PostScript output

Saving a plot

gp    # save a complete PostScript file  →  ~/gnew/l<n>.ps
gfa   # append another plot to the same file (for multi-panel figures)

Files go to the directory defined by psdir in your Frida startup file (default: ~/gnew/). For viewing and editing, use any PostScript viewer that auto-reloads on save (e.g. Evince on Linux). For debugging, run gs (ghostscript) on the file to see error output.

File formats

Prefer vector formats throughout all postprocessing.

Embedding and format conversion

Insert a bounding box

Before embedding in a document, insert a bounding box comment:

bboxx -insert figure.ps

This adds a %%BoundingBox: left bottom right top comment near the top of the file. Change the extension to .eps if the application requires it.

(bboxx is in the impose+ package on Debian/Ubuntu, or bbox from texlive-bbox on RPM-based systems.)

Convert to PDF

ps2pdf -dEPSCrop figure.ps figure.pdf

The -dEPSCrop directive preserves the bounding box.

Convert to raster

Only as a last resort, when neither EPS, PDF, nor SVG is accepted:

convert -density 300 figure.ps figure.png

Scale to the final intended size before rasterizing.

Application support

PostScript file structure

A Frida-generated .ps file has three main sections. Search for the marker strings ewu and ecu to navigate between them.

Use gfa to append additional plot sections to an existing file, for multi-panel figures assembled from several plots.