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- Epspdf and epspdftk User Guide
+Epspdf and epsdftk
+******************
- A multiplatform GUI- and command-line converter for [e]ps and pdf.
+This manual is for epspdf, version 0.4.0.
- Siep Kroonenberg,
- siepo at cybercomm dot nl
+Copyright (C) 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Siep Kroonenberg.
-Overview
+ Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
+ this entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice
+ and this notice are preserved.
- Epspdftk converts files between eps, pdf and general PostScript. The main
- screen lets you open a file, select some options and convert the file.
+1 Usage
+*******
- When opening a file, epspdf tries to find out file type and, in the case
- of a pdf file, the number of pages. This information is displayed in the
- box in the upper half of the screen.
+1.1 Overview
+============
-Viewing
+Epspdftk converts files between eps, pdf and general PostScript. The
+main screen lets you open a file, select some options and convert the
+file.
- The View button at the bottom of the screen calls an appropriate external
- viewer. For Windows this is determined by the default Open command, for OS
- X it is always Preview, and under Linux it is configurable; see below
- under [1]The Configuration screen.
+When opening a file, epspdf tries to find out file type and, in the
+case of a pdf file, the number of pages. This information is displayed
+in the box in the upper part of the screen.
- The View button is grayed if epspdf thinks that there is no previewer for
- the current file; see [2]the epspdf main page for details.
-Conversion options
- Grayscaling: Simple color figures can be converted to grayscale.
- Grayscaling will fail for bitmapped data and for advanced color models.
- 'Try harder to grayscale' will handle a few more cases, but may take
- longer and still won't handle bitmaps.
+1.2 Viewing
+===========
- Call for assistance: If a PostScript color expert is reading this: please
- have a look at makegray.pro and see whether you can come up with something
- that handles more color models.
+The View button at the bottom of the screen calls an appropriate
+external viewer.
- Compute tight boundingbox: This option is only available if a single page
- is converted.
+Windows: Epspdftk simply tries to use the default Open command. A
+second button, labeled View with..., lets the user select a different
+program to view the file.
- Page selection: The only possibilities are selecting a single page or
- selecting all pages. When converting to eps you are restricted to a single
- page.
+For OS X the viewer is also the default program, but there is no View
+with... button.
- For general PostScript files, there is no quick way to determine the
- number of pages, so the program won't check beforehand whether you picked
- an existing page. If you picked a non-existent page, the program will
- abort. If you don't like that, convert the entire document to pdf first -
- which will be done behind the scenes anyhow.
+Under Linux the PostScript- and pdf viewers are configurable; see *note
+The configuration screen::.
- Specifying options such as grayscaling or page selection may require
- several roundtrips between PostScript or eps and pdf. If epspdf cannot use
- pdftops then some combinations of options will not be available.
+The View button is grayed if epspdf thinks that there is no previewer
+for the current file.
-Converting
+1.3 Conversion options
+======================
- The Convert and save... button calls up a file save dialog, with
- appropriate default extension. After a successful conversion, the result
- becomes the new current file, so you can judge the result by pressing the
- View button again.
+Grayscaling: Simple color figures can be converted to grayscale.
+Bitmapped data won't be converted. If grayscaling doesn't work on
+non-bitmapped data, select the "Try harder to grayscale" option. This
+may cause an extra pdf-PostScript roundtrip.
-The configuration screen
+Compute tight boundingbox: This option is only available if a single
+page is converted.
- Epspdftk also has a configuration screen. The settings here are preserved
- between sessions. Pay particular attention to 'Intended use' under PDF
- CONVERSION. Choose 'prepress' for pdfs which are intended for commercial
- printing. This option will try to embed all fonts, among other things.
- More and more often, printshops insist on this. With luck, Ghostscript
- fonts and system fonts will be used for fonts which were not originally
- embedded.
+Page selection: The only possibilities are selecting a single page or
+selecting all pages. When converting to eps you are restricted to a
+single page.
- Under Windows, this screen also lets you tell the program where to find
- pdftops.exe. Under Linux, it lets you pick PostScript- and pdf previewers.
+For general PostScript files, there is no quick way to determine the
+number of pages, so the program won't check beforehand whether you
+picked an existing page. If you picked a non-existent page, the program
+will abort. If you don't like that, convert the entire document to pdf
+first - which will be done behind the scenes anyhow.
-Adding standard fonts to an existing pdf
+Specifying options such as grayscaling or page selection may require
+several roundtrips between PostScript or eps and pdf.
- You can add standard fonts such as Times and Helvetica to an existing pdf:
- first, convert to ps, with 'Convert all pages' selected. Then, make sure
- that in the configuration screen 'Intended use' is set to prepress, then
- convert back to pdf.
+1.4 Converting
+==============
- If this option is set to screen, then standard fonts will be removed
- instead of added. This option may also affect the resolution of bitmaps.
+The Convert and save... button calls up a file save dialog. After a
+successful conversion, the result becomes the new current file, so you
+can judge the result by pressing the View button again.
-Eps preview headers
+1.5 The configuration screen
+============================
- Preview headers are quietly stripped from eps files. These preview headers
- are used by e.g. desktop-publishing software to represent eps files on
- screen without having to interpret the PostScript code itself. Epspdf
- currently has no option to preserve or add them.
+ Epspdftk also has a configuration screen. The settings here are
+preserved between sessions.
-On-the-fly conversion
+1.5.1 Configuring viewers
+-------------------------
+
+Under Linux, the preferred PostScript- and pdf viewers can be configured
+in this screen. Epspdf looks for a number of PostScript- and pdf
+viewers, from which you can select one, but you can also enter one
+manually.
+
+For Windows and Mac OS X, there is no such configuration option. Epspdf
+will use the program associated with the file type, which can be
+configured outside epspdf. Under Windows, you can use the "View
+with..." button instead.
+
+1.5.2 Options for converting to pdf
+-----------------------------------
+
+Double-check the setting "Target use" under "Conversion to pdf". Choose
+"prepress" for pdfs which are target for commercial printing. This
+option will try to embed all fonts, among other things. Often,
+printshops insist on this. With luck, Ghostscript fonts and system
+fonts will be used for fonts which were not originally embedded.
+
+On the other hand, you may prefer "screen" if file size is a concern.
+See also the Ghostscript documentation, in particular Use.htm and
+Ps2pdf.htm.
+
+1.5.3 Options for converting to PostScript
+------------------------------------------
+
+For conversion the other way you may opt not to use pdftops even if it
+is available. In this case, the conversion will be done by Ghostscript.
+Characters may be converted to drawn shapes or little bitmaps so this
+is not recommended.
+
+Under Windows, this is also the place to point the program to the
+location of pdftops.exe.
+
+1.5.4 Hires BoundingBox
+-----------------------
+
+Uncheck the option "Use hires boundingbox if possible" if otherwise the
+computed boundingbox is slightly too tight, resulting in some clipping.
+It has two effects:
+ * When converting to pdf, it uses the standard rather than the hires
+ boundingbox for page dimensions
+
+ * When computing a boundingbox, it adds a small safety margin of 1pt
+ to the standard boundingbox, except where it would make any
+ boundingbox coordinate negative.
+
+2 Command-line usage
+********************
+
+epspdf.rb, the library for epspdftk.rb, does double duty as command-line
+version of epspdftk.rb. It shares configuration settings with
+epspdftk.rb.
+
+It is strongly recommended to invoke epspdf.rb via a wrapper script
+epspdf or epspdf.bat on the search path, e.g.
+ #!/bin/sh
+ PATH_TO_EPSPDF/epspdf.rb "@"
+for Unix/Linux/OS X, or
+ "PATH_TO_RUBY.EXE" "PATH_TO_EPSPDF.RB" %*
+for Windows. It is the responsibility of the caller to provide double
+quotes.
+
+The TeX Live package for epspdf already includes such wrapper scripts.
+
+Basic usage:
+
+ epspdf [OPTIONS] INFILE OUTFILE
+
+2.1 Option summary
+==================
+
+The summary below is the output of a command `epspdf --help' for help.
+ $ epspdf --help
+ Epspdf version 0.4.0
+ Copyright (C) 2006, 2008, 2009 Siep Kroonenberg
+ Epspdf 0.4.0
+ Convert between [e]ps and pdf formats
+ Usage: epspdf.rb [options] infile [outfile]
+ Default for outfile is file.pdf if infile is file.eps or file.ps
+ Default for outfile is file.eps if infile is file.pdf
+ -g, --gray, --grey Convert to grayscale;
+ success not guaranteed
+ -G, --GRAY, --GREY Try harder to convert to grayscale
+ -p, --pagenumber=PAGENUMBER Page to be converted or selected
+ -b, --bbox, --BoundingBox Compute tight boundingbox
+ -n, --no-hires Don't use hires boundingbox
+ -r, --hires Use hires boundingbox
+ -T, --target=TARGET Target use of pdf; one of
+ default, printer, prepress, screen, ebook
+ -N, --pdfversion=PDFVERSION Pdf version to be generated
+ -V, --version=PDFVERSION Deprecated; use `-N' or `--pdfversion'.
+ -I Ignore pdftops even if available
+ (default: use if available)
+ -U Use pdftops if available
+ (overrides previous -I setting)
+ -C, --custom=CUSTOMOPTIONS Custom options for conversion to pdf,
+ view Use.htm and ps2pdf.htm from
+ the Ghostscript documentation set
+ -P, --psoptions=PSOPTIONS Options for pdftops; default -level3,
+ don't include -eps or page number options;
+ these will be generated by the program
+ -i, --info Info: display detected filetype
+ -s Save (some) settings
+ -d Debug: don't remove temp files
+ -v Prints version info
+ -h, --help Show this message
+
+3 Notes on PostScript and pdf
+*****************************
+
+3.1 Bitmapped and vector
+========================
+
+Pictures can be described either in terms of pixels, or more abstractly,
+in terms of geometric shapes, fonts and text.
+
+Bitmapped or pixel-based graphics are appropriate for photographs and
+screenshots, but less so for diagrams and spreadsheet-generated
+graphics.
+
+A file in PostScript- or pdf format can contain both types of graphic
+data, e.g. a text in vector format agains a photographic background in
+bitmapped format.
+
+Vector graphics can be freely scaled without losing sharpness or
+becoming pixellated. If bitmapped graphics are enlarged too much,
+individual pixels become apparent. With low-resolution bitmaps this
+happens sooner than with high-resolution bitmaps, but high-resolution
+bitmaps have (much) larger file sizes, and take longer to process.
+
+So avoid converting vector to bitmap. However, converting from bitmap to
+vector is also best avoided, since it is very hard to do well.
+
+Epspdf normally avoids conversion from vector to bitmap and never
+converts the other way. With the screen- and ebook "Target use" option,
+included bitmaps tend to be downsampled, i.e. reduced to a lower
+resolution.
+
+3.2 Font embedding
+==================
+
+When converting to pdf, Ghostscript handles font embedding differently
+depending on the "Target use" option. For prepress, it embeds even the
+standard fonts, including Times etc. Ghostscript has copies of these
+fonts in case the PostScript file doesn't have them. For screen, it
+doesn't embed standard fonts.
+
+You can embed fonts after the fact by converting pdf to eps or ps, and
+back to pdf, with target use set to "prepress". However, don't try this
+unless you have pdftops.
+
+If target use is set to "screen", then standard fonts will be removed
+instead of added. This option may also cause downsampling of bitmaps.
+
+3.3 Eps preview headers
+=======================
+
+Preview headers are quietly stripped from eps files. These preview
+headers are used by e.g. desktop-publishing software to represent eps
+files on screen without having to interpret the PostScript code itself.
+Epspdf currently has no option to preserve or add them.
+
+3.4 Bounding- and other boxes
+=============================
+
+A PostScript file may have a page size and a boundingbox defined. A pdf
+file may have a mediabox, a trimbox and various other boxes. Ghostscript
+by itself normally converts the PostScript page - which is anchored at
+(0,0) - to the pdf mediabox.
+
+When epspdf or a similar program converts eps to pdf, it adds code to
+move the bottom left corner of the graphic to (0,0) and to set the page
+to the size of the graphic. Anything outside the boundingbox should be
+cut off.
+
+Both Ghostscript and pdftops have some parameters for setting or using
+these boxes; consult Ps2pdf.htm from the Ghostscript documentation and
+"pdftops -help" or "man pdftops".
+
+3.5 Orientation
+===============
+
+There appears to be no reliable way to set orientation for PostScript-
+and pdf files. This may result part of a graphic being cut off after
+conversion or even everything falling outside the page / mediabox /
+boundingbox. It may help to change the extension from ".eps" to ".ps"
+before converting to pdf. In this case, let epspdf generate a new
+boundingbox.
+
+3.6 Exporting PostScript from Windows programs
+==============================================
+
+Often, the only way to get EPS or PostScript from a Windows program is
+by "printing" to a PostScript file. From some programs, you can print a
+selection. A suitable driver which comes with Windows is Generic / MS
+Publisher Imagesetter. Pay attention to the printer properties: choose
+"Outline" for font downloading and avoid the "Optimize for speed"
+setting for PostScript Output Option. Try e.g. "Archive" instead. These
+options can be found under the Advanced button.
+
+ Other possibilities are the TpX and wmf2eps programs, which both have
+options to write clipboard contents to an emf file. Wmf2eps uses a
+printer driver in the background. For faithful conversion, pick
+wmf2eps; for subsequent editing, choose TpX. Both programs are
+available from `http://www.tug.org/ctan.html'.
+
+4 Troubleshooting
+*****************
+
+4.1 Grayscaling fails
+=====================
+
+See above, under *note Grayscaling: gray. Epspdf is limited by what can
+be done by the backend tools, i.e. Ghostscript and pdftops. In
+particular, epspdf cannot grayscale bitmapped data.
+
+4.2 Part of the graphic gets cut off
+====================================
+
+Things to try:
+ * If the PostScript file was generated with the Windows PostScript
+ driver, experiment with the PostScript Output option. Don't choose
+ Optimize for Speed.
+
+ * Replace the extension with ".ps" and let epspdf generate a
+ boundingbox.
+
+ * Boundingbox calculations may be slightly inaccurate where text is
+ involved. If just a sliver is cut off, let epspdf ignore the
+ high-resolutuion boundingbox. Command-line option: "-n" or
+ "-no-hires".
+
+4.3 Fonts look ugly
+===================
+
+If Ghostscript has to do the conversion from pdf to ps then text will
+not remain text, but will be replaced by drawn shapes or bitmaps. Try
+to get hold of the xpdf suite, which includes pdftops, especially if
+your files contain serious amount of text.
+
+4.4 Resources for troubleshooting
+=================================
+
+Logfile. Epspdf and epspdftk maintain a log file epspdf.log in your
+home directory or, in case of Windows, your profile directory. This
+profile directory may be `c:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME'.
+Otherwise, open a DOS box and type `echo %USERPROFILE%', which will
+produce this information.
+
+This logfile lists all Ghostscript- and pdftops program calls plus
+error information. "EPCallError" is probably a program error.
+'EPSystemError" is more likely caused by a faulty file, but may be a
+program error as well.
+
+Temporary files. The temporary files may give clues as well. They will
+be deleted at the end of the session (for the command-line version,
+give a -d parameter to keep the temporary files). Check the logfile as
+to which temporary files have been created.
+
+Ghostscript- and pdftops documentation. For Ghostscript, the most
+important files are Ps2pdf.htm and Use.htm. For pdftops, type `pdftops
+-h'. For Unix, there is also a man page, and for Windows there is a
+file pdftops.txt in the distribution zip.
+
+5 Changes in version 0.4
+************************
+
+Hi-res boundingboxes are now supported. By default, conversion from eps
+to pdf now uses the hires boundingbox as "page" to determine the page
+dmensions of the pdf file. Other conversions preserve or generate a
+hires boundingbox.
+
+Under Windows, the new version looks for an installed TeX and will use
+its private Ghostscript if it cannot find separately installed
+Ghostscript. TeX Live's pdftops, being on the searchpath, will be used
+unless epspdf finds another copy first.
+
+There is now a "-v" (lowercase) option to print the version string.
- Daniel Becker wrote a LaTeX package epspdfconversion which converts eps
- files on the fly to pdf, like Heiko Oberdiek's epstopdf package, but with
- epspdf as backend. It can make use of the epspdf conversion options. Both
- packages are available from [3]CTAN and included in TeX Live.
-
-Exporting PostScript from Windows programs
-
- Often, the only way to get EPS or PostScript from a Windows program is by
- 'printing' to a PostScript file. From some programs, you can print a
- selection. A suitable driver which comes with Windows is Generic / MS
- Publisher Imagesetter. Pay attention to the printer properties: avoid the
- 'Optimize for speed' setting and choose Outline for font downloading.
- These options can be found under the Advanced button.
-
- Other possibilities are the TpX and wmf2eps programs, which both have
- options to write clipboard contents to an emf file. Wmf2eps uses a printer
- driver in the background. For faithful conversion, pick wmf2eps; for
- subsequent editing, choose TpX. Both programs are availbable from [4]CTAN.
-
-Command-line use
-
- Epspdf.rb, the library for epspdftk.rb, does double duty as command-line
- version of epspdftk.rb. Type epspdf.rb -h for help. It shares
- configuration settings with epspdftk.
-
-Troubleshooting
-
- Grayscaling fails
-
- See above, under [5]Grayscaling. Epspdf is limited by what can be done by
- the backend tools, i.e. Ghostscript and pdftops.
-
- Part of the graphic gets cut off
-
- I have seen this happen with eps files generated by printing landscape
- PowerPoint slides to PostScript with the Encapsulated PostScript output
- option. Using the Archive output option instead solved the problem. In
- general, experiment a bit in generating your PostScript.
-
- Mac OS X problems with epspdftk
-
- Even though epspdftk is not an X11 program, you may still need some pieces
- of X11 and the X11 SDK, which are optional installs of OS X.
-
- Under Leopard, the window that is displayed during the conversion stays
- blank. I have no idea why.
-
- Resources for troubleshooting
-
- Logfile. Epspdf and epspdftk maintain a log file. For Unix and Mac OS X it
- is epspdf.log in your home directory. For Windows, it is epspdf.log or
- epspdftl.log in your profile directory. The latter filename is used if
- epspdf is embedded in TeX Live. This profile directory may be c:\Documents
- and Settings\<your user name>. Otherwise, open a DOS box and type 'echo
- %USERPROFILE%', which will produce this information.
-
- This logfile lists all Ghostscript- and pdftops program calls plus error
- information. 'EPCallError' is probably a program error. 'EPSystemError' is
- more likely caused by a faulty file, but may be a program error as well.
-
- Temporary files. The temporary files may give clues as well. They will be
- deleted at the end of the session (for the command-line version, give a -d
- parameter to keep the temporary files). The logfile can tell you which
- temporary files have been created.
-
- [6]Main page...
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Last revised: July 27, 2008
-
-References
-
- Visible links
- 1. http://tex.aanhet.net/epspdf/epspdf_UG.html#configure
- 2. http://tex.aanhet.net/epspdf/index.html#preview
- 3. http://www.tug.org/ctan.html
- 4. http://www.tug.org/ctan.html
- 5. http://tex.aanhet.net/epspdf/epspdf_UG.html#gray
- 6. http://tex.aanhet.net/epspdf/index.html