's capabilities if you're
restricted to "pic" (e.g. shading arbitrary closed areas). To implement
this, I suppose "pic" would have to be one of R's graphics device drivers.
(Tony Dusoir's "SC" program uses pic as the primary graphics output format,
mediated through the "grap" language; the resulting "pic" file is displayed
using "troff | ghostscript" on screen, and can be converted to a PS file. It
seems to work quite well. "Pic" is also one of the device options in
gnuplot, so the gnuplot code could be used as a model if needed).
Hope this helps,
Ted.
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E-Mail: Ted Harding <Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Date: 20-Nov-97 Time: 22:53:53
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