path: root/Master/texmf-dist/doc/support/epspdf/epspdf.texi

\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo -*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename epspdf.info
@settitle Epspdf and epspdftk User Guide 0.6

@dircategory TeX
@direntry
* EpsPDF: (epspdf). Portable GUI- and command-line EPS/PS/PDF conversion
@end direntry

@afourpaper
@c %**end of header

@ifhtml
@alias chapter = unnumbered
@alias section = unnumberedsec
@alias subsection = unnumberedsubsec
@end ifhtml

@tex
\input pstexi
@end tex

@iftex
@textfonts
@rm
@raggedbottom
@hyphenation{epspdf-tk epspdf}
@end iftex

@set version 0.6.0
@set homepage http://tex.aanhet.net/epspdf/

@setchapternewpage off
@paragraphindent none

@copying
This manual is for epspdf, version @value{version}.

Copyright @copyright{} 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 Siep Kroonenberg.

@quotation
Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
notice and this notice are preserved.  This file is offered as-is,
without any warranty.
@end quotation
@end copying

@titlepage
@sp 1
@center @image{images/logo,,.4in}
@sp 2
@center @titlefont {Epspdf and epspdftk User Manual}
@sp 1
@center A cross-platform GUI- and command-line converter for [e]ps and pdf
@sp 2
@center Siep Kroonenberg (@email{n dot s dot kroonenberg at rug dot nl})
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@insertcopying
@end titlepage

@contents

@ifnottex
@node Top, What has changed?, (dir), (dir)
@top Epspdf and epsdftk

@insertcopying
@end ifnottex

@menu
* What has changed?::           
* Usage::                       
* Command-line usage::          
* Notes on PostScript and pdf::  
* Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex::  
* Troubleshooting::             
* Change history::              

@detailmenu
 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---

Usage

* Overview::                    
* Viewing::                     
* Conversion options::          
* Converting::                  
* The configuration screen::    

Command-line usage

* Option summary::              

Notes on PostScript and pdf

* Bitmapped and vector::        
* Font embedding::              
* Eps preview headers::         
* Bounding- and other boxes::   
* Orientation::                 
* Exporting PostScript or pdf from Windows programs::  

Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex

* Linux::                       
* Mac OS X::                    
* Windows::                     

Troubleshooting

* Part of the graphic gets cut off::  
* Fonts look ugly::             
* The page has been converted to a bitmap::  
* Resources for troubleshooting::  

Change history

* Version 0.6::                 
* Version 0.5::                 
* Version 0.4::                 

@end detailmenu
@end menu

@node What has changed?, Usage, Top, Top
@unnumbered What has changed?

Improvements:
@itemize @bullet
@item
Grayscaling should now also work on bitmapped images.
@item
Revised multistep conversions, with less risk of losing high-level
structure
@item
Rewritten in TeXLua, which is a component of both TeX Live and of
MikTeX. Command-line use no longer requires an external scripting
language.
@end itemize

I have been testing with Ghostscript version 9.05 and 9.06.

For more details, see @ref{Version 0.6}.

@node Usage, Command-line usage, What has changed?, Top
@chapter Usage

@menu
* Overview::                    
* Viewing::                     
* Conversion options::          
* Converting::                  
* The configuration screen::    
@end menu

@node Overview, Viewing, Usage, Usage
@section Overview

Epspdftk converts files between eps, pdf and general
PostScript. The main screen lets you open a file, select some options
and convert the file.

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.

@noindent @image{images/main_w8,,3in}
@iftex
@hfill
@end iftex
@image{images/cnv_linux,,3in}

@node Viewing, Conversion options, Overview, Usage
@section Viewing

The View button at the bottom of the screen calls an
external viewer.

@i{Windows and OS X:} Epspdftk simply tries to use the default Open
command.

Under Linux the PostScript- and pdf viewers are
configurable; see @ref{The configuration screen}.

The View button is grayed if epspdf thinks that there is no
previewer for the current file.

@node Conversion options, Converting, Viewing, Usage
@section Conversion options

@anchor{gray}@i{Grayscaling:} Grayscaling is now done by Ghostscript
itself and should ``just work''.

@i{Compute tight boundingbox:} This option is only available
if a single page is converted.

@i{Page selection:} The only possibilities are selecting a single page
or selecting all pages. Converting to eps implies selecting a single
page.

For general PostScript files, there is no quick way to determine the
number of pages, so the program may not check beforehand whether you
picked an existing page. If you don't like that, convert the entire
document to pdf first -- which will be done behind the scenes anyhow.

Specifying options such as grayscaling or page selection may require
a multistep conversion.

@node Converting, The configuration screen, Conversion options, Usage
@section Converting

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.

@node The configuration screen,  , Converting, Usage
@section The configuration screen

@image{images/config_lnx,3in}

Epspdftk also has a configuration screen. The settings here are
preserved between sessions.

@subsection Configuring viewers

Under Unix, 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.

@subsection Options for converting to pdf
Double-check the setting ``Target use'' under ``Conversion to
pdf''. ``prepress'' is for pdfs which are going to be printed
commercially. The options prepress, printer and default will try to
embed all fonts. 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.

Specifying anything other than ``default'' may cause an additional
conversion step and possibly also loss of high-level structure.

As to pdf versions: this is a trade-off between more features for higher
versions and better compatibility for lower versions -- although even
version 1.4 is far from bleeding-edge. Converting to a
lower version may lead to rasterization of vector data and (much) larger
file sizes. For prepress use, the printshop or publisher may require a
low version number but otherwise leave this at ``default''.

@subsection Options for converting to PostScript
For conversion the other way you may opt @i{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 if the file uses fonts.

Under Windows and MikTeX, this is also the place to point the program to
the location of pdftops.exe.

@node Command-line usage, Notes on PostScript and pdf, Usage, Top
@chapter Command-line usage

epspdf.tlu is the backend of epspdftk, but it can also be used
standalone. It shares configuration settings with epspdftk.tcl.

Below, we assume that there is a suitable wrapper or symlink for epspdf
on your searchpath. This is the case if you installed epspdf as a TeX
Live package.

The first parameter of epspdftk is interpreted as startup directory for
the file browser.

Basic usage:

@example
epspdf [@var{options}] @var{infile} @var{outfile}
@end example

@menu
* Option summary::              
@end menu

@node Option summary,  , Command-line usage, Command-line usage
@section Option summary

Typing  @kbd{epspdf --help} gives you the following summary:
@example
$ epspdf --help
Epspdf version 0.6.0
Copyright (c) 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 Siep Kroonenberg

Convert between [e]ps and pdf formats
Usage: epspdf[.tlu] [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

-p, --page, --pagenumber PNUM
            Page number; must be a positive integer
-g, --grey, --gray, -G, --GREY, --GRAY
            Convert to grayscale
-b, --bbox, --BoundingBox
            Compute tight boundingbox
-T, --target TARGET
            One of screen, ebook, printer, prepress or default
-N, --pdfversion VERSION
            One of 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 or default
-U          Use pdftops if available
-I          Reverses the above
-s, --save  Save some settings to configuration file
-d          Debug: do not remove temp files
-v, --version
            Display version info and exit
-h, --help  Display this help message and exit
@end example

@node Notes on PostScript and pdf, Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex, Command-line usage, Top
@chapter Notes on PostScript and pdf

@menu
* Bitmapped and vector::        
* Font embedding::              
* Eps preview headers::         
* Bounding- and other boxes::   
* Orientation::                 
* Exporting PostScript or pdf from Windows programs::  
@end menu

@node Bitmapped and vector, Font embedding, Notes on PostScript and pdf, Notes on PostScript and pdf
@section 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.

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.

@node Font embedding, Eps preview headers, Bitmapped and vector, Notes on PostScript and pdf
@section Font embedding

When converting to pdf, Ghostscript handles font embedding differently
depending on the ``Target use'' option. According to the Ghostscript
documentation, it embeds all fonts without exception for prepress- and
printer settings. Epspdf enforces this also for default settings. For
screen- and ebook settings, standard fonts such as Times may be omitted.

@node Eps preview headers, Bounding- and other boxes, Font embedding, Notes on PostScript and pdf
@section 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.

@node Bounding- and other boxes, Orientation, Eps preview headers, Notes on PostScript and pdf
@section 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.

Conversion from eps to pdf usually translates the bottom-left corner to
the (0,0) origin and sets the page to the size of the graphic. Anything
outside the boundingbox should be cut off.

I have seen Illustrator-generated pdf files with negative coordinates
for the lower-left corner. However, this does not seem to cause
problems.

@node Orientation, Exporting PostScript or pdf from Windows programs, Bounding- and other boxes, Notes on PostScript and pdf
@section 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.

@node Exporting PostScript or pdf from Windows programs,  , Orientation, Notes on PostScript and pdf
@section Exporting PostScript or pdf from Windows programs

Microsoft Office 2010 can now export to pdf, either the entire document
or a selection. This removes a major headache for Windows users.

As a last resort, you can ``print'' 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. In my
tests, ``Encapsulated PostScript'' did not look very promising
either. Try e.g. ``Archive'' instead. These options can be found under
the Advanced button.

@node Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex, Troubleshooting, Notes on PostScript and pdf, Top
@chapter Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex

pdflatex can use graphics in .png format (best for screenshots) and .jpg
format (best for photographs) directly. However, for @LaTeX{} you are
stuck with .eps format. Tips for converting to .eps:

@menu
* Linux::                       
* Mac OS X::                    
* Windows::                     
@end menu

@node Linux, Mac OS X, Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex, Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex
@section Linux

@table @emph
@item sam2p
This command-line bitmap-to-PostScript/pdf conversion utility is
available from @url{http://code.google.com/p/sam2p/} and may already be
packaged for your distribution. It produces very small files:
@samp{sam2p image.png image.eps}
@item ImageMagick/convert
@command{convert} from the ImageMagick package is a command-line
utility: @samp{convert image.png image.eps}
@item The GIMP
This is the premier open source image editing program. It is often
pre-installed on Linux, and is also available for other platforms. The
GIMP can save in eps- and pdf format.
@end table

@node Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex
@section Mac OS X

Mac OS X's built-in Preview application can read most bitmapped formats
and save them as pdf or PostScript. In fact, in many cases it is an
excellent alternative to epspdf.

@node Windows,  , Mac OS X, Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex
@section Windows

Windows is not a particularly friendly environment for PostScript and
pdf. A couple of command-line utilities try to fill the gap, @emph{e.g.}
@example
sam2p image.png image.eps
@end example
or
@example
bmeps -c image.png image.eps
@end example
sam2p is distributed with TeX Live (Windows only), bmeps both with TeX
Live and with MikTeX. Without the @code{-c} option, bmeps produces a
grayscale image. It produces larger files than sam2p.

With TeX Live, you can convert to eps by right-clicking an image in
Windows Explorer and ``open'' with @emph{bitmap2eps}, which uses sam2p
or bmeps in the background.

@node Troubleshooting, Change history, Bitmapped graphics for @LaTeX{} and pdflatex, Top
@chapter Troubleshooting

@menu
* Part of the graphic gets cut off::  
* Fonts look ugly::             
* The page has been converted to a bitmap::  
* Resources for troubleshooting::  
@end menu

@node Part of the graphic gets cut off, Fonts look ugly, Troubleshooting, Troubleshooting
@section Part of the graphic gets cut off

If the PostScript file was generated with the Windows PostScript driver,
experiment with the PostScript Output option. Don't choose Optimize for
Speed.

@node Fonts look ugly, The page has been converted to a bitmap, Part of the graphic gets cut off, Troubleshooting
@section Fonts look ugly

If Ghostscript has to do the conversion from pdf to ps then text may not
remain text, but may be replaced by bitmaps. Try to get hold of a more
recent Ghostscript and of either the xpdf suite or the Poppler
utilities, both of which include pdftops.

@node The page has been converted to a bitmap, Resources for troubleshooting, Fonts look ugly, Troubleshooting
@section The page has been converted to a bitmap

This may happen if the page contains features such as transparency which
are not supported by intermediate formats.

Set pdf target use and target version both to ``default'' to avoid
unnecessary conversions: @code{-T default -N default}

@node Resources for troubleshooting,  , The page has been converted to a bitmap, Troubleshooting
@section Resources for troubleshooting

@i{Logfile.} The GUI has a button for viewing log output. This same
output is also written to a file @file{epspdf.log}. For Linux/Unix/Mac
OS X this is in a subdirectory .epspdf of your home directory; for
Windows it is in a subdirectory epspdf of @file{%APPDATA%}. This APPDATA
directory may be @file{c:\Documents and Settings\@var{your user
name}\Application Data} or @file{c:\Users\@var{your user
name}\AppData\Roaming}. Otherwise, open a command prompt and type
@kbd{echo %APPDATA%}, which will produce this information.

The logfile lists all epspdf calls and all Ghostscript- and pdftops
calls plus error information.

@i{Temporary files.} The temporary files may give clues as
well. Uncheck the button ``Remove temp files'', or for the
command-line version, give a -d parameter to keep the temporary
files. Check the log(file) as to which temporary files have been
created.

@anchor{Documentation}@i{Ghostscript- and pdftops documentation.} For
Ghostscript, the most important files are Ps2pdf.htm and Use.htm. For
pdftops, type @kbd{pdftops -h}. For Unix, there is also a man page, and
for Windows there is a file pdftops.txt in the distribution zip.

@node Change history,  , Troubleshooting, Top
@chapter Change history

@menu
* Version 0.6::                 
* Version 0.5::                 
* Version 0.4::                 
@end menu

@node Version 0.6, Version 0.5, Change history, Change history
@section Version 0.6

The command-line backend component has been rewritten in texlua and
therefore no longer needs an external scripting language.

Grayscaling is now done by Ghostscript's color options for pdf
output. This also works for bitmaps.

Croppping of pdfs is now accomplished by running luatex on a suitable
wrapper file (same method as Heiko Oberdiek's pdfcrop). Such a
conversion preserves advanced features which might otherwise get lost
during a PostScript round-trip.

I no longer own a Mac, and therefore no longer try to provide an
AppleScript wrapper.

The current version has no provisions for custom Ghostscript- or pdftops
parameters. I may of may not re-add those in a future update. The
corresponding command-line options are accepted but have no effect.

@node Version 0.5, Version 0.4, Version 0.6, Change history
@section Version 0.5

The GUI has been rewritten in Tcl/Tk, removing the dependence on the
Ruby/Tk interface library.

The Windows installer now installs a small Ruby subset and the standard
epspdf distribution, but with epspdftk.tcl replaced with a starpack: a
single executable containing @file{epspdftk.tcl} and a Tcl/Tk
runtime. See @url{http://wiki.tcl.tk/52}.

Epspdf now uses its own subdirectory for both the logfile and the
configuration file. For Linux/Unix/Mac OS X this is
@file{$HOME/.epspdf}, for Windows it is @file{%APPDATA%\epspdf}.
On all supported platforms, settings are stored in the file
@file{config} in this directory. Under Windows, the registry is no
longer used for this.

A button has been added to view log output.

There is a second new button ``Remove temp files'', which is normally
checked, causing temporary files to be deleted after each
conversion. Unchecking this button may be useful for troubleshooting. In
previous versions, temporary files were deleted at the end of the entire
epspdftk session but that has become less practical now that the GUI and
epspdf itself have become two separate programs.

The ``Open with...'' option for Windows has been dropped for technical
reasons.

The ``--version'' option now prints the version string instead of
setting the desired pdf version.

The ``--info'' option now also prints the number of pages for pdf
files.

@node Version 0.4,  , Version 0.5, Change history
@section 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
dimensions 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 a 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.

@ifhtml
@section @url{index.html,Main page}
@end ifhtml

@bye