fig2vect(1) - Linux man page

Name

fig2vect - Yet another Fig to vector converter

Synopsis

fig2vect options inputfile outputfile

fig2vect options directory

Description

The fig2vect program converts Fig images (created by i.e. XFig, jFig or WinFig) to other vector formats (*.mp, *.eps, *.pdf, *.tex, *.svg). Most output formats are intended for use with LaTeX.

Options

-v

shows version information.

-h

shows a help text.

-c options

configures the options as permanent options.

-u

removes the permanent options (unconfigure).

-r options

skips all permanent options (resets configuration to build-in defaults) before processing the command line options.

-C

shows the permanent options.

-l language

chooses a language configuration from the configuration file.

-o key=value

overrides a configuration setting.

-m

activates ''make'' behaviour when the program is run on a directory.

-m-

deactivates ''make'' behaviour when the program is run on a directory.

Return Value

The program returns exit code 0 on success or a positive exit code on errors.

Errors And Diagnostics

Error messages an diagnostics are written to log file, standard output and standard error output depending on the preferences configured for the fig2vect application. The command line option

--/log/stderr/level=debug

Examples

fig2vect -lmp input.fig output.mp

fig2vect -lsvg input.fig.bz2 output.svg.gz

fig2vect -lmp -m- .

fig2vect -lmp -m .

Files

fig2vect.cfg

File structure

The configuration file fig2vect.cfg is used from either $HOME/.defaults or from ${prefix}/fig2vect.

The file consists of several configuration entries, each one consisting of the name in square brackets and a list of lines consisting of key/value pairs, i.e.

[mp]
normal text = handling:tex,font:similar,size:fig,mbox
use metapost arrowheads = yes

[mp.pdf]
latex font setup = ams12

A three-level inheritance mechanism is used:

[*]

This section is processed first.

[driver-name]

This section is processed after the [*] section, settings here override previous settings.

[driver-name.identifier]

This section is processed after [driver-name]. Settings here override previous sections.

If the program is run with ''-l mp.pdf'' the configuration sections [*], [mp] and [mp.pdf] are processed.

List of keys

Keys for all drivers

lighten look = boolean

chooses, whether or not to use only 0.5 times the line width specified in the Fig file as the Fig file format specification suggests. This option is turned off by default.

web palette = boolean

chooses, whether or not to use a Web-optimized color palette. By default the colors are used as specified in the Fig file.

use cs settings = boolean

chooses, whether to use or ignore the coordinates setting from the Fig file. The default is to ignore this information, so the origin is always the upper left corner.

verbose output = boolean

configures the program to write additional comments to output.

accept unknown paper size = boolean

configures the program to accept any name for paper formats.

remove background rectangle = boolean

specifies that a background rectangle (polygon ''2'', subtype box ''2'' in layer 999, default stroke color ''-1'' or white ''7'', line width 0) is used for image size calculation only; this rectangle is not printed to output.

background rectangle color = string

chooses, whether background rectangles must be drawn in ''white'' or in the ''default'' color. When drawing in XFig, use ''default'', when drawing in jFig use ''white''.

color digits = integer

specifies the number of digits for colors (default: 3).

position digits = integer

specifies the number of digits for coordinates (default: 2).

additional trigonometric digits = integer

specifies the number of additional digits to print coordinates which were calculated using trigonometric operation (default: 3).

spline segments = integer

specifies how many Bezier spline segments to use for each X-spline segment (default: 8).

arrowhead linejoin = string

chooses the linejoin style for arrowheads, may be ''mitered'' (default), ''rounded'' or ''beveled''.

min iteration steps = integer

chooses the minimum number of iteration steps when calculating a spline cut for arrowheads.

max iteration steps = integer

chooses the maximum number of iteration steps when calculating a spline cut for arrowheads.

remove zero border = boolean

chooses whether to remove or to draw the borders of filled or pattern filled objects if the linewidth is 0. A line width of zero means either not to draw the border (common sense) or to draw the thinnest line a device provides (PostScript interpretation of line width 0).

fill patterns = boolean|''contiguous''

Fill patterns can be either ignored (''no''), drawn (''yes'') or drawn contiguously (''contiguous'').

pattern repeat = integer

The distance between pattern lines in 1/80 inch (the same unit the Fig file format uses for line widths). The default is 4.

dashpattern dot length = string

Dots in dash patterns can be either drawn in length 0 (''0'') or as long as the line is wide (''linewidth''). The default is ''linewidth''.

The fig2vect program can handle embedded PNG and JPEG images. The EPS driver can also use EPS images.

keep bitmap aspect ration = boolean

decides whether the width/height relation of the image must be kept (default) leaving some free space in the box rectangle or whether the rectangle is fully used scaling the image at different factors for width and height.

remove bitmap border = boolean

chooses whether or not to remove the border stroke for bitmap boxes (default: remove).

fill bitmap background = boolean

chooses whether or not to fill the image box in the specified color before applying the image.

font scale factor = numeric

specifies a factor to scale all texts. The default is 0.92.

normal text = string

specifies how to handle normal (non-special) text. The string consists of key/value pairs, separated by comma. Key and value in each pair are separated by a colon.

The following keys can be used:

handling:string

specifies whether to leave text handling up to TeX/LaTex (''tex'') or to do text handling in the driver (''none'').

font:string

specifies how to find a font:

fig

uses exactly the fonts specified in the Fig file

similar

uses a font matching the characteristics (serif/sansserif, upright/italic, normal/bold) of the font specified in the Fig file.

tex

leaves font handling up to TeX/LaTeX.

size:string

chooses the font size,

fig

uses the same font size as specified in the Fig file

tex

leaves font size setting up to TeX/LaTeX.

mbox

does not have a value. If this key occurs, the text is placed into an \\mbox structure for TeX/LaTeX.

special text = string

specifies, how to handle special text. The string can contain the same key/value pairs as ''normal text'' except ''handling'' (because special text is always handled by TeX/LaTeX).

tex command = string

chooses whether to use TeX (''tex'') or LaTeX (''latex'').

latex font setup = string

selects one predefined LaTeX preamble, may be ''pdf'', ''ams'', ''newcent'', ''pdf12'', ''ams12'' or ''newcent12''.

In most cases it is besser to use your own preamble, see ''preamble file''.

preamble file = file_name

specifies the file name of a preamble file to use for text handling. This file must not contain \\begin{document}.

repeat error messages = boolean

If a driver detects special text but can not handle it we can write the error message once for each text or only once per input file.

skip all texts = boolean

allows the program to silently ignore all text it can not handle.

Keys for the MetaPost driver

use metapost arrowheads = boolean

allows or denies the use of MetaPost arrowheads. MetaPost uses curved arrowheads for arcs and splines but does not support all arrowhead types defined by the Fig file format.

embed fonts = boolean

decides whether or not MetaPost embeds fonts into PostScript output. The MetaPost driver writes either ''prologues:=1'' or ''prologues:=0'' to control this.

Keys for the EPS driver

ps level = integer

chooses PS level 1, 2 or 3.

dsc comments = integer|boolean

chooses the PS level for DSC comments or enables/disables DSC comments.

ps showpage = boolean

decides whether or not a showpage operator is used at the end of the output file.

ps setpagedevice = boolean

decides whether or not the setpagedevice operator is used to restrict output media size to image size. This is usefull if you want to use GhostScript to convert the EPS image into a bitmap.

bitmap image dictionary = boolean

decides whether or not to embed the drawing operations into a

... dict begin
% drawing operations
end

structure. This structure allows a better use of the virtual memory in the PostScript interpreter, but it cannot be used if the Fig file contains embedded EPS images.

force garbage collection = boolean

enables/disables the use of

1 vmreclaim

at the end of EPS output.

ps run-length encoding = boolean

allows/denies the use of run-length encoding.

separated rgb channels = boolean

specifies data order for run-length encoding. For separated RGB channels the data stream first contains all pixel's red values, followed by all pixel's green values and all pixel's blue values.

If separation is deactivated the stream contains the RGB triples pixel by pixel.

Separated RGB channels allow run-length compression of colored runs and colored areas. If separation is deactivated run-length compression only compresses gray areas.

Keys for the PDF driver

plain text streams = boolean

decides whether to write graphics data streams as plain text or compressed.

full screen = boolean

forces switching to full-screen mode when opening the PDF file.

arc bezier steps = integer

specifies the number of Bezier spline segments used to approximate a quarter of a circle.

tiled patterns = boolean

chooses whether a fill pattern is made of small tiled pattern cells (yes) or one large pattern cell (no). One large pattern cell will result in better rendering quality on screen but also in a larger file.

interpolate images = boolean

enables/disables the image interpolation flag. Interpolation improves rendering quality if images are scaled upward.

flip direction = string

sets the flip direction, either "horizontal" or "diagonal".

Keys for the TeX driver

full tex file = boolean

decides whether to write a complete LaTeX source document for standalone processing (yes) or only a fragment which can be included into a LaTeX source using \input{} (no).

Keys for the SVG driver

svg version = string

specifies the SVG version to use, either "1.0", "1.1" or "1.2". I recommend to use "1.0".

embedded svg = boolean

decides whether to produce a piece of SVG code which is embedded into other XML documents (yes) or a complete SVG file (no). The default is to produce a complete SVG file.

wh specification = string

chooses how to set width and height of the SVG file, either using inches (inches), PostScript points (points) or pixels (pixels).

prepare for modifications = boolean

forces fig2vect to write all style attributes as single attributes. Turned off by default, automatically turned on if fig2vect finds ECMA-script usage.

use css = boolean

switches between complex style attribute and use of CSS classes if there is no need to prepare for modifications.

js library = string

specifies a file name for a *.js file to include into SVG output. This entry can appear multiple times.

When using ECMA script some objects need an id. Use special comments (control comments) in the Fig file to assign id's to objects, i.e.

## svg: id = obj0001

and to assign event handlers to objects, i.e.

## svg: onmouseover = changebgcolor(evt)

The control comment(s) must be placed in the line(s) immediately before the Fig object is started. Control comments for the entire drawing (i.e. for the onload event handler) must be placed in the global document commennt set between line 8 (transparent color) and 9 (resolution and coordinates system).

gs svg-font directory = string

The path of a directory containing SVG ports of the GhostScript fonts. See fig2vect.pdf/f2vde.pdf how to produce these ports.

Restrictions

Text must not be on the outermost left, right, top or bottom position.

When calculating the image size all texts are ignored. So if there is text in an outermost left, right, top or bottom position you should add a background rectangle to allow fig2vect to calculate the image size correctly. A background rectangle is a rectangle (type 2: polygon, subtype 2: box) in layer 999. The linewidth is 0, fill style -1 (no filling), fill color does not care. The line color must be either default (-1) or white. In XFig one can set line color default using the edit function. In jFig it is not possible to choose line color default, use white instead and use the configuration entry

background rectangle color = white

No filenames containing white spaces supported by Windows version.

The Windows version distributed in the dklibs-win32 package can not handle file names containing white spaces if the program is run from the default command interpreters. Use a real shell (i.e. bash or tcsh) if you need white spaces in file names.

See Also

http://dktools.sourceforge.net/fig2vect.html

Author

Dirk Krause.

Copyright And License

Copyright © 2001-2008, Dirk Krause All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above
  copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
  following disclaimer.

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
  copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
  disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials
  provided with the distribution.

* Neither the name of the Dirk Krause nor the names of
  contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
  derived from this software without specific prior written
  permission.

History

Initially I added enhancements to the genmp.c module (MetaPost) output driver in fig2dev. But I had some ideas which required multi-pass processing (traversing the list of graphics elements multiple times) which would be difficult to realize in fig2dev. So I decided to write a new program from scratch.

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