FIG2DEV(1) General Commands Manual FIG2DEV(1)
NAME
fig2dev - translates Fig code to various graphics languages
SYNOPSIS
fig2dev -L language [ -m mag ] [ -f font ] [ -s fsize ] [ other options ] [ fig-file [ out-file ] ]
DESCRIPTION
Fig2dev translates fig code in the named fig-file into the specified graphics language and puts them in out-file. The default fig-file and
out-file are standard input and standard output, respectively
Xfig (Facility for Interactive Generation of figures) is a screen-oriented tool which runs under the X Window System, and allows the user
to draw and manipulate objects interactively. This version of fig2dev is compatible with xfig versions 1.3, 1.4, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1 and
3.2.
Xfig version 3.2.3 and later saves and allows the user to edit comments for each Fig object. These comments are output with several of the
output languages, such as PostScript, CGM, LaTeX, MetaFont, PicTeX, (as % comments), tk (as # comments), and pic (as ." comments).
GENERAL OPTIONS
-L Set the output graphics language. Valid languages are box, cgm, epic, eepic, eepicemu, eps, gif, ibmgl, jpeg, latex, map (HTML
image map), mf (MetaFont), mp (MetaPost), mmp (MultiMetaPost), pcx, pdf, pic, pictex, png, ppm, ps, pstex, pstex_t, sld (AutoCad
slide format), textyl, tiff, tk (tcl/tk), tpic, xbm and xpm.
Notes:
dvips and xdvi must be compiled with the tpic support (-DTPIC) for epic, eepic and tpic to work.
You must have ghostscript to get the pdf output and the bitmap formats (png, jpeg, etc.), and the netpbm (pbmplus) package to get
gif, xbm, xpm, and sld output.
-h Print help message with all options for all output languages.
-m mag Set the magnification at which the figure is rendered to mag. The default is 1.0.
-f font
Set the default font used for text objects to font. The default is Roman; the format of this option depends on the graphics lan-
guage in use. In TeX-based languages, the font is the base of the name given in lfonts.tex, for instance "cmr" for Roman, or "tt"
for teletype. In PostScript, it is any font name known to the printer or interpreter.
-s size
Set the default font size (in points) for text objects to fsize. The default is 11*mag, and thus is scaled by the -m option. If
there is no scaling, the default font is eleven point Roman."
-V Print the program version number only.
other options
The other options are specific to the choice of graphics language, as described below.
CGM OPTIONS
CGM is Computer Graphics Metafile, developed by ISO and ANSI and is a vector-based plus bitmap language. Microsoft WORD, PowerPoint and
probably other products can import this format and display it on the screen, something that they won't do with EPS files that have an ASCII
preview.
-r Position arrowheads for CGM viewers that display rounded arrowheads. Normally, arrowheads are pointed, so fig2dev compensates for
this by moving the endpoint of the line back so the tip of the arrowhead ends where the original endpoint of the line was. If the
-r option is used, the position of arrows will NOT be corrected for compensating line width effects, because the rounded arrowhead
doesn't extend beyond the endpoint of the line.
EPIC OPTIONS
EPIC is an enhancement to LaTeX picture drawing environment. It was developed by Sunil Podar of Department of Computer Science in S.U.N.Y
at Stony Brook.
EEPIC is an extension to EPIC and LaTeX picture drawing environment which uses tpic specials as a graphics mechanism. It was written by
Conrad Kwok of Division of Computer Science at University of California, Davis.
EEPIC-EMU is an EEPIC emulation package which does not use tpic specials.
-A Scale arrowheads by factor. The width and height of arrowheads is divided by this factor. This is because EPIC arrowheads are nor-
mally about double the size of TeX arrowheads.
-l Use " hicklines" when width of the line is wider than lwidth. The default is 2.
-v Include comments in the output file.
-P Generate a complete LaTeX file. In other words, the output file can be formatted without requiring any changes. The additional text
inserted in the beginning and at the end of the file is controlled by the configuration parameter "Preamble" and "Postamble".
-S Set the scale to which the figure is rendered. This option automatically sets the magnification and size to scale / 12 and scale
respectively.
-W Enable variable line width. By default, only two line widths are available: The normal line width (hinlines), and thick lines
(hicklines), if a line width of more than one is selected in xfig.
-w Disable variable line width. Only " hicklines" and/or " hinlines" commands will be generated in the output file.
When variable line width option is enabled, " hinlines" command is still used when line width is less than LineThick. One potential prob-
lem is that the width of " hinlines" is 0.4pt but the resolution of Fig is 1/80 inch (approx. 1pt). If LineThick is set to 2, normal lines
will be drawn in 0.4pt wide lines but the next line width is already 2pt. One possible solution is to set LineThick to 1 and set the width
of the those lines you want to be drawn in " hinlines" to 0.
Due to this problem, Variable line width VarWidth is defaulted to be false.
IBM-GL OPTIONS
IBM-GL (International Business Machines Graphics Language) is compatible with HP-GL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language).
-a Select ISO A4 (ANSI A) paper size if the default is ANSI A (ISO A4) paper size.
-c Generate instructions for an IBM 6180 Color Plotter with (without) an IBM Graphics Enhancement Cartridge (IBM-GEC).
-d Restrict plotting to a rectangular area of the plotter paper which has a lower left hand corner at (xll,yll) and a upper right hand
corner at (xur,yur). All four numbers are in inches and follow -d in a comma-sparated list - xll,yll,xur,yur - with no spaces
between them.
-f Load text character specifications from the table in the fonts file. The table must have 36 entries - one for each font plus a
default. Each entry consists of 5 numbers which specify the 1.) standard character set (0 - 4, 6 - 9, 30 - 39), 2.) alternate char-
acter set (0 - 4, 6 - 9, 30 - 39), 3.) character slant angle (degrees), 4.) character width scale factor and 5.) character height
scale factor.
-l Load area fill line patterns from the table in the patterns file. The table must have 21 entries - one for each of the area fill
patterns. Each entry consists of 5 numbers which specify the 1.) pattern number (-1 - 6), 2.) pattern length (inches), 3.) fill
type (1 - 5), 4.) fill spacing (inches) and 5.) fill angle (degrees).
-m The magnification may appear as the first element in a comma separated list - mag,x0,y0 - where the second and third parameters
specify an offset in inches.
-p Load plotter pen specifications from the table in the pens file. The table must have 9 entries - one for each color plus a default.
Each entry consists of 2 numbers which specify the 1.) pen number (1 - 8) and 2.) pen thickness (millimeters).
-P Rotate the figure to portrait mode. The default is landscape mode.
-S Set the pen speed to speed (centimeters/second).
-v Plot the figure upside-down in portrait mode or backwards in landscape mode. This allows you to write on the top surface of over-
head transparencies without disturbing the plotter ink on the bottom surface.
Fig2dev may be installed with either ANSI A or ISO A4 default paper size. The -a option selects the alternate paper size. Fig2dev does
not fill closed splines. The IBM-GEC is required to fill other polygons. Fig2dev may be installed for plotters with or without the IBM-
GEC. The -c option selects the alternate instruction set.
OPTIONS COMMON TO ALL BITMAP FORMATS
-b borderwidth
Make blank border around figure of width borderwidth.
-g color
Use color for the background.
-S smoothfactor
This will smooth the output by scaling the figure by the smoothfactor factor, which uses the TextAlphaBits and GraphicsAlphaBits
option in ghostscript to smooth text and graphics Values of 0, 2 or 4 for smoothfactor are allowed. xfig uses 2 when the "smooth"
option is used in the export panel.
GIF OPTIONS
-t color
Use color for the transparent color in the GIF file. This must be specified in the same format that ppmmake(1) allows. It may
allow an X11 color name, but at least you may use a six-digit hexadecimal RGBvalue using the # sign, e.g. #ff0000 (Red).
JPEG OPTIONS
-q image_quality
use the integer value image_quality for the JPEG "Quality" factor. Valid values are 0-100.
LATEX OPTIONS
-l Sets the threshold between LaTeX thin and thick lines to lwidth pixels. LaTeX supports only two different line width: hinlines
and hicklines. Lines of width greater than lwidth pixels are drawn as hicklines. Also affects the size of dots in dotted line
style. The default is 1.
-d Set a separate magnification for the length of line dashes to dmag.
-v Verbose mode.
LaTeX cannot accurately represent all the graphics objects which can be described by Fig. For example, the possible slopes which lines may
have are limited. Some objects, such as spline curves, cannot be drawn at all. Fig2latex chooses the closest possible line slope, and
prints error messages when objects cannot be drawn accurately
MAP (HTML image map) OPTIONS
Xfig version 3.2.3 and later saves and allows the user to edit comments for each Fig object. The fig2dev map output language will produce
an HTML image map using Fig objects that have href="some_html_reference" in their comments. Any Fig object except compound objects may
used for this. Usually, besides generating the map file, you would also generate a GIF file, which is the image to which the map refers.
For example, you may have an xfig drawing with an imported image that has the comment href="go_here.html" and a box object with a comment
href="go_away.html". This will produce an image map file such the user may click on the image and the browser will load the "go_here.html"
page, or click on the box and the browser will load the "go_away.html" page.
After the map file is generated by fig2dev you will need to edit it to fill out any additional information it may need.
-b borderwidth
Make blank border around figure of width borderwidth.
METAFONT OPTIONS
fig2dev scales the figure by 1/8 before generating METAFONT code. The magnification can be further changed with the -m option or by giving
magnification options to mf.
In order to process the generated METAFONT code, the mfpic macros must be installed where mf can find them. The mfpic macro package is
available at any CTAN cite under the subdirectory: graphics/mfpic
-C code
specifies the starting METAFONT font code. The default is 32.
-n name
specifies the name to use in the output file.
-p pen_magnification
specifies how much the line width should be magnified compared to the original figure. The default is 1.
-t top specifies the top of the whole coordinate system. The default is ypos.
-x xneg
specifies the minimum x coordinate value of the figure (inches). The default is 0.
-y yneg
specifies the minumum y coordinate value of the figure (inches). The default is 0.
-X xpos
specifies the maximum x coordinate value of the figure (inches). The default is 8.
-Y ypos
specifies the maximum y coordinate value of the figure (inches). The default is 8.
PIC OPTIONS
-p Enables the use of certain PIC extensions which are known to work with the groff package; compatibility with DWB PIC is unknown.
The extensions enabled by each option are:
arc Allow ARC_BOX i.e. use rounded corners
line Use the 'line_thickness' value
fill Allow ellipses to be filled
all Use all of the above
psfont Don't convert Postscript fonts generic type
(useful for files going to be Ditroff'ed for
and printed on PS printer). DWB-compatible.
allps Use all of the above (i.e. "all" + "psfont")
PICTEX OUTPUT
In order to include PiCTeX pictures into a document, it is necessary to load the PiCTeX macros.
PiCTeX uses TeX integer register arithmetic to generate curves, and so it is very slow. PiCTeX draws curves by put-ing the psymbol
repeatedly, and so requires a large amount of TeX's internal memory, and generates large DVI files. The size of TeX's memory limits the
number of plot symbols in a picture. As a result, it is best to use PiCTeX to generate small pictures.
POSTSCRIPT, ENCAPSULATED POSTSCRIPT (EPS), and PDF OPTIONS
With PostScript, Fig can be used to create large posters. The figure will be created by printing multiple pages which can be glued
together. Simply specify the -M option to produce a multi-page output. Due to memory limitations of most laser printers, the figure
should not be too complicated. Great for text with very big letters.
The EPS driver has the following differences from PostScript:
o No showpage is generated because the output is meant to be imported into another program or document and not printed
o The landscape/portrait options are ignored
o The centering option is ignored
o The multiple-page option is ignored
o The paper size option is ignored
o The x/y offset options are ignored
The PDF driver uses all the PostScript options.
Text can now include various ISO-character codes above 0x7f, which is useful for language specific characters to be printed directly. Not
all ISO-characters are implemented.
Color support: Colored objects created by Fig can be printed on a color postscript printer. There are 32 standard colors: black, yellow,
white, gold, five shades of blue, four shades of green, four shades of cyan, four shades of red, five shades of magenta, four shades of
brown, and four shades of pink. In addition there may be user-defined colors in the file. See the xfig FORMAT3.2 file for the definition
of these colors. On a monochrome printer, colored objects will be mapped into different grayscales by the printer. Filled objects are
printed using the given area fill and color. There are 21 "shades" going from black to full saturation of the fill color, and 21 more
"tints" from full saturation + 1 to white. In addition, there are 16 patterns such as bricks, diagonal lines, crosshatch, etc.
-b borderwidth
Make blank border around figure of width borderwidth.
-c option centers the figure on the page. The centering may not be accurate if there are texts in the fig_file that extends too far to
the right of other objects.
-e option puts the figure against the edge (not centered) of the page.
-g color
Use color for the background.
-l dummy_arg
Generate figure in landscape mode. The dummy argument is ignored, but must appear on the command line for reasons of compatibility.
This option will override the orientation specification in the file (for file versions 3.0 and higher).
This and the -p (portrait) option are only honored only for PostScript output, not Encapsulated PostScript (EPS). This is because
the figure doesn't need to be rotated when generating (EPS); it may be rotated by the program importing the EPS.
-M Generate multiple pages if figure exceeds paper size.
-p dummy_arg
Generate figure in portrait mode. The dummy argument is ignored, but must appear on the command line for reasons of compatibility.
This option will override the orientation specification in the file (for file versions 3.0 and higher). This is the default for Fig
files of version 2.1 or lower.
-n name
Set the Title part of the PostScript output to name. This is useful when the input to fig2dev comes from standard input.
-x offset
shift the figure in the X direction by offset units (1/72 inch). A negative value shifts the figure to the left and a positive
value to the right.
-y offset
shift the figure in the Y direction by offset units (1/72 inch). A negative value shifts the figure up and a positive value down.
-z papersize
Sets the papersize. Available paper sizes are:
"Letter" (8.5" x 11" also "A"),
"Legal" (11" x 14")
"Ledger" (11" x 17"),
"Tabloid" (17" x 11", really Ledger in Landscape mode),
"A" (8.5" x 11" also "Letter"),
"B" (11" x 17" also "Ledger"),
"C" (17" x 22"),
"D" (22" x 34"),
"E" (34" x 44"),
"A4" (21 cm x 29.7cm),
"A3" (29.7cm x 42 cm),
"A2" (42 cm x 59.4cm),
"A1" (59.4cm x 84.1cm),
"A0" (84.1cm x 118.9cm),
and "B5" (18.2cm x 25.7cm).
PSTEX OPTIONS
The pstex language is a variant of ps which suppresses formatted (special) text. The pstex_t language has the complementary behavior: it
generates only LaTeX commands necessary to position special text, and to overlay the PostScript file generated using pstex. These two
drivers can be used to generate a figure which combines the flexibility of PostScript graphics with LaTeX text formatting of special text.
-g color
Use color for the background.
-n name
sets the Title part of the PostScript output to name. This is useful when the input to fig2dev comes from standard input.
-p file
specifies the name of the PostScript file to be overlaid. If not set or its value is null then no PS file will be inserted.
TK OPTIONS
-l dummy_arg
Generate figure in landscape mode. The dummy argument is ignored, but must appear on the command line for reasons of compatibility.
This option will override the orientation specification in the file (for file versions 3.0 and higher).
-p dummy_arg
Generate figure in portrait mode. The dummy argument is ignored, but must appear on the command line for reasons of compatibility.
This option will override the orientation specification in the file (for file versions 3.0 and higher). This is the default for Fig
files of version 2.1 or lower.
-P Generate canvas of full page size instead of using the bounding box of the figure's objects. The default is to use only the bounding
box.
-z papersize
Sets the papersize. See the POSTSCRIPT OPTIONS for available paper sizes. This is only used when the -P option (use full page) is
used.
SEE ALSO
[x]fig(1), pic(1) pic2fig(1), transfig(1)
BUGS and RESTRICTIONS
Please send bug reports, fixes, new features etc. to:
xfig-bugs@epb1.lbl.gov (Brian V. Smith)
Arc-boxes are not supported for the tk output language, and only X bitmap pictures are supported because of the canvas limitation in tk.
Picture objects are not scaled with the magnification factor for tk output.
Because tk scales canvas items according to the X display resolution, polygons, lines, etc. may be scaled differently than imported pic-
tures (bitmaps) which aren't scaled at all.
Rotated text is only supported in the IBM-GL (HP/GL) and PostScript (including eps) languages.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1991 Micah Beck
Parts Copyright (c) 1985 Supoj Sutantavibul
Parts Copyright (c) 1989-1999 Brian V. Smith
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in sup-
porting documentation. The authors make no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is"
without express or implied warranty.
THE AUTHORS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO
EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE,
DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
AUTHORS
Micah Beck
Cornell University
Sept 28 1990
and Frank Schmuck (then of Cornell University)
and Conrad Kwok (then of U.C. Davis).
drivers contributed by
Jose Alberto Fernandez R. (U. of Maryland)
and Gary Beihl (MCC)
Color support, ISO-character encoding and poster support by
Herbert Bauer (heb@regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de)
Modified from f2p (fig to PIC), by the author of Fig
Supoj Sutanthavibul (supoj@sally.utexas.edu)
University of Texas at Austin.
MetaFont driver by
Anthony Starks (ajs@merck.com)
X-splines code by
Carole Blanc (blanc@labri.u-bordeaux.fr)
Christophe Schlick (schlick@labri.u-bordeaux.fr)
The initial implementation was done by C. Feuille, S. Grobois, L. Maziere and L. Minihot as a student practice (Universite Bordeaux,
France).
Japanese text support for LaTeX output written by T. Sato (VEF00200@niftyserve.or.jp)
The tk driver was written by
Mike Markowski (mm@udel.edu) with a little touch-up by Brian Smith
The CGM driver (Computer Graphics Metafile) was written by
Philippe Bekaert (Philippe.Bekaert@cs.kuleuven.ac.be)
Version 3.2.3d May 29, 2001 FIG2DEV(1)