Image Conversion

The quick answer:

• For simple conversion between standard image types (gif, tiff, jpeg, ...) I use PhotoShop.
• Windows applications to pdf -- print to Distiller;
  ps to pdf -- Distiller;
  pdf to ps,eps -- Adobe Acrobat;
  eps from/to pdf -- Adobe Illustrator.
• For more demanding problems I use convert from my Unix tree: batch processing of images, creating moving gifs from images of arbitrary format, anything involving a combination of standard image types and Postscript or PDF.

Following is a list of programs/packages that perform conversions of some kind or another available on our PCs or Unix.

• Photoshop
  • standard image types
• Adobe
  • Reader
    • read/write and page manipulations on pdf
    • write ps and eps
  • Distiller
    • ps to pdf
  • Illustrator
    • pdf and eps
    • read-only standard image types
  • Convert 4.0 pdf to 3.0 (useful with NSF), write to ps using Reader and convert to 3.0 pdf using Distiller. Doubtless there is a better way.
• Unix converters
  • pdf2ps (1) - Aladdin Ghostscript PDF to PostScript translator
  • pdftops (1) - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (version 0.7)
  • pdftotext (1) - Portable Document Format (PDF) to text converter (version 0.7)
  • ps2ascii (1) - Aladdin Ghostscript PostScript or PDF to ASCII translator
  • ps2pdf (1) - Aladdin Ghostscript PostScript to PDF translator
  • ps2epsi (1) - generate conforming postscript, based on Ghostscript
    • I've had to touch its output up with Adobe Illustrator
  • dvips (1)  - convert a TeX DVI file to PostScript
• convert (my unix - part of the ImageMagick suite)
  • standard image types and ps, eps, epsf, epsi, ept, epdf, pdf
  • animated gifs - construction and deconstruction
• a2ps (my unix)
  • convert anything to ps (jpeg, TeX, text, ...)
• \\bagheera\bagheera\dws\tex and ps\...
  • latex2rtf\               - I or Scientif Word have a rtf2latex somewhere
  • postscript\             - eps and postscript explained
  • SW info\               - rtf, eps, pdf files and publishing on the web

Genplot To Office

• genplot - ps - png.
  Use convert from my unix Tree.
  flipxy off: convert -density 300x300 prettyplot.ps prettyplot.png
  flipxy on: convert -rotate -90 -density 300x300 pretty5.ps pretty5.png
  The density option is for use with ps and pdf files and allows you to control the pixel resolution. 450x450 usually worked well but caused convert to run out of memory (!!). 300x300 was a good substitute in this case.
• genplot - hpgl - word
  This is quick, has excellant resolution, but you can't have thick lines.
• genplot - ps - ept.
  ept = eps file with a low resolution TIFF preview. Word knows how to use these. Note: if you plot using Word to a PostScript printer, you get  the PS picture, but if you plot to a non-PS printer, you get the low-res preview.

Miscellaneous Image Manipulation

• epsutil (my unix - has manual)
  • adjusts eps files (bounding box, size, rotation)
• wrapeps (my unix - no manual, see source code)
  • wrap an eps file for printing directly
• import (my unix - part of the ImageMagick suite)
  • X window/screen grabber
• MS Office
  • write to pdf and html
• You can cut from a PDF file and paste into Office.
• fixps (my unix, has manual)
  • fix common problems with ps files
• fixnt (my unix, has manual)
  • fix common problems with NT generated ps files

Useful Information

Why does Postscript fail when I try to post-process it?
Difference between PDF and Postscript and Encapsulated Postscript?

 

The Graphics File Format Page

These pages contain specifications for various graphics file formats; along with a number of relevant graphics utilities, information, and URLs. From this page, you can get to the file format FAQ.